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The Treasury Department is ending an ineffective Obama program that promised to help millions of Americans save for retirement, the government announced Friday.

Treasury announced the myRA program would be phased out, after costing taxpayers $70 million though few Americans used the program.

Former president Barack Obama used his 2014 State of the Union address to launch the myRA program, with a promise to "help millions" to save for retirement. Two years later, only 20,000 had signed up.

"The myRA program was created to help low to middle income earners start saving for retirement," said Jovita Carranza, U.S. Treasurer. "Unfortunately, there has been very little demand for the program, and the cost to taxpayers cannot be justified by the assets in the program."

A review of the program by the Trump administration found that 20,000 accounts have a median balance of only $500. An additional 10,000 accounts had no money in them at all.

Program costs doubled that of Americans’ contributions into myRA. The program has cost taxpayers $70 million since 2014, and participants have contributed $34 million to their accounts. Going forward, the program would cost an additional $10 million in taxpayer funding each year.

Carranza said there are "ample private sector solutions" for Americans to utilize, rather than the cost ineffective myRA program. "We will be phasing out the myRA program over the coming months," she said. "We will be communicating frequently with participants to help facilitate a smooth transition to other investment opportunities."

The department said that participants in the program will be notified and can transfer their savings into another individual retirement account.

"We are committed to promoting retirement savings, and, as Treasurer, I plan to devote a substantial amount of my time to ensuring more Americans have the tools and knowhow to save for retirement," Carranza said.

 

http://freebeacon.com/issues/t...-retirement-program/

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1,332 Counties Will Only Have One Health Insurer on Obamacare Exchange in 2018

40 counties in the United States will have no choices on the Obamacare exchanges

 

Next year, there will be 1,332 counties in the United States that will only have one health insurer operating on the Obamacare exchanges, according to recent data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

The agency has been looking at health insurer announcements and compiling data to see which counties will have either one or no Obamacare insurers operating in 2018. Roughly a month ago, the agency projected that 1,300 counties would have only one insurer operating next year.

The agency also previously reported there were 49 counties left with no insurer operating next year, but recent data finds that the number has declined to 40
counties

"The map currently shows that nationwide 40 counties are projected to have no issuers, meaning that Americans in these counties could be without coverage on the Exchanges in 2018," the agency said. "It's also projected that 1,332 counties—over 40 percent of counties nationwide—could only have one issuer in 2018."

"This could represent more than 2.3 million Exchange participants that will only have one choice and may not be able to receive the coverage they need," the agency said.

In addition, the report finds that average premiums have increased by 21.6 percent between 2016 and 2017 while carrier participation has declined by 31.2 percent since 2015.

"We continue to see a decline in issuer participation in the Health Insurance Exchanges leaving consumers with fewer and fewer insurance options," said CMS administrator Seema Verma. "I am deeply concerned about the crisis situation facing the individual market in many states across the nation."

Even if an individual lives in an area where there is no insurer offering health coverage, individuals will still be forced to purchase coverage because of Obamacare's individual mandate.

Senators Bob Corker (R., Tenn.) and Lamar Alexander (R., Tenn.) have introduced legislation that would protect people from being penalized for not having insurance when there are no insurers operating on the exchanges in their area.

The Health Care Options Act of 2017 would waive the penalty in these cases and allow individuals to purchase coverage outside of the exchanges.

"This legislation would help those in Knoxville and across the country by allowing any American who receives a subsidy and has no insurance available on their exchange next year to use that subsidy to buy any state-approved insurance off of the exchange," said Sen. Corker. "Second, the bill would waive the Affordable Care Act requirement that these Americans, who have zero insurance options with their subsidies, have to pay a penalty for not purchasing insurance."

"Third, this legislation will help bring peace of mind between now and the beginning of next year to millions of Americans, some of the most vulnerable people in the country, who face having zero options of health insurance to purchase with their subsidy," he said.

 

http://freebeacon.com/issues/1...acare-exchange-2018/

direstraits posted:
jtdavis posted:

Low to middle class income people are living paycheck to paycheck and don't have any extra money to put into a retirement plan. For the last 40 years, most of the income gains have gone to the top percent.

So, what did Obama or Clinton do in their 16 years? 

Here's what Obama & Clinton did in their 16 years.. to low - middle income folks. "Nothing" but offer the "I Can'ts"  Carrots, free meds, Food Stamps & cell phone handouts to dangle in front of them, in exchange for their vote. Should have been teaching young folks "how to" instead of "I can't". But still, you got to Want to Learn first or be an "I Can't Person the rest of your Dependent Life"= Democrat:

giftedamateur posted:
direstraits posted:
jtdavis posted:

Low to middle class income people are living paycheck to paycheck and don't have any extra money to put into a retirement plan. For the last 40 years, most of the income gains have gone to the top percent.

So, what did Obama or Clinton do in their 16 years? 

Divided the country.

 Priority #1 = Accomplished !! Way to go....POS's

Naio posted:

What is trump doing to unite us?

I no longer want to be united with the ignorance of the flaming
socialist Saul Alinsky mobuma, Clinton left with their complete
herd of knuckle dragging idiots. mobumer killed fifty years of
healing race relations,
 
What was done in the last eight years for uniting us.??
There ain't no us, rationalism isn't a part of the liberal brain..
   

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