Start the conversation
Comment on This Story
Or to contact Money Morning Customer Service, click here.
The insurance exchanges mandated by the 2009 health care law will be so utterly baffling that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services now needs to hire of tens of thousands of "Obamacare navigators" - at a cost to taxpayers of $9 billion or more every year.
Anyone who uses the new exchanges will quickly find out why Obamacare navigators were deemed necessary.
The draft application form for an individual is already up to 15 pages, while the form for a family is at 21 pages. And the instruction book is 61 pages.
"It's a lot of information that consumers are going to have to provide, and that could deter people from signing up," Laura Adams, senior insurance analyst at InsuranceQuotes.com, told MarketWatch. "That could be an issue for some people who don't like paperwork. And who likes paperwork?"
The government estimates the form will take anywhere from 20 to 45 minutes to complete, but that doesn't count all the information and document-gathering an applicant will need to do before even walking in the door of an exchange.
"If you like IRS forms, you're going to love this one," Ken Hoagland, chairman of conservative advocacy group Restore America's Voice, told MarketWatch. "These are the kinds of things that are going to drive people crazy."
The Obamacare Navigators Army: Bigger than the IRS
And speaking of the Internal Revenue Service, just this one thin slice of Obamacare alone will soon dwarf the whole of the IRS.
The state of California has already asked for 21,000 Obamacare navigators, which puts a projected national figure at 140,000 or higher. The employee count for the IRS at the end of 2012 was 97,717.
According to an HHS document that specified the details of how the Obamacare navigators would be hired, the typical worker would get paid $20 an hour, with project leaders making $29 per hour and executives making as much as $48 an hour.
Throw in generous government benefits, and you have $9 billion to $10 billion in taxpayer money wasted annually simply because clueless lawmakers made the system too complicated.
In some cases, the cost will hit even closer to home. States that opted not to use the federal health insurance exchanges in favor of setting up their own will be required to foot the bill for the Obamacare navigators out of their own coffers.
And knowing how government bureaucracies tend to keep growing larger every year, 140,000 Obamacare navigators will no doubt be just a start.
The irony of wasting billions on Obamacare navigators in the wake of promises that the Affordable Care Act would reduce costs was not lost on Rep. Kenny Marchant, R-TX.
"Hiring tens of thousands of new workers that cannot treat patients, nor even by definition actually enroll citizens in a qualified health plan, appears to be a significant misuse of taxpayer funds," Marchant, a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, wrote in an April 4 letter to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
Obamacare Navigators Symbolic of Healthcare Chaos
The need for 140,000 or more Obamacare navigators is just one sign among many that the promises of the healthcare law won't be realized.
Many states have missed deadlines for setting up the health insurance exchanges, which are supposed to be open this fall for the January 2014 open-enrollment season.
And despite the loud public debate over Obamacare, few consumers seem aware that the exchanges are supposed to launch this year. A survey released last week by InsuranceQuotes.com revealed that 90% of U.S. consumers did not know the exchanges are slated to open Oct. 1, and 22% actually thought they were already open.
That's a bad sign. Because even with tens of thousands of Obamacare navigators, the 4 million or so Americans who will need to use the exchanges could easily overwhelm the system, particularly if most wait until the last minute.
"Our fear is that people are going to put it off till New Year's Eve, and by then the sites will be overloaded and navigators will be overloaded," InsuranceQuotes.com's Adams said.
Related Articles and News:
- Money Morning:
Just How Big Will Your "Obamacare Surprise" Be?...Wait Until You See This Chart - Money Morning:
The 7 Biggest Obamacare Lies - The Hill:
Marchant questions 'inflated' salaries for ObamaCare insurance navigators - MarketWatch:
It's easier to apply for green card than Obamacare
About the Author
David Zeiler, Associate Editor for Money Morning at Money Map Press, has been a journalist for more than 35 years, including 18 spent at The Baltimore Sun. He has worked as a writer, editor, and page designer at different times in his career. He's interviewed a number of well-known personalities - ranging from punk rock icon Joey Ramone to Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Wozniak.
Over the course of his journalistic career, Dave has covered many diverse subjects. Since arriving at Money Morning in 2011, he has focused primarily on technology. He's an expert on both Apple and cryptocurrencies. He started writing about Apple for The Sun in the mid-1990s, and had an Apple blog on The Sun's web site from 2007-2009. Dave's been writing about Bitcoin since 2011 - long before most people had even heard of it. He even mined it for a short time.
Dave has a BA in English and Mass Communications from Loyola University Maryland.
The Obamacare "navigators" are nothing more than an army of community organizers. They will saturate low-income and minority neighborhoods with the goal of signing up as many people as they can. These workers will in many cases fill out the paperwork for the client and then simply ask the client to sign it Most clients won't even know what they're signing.
Obama thinks that success means getting as many people as possible on assistance programs funded by the taxpayers. He doesn't have a clue as to how to get people to be self-supporting and doesn't seem to regard this as a worthwhile goal.
That just sums up this 'never had a job in his life' president, put there by people who just wants the goodies to keep coming, even more than before. I would bet he has absolutely no concept of the implications of his ignorance.
good morning.thank you very much for this isues that is the one reason how to protect the people need and care for this apportunity,i hope that intire the globe,starting the fiething the poverty not tommorow or next year now na,Education is the most important for this isues and health care,
If I were the devil … If I were the Prince of Darkness, I'd want to engulf the whole world in darkness. And I'd have a third of it’s real estate, and four-fifths of its population, but I wouldn't be happy until I had seized the ripest apple on the tree — Thee. So I'd set about however necessary to take over the United States. I'd subvert the churches first — I'd begin with a campaign to infiltrate the churches with "social conservatives" and their desire to control our lives. I would pervert, church leaders' and use their religion to fund corrupted politicians. With the wisdom of a serpent, I would use these "social conservatives" to break down the barriers that provide separation between church and state. So they could then push their hidden agendas that use religious dogma to cover up their destructive works aimed at usurping and destroying the U.S. Constitution and enslaving Americans. Ultimately I will eliminate, that disgusting God given right called, "choice."
To the young, I would whisper that what the Founding Fathers' meant by "Separation of church and state" was that posting the ten commandments, having religious displays, or praying in public places is wrong. I would convince them that Republicans legislating morals was OK, though. And then I'd get organized, I would have Republican President Nixon declare a "War on Drugs." within a decade I'd have prisons overflowing. Then I would have Republican President Reagan expand it and fund it, until before you knew it, you'd have drug sniffing dogs and metal detectors at every door. Then a huge network of prisons would be built, with expanded law enforcement and a growing judicial system, till it transformed the US into an American police state.
I would convince Americans that they needed to trade their liberty for security from terrorist attacks by having both Republican controlled houses passing; the Homeland Security Act, Border Security Act, and both Patriot Acts. I would then have Republican President George W. Bush sign them into law. With Soviet styled heavy handed tactics, Homeland Security, would then be free to purchase 3 armored divisions (2,717 tanks), an infinite number of drones and 1.6 billion rounds of hollow point ammunition. Enough to kill every American man, woman and child, five times over! Then it would only be a matter of time before Americans would have their guns taken away and America could finally be transformed into the fascist dictatorship I have envisioned.
If I were the devil, I would make sure that Americans sat silently by and allowed it to happen by making sure it didn't matter which party was running the country. I would see to it that third party challengers were drummed out of consideration by using the media to make them look quirky and eccentric, even whacko-birds. I would convince the electorate that any votes cast their way would be wasted. I would make certain both parties were becoming identical. With any luck voters would be left choosing from the "Lesser of Two Evils." That's my kind of election! When Democrats and Republicans facing each other suddenly realize that they're looking into a mirror, they will see that it's the pattern for the future. I will have, infact, created the perfect blueprint for "The New World Order." Good day.
RIP Paul Harvey
As usual, you get what you pay for (a boy in mans clothing with dreams for sale). This country will get through this and be stronger in the long run, have faith.