Health Insurance Up 78 Percent Since 2000,  Along With Policy Terminations!

Ever since the passage of the Affordable Care Act, more than 8.8 million people have gained health insurance. And yet, according to a recent research report published in Forbes, terminations of health insurance policies have increased 78 percent since 2000.

What does this mean for consumers? In short: it's scary. Health insurance policies are becoming increasingly unaffordable as rates continue to rise with no end in sight — and now terminations are on the rise as well! So what can you do to protect yourself? Here is a list of tips that will hopefully help you stay healthy and alive in the years ahead!

For more articles like this one, visit our blog at https://healthylivingforyouguideblog.wordpress.com

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Title: Obamacare Will Shut Down For Travelers In October

Article From: http://dailycaller.com/2013/10/01/obamacare-will-shut-down-for-travelers-in-october/#ixzz2fHyZ5Quj

Posted: October 1, 2013, 8:59 pm

Obamacare will shut down for travelers in October

The Obama administration has approved at least one state's request to shut down the federal health insurance exchange for 12 hours every Sunday during the upcoming enrollment period.   (Getty Images)

A little noticed Obamacare factoid surfaced this week when Ohio was granted a waiver from the Department of Health and Human Services to shut down their state exchange website every Sunday during the critical final weeks of Obamacare's open enrollment in 2014.

The state has received initial approval for what amounts to a government-mandated closed-door business practice.

An Obamacare fact that seems to have eluded Democrats, who have more than once, voted to keep Obamacare exchanges open 24/7  even though they are inconvenient for employees and the few individuals who shall not be named.

If you're an employer with a 24/7 business model, you could be facing down 18 Sunday's of Obama's Affordable Care Act this year.  You might want to change your policies now .

The Ohio waiver is sitting on the desk of a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) official who has been working on the technical issue of when Obamacare's exchanges will be open for business. The answer: 50,100 different times.

"We have to do this for all 50 states," CMS director Marilyn Tavenner told The Washington Post. "The easiest way to do this is to have a single marketplace that is identical no matter which state you're in."

The problem? Closing down Obamacare's exchanges means that the federal health insurance exchange website will be inaccessible from 8:30 a.m. to 11:45 a.m., every Sunday during the final weeks of October through November 2014.

"This is an unusual situation, and CMS will be working with the Ohio Department of Insurance to develop a plan that ensures that consumers have ample opportunity to access information necessary for coverage determinations," Tavenner said in a statement.

Obamacare's open enrollment period starts on October 1, 2013. So the only question now is: How long will the shutdown last? 

If you're an employer with a 24/7 business model, you could be facing down 18 Sunday's of Obama's Affordable Care Act this year.  You might want to change your policies now .

On the chance that you need to cancel a specific appointment on one of those Sundays, look at this list .   Your health insurance exchange will be down from 8:30 a.m. to 11:45 a.m., every Sunday in October, November, and December 2014 .

CMS officials have given little other information on the rollout of this Obamacare rule with regard to employers or individuals.

Apparently, CMS has yet to come up with a strategy for keeping hospital emergency rooms open on Sundays in case anyone should have an urgent health care need over one of those 18 Sundays. 

States were granted the ability to shut down their Obamacare exchanges after the administration announced that they could slough off the responsibility of running Obamacare's exchanges to the federal government if they couldn't handle it.

The waiver won't be subject to the standard political consideration or public scrutiny that normally surrounds federal agency actions.

It's hard to believe that Obamacare employees at HHS will be able to get around this Sunday shutdown rule they've just imposed on the health insurance exchanges in all 50 states.

If you're an employer with a 24/7 business model, you could be facing down 18 Sunday's of Obama's Affordable Care Act this year.  You might want to change your policies now .

For more articles like this one, visit our blog at http://blogs.washingtonpost.com/white-house-watch/

If you want to stay up-to-date on the latest health insurance news, follow us on Twitter at  https://twitter.com/HealthyLivingFWYG

We also encourage you to share this article with your friends and family online using the share buttons below! Thank you! :)

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Title: Obamacare Rolls Out With Online Glitches, Low Enrollment Figures

Article From: http://www.cnbc.com/id/100751740#.

Posted: October 2, 2013, 8:52 am

America's new health insurance marketplaces opened with technical glitches and low enrollment figures.

The fiscal arm of the White House said on Tuesday that people could start enrolling in coverage through Obamacare's insurance marketplaces as early as this week. But on Wednesday afternoon HealthCare.gov was not working for many users.

As of 3 pm ET (4pm GMT), more than 600,000 people found themselves unable to access federally run health care marketplaces around the country, according to a Kaiser Health News analysis.

Conclusion

The website has been plagued by glitches , and it's uncertain whether the Obama administration will be able to fix all of the problems before people start receiving tax penalties for not purchasing health insurance.

Reuters reported that many users encountered a rotating series of error messages, while those who were able to get through were often told that they would have to wait until later this year to sign up. At least one user received a blank page when attempting to set up an account on Tuesday.

"The information you entered does not match our records," HealthCare.gov told Michael Cerpok of Manchester, New Hampshire, according to Reuters . 

The Department of Health and Human Services announced last week that it would officially turn on HealthCare.