"The Obamacare implosion is worse than you think"

[Amelia]

How Obamacare Accomplishes The Unthinkable

President Obama’s signature domestic policy may have accomplished something previously unthinkable: taking an issue where one party had a dominant hold on public opinion, and reversing it in favor of the opposing party.

If the latest poll numbers and enrollment figures are to be believed, we could be witnessing a political achievement unequaled in modern political history: the complete demolition of one party’s long-term dominance on an issue area – the Democrats’ ownership of the health care issue – in the space of a few months. Quinnipiac finds that young people trust Republicans in Congress more on health policy than the president; that a plurality of Hispanics, long the most pro-Obamacare faction, are now opposed to the law; and that overwhelming majorities (70+ percent) of Democrats, Republicans, and Independents are in favor of delaying the law. And that’s not all: ....

 

[Spoonman]

Oh goody. Problem solved.

Obama letting people keep canceled health plans for another year - CBS News



WTF? Abracadabra, your old policies exist again?

this tells you how bad the problems really are. they have no fix. right now the democrats are in total damage control trying to salvage a total loss in congress in 2014. Obama should have listened to the tea party instead of playing hardball and shutting down the government for 16 days. The tea party was right

 

[Amelia]

Insurers said Thursday that while they appreciated Obama’s effort to address consumers’ concerns, they remained concerned that the move could distort the risk pool in the new state and federal health-insurance marketplaces.

“Changing the rules after health plans have already met the requirements of the law could destabilize the market and result in higher premiums for consumers,” said Karen Ignani, president and chief executive of America’s Health Insurance Plans. “Premiums have already been set for next year based on an assumption of when consumers will be transitioning to the new marketplace. If now fewer younger and healthier people choose to purchase coverage in the exchange, premiums will increase and there will be fewer choices for consumers.”

Obama announces change to address health insurance cancellations - The Washington Post

 

[Amelia]

State rebuts Obama plan to allow old health insurance policies | Local & Regional | Seattle News, Weather, Sports, Breaking News | KOMO News

OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Just hours after President Obamaannounced changes to his health care law to give insurance companies the option to keep offering consumers plans that would otherwise be canceled, Washington state Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler says those changes will not be allowed in our state.

Kreidler says Thursday he has "serious concerns" about how Obama's proposal would be implemented and its potential impact on the overall stability of the state's health insurance market.

"I do not believe his proposal is a good deal for the state of Washington," Kreidler said in a statement announcing his decision. "In the interest of keeping the consumer protections, we have enacted and ensuring that we keep health insurance costs down for all consumers, we are staying the course. We will not be allowing insurance companies to extend their policies. I believe this is in the best interest of the health insurance market in Washington."

....

Edit: funny ... that article changed after I linked it. It even changed from an Olympia dateline to a Seattle dateline. I only noticed because I went back to check on the "Obamaannounced" typo I copy/pasted.

 

[Amelia]

Chaos ensues after insurance cancellation reversal -- USA Today

David Isenstadt has spent the past six weeks working 12-hour days, seven days a week, trying to reach all of his insurance clients with canceled policies to switch them to new policies. Now this.

....

 

[GWV5903]

So what are the odds he resigns by June of 2014?

How can you screw up this bad and still remain in the highest executive office?

In the real world he is done, toast, hasta la vista baby...

I don't think even MSNBC will keep bailing him out at this pace...

This is really fun to watch...

 

[asterism]

So what are the odds he resigns by June of 2014?

How can you screw up this bad and still remain in the highest executive office?

In the real world he is done, toast, hasta la vista baby...

I don't think even MSNBC will keep bailing him out at this pace...

This is really fun to watch...

The odds of resigning over this? ZERO

The time to stop this was last November.

 

[theHawk]

This just cements the Hussein's legacy of being the worst President ever.

He's fucked millions of people over.

 

[Amelia]

Obamacare Is Whatever Obama Says It Is - Bloomberg



Many interesting points .... including a discussion of whether the IRS could legally enforce the mandate. Would people who are on the "substandard" insurance plans okayed by Obama for another year be ordered to pay the penalty? If they are not then how could anyone else? Obama may be able to pick and choose which laws will be enforced -- but the IRS can't pick and choose who has to obey tax law.

 

[Politico]

If they have a refund coming yes they will enforce it.

 

[Amelia]

Profound article. I hope the link works. If it doesn't work from here, it's worth googling for a readable copy of it.

Fouad Ajami: When the Obama Magic Died - WSJ.com

The current troubles of the Obama presidency can be read back into its beginnings. Rule by personal charisma has met its proper fate. The spell has been broken, and the magician stands exposed. We need no pollsters to tell us of the loss of faith in Mr. Obama's policies—and, more significantly, in the man himself. Charisma is like that. Crowds come together and they project their needs onto an imagined redeemer. The redeemer leaves the crowd to its imagination: For as long as the charismatic moment lasts—a year, an era—the redeemer is above and beyond judgment. He glides through crises, he knits together groups of varied, often clashing, interests. Always there is that magical moment, and its beauty, as a reference point.

Mr. Obama gave voice to this sentiment in a speech on Nov. 6 in Dallas: "Sometimes I worry because everybody had such a fun experience in '08, at least that's how it seemed in retrospect. And, 'yes we can,' and the slogans and the posters, et cetera, sometimes I worry that people forget change in this country has always been hard." It's a pity we can't stay in that moment, says the redeemer: The fault lies in the country itself—everywhere, that is, except in the magician's performance.

Forgive the personal reference, but from the very beginning of Mr. Obama's astonishing rise, I felt that I was witnessing something old and familiar. My advantage owed nothing to any mastery of American political history. I was guided by my immersion in the political history of the Arab world and of a life studying Third World societies.

In 2008, seeing the Obama crowds in Portland, Denver and St. Louis spurred memories of the spectacles that had attended the rise and fall of Arab political pretenders. I had lived through the era of the Egyptian leader Gamal Abdul Nasser. He had emerged from a military cabal to become a demigod, immune to judgment. His followers clung to him even as he led the Arabs to a catastrophic military defeat in the Six Day War of 1967. He issued a kind of apology for his performance. But his reign was never about policies and performance. It was about political magic.

....

I picked the first four paragraphs to quote in the natural manner, but the article gets better and better. Practically perfect observations of the dynamics of the Obama election and presidency.

 

[MeBelle]

Obamacare Is Whatever Obama Says It Is - Bloomberg

Many interesting points .... including a discussion of whether the IRS could legally enforce the mandate. Would people who are on the "substandard" insurance plans okayed by Obama for another year be ordered to pay the penalty? If they are not then how could anyone else? Obama may be able to pick and choose which laws will be enforced -- but the IRS can't pick and choose who has to obey tax law.

No Sign of Plan B for Obamacare - Bloomberg

The most interesting tidbit by far came from Henry Chao, deputy chief information officer at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, who was heavily involved in the project: According to him, at least some portion of the website still isn’t finished, notably the bit that pays insurers. Since that wasn’t needed until January, he said, it wasn’t finished and tested at the same time as the system. Unfortunately, January no longer sounds so far off.

 

[bigrebnc1775]

Profound article. I hope the link works. If it doesn't work from here, it's worth googling for a readable copy of it.

Fouad Ajami: When the Obama Magic Died - WSJ.com

The current troubles of the Obama presidency can be read back into its beginnings. Rule by personal charisma has met its proper fate. The spell has been broken, and the magician stands exposed. We need no pollsters to tell us of the loss of faith in Mr. Obama's policies—and, more significantly, in the man himself. Charisma is like that. Crowds come together and they project their needs onto an imagined redeemer. The redeemer leaves the crowd to its imagination: For as long as the charismatic moment lasts—a year, an era—the redeemer is above and beyond judgment. He glides through crises, he knits together groups of varied, often clashing, interests. Always there is that magical moment, and its beauty, as a reference point.

Mr. Obama gave voice to this sentiment in a speech on Nov. 6 in Dallas: "Sometimes I worry because everybody had such a fun experience in '08, at least that's how it seemed in retrospect. And, 'yes we can,' and the slogans and the posters, et cetera, sometimes I worry that people forget change in this country has always been hard." It's a pity we can't stay in that moment, says the redeemer: The fault lies in the country itself—everywhere, that is, except in the magician's performance.

Forgive the personal reference, but from the very beginning of Mr. Obama's astonishing rise, I felt that I was witnessing something old and familiar. My advantage owed nothing to any mastery of American political history. I was guided by my immersion in the political history of the Arab world and of a life studying Third World societies.

In 2008, seeing the Obama crowds in Portland, Denver and St. Louis spurred memories of the spectacles that had attended the rise and fall of Arab political pretenders. I had lived through the era of the Egyptian leader Gamal Abdul Nasser. He had emerged from a military cabal to become a demigod, immune to judgment. His followers clung to him even as he led the Arabs to a catastrophic military defeat in the Six Day War of 1967. He issued a kind of apology for his performance. But his reign was never about policies and performance. It was about political magic.

....

I picked the first four paragraphs to quote in the natural manner, but the article gets better and better. Practically perfect observations of the dynamics of the Obama election and presidency.

Have faith he'll find some way to get out of this jam.

 

[bigrebnc1775]

Obamacare Is Whatever Obama Says It Is - Bloomberg

Many interesting points .... including a discussion of whether the IRS could legally enforce the mandate. Would people who are on the "substandard" insurance plans okayed by Obama for another year be ordered to pay the penalty? If they are not then how could anyone else? Obama may be able to pick and choose which laws will be enforced -- but the IRS can't pick and choose who has to obey tax law.

No Sign of Plan B for Obamacare - Bloomberg

The most interesting tidbit by far came from Henry Chao, deputy chief information officer at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, who was heavily involved in the project: According to him, at least some portion of the website still isn’t finished, notably the bit that pays insurers. Since that wasn’t needed until January, he said, it wasn’t finished and tested at the same time as the system. Unfortunately, January no longer sounds so far off.

I have a plan B scrap the whole damn things and leave it alone.

 

[jon_berzerk]

Obamacare Is Whatever Obama Says It Is - Bloomberg

Many interesting points .... including a discussion of whether the IRS could legally enforce the mandate. Would people who are on the "substandard" insurance plans okayed by Obama for another year be ordered to pay the penalty? If they are not then how could anyone else? Obama may be able to pick and choose which laws will be enforced -- but the IRS can't pick and choose who has to obey tax law.

No Sign of Plan B for Obamacare - Bloomberg

The most interesting tidbit by far came from Henry Chao, deputy chief information officer at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, who was heavily involved in the project: According to him, at least some portion of the website still isn’t finished, notably the bit that pays insurers. Since that wasn’t needed until January, he said, it wasn’t finished and tested at the same time as the system. Unfortunately, January no longer sounds so far off.

I have a plan B scrap the whole damn things and leave it alone.

obamacare pretty much works the same way

that laws in a banana republic works

the executive branch just willie nillie changing parts of the law

 

[bigrebnc1775]

No Sign of Plan B for Obamacare - Bloomberg

The most interesting tidbit by far came from Henry Chao, deputy chief information officer at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, who was heavily involved in the project: According to him, at least some portion of the website still isn’t finished, notably the bit that pays insurers. Since that wasn’t needed until January, he said, it wasn’t finished and tested at the same time as the system. Unfortunately, January no longer sounds so far off.

I have a plan B scrap the whole damn things and leave it alone.

obamacare pretty much works the same way

that laws in a banana republic works

the executive branch just willie nillie changing parts of the law

That would be unconstitutional wouldn't it?

 

[jon_berzerk]

Obamacare Is Whatever Obama Says It Is - Bloomberg



Many interesting points .... including a discussion of whether the IRS could legally enforce the mandate. Would people who are on the "substandard" insurance plans okayed by Obama for another year be ordered to pay the penalty? If they are not then how could anyone else? Obama may be able to pick and choose which laws will be enforced -- but the IRS can't pick and choose who has to obey tax law.

including a discussion of whether the IRS could legally enforce the mandate

it can

however it can only obtain the mandate tax through tax refunds

pretty easy to over come that

one should not be borrowing the government money anyhow

 

[Spoonman]

one more thing we tried to tell them would happen. but they just don't listen.

Businesses cut full-time workers to meet Obamacare mandate, study says

Businesses cut full-time workers to meet Obamacare mandate, study says
A study of small businesses found that many are cutting full-time workers or worker hours to comply with Obamacare. Franchises are making the biggest cuts..

. . . ..First, President Obama had to backtrack from his promise that if you like your health insurance plan, under Obamacare "you can keep it." Now, a new study is suggesting that, under Obamacare, "If you like your workweek, you can’t necessarily keep it, either."


Related Stories
Small Business and ObamaCare The Wall Street Journal Obamacare website: Is one month enough time to fix it? Christian Science Monitor Millions losing health plans under Obamacare. Did president mislead? Christian Science Monitor [$$] Despite a Botched Rollout, the Health-Care Law Is Worth It The Wall Street Journal US health secretary on Obamacare website: 'You deserve better' AFP About 30 percent of small franchises and 12 percent of other small businesses say they are cutting work hours – or swapping full-time for part-time workers – because of the law, according to a poll sponsored by business groups.

 

[Amelia]

Obamacare Is Whatever Obama Says It Is - Bloomberg



Many interesting points .... including a discussion of whether the IRS could legally enforce the mandate. Would people who are on the "substandard" insurance plans okayed by Obama for another year be ordered to pay the penalty? If they are not then how could anyone else? Obama may be able to pick and choose which laws will be enforced -- but the IRS can't pick and choose who has to obey tax law.

including a discussion of whether the IRS could legally enforce the mandate

it can

however it can only obtain the mandate tax through tax refunds

pretty easy to over come that

one should not be borrowing the government money anyhow

There is a different question this time -- the old plans would violate the law, so technically people who renew their old plans for another year would still owe the tax since they don't have insurance which meets ACA requirements. But if those insured people still had to pay a penalty, that would make constituents scream. So would the Obama administration say they didn't owe the penalty after all?

If they waived the penalty for people who had their old noncompliant insurance plans but still enforced the penalty for people who had no plan, that would be selective enforcement of a tax. And THAT would be against the law. ... if I understand correctly.

 

[Amelia]

And another story which needs to be told -- rich hospitals getting richer, poor hospitals getting poorer under the ACA:

Medicare Penalizes Nearly 1,500 Hospitals for Poor Quality - NationalJournal.com

Medicare Penalizes Nearly 1,500 Hospitals For Poor Quality Scores : Shots - Health News : NPR

CMS: The 2,225 hospitals that will pay readmissions penalties next year | The Advisory Board Daily Briefing

The latest data calculation showed that hospitals treating mostly low-income patients were penalized disproportionately, reviving hospitals' concerns about uneven penalty distributions, Jordan Rau reports for Kaiser Health News .

The sicker your population, the more likely the patients will be to need readmission, and the greater your penalty ... so what do you do? Turn down less healthy patients? Refuse to readmit? Or do the best you can with the people in need while your resources wither?

Will hospitals use their limited resources on cosmetic fixes when they need to use it on equipment -- in order to try to have a cheerful environment which will get them more points on customer satisfaction surveys?

Could hospitals in vulnerable areas be put out of business because of this?

I don't know. I just heard some about this on NPR this morning while I was half asleep. And I'm sure there are many more stories which need to be told about the ACA.