Panic: Kentucky Health Cooperative requests 30% rate increase for cheapest ObamaCare plan

The Kentucky Health Cooperative, an ObamaCare-created "public option" run rather unsuccessfully by Frankfort Obamacrats has informed federal regulators they need a thirty percent premium increase on their Bronze plans to continue to survive.

"The rate increase will positively impact the plan’s experience with the historical experience reflecting a ratio of earned premium of $173.2 million to total paid and incurred claims of $349.4 million for 2014," the Cooperative said in its Insurer's Rate Increase Justification filed with federal officials but scrubbed from the Kentucky Department of Insurance web site.

The Kentucky Department of Insurance responded that critics were "talking about rate changes in a vacuum" and added that most Kentuckians on ObamaCare are getting federal subsidies and therefore shouldn't be concerned about real costs.

"It's another embarrassing episode in one of the most bizarre displays of nonsense the world has ever seen," said ObamaCare opponent David Adams. "I wouldn't trust these people to run to the gas station for a Slurpee and we are throwing billions of dollars at them. It has to stop."

Minimum wage hike is a Frankfort tax increase

Frankfort Obamacrats are jumping in with both feet for Gov. Steve Beshear's unilateral move yesterday to raise executive branch state employee minimum wage to $10.10 and hour.

"The wage increases will cost about $1.6 million," the Lexington Herald Leader reported, "and less than $800,000 of that cost will come from the General Fund, Beshear said. Other sources of money, he said, include federal dollars, the state Road Fund and various state agency accounts."

Bottom line is all the cost of the increase will be paid by taxpayers. But this is far from the last word on the matter.

Beshear created the tax increase with another one of his executive orders citing as authority KRS 12, which grants him temporary powers when the legislature is out of session. The Herald Leader mentions this wrinkle but misses the point of it.

"The General Assembly can review Beshear’s order when legislators return to session in early January, but it would be difficult for them to lower state workers’ wages. The next governor also could roll back Beshear’s order, but Beshear said Monday he doubts that will happen."

The point they miss is that only the legislature can make Beshear's executive action permanent and if they do not it legally goes away. The 800 state workers affected by the minimum wage tax increase might be upset by such a wage cut, but by law if the legislature does not confirm the order then the initial hike no longer exists. They can't sue anyone for failing to execute a law which does not exist.

The interesting political part of this is if Jack Conway is elected Governor, he will probably try to play out the same executive order scam Beshear has in cramming ObamaCare down Kentuckians' throats. If Matt Bevin is elected Governor, the executive order will expire with the next General Assembly and he will not attempt to execute a law which does not exist.

Literally no one benefits in the long run if we continue Beshear's nasty habit of ignoring the failure of temporary executive orders. If we perpetuate the practice, we will literally need a separate Governor's Journal for keeping track of statutes the government no longer chooses to follow until we decide to just go ahead and let politicians ignore all laws. Frankfort Dems are trying to make hay with this issue and we should let them. It's a discussion whose time has come.

GOP can do better for Matt Bevin

Jack Conway's Kentucky Democratic Party is literally running circles around the Republican Party of Kentucky on the governor's race, but only because RPK is standing still.

The Dems put out an attack today lobbing five bombs at Matt Bevin. RPK responded with an email mentioning the attack but responding only that you should send money to Matt.

A real response from RPK would mean contradicting Mitch McConnell 2014, but there's no reason to be squeamish about that since Mitch has already publicly changed his tune about Matt with an unequivocal endorsement of the only conservative in the fall gubernatorial election.

It's really not that hard at all. Let's take them in order.

Dems claim: "Matt Bevin didn't tell the truth about attending MIT." This is absurdly false and would only be perpetuated by someone lacking scruples or brains or -- in this case, at least -- both. Matt attended and completed an invitation-only program for successful entrepreneurs at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and described it precisely as such on his LinkedIn page. The fact Jack Conway and his Frankfort pals can't recognize an honor like this or distinguish it from undergraduate matriculation, again, doesn't speak well for their cognitive abilities. The fact they are parroting an oft-told McConnell lie is a discredit to McConnell and Conway. They should both be made to separate themselves from their lies immediately. McConnell should go first.

Dems claim: "Matt Bevin mislead (sic) Kentuckians about his support for cockfighting." It was a rookie mistake for Matt to campaign at a rally in support of cockfighting in Corbin last year and he compounded the error by claiming confusion about the purpose of the rally. Bottom line, if he didn't know what the event was, he should have known. To his credit, Matt actually apologized for confusion caused by his attendance. But Matt never made cockfighting part of his campaign or claimed "support" for it, unlike Jack Conway who has made multiple appearances with the likes of Barack Obama, Joe Biden, John Kerry and Eric Holder without explanation or apology. Most Kentuckians could stomach sporting fowl more easily than they could endure the stench of those associations.

Dems claim: "Bailout Bevin." This is another debunked charge from McConnell 2014. A lightning strike destroyed equipment in Bevin's bell factory that was literally too old to insure. He was ready to shutter the business when offered state tax credits encouraged him to keep it open. Same goes for an old charge that Matt supported the bank bailouts, which doesn't square with the facts at all. Neither Conway nor McConnell are about to come out in opposition to performance-based tax credits which save jobs and both unequivocally support the TARP bailouts. Again, two apologies are appropriate and McConnell shouldn't wait to go first.

Dems claim: "Bevin failed to pay his taxes." This one has also been debunked. The taxing authorities in both cases absolved Matt of any kind of failure. Again, two apologies are appropriate. Mitch, you're up.

Dems claim: "Even Republicans don't trust him." This one is all on Mitch. Conway and friends quote McConnell and McConnell staffers launching ridiculous attacks against Matt. Do the right thing, Senator McConnell, and clear the air on this old nonsense.

Even if Mitch proves "too busy" to take care of his responsibilities here, RPK can't let lingering fear of McConnell prevent them from doing the bare minimum to defend their nominee from this garbage so we can keep the focus on real 2015 Kentucky issues like getting multiple Frankfort overspending and mismanagement issues under control and better positioning Kentucky for private sector growth rather than shoring up our position as one of the most corrupt and poorly managed state governments in America.

More Frankfort Obamacrat skulduggery

Looks like the Kentucky Department of Insurance has grown tired of answering questions about hiding evidence of ObamaCare failures, hiding it some more, violating federal law to keep it hidden, falsifying data to continue to keep Kentuckians in the dark and then having no answers for when people start to learn the truth.

That's the only possible explanation for the fact they have removed any trace of the true ObamaCare rate increase figures which lasted on the site for about a day. The Kentucky Department of Insurance web site has been scrubbed of its link to rate increase information which can still be found at www.ratereview.healthcare.gov.

"Their health reform policy does not work, has not worked and cannot work, but Frankfort Obamacrats have frankly done a great job of spinning the ObamaCare disaster around in circles so many times the media doesn't even try to call them on garbage like this," said leading ObamaCare critic David Adams. "Kentuckians should look forward to getting a Republican governor in November if for no other reason than to see our press corps to start showing a little fortitude again."

Frankfort Obamacrats understate ObamaCare premium increases for 2016

The Kentucky Department of Insurance released a partial list of "average rate increases" for 2016 ObamaCare health plans in the state yesterday which conflict with the rates they sent to the Obama Administration.

The DOI's release yesterday claimed Anthem had requested an average increase of 14.6%, but reported to Obama four different rate increases for four different Anthem plans: 13.18%, 14.31%, 17.00% and 21.46%. The average of those numbers is 16.49%. The DOI's release yesterday claimed Humana had requested an average increase of 5.2%, but reported to Obama six different rate increases for six different Humana plans: 13.74%, 11.63%, 25.88%, 11.28%, 11.78%, and 10.98%. The average of those numbers is 14.22%.

This is exactly the kind of dishonesty and confusion we have come to expect from these people.

Kentucky Death Spiral: Biggest ObamaCare insurer seeks 25% rate hike

The Kentucky Health Cooperative was created with tax dollars under ObamaCare and kept afloat with subsequent grants of millions more. Now they want a twenty five percent average premium increase for 2016, according to Ronda Sloan of the Kentucky Department of Insurance.

This information came after repeated requests made to the Department of Insurance to divulge premium information the Obama Administration appears to be sitting on.

"I'm still waiting to see their official filing because this 'average' rate increase language looks a little fishy," said David Adams, leading opponent of ObamaCare in Kentucky. "Obamacrats have been consistently untrustworthy and slow to tell the whole truth since the beginning of their health reform debacle, so I won't be surprised at all if it is even worse than we are being told."

Six states ducking required ObamaCare transparency; one blames Obama

When yesterday's deadline for states to post 2016 ObamaCare health premiums passed, all but California, Colorado, Kentucky, Minnesota, New York and Rhode Island had complied. But only Kentucky was blaming President Obama for the failure.

Kentucky Department of Insurance spokeswoman Ronda Sloan insists the Obama Administration has Kentucky's rates and is choosing not to make them available to the public.

"We are waiting to hear when Kentucky's submitted information will be posted to the federal site," Sloan said, while refusing repeated requests to make the rates available herself.

So far only the Louisville Courier Journal has expressed even minimal interest in the controversy among the mainstream media types and Sloan has stopped responding to emails. Those hidden rates can't stay hidden forever.

Kentucky misses June 1 ObamaCare transparency deadline; blames Obama

Kentucky Department of Insurance spokeswoman Ronda Sloan said state officials sent 2016 ObamaCare health insurance premium information to federal authorities for posting on the healthcare.gov web site, but the rates were not published yesterday.

"We are waiting to hear when Kentucky's submitted information will be posted to the federal site," she said.

While appearing to throw the President of the United States under the bus for missing the required transparency deadline, Sloan also refused repeated attempts to merely divulge the information so it could be published here.

"The complete filings are available through open records," she said.

The apparent disdain for the public's right to know and even federal law drew a swift rebuke from Kentucky's most vocal critic of state and federal health reform shenanigans.

"Obama and Beshear have treated the law like toilet paper so many times in turning our doctor's offices into police state outposts we have become numb to the shock," said David Adams, plaintiff in a legal effort to curtail Kentucky's participation in ObamaCare. "But there is only one reason they would not want us to see the upcoming health insurance premiums in a timely fashion. If we are paying attention at all, the politician who should get hit hard on this right away is Jack Conway."

Trouble in ObamaCare's Bluegrass paradise?

Barack Obama and Steve Beshear aren't ready for you to see how much ObamaCare is going up in Kentucky.

Recent data on Kentucky's skyrocketing ObamaCare health premiums has been scrubbed from the state's Department of Insurance web site for weeks, but full disclosure of proposed rate increases was supposed to be posted today, according to Ronda Sloan of the Kentucky Department of Insurance.

"We are waiting to hear when Kentucky’s submitted information will be posted on the federal site. We were told earlier that the states’ information would be going online gradually throughout the day. If I hear anything later this evening, I will send you an email," Sloan said.

It is common sense that if the rate increase information were good, Beshear and Jack Conway would have been choking back tears at a press conference earlier today.

Obamacrats forcing Kentucky court officers to break state law for health "reform"

Kentucky probation and parole officers have been instructed this afternoon to sign their clients up for ObamaCare, Kim Murphy, Kynect Program Coordinator, said.

"We have been informed that all of the Probation and Parole officers statewide were going to be instructed to make sure everyone they see gets signed up (for ObamaCare)," she said. Murphy added that judges around the state have already been making ObamaCare enrollment a condition of release from prison.

Newly released ex-offenders are already eligible to sign up for ObamaCare, but the idea of forcing them to sign up or face being sent back to jail is new -- and problematic.

KRS 439.500(1)(a) prohibits probation and parole officers from using their office to influence the political action of any person. In the NFIB case, the United States Supreme Court explained "(n)either the Act nor any other law attaches negative legal consequences to not buying health insurance, beyond requiring payment to the IRS. The Government agrees with that reading, confirming that if someone chooses to pay rather than obtain health insurance, they have fully complied with the law."

So if not purchasing ObamaCare is not a matter of breaking the law, then forcing someone to become an ObamaCare statistic is clearly a political act. Probation and parole officers in Kentucky can't do that, so forcing them to violates state law.

ObamaCare Kynect hell breaks loose Monday

The Kentucky Department of Insurance is required by federal law to post ObamaCare rate increase requests on Monday and they are widely expected to demonstrate more health reform failure, just as the fall campaign for Governor gets started.

"This weekend it will be official that Kentucky Republicans have nominated in Matt Bevin a candidate who has not wavered or played word games with real opposition to ObamaCare to run against a Democrat who has hid under his bed during the whole controversy," said David Adams, plaintiff in the legal effort to shut down Kentucky's state-run ObamaCare "exchange."

"Kentucky's ObamaCare 'public option' is insolvent and the expected death spiral is underway," Adams said. "It's going to be a very bumpy ride for Kentuckians still expecting ObamaCare to work."

Will T. Scott responds to newspaper endorsing someone else in GOP primary for Governor

Asking the Herald-Leader editorial board to pick the best Republican for governor is like taking a skunk on a coon hunt. Nevertheless, I appreciate the opportunity to respond to the fact they did not endorse me.

Kentucky is in bad shape. The next governor will find Frankfort's cupboards bare and hungry people beating on the doors of the Capitol calling on resources we don't have. This is not a time for trusting state government to someone seeking to make a statement or build a resume.

We need a problem-solver and that's what I am.

We need to fix a $34 billion hole in our public pension system. The longer we wait, the worse it gets and the more Kentuckians will suffer.

We can prevent that by amending our state constitution to allow limited casino gambling and requiring that revenue from this activity pay this huge debt. Kentuckians are already gambling in casinos, but the money is going to other states to help them pay their bills.

We need to stop throwing away the lives of young Kentuckians afflicted with drug addictions when they are willing to be saved. Tossing nonviolent drug addicts in prison with hardened criminals is an enormous waste of life and must be corrected for our state to reach its potential. I have a detailed plan to fix this.

And unlike my opponents, I will close Obamacare Kynect my first day in office.

Please learn more about my background and plans at www.willtscott.com.

Will T. Scott

Will T. Scott for Kentucky Governor 2015

Kentucky Downs already a casino, but won't help state's $34 billion pension problem until we act

Kentucky Downs racetrack in Franklin, Kentucky is running a casino with gambling currently prohibited by state law, said Republican gubernatorial candidate Will T. Scott.

"I've been there to see it and there is nothing about historical horse racing or parimutuel betting about it," Scott said. "They have slot machines all over the place just like you would see in Reno."

Scott has made solving Kentucky's massive $34 billion pension underfunding problem with limited casino gambling at horse tracks a key part of his platform this year.

"The way to do it is to require in the Constitution revenues from the expanded gambling go to pay our biggest unpaid bill first and that's pensions," Scott said.

Kentucky's ObamaCare "Cooperative" is insolvent

A Standard and Poor's research report issued this week finds the Kentucky Health Cooperative, an ObamaCare creation funded initially by federal dollars and then bailed out with tens of millions of dollars more last year, is insolvent.

The report analyzed health insurers' requests for risk corridor receivables. Those are funds supposed to be taken from profitable insurers and given to unprofitable ones under ObamaCare. Kentucky Health Cooperative booked more "receivables" expected to be coming from the risk corridor program than the company has in capital, which includes mostly federal loan and bailout funds.

According to the report, the Kentucky insurer booked an amount of risk corridor receivables equal to 117% of capital, more than every other insurer in the nation except one. The bad news for them and their customers is S&P estimates the risk corridor program is less than ten percent funded and there is no likelihood of Congress acting to make up the difference. That means the Kentucky Health Cooperative is toast.

Cooperative officials appear to be refusing all requests for comment and the Kentucky Department of Insurance has pulled down their web page that used to allow consumers to view rate increase requests.

Hal Heiner's ObamaCare meltdown

Hal Heiner is either confused about the difference between the ObamaCare exchange and the Medicaid expansion or he has swallowed the left-wing KoolAid about what happens on the way to ending ObamaCare.

On a Kentucky Sports Radio debate today, Heiner said: "I am not willing to kick 330,000 people to the curb and destroy the healthcare system that's available..." That was in response to a question about Heiner's continued squishiness on ObamaCare.

The point is that since the very early days of the campaign, no one is talking about the impossible task of reversing the Medicaid expansion from the Governor's office. The question was about shutting down the state-run ObamaCare exchange, which will have no impact on the Medicaid expansion. Defaulting to the federal exchange involves no innocent victims, much less Heiner's imaginary 330,000 being "kicked to the curb."

My favorite part from Heiner was the bit about destroying the healthcare system. I'm guessing he just started his post-primary pivot to the left earlier than a more disciplined establishment politician would.

Jamie Comer wrong on freedom of speech

It's no secret gubernatorial candidate James Comer has been talking to lawyers about people talking to bloggers. Looks like he may need some better advice or something.

Comer claimed in a radio debate today in Louisville that Hal Heiner's campaign violated the law by speaking to a Lexington blogger.

Speaking to Heiner, Comer said "if you see an email that was sent from your running mate to this blogger, encouraging this blogger to contact all the Republican Party chairs and vice-chairs of the state and spreading lies about me, coordinating -- which is illegal on its own -- with this blogger, how would you react to that as the leader of your ticket with your running mate and your campaign staff?"

I would love to challenge Comer to show us the statute forbidding conversation, interaction or -- if you must -- coordination between a blogger and a candidate or a member of a campaign staff. He can't do it, of course, because no such prohibition exists anywhere.

This is really getting embarrassing. Ignorance of the law is no excuse for someone speeding in a school zone. That should go ten times more for someone who claims he wants to be Governor. The state government's chief executive officer is charged with faithfully executing state law. How can he be expected to do that if he doesn't even understand citizens' rights regarding our ability to speak to each other?

Heiner, again: I will do NOTHING on ObamaCare

The Bowling Green Daily News has posted answers to questions asked of Republican gubernatorial candidate Hal Heiner. One exchange in particular shows clearly why he cannot be trusted to represent the GOP this fall:

What are your plans for the Kentucky health care exchange and how do you plan on putting them into effect?

Heiner: "I have called for a full repeal of the Affordable Care Act and stand with (Kentucky GOP) Sens. (Mitch) McConnell and (Rand) Paul in doing so. In the meantime, we are left with an expanded Medicaid system that must be reformed – both to protect the survival of our rural hospitals but also to fit within our budget constraints as a commonwealth. As governor, I'll work to bring accountability and personal responsibility into our health care system by introducing programs that are working in other states – health savings accounts, deductibles and health incentives that can bring down costs for the entire system. As a Frankfort outsider, I plan to bring this type of thoughtful, conservative leadership to the governor's office on day one."

Choosing only to cheer for repeal of ObamaCare is the role of a powerless bystander, not a Governor with explicit powers spelled out in the language of the "Affordable Care Act," as well as the Constitution. Only Will T. Scott has promised to shut down Kynect, the state-run ObamaCare exchange, on his first day in office. Heiner's only response to Scott's decisive action on this front is to complain vaguely about taking "healthcare" away from Kentuckians. With Republicans like this, who needs Democrats?

James Comer's six figure gift from taxpayers to Democrat politician begs further explanation

A question from the audience at Saturday's gubernatorial debate in Nicholasville surprised some audience members when all four candidates said they had made campaign contributions to Democrats in past elections, but the rest of the story is more interesting and requires more damage control from James Comer's faltering campaign.

Comer said he had given to one Democrat -- former State Representative Richard Henderson, who lost his seat last November after getting caught up in a cockfighting scandal. But there was a Comer beneficiary who got quite a bit more than a $100 check from Commissioner Comer.

Former State Representative Fred Nesler (D) received a $100,000 taxpayer-provided boost to his state pension in June 2012 when Comer appointed him to an executive position in the Kentucky Department of Agriculture. This huge gift was made possible by Comer's vote for HB 299 from 2005, which he has had a horrible time trying to explain. (Click here for an amazing video of Comer falling all over himself and trying to blame others for his absurd vote.)

Given Comer's incoherent and painful non-explanations of his vote to pad his pocket some $500,000 at your expense, getting him to talk about why he spread your wealth on to his Democratic friend should provide him further embarrassment.

Will T. Scott urges drug policy overhaul

We can fix Kentucky's failing approach to drug addiction starting with an innovative state program to guarantee safety of potential employees with past felony drug problems, said Republican gubernatorial candidate Will T. Scott.

"Our prisons are not doing their job, protecting you," Scott said. Without a different approach, a never-ending cycle of theft, robberies and worse make victims of innocent Kentuckians. "Of the people in prison due to addiction-related criminal activity, at least sixty percent will commit new crimes within three years of their release from prison," Scott said.

Scott proposes a Kentucky Certified Worker program funded with fees charged to inmates to insure employers against losses caused by rehabilitated felons. The program will provide an opportunity for rehabilitated Kentuckians to build productive lives as opposed to a life sentence in the shadows or worse.

"That means a decent job and, as Merle Haggard sang, 'having pride in who I am.'"

Part of the solution to Kentucky's worsening drug problems is more comprehensive use of drug courts with an emphasis on rehabilitation outside of prisons and in minimum security facilities for less money than we currently spend.

"This new path will work and it will make our homes, garages, highways and businesses much safer at a much lower cost," Scott said.

Justice Scott also proposes a tougher law enforcement approach against the distribution of heroin.

"Heroin transport, sales and use will be under attack like never before," Scott said, referencing a plan to deter importation of heroin from other states.

Scott refers often to the hope of recovery and a strong desire to help rescue Kentuckians from the ravages of addiction and restoration to full productivity, including expungement of criminal records in some cases, including restoration of all rights of citizenship.

"What I'm really telling you is to the extent we can truly rebuild a justice system that really rehabilitates our addicted prisoners and helps them rebuild their lives, pride and confidence in themselves, then we can and will be safe again in our homes, businesses and garages."