Quiet Week For Merck; Republican "Obamacare Rate Shock" Claim Debunked

Updated: Off-Topic -- Seamus Heaney, a giant of Irish poems, has passed. The Nobel laureate was 74. Travel well through the Universe then, friend.

...And after the commanded journey, what?

Nothing magnificent, nothing unknown.

A gazing out from far away, alone.

And it is not particular at all,

Just old truth dawning: there is no next-time-round....

So true.

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Going into the long weekend, it seems that news on (or involving) Whitehouse Station has all but dried up.

So -- we will take this Friday morning moment to note -- with the aid of Bloomberg News Service -- that most of the claims of the Republican leadership in Tennessee, Florida, Missouri and Ohio (among other states) have been debunked. The claim was that most consumers would see staggering premium increases in individual health care insurance rates, post the October 1, 2013 implementation of the ACA of 2010. It is -- and was -- false. Now, a Rand study confirms this:

. . . .Out-of-pocket premiums for most individuals who buy health plans through new insurance exchanges will decline because of federal subsidies, the Santa Monica, California-based nonprofit research group said today in a report. The researchers looked at insurance markets in 10 states to project costs as core parts of the 2010 health law kick in next year. . . .

The Rand study was conducted on behalf of the U.S. Health and Human Services Department and looked at insurance rates in Florida, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Texas. . . .

It seems the radical right wing of the Republican party was comparing apples to. . . bicycles. Huge surprise. In fact, the Tea Partiers were soliciting quotes for Cadillac coverage (post October 1, 2013, under Obamacare), and comparing that rate to the rates quoted on bare bones coverage, pre-Obamacare.

Cherry picking your numbers? I'm shocked. Shocked -- I tell you. So it goes.

Have a safe and relaxing long weekend, one and all.