Did you know that? I didn’t know that. I live in NC, and have looked for the numbers many times. I guess I missed them, since none of the local news outlets published this news, or made it easily available. I found out in context of how bad things are going for NC Senator Kay Hagan
Hagan hosted a conference call for reporters on Nov. 12 to discuss the problems with the health care law’s rollout, and the Q&A session was so painful that the senator should qualify for trauma coverage under the Affordable Care Act. (snip)
A reporter from the Greensboro News & Record asked why Hagan, like President Obama, had told people that if they liked their health plans they’d be able to keep their health plans.
There was a long pause before Hagan responded, then a deep intake of breath. “You know, Doug,†she responded, “the, um†– here she exhaled and paused again – “the way these, the – the regulations and the law, uh†– pause – “came forward recently, I think people were surprised that the, uh, the – the actual original plans would be, um, would be canceled.â€
Another North Carolina reporter asked Hagan what she is telling constituents whose premiums have doubled or whose plans have been canceled.
Deep inhalation. “Well, a lot of people, I, I am encouraging everybody to go on the site, uh, uh, I – look through it, find out what the benefits are,†she began. She also said constituents could call her office, “and we will certainly, uh, do what we can to help those individuals and put them in contact, uh, with the right – with the right person.â€
Sounds painful. And that pain will not go away unless O-care starts operating super duper crazy awesome by election time. No one will let her forget the cancellations, nor the huge increase in premium and deductible costs.
News reports about the law in Hagan’s home state have been brutal: businesses cutting workers’ hours, 160,000 people receiving cancellation notices, hardly anybody signing up for the health care exchange.
Those 160K apparently came from Blue Cross Blue Shield, as noted by the NC GOP. Interestingly, BCBS is one of only two carriers participating in the NC Exchange as run by Los Federales. I wonder how many cancellations nationwide correlate to carriers who participate in the Exchanges? But, then, mine does (Aetna), and while I haven’t seen a cancellation, I know it occurred for the company, as we have to pick something entirely new in December during open enrollment.
So: Alabama (87,000), Alaska (5,400), California (279,000), Florida (300,000), Kansas (20,000), Kentucky (280,000), Michigan (140,000), Minnesota (146,000), Montana (20,000), New Jersey (800,000), New York (100,000), Oregon (150,000), Wyoming and (2,600), Pennsylvania (64,000), Washington (266,000), Wisconsin (9,000 – Madison only), District of Columbia (76,000 – Washington D.C. metropolitan area, includes Maryland and Virginia), Colorado (250,000), North Carolina (160,000)
