Tumbling down the rabbit hole

[Adam]

This passed absurd about five exits back.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/11/14/rumors-obamacare-fix-president-to-address-concerns-at-1135-am/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obamato-to-announce-change-to-address-health-insurance-cancellations/2013/11/14/3be49d24-4d37-11e3-9890-a1e0997fb0c0_story.html

http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/politicsnow/la-pn-obamacare-dropped-plans-solution-20131114,0,6699177.story#axzz2kdCKINgu

So, in response to the people who are very upset about losing the health coverage that they were promised they wouldn't lose, but lost anyway solely because of Obama's illegal, unconstitutional Presidential fiat, Obama's way to fix this is to issue yet another illegal, unconstitutional Presidential fiat.


What color is the sky on his planet?

[Michele]

President Obama announced Thursday that he will encourage insurance companies to continue offering their customers the same health plans next year

It must have taken a lot of discussion and planning to come up with that fix.

[Michele]

GEORGE WILL: "It's the mathematics of small numbers as far as any enrollment is concerned. Well, it's not working. The exchanges themselves and the website aren't working and neither is the explanation of both failures. The problem is we have no experience rolling out things like this, at least for about 200 years of our history. When we rolled out, if that's what you want to call it, Social Security, it was a simple thing. Reach a certain age, we'll mail you a check. They know how to write checks, they know how to mail them out. This is a complicated system in which when you change something, something else changes and all of the whole structure of incentives goes sideways.

I think the blazing insight I've had from this is that there's no need to repeal Obamacare. If you pass a bill that the Republicans I think are going to want to pass, saying if you can buy insurance policy X before the 1st of October you can still buy it and if you were selling it before then, you can still sell it, that's all you need to do. After that, Obamacare disappears."

[Billy Jingo]

GEORGE WILL: "It's the mathematics of small numbers as far as any enrollment is concerned. Well, it's not working. The exchanges themselves and the website aren't working and neither is the explanation of both failures. The problem is we have no experience rolling out things like this, at least for about 200 years of our history. When we rolled out, if that's what you want to call it, Social Security, it was a simple thing. Reach a certain age, we'll mail you a check. They know how to write checks, they know how to mail them out. This is a complicated system in which when you change something, something else changes and all of the whole structure of incentives goes sideways.

I think the blazing insight I've had from this is that there's no need to repeal Obamacare. If you pass a bill that the Republicans I think are going to want to pass, saying if you can buy insurance policy X before the 1st of October you can still buy it and if you were selling it before then, you can still sell it, that's all you need to do. After that, Obamacare disappears."

And those who did not have insurance (25% percent of the people living in my home state)?

[Norm dePlume]

"You said I could keep my insurance, but it's being discontinued! You lied!"

"Okay, we'll fix it so you can keep it."

"You can't do that! It's unconstitutional!"

[Billy Jingo]

"You said I could keep my insurance, but it's being discontinued! You lied!"

"Okay, we'll fix it so you can keep it."

"You can't do that! It's unconstitutional!"

More incoherence.

[scott]

And those who did not have insurance (25% percent of the people living in my home state)?

They can go buy it the same way we buy it. If they can't afford it, enroll in Medicaid. Of course they're still stuck right now since this Administration is so inept.

None of this nonsense about micromanaging and controlling health insurance is needed.

[Billy Jingo]

They can go buy it the same way we buy it. If they can't afford it, enroll in Medicaid. Of course they're still stuck right now since this Administration is so inept.

None of this nonsense about micromanaging and controlling health insurance is needed.

I don't know if anyone told you this but the problem predated the ACA.

[scott]

I don't know if anyone told you this but the problem predated the ACA.

I'm aware. However, the ACA hasn't fixed any of it.

Heckuva job!

[Billy Jingo]

I'm aware. However, the ACA hasn't fixed any of it.

Heckuva job!

Not in Texas, anyway. Not sure about Florida but our state government did not accept the Medicaid expansion. Kinda hard to fault the ACA for that.

[gary m]

And those who did not have insurance (25% percent of the people living in my home state)?

Since you mention a 25% figure of the people living in your state (which the assumption would be that includes everybody that resides in the state regardless of their legal ability to do so) , could you give us a breakdown of that 25%.
What of that percentage are people that could afford it but choose not to have it or illegal immigrants and their dependents?
How many are between jobs and without insurance for less than 90 days?
Religious or other that outright reject insurance on some other principal?
Homeless or transient that won't be covered by the new law anyway?

[Billy Jingo]

Since you mention a 25% figure of the people living in your state (which the assumption would be that includes everybody that resides in the state regardless of their legal ability to do so) , could you give us a breakdown of that 25%.
What of that percentage are people that could afford it but choose not to have it or illegal immigrants and their dependents?
How many are between jobs and without insurance for less than 90 days?
Religious or other that outright reject insurance on some other principal?
Homeless or transient that won't be covered by the new law anyway?

Here is a link with information along with other links outlining the demographics of the uninsured in the state of Texas.

[Adam]

And those who did not have insurance (25% percent of the people living in my home state)?

Tell them to get off their asses and go buy insurance.

Ultimately, that's all Obamacare really is: an impossibly complicated system of mandating that people buy health insurance. So just mandate it and be done with it. Set some basic, loose parameters and let people figure it out on their own.

[scott]

Not in Texas, anyway. Not sure about Florida but our state government did not accept the Medicaid expansion. Kinda hard to fault the ACA for that.

Sure it is. The ACA was supposed to fix this stuff and it hasn't. The reason Texas, Florida, and other states didn't accept the Medicaid expansion was because the federal funding promised were not enough to build a sustainable system. That doesn't mean that Medicaid doesn't exist, it does.

Now with this clusterfuck everyone is seeing increased costs and some are getting subsidies that will soon break the system.

I think that was the plan all along - destroy the private market for insurance to usher in single-payer. That's exactly what happened with Medicare.

[JB]

"You said I could keep my insurance, but it's being discontinued! You lied!"

"Okay, we'll fix it so you can keep it."

"You can't do that! It's unconstitutional!"

And why doesn't that bother you?