February, 2015, Part 1, The Unfolding Disaster That Is Obama Care: Higher Costs, Lower Enrollments, A Supreme Court Death Blow and More

Every month for the past two years or so we have had to dedicate numerous posts each month to cover the many, many unfolding disasters that have been spawned by the Obama Care legislation. This is easily the worst piece of legislation ever enacted by the Washington political class for so many reasons:

• First of all, it will never work in reining in the high cost of health care in this country since it never addressed the underlying root causes of our high costs, mistakenly implementing a Rube Goldberg like health insurance solution for what is mostly a public health problem.
• It will add over a trillion dollars to the national debt even though Obama promised it would not add “a single dime” to the debt.
• It has stifled economic growth and job creation.
• It has increased taxes on every American, either directly or indirectly, despite Obama’s promise that it would not.
• It has forced upwards of seven million Americans to lose access to their preferred health insurance policies.
• It has caused millions of Americans to lose access to their preferred doctors, hospitals, and current medical treatments.
• Nationally, it has increased the cost of health care premiums and deductibles as compared to before the legislation was passed.
• It has opened up millions of Americans to the real threat of identity theft since Obama Care’s data systems security protocols are woefully inadequate.
• Even those that have obtained health care insurance under Obama Care policies are finding that their choice of doctors and hospitals are extremely narrow and more narrow than before the legislation was passed, resulting in many policy holders not getting access to the premier doctors and hospitals in this country.
• The legislation has made a shortage of primary care physicians even worse since it is forcing primary care physicians to either retire earlier or move on to other career options.
• Ten years from now the Congressional Budget Office predicts that tens of millions of Americans will still be without health care insurance coverage, the primary reason for the legislation in the first place.
• It has burdened the failing Medicaid system with millions of more applicants without fixing the massive problems with the system, causing more and more doctors to discontinue taking Medicaid and in some cases, Obama Care patients, resulting in the cruel irony that “you finally have health insurance but you do not have health care.”
• It failed to deliver on the Obama promise that the average American family would see a $2,500 annual reduction in their health insurance costs.
• While the legislation was supposed to reduce the number of emergency room visits, it has actually increased the number of emergency room visits.
• While it was supposed to make people healthier, the legislation’s resultant high co-pay levels and high deductible levels has forced many Obama Care policy holders to defer medical treatment because of the higher costs.

We could go on but you get the idea. This is a disastrous piece of legislation across multiple parameters. To get more details on each of the above disasters and explore other disasters of the legislation, just enter the phrase, “the unfolding disaster that is Obama Care” in the search box above.

So, let’s take a few days and take a look at the latest Obama Care disasters and fiascoes:

1) The wonderful website, "Bankrupting America,” has done a great job tracking the failures of Obama Care over the years. They recently published their view of the latest five disasters:

- So far, according to the Obama administration, 9.9 million people have signed up for insurance through the Federal and state operated Obama Care exchanges. 7.5 million were on the Federal exchange and 2.4 were on the state exchanges. This is considerably short of the original second year estimate of over 13 million, the estimate that was used to sell in the program, with the shortage being about a somewhat embarrassing 24%. That original estimate was reduced to 9.1 million in late 2014.

And although 9.9 million have signed up, that does not mean those people will follow through, actually pay for a real policy and thus, activate a real policy. If history is any indication, about 20% of the 9.9 million will not pay and activate, reducing the 9.9 million to about 8.0 million, missing even the administration’s revised estimate for second year signups, 9.1 million, by over one million.

- According to The New York Times, “The Affordable Care Act has ushered in an era of complex new health insurance products featuring legions of out-of-pocket coinsurance fees, high deductibles and narrow provider networks. Though commercial insurers had already begun to shift toward such policies, the health care law gave them added legitimacy and has vastly accelerated the trend, experts say. The theory behind the policies is that patients should bear more financial risk so they will be more conscious and cautious about health care spending. But some experts say the new policies have also left many Americans scrambling to track expenses from a multitude of sources — such as separate deductibles for network and non-network care, or payments for drugs on an insurer’s ever-changing list of drugs that require high co-pays or are not covered at all.”

In other words, higher premiums, higher deductibles, more narrow networks, and tremendously more hassle, the exact opposite of what was promised.

- According to The Shreveport Times, “It’s a deep and common concern across the United States, where employer plans cover 60 percent of working-age Americans, or about 150 million people. Coverage long considered the gold standard of health insurance now often requires workers to pay so much out-of-pocket that many feel they must skip doctor visits, put off medical procedures, avoid filling prescriptions and ration pills — much as the uninsured have done. In recent Commonwealth Fund survey found that four in 10 working-age adults skipped some kind of care because of the cost, and other surveys have found much the same. The portion of workers with annual deductibles — what consumers must pay before insurance kicks in — rose from 55 percent eight years ago to 80 percent today, according to research by the Kaiser Family Foundation. And a Mercer study showed that 2014 saw the largest one-year increase in enrollment in ‘high-deductible plans’ — from 18 percent to 23 percent of all covered employees.”

Higher deductibles and people forgoing care because of the higher costs, the exact opposite of what was promised from Obama relative to Obama Care.

- According to the San Jose Mercury News: “One year on the explosive, health law-induced growth of Medi-Cal, it appears one of the most alarming predictions of critics is coming true: The supply of doctors hasn’t kept up with demand. One recent study suggests the number of primary care doctors in California per Medi-Cal patient is woefully below federal guidelines. ‘If you’re pregnant, you get help,’ Moreno said. ‘But if you’re 49 and not pregnant, you have to wait for everything.’ In fact, seven months after Moreno’s surgery, her original surgeon’s office called just to say they still couldn’t fit her in. At least 1.2 million Californians have signed up for a private insurance plan since enrollment began in October 2013 under the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare. But it’s Medi-Cal that has witnessed the largest growth — 2.7 million since the controversial law opened the program up to many more recipients in January 2014. By mid-2016, more than 12.2 million people — nearly a third of all Californians — will be on Medi-Cal, state health officials say.”

This is what happens when you do not address the underlying causes of a problem, you get more problems. As we have said many times in these posts and the San Jose Mercury News is confirming, the good news is that you now have health insurance, the bad news is that you cannot get health care or a access to a doctor

- According to CNBC, “A number of Staples store managers are now threatening to discipline part-time workers—”up to and including termination”—if they clock in for more than 25 hours on the job per week, a new report reveals. Those draconian threats at the office-supply store giant coincide with the start in January of Obamacare regulations that require large employers to offer affordable health insurance coverage to employees who work 30 hours or more per week, or pay a fine of up to $3,000 per worker. Staples denies the new threats that could send workers dusting off their resumes have any connection with the Affordable Care Act, employees who spoke with BuzzFeed News suggested there was a clear link. ‘Before January, it was a smack on the wrist if anyone went over 25 hours—they got an email scolding them saying, ‘You went over 25, try not to do that,’ a Staples employee told BuzzFeed News, which first reported the threats of termination. ‘But now it’s become really serious…they’ve threatened to write up managers and every person that goes over 25 hours.’”

As predicted many times, the 30 hour work week minimum, arbitrarily imposed by Obama Care, a stupid definition from day one as far as defining full time work, is resulting in full time employees being turned into part time workers, both at Staples and thousands of other companies across the country. Thus, these people still do not have health care coverage and now have less hours and less income to pay for health care insurance on their own. Stupid.

None of these realities are new, they have been predicted for the past several years by people way smarter than me. And our President refuses to acknowledge that maybe mistakes were made and need to be corrected in order to preserve his vanity and ego despite the suffering of millions of Americans across the country.

2) Let’s follow up on two key points made above:

• First, let’s assume that the 9.9 million estimate is a gross estimate and that eventually the real number of people that actually pay for Obama Care policies is around 8.0 million based on past purchasing behavior. If independent sources are correct in their estimates, that between 6 and 7 million people lost insurance coverage because of Obama Care, the net result of this massive and massively expensive piece of legislation relative to the incremental people that now have health care insurance is only between one million and two million. This is a pathetic result of such a hyped and expensive government effort. 
• Second, if we are to believe the Obama administration and their estimates from above, about 76% of those who signed up for an Obama Care policy did so through the Federal exchange. If the Supreme Court rules this June that those policy holders are NOT entitled to a Federal subsidy, as clearly stated and legislated in the law’s wording, then millions and millions of people will lose access to subsidies. This loss will probably lead millions of them to drop their expensive Obama Care policies and we will be right back where we started five years ago relative to reining in the high cost of healthcare. The only difference will be is that we as a nation would have spent untold billions of dollars for nothing and health care costs will continue to grow unabated, all due to the incompetence of the Obama administration and the Washington political class.

3) As tax season gets serious, it is worthwhile to revisit a 2013 University of California, Berkeley study on what could happen the year after Obama Care hits from a tax perspective:

• The study predicted that a family of four could be hit with an incremental tax bill because of Obama Care from a few hundred dollars up to a whopping $11,200.
• This is due to the so-called “clawback”provision of the legislation that requires Americans to pay back via their tax returns any Obama Care subsidies they received beyond that they were due.
• The study estimated that four in ten low income families will be faced with this clawback charge on April 15.
• Authors of the Berkeley study, actually written by supporters of the health-care law, warned the repayment feature could kill future support for Obama Care: “Repayment requirements could lead to public dissatisfaction with the exchanges. And if there is much media attention to the need for repayments, some people could be dissuaded from participating in the exchanges,” they cautioned. [W]orkers who receive income that’s 100 percent to 400 percent of the federal poverty line could face difficult repayments ranging from $600 to $2,500. A repayment requirement of $2,500 could be a financial shock to a family of two earning $50,000 a year.” 

When your supporters are worried about the negative ramifications of the law, such as the Berkeley researchers were supposed were, then you know that the legislation is on shaky ground.

That will do it for today, new news but nothing we did not already know about this law:

• It is not reducing healthcare costs.
• It is making a doctor shortage worse.
• It is causing people to not get the healthcare they may need, either because of high deductibles or a shortage of doctors.
• Millions of people are about to get slammed on their taxes because of Obama Care.
• The number of people signing up for Obama Care is below both the original projection and the more recent downward prediction.

More disasters tomorrow, with a detailed look at how low the INCREMENTAL impact of the law has really been.

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:

www.loathemygovernmobama,washington post,politifactent.com

It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:

Term Limits Now: http://www.howmuchworsecoulditget.com
http://www.reason.com
http://www.cato.org
http://www.bankruptingamerica.org
http://www.conventionofstates.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w

July, 2014 Political Class Insanity, Bonus Post: Pelosi Flunks Geography, Biden Claims Poverty, Voter ID Laws Are Good For Voting and More

I know that we promised yesterday would be the last post in this month’s update to our political class insanity series. However, since we made that vow, more insanity from the politicians across the country has come tumbling in. Rather than wait another month to review it, let’s try to finish this past month’s insanity up today.

1) We have often successfully made the case that politicians are more interested in extending their careers in office and self enrichment than resolving the major issues facing the country today. Given that the current set of politicians have never resolved any major issue, the back half of that statement is easy to verify.

The front half is also pretty easy to prove. The news show “60 Minutes” did the best job of that a little while ago when they showed how insider trading was against the law for every American except the Washington political class and their staffs. This loophole, created by the Washington political class, has enabled them to trade stock and legislative favors for self enrichment while in office. 

We have also reviewed how sitting politicians act on laws and government activities that benefit their spouses and their spouses businesses. The most recent case of such spouse enriching involves New Hampshire Senator Jeanne Shaheen. The Boston Globe recently reported that in 2009, Jeanne Shaheen’s husband served as a consultant for a company named Ultrawave Labs.

It seems that in 2009, Ultrawave Labs received $78,000 in Federal stimulus funding for company research. No big deal there, lots of companies got economic stimulus funding. However, rather than recuse herself from a conflict of interest perspective, Senator Shaheen voted to approve the funding to a company that her husband had an active financial interest in. As always , worse than the crime is the cover up after the crime, as illustrated by the Globe’s reporting: “The Shaheens declined multiple requests for interviews and would not answer most detailed questions about their investments and connection to the firm.” 

A New Hampshire paper followed up with an editorial that correctly points out how this type of behavior is typical of the crony capitalism that perverts and pervades Washington: [Senator Shaheen] “should have recused herself from voting on the stimulus bill because of its funding of Ultrawave. She will have to answer for the consequences of that vote. But it seems to us that the real issue here is Shaheen’s willing participation in the pay-for-play scheme that is the federal appropriations process. Shaheen complains about big-money influence in politics while engaging in the very behavior that encourages companies to hire lobbyists and senators’ spouses to obtain the connections necessary to access federal money. This is crony capitalism – and Jeanne Shaheen is one of the cronies.”

And that kids is just one way to get rich being a politician in America.

2) What would a political class insanity post be without a quote from Nancy Pelosi? Given a recent visit to see firsthand the growing crisis and humanitarian disaster that is expanding at our southern border, Ms. Pelosi showed her complete lack of geography and history skills: "This is a community with a border going through it. And this crisis — that some call a 'crisis' — we have to view as an opportunity," Pelosi said at her press conference in Texas. So, in other words, the United States and Mexico are just one big happy country that some poor fool drew an arbitrary boundary right through the middle of? Out of this world thinking.

3) We recently a short series talking about how things are not what they appear to be, that the political class makes up myths to energize their base and keep themselves in office by keeping myths and falsehoods alive. The post in that series that discussed voter id laws can be accessed at:

http://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2014/06/destroying-political-class-myths-part-2.html

In two instances, Georgia and Texas, we disproved the political class myth, using real data and research, that reasonable voter id laws do not inhibit voting by minority groups. In fact, in two states that had recently implemented voting id laws, voting by people in those minority groups actually skyrocketed, debunking the efforts of Eric Holder and President Obama to overturn laws that may actually help increase minority voting turnout.

To follow up on that reality, consider a list of actions that every American cannot due without providing official government identification. The list was put together by Ashe Schow on August 14, 2013, writing for the Washington Examiner:

1. Purchase alcohol

2. Purchase cigarettes

3. Open a bank account

4. Apply for food stamps

5. Apply for welfare

6. Apply for Medicaid/Social Security

7. Apply for unemployment or a job

8. Rent/buy a house, apply for a mortgage

9. Drive/buy/rent a car

10. Get on an airplane

11. Get married

12. Purchase a gun

13. Adopt a pet

14. Rent a hotel room

15. Apply for a hunting license

16. Apply for a fishing license

17. Buy a cell phone

18. Visit a casino

19. Pick up a prescription

20. Hold a rally or protest

21. Blood donations

22. Buy an "M" rated video game

23. Purchase nail polish at CVS

24. Purchase certain cold medicines

But according to certain people in this administration, requiring an id to vote should not be needed even though it affects an underpinnings of our democracy and freedom. Insanity.

4) Getting back to voter id laws. We have previously shown that when the states of Georgia and Texas implemented common sense voter id laws, the voting rate in minority communities actually went up substantially despite requiring legitimate citizens to prove they were legitimate citizens and voters.

Judicial Watch recently completed a similar study in North Carolina. They compared the voting of minorities in the 2010 elections, which were held prior to the state’s voter id law going into effect, and the voting rate of minorities in the similar 2914 elections after the law went into effect. They found the same trend: while voting rates increase across all sub groups of citizens, voting rates went up even higher in minority groups. 

Which makes you wonder while Eric Holder and the Obama administration want to gut this state law also, a law that actually does what Holder and Obama want to happen, increase the voting rate of minorities. Insane.

5) Vice President Joe Biden was recently speaking at the White House Summit on Working Families when he tried to show his connection and empathy with working class and middle class families. He claimed, despite being in Washington for decades, and drawing salaries during those years substantially higher than the average household income level that he supposedly owned no stocks and had no savings: “But I got a great pension and I get a good salary,” Biden said to applause.

What a man of the people, what a regular guy, struggling to survive like the rest of us, and Hillary Clinton, in these tough economic times. But is this truly the reality of Biden’s financial situation? Probably not since:

• Buzzfeed reported that when Biden joined the Obama ticket in 2008, he was indeed the poorest Senator but as the fact checker PolitiFact pointed out at the time, poorest Senator was still far wealthier than the average American.
• USA Today reported that in this year’s White House financial disclosure, Biden listed assets “valued at $276,000 to $940,000, including a rental property owned jointly with his wife, Jill,” 
• We have previously reported in this blog that not only do the Biden’s own this rental property but they have the gall to rent it out to the Secret Service to use to protect the Bidens, which of course is paid for by the American taxpayer.
• Time magazine’s Zeke Miller pointed out that contrary to what Biden stated at the meeting, Joe Biden definitely owns a savings account in his own name.
• And finally, other news sources claimed that the reason that Biden does not have a savings account or stock holdings in his name is because much of the family assets are listed not in his name but in his wife’s name. 

Thus, while technically correct in his statements, he is in a gray area when making such claims as long as he is married to his current wife and has access to the assets in her name. I always wonder what politicians are thinking when they try to push such stories that are really deceptions:

• Do they really believe their own deceptions and lies as reality? 
• Do they think we are too stupid to believe their own deceptions and lies? 
• Do they think no one will fact check their own deceptions and lies because they lie so well?

Insanity no matter how you cut it.

That will definitely do it for this month’s political class insanity. Today we learned that nepotism and crony capitalism is still alive, at least in New Hampshire politics, that Nancy Pelosi likely flunked geography in grammar school, that needing a valid id is necessary for most aspects of life even if some politicians find it necessary to vote as an insult, and Joe Biden plays fast and loose with words and claims about his family’s wealth. Insanity all around.

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:

www.loathemygovernment.com

It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:

Term Limits Now: http://www.howmuchworsecoulditget.com
http://www.reason.com
http://www.cato.org
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w