In a letter to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius released on Monday, Texas Gov. Rick Perry stated “If anyone was in doubt, we in Texas have no intention to implement so-called state exchanges or to expand Medicaid under Obamacare,” “I will not be party to socializing healthcare and bankrupting my state in direct contradiction to our constitution and our founding principles of limited government.
“I stand proudly with the growing chorus of governors who reject the Obamacare power grab. Neither a ‘state’ exchange nor the expansion of Medicaid under this program would result in better ‘patient protection’ or in more ‘affordable care.’ They would only make Texas a mere appendage of the federal government when it comes to health care,”
Those opposed to a state-based exchange say whether or not the state controls the process, ultimately, the federal government will have the final say.
“Whether we have a federally implemented exchange or a state implemented exchange the federal government writes all the rules,” says Charlie Arlinghaus, who runs the Josiah Bartlett Center. “We’re essentially just a puppet government.”
Rep. Andrew Manuse of New Hampshire has sponsored legislation that would prevent his state from creating its own health insurance exchange.
“By not establishing a state exchange were saying to the federal government, you passed this mess of a law now you have to figure out how to make it work. Don’t rely on the states to fix this law”
The Exchanges (Both State and Federal) will have to start enrolling individuals, families, and small businesses by October 1, 2013. States operating an exchange will also need to ensure they can determine eligibility for federal premium and cost-sharing subsidies available to individuals with low and moderate incomes who will buy coverage through the exchange. They also must be able to coordinate with their state Medicaid and CHIP programs. This means that new and improved information technology systems must be developed and tested.
In addition to Texas, Louisiana, Florida, Mississippi, Iowa and South Carolina have announced that they oppose the Exchanges and Medicaid expansion. Fourteen States have created State Exchanges while those left must notify Health and Human Services of their intentions by November 16, 2012
The Repeal of Obamacare
To repeal Obamacare the Republican party would need Mitt Romney to become President, have a net gain of four seats in the Senate while holding on to control of the House. In addition to gaining seats, Republicans also would have to overcome Senate rules and various budget calculations to harness budget reconciliation in their bid to overturn the health care law, cautions Richard Kogan, an analyst at the independent Center for Budget and Policy Priorities.
- Found in the 1974 Congressional Budget Act, a little known budget reconciliation procedure enables a divided Congress to drive through controversial tax and spending legislation to finance the annual budget blueprint adopted by the House and Senate. The measure limits debate in the House and the Senate to just 20 hours, bars Senate filibusters and enables a Senate majority with less than a 60-vote super-majority to approve legislation. Since 1980, it has been used over twenty times to break Senate logjams, helping Democrats win passage of Obama’s health care overhaul in 2009 and Republicans win passage of welfare reform in 1996.
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“It is doable,” says Kogan a former adviser to the White House budget office during the first two years of the Obama administration and a veteran of 21 years on the staff of the House Budget Committee. “It may be they can’t do it all with a simple repeal of everything — but they can certainly get rid of almost all of the things that they object to by a majority vote,” -
Senator Kay Hutchison, who is leaving in January, said “The court’s ruling does not settle the debate,” “Congress can stop implementation of this disastrous government takeover of health care by repealing the law or by de-funding implementation.” -
Picking the elements to save and the elements to scrap could pose immense political challenges for the Republican effort, cautions Norman Ornstein, a congressional scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.“You can talk all you want about repeal and you can show you have a road map for doing it if you get elected,” Ornstein said. “But you leave the system in tatters if you do it without a reasonable replacement, and they’ve got nothing — that’s the bottom line.”
At AMG, we are constantly looking to broaden the portfolio of products that we offer our broker partners. IHC Group is a quality addition to the over 50 companies that makes our slogan "Everything You Need In One Place" more than just a catch phrase.
For those of you not familiar with the IHC Group, below is a list of their product offerings. You will note that in addition to many of those that we offer from other carriers, they provide new ones such as Employer stop-loss, Overseas medical and Pet insurance.
We are looking forward to our relationship with IHC Group and continuing to help you grow your business.
Individual and family medical - a full range of traditional medical PPO plans and high-deductible health insurance plans with qualifying health savings accounts.
Small group medical - small employer group insurance that offers flexible benefit combinations or high-deductible plan affordability. Employers can offer a variety of plans for its employee force or choose less expensive options to ensure that all employees maintain catastrophic coverage.
Employer stop-loss - IHC is one of the nation's largest providers of insurance products that allow self-insured employers to manage the risk of excessive health insurance exposures by limiting aggregate and specific losses to a predetermined amount.
Dental and Vision - Individual and group dental plans provided by The IHC Group offer the DenteMax and OrthoCare orthodontist networks for dental, and an extensive network for vision benefits, including Sam's Club.
Short term medical
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Critical illness - The IHC Group pays a lump sum cash benefit when a covered medical condition is diagnosed.
Fixed indemnity - Fixed indemnity is guaranteed issue health insurance, which means no medical exams or health history questions at enrollment, and affordable plans that keep premiums low.
Hospital and surgical indemnity - Choose from a variety of plans with varying level of benefits for inpatient and outpatient surgeries, hospital confinement, chemotherapy and more.
Medicare supplements
Rx pay card - Accepted at over 48,000 pharmacies throughout the United States, the Rx pay card network includes pharmacy chains as well as thousands of independent pharmacies throughout the country.
Overseas travel medical - Most traditional health insurance does not provide coverage for expenses for an emergency medical evacuation, medical reunion, return of mortal remains, trip interruption or loss of checked luggage.
Group life and disability
Limited benefit medical - Guaranteed issue limited benefit medical plans pay stated benefit amounts, for physician office visits, preventative care, diagnostic work, emergency room visits and more.
Freedom HSA - In partnership with UMB, a health savings account can be added to any high-deductible health plan that IHC offers.
Pet insurance - Pet insurance is quickly becoming one of the most popular converges for individuals and families that want to protect their household pet with accident and illness insurance, without worrying about veterinary networks.
For quotes or more information, contact Heather (Matias) Ainesworth at 713.977.0611 or click her name to email.
