Category Archives: Obamacare

2010 Election, 2014 Election, Economy, Obamacare, Politics

Whoops, He Did It Again

Giving cover to weak-kneed Republicans in the House, the weak-kneed House Speaker John Boehner passed a debt-increasing $1.1 Trillion Continuing Resolution. To add insult to injury, Boehner has the nerve to say “it’s a good bill.” The spending frenzy now goes to the Democrat-controlled Senate for approval.

Speaker Boehner has a habit of telling republicans how tough he’s going to be on cutting government spending and neutering Obamacare. And the 2010 and 2014 mid-terms show that that’s exactly what the folks want. But that’s only before elections. Once handed the power to be effective, he folds and kowtows to the regime.

It’s like the national debt topping $18 Trillion last week never happened.

Link: Is Boehner, Congress, In Violation Of Probation?  |  With Deadline Looming, Government Funding Bill Passes House

2014 Election, China, Economy, Energy, Iran, Middle East, Obamacare, Politics, Race Relations, Russia, War On Terror

aSide Order

Iran Wins Another Round With Delay

Ten years and counting. Learning from recent history, when it comes to their nuclear program, Iran knows that this administration is all bark and no bite. The deadline for compliance has come and gone. The solution? Instead of shutting down centrifuges, they have six more months of full-steam ahead development and production. Oh, and the monthly dole-outs of $700 million in frozen funds that began under the temporary nuclear deal agreed on late last year that led to the present talks, continue.

Link: Iran nuclear talks stumble, extended until July

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So How’s It Going?

Iraq is falling to pieces, again. ISIS and al-Qaeda are growing. Beheadings have become common and, a new normal. Russia is occupying. The Commander-in-Chief cuts military budgets and personnel while expanding their role. After withdrawing troops from Afghanistan, now that the mid-term elections are over, President Obama is sending the new smaller military back. Third Secretary of Defense in six years resigns. Iran continues to ignore the world in rolling back their nuclear weapons program.  China is eating our lunch. No one wants to eat Michelle Obama’s lunch. Not her lunch, the lunch she wants your kids to eat. The economy on Main St. is treading water. Long-term unemployment is growing. Average family income is falling. The “no-energy” energy policy is increasing energy cost. The Affordable Care Act fraud exposed. And cities are burning.

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Jump Rope Girl – World’s Best Jump Roper!!! Adrienn Banhegyi

2008 Election, Economy, Obamacare, Politics

“The Lie” Got Obama A 4-Point Win

Obamacare architect Jonathan Gruber said Tuesday that he regrets saying that aspects of Obamacare needed to be concealed from the public due to the “stupidity of the American voter.”

BUT, makes NO APOLOGY for purposefully deceiving Americans in order to pass legislation that usurped 16% of the economy, representing the largest government control over everyone’s lives since the 16th Amendment (income tax), Social Security, and Medicare.

But it’s worst than that. It was this lie that helped (got) Obama get elected in 2008. No apology for that either.

Link: Obama Lied, And Won By 4 Points

Economy, Florida, Obamacare, Politics

Obamacare Premiums Increasing In Florida 13.2% Average

We already know that the Obama administration has illegally delayed the open enrollment period until two weeks after the mid-term elections. And, with the exemptions, delays, low new enrollment, dependent-heavy enrollment, and elimination of major funding streams for Obamacare, we now know that premiums will be going up. Not down as promised. What we in Florida didn’t know is by how much.

Here’s how much, over and above the outrageous increase an individual got last year. The surprise for businesses will come next year, after the government stops bailing out the insurance companies for their losses.

From my congressman Jeff Miller (R-FL1) . . .

In August, the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation reported that premiums for insurance plans available in Florida are set to rise by an average of 13.2 percent next year, based on rate proposals filed by Florida’s health insurance providers. Yet, many Floridians will have to wait another month to see just how much their premiums will change thanks to a decision by the Administration to delay enrollment for 2015 Obamacare plans until November 15, nearly two weeks after the midterm elections.

Obamacare, Politics

Obamacare Premiums Delayed Until After The Mid-Terms

The administration says it’s not a political decision. Riiiiight. Could it possibly be that even the most devoted of the Liberal Left might not vote for Democrats next month if they see their premiums going up? Or that republicans who stayed home two years ago will get to the polls this time to reject the lies and fraud coming from the Obama administration?

In 2013 consumers could begin signing up for plans on Oct. 1. This year they were scheduled to start their applications on Oct. 15. But the Obama administration announced late last year that the second enrollment period would instead begin on Nov. 15 – a full week and a half after the consequential federal elections taking place on Nov. 4.

What ever happened to “we don’t actually have the statutory authority to extend the open enrollment period in 2014?” Oh that’s right. We’re talking about the Obama administration, where laws are flexible and even, optional. Just like delaying the mandate for business and labor unions until after the 2012 election wasn’t political. No one believed that. It was totally and unabashedly political. Or that Obamacare is subsidizing health insurance companies. Translation, taxpayers are bailing out insurance companies for their losses, with another year to go for that.

Remember all the broken promises. While you’re at it, also remember that the employer mandate that was delayed, and still hasn’t landed, was one of the funding sources that was going to lower premiums. That’s being delayed until AFTER the mid-term election too! What are the odds that premiums will go down? Any rational human being would conclude that if premiums really were going to go down, that the administration would announce them this month, as the illegally revised Obamacare law dictates.

Link: Obamacare rates won’t be revealed until AFTER the midterm elections – a month later than last year  |  HHS: We Lack ‘Statutory Authority’ to Extend Deadline to Sign Up for Obamacare

 

Media, Obamacare, Politics

Obamacare, The Metrics Are Falling

Remember how quick the Obama administration was to tout the Obamacare enrollment numbers, that they wanted to? Of course, they still don’t know (or are not saying) how many new insureds there are as opposed to those who bought into the plan because they could not keep the policy they liked.

Now the house of cards is beginning to fall. Out of the eight million enrollees, 2.5 million are in limbo due to incomplete immigration and/or income status verification.

The Obama administration on Monday said 115,000 people in 36 states could lose their private health insurance under Obamacare after Sept. 30, because of unresolved data problems involving their citizenship or immigration status.

Another 363,000 people could see their insurance costs change, due to problems involving income data that is used to determine whether enrollees qualify for federal subsidies to help pay premiums on health plans obtained through the federal insurance marketplace, according to the administration.

Long story short, the fraud that was perpetrated both by the administration and those lying about their income and immigration status is bubbling to the top. Let’s not forget whose problem this is. It is ALL Democrats that voted for it. ZERO Republicans. Americans deserve better. We deserve an honest, open, and transparent government, and this bunch is not delivering. Not only are they not delivering, they have ruined the best (albeit not beyond improvement) health care delivery system and health insurance industry in the world, just for the sake of their ideology of having a single-payer (socialized) health care system.

What’s astonishing (not really) is the media’s take on this. The WSJ video in the link below, says “immigrants” have “missed the deadline” to verify their status. There is no deadline that an illegal alien can make. Ever.

Link: U.S. says 115,000 could lose Obamacare insurance over immigration – Yahoo News.

Immigration, Media, Obamacare, Politics, War On Terror

Obama’s Next Distraction, ‘we tortured some folks’

No. “We” did not torture some “folks.”

This was addressed seven years ago. And the pro-Islamists like Dick (Turban) Durbin, and then Senator Obama, who couldn’t fight a war on terror if their next welfare check depended on it, were calling “water boarding” torture. Not because it worked, but because it was the Bush administration that sought, and got, legal authorization to do it. And “it” was not deemed to be torture.

Having as his only mission to reverse everything Bush, and everything Republican, President Obama is still at it. But it might be politically useful to bring this up again (for the Obama-media) to distract the folks from his anti-immigration practices of not following immigration law he is supposed to be enforcing. And acting as Coyote-in-Chief. There is so much to be distracted from. High Black unemployment, shrinking median family incomes (especially on his core constituents), Obamacare’s broken promises, abuse and intimidation by the IRS, DOJ, BLM and EPA, Benghazi lies for political gain, etc.

Besides, the number of Islamic waste that were water boarded were three, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Abu Zabaydah, and Abd Al Rahim al-Nashiri. And they were terrorists, not “folks.” Folks are law-abiding citizens. Terrorists are terrorists.  Water boarding is water boarding.

Torture looks like this,

and this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And it often ends up like this.

beheaded americanFor a look at what torture is like, just look at the torture manual used by our enemy. Waterboarding is a method of interrogation that appeals to the most basic of animal or human instinct, survival. It works. It is the only interrogation technique that a subject can walk to and walk away from with not so much as a mark on their body. The interrogatee can return to his cell to masturbate in front of the female guards, and go on to have a good night’s sleep. Unlike the pictures of what is real torture.

Obama’s faux concern over torture now is just another distraction.

Links: Obama says that after 9/11, ‘we tortured some folks’ | Coyotes Arrested In AZ, One Still At Large  |  Exclusive: Only Three Have Been Waterboarded by CIA   |  President Obama Doubles Down On Middle Class Rhetoric  |  Dems Briefed On Waterboarding in 2002

 

 

Media, Obamacare, Politics

HealthCare.Gov Still Not Finished

Hearken back to last year when the roll-out of the HealthCare.Gov website fell flat on its face from day one. There was so much of the $600 million website that was not completed. Millions more were spent to ‘fix’ the problems. Obama got a crack team on it.

Well guess what? According to the HHS Inspector General’s office, the system still lacks the ability to verify whether applicants are eligible.

The federal health exchange was unable to resolve 2.6 million out of 2.9 million data inconsistencies on insurance applications through December 2013 because the eligibility system didn’t work, according to one of two inspector general reports released Tuesday.

The highlights from the HHS IG’s office . . .

  1. The internal controls were not effective for validating Social Security numbers and citizenship at the Federal marketplace.
  2. The Federal and California marketplaces did not always resolve inconsistencies in eligibility data, and the Connecticut marketplace did not always properly determine eligibility for insurance affordability programs.
  3. These deficiencies occurred because (1) the marketplaces did not have procedures or did not follow existing procedures to ensure that applicants were enrolled in QHPs according to Federal requirements or (2) the marketplaces’ eligibility or enrollment systems had defects or lacked functionality. For example, the Federal marketplace’s system functionality to resolve inconsistencies in eligibility data had not been fully developed.

The network radio news swerved from the numbers to generalities from 8am to Noon. Starting with pull quotes of “The federal health exchange was unable to resolve 2.6 million out of 2.9 million data inconsistencies on insurance applications.” Inconsistencies like verifying identity and citizenship. And ending with “the Office of Inspector General recommends that HHS take action to improve internal controls.”

Words not mentioned in any news broadcast were “Obamacare,” the “Affordable Care Act,” “HealthCare.Gov,” President Obama, or Kathleen Sibelius.

Related Links:

 

Obamacare, Politics

VA And Government-Run Health Care

Remember when proponents of the so-called Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) proffered the notion that Obamacare wasn’t anything new. That we already had government-run health care, citing the VA as the example. And that’s running so well. (I know, but that’s what they said.)

Not so well according to latest news report about veterans literally dying to see a doctor because the wait is too long. Some say the wait is so long because of veterans coming back from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Well, if that relatively small number of “patients” overwhelms the VA, just think for a moment how adding 40 million new “patients” will affect wait time throughout the country. And never mind the lies about your premium cost going down and keeping your plan, doctor, and hospital. Looking at government-run health care from a purely numbers angle, there won’t be better or faster care. And for you Obamacare proponents, this VA scandal should prove it.

Economy, Media, Obamacare, Politics

I’m Fighting to Restore a Free Society

It’s been a few busy weeks in the news business, and a blessing to the Obama regime. The “news” has been consumed by an airplane that has gone missing somewhere in the far East with 239 people on board. The blessing to the regime is that the media wasn’t reporting on the debacle called Obamacare, aka the Affordable Care Act. Also known as the federal government growing, swallowing up 16 percent of the American economy and destroying the health insurance and health care industries, changing the role of government and its relation between it and the people.

On April 1st, President Obama had a pep rally in the Rose Garden which was characterized in the news media as a “victory lap” for Obamacare. Yes, the President is back to calling it Obamacare again. Never mind the numbers that the regime is touting as the big success. You know what they do with numbers.

If by success you mean that millions of Americans who have either had their insurance policies cancelled by the federal law, or are reacting under threat of penalty of the federal government for not buying an ACA approved insurance policy, “purchased” one. (In this context, purchased does not mean purchased.) That’s the administration’s definition of “success.” Suffice it to say that nothing the American people were promised that Obamacare would do has come to fruition, and can’t come to fruition.  So no news about the government over-stepping its constitutional boundaries is a good day for the regime.

And speaking of the government over-stepping its boundaries, below is an op-ed piece from the Wall Street Journal from an American who sees the danger, and is devoted to restoring the country to those principles (boundaries) spelled out in the Constitution. It’s a great read, in its entirety . . .

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I’m Fighting to Restore a Free Society

By CHARLES G. KOCH

I have devoted most of my life to understanding the principles that enable people to improve their lives. It is those principles—the principles of a free society—that have shaped my life, my family, our company and America itself. Unfortunately, the fundamental concepts of dignity, respect, equality before the law and personal freedom are under attack by the nation’s own government. That’s why, if we want to restore a free society and create greater well-being and opportunity for all Americans, we have no choice but to fight for those principles. I have been doing so for more than 50 years, primarily through educational efforts. It was only in the past decade that I realized the need to also engage in the political process.

wsj_ed

A truly free society is based on a vision of respect for people and what they value. In a truly free society, any business that disrespects its customers will fail, and deserves to do so. The same should be true of any government that disrespects its citizens. The central belief and fatal conceit of the current administration is that you are incapable of running your own life, but those in power are capable of running it for you. This is the essence of big government and collectivism.

More than 200 years ago, Thomas Jefferson warned that this could happen. “The natural progress of things,” Jefferson wrote, “is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground.” He knew that no government could possibly run citizens’ lives for the better. The more government tries to control, the greater the disaster, as shown by the current health-care debacle. Collectivists (those who stand for government control of the means of production and how people live their lives) promise heaven but deliver hell. For them, the promised end justifies the means.

Instead of encouraging free and open debate, collectivists strive to discredit and intimidate opponents. They engage in character assassination. (I should know, as the almost daily target of their attacks.) This is the approach that Arthur Schopenhauer described in the 19th century, that Saul Alinsky famously advocated in the 20th, and that so many despots have infamously practiced. Such tactics are the antithesis of what is required for a free society—and a telltale sign that the collectivists do not have good answers.

Rather than try to understand my vision for a free society or accurately report the facts about Koch Industries, our critics would have you believe we’re “un-American” and trying to “rig the system,” that we’re against “environmental protection” or eager to “end workplace safety standards.” These falsehoods remind me of the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s observation, “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.” Here are some facts about my philosophy and our company:

Koch companies employ 60,000 Americans, who make many thousands of products that Americans want and need. According to government figures, our employees and the 143,000 additional American jobs they support generate nearly $11.7 billion in compensation and benefits. About one-third of our U.S.-based employees are union members.

Koch employees have earned well over 700 awards for environmental, health and safety excellence since 2009, many of them from the Environmental Protection Agency and Occupational Safety and Health Administration. EPA officials have commended us for our “commitment to a cleaner environment” and called us “a model for other companies.”

Our refineries have consistently ranked among the best in the nation for low per-barrel emissions. In 2012, our Total Case Incident Rate (an important safety measure) was 67% better than a Bureau of Labor Statistics average for peer industries. Even so, we have never rested on our laurels. We believe there is always room for innovation and improvement.

Far from trying to rig the system, I have spent decades opposing cronyism and all political favors, including mandates, subsidies and protective tariffs—even when we benefit from them. I believe that cronyism is nothing more than welfare for the rich and powerful, and should be abolished.

Koch Industries was the only major producer in the ethanol industry to argue for the demise of the ethanol tax credit in 2011. That government handout (which cost taxpayers billions) needlessly drove up food and fuel prices as well as other costs for consumers—many of whom were poor or otherwise disadvantaged. Now the mandate needs to go, so that consumers and the marketplace are the ones who decide the future of ethanol.

Instead of fostering a system that enables people to help themselves, America is now saddled with a system that destroys value, raises costs, hinders innovation and relegates millions of citizens to a life of poverty, dependency and hopelessness. This is what happens when elected officials believe that people’s lives are better run by politicians and regulators than by the people themselves. Those in power fail to see that more government means less liberty, and liberty is the essence of what it means to be American. Love of liberty is the American ideal.

If more businesses (and elected officials) were to embrace a vision of creating real value for people in a principled way, our nation would be far better off—not just today, but for generations to come. I’m dedicated to fighting for that vision. I’m convinced most Americans believe it’s worth fighting for, too.

Mr. Koch is chairman and CEO of Koch Industries.

Link: Charles Koch: I’m Fighting to Restore a Free Society