by Jack
Barrack Obama sure doesn’t mind schmoozing the people. He just declare a victory for his healthcare plan because they have technically signed up over 6 million Americans, he says. One problem, well maybe two or even more. First, how many of the 6M paid? We don’t know because the most transparent Administration in history won’t tell the American people who are paying for it!
And another thing… of the 6M enrollees just how many already had insurance? How many had their policies cancelled and were forced into ObamaCare? Again, we don’t know because the Administration ain’t talkin!
I’m thinking what we have here is a FAILURE TO COMMUNICATE and worse, we have an epic failure that is costing us dearly.
20% of the people that have signed up have not paid according to those who are talking.
An AP story talks about so-called health insurance “orphans”…people that have signed up and paid but have found when they visit a doctor that their insurance company has no record of them signing up.
CMS says nearly 2/3 of small business will pay more:
Nobody is paying $2500 less for insurance and a lot of people are paying more.
Very few of the people that desperately needed this law passed because they “could not get insurance” have signed up…most sign-ups are from people that already had insurance.
People that lost insurance they liked did sign up but now either pay more or have budget busting deductibles.
Some people can’t get medications they were on.
Doctors are getting the shaft!
The economy, and therefor the jobs situation, has been badly impacted.
And this piece of trash law has not even gotten fully underway because of all of the political delays.
End this long nightmare now!
Tina you are right about the $2500 number. Obama seems to have pulled that one straight out of his ass. I disagree with most of your comments about Obamacare but I must give credit where credit is due. I still think that most individuals will pay less under Obamacare, but your critique is fair. Obama told a ridiculous lie when he said that the average American would pay $2500 less than they did before.
I’ve heard about 3/4 of the people enrolled have not paid leaving approximately 1 million who have paid. This information is coming from the insurance companies and reported to HHS.
With over 6 million plans cancelled because of ObamaCare the CBO says there will still be over 31 million uninsured.
What a waste of trillions of dollars that took money out of taxpayer’s pockets and put it into the very rich’s pockets. Instead of helping the less fortunate amongst us it increased the fortunes of the elites.
Those interested in how our government has come to such a dastardly place might find this WSJ Opinion piece, “Laboratories of What?” illuminating. An excerpt to intrigue:
Thanks Chris.
I would be interested to hear what makes you think/believe that “most individuals will pay less under Obamacare”.
Many individuals will be heavily subsidized.I guess you can say they will pay less but at someone else’s expense so we haven’t really fixed the problem of high premiums.
Will this subsidization lead to debt? If so how is it a good thing that younger Americans will inherit this debt? Have we learned nothing from the great Medicare/SS experiment that already burdens your generation with both the debt and the price tag for my generations ongoing Medicare/SS costs?
If we are going to upend everything with a crazy experiment wouldn’t it be smarter to try something different?
Peggy quite a few “little people” have made out like bandits in this deal too…those navigators for instance. Some of the people that backed this will find, if they haven’t already, that it will bite them in the butt. Insurers and doctors for certain. So much of the money was wasted too.
Read the WSJ piece above to find out the tragedy that is behind the problems as well as the fixes…none of this had to happen!
All this BS for what, maybe a Million or so new people with heath care, and it has proven itself currently to be a just a typical Government expansion program and a boondoggle of wasted Tax dollars.
The heath care problem could have been better served if a Congress actually working for the people put in place a couple of basic laws needed in private Heath care coverage, the main two in my opinion were coverage for Pre-existing illness, and open up a companies ability to market plans across State lines to further competition and lower costs. There are a couple of other reforms also to fine tune it, and they all could fit on one page. However basic health care laws need not to be as extensive or confusing as this cobbled together “Pile” and simply those two mentioned above would have better served the public as cost lowering and effective coverage.
The Concerned hate Obamacare because it puts a higher tax on all people and expands Government.
The misinformed love Obamacare because their believing the lies about this being another Government handout that will be funded only by the rich to subsidized their lower income status, (but a lot of them are waking up fast to that being false)
So far, I think maybe a Million of new people have actually signed up in real numbers, nowhere close to the numbers Obama is spewing, you know those 6 or 7 million the Government can’t or won’t identify.
You’re right Harold, it’s really much ado about nothing and worse…we damaged the world’s best healthcare in the process. Those that needed healthcare before got it one way or another, welfare or something. Nobody was ever turned away for lack of money. I swear, this will go down in history as one of the most colossal failures of all time. Sure is going to cost us.
April Fools….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyuRy81qF6c&feature=player_embedded
While I will say that every new law this big will need some tweaking, Our healthcare system was not the best in the world. That is just not the truth. We were rated very low on service per dollar value. Thousands of people were going bankrupt when they got sick because their policies were cancelled.
My brother lost 2 homes and his wife in the end. 30 years of paying for ins and when injured on the job (Backhoe) his ins was cancelled because thy found he was diabetic during the routine blood test. Had never been diagnosed before but was cancelled due to pre existing condition…
I think that it is time to tweak the law to be better, be happy for those who have better health insurance and stop this craziness.
I did well on the exchange, I have better health ins, no subsidy but can afford it.
This law is important for Americans and if something needs to be fixed, let’s concentrate on fixing it not take away health ins.
I wonder how many against this law are on medicare cause most of us working stiffs did very well with the new law.
Just my 2 cents and story
Privatizing the healthcare system led us down the path to poor healthcare. The data is just not there to support that statement
This has nothing to do with Obama, it was started well before him and he was just the guy to finish it…
Thomas, you are right that people should not be forced into bankruptcy because their policies were cancelled. This should have been addressed a long time ago as well as some other minor changes to improve the system. However, I dispute your assertion that some other country had a better standard of care than the USA. Name the country please.
Media got it’s talking points today.
Shazam! The administration claims victory for Obamacare with 7 million signed up…woo hoo.
Believe it?
Top 9 systems in the world
http://www.medicalbillingandcoding.org/blog/top-9-health-care-systems-in-the-world/
France comes in first in this category as the best country in the world for health care.
http://internationalliving.com/2014/02/where-to-go-for-the-best-health-care-in-the-world/
A recent report finds France, Uruguay and Malaysia rank as the top three countries that provide the best and most affordable healthcare in the world.
http://www.advisor.ca/news/industry-news/the-country-with-the-worlds-best-healthcare-is-143866
There are many many places to get the info. America is not the number one country in the world with the exception of Military power and China is using our manufacturing business of past to build up their military. By 2019 China will have the largest Solar energy producing plant.
I wish Americans would just off the TV’s and have conversation to bring this Country back, together…
It is hard to listen anymore..
The abject mendacity of the Obama administration no longer stuns me.
Obamacare isn’t the only lemon this administration has foisted upon us —
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/01/business/cobalts-were-seen-as-lemons-from-start-state-data-shows.html?_r=0
Thomas I’m not sure what you mean by this statement: “Privatizing the healthcare system led us down the path to poor healthcare. The data is just not there to support that statement.”
Perhaps you could clarify for us?
The word “privatize” has a lot of negative energy attached to it thanks to the war on the private sector that has been waged by socialist thinking extremists in the Democrat Party and soft Republicans that go along to get along.
There is nothing inherently evil about private healthcare or private business. In fact, private business has contributed greatly to the comparative prosperity that we enjoy, including the poor in this country.
Competition stifling laws and regulations have created interfered with free market principles that would have held costs down. Monopolies were created within states…that never works.
Our healthcare system has always existed in the private sector since it grew out of our system of freedom and opportunity. Americans built our healthcare system and it is the best in the world…or was.
The current law puts us on the path to a government controlled single payer system. It’s exactly what was intended all along. They Democrats had to lie and cheat to get it done.
While similar systems around the world may cover everyone the quality of care, the availability of care, and treatments are nowhere near what we’ve had. And the cost has driven quality down…without competition there is no incentive to offer the best care at the lowest possible price. Big government bureaucracies are great money sinks of inefficiency.
Our system did have a few problems that required fixing. What the Democrats have given us will not fix all of those problems and it will and has caused many more problems.
People have lost doctors and medications. They have lost insurance that they preferred. They have had premiums go up and been forced to accept deductibles that will be difficult to meet. Some have been thrown into the Medicaid system when before they had private insurance. Some people earning as much as $90K qualify for subsidies while a single guy may have seen his premium rise by 50% or more.
Doctors are not being paid for services. Many are retiring or opting out of the system. Some hospitals are not available to people anymore. People will continue to go to emergency as they did before and many will still be uninsured.
Overall this law didn’t improve on what we had. All we have done is shift things around a bit while disrupting and crushing much of what we had. And it also has come at tremendous immediate cost and incredible cost to future generations.
Americans will eventually fall into two distinct groups if this law stands. The very rich will have private separate high class quality care. The rest of us will have poor quality of care under one giant government monopoly. We will have no choices…none!
While some people are happy now because they have been subsidized there is no guarantee that the cost will remain affordable for those people or that care will improve. In fact there is plenty evidence from around the world that it will deteriorate.
Jack: “However, I dispute your assertion that some other country had a better standard of care than the USA. Name the country please.”
Why name one when we can name 36? The U.S. is tied with Costa Rica for 37th place.
Chris you really don’t believe the doctors and hospitals in Costa Rica are equal to ours do you? C’mon…or is this your version of an April Fools joke?
This may only be anecdotal evidence, but a friend of mind was injured in a parachute jump in France. His chute didn’t deploy until the final few seconds and he hit hard…very hard and it broke a lot of his bones. He was given the best care the French doctors could give and they saved his life. But, when he was able to be transported back to Texas the American doctors were stunned at the shoddy surgical care he actually received. It was totally substandard according to his surgeons. Much of his French treatment had to be done over at considerable pain and suffering to the patient. But, the US docs corrected the French doctors mistakes and that allowed him to walk again.
Chris, why is it, when money is no object the world’s most wealthy come to America for life saving treatment? Even foreign doctors have come here, because they know we’re the best. Now maybe we’re not the best for cost, but we’re the best for technology, for skill and innovation. Our medical R&D is second to none. Yes, our insurance plans leave much to be desired and there are gaps we need to close, but in terms of life saving skill and the best equipment…nobody does it better than America.
In the spirit of communication take a look at The Blinking Lights Project:
I will look into the above about healthcare systems of France, Uruguay and Malaysia. I have a feeling that how the quality of healthcare is defined will tell the story but may not tell the whole story.
Right off the top one of the most obvious components of the “better systems” in France, Malaysia, and Uruguay is that they have choices…they have private systems and the public system appears to be similar to our Medicare in France. Also this article is targeted to American retirees rather than the public generally:
This is like comparing America today to America of yesterday. All of these countries seem to have private systems available…and choices of plans rather than the one size fits all Obamacare mandated plan now available to Americans.
A few fixes to our system could have restored America to similar quality for generalized care as described in this article.
There is littel mention of the quality and availability of specialized care or innovative care.
So far, except for those who can travel, the advantages seem to come down to smaller countries, more choices, very high taxes/debt in France and quality that is comparable but not necessarily better.
Post:
Using the word Privatize is a general statement however I got that word from Republicans not extreme lefties. The data is there. one must look at the history of big Pharma and drug research to see what I am talking about.
Start with a timeline which is interesting to look at
http://www.pbs.org/healthcarecrisis/history.htm
I believe we were better off when Universities did the drug research. Now there are good cures and drugs that are not produced because another is more profitable. Look I am all for profit but not for holding back a drug cause it does not make enough money. Healthcare is not manufacturing products, it is a life and death business.
http://www.unfictional.com/big-pharma-war-on-health
I do not want to get into a lengthy conversation but you must realize this new law helped me get a better policy for the same money I was paying. I no longer have a lifetime cap on how much medical services I will get. God forbid I get sick.
So let us take into account people like me and fix any problems with the law.
Single Payer? yes I am aware that was the original goal. I have to do more investigation before I have an opinion on that. At this point I am open to all arguments.
But all this talk about the law and I am here to say it worked for me and my family. I am happily paying my premiums, we have the same doctors and more is covered.
My policy before had a cap, higher premiums, and well I am happy.
Maybe you could share with me what happened to your policy that has you so upset.
I frankly do not understand why some want to take away affordable healthcare from a working family man like myself. My kids will be getting regular checkups now and we will produce healthy responsible kids for the future.
Remember my brother was not previously diagnose diabetic, they diagnosed him after he was injured and cancelled him. Selling off 2 houses to pay his bills and he now is unable to work and living from couch to couch…..that was not right by any system.
Just to let you know I was in the health insurance industry for years and if you do not believe we looked for ways to pay for less and earn more for our shareholders with no regard to the insured you are mistaken. It was to much for my moral values and I left a very well paid corporate job.
Tina, quoting the Freeman: “In America’s first century, strong personal character kept our liberties substantially intact.”
Volumes could be written about the strange use of the word “our” in that sentence. Who is included? Who is not? If you include everyone considered an equal American citizen today, then no, “our” liberties were absolutely not kept intact in the first century of this country’s existence. They were violated in ways far uglier than anything seen in American today.
I’m actually sympathetic to some of the Freeman’s arguments, but man, the insistence that the Founders created some kind of Lockean paradise where freedom reigned supreme until eeevil leftists caused government to intrude into people’s lives is probably doing more harm to the libertarian movement than any outside force ever could.
Jack: “Chris you really don’t believe the doctors and hospitals in Costa Rica are equal to ours do you? C’mon…or is this your version of an April Fools joke?”
What is so inherently funny or unbelievable about it? You haven’t given me a reason to doubt the World Health Organization’s ranking. This comment just reads like American arrogance. Just because you were raised to believe that America is better at everything than everyone else doesn’t make it true.
Tina: “This is like comparing America today to America of yesterday. All of these countries seem to have private systems available…and choices of plans rather than the one size fits all Obamacare mandated plan now available to Americans.”
Yes, how sad that private systems are now illegal under Obamacare and everyone must sign up for the one Obamacare mandated plan.
Oh wait! That’s not true, and you knew it when you typed it!
Chris, I was raised to believe that we had the greatest nation on earth because we had a special advantage over other nations. My Dad explained in a very logical way that made sense. For example, we had many natural resources in great abundance. That’s a huge advantage. We had tremendous amounts of good quality farm land, so much that we could virtually feed the world. And our diversity of weather, our good ports, our good railroads, freeways and airports, and manufacturing plants and a college system that is fantastic. Even our location on the planet is a great advantage! We don’t have any major enemies sitting on our borders.
And because of those things I just mentioned above, we are a country loaded with an incredible amount of natural talent. Many of them are 1st and 2nd generation Americans who prospered because of the fabulous opportunity they found here.
I think of these great advantages and I also think about our many great visionaries that built up this still young country while creating so much prosperity. We’re like a miracle country! We have an all star team of inventors, builders, innovators, entrepreneurs, doctors, industrialists, scientists, etc.
Andrew Carnegie, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Jonas Salk, Thomas Edison, Washington Carver, Patricia Bath, Daniel Hale, Nikolai Tesla, Alexander Graham Bell, Abraham Lincoln, Enrico Fermi, Frank Lloyd Wright, Ronald Reagan, James Watt, Neils Bohr, Edward Teller, Eli Whitney and so many more great people that not only changed America, but changed the world for the better too!
The key to our great successes goes to our founders. They created a system where such fantastic people could flourish. Our founders took the best examples from history and applied them here so we could remain exceptional, so long as we defended their legacy. America is exceptional – without a shadow of doubt.
What other country has created so many wonderful innovations for the advancement of mankind? I’m talking about huge world shaking things that enhanced, improved and protected our lives! Yeah, I think we’re good – I think we’re the best in the world and I believe it’s true and any who cares to look can see it’s true. Nobody else can come close to matching what we’ve done..nobody. How many nations have landed on the moon Chris? Heck, we did that decades ago..one small step for man….
Chris we are the world’s greatest superpower for a whole number of great reasons, don’t you get it? Think about it, America really is exceptional! However, it likely won’t last much longer because of this long standing leftist campaign left over from the cold war that has way too many people determined to undermine and destroy us from within. We’ve also too many new arrivals who don’t get it and want to fundamentally change America for reasons few would want to state publically.
Well, at least we had our day in the sun… now we’re on the skids now. And you’re greasing those skids…you’re way too eager to claim that some stupid banana republican like Costa Rico has healthcare equal to ours? lol They do not, they’re not even close, but when said often enough people believe the big lies. Sad.
Wished you were more part of the team Chris…there’s so much good hear to be proud of and stand up for.
Tomas I don’t want to push you toward a long conversation you don’t want to have so let me leave you with a few thoughts.
1. I don’t understand why your brother had a lot of high medical bills. His job related injury should have been covered by workers compensation insurance and if it wasn’t, or his boss misled him he should have filed a complaint and challenged the finding.
Being diagnosed as a diabetic should not result in medical bills that would cause the loss of two houses. There is something you’re not telling us or something very wrong there too. Does your brother do what a diabetic must do to manage his illness? Does he eat properly and exercise? Did anyone make him aware of options for help? See also here. is he now eligible for SS Disability? If so he also probably qualifies for medicare since he worked.
This does represent the type of problems that needed fixing. People should not have their insurance cancelled just because they get sick.
2. I doubt you got the phrase “big pharma” from Republicans.
What makes you think that it would be cheaper to do research through universities or that it would result in the same types of breakthroughs or that the medicines that universities might discover wouldn’t be just as expensive to manufacture? Universities operate on grants, either private or government sponsored. As taxpayers we would still bear the burden of government grants. Private grants wouldn’t be spent differently for private researchers than it would in a university.
3. The PBS timeline you linked to is history from the progressive perspective alone. It is useful information but it is incomplete and at times skewed.
Since government became involved we taxpayers pay for programs like Medicare and Medicaid but the government doesn’t pay the costs and the shortage is then passed on to private insurance and those without insurance in higher premiums. Meanwhile debt piles up because government can’t deliver what it promised and because we also pay for the bureaucracy to manage the government programs. this is inefficient and costly. See this article from Reason:
4. I don’t think anyone who wants to repeal and replace this law wants you to have a worse condition than you have but don’t you think our system should be equitable for everyone? Given your self professed moral values i can’t believe it is okay with you that you get a better deal when others get a raw deal?
5. I’m a retired person and a business owner. I got a years delay so I won’t know how the insurance I buy for them will be effected until later this year. I’m concerned about the way this law will add to the national debt and the economy. The jobs situation is bad and I can’t see it getting better with another unsustainable program with thousands of new regulations. The cost in the private sector to comply with regulation now is very high, topping $2 trillion. That’s a lot of money for a lot of busywork that does nothing to make us safe:
All of those figures are pre-Obamacare and Dodd/Frank which have added more.
I’m happy that you and your family have affordable healthcare insurance.
Nobody I know, including Republicans in Congress, want to take affordable insurance away from you. I would be happy if every American had your experience but unfortunately that isn’t the case and I don’t appreciate being told that premiums would decrease for everyone, by as much as $2500, only to discover that it isn’t true for anyone and only some people are better off.
Obamacare made you happy, fine. It did not solve the problems as promised and it has not been better for everyone. I don’t see that as a success. I see it as a giant government takeover and redistribution scheme.
The real numbers are coming in from Rand Corp.
RAND: Only One-Third Of Obamacare Exchange Sign-Ups Were From The Previously Uninsured:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/theapothecary/2014/03/31/rand-only-one-third-of-obamacare-exchange-sign-ups-were-from-the-previously-uninsured/
‘The debate over repealing this law is over’: Obama boasts 7.1 MILLION have signed up to Obamacare – but study shows just 858,000 newly insured Americans have paid up!:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2594309/President-plans-victory-lap-strong-Obamacare-enrollment-Sebelius-faces-unpopular-law-blank-stare-tough-questions-remain-whos-signing-up.html
“In America’s first century, strong personal character kept our liberties substantially intact.”
Chris commenting on the above quote:
“Volumes could be written about the strange use of the word “our” in that sentence. Who is included? Who is not? If you include everyone considered an equal American citizen today, then no, “our” liberties were absolutely not kept intact in the first century of this country’s existence.”
Chris because you cannot think in terms other than those that fit the discrimination box that was apparently the main thrust of your education about our nation and because of your carefully taught prejudice you are restrained from gaining in understanding. Lets take another look at the meaning in the sentence.
The sentence is not about individual citizens’ experiences but the character it took to preserve the platform (liberty) and framework (constitution) for future generations.
Yes it is true that some of the citizens in this country were not given/allowed the full benefit of the God given liberties that were acknowledged by our founders and were guaranteed by the Constitution. Still, even considering our stumbling and failings, because of their moral character, the people did manage to keep freedom and the Republic in tact. Power continued to reside with the people and the states. States did not take up wars against each other or fall into divided territories. The people kept the spirit of America (freedom) alive…they had state pride but remained firmly unified as Americans…they flourished in freedom supported by the rule of law. Our citizens did not, as they well might have, grow weary of freedom’s responsibilities and demand to be ruled by a king. They believed in independence and the responsibilities of citizenship. The morality and principles that guided our founders in constructing the Constitution and made this nation unique in all the world continued in the people and was preserved during that first century. We did finally go to war (in part) over the very issue you raise. But even through the bitterness of the Civil War the union remained in tact, the basic principles and moral character of the citizenry remained in tact, and the challenge to make equality for all citizens real was moved forward substantially.
The people today have lost something precious and they don’t even know it. They are moving slowly toward serfdom even as they think they are championing civil rights. The tyrannical form the pilgrims fled is disguised as something different but it is the same in its basic nature. The people have lowered their standards, fallen away from basic tenets of morality and personal responsibility, and come to expect and demand special consideration and provision from their fellow citizens through a central government. We began to lose the Republic by relinquishing freedom and avoiding responsibility. We do it for ease and comfort…or the illusion of it.
A remnant remains and the skeleton is there to be reclaimed, but as Jack has indicated, the opportunity will not be there much longer.
The thing that will destroy this remarkable republic is like a slow growing insidious cancer. Most of the people that have given themselves over to it have no sense of their own heritage or the dangers inherent in their choices. They lack the senses to see what they have given up and the tools to fight for their own survival mush less the survival of our nations platform of liberty.
The civil rights leaders today have no interest in liberty or equality; they promote division and strife as a means to personal power.
I’ll take the Constitution and the Ten Commandments any day over any progressive civil rights fix. Given liberty and the Golden Rule alone I predict a nation that within generation or so would thrive in relative harmony…but these values must be appreciated and carefully taught to every citizen. As Reagan once said it isn’t passed on automatically:
This grandma is doing her best to right the error of my generations’ veering from the path of liberty.
The expectation of perfection, which is covertly implied in progressivism’s socialist solutions, must also be exposed as the sham that they are and dropped. We cannot control the thoughts and actions of every single individual by attempting to make things fair through complex and costly government intervention. Instead our free system is supported by the rule of law. The morality of the people is necessary if the system is to work.
Wow Peggy, beyond the numbers the Forbes article sites the biggest problem that makes this plan unworkble and unfair to the younger generation:
It’s just put together very poorly, especially considering the raw deal that already faces the young…lousy economy…no jobs…living in moms basement…huge debt.
We should be fixing the problems (our’s and our parents’ mistakes) that are making life hard on younger generations not making them worse.
CNS News reports on a study the Obama administration asked RAND to do on marijuana use in America.
Does it strike anyone else as other worldly that Americans can spend $40.8 billion (in 2010) but so many of us say we can’t afford health insurance?
Jack, don’t we also have our universities full of international pre-med students and our teaching hospitals full of foreign medical students doing their residencies?
I’ve not heard of our doctors going to other countries for their training, but I’ve sure seen a lot of non-native speaking doctors working in US hospitals.
Tina, the number is shocking. It will be interesting to see the Rand report when it comes out. If it is even close to the “leaked” figures ObamaCare is the biggest failure of all.
I find it amazing that after months of not being able to provide any totals today they were able to announce it at 7.1 million. Note it was just over the 7.0 they said was needed to succeed. Does anyone really believe the 7.1 or that they didn’t have anything they could report all these months? I think not.
So net, net, net we have 7.1 million who put a plan in their shopping cart, 6.4 million who lost the plan they had because it was cancelled and 858,000 previously uninsured people who actually paid for a plan.
Estimates before ObamaCare passed was there were over 30 million people without health care. Now, the figure has grown to estimates of 30-50 million will still be uninsured. What a waste!
How many trillions has this train wreck cost so far? Anyone know? I’ve lost count.
Peggy: “Estimates before ObamaCare passed was there were over 30 million people without health care. Now, the figure has grown to estimates of 30-50 million will still be uninsured. What a waste!”
Good Lord, how misleading can a person be? Yes, there were “over 30 million people without health care” before Obamacare was passed; the actual number was between 50 and 60 million. Now it is estimated to be about 30 million within the next few years. That is a huge decrease.
Peggy: “The real numbers are coming in from Rand Corp.”
Glad you mentioned that, since Rand has demolished one of the Republican talking points about this law:
“Republican critics of the law have suggested that the cancellations last fall have led to a net reduction in coverage.
That is not supported by survey data or insurance companies, many of which report they have retained the vast majority of their 2013 customers by renewing old policies, which is permitted in about half the states, or by moving customers to new plans.
“We are talking about a very small fraction of the country” who lost coverage, said Katherine Carman, a Rand economist who is overseeing the survey.
Rand has been polling 3,300 Americans monthly about their insurance choices since last fall. Researchers found that the share of adults ages 18 to 64 without health insurance has declined from 20.9% last fall to 16.6% as of March 22.”
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-obamacare-uninsured-national-20140331,0,5472960.story#ixzz2xkp7wyOv
Chris: “…how misleading can a person be?!”
Look toward the President and the entire Democrat Party!
The ACA was sold and passed through deception and lies. Deception and lies have followed through the roll out and sign up period.
858,000 newly insured people with 6 million having lost the insurance they liked is touted as success…the so-called fabulous result of a costly, job killing law that’s jam packed with onerous regulations!
In addition, the ugly result for many Americans won’t even hit until just near or after the election in November when their grandfathered insurance plans at work begin to lapse and they are forced to apply for Obamacare with it’s higher deductibles and rates, pay higher contributions toward their employer, see their hours cut and employer insurance lost, or risk opting out and paying the tax.
If this is honesty…if this is success then the administration has accomplished lowering the standards for both as never before in the entire history of mankind!
The victory lap is simply another big sham.
The illusion of improvement in the uninsured:
Defense of this bologna has got to end…hopefully the people will end it in the next two elections.
Tina: “858,000 newly insured people”
You’re off by several million people, according to the LA Times:
“As the law’s initial enrollment period closes, at least 9.5 million previously uninsured people have gained coverage.”
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-obamacare-uninsured-national-20140331,0,5472960.story#ixzz2xl8brqXY
“If this is honesty…if this is success then the administration has accomplished lowering the standards for both as never before in the entire history of mankind!”
Well, glad to see you’re keeping things in rational perspective.
You then quote a Forbes article that I have responded to before, particularly this inanity:
“These two projections raise the question: How can ObamaCare raise the number of insured by 30 million as it leaves some 30 million uninsured?”
Well, you see, one estimate of the number of previously uninsured was 58 million, which rounds up to 60 million. So if you subtract 30 million, you get 30 million.
That Paul Roderick Gregory (Montgomery Fitzweilder Moneybags III, presumably) is trying to pass of his inability to perform basic math as an “inconsistency” just proves that Forbes will publish just about anything, and your uncritical citing of such ridiculousness proves that you will believe just about anything.
The number of uninsured I recall being tossed around when they were selling the need for the ACA legislation was 41 million and it was implied in the talking points that ALL Americans would have insurance (and health) under the Presidents plan. So I guess how we look at this depends on how the administration chose to count and do math as well.
This article sites the latest Census Bureau statisitics:
Here’s another Forbes article that takes on information published in the LA Times.
Chris you’re still making excuses for this administration by not acknowledging the failures in performance, the failures in delivery, and lies and deception used to
foist this on the people over half of which did not want it in the first place and even more don’t want it now…and you think I’m being irrational?
The figures will be sketchy for some time. The bottom line is the law is not what was promised and does not deliver what was promised. I don’t expect it to get better either based on similar promises about other social programs.
I’m happy for those people for whom this law appears to work. I argue that in terms of the total price we all pay it wasn’t a good trade, especially when those people could have been made happy without all the destructive elements and cost of the ACA.
It is positively barf inducing to see Ezekiel Emanuel grinning with glee over the prospects of destroying the insurance industry and forcing the American people to settle for the biggest monopoly of all run by the government. Please …try to explain to me how this man could still be considered an American?
See Democrats run!
See Democrats run from Obamacare!
Run Nancy run!
Pelosi won’t run on Obamacare
http://tinyurl.com/l2rndv7
Good news. Some young people are waking up to the fact Obama lied about being able to keep our health insurance. Even better news it’s two Sirius radio DJs who are telling them.
Warning: Strong language.
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/04/03/radio-hosts-opie-and-anthony-eviscerate-obamacare-after-they-both-lose-their-health-care-plans-no-fing-clue/
Holey Moley…remember when potty mouth was not allowed on radio…we’ve come a long way. Freedom without morality/responsibility means anything goes.
Good to know someone in the younger generation has taken up the cause…the language isn’t strange to those ears; if the message gets through it’s a win.
LOL Pie…she’s “pivoting” to jobs.
News flash, she isn’t any better at jobs than she was at healthcare that she didn’t read before she passed it.
After eight years (The Bush economy was so bad remember) it’s about time she thought about it.
“Again, we don’t know because the Administration ain’t talkin!”
They are. You will not hear. Those of the individually covered, who had cheap “policies”, that covered nothing, were notified by their “insurers” that, as the ACA requires that (mainly preventative) stuff be covered, premiums were going up.
The rest of us comprehend this. What is YOUR problem?
It is all, entirely, to the good that the citizens have had their fiscal kiesters kicked. It will make them more thoughtful: “maybe it’s actually the demands of those shareholders jacking up my premiums? Maybe this whole “for profit” thing is a bad idea?”
Libby: “Those of the individually covered, who had cheap “policies…”
Lie. Many of them had good policies that they liked and that worked for them and their families.
Obama/Pelosi told them they could keep their plans and would see their premiums cut by $2500. Lies.
You don’t comprehend that not everyone appreciates this set of lies or mandated one size fits all coverage. Nor do they care about your opinion that it is “all” to the “good”.
The progressive way is so much better. Let’s see…Government profits by taking an even larger slice of the economy, they just took control of about 16%, while at the same time they do everything possible to destroy the very thing, private business, from whence the wealth for the program is generated. In the process they destroy jobs. Private sector weal funds it all…jobs, production fo food and goods, schools, houses, hospitals, infrastructure, clothing…everything! It is this private sector wealth that makes taxing possible! The progressive vision and plan is really quite stupid.
If you progressives didn’t have your heads so far up your butts you might realize the idiocy in your thinking.
Shareholders aren’t jacking up your premiums…shareholders invest in your company so it can provide insurance. Premiums are rising because of regulations (Obamacare added thousands of them), broken government programs, massive bureaucracy, fraud, and the corruption that follow when too many hands get between the patient and his doctor or the customer and his policy. Your premiums, or your taxes to pay for this, will continue to go up. We will also have to fund the bureaucracy to manage it and collect the taxes. You haven’t saved a dime or made things better and you will also see shortages of doctors and long wait times for treatments. It’s not all to the good…it is all to the power of the progressive elites.
Tina, it is dishonest of you to assert that I have not acknowledged the lies told by Obama to pass this law when I have done so multiple times. Just last week I conceded that you were right to call his claim that the average family would save $2500 a lie, and I have repeatedly called out Obama’s ridiculous lie that “If you like your plan, you can keep your plan. Period.”
The thing is, one cannot decide whether to support or oppose the ACA based on which side has not been deceptive, because BOTH sides have told absolutely ridiculous lies. I have not seen any acknowledgment from you about the following lies told by conservative opponents of Obamacare, for example:
–The ACA includes death panels that will judge individuals on their “value to society” before deciding whether or not they will receive care
–The ACA also includes death panels that force the elderly to take mandatory end-of-life counseling where they will be pressured to choose euthanasia
–The ACA funds abortion and abortifacients
–The ACA is the “largest tax increase in American history” (Rush Limbaugh, among others)
–The ACA is a government takeover of healthcare (Politifact’s lie of the year)
–The ACA will increase the debt and deficit
–More people have lost insurance than gained it under the ACA
–The ACA is “reparations” for black people (Rush again)
–The ACA made health care “unaffordable” for cancer patient Julie Boonstra (she is actually saving money)
–The President and Congress are “exempt” from the ACA
–Muslims are exempt from the ACA
–The CBO said that the ACA will cause 2 million people to “lose their jobs”
–The ACA prohibits women of a certain age from getting mammograms (the law actually expands access to mammograms)
And that’s the short list. Most of these lies have at some point been promoted right here at Post Scripts.
So please do not accuse me of not acknowledging falsehoods, Tina. I have acknowledged Obama’s falsehoods when necessary because I believe that honesty is more important than partisan politics. You on the other hand will fight tooth and nail to avoid acknowledging anything wrong or untruthful by your own side.