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WH: We've 'Enrolled' 3.3 Million People, But We Can't Say How Many Are Actually Covered


Valin

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Two Different World Views

 

 

 

Like this post. It is a perfect example of Progressive Doublespeak & Obfuscation.

 

What would Jesus do? He'd probably heal everyone with pre-existing conditions, based on their faith in Him, as the Son of the Everliving God.

 

 

 

Except the 1% of course. smile.png

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Except the 1% of course. smile.png

 

@Valin! Yes, of course....not them.

 

Well.....not the 1% that remains unenlightened.

 

Not them.

 

That's why the charitable giving rules & amounts were changed....so that the 1% could "get-with-the-government-program."

 

Besides....the enlightened Progressive 1% don't really want to give to charity.....with their money....

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Democrats in Denial Over Obamacare
Supporters of the health care law are convinced they can defend themselves on the issue. Don't bet on it.
Josh Kraushaar
February 18, 2014

 

For nearly three years, the Democratic approach to the political unpopularity of President Obama's health care law was denial. Deny it played a significant role in the party's historic midterm losses in 2010. Insist, in the face of contradictory evidence, that as more voters experienced the benefits of the law, the more popular it would become. Deny it would be a major issue at all in the 2014 midterms.

 

The latest version of the argument points to polling showing that voters don't want to repeal the law but prefer to see it fixed—perfectly in line with the newly adopted positions of vulnerable Democratic officeholders. In a memo leaked to the press, Democrats argue they can neutralize their health care vulnerabilities by promoting their desire to fix the law and blaming Republicans for intransigence in seeking a full repeal. But dig a bit deeper past the talking points, and it's unclear what they want to fix—beyond their broken poll numbers.

 

Indeed, in a sign that Democrats are stuck in neutral on their Obamacare messaging, the "news" from the memo is months old. The strategy devised by the sharpest party operatives has already been in effect in numerous ads across the country and was promoted by the party's top strategists two months ago. In those targeted races, public polling has shown Democratic standing worsening where the on-air Obamacare debate has already begun. (See: Landrieu, Mary; Hagan, Kay.)

 

The main reason 2014 is different than 2012 isn't the quality of the messaging. It's that the law is now a reality affecting millions of Americans—and more don't like the changes. The most important test on the ultimate success of the health care law will be whether voters think they're getting a better deal out of the law than not. And all available evidence, from polling to the government's cherry-picked enrollment data, suggests that supporters face a tough challenge making the sell.

 

(Snip)

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Obamacare's Latest Surprise for Taxpayers?
Megan McArdle
Feb 18, 2014

Industry sources tell the Washington Examiner’s Susan Ferrechio that the Barack Obama administration is thinking of extending the Affordable Care Act's "risk corridors," the federal reimbursement program for health-insurance companies that lose money by participating in the newly created health-care exchanges. This is not the first time we’ve seen this idea floated, and frankly, believing that the administration is considering it is all too easy.

 

If you’re not familiar with the risk-corridor program, read what I’ve written in the past. Basically, there are three temporary risk-adjustment programs to help insurers transition into the new marketplaces. One of them -- a sort of reinsurance program, called the risk corridors, that offsets losses when claims are greater than 103 percent of projections and collects money from insurers whose claims are less than 97 percent of what they expected -- is not designed to be revenue-neutral. That means that if the insurance pool is a lot sicker than initially expected, the federal government could end up transferring a bunch of money to the insurance industry.

 

Because a lot of insurers seem to be saying that they’re going to lose money on their exchange policies this year, that’s a little worrying for the U.S. taxpayer.

 

But not that worrying, because the corridors are supposed to expire in three years. If it’s true that the administration is seriously considering extending them, that raises some disturbing possibilities:

 

(Snip)

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Yep, the ACA is getting better every day!

 

My 74 year old dad now has Maternity Coverage! We are so relieved.

 

Does he have AIDs coverage also?

 

He managed to get coverage! Who does he know?

 

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A Slight Case of Bastardy

The curious and irregular conception of Obamacare

NOEMIE EMERY

Mar 3, 2014

 

A number of apologists for the Obama administration declare themselves vexed at the ongoing hostility to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (which isnt affordable, and from which many people are seeking protection), regarding resistance to its charms as a perverse and irrational gesture, uncalled for, eccentric, and strange. Its the law of the land, they tell us, passed fair and square by both houses of Congress, crowned as constitutional by the highest court of the country, and ratified by the people in Obamas reelection. They note that other historic reformsMedicare, Social Securityhad troubled beginnings and then were embraced by the nation, and that even the Civil Rights Act of 1964, preceded by outbreaks of terrible violence, was accepted quite quickly once passed.

 

Not so with Obamacare, to which resistance over time has only grown stronger. Current and former administration officials .  .  . have been surprised at how steadfast the opposition has remained, the Washington Post reported last summer, quoting MIT economist Jonathan Gruber saying, It used to be you had a fight and it was over, and you moved on. But few have moved on, for reasons which are not all that hard to tease out: Its not working out, in fact its a disaster; its blowing holes in the federal budget; the win-to-lose balance is way out of kilter, as many more people are hurt than helped by it. Obamacare may collapse on its own for practical reasons, but there is a fourth strike against it that adds a dimension of weakness no comparable measure has faced: Much of the country believes its a fraud, passed dishonestly, and not deserving of moral authority. In short, they find it nearly illegal, highly immoral, and possibly fattening. And their minds wont be changed.

 

(Snip)

 

Medicare, Social Security, and the Civil Rights Act all passed by huge and bipartisan margins, with public opinion strongly in favor. Health care reform passed by 7 votes in the House, losing the votes of 34 Democrats (and all the Republicans), with a strong tide of public opinion running against it. Had there been a Senator Coakley, Republicans would have groaned, but accepted the bill as having been passed by the regular order of business. As it was, they loathed it almost as much for the way it was passed as for what was in it, and never accepted its moral authority. A Gallup poll taken on March 30, 2010, found that 53 percent of Americans considered the way the bill passed an abuse of power by Democrats as against 40 percent who found it appropriate, with 86 percent of Republicans and 58 percent of independents concurring in this negative judgment. Time has done nothing to soften these views.

 

Ultimately, acts of Congress gain their legitimacy in the way they win or reflect the will of the public, as expressed in the way they are passed. The Civil Rights Act, as Michael Barone reminds us, took place against a background of violence, but the careful and orderly way it was passed helped defuse opposition, and the much-feared resistance to it would never materialize. Full compliance, he notes, was not immediate, ut after Congress acted in such a deliberate fashion .  .  . white southerners largely acquiesced. No such deliberation was ever to be seen in the passage of the Affordable Care Act, and acquiescence eludes it, as does the conviction that it is legitimate. It isntand never will be.

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Stephen Blackwood: ObamaCare and My Mother's Cancer Medicine

The news was dumbfounding. She used to have a policy that covered the drug that kept her alive. Now she's on her own.

Stephen Blackwood

Feb. 23, 2014

 

When my mother was diagnosed with carcinoid cancer in 2005, when she was 49, it came as a lightning shock. Her mother, at 76, had yet to go gray, and her mother's mother, at 95, was still playing bingo in her nursing home. My mother had always been, despite her diminutive frame, a titanic and irrepressible force of vitality and love. She had given birth to me and my nine younger siblings, and juggled kids, home and my father's medical practice with humor and grace for three decades. She swam three times a week in the early mornings, ate healthily and never smoked.

 

And now, cancer?......(Snip)

 

And then in November, along with millions of other Americans, she lost her health insurance. She'd had a Blue Cross/Blue Shield plan for nearly 20 years. It was expensive, but given that it covered her very expensive treatment, it was a terrific plan. It gave her access to any specialist or surgeon, and to the Sandostatin and other medications that were keeping her alive.

 

And then, because our lawmakers and president thought they could do better, she had nothing. Her old plan, now considered illegal under the new health law, had been canceled.

 

(Snip)

 

 

___________________________________________________________________________________________

 

 

Well Nancy, Catherine Blackwood now knows what is in the law.

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Health Care Horror Hooey

* Paul Krugman

2/24/14

 

Remember the death tax? The estate tax is quite literally a millionaires tax a tax that affects only a tiny minority of the population, and is mostly paid by a handful of very wealthy heirs. Nonetheless, right-wingers have successfully convinced many voters that the tax is a cruel burden on ordinary Americans that all across the nation small businesses and family farms are being broken up to pay crushing estate tax liabilities.

 

You might think that such heart-wrenching cases are actually quite rare, but youd be wrong: they arent rare; theyre nonexistent. In particular, nobody has ever come up with a real modern example of a family farm sold to meet estate taxes. The whole death tax campaign has rested on eliciting human sympathy for purely imaginary victims.

 

And now theyre trying a similar campaign against health reform.

 

(Snip)

 

 

* Licensed Certified Smart Guy

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Obamacare Delay: Good Politics, Bad Economics

Mises Daily: Monday, February 24, 2014 by D.W. MacKenzie

 

6671.jpg

The Congressional Budget Office has reported that ACA subsidies will lower the labor force participation rate in coming years. The Obama administration has also decided to delay the small business mandate part of the ACA until 2016.

Officials of the Obama administration insisted that lower participation rates in the labor force are beneficial. Lower income Americans can now decide to work less, to supply less labor, to work part time or retire earlier. By working less Americans can take care of family members or enjoy more leisure time.

 

The Obama administration has in the same week admitted that the burdens that the ACA places on small businesses are onerous. The costs of the ACA will therefore cause smaller employers to demand fewer workers.

 

Economically speaking, there is not a real difference between workers supplying fewer hours of labor and employers demanding fewer hours of labor. Scissors-32x32.pnghttp://mises.org/daily/6671/Obamacare-Delay-Good-Politics-Bad-Economics

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Obamacare's Dumping Ground
Amy Payne
February 25, 2014

If President Obama—or anyone else—is expecting that Medicaid will be Obamacare’s salvation, look elsewhere.

The president said last week that “We’ve got close to 7 million Americans who have access to health care for the first time because of Medicaid expansion.”

 

But even The Washington Post’s “fact checker” gave President Obama four Pinocchios for that statement (and said the enrollment numbers are iffy as well).

The Post says President Obama “seems to be falling into the same trap as other Democrats, and some reporters, by assuming that everyone in the Medicaid list is getting health insurance for the first time because of the Affordable Care Act.”

 

And this misconception—saving the uninsured—isn’t the only one keeping Americans from the truth about this part of Obamacare’s plan, which actually dumps millions of people into a failing program.

Two big problems with expanding Medicaid:

 

(Snip)

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Majority of Small Businesses Will See Health Premium Rate Hike Because of Oamacare

Marguerite Bowling

February 25, 2014

 

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Office of the Actuary last week released with little fanfare a report that is shaking up the debate over Obamacares impact on the economy, * according to The Wall Street Journal. The federal actuarial report predicted that 65 percent of small businesses will see their health insurance premiums increase because of President Obamas signature health law.

 

Looking at employers with 50 or fewer full-time workers, the report forecasted that plans covering 11 million people would have a price jump in their premiums because of community rating provisions in the law, while 35 percent of businesses would see a decrease in costs for plans covering some 6 million people. The CMS report did not estimate how much premiums would increase or fall for either group, Wall Street Journal writer Jennifer Corbett Dooren wrote.

 

Lawmakers on both political sides yesterday seized on the report, according to CNN Political Ticker. Republicans pointed to the findings as more proof that Obamacare is hurting the economy while Democrats noted the report does not take into account federal subsidies and tax credits that are available to lower monthly premium rates.

 

(Snip)

 

* Behind Paywall

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ObamaCare stars fade

Jonathan Easley and Elise Viebeck

2/25/14

 

The Obama administration is short of star power as it begins its last public relations blitz for ObamaCare.

President Obamas celebrity supporters are not in the forefront as they were during the star-studded campaign-style videos that hogged the airwaves in 2008.

 

Contrary to expectations, the White Houses A-list backers have mainly stuck to Twitter to voice support for ObamaCare, while others have appeared in inexpensive online videos, or chosen to promote Californias insurance marketplace instead of HealthCare.gov, the notoriously troubled website for the federal exchanges.

 

It seems that not even the presidents most fervent and committed supporters want to get too close to ObamaCare. Some of Obamas most powerful allies figures including Oprah Winfrey, Bruce Springsteen and Beyoncé have stayed in the wings for the enrollment push.

 

(Snip)

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Reid: ‘All of’ the Obamacare Horror Stories ‘Are Untrue’

Patrick Brennan

February 26, 2014

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well I'm glad we finally have that cleared up! rolleyes.gif

 

 

@Valin

 

Dingy Harry is the epitome of the pejorative....."schmuck." Wait until some "connected" Vegas mobster loses his insurance & can't see his doctor anymore.......he might find Nevada a security risk. [if there's any justice]

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Reid: ‘All of’ the Obamacare Horror Stories ‘Are Untrue’

Patrick Brennan

February 26, 2014

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well I'm glad we finally have that cleared up! rolleyes.gif

 

 

@Valin

 

Dingy Harry is the epitome of the pejorative....."schmuck." Wait until some "connected" Vegas mobster loses his insurance & can't see his doctor anymore.......he might find Nevada a security risk. [if there's any justice]

 

 

 

Lot of holes out in the dessert.

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Reid: ‘All of’ the Obamacare Horror Stories ‘Are Untrue’

Patrick Brennan

February 26, 2014

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well I'm glad we finally have that cleared up! rolleyes.gif

 

@Valin

 

Dingy Harry is the epitome of the pejorative....."schmuck." Wait until some "connected" Vegas mobster loses his insurance & can't see his doctor anymore.......he might find Nevada a security risk. [if there's any justice]

 

 

HealthCare.Gov@HealthDotGov 27m

Sadly for Senator Reid, none of our plans cover severe and terminal rectocranial inversion. @TJOpperman1963

 

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The Uninsured Are Turning Against Obamacare. That's A Problem

Jeffrey Young

2/26/14

 

The Obama administration is running into a somewhat surprising roadblock in its final push to get Americans enrolled in Obamacare ahead of the March 31 deadline: The nation's uninsured are increasingly suspicious of the law.

 

Fifty-six percent of those who identified as uninsured in a new poll conducted in February by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, a research institution, had an unfavorable view of the health care reform law, compared to just 22 percent who said they view it favorably. The uninsured now see Obamacare less favorably than they did when the enrollment period began in October. As recently as September, more uninsured approved of the law than disapproved.

 

The survey results illustrate just how deep a hole the Obama administration is in when it comes to gaining the support of those the law is most intended to benefit. Indeed, the new findings show the uninsured feel worse about the law than the public at large. Thirty-five percent of Americans approve of Obamacare and 47 percent are against it, according to Kaiser.

 

 

(Snip)

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Obamacare’s Failed State Exchanges
The federal government spent more than $1.2 billion on state-based online insurance portals that remain broken.
Peter Suderman
February 27, 2014

The federal government spent more on broken state-run exchanges than it did on its own troubled system. Of the 14 states, plus the District of Columbia, that established their own health insurance coverage under Obamacare, seven remain dysfunctional, disabled, or severely underperforming. Development of those exchanges was funded heavily by the federal government through a series of grants that totaled more than $1.2 billion—almost double the $677 million cost of development for the federal exchange.

 

Here's a rundown of the troubled state exchanges and the federal grants they qualified for.

 

(Snip)

 

Some of these exchanges may end up being repaired before Obamacare's open enrollment window ends in March. Others may eventually choose to link up with the federal exchange system. But given the scope of the technical turmoil, it's unlikely that all of the problems in all the of the exchanges will be fixed in short order. This means that as Obamacare moves forward, its performance will at best be spotty, with technical troubles largely resolved in some places, but ongoing in others.

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More, A Bit Off Topic...

Who Is Un-American? Harry Reid Violates All Standards of Decency
John Hinderaker
2/28/14

Once upon a time we had the House Un-American Activities Committee. Most people, certainly most Democrats, would call that an ugly chapter in our history. But those who were called “un-American” during the 1950s were (or were believed to be) traitors in the pay of a hostile power. Calling them “un-American” was not such a stretch.

Since then, the term has gone entirely out of fashion. Can you imagine the howls of outrage if President Bush had called those who disagreed with his Iraq policy “un-American”? But now, suddenly, it is back: Harry Reid, one of the country’s top three Democrats, along with Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi, called political opponents of the Obama administration “un-American” on the floor of the Senate:


The “dishonest ads” Reid referred to are the ones in which victims of Obamacare truthfully relate their experiences of losing their health insurance, contrary to the Democrats’ promises. This was the same speech in which Reid said that all such accounts are lies.

 

Harry Reid is a low, corrupt politician. He has become a wealthy man while serving his entire adult life as a public employee. How does that happen? Obviously, he has taken bribes, sometimes in the form of sweetheart Las Vegas real estate deals. Harry Reid is the epitome of corrupt cronyism. Not coincidentally, cronyism is precisely what Charles and David Koch are fighting against.

 

This interview with Charles Koch in the Wichita Business Journal is a good introduction to the man:

 

(Snip)

 

 

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2vwzlsn.jpg

'With age comes wisdom, but sometimes age comes alone.'

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