Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Reason TV: If you like your plan you can keep it - rap


Another ObamaCare security breach reported in Vermont

It’s increasingly clear that Healthcare.gov won’t meet the promised November 30 deadline for relaunch with near-total operating capacity. But if the online system ever does improve enough to allow a surge of applicants to get past the front end of the system, they’ll be walking into a data security nightmare, made all the worse by the incontrovertible fact that none of the hasty last-minute fixes could possibly have been tested for either hacker protection, or the kind of self-generated data integrity breach administrations don’t want to discuss, until freedom of information laws force them to.

This same Government that did so well with Benghazi, Fast & Furious, running the VA and managing the TSA. What makes anyone think that they would be doing so much better with this?

Monday, November 25, 2013

Obamacare and related thoughts

The Indiana school districts claim that they'll have to reduce working hours or lay off workers in order to shoulder the increased costs - or financial penalties - the employer mandate would impose upon them.

Sorry but it couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of people. Teachers overwhelmingly voted for Obama and they overwhelmingly supported Obamacare (ACA). They wanted this, they own this!

In a related article, this part is spot on:

The idea that an insurer like Regence can, or will, spin on a dime and revive our ol’ $587 Woody within the next six weeks is absurd.

True, Obama's "dictate" that insurance companies can continue to offer their older, non-qualifying plans for another year was (as is most things Obama) pure BS. He knows that there is NO way the insurance companies can re-tool their plans and get state commissioner approval to offer the older plans in time. Not to mention that those already cancelled are still cancelled. Done is done.

All I can say is, you voted for it, you own it and you sure are starting to get it! With his closing paragraph, this rube guarantees that he will not only get it, but he will get it hard and continue to get it repeatedly as this particular old dog refuses to learn a new trick.

We’re willing to suck it up and pay our fair share for health insurance. We want the exchanges to work.

What is so funny about this piece is that he still thinks himself so smart, enlightened and righteous but he is none of those things. This was a designed disaster. It may be running ahead of schedule but it is and has been on the projected path. He is a rube of the highest order as even after being shown the truth, he continues to willingly and gladly drink the Kool-Aid.

In a related note, is it just me or do you also want to just scream at everyone that dares utter the meaningless phrase "fair share". What the HELL is your "fair share"? It is liberal fairy dust. It is unicorns. It is whatever the person uttering it thinks it means at that time and place. The is the apex of empty gestures. It is a sliding scale of demand for more. It comes from the same suitcase as "living wage", "give back" and "social justice". These are the things that liberals utter when they can't bring themselves to tell you what they really think either because they aren't thinking or they know what they are thinking will get them laughed out of the conversation so they dress it up with these "oh so PC" catch phrases hoping to slide past logic.

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

President "asterisk"

Census ‘faked’ 2012 election jobs report. That along with the IRS intimidation of the opposition, the asterisk on Obama’s re-election gets bigger. . . .

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Obamcare item(s)

I love this quote:

If you can’t take some joy, some modicum of relief and mirth, in the unprecedentedly spectacular beclowning of the president, his administration, its enablers, and, to no small degree, liberalism itself, then you need to ask yourself why you’re following politics in the first place. Because, frankly, this has been one of the most enjoyable political moments of my lifetime. I wake up in the morning and rush to find my just-delivered newspaper with a joyful expectation of worsening news so intense, I feel like Morgan Freeman should be narrating my trek to the front lawn. Indeed, not since Dan Rather handcuffed himself to a fraudulent typewriter, hurled it into the abyss, and saw his career plummet like Ted Kennedy was behind the wheel have I enjoyed a story more.

And this part is a keeper:

During the government shutdown, Barack Obama held fast, heroically refusing to give an inch to the hostage-taking, barbaric orcs of the Tea Party who insisted on delaying Obamacare. It was a triumph for the master strategist in the White House, who finally maneuvered the Republicans into revealing their extremism. But we didn’t know something back then: Obama desperately needed a delay of Healthcare.gov. In his arrogance, though, he couldn’t bring himself to admit it. The other possibility is that he is such an incompetent manager, who has cultivated such a culture of yes-men, that he was completely in the dark about the problems. That’s the reigning storyline right now from the White House. Obama was betrayed. “If I had known,” he told his staff, “we could have delayed the website.”

This is how you know we’re in the political sweet spot: when the only plausible excuses for the administration are equally disastrous indictments.

Nice graphic with the article too!

In addition to stories/opinion pieces like this, "old" news continues to leak out. Items like:

"what neither Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius nor WebMD mentioned at the time was that the company, which millions of Americans regularly read for health news, also stood to earn millions of dollars from a federal contract to teach doctors about Obamacare."

With a revelation like that, how much can you really trust WebMD?

In related news, the White House says that 26,794 Americans selected insurance through the Obamacare web site in its first month.

What the heck does "selected" mean? If they "bought" insurance or "paid" for insurance, they would surely say that. Instead they use the word "selected". Well I selected a car I want, a Maserati but as I can't afford it, I don't think the local dealer will be able to count my "selection" in their quarterly sales report. Only the government can say or do things that citizens and businesses would be locked up for.

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Obamacare, the gift that keeps on giving...

Per PJMedia (read the whole thing):

  • Non-citizens are eligible for Medicaid and CHIP (Children’s Health Insurance Program). This is not a new development. However, the documentation and verification process for such enrollments was significantly eased by regulations in the Affordable Care Act.
  • Getting fraudulent applications for Medicaid or CHIP approved is now easier, and thus more likely.
  • Applicants attempting to register for Medicaid as non-citizens by using Healthcare.gov will have their identification checked in real-time by the SAVE (Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements) database. But if SAVE verification fails, the applicant is not prevented from enrolling in Medicaid/CHIP.
  • In fact, the opposite occurs: the applicant is likely enrolled in Medicaid immediately.
  • The applicant is then given a 90-day period to clear up the identification problem.
  • This “enroll first, confirm later” regulation, combined with the ACA’s easing of verification requirements, allows anyone, from a computer anywhere in the world, to successfully auto-enroll for 90 days of Medicaid by entering fraudulent information about being a certain category of legal alien living in the United States.
  • There is no guarantee that state governments will take action to cancel these enrollments at the end of each application’s 90-day period if identification is never provided. The cancellation of unverified enrollments is left to each state’s available manpower and political will.
  • At the end of the 90-day period, if states do indeed ask the applicant to produce identification or to have the enrollment canceled, the applicant is allowed to ask for an extension of the 90-day period. The applicant can get the period extended for significantly longer.
  • Obamacare does not allow any information entered into Healthcare.gov to be used for legal action against illegal immigrants. Like “catch and release,” an applicant could attempt to fraudulently enroll repeatedly.

So Obamacare has been designed to allow ANYONE (citizen or not) to apply for insurance and likely register to vote. They have at least 90 days to verify that they are citizen or legal immigrants but if not, oh well, no big deal.

To add insult to injury, the latest Obamacare ad campaign takes condescension and insults to an entirely new level, though as the target demographic (young adults) overwhelmingly voted for Obama, the agency releasing the ads may "know their market" all too well...

There is the "Brosurance" ad:



Then the "Hosurance" ad:



And finally the "Young, Single, Pregnant" ad:


One needs to ensure that these young folks understand how important insurance is in terms they will understand. How not having insurance can affect your budget (cutting into beer money), your recreational activities (slutting around is easier with "free" birth control) and if that should fail, dealing with the resulting wanted or unwanted pregnancy.

The funny thing about all of this is that this generation is the one getting royally screwed by Obamacare. They are the relatively healthy folks that would normally only have a catastrophic coverage plan as they don't go to the doctor much, get sick much or have minor (doctor visiting) injuries much. They ALL now have to have plans that contain maternity, pre-natal, birth control, etc., etc., etc. Now they have to have a full coverage plan with higher than expected premiums to help pay for everyone else's insurance.

You all like trolling for strange? Well Obama has definitely given it to you good and hard with "sloppy seconds" by Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. Hope you enjoyed it and just be gone by morning...

Friday, November 8, 2013

Obamacare realities

Well it looks like the "new reality" is starting to sink in and even those that chose to be willfully blind are starting to notice.
But don't worry because the exchanges are working so very well!
  • In NC "only 1,000 people had filled out applications as of October 15th. In fact, only one person was able to successfully use Healthcare.gov to enroll in the new exchange." but "even that single person has not paid, which means the enrollment is not complete"
I am sure that they will run this program so much better than their "free cell phone" program. The size of Obamacare makes the cell phone program look like a lemonade stand and look how well they have been managing that program!
  • The government spent $2.2 billion on the program last year alone, and a review of the top five providers by the FCC for the Wall Street Journal showed that 41 percent, or six million of their free-phone subscribers, couldn’t demonstrate eligibility or failed to respond to requests for certification.
So, with this as typical Government competence in running large programs, I am sure we don't have anything to worry about. The "glitches" will be worked out any day now and then it will be all smooth sailing!

It is getting to the point that the most frightening words you can ever hear are: We are from the Government and are here to help.

Monday, November 4, 2013

Post Obamacare America

Welcome to the new post-Obamacare America where the constitution and individual liberty is just a quaint relic of the past.

Virginia Democrat Calls For Forcing Doctors To Accept Medicare And Medicaid Patients

In this new America, we all are property of the Government and it (the Government) is free to allocate us (resources) as they see fit. This includes requiring doctors to see patients. You can't have people reacting to government incentives, can you? Screw with the healthcare system, reduce the patient / doctor relationship, set disbursement rates below the cost of care and remove doctor choices. This all results in doctors exercising their rights as citizens and business owners to choose who to service.

Democrat delegate candidate Kathleen Murphy said that since many doctors are not accepting medicaid and medicare patients, she advocates making it a legal requirement for those people to be accepted.

She did not recognize that the payments are inadequate to cover the doctors' costs. She also did not recognize there is a shortage of over 45,000 physicians now and that it is forecast to be 90,000 in a few years.

Democrats appear to want to make physicians slaves of the state, but Democrats don't admit they would just drive more doctors out of practice into retirement and other occupations.

The land of unicorns and rainbows (Obamacare) continues its slow motion crash into the granite wall known as reality with more and more stories like this: a patient with stage-4 gall bladder cancer had great doctors and health insurance until his plan was cancelled and now worries about how long he will live.

He is not the only one: The 84-year-old widow, whose husband worked at now-defunct Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel, saw her payment for out-of-pocket expenses go from $3,400 to $6,700; the co-pay cost for a hospital stay went from zero to $200 a day. “I think it’s terrible. They shouldn’t be canceling what I have,” she said. “They are raising my prices and taking away privileges.”

“It is highly alarming that Obama repeatedly claimed that everyone could keep their doctor and their insurance plan and that now appears to have been – how to put this? ... A lie,” said Iowa State University political science professor Steffen Schmidt. “People by the millions are and will have their current policies cancelled, period.”

Despite all of the evidence that Obama did not speak the truth: White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett tweeted on Monday night: “FACT: Nothing in #Obamacare forces people out of their health plans. No change is required unless insurance companies change existing plans.”

Really Valerie? Tell that to all of these people that have had their current policies cancelled. You and the likes of James Carville might consider their existing insurance plans "fake plans" or "not really insurance" because they don't support things like maternity coverage or birth control but it was working just fine for these people.

When Obama made all of those great healthcare speeches, he said "If you like your plan you can keep your plan." and "If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor". and "Nothing on the ACA is going to change what you have now." At no time did he ever say, unless (as it happens every year) your plan changes IN ANY WAY no matter HOW SMALL. Rates are always adjusted year to year. Plan details are always being tweaked. Most people did not expect business and usual to result in their current plans no longer being eligible for grandfathering. No one that is except for the Democrats that wrote and jammed this mess through Congress and onto the President's desk. They knew this. The Republicans knew this and tried to stop it but all of the Democrats 100% voted to keep these restrictions in the law forcing YOU to loose your current plan.

Some would argue that this entire Obamacare fiasco is going according to plan. President Obama is on record saying he is in favor of single payer and Obamacare looks like the perfect tool with which to destroy the American medical system. This is such a mess that people will demand a solution and team Obama will say they need to move to single payer to "fix this mess". They will blame "this mess" on Republicans, the Tea Party, insurance companies, doctors, and anyone and anything else they can think of but will always advocate doing more instead of doing less. More government, more intervention, more rules and more regulations. That is all they know, that is all they can see and most importantly, that is all they want.

Friday, November 1, 2013

Obama and the Democrats OWN Obamacare lock stock and barrel

Senate Democrats voted unanimously three years ago to support the Obamacare rule that is largely responsible for some of the health insurance cancellation letters that are going out.

The citizens overwhelmingly did not support Obamacare. The Republicans did not support Obamacare. The President and the Democrats not only completely, 100% own this mess but lied about it just about every step of the way. From Nancy's "We have to pass it to see what is in it." to Obama's "If you like your plan, you can keep your plan." and crap this this. It is ALL on them. Don't let anyone forget or spin their way out of this.

Obamacare enrollment numbers are finally being "found"

"the government said there were 4.7 million unique visits in the first 24 hours...six enrollments have occurred"

By the next day enrollments were up to "approximately 100"

No wonder they "don't have any figures".

How much did they spend on this site again? How long have they been pushing this site again? If this were the private sector, not only would the company have fired those responsible but the Government would be holding 24/7 hearings and demanding accountability, refunds and heads.

Don't forget, Sebelius said to Congress that she did not have any figures. If CBS News could get them, how come she couldn't? Did she lie to Congress? To quote another Obama appointee "What difference does it make"?