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Do You Believe Obama This Time? How About Now? …Now?


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The rights in a box: Heres how GOP loses Obamacare fight

The amazing politics of Obamacare's success stories -- especially in Kentucky -- could cost the GOP their leader

Brian Beutler

11/18/13

 

The fact that Affordable Care Act enrollments are spiking in states that have functioning exchange websites of their own is great news for the law and for the many thousands of people who will be newly, or better, insured come Jan. 1.

 

(snip)

 

 

Oh No! We're doomed!

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Tom Edsall Discovers Hayek

Steven Hayward

11/20/13

 

Thomas B. Edsall, a pillar of the mainstream medias liberalism, wonders in the New York Times today whether the federal government can manage something as complex as health care:

 

 

Health care as a necessity comes only after food, shelter and income security. The mismanagement of the website HealthCare.gov and the cancellation of millions of policies pushes an underlying question out into the open: is the federal government capable of managing the provision of a fundamental service through an extraordinarily complex system?

Better late than never I suppose. And like Robert Kuttner, he sees the political handwriting on the wall:

 

(Snip)

 

And then, lo and behold, this paragraph appears:

 

The redistributive arithmetic of Obamacares architecture could never add up, Steven Hayward, a visiting scholar in conservative thought and policy at the University of Colorado, wrote in Forbes magazine: The wonder is that Obamas political team didnt see this coming and prepare a pre-emptive strategy for dealing with the inevitable exposure of the duplicity at the heart of Obamacares logic.

So what does Obama have to say now? You wont believe this:

 

We are going to have to obviously remarket and rebrand [Obamacare], and that will be challenging in this political environment.

 

(Snip)

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NYT: Obamacare Debacle Could Kill Big Blue

Walter Russell Mead

11/20/13

 

Does the Obamacare debacle mean the death of the American liberal dream? Thomas Edsall, an op-ed columnist for the New York Times, thinks that it might. In a strongly worded and closely reasoned piece, Edsall asks what, for many loyal Times readers, is the unthinkable question:

 

I]s the federal government capable of managing the provision of a fundamental service through an extraordinarily complex system?

Sounding like some kind of Fox News contributor, the left-leaning Edsall goes on to point out that the Obamacare dream ignores some basic realities about the way the world and the government work. Democrats pitched the Affordable Care Act as a law that would let the haves keep their doctors and their plans while giving more care to the have-nots, meanwhile offering Amazon levels of service to all comers through a magical website. Now that the quest for that kind of system is looking more like a misguided unicorn hunt, Edsall suddenly, horribly, begins to see just how foolish and utopian the whole project was:

 

(Snip)

 

Worse, catching the magic Obamacare unicorn involves making some large and inflexible government computer systems do things they werent designed to do. As Edsall now belatedly understands, the IRS, DHS and other government systems cant provide the kind of seamless service that the Presidents grand dream requires. The result?

 

The seven million people officials initially estimated would sign up for the Obamacare insurance exchanges this year are putting their well-being and that of their families in the hands of government bureaucracies armed with demonstrably inadequate technological expertise.

And so the ghastly truth must be confessed:

 

Cumulatively, recent developments surrounding the rollout of Obamacare strengthen the most damaging conservative portrayals of liberalism and of big government that on one hand government is too much a part of our lives, too invasive, too big, too scary, too regulatory, too in your face, and on the other hand it is incompetent, bureaucratic and expropriatory.

(Snip)

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Ah Memories! Sigh

 

The White House

Sep 27, 2013

 

Starting October 1st, you can go to http://www.healthcare.gov and use the new Health Insurance Marketplace to see all of the health plans available in your area and sign up for the one that fits your needs and budget. You can also find out if you're eligible to pay less for private health insurance or whether you qualify for other free or low-cost programs.

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Obama hits new low with Dems

Amie Parnes

11/20/13

 

(Snip)

 

Sources who attended a meeting of House chiefs of staff on Monday say the room was seething with anger over the immense damage being done to the Democratic Party and talk was of scrapping rollout events for the Affordable Care Act.

 

Here we are, were supposed to be selling this to people, and its all screwed up, one chief of staff ranted. This either gets fixed or this could be the demise of the Democratic Party.

 

Its probably the worst Ive ever seen it, the aide said of the recent mood on Capitol Hill. Its bad. Its really bad.

 

Meanwhile, at a recent caucus meeting with Senate Democrats and White House chief of staff Denis McDonough, one senator stood up and asked for a political point of contact at the White House.

 

Theres been an increase in frustration because people feel like they are continuing to be blindsided, said one Democrat who attended the caucus meeting, adding that theres a check-the-box mentality at the White House in dealing with lawmakers.

 

(Snip)

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Insurers restricting choice of doctors and hospitals to keep costs down. Washington Post

 

As Americans have begun shopping for health plans on the insurance exchanges, they are discovering that insurers are restricting their choice of doctors and hospitals in order to keep costs low, and that many of the plans exclude top-rated hospitals.

 

The Obama administration made it a priority to keep down the cost of insurance on the exchanges, the online marketplaces that are central to the Affordable Care Act. But one way that insurers have been able to offer lower rates is by creating networks that are far smaller than what most Americans are accustomed to.


The decisions have provoked a backlash. In one closely watched case, Seattle Children’s Hospital has filed suit against Washington’s insurance commissioner after a number of insurers kept it out of their provider networks. “It is unprecedented in our market to have major insurance plans exclude Seattle Children’s,” said Sandy Melzer, senior vice president.

 

Obama: "You can keep your doctor".

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Obama hits new low with Dems

Amie Parnes

11/20/13

Gut check time for the Democrats

Paul Mirengoff

11/20/13

 

Do the Democrat colors (pink?) run? Well soon find out.

 

The Hill reports on a raucous meeting of House chiefs of staff yesterday. The room, it says, was seething with anger over the immense damage being done to the Democratic party by Obamacare. One chief of staff declared, this either gets fixed or it could be the demise of the Democratic Party.

 

(Snip)

 

UPDATE: To me, its an interesting question whether Obama believed that radically transforming things like our health care system would entail only a small political cost. Obama has great faith in his shrewdness and powers of persuasion. But he also thinks America has a substantial dark side. So I believe he understood the potential political cost of his agenda better than congressional Democrats did.

 

I also believe that Obama passed his own gut check, which occurred after the 2010 elections. He did not triangulate like Bill Clinton after 1994, nor did he back down. If anything, he moved leftward. Obama is a conviction politician and a relatively courageous one.

 

To what extent is this true of congressional Dems? As I said, we will soon find out.

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Ok. So. It's less affordable. Higher deductibles. Leaves out basic care like hearing aids and exams but funds elective abortions. Restricts ability to get cutting edge care. You can't keep your doctor, or your policy. Your work hours will be cut. You must pay a penalty if you don't comply. Your personal data is available to just a about anyone and the insurance companies are being subsidized in the billions.

 

Remind me. Which is the junk policy?

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Ok. So. It's less affordable. Higher deductibles. Leaves out basic care like hearing aids and exams but funds elective abortions. Restricts ability to get cutting edge care. You can't keep your doctor, or your policy. Your work hours will be cut. You must pay a penalty if you don't comply. Your personal data is available to just a about anyone and the insurance companies are being subsidized in the billions.

otherthan.jpg

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In a happier note, just finished watching the Bushes on Leno.

 

I miss them so much. Pure class.

Pure class indeed.

 

Obviously you're both Racists!

world class sarcasm

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Interesting picture.

 

I must be too absorbed in the Oblamer destruction of the American republic.....because....I marveled at how the camouflage works.....and then thought about the latest "Senate Nuclear Option"......designed to shift attention away from Obamacare-less.....and toward the naked attempt to "Prog-pack" the DC appeals court.....

 

l-53827.jpg

 

Via TheFeralIrishman

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