Tag: Joe Biden

Biden Seeks to End Cheaper Obamacare Alternatives, Expect Another Supreme Court Smackdown

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://mishtalk.com/economics/biden-seeks-to-end-cheaper-obamacare-alternatives-expect-another-supreme-court-smackdown/

Excerpt:

Biden’s efforts to produce more inflation are nonstop, 24×7. His latest move is a set of regulations to force people into Obamacare despite the fact a District Court already ruled against his proposed regulations.

Biden Attempts to Make Healthcare Even More Expensive

To understand what Biden wants to do, and why the Supreme Court is likely to smack it down, we need to review a District Court ruling from 2020.

On July 24, 2020, CATO reported In a Win for Consumers, a Court Ruling Affirms the Legality of Short‐​Term Health Insurance Plans

….

Jam City, Dateline July 7, 2023

The Wall Street Journal comments on Biden’s Short-Sighted New Health Rule

Behold the President’s plan to limit short-term health insurance plans in order to jam more consumers into the heavily subsidized and regulated ObamaCare exchanges. The Health and Human Services, Labor and Treasury Departments on Friday proposed rules to roll back the Trump Administration’s expansion of short-term, limited-duration insurance (STLDI) plans. Since 2018 these plans have been available in 12-month increments, and consumers have been able to renew them for up to 36 months.

These plans are especially attractive to young people whose employers don’t provide coverage. Why would a healthy 26-year-old want to pay for maternity, pediatric and other services he probably won’t use in the near future?

The Inflation Reduction Act sweetened ObamaCare’s insurance premium tax credits that are tied to income. As a result, a 60-year-old making just above four times the poverty level has to pay only 8.5% of his income toward his insurance premium while the government picks up the rest. If premiums increase, government is on the hook for more.

Author(s): Mike Shedlock

Publication Date: 9 July 2023

Publication Site: Mish Talk

Biden Admin Implores States to Slow Medicaid Cuts After More Than 1M Enrollees Dropped

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/biden-administration-states-medicaid-cuts-million-dropped/

Excerpt:

Too many Americans are losing Medicaid coverage because of red tape, and states should do more to make sure eligible people keep their health insurance, the Biden administration said Monday.

More than a million Americans have lost coverage through the program for low-income and disabled Americans in the past several weeks, following the end of pandemic protections on April 1, according to the latest Medicaid renewal data from more than 20 states.

After a three-year pause, most states have now resumed checking which Medicaid recipients remain eligible and dropping those who no longer qualify or don’t complete required paperwork. About 4 in 5 people dropped so far either never returned the paperwork or omitted required documents, federal and state data show.

….

The Biden administration outlined several optional steps states can take to ensure everyone who still qualifies for the safety-net health insurance program stays covered. For instance, states can pause the cancellations to allow more time to reach people who haven’t responded. Health insurance companies that manage Medicaid plans can help their enrollees fill out the paperwork.

Author(s): Hannah Recht

Publication Date: 13 Jun 2023

Publication Site: Kaiser Health News

Hello President Biden, the Ball Is In Your Court

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://mishtalk.com/economics/hello-president-biden-the-ball-is-in-your-court

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Excerpt:

Key Provisions 

  • Claw back unspent Covid-19 funds.
  • Impose tougher work requirements for recipients of food stamps and other government aid.
  • Halt Biden’s plans to forgive up to $20,000 in student loans.
  • End many of the landmark renewable energy tax breaks Biden signed into law last year. It would tack on a sweeping Republican bill to boost oil, gas and coal production.

Hello Joe, the Ball is in Your Court

Republicans only had 4 votes to spare but with some last minute haggling, the bill passed 217-215. 

It wasn’t a pretty serve by McCarthy, but the ball cleared the net and landed in play.

The only way to get the ball back in the Republican court would be for the Senate to pass a measure or amend the House bill.

Author(s): Mike Shedlock

Publication Date: 8 May 2023

Publication Site: Mish Talk

Long-lived rivals: actuaries say Biden and Trump are not too old for office

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.ft.com/content/ad3a97fc-6394-471b-95b6-a46576808f4a?accessToken=zwAF-p9xpktIkdOtOpf8Y5RHG9OVtqRldoCPSg.MEUCIDgGL7wEhhf0DcMprg_1VYV0TDGsyWYpn56E-cBhCGWoAiEA_YjdblG4oKzNoagG66jcPOhEtvtht7Du5gnihbZVDfU&sharetype=gift&token=82960010-bfb1-44e4-a677-de6e47ba5545

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Excerpt:

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Any predictions are by their nature uncertain, yet a longevity modelling firm has forecasted that both candidates are likely to live well beyond the end of the next presidency in 2029. According to Club Vita, actuarial data suggests both men could have more than another decade ahead of them.

The company, which offers analytical services to insurers, said its US model suggested Biden has a life expectancy of another 11 years, taking him to 91. Trump has 14 more years to look forward to, per the model, meaning he would die at 90.

The model’s inputs include affluence, marital status, and employment. These key demographics for both Biden and Trump put them in the same favourable categories for the main factors, including addresses in the top category for life expectancy: the analysts used Trump’s Palm Beach address and Biden’s Delaware home.

Erik Pickett, a New Jersey-based actuary for Club Vita, said a wide range of factors could prove its model wrong, from whether the candidates “are in significantly different health to the average of someone with the same characteristics” to the fact that presidents have “access to higher quality medical treatments” than the typical American.

Author(s): Ian Smith in London and David Crow in New York

Publication Date: 30 April 2023

Publication Site: FT.com

Social Security is Running Out of Time and Money, What Do Biden and Trump Propose?

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://mishtalk.com/economics/social-security-is-running-out-of-time-and-money-what-do-biden-and-trump-propose

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Excerpt:

Please consider the Biden-Trump Plan to Cut Social Security

  • Joe Biden: “I guarantee you I will protect Social Security and Medicare without any change. Guaranteed,” the president said in March. 
  • Donald Trump: “I will do everything within my power not to touch Social Security, to leave it the way it is.” A pro-Trump super PAC launched an ad attacking Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for his efforts as a member of Congress to restructure benefits.

While Trump promised to not touch SS, Biden said he would protect SS “without any change“.

Biden’s “guarantee” is impossible, by existing law. 

The pledge to not change a thing means automatic benefit cuts starting in 2033 according to the bipartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO). 

Author(s): Mike Shedlock

Publication Date: 15 April 2023

Publication Site: Mish Talk

Covid National Emergency Ends

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://kelleyk.substack.com/p/covid-national-emergency-ends

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Biden signed H.J.Res. 7, which ended the national emergency for Covid. Both the text of the bill, and the corresponding press release from the White House are short and sweet. The White House recently said Biden “strongly opposes HJ Res 7,” but that he would sign the bill if it passed. It passed with bipartisan support in both the House.

One thing that is tied to the national emergency is an extension of COBRA deadlines for people who are out of work. These deadlines are extended during the “outbreak period” which ends 60 days after the end of the national emergency.

The DHS rules for vaccine mandates for foreign travelers at land border crossings from Canada and Mexico rely on the national emergency as their legal basis, so theoretically they will end with the national emergency. But there has been no official actions to lift those rules, and I suspect the White House expects this vaccine mandate to continue for at least another month. (See section on travel vaccine mandates further down for more details.)

Author(s): Kelly K

Publication Date: 11 April 2023

Publication Site: Check Your Work

The Silicon Valley Bank Bailout

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-silicon-valley-bank-bailout-chorus-yellen-treasury-fed-fdic-deposit-limit-dodd-frank-run-cc80761e?st=vt2heieydvfhixo&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

Excerpt:

The Treasury and Federal Reserve stepped in late Sunday to contain the financial damage from Friday’s closure of Silicon Valley Bank, guaranteeing even uninsured deposits and offering loans to other banks so they don’t have to take losses on their fixed-income assets.

This is a de facto bailout of the banking system, even as regulators and Biden officials have been telling us that the economy is great and there was nothing to worry about. The unpleasant truth—which Washington will never admit—is that SVB’s failure is the bill coming due for years of monetary and regulatory mistakes.

Wall Street and Silicon Valley were in full panic over the weekend demanding that the Treasury and Fed intervene to save the day. It’s revealing to see who can keep a cool head in a crisis—and it wasn’t billionaire hedge-fund operator Bill Ackman or venture investor David Sacks, both frantic panic spreaders.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. closed SVB, and the cleanest solution would be for the agency to find a private buyer for the bank. This has been the first resort in most previous financial panics, and the FDIC was holding an auction that closed Sunday afternoon.

….

But there is political risk from a bailout too. If the Administration acts to guarantee deposits without Congressional approval, it will face legitimate legal questions. The White House may choose to jam House Speaker Kevin McCarthy if markets aren’t mollified. But Mr. McCarthy has a restive GOP caucus as it is, and a bailout for rich depositors will feed populist anger against Washington.

The critics have a point. For the second time in 15 years (excluding the brief Covid-caused panic), regulators will have encouraged a credit mania, and then failed to foresee the financial panic when the easy money stopped. Democrats and the press corps may try to pin the problem on bankers or the Trump Administration, but these are political diversions.

Author(s): WSJ Editorial Board

Publication Date: 12 Mar 2023

Publication Site: WSJ

Yellen Said “No Bailout” But It’s a Huge Bailout of the Banking System

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://mishtalk.com/economics/yellen-said-no-bailout-but-its-a-huge-bailout-of-the-banking-system

Excerpt:

It won’t matter but I am pleased the Journal blasted Bill Ackman and venture investor David Sacks,  as “frantic panic spreaders“.

There’s more in the article about how Rohit Chopra, an Elizabeth Warren acolyte on the FDIC board, is hostile to bank mergers on ideological grounds, perhaps preventing a merger.

The Journal speculates how Biden might illegally act to guarantee all deposits or pressure House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

….

Once again, the Fed kept interest rates too low, too long, encouraged speculation, then bailed out the banks.

Spare me the sap about this was a depositor bailout not a bank bailout. 

When you value assets at par so that banks don’t have losses, what the hell is it.

Author(s): Mike Shedlock

Publication Date: 12 Mar 2023

Publication Site: Mish Talk

EBSA Secretary Defends ESG Rule as Legislative, Litigation Battles Continue

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.ai-cio.com/news/ebsa-secretary-defends-esg-rule-as-legislative-litigation-battles-continue/

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Excerpt:

The Department of Labor’s assistant secretary of labor for employee benefits security, Lisa Gomez, defended the DOL’s final rule allowing the consideration of ESG factors in retirement plan investments at a webinar hosted Monday by Ceres, a sustainability advocate.

The rule, which took effect on January 30, permits, but does not require, the use of ESG considerations in investment selection by retirement plan fiduciaries. There is a pending lawsuit in Texas challenging the legality of the rule.

Gomez explained that this rule is “not a per se requirement” to use ESG and clarifies that ESG factors may be considered as part of a fiduciary’s ordinary risk-return analysis. She also explained that this new rule does not allow fiduciaries to sacrifice the financial health of a plan to pursue other goals: A fiduciary may consider the risks and opportunities of climate change and other ESG factors.

Gomez dubbed the rule “a return to neutrality.”

According to Gomez, the previous rule, passed during the administration of President Donald Trump, which required only “pecuniary factors” to be used in investment selection, had a “chilling effect” on the consideration of ESG factors. Gomez said the word “pecuniary” neither appears in the text of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, the governing statute for both rules, nor does it occupy a “long-standing place in employee benefits law.”

Gomez briefly discussed one of the more nebulous provisions of the new rule when she said participant preferences for investments can be considered in menu selection on the grounds that it can increase plan participation and deferral rates, thereby increasing retirement security. She did not comment on how fiduciaries should determine adequate participant interest or how much economic gain could be compromised in exchange for increased participation, if any.

Eric Pitt, a climate finance consultant at Ceres who moderated the webinar, asked Gomez how a fiduciary should consider a hypothetical ESG large-cap stock fund for a plan menu: Should the fiduciary compare it to other similar ESG funds or the entire universe of large-cap funds? Gomez answered that there is no special treatment for ESG funds, and a fiduciary should look generally at the risk and return for any and all large-cap equity funds available, whether they use ESG considerations or not.

Despite the branding of the rule as neutral, Republicans in Congress have increased their organized opposition to the use of ESG considerations in retirement-plan investing.

Representative Patrick McHenry, R-North Carolina, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, announced the creation of a “Republican ESG working group” on Friday. The purpose of the working group is to “combat the threat to our capital markets posed by those on the far-left pushing environmental, social, and governance (ESG) proposals.”

Author(s): Paul Mullholland

Publication Date: 6 Feb 2023

Publication Site: ai-CIO

The End of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency: Details on Health Coverage and Access

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.kff.org/policy-watch/the-end-of-the-covid-19-public-health-emergency-details-on-health-coverage-and-access/

Excerpt:

On Jan. 30, 2023, the Biden Administration announced it will end the public health emergency (and national emergency) declarations on May 11, 2023. Here’s what major health policies will and won’t change when the public health emergency ends.

Vaccines

What’s changing: Nothing. The availability, access, and costs of COVID-19 vaccines, including boosters, are determined by the supply of federally purchased vaccines, not the public health emergency.

What’s the same: As long as federally purchased vaccines last, COVID-19 vaccines will remain free to all people, regardless of insurance coverage. Providers of federally purchased vaccines are not allowed to charge patients or deny vaccines based on the recipient’s coverage or network status.

….

At-home COVID tests

What’s changing: At-home (or over-the-counter) tests may become more costly for people with insurance. After May 11, 2023, people with traditional Medicare will no longer receive free, at-home tests. Those with private insurance and Medicare Advantage (private Medicare plans) no longer will be guaranteed free at-home tests, but some insurers may continue to voluntarily cover them.

For those on Medicaid, at-home tests will be covered at no-cost through September 2024. After that date, home test coverage will vary by state.

….

COVID Treatment

What’s changing: People with public coverage may start to face new cost-sharing for pharmaceutical COVID treatments (unless those doses were purchased by the federal government, as discussed below). Medicare beneficiaries may face cost-sharing requirements for certain COVID pharmaceutical treatments after May 11. Medicaid and CHIP programs will continue to cover all pharmaceutical treatments with no-cost sharing through September 2024. After that date, these treatments will continue to be covered; however, states may impose utilization limits and nominal cost-sharing.

….

Author(s): Cynthia Cox Follow @cynthiaccox on Twitter , Jennifer Kates Follow @jenkatesdc on Twitter , Juliette Cubanski Follow @jcubanski on Twitter , and Jennifer Tolbert

Publication Date: 3 Feb 2023

Publication Site: Kaiser Family Foundation

What Happens if US Debt Defaults? Just Short-Term Pain, Sages Say

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.ai-cio.com/news/what-happens-if-us-debt-defaults-just-short-term-pain-sages-say/

Excerpt:

So what is likely to occur this year?

Everything will be settled without a big problem for investors, predicts Robert Hunkeler, International Paper’s vice president of investments.

“I guess Congress and the White House will eventually finish their game of chicken, and the debt limit will be raised,” he opines. “There might be a little more drama and brinksmanship this time around, because there are more cooks in Congress than usual, and that’s saying a lot. Either way, I wouldn’t change my investments because of it.”

To Kostin and his Goldman staff, the risk that Congress fails to boost the debt limit by the deadline is “higher than at any point since 2011,” but “the team believes it’s more likely that Congress will raise the debt limit before the Treasury is forced to delay scheduled payments.”

If the debt ceiling is not raised in time to make those payments, in Goldman’s estimate, the economy would shrink by about $225 billion per month, or 10% of annualized gross domestic product. That’s provided that the Treasury does what policy wonks call, “prioritize,” meaning somehow continuing to pay interest on the national debt, but to stop payment on other obligations.

For Thomas Swaney, CIO for global fixed income at Northern Trust Asset Management, another credit downgrade for the government is possible.

“The practical implications of a credit downgrade are not entirely clear,” he writes in a report. “But we don’t expect a modest downgrade to result in market disruptions for Treasuries, U.S. agency debt or overnight repurchase agreements.”

Author(s): Larry Light

Publication Date: 6 Feb 2023

Publication Site: ai-CIO

Does the GOP Want a Government Default So It Can Kill Social Security?

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://jacobin.com/2023/01/republicans-debt-ceiling-shock-doctrine-spending-cuts

Excerpt:

The debt ceiling is normally a dull topic, and many have understandably neglected to follow along. To recap, the debt ceiling is the artificial cap Congress places on the amount of money the government can borrow. As Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen and others have pointed out, there is little practical reason for the debt ceiling to exist at all. From a technical point of view, it is a formality to authorize the Treasury to pay bills the government has already incurred. Through creative accounting, the Treasury can keep paying for a few more months, and then it will have to stop unless Congress votes to raise the debt ceiling.

All sides agree that the US government deliberately defaulting on debts would be the financial equivalent of an atom bomb, causing immediate painful shocks across the world economy and unpredictable long-term effects. In order to avoid this scenario, voting to raise the debt ceiling is usually a matter of course — though the number of near and actual government shutdowns from Congress playing chicken with the ceiling have increased in recent decades.

But it might be different this time. As Politico reported last week, a number of former government officials who negotiated during previous standoffs over the debt ceiling think there’s much less room for a negotiated settlement this year.

The main reason is that, at least on the surface, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is in a weak position, effectively held hostage by conditions that were imposed on him by the most extreme members of the House Republican conference during his election to speaker. Those conditions specifically require significant spending cuts in exchange for raising the debt ceiling.

….

Democrats also argue that though Republicans insist on reducing spending, they have refused to make specific demands for what they want cut. Here is where The Shock Doctrine might provide a hint of what’s to come. The idea of privatizing Social Security has been “lying around” since George W. Bush’s presidency. Joe Biden himself has a long, well-documented history of trying to cut Social Security and Medicare, though in public statements since 2020 he has consistently said he would not agree to do so.

Kevin McCarthy and other Republicans have repeatedly floated the idea of cutting the popular programs over the past year. While McCarthy appeared to abruptly back off the idea of cutting Social Security and Medicare as part of the debt ceiling negotiations on Sunday, his ambiguous promise to “strengthen” the programs without specifying what that means leaves plenty of room for privatization.

Author(s): Ben Beckett

Publication Date: 31 Jan 2023

Publication Site: Jacobin