There is no question that Colorado Democrat Rep. Jared Polis has been a cheerleader for ObamaCare. What does Polis want to do now that the law is having negative effects on parts of his Congressional District? Repeal the law for everyone? NO! Not a chance. Polis wants a special interest waiver for only certain groups. Despite the law’s bad affects on everyone, Polis only wants a bailout for some. Unfair and hypocrtical? You bet. That’s Polis.
Senate Democrats have opposed delaying ObamaCare for one year. Senate Democrats have opposed delaying the individual mandate for one year. Senate Democrats have opposed delaying the indivdiual mandate penalties for one year. Under the law, individuals are supposed to complete the exchange enrollment process by February 15, 2014 to ensure they have health insurance by the March 31st deadline. But with the failure of healthcare.gov, there is a chance that many will not be able to complete the process in time.
So Senate Democrats are now playing politics asking for a few weeks delay of the ObamaCare’s enrollment deadline. They opposed all kinds of delays that would have mattered so they are asking for a delay that doesn’t matter much at all. The Senators who are trying to protect their “six” include:
The most comical thing about this entire episode is that Democrats are blaming Republicans for the reason the health care law isn’t working properly. Readers will note Republicans tried for months earlier this year to delay ObamaCare, including the mandate, but Senate Democrats and President Obama refused to talk. In effect, Republicans were throwing Democrats a life line which the Democrats refused and now the Democrats are blaming the Republicans. There is no shame among Senate Democrats.
Great article from the American Spectator about how the Obama Administration has once again ignored the clear application of the law. This week’s unlawful delay has to do with the deadline by which individuals must sign up for insurance to avoid the individual mandate penalty. Here is the explanation:
“February 15 was supposed to be the last day to sign up for insurance on the exchange and avoid hitting the three-month limit. The reason is that health insurers require applicants to sign up for coverage by the 15th of the month for coverage that begins on the 1st of the following month. Thus, to qualify for insurance on the exchange that begins March 1, an applicant could sign up no later than February 15.
“If he signs up after February 15, the soonest his coverage would begin is April 1. That violates the three-month limit for avoiding the fine. Yet by pushing the deadline back to March 31, Obama has allowed even people who don’t get coverage until May 1—i.e., no coverage for four months—to avoid the penalty under the individual mandate.
“Here, specifically, is what the law says: Section 5000A(e) of Obamacare states, ‘EXEMPTIONS—No penalty shall be imposed…with respect to,’ and then lists the conditions for an exemption. Section 5000A(e)(4)(A) states that one of those conditions is ‘Any month the last day of which occurred during a period in which the applicable individual was not covered by minimum essential coverage for a continuous period of less than 3 months.’
“‘Less than 3 months.’ It’s there in black letters. And Obama is going to ignore it.”
The House Ways & Means Committee recently shared data from the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book detailing that employers cite ObamaCare as a major job killing force. From the Book, “Employers in several Districts cited the unknown effects of the Affordable Care Act as reasons for planned layoffs and reluctance to hire more staff.”
Also from the Report:
Cleveland – “…[M]any were uneasy about fiscal issues and implications of the Affordable Care Act on their businesses.” (Manufacturing Sector” and “Many of our contacts are concerned about the implementation of the Affordable Care Act and the effect it will have on their total labor cost.” (Retail Sector)
Richmond – “Many contacts also commented on reluctance to expand due to uncertainty surrounding the Affordable Care Act; some employers cut hours or employees.”
Dallas – “Staffing services firms noted flat demand overall since the last report but saw an unexpected decline in direct hires. One contact saw a few signed contracts designed to circumvent the Affordable Care Act (ACA) by utilizing a temporary employee full time, then hiring that person on a permanent but part-time basis once the ACA goes into effect.” (Nonfinancial Services Sector)
Chicago – “A number of contacts voiced concern about the uncertainty surrounding future employer and employee healthcare costs. In addition, several reported changing their health insurance enrollment periods this year in order to match the deadlines of the Affordable Care Act.”
Philadelphia – “Overall, most bankers remained optimistic, although they expressed uncertainty on behalf of their business customers and for themselves over the implications of both the Affordable Care Act and a prolonged government shutdown.” (Financial Services Sector)
WAM’s press statement can be found here and the Beige Book can be found here.
Joe Miller, former U.S. Senate candidate from Alaska writes on his blog:
“To enroll in a new ObamaCare health insurance plan on the federal marketplace, most consumers must first provide private personal information. But buried in that website’s blueprint (known as ‘source code’) lies an alarming warning first unearthed by the Weekly Standard. ‘You have no reasonable expectation of privacy regarding any communication or data transiting or stored on this information system,’ reads the disclaimer, which does not appear on the site’s visible ‘Terms and Conditions’ page. The disclaimer continues: ‘At any time, and for any lawful Government purpose, the government may monitor, intercept, and search and seize any communication or data transiting or stored on this information system.’”
Read Miller’s full post here and more from The Weekly Standard here.
According to Marketplace.org, “Hollywood Health & Society, a program with the USC Annenberg Norman Lear Center got a $500,000 grant this week from The California Endowment to help TV writers tell better stories about the new health insurance law.”
Just who is The California Endowment? According to their website, “The California Endowment was established in 1996 as a result of Blue Cross of California’s creation of its for-profit subsidiary, WellPoint Health Networks.” So as costs go up because of ObamaCare, at least one of the for-profit entities that benefits from the government forcing people to buy that for-profit’s product is subsidizing Hollywood to get Hollywood to sell us the law is good for us? Outrageous.
Here is a link to the original article and to The California Endowment website.
“Now that the Affordable Care Act exchanges are open for business, voters are finding that the biggest problem with Obamacare isn’t that some Web sites crashed last week but that the Obama promise of big savings for the average family was too good to be true.
“Now that the exchanges are open for business, people who already have individual coverage have something new to not like: sticker shock. The Affordable Care Act isn’t affordable after all.”
AAF has a new study out that found young adults will face huge price increses under ObamaCare. Specifically, AAF found: “on average, a healthy 30 year old male nonsmoker will see his lowest cost insurance option increase 260 percent.” Yeah – 260%. Ouch!
True Story – A liberal blogger at The Daily Kos has just received his ObamaCare notice that his health insurance premiums are increasing. And. He. Is. Not. Happy.
WARNING: His language is graphic but you can read his (revised) post here and commentary from Breitbart here.
FoxNews Neil Cavuto tells it like it is. ObamaCare is the problem!
Here is the full text of Cavuto’s remarks:
Mr. President, Fox News isn’t what’s making Americans sick about your healthcare law. Your healthcare law is. Welcome, everybody, I’m Neil Cavuto. And excuse this departure from form. But I think this is just poor form. So, it’s time we set some things straight. Mr. President, we at Fox News are not the problem. I hate to break it to you, sir. You are. Your words are. Your promises are. We didn’t sell this healthcare law. Sir, you did. Remember this?
[AUDIO: President Barack Obama: If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor. Period.]
Mr. President, tell that to tens of thousands of retirees at IBM and Time Warner and dozens of others, who’ve been dumped from their coverage and told to find their own coverage. Fox News didn’t break that news to them, Mr. President. Their companies did. Fox News didn’t push more of those firms to hire part-time workers. Your healthcare law did. Fox News didn’t incentivize fast food restaurants to scale back their benefits. Your healthcare law did. Fox News didn’t make doctors want to opt out. Your healthcare law did. Fox News didn’t make insurance premiums sky rocket. Your healthcare law did. Just like Fox News didn’t grant hundreds of exemptions to companies that needed them. You did. And Fox News didn’t delay one key provision after another, including online enrollment for those small business exchanges. You did. Just like it wasn’t Fox News that said we had to pass this to see what was in this. You did. Or was that Nancy Pelosi? Sometimes I’m confused. But of this I am not. Fox News didn’t re-do basic math. Sir, you did. Fox News didn’t say you can cover 30 million more Americans and not see a hit in premiums. You did. Fox News didn’t say you could throw in those with pre-existing conditions and not have to pay for it. You did. Fox News didn’t all but say you could get something for nothing. You did. Fox News didn’t come back years later and say, oh yea, we did raise some taxes. You did. Here’s where you are right about Fox News, however, Mr. President. We can do math. And did. You cannot. And did not. We said it, and proved it. You didn’t. And we’re all suffering for it. Take it from the numbers guy at Fox. Numbers don’t lie. The number of Americans working part-time and nervous. The number of retirees days away from being dumped on exchanges and anxious. The number of company bosses with any news to pass along on those exchanges, but still clueless. The number of doctors who want out. The number of congressmen now opting out. No, Mr. President, none of those numbers lie. But with all due respect sir, I can only conclude you do know; I know, I know you hate us at Fox. But please take a look in a mirror, and fast. You think we’re the skunk at your picnic. But that doesn’t mean we’re the ones that stink. Because that smell isn’t coming from the folks reporting on your law. Mr. President, that smell is your law.
AHEC | American Healthcare Education Coalition 