ObamaCare Exchanges Fill : Dumping of City Retires

What a good idea, not only having many large cities heading into bankruptcy because of unfunded liabilities for retirees, but now with ObamaCare exchanges coming and these debt ridden cities see this as a way of funding their obligations by dumping the retires into the exchanges, the result will be the entire country going bankrupt.

The federal government is broke. Is this so difficult to understand that making promises that everyone with half a brain knows is just snake oil, political rhetoric, and yet the line grows long?

Who thought another federal mandate will solve our problems of health care or anything else for that matter, especially when a problem of good health care never really existed in the first place.

A majority of the population  thought there was. Remember last November? Remember John Roberts of the Supreme Court? ObamaCare isn't a mandate, it's tax? Really? Welcome to the real world of socialism. The majority decided it was a good thing to give up good health care wait in line for poor health care, so live it as you try to find a way to survive until tomorrow.

What were people thinking when they voted for personal destruction? or not.

Troubled Cities See Exchanges as Way to Unload Retirees
Source: Mark Niquette and Alex Wayne, "Troubled Cities See Exchanges as Way to Unload Retirees," Bloomberg, July 1, 2013.
July 8, 2013

Detroit is facing bankruptcy and Chicago wants to cut retiree benefit costs. Both are turning to President Barack Obama's health care overhaul in what could become a road map for cash-strapped cities. The municipalities plan to end or limit health coverage for retirees under age 65 who don't yet qualify for Medicare, with the expectation they can get insurance in the exchanges opening January 1 under the Affordable Care Act, says Bloomberg.

With U.S. cities facing rising benefit costs and billions of dollars in unfunded liabilities, more municipalities will consider moving retirees off city rolls and into the exchanges, even if they continue to subsidize the coverage, says Neil Bomberg, a program director at the National League of Cities in Washington.

• Coverage for about 7 million people expected to enroll in health exchanges next year will cost U.S. taxpayers about $26 billion, the Congressional Budget Office says.
• That figure nearly doubles a year later, and exchange coverage is expected to total $1.1 trillion through 2023.

A spokeswoman for the agency said in an e-mail that it has no estimate of how many people in exchanges will be retirees.

• In Detroit, reducing benefits for 30,000 employees and retirees is part of Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr's plan to avoid the largest U.S. municipal bankruptcy by erasing a $386 million deficit and attacking a long-term debt of at least $17 billion.
• The city had 19,389 retirees eligible for health, life insurance and death benefits as of June 30, 2011, according to Orr's plan.
• The insurance benefits cost the city $177.4 million in fiscal 2012. Retirees contributed an additional $23.5 million.

Chicago plans to phase out retiree health coverage by the beginning of 2017. The city projects that health care spending would increase to $540.7 million in 2023 from $108.8 million in 2012 without changes.