as applied to politics. Mickey Kaus proposes a campaign slogan for Democrats in 2014:
Only Democrats Can Fix the Mess They Made!
If Illinois is any gauge, Republicans will do their darnedest to convince people that’s exactly the case.
as applied to politics. Mickey Kaus proposes a campaign slogan for Democrats in 2014:
Only Democrats Can Fix the Mess They Made!
If Illinois is any gauge, Republicans will do their darnedest to convince people that’s exactly the case.
The Obama Administration can’t fix a problem they won’t admit or be accountable to having.
Problems were apparent to consultants and people in the medical field, years before the roll-out. David Cutler penned such a memo that was ignored. Then, from Kaus’s piece, the Institute of Medicine extended some cautionary advice that was discounted and discarded.. The only bottom line that counts is the enactment of Obama’s vision, according to Obama. No other intervention is needed, nor welcomed by this administration.
Maybe that’s why a former 12- year Secret Service Agent now describes the Obama Administration as being “toxic,” in a piece by Michael’s favorite news outlet, The NY Post.
@jan
The Obama Administration can’t fix a problem they won’t admit or be accountable to having.
According to the plan, the website is the only problem.
The policy cancellations were part of the design. People would lose their insurance. They would go to the website. They would get a better, cheaper policy on the exchange. There would be lollipops and pink ponies for everybody.
The website not working keeps people from getting the better, cheaper policies, and hence, getting the website up and running will fix the problem. For anybody with shit for brains this makes perfect sense. For anybody with a few brain cells, it never made any sense.
Tasty’
“Shit for brains” reminds me of some of the comments over @ OTB. In their mindsets everything would be running smoothly with Obamacare if it weren’t for those !@?>@/! Republicans!
@jan
Few of the OTB crowd have any idea of how Obamacare is supposed to work.
Real people are being hurt, and these people cannot afford to be hurt. A lot of people are going to be without insurance, and their stress levels are going to skyrocket. Even though they were paying for health insurance, they were actually “free riders”.
Of course, rich white liberals are paying less. The glibness of the Obamacare apologists is infuriating.
So the inevitable happened. We got the cancellation notice.
Our “bad apple,” “swiss cheese” policy just is no good. Wait……
Oh, that’s right, we don’t have a swiss cheese policy, we have a Cadillac policy. Can’t be too bad, can’t be too good, just what Obama says is juuust right.
Now here is just how ludicrous this all is. I will be fine. My partner will be fine. But years ago we made a decision to provide our people with a high class plan because we are in a high beta business and figured its a perk we could and should offer to those who stay with us. You have heard various premium numbers. We have been paying about $3K per month for 5 people. Last time I pulled out the old HP that’s $180K per year.
Now the way the firm works, my partner and I get the residual net income of the firm. We could have instituted, say, a $1K per month policy and pocketed $120K. But we didn’t. But now Obama, in his infinite wisdom, will take this benefit away from the employees – too good a plan.
What kind of creep thinks this is good?
Sorry to hear about your cancellation notice, Drew. It’s slowly effecting such a wide range of people. Nothing, though, makes sense about Obamacare, except that it’s a deliberately designed Ponzi scheme, unfair and not self-sustaining without gimmicks and people being forced to change and increase their own premium costs in order to fund HC for others.
The Obama administration seems to live in a vacuum, devoid of any input other than that from it’s own ideological colleagues.
This morning’s news conference exemplified that when President Obama announced his administrative “fix” for HC chaos created by so many unwilling cancellations of insurance policies. He is now ‘allowing’ insurance companies the discretion to reinstate those policies — if they want to. In his mind that should do it! However, did he even bother to consult with his insurance cohorts, as to how they felt about this, or how it would effect the modifications already implemented by them, in order to accommodate their own bottom line to the PPACA’s criteria/regulations set by the government?
Are there no limits to what Obama can do and undo, by himself?
All the way down the line deals have been quietly struck with people — AARP, insurance companies, WebMD — a quid pro quo of going along and/or touting the government program in return for monetary compensation, or promises of such in the future. Obama’s pals, the insurance companies, for instance, had their sights set on beaucoup higher premium bucks in exchange for earlier concessions dovetailing into the ACA mandates. Today’s WH fix, though, will surely upset these initial profitable calculations, creating some kind of compensatory reaction which forebodes even higher premiums being laid upon those already effected and stressed out by either policy losses or higher premiums.
It’s like watching a televised car chase, becoming even more erratic and dangerous, as the speeding car is left with nothing but it’s rims to ride on, sparking and weaving as it continues to try and outrun the cops.
Another example of arbitrary and capricious enforcement of the law from this Administration. Rule of law is completely dead.
jan
And the dirty little secret is that all the actuarial underpinnings of current policies are being obsoleted. This is just a crass political maneuver so Obama can say “its the insurance companies,” not me.
Drew,
I wholeheartedly agree….
Obama is being very transparent in this latest move — the administrative ‘fix,’ has more to do with fixing the blame than fixing the problems.
” A lot of people are going to be without insurance, and their stress levels are going to skyrocket.”
A lot of people have been going w/o insurance for a long time. While I have said I agree that Obama should not have said you can keep your insurance if not true, the outpouring of sympathy for those who are truly losing insurance (a fairly small number in the end I will bet) is notable when one compares the total lack of concern for those who have been unable to obtain insurance over the years, including those who really did die as a result of being unable to obtain care. They havent been getting their stories in the WSJ for some reason.
Drew- They cancelled a group plan? The current cancellations are supposed to be occurring only in the individual market.
Steve
Steve,
They are canceling policies in the small business market, not the larger ones. That happens next year, and will be a much larger number, right before the ’14 elections.
Steve, those that were uninsured before either choose to be uninsured, or couldn’t get insurance because of their personal circumstances. People losing their insurance now are doing so because the government has commanded it. In other words, you voted for them to be uninsured. Own it.
Steve,
I really don’t think you were aware of the broader ramifications of the PPACA.
… 1) Most of those “losing” their insurance now will still have insurance. If they can afford to spend 3k a month for insurance, they will get a new plan. If they can afford to buy any real paln now, they ill be able to afford another plan except in a very few cases.
2) Yup, I will own that I voted for the guy who was wrong. You cant keep your insurance. Now you guys should own up to all of the crocodile tears being shed. You guys have written with more sympathy for these people in the last few days than you have ever written about the long term uninsured. To hell with all of the many millions who couldnt afford insurance or couldnt get it because they were sick. You guys vote for the party that ignores those people. Own it, as I think you like to say. (Personal circumstances, LOL. Just say the truth. They are too poor (Usually the working poor) or they have a pre-existing condition, meaning they are sick in some way. IOW, if you really need health care our system prior to the ACA, the one you guys supported, makes sure the people who need the care the most have the most trouble getting care.)
Steve
@steve
…. If they can afford to spend 3k a month for insurance, they will get a new plan. …
Are you shitting me? Is this a typo? I do not think I know anybody who has $3k/mo laying around waiting to be spent. Your world is vastly different than people who cannot afford health insurance.
Newsflash: If you cannot afford a high premium, you cannot afford a high deductible. A subsidized policy with a high deductible is no different than no policy. For people with no health insurance, getting a free or low cost policy with a high deductible does not change their plight.
Without the website working, nobody knows what the policies would look like. What we do know is that 5 million people have no way to replace their policy that was working, and they do not have $3k a month for insurance.
What the PPACA is about is subsidising people with 3k+ per month plans. Requiring everybody to pay $3k per month will bring down the cost for the “Lexus class” plans.
steve
Yep. Perhaps because its a small firm and Cadillac plan. I’m going to be front and center in evaluating what we do. I’ll keep all you posted as a real life case study.
But I have to tell you. I meant what I said. My partner and I are filthy rich and will be just fine. I’m very angry with this bozo of a President (and his sycophants – read: Reynolds or sam) driven only by self aggrandizement, ideology and some ethereal concepts rather than cold, steely eyed business acumen. This is being repeated all over the country. I talk to the business owners. People are going to be hurt. We are going to try to shield our people as best we can. But when these mf’s start telling you what the “right” policy is just for their own political objectives and because they are as incompetent as all hell it makes your blood boil.