Tag: obamacare

Quote of the Day, The Left Is Really Worried About King v. Burwell now.

I imagine that writing this may have almost caused Jeffrey Toobin physical pain:

If the Obama Administration loses in the Supreme Court, the political pain will fall almost exclusively on the President and his Party. To paraphrase Colin Powell and the Pottery Barn rule, President Obama will have broken health care, so he owns it. To the vast mass of Americans who follow politics casually or not at all, Obamacare and the American system of health care have become virtually synonymous. This may not be exactly right or fair, but it’s a reasonable perception on the part of most people. The scope of the Affordable Care Act is so vast, and its effects so pervasive, that there is scarcely a corner of health care, especially with regard to insurance, that is unaffected by it. So if millions lose insurance, they will hold it against Obamacare, and against Obama. Blaming the President in these circumstances may be unfair, but it’s the way American politics works.

Mind you, it’s not unfair at all. The President was given every opportunity to compromise with the Republican party on this issue, and in his arrogance and myopia President Barack Obama declined to do so.  So… Obama purchased Obamacare on credit; or, if you like, he purchased it with his own credibility.  It’s hardly the GOP’s fault if the man can no longer cover the charge.

Via Instapundit.com.

Gov. Steve Beshear’s (D) precious Kentucky #obamacare exchange is now deep in the hole.

Remember: the state Obamacare exchange in Kentucky (Kynect) was imposed via executive order by Democratic Governor Steve Beshear. It was not passed by the legislature. And since Governor Beshear was so incredibly happy to take credit for his top-down solution, then he can certainly explain to Kentucky taxpayers why they’re now stuck with the bill:

The Kentucky Hospital Association outlined its concerns in a report released Friday called “Code Blue,” saying payment cuts to hospitals are expected to reach nearly $7 billion through 2024. “Kentucky hospitals will lose more money under the Affordable Care Act than they gain in revenue from expanded coverage,” it said, experiencing a net loss of $1 billion by 2020.

Staff layoffs. Patients forced onto Medicaid. Increased bureaucracy. Loss of hospitals. A steadily-increasing debt. This is what the Democratic party – specifically, Governor Steve Beshear – has wrought for Kentucky.  Not that they care. Or are prepared to admit it, unless they absolutely have to.  Wouldn’t fit the official Democratic narrative that Steve Beshear has provided good medical care and pie to the good citizens of Kentucky…

Shocking news: Obamacare still degrading Emergency Room Care.

Spoiler warning: this is, of course, not even remotely shocking. “Emergency-room visits continued to climb in the second year of the Affordable Care Act, contradicting the law’s supporters who had predicted a decline in traffic as more people gained access to doctors and other health-care providers.”  It was, in fact, not shocking last year, either. As I noted back then, increased access to insurance does not mean the same as increased access to medical care. Dumping people on Medicaid because the federal government – specifically, the Democrats that used to run the legislative branch / still running the executive branch of the federal government – has no idea as to how to create an inexpensive national healthcare system inevitably leads to those people doing what they can with what they have. Whether or not it strains the system:

Nicholas Vasquez, a medical director for an emergency department in Mesa, Ariz., said volume rose 5% in a year, representing about 10 more patients a day. The stress from bigger caseloads prompted some nurses to resign, he said. “Physicians are working more shifts—that pushes them a lot,” Dr. Vasquez said. “If they work too much, they get burnt out. For patients, it means longer waits.”

And, again: this was predicted, back in 2010.  We all knew that this was going to happen.  It’s just that the Democrats lied to the American people, like they lied about every other aspect of Obamacare.  And I have no compunctions whatsoever about saying I Told You So.  This was so blatantly inevitable that an English major with no professional experience in the health care field could see it coming.  Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid should be ashamed of themselves.  They are not, and never will be – but they should be.

They’re hurting people with this.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

Pro-#Obamacare shill organization Enroll America now withering on the vine.

(Via @MyCancellation) Well, isn’t this somewhat awkward for Team Democrat.

The main national organization promoting Obamacare enrollment is cutting 100 jobs amid a major retrenchment as key funders turn to other health care priorities.

It’s the beginning of the end for Enroll America, which was set up by liberal advocates of the Affordable Care Act to run a sophisticated, political-style campaign to persuade Americans to get covered. The group, led by veterans of President Barack Obama’s campaigns and administration, was never intended to last forever, but a precipitous drop in funding forced it to scale back to half of its peak size after only two seasons of Obamacare sign-up. That’s a more rapid throttling back than some of the people associated with Enroll had envisioned at the start.

So was Napoleon’s Retreat from Moscow.

Moe Lane

Obamacare’s rather foolish birth control mandate gets another day in court.

This will be the next front in the Obamacare war against liberty of conscience: “The next big Obamacare question of whether religious schools can duck the birth control mandate got another federal appeals court hearing on Tuesday.” The more or less short version: some religious institutions have strong objections to providing coverage for certain forms of birth control that are currently mandated by Obamacare.  The Obama administration has created an alternative method to cover such things, in case of sincere religious objection by schools, religious institutions, and or other nonprofits: and the Obama administration obviously feels that this is sufficient.

The problem, of course, is that religious groups usually have religious reasons for rejecting any particular drug or procedure.  They also usually have strong rules against aiding and abetting behaviors that the religious group consider sinful; and so they’re refusing to play along with the Obama administration.  And, thanks to the Hobby Lobby case and the federal RFRA, religious groups’ arguments have a bit more bite to them. Continue reading Obamacare’s rather foolish birth control mandate gets another day in court.

The IRS delays yet another piece of Obamacare. Like they do.

Surprise, surprise, surprise.

ObamaCare customers who received the wrong tax form from the federal government this spring will not face penalties if they miss the April 15 deadline, officials announced Friday.

Anyone who have not yet been sent corrected tax forms and are “unable to file an accurate tax return” now have until Oct. 15 to file — as long as they request an extension.

The government did not say how many people will be given extra time, though officials said in late March that 80,000 people were still waiting on their corrected tax forms. A total of 800,000 people had mailed the wrong forms.

Continue reading The IRS delays yet another piece of Obamacare. Like they do.

Uninsured continue to do basic Obamacare tax math.

Well, this sounds awkward. As you probably already know, people who don’t get Obamacare-approved insurance have to pay a tax. In fact, the tax is supposed to be what gets people to buy Obamacare-approved insurance. And how is it working out? Well…

Major tax-preparation firms say many customers are paying the penalty and not getting health insurance. It is still early, since the special enrollment period launched Sunday, but research also suggests that many people who lack health insurance will pay the penalty and not get covered this year.

Only 12% of uninsured people would buy policies if informed of the penalty, according to a survey of 3,000 adults polled through Feb. 24 by McKinsey & Co.’s Center for U.S. Health System Reform.

Continue reading Uninsured continue to do basic Obamacare tax math.

American poor does math, realizes that Obamacare tax is still cheaper than Obamacare.

From the I told you so section of the news comes a report that the Obama administration is having trouble convincing people to buy insurance, or pay a fine – despite the fact that they’ve extended the window to buy coverage.  Why? Well…

This is the first year fines are being collected from uninsured people the government deems able to afford coverage. Tax preparation company H&R Block says the penalty averages about $170 among its affected customers. It usually is deducted from a person’s tax refund.

Those penalized are mainly the kind of people the law was intended to help: low- and middle-income workers who do not have coverage on the job or are self-employed. Roughly 4 million people are expected to pay fines, according to congressional estimates.

Basically, in June of 2014 CNN reported that the average monthly Bronze Obamacare payment after subsidies was $82, or $984/year. That is significantly more than the 2014 penalty. That’s also significantly more than the $325/year minimum penalty for this year.  Turns out that the administration miscalculated just how much of a deterrent the fine fine was; which is pretty much par for the course for this administration, huh? Continue reading American poor does math, realizes that Obamacare tax is still cheaper than Obamacare.

My watchdog.org post on Cover Oregon is up.

Link here.  Short version: clearly Cover Oregon once offended a gypsy or violated a mummy’s tomb or possibly didn’t kiss up enough to a Greek god.  It’s the only way to explain why that site has become a karmic chew toy.  Especially since now it’s got King v. Burwell hanging over its head by a thread…

Moe Lane

PS: I don’t know how King v. Burwell is going to be decided, and neither does anybody else.