By Craig Andresen – The National Patriot and Right Side Patriots on americanpbn.com

As we settle into a new year, 2016, an election year, once again Obamacare rears its ugly and unaffordable head.

With more and more state Obamacare exchanges dropping like flies, those that remain are scrambling to alter their coverage plans and none of that scrambling is either good for the general populous nor is it making coverage any more affordable.

Both Blue Cross and Blue Shield along with Humana and others have removed more than 2 dozen of their previously offered Preferred Provider Organization products off the market and out of Obamacare over the last several months of 2015 as the cost to them of offering such services was unsustainable. And while this initially seems to make healthcare through those providers somewhat more affordable, the reality is that with less options for individuals, there becomes fewer places where the individuals can obtain care…fewer doctors providing care and longer wait times to receive care.

Another move touted by the Obama regime is the higher and stiffer penalties employed in 2016 for not signing up for socialism. This, they say, will force more people into the socialism system and thus lower rates for all however, at $625.00 or 2.5% of their annual income, the increased tax penalty may well not be enough of an incentive, especially for young, healthy Americans, to drag them into the pool. Even if they qualify for subsidies, paid for by other people’s money at rates of only $100.00 per month…it would still cost the young, healthy American $1200.00 per year for socialismcare as opposed to a one-time penalty of just $625.00.

These issues are, of course, just the tip of the iceberg…

According to information compiled by the Washington Examiner last fall…and I hope you’re sitting down for this…”231 insurers requested double-digit percentage premium price hikes for 2016.” That is nearly double the number of insurers that made such a request in 2015 and of those 231… “126 plans aimed for a minimum 20% premium hike, 61 plans attempted to justify a 30% premium boost, 26 policies are targeting a 40% price jump, and a dozen plans actually requested a 50%-plus premium jump for 2016.”

Why the even more unaffordable rates for the already unaffordable “affordable healthcare” we have been forced into?

Simple…MLR.

MLR is medical loss ratio and Obamacare mandates that insurers spend, at minimum, 80% of all premiums on patient care which leaves scant little to run their businesses and in 2010, only 21 states had a MLR of 80%. That had changed by 2014 under Obamacare as the number grew to all 50 states and according to statistics, the average was a MLR of 92%.

Of the 50 states…10 of them now show their MLR to be OVER 100% which means that Hawaii, Illinois, Kansas, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Pennsylvania and all operating at a net loss. They’re going under and as more and more states approach that 100% MLR figure, they will either need to hike their premium rates sky-high or fold up shop so the options for the insured become dire…either they will have to pay through the nose or they will find themselves uninsured because their insurance carrier has been forced out of business by Obama’s socialism.

But how can this possibly be? The Obama regime claimed that 2016’s premium rate hikes would only average 7.5% so why are we all now staring down the barrel of an average 20.3 % hike at the very least?

It’s because the Obama regime was trying to pull a fast one.

The Obama regime, when they calculated that 7.5% figure, conveniently left out 75% of price data needed to compile an accurate forecast but when the missing 3 data points are included…the rate increase rises to an average of 20.3%. Interesting isn’t it, that the 2016 premium average increase is exactly the same as it was in 2015. You see, as people started complaining, and rightly so, regarding the 20.3% premium increase in 2015…the Obama regime needed to quiet the angry masses so, they simply left out the Platinum, Gold and Bronze rates and only included the Silver package and spewed forth a figure of just 7.5%.

Here’s what it all boils down to…

More state run exchanges are going to close this year leaving more Americans without insurance and the premium rate hikes are going to force more Americans to either apply for taxpayer subsidies or drop out of the system altogether thus leaving fewer individuals in the pool causing rates to continue to rise.

Add to that, the implementation of the employer mandate as of January 1st, 2016 and we will begin seeing employers cutting back on the number of employees or cutting their staffs from full to part-time forcing both higher rates of unemployment and under employed Americans who will have less and less income with which to afford basic necessities and certainly less Americans who can afford the unaffordable, “affordable” healthcare plans of Obama’s socialism.

As I said at the top of this article, 2016 is an election year and late last year, the House decided to employ a little used measure, “budget reconciliation,” to craft an Obamacare repeal and replacement bill which they passed and sent to the Senate. The Senate, being under slightly different rules as pertaining to “budget reconciliation,” had to tweak the bill and send it back to the House where, yesterday, they took it up. “Budget reconciliation” is a manner in which both the House and the Senate can eliminate filibusters against such a measure as repealing Obamacare and filibusters would result in the need, at least in the Senate, for 60 votes to pass the measure however, under “budget reconciliation,” a simple majority is all it takes.

The Obamacare repeal and replacement will pass in the House, as it did in the Senate so it will land on Obama’s desk where he will, after what he will claim to be a full review, veto it promptly and he will claim that whatever that replacement is doesn’t fulfill what Americans really need for healthcare coverage.

The reality is two-fold.

The repeal and replace legislation would be far better than Obamacare is today, whatever it is and what it will not fulfill is Obama’s desperate need to implement full-on socialism disguised as something meant to protect our health.

Remember, what Obama really wants, what Obamacare was deliberately designed to do, was force the need to implement a single-payer system…a full on, socialized medical system…which will require massive tax hikes (you didn’t think the IRS was in charge of Obamacare for nothing did you?) and relegate healthcare decisions away from being between patients and their doctors to being strictly in the hands of unelected bureaucrats.

This, of course, begs the question…why go through the dog and pony show since there aren’t enough votes in the Senate to override Obama’s veto?

Easy…

While liberals already own Obamacare since not a single Republican voted for it back in 2010…this will now force them to own it all over again in an election year thus making Obamacare, its rate hikes, its boat-load of broken promises, its dwindling pool of insures, its shuttered state run exchanges and its burden on employers leading to unemployment and under employment, in all of its inglorious, festering, socialistic glory…a top-flight campaign issue and one from which no liberal candidate can hide as all liberal candidates support it…especially Hillary Clinton who tried, and failed to bring it about when Bill was in office.

Regardless of who the Republican nominee is, all the Republican candidates have vowed to rid us of Obamacare but keep this in mind, if we split the vote, ensuring a liberal victory in November, we will be forever saddled with Obamacare and its eventual, liberal replacement…the single payer socialistic system that each liberal candidate really wants and there will then be no turning back.

If we like our guns and want to keep our guns, we must vote for the Republican nominee whoever it is. If we like our borders and want to keep our borders…we must vote for whoever the Republican nominee turns out to be. If we don’t want to be invaded by Islamists and we don’t want to deal with the terrorism they bring…we need to vote for whoever the Republican nominee turns out to be. If we want to strengthen our military and reclaim our place on the world stage…if we want to shut down a nuclear armed Iran…if we would rather fight against the forces of evil over there rather than here at home…we need to vote for whoever the Republican nominee turns out to be.

If we want to be rid of Obamacare, have our medical decisions made between us and our doctors rather than by unelected bureaucrats…we MUST vote for whoever the Republican nominee turns out to be.

However, if you are more concerned with setting aside your ever-so-delicate sensibilities, regarding who can get married to whom which, by the way, will not change regardless of who gets elected and you don’t really give a damn about anything else…then by all means…split the vote with a write in or 3rd party candidate.

Our mission is clear and the real issues we face, those that could get us all killed are just as clear. To take our country back we must…WE MUST vote for the eventual Republican nominee as who marries whom and where we get our cakes and pizza pales by comparison

The only social issue that matters…is socialism and if you think otherwise…you are no Conservative.

REMINDER!!!

RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS…WE’RE FINALLY BACK…LIVE!!

Tech issues resolved and tomorrow, Wednesday, January 6th at 2-4pm EST…our new network American Patriots Broadcasting Network (APBN) www.americanpbn.com launches with RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS Craig Andresen and Diane Sori as they return to the air…LIVE.

First up will be the truth about Jordan and its King’s involvement in the battle against ISIS; next up will be ‘New Year Same Old Gun-Control Crap’; and lastly Craig and Diane will unveil their personal ‘2016 Dream Team.’