Joe Klein Calls Obama Incompetent!

[PoliticalChic]

1. "...the key incentive for small businesses to support Obamacare was that they would be able to shop for the best deals in health care superstores — called exchanges. The Administration has had three years to set up these exchanges. It has failed to do so.

2. This is a really bad sign. There will be those who argue that it’s not the Administration’s fault. It’s the fault of the 33 states that have refused to set up their own exchanges. Nonsense. Where was the contingency planning?



3. ...— the federal government’s own health-benefits plan (FEHBP) operates markets that exist in all 50 states. So does Medicare Advantage. But now, the Obama Administration has announced that it won’t have the exchanges ready in time,...




4. ...we are now seeing weekly examples of this Administration’s inability to govern.





5. Just a few weeks ago, I reported on the failure of the Department of Defense and Veterans Affairs to come up with a unified electronic health care records system. There has also been the studied inattention to the myriad ineffective job-training programs scattered through the bureaucracy. There have been the oblique and belated efforts to reform Head Start, a $7 billion program that a study conducted by its own bureaucracy — the Department of Health and Human Services — has found nearly worthless. The list is endless.

6. ...as a Democrat — as someone who believes in activist government — he has a vested interest in seeing that federal programs actually work efficiently. I don’t see much evidence that this is anywhere near the top of his priorities.





7. ...Obamacare will fail if he doesn’t start paying more attention to the details of implementation, if he doesn’t start demanding action. And, in a larger sense, the notion of activist government will be in peril —

8. Sooner or later, the Democrats may come to understand that making it run efficiently is the prerequisite for maintaining power."
Obamacare Incompetence | TIME.com


Wow....this indictment from Joe Klein?

The worm turns!



I agree with the premise, of Mr. Klein's 'Time Magazine' opus.....but not the target.

It is not Mr. Maladroit Obama who is incompetent......

....it is the voters who put in office.

 

[Underhill]

And republicans all over the country rejoice...

 

[Katzndogz]

I hope no one would actually trust electronic medical recordkeeping.

 

[Underhill]

I hope no one would actually trust electronic medical recordkeeping.

As apposed to the wonderfully efficient and accurate manual system we have now?

Hell, it's hard to even call what we have now a system.

Electronic record keeping, even imperfect electronic record keeping, would be a vast improvement.

 

[Mad Scientist]

Obama didn't write the Healthcare Law, Insurance Companies did.

Bankers and Corporations write the Laws during their time working for Gov't Agencies like the FCC and FDA. They then bribe or blackmail Lawmakers to pass it.

Obama is NOT your President, he belongs to Bankers and Special Interests.

Your Government doesn't care a whit about you or what you want.

But you continue to think if you just keep waving that Democrat or Republican flag a little while longer everything will get better.

 

[jasonnfree]

Obama didn't write the Healthcare Law, Insurance Companies did.

Bankers and Corporations write the Laws during their time working for Gov't Agencies like the FCC and FDA. They then bribe or blackmail Lawmakers to pass it.

Obama is NOT your President, he belongs to Bankers and Special Interests.

Your Government doesn't care a whit about you or what you want.

But you continue to think if you just keep waving that Democrat or Republican flag a little while longer everything will get better.

Looks like Obama's not the Marxist or socialist that the right wing thinks he is.

 

[Underhill]

I'm so fucking confused.

Is Obama a Marxist? A free market capitalist? A corporatist? A socialist?

And since we are on the subject... Is he a supporter of muslims? Or a southern baptist following that batshit preacher? Or is he atheist scum trying to undermine religion?

It's so damned confusing keeping all this rhetoric straight.

 

[Lumpy 1]

I'm so fucking confused.

Is Obama a Marxist? A free market capitalist? A corporatist? A socialist?

And since we are on the subject... Is he a supporter of muslims? Or a southern baptist following that batshit preacher? Or is he atheist scum trying to undermine religion?

It's so damned confusing keeping all this rhetoric straight.

He's a complete failure as an American President, just remember that...

 

[PoliticalChic]

Obama didn't write the Healthcare Law, Insurance Companies did.

Bankers and Corporations write the Laws during their time working for Gov't Agencies like the FCC and FDA. They then bribe or blackmail Lawmakers to pass it.

Obama is NOT your President, he belongs to Bankers and Special Interests.

Your Government doesn't care a whit about you or what you want.

But you continue to think if you just keep waving that Democrat or Republican flag a little while longer everything will get better.

Looks like Obama's not the Marxist or socialist that the right wing thinks he is.

As usual, you misunderstand.

Klein doesn't doubt his Leftist character....merely his ability.

Do you know what 'maladroit' means?

 

[PoliticalChic]

I'm so fucking confused.

Is Obama a Marxist? A free market capitalist? A corporatist? A socialist?

And since we are on the subject... Is he a supporter of muslims? Or a southern baptist following that batshit preacher? Or is he atheist scum trying to undermine religion?

It's so damned confusing keeping all this rhetoric straight.

While, I'm sure, you posted that tongue-in-cheek....the real joke is how truly it reflects on your comprehension.

 

[lynn63]

It is not true that the remaining states refuse to do the expansion. The government spent 3.2 trillion in grants to 24 states for their expansion. There is no money left for the other states to expand. Instead of admitting that they are short of funds, state governors are urged to say they refuse it.

Florida and Texas have the highest number of uninsured and also the poorest population in the South. The government cannot afford grants to these states right now.

 

[Dugdale_Jukes]

I hope no one would actually trust electronic medical recordkeeping.

The health care system producing the best average results on earth is almost entirely electronic records. That would be the single payer/socialist system many call the US VA system.

The Best Medical Care In The U.S. - Businessweek

 

[boedicca]

Does this mean Klein has achieved step 7 of the Grieving Process?

Acceptance is a healthy sign!

 

[Greenbeard]

Does this mean Klein has achieved step 7 of the Grieving Process?

Acceptance is a healthy sign!

It means he misread a poorly written news article.

 

[boedicca]

GB - your reading comprehension is sorely lacking.

 

[Greenbeard]

GB - your reading comprehension is sorely lacking.

You've confused me with Joe Klein.

 

[boedicca]

Hardly. He's a lot smarter than you are...he's had the epiphany that Obama is incompetent.

 

[Greenbeard]

Hardly. He's a lot smarter than you are...he's had the epiphany that Obama is incompetent.

He believes the administration said employers won't have a choice of plans in the exchanges next year. This, of course, is silly. Klein made a boo boo!

 

[boedicca]

Hardly. He's a lot smarter than you are...he's had the epiphany that Obama is incompetent.

He believes the administration said employers won't have a choice of plans in the exchanges next year. This, of course, is silly. Klein made a boo boo!

He's correct and you are a moronic hack.

If you were looking forward to an easier way to shop for employee health-insurance plans, you may have to wait a bit longer.

Last month, the Obama Administration requested that states be given more time to set up multiple options for health-insurance coverage, pushing deadlines back by one year, according to the Federal Register, the official newspaper of the federal government. In 2014, states would only have to offer small-business owners a single option on the exchange, giving them until 2015 to set up a model for providing employers multiple choices, the Federal Register says....

White House to Delay Health-Care Marketplace Options for Small Businesses - Yahoo! India Finance

 

[Greenbeard]

He's correct and you are a moronic hack.

Someday I dream folks like you will take five minutes to understand the issues that so rile you. When you understand things, a poorly worded article won't throw you for such a loop. Maybe you'll even be able to talk about the content intelligently, too!

HHS didn't say the exchanges won't be there next year, nor did they say "small businesses will be offered one choice." This, of course, is the basis of Klein's post and since it's entirely untrue his post is pointless.

What they said is that in the SHOP exchanges for small businesses, they're only going to be using an employer choice purchasing model next year. That means the employer can shop around in the exchange (yes, choosing from multiple competing plans) and choose one that he makes available to his employees. That's generally how the small group market works now. Since the employer is the one who actually does the shopping and choosing, the employee only gets a single choice: to say yea or nay to the company plan.

What's being delayed a year is a second purchasing model, an employee choice model. Under that model, the employer doesn't choose a single company health plan anymore. Instead, he lets employees go out into the exchange and pick their own plans using, at least in part, a financial contribution the employer offers as part of the compensation package.

That way you get the market dynamics of the individual market because everyone shops for their own plan (instead of giving the employer all the decision-making power), but employers still get to offer tax privileged health benefits as a hiring enticement and, depending on how the SHOP is designed, they get the predictability of a defined contribution to the health plan.

Get it?