Progressives tout California Health care "success"

[Jauronimo]

not even close to enough votes to account for the margins of victory.

I didn't say it was. Way to counter a point which wasn't made and completely miss the point. Are you completely incapable of responding to a post in the context in which it was written?

[jjamie12]

That sort of thing happens a LOT in DC. I know one guy who worked for a large contractor for a couple years, then they encouraged him to create his own start-up consulting company. Then - long story short and lots of shady maneuvering omitted - the large contractor ended using this guy's "minority-owned small business" as a front to bid on small business set-asides they wouldn't get otherwise, requiring the guy I knew to do nothing more than stand there and be black.

So - black folks are still being exploited by white people with some help from the construct of laws?

Weird.

[B-Man]

JAMES TARANTO: Losing the Plot: Why coverage of Obama is so boring.

 

FTA;

The problem with the story that Obama and his press sycophants tell is that it is so boring and stupid. It reduces the president and his supporters to stick-figure caricatures of good and evil. (We almost said comic-book characters, but that would be unfair to comic books.) We could fill a column with examples every day, but here are a few that have come across our desk just in the past 24 hours:

 

National Journal’s Norm Ornstein published a column yesterday titled “The Unprecedented–and Contemptible–Attempts to Sabotage Obamacare.” – it is “sharply beneath any reasonable standards of elected officials.” (What does “sharply beneath” even mean?)

 

The second paragraph of Ornstein’s column is comedy gold: “I am not the only one who has written about House and Senate Republicans’ monomaniacal focus on sabotaging the implementation of Obamacare–Greg Sargent, Steve Benen, Jon Chait, Jon Bernstein, Ezra Klein, and many others have written powerful pieces. But it is now spinning out of control.”

 

Ornstein acknowledges that what he has to say is utterly unoriginal, and to prove it he cites a long list of partisan hacks (all male, by the way; somebody alert Alicia Shepard!) who’ve said the same thing. Then he deploys a histrionic cliché in an attempt to justify the shopworn blather that follows.

 

{snip}

 

For Obama, the trouble with these stories about how awful his adversaries are is that they underscore his weakness and incapacity. "The president has been foiled or distracted whenever he has tried to focus the public conversation," Dionne whines. He could have added: What a loser.

 

Republicans are evil, Obama is weak--what a dull narrative that is, and how unsatisfying except as an object of mockery. If only those who sympathize with Obama were willing to acknowledge his flaws--his intellectual superficiality, moral hubris, susceptibility to flattery and political immaturity among them--they might be able to develop a narrative of his presidency that would be interesting and enlightening. Obama might make a compelling tragic hero if today's journalists had any storytelling ability.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LOL....................

 

 

WELL, THAT’S AWKWARD: IRS employee union: We don’t want Obamacare.

 

“IRS employees have a prominent role in Obamacare, but their union wants no part of the law. National Taxpayer Employee Union officials are urging members to write their congressional representatives in opposition to receiving coverage through President Obama’s health care law.”

 

 

.

Edited July 26, 2013 by B-Man

[IDBillzFan]

Way to counter a point which wasn't made and completely miss the point.

 

BIrddog...in a nutshell.

 

So - black folks are still being exploited by white people with some help from the construct of laws?

Weird.

 

Even better, they've managed to get black people and idiots like birddog to call you a racist if you disagree with or fight any of it.

 

It's not weird. It's a diabolical stroke of genius.

[birdog1960]

I didn't say it was. Way to counter a point which wasn't made and completely miss the point. Are you completely incapable of responding to a post in the context in which it was written?

wasn't your counterpoint thar race WAS a factor to my point that race was not a MAJOR factor in deciding the election? If not, what was your point? and how is it out of context to reply that the voters you mentioned were not at all decisive in the election and thus not a MAJOR factor? or was it that you just didn't like my response? just like la didn't like my distillation of his argument, yet made no substantive challenge to the actual logic. yall's browbeating me about context and logic is laughable.

[TakeYouToTasker]

His point was the race was a factor in the election, not that it was a factor in deciding the election, though he could easily make the second point if he wanted to, constructed on the idiot narrative of white guilt.

 

How the !@#$ did you graduate from college?

[B-Man]

AP: The ObamaCare insurance exchanges? Not like Travelocity.

 

I know it’s rough, but try to contain your shock, everyone: The Obama administration is woefully behind on yet another aspect of the Patient “Protection” and “Affordable” Care Act that they so strenuously assured us would be an integral and simplifying part of the law.

 

Crazy, right?

 

The Associated Press reports that the administration has “yet to demonstrate the technology platform that will help consumers get financial help with their premiums and pick a plan”:

 

Struggling with a deadline crunch, some states are delaying online tools that could make it easier for consumers to find the right plan when the markets go live on Oct. 1.

 

Ahead of open enrollment for millions of uninsured Americans, the feds and the states are investing in massive call centers.

“The description that this was going to be like Travelocity was a very simplistic way of looking at it,” said Christine Ferguson, director of the Rhode Island Health Benefits Exchange. “I never bought into it.”

 

“The bottom line is that with tight timelines … states have had to scale back their initial ambitions for Day 1,” said Paul Hencoski, leader of KPMG’s government health practice, which is advising nearly 20 states. “A lot of the more sophisticated functionalities that might have been offered through the Web are being deferred to later phases.”

 

When the markets first open, Hencoski said, “there will be a significant amount of manual processing of things that will later be automated.” Translation: emails, phone calls, faxes.

 

It’s never been a secret that creating all of these online exchanges from scratch was going to be a bureaucratic feat of herculean proportions — back in March, one ObamaCare official noted that they were well past that wishful point of trying to engineer a world-class consumer-friendly experience and were instead just trying to “make sure it’s not a third-world experience”

 

— but the administration is so far behind on getting these things fully operational that getting millions of people signed up on what will probably still be glitchy, untested, and work-in-progress systems is definitely going to turn into a very messy and manual endeavor.

 

They really didn’t plan this well, did they?

[DC Tom]

AP: The ObamaCare insurance exchanges? Not like Travelocity.

 

I know it’s rough, but try to contain your shock, everyone: The Obama administration is woefully behind on yet another aspect of the Patient “Protection” and “Affordable” Care Act that they so strenuously assured us would be an integral and simplifying part of the law.

 

Crazy, right?

 

The Associated Press reports that the administration has “yet to demonstrate the technology platform that will help consumers get financial help with their premiums and pick a plan”:

 

Struggling with a deadline crunch, some states are delaying online tools that could make it easier for consumers to find the right plan when the markets go live on Oct. 1.

 

Ahead of open enrollment for millions of uninsured Americans, the feds and the states are investing in massive call centers.

“The description that this was going to be like Travelocity was a very simplistic way of looking at it,” said Christine Ferguson, director of the Rhode Island Health Benefits Exchange. “I never bought into it.”

 

“The bottom line is that with tight timelines … states have had to scale back their initial ambitions for Day 1,” said Paul Hencoski, leader of KPMG’s government health practice, which is advising nearly 20 states. “A lot of the more sophisticated functionalities that might have been offered through the Web are being deferred to later phases.”

 

When the markets first open, Hencoski said, “there will be a significant amount of manual processing of things that will later be automated.” Translation: emails, phone calls, faxes.

 

It’s never been a secret that creating all of these online exchanges from scratch was going to be a bureaucratic feat of herculean proportions — back in March, one ObamaCare official noted that they were well past that wishful point of trying to engineer a world-class consumer-friendly experience and were instead just trying to “make sure it’s not a third-world experience”

 

— but the administration is so far behind on getting these things fully operational that getting millions of people signed up on what will probably still be glitchy, untested, and work-in-progress systems is definitely going to turn into a very messy and manual endeavor.

 

They really didn’t plan this well, did they?

 

What geniuses said/are saying "The exchanges can only be on the internet" anyway? That's a horrifically bad constraint.

[B-Man]

What geniuses said/are saying "The exchanges can only be on the internet" anyway? That's a horrifically bad constraint.

 

I don't know if they meant that it would be only available on the internet, but it was easy enough to find examples of the promise of "on-line shopping" simplicity.

 

 

Kentucky's Insurance Exchange Is Named, 'Similar to Travelocity or Expedia' Experience

 

Kentucky's new exchange for people on the market for healthcare now has a name and a website.

 

It'll be called Kynect—pronounced "connect." People can access it at kynect.ky.gov. A phone line will be running in August.

Kynect will be fully operational in time for October open health insurance enrollment.

 

Once running, Kynect will help Kentucky residents or employers find and compare prices for health insurance coverage.It's part of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.

 

Carrie Banahan, the health exchange's executive director, says the online portal will work much like online shopping.

 

"You know we expect it to be similar to a Travelocity or Expedia type shopping experience, where you'll go online, enter your information," she says.

 

http://wfpl.org/post...edia-experience

 

 

 

 

The exchange will be like Travelocity.com or Orbitz.com for health insurance plans. When customers enter their basic personal information, an automated process will determine their eligibility for federal subsidies and offer a menu of private insurance plans to choose.

The technology will wield massive flows of socio-economic and health information for populations around the country that an insurance company, if privy to, could use as valuable business intelligence to determine what markets to play in.

 

Read more: http://thehill.com/b...m#ixzz2aAWySOFe

[IDBillzFan]

They really didn’t plan this well, did they?

 

You know what would make this worse? If some dumbass started spending $800M in advertising to get everyone to join in as soon as possible before everything is in place for them to sign up.

 

 

Fortunately no one is that phucking stupid.

[DC Tom]

You know what would make this worse? If some dumbass started spending $800M in advertising to get everyone to join in as soon as possible before everything is in place for them to sign up.

 

 

Fortunately no one is that phucking stupid.

 

The most fundamental flaw in this legislation is that it's based on the unbelievable idea that there is absolutely no relationship whatsoever between "cause" and "effect".

[IDBillzFan]

The most fundamental flaw in this legislation is that it's based on the unbelievable idea that there is absolutely no relationship whatsoever between "cause" and "effect".

 

That's because Hope and Change > Cause and Effect.

[Jauronimo]

The most fundamental flaw in this legislation is that it's based on the unbelievable idea that there is absolutely no relationship whatsoever between "cause" and "effect".

They probably should have attended bigfatbills symposium, "Correlation: Proof of Causation".

[B-Man]

Unworkable ObamaCare: Opaque rules, big delays and rising costs: The chaos is mounting.

By Bobby Jindal and Scott Walker

 

Remember when President Obama famously promised that if you like your health-care plan, you'll be able to keep your health-care plan? It was a brilliantly crafted political sound bite. Turns out, the statement is untrue.

 

 

Aside from that small detail, the slightly larger problem is that the Obama administration doesn't have a health-care plan. Yes, the White House has a law with thousands of pages, but the closer we get to Oct. 1, the day government-mandated health-insurance exchanges are supposed to open, the more we see that the administration doesn't have a legitimate plan to successfully implement the law.

 

Unworkable. That word best describes ObamaCare. Government agencies in states across the country, whether red or blue, have spent countless hours and incalculable dollars trying to keep the ObamaCare train on its track, but the wreck is coming. And it is the American people who are going to pay the price.

 

 

http://online.wsj.co...2647631608.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

Privacy Be Damned: The imminent health-exchange scandal.

 

By MICHAEL ASTRUE

 

I have been dismayed, but unsurprised, to see that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is already spinning the launch of its federal health insurance exchange this October. The federal and state “exchanges” ​HHS recently rebranded them “marketplaces”​ ​are a linchpin of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that would allow uninsured Americans to assess and select health insurance plans. Repeated HHS assurances that the systems will be ready for launch have been a critical factor in state decisions as to whether they should use the HHS portal or build their own; at least 14 states have wisely chosen to build their own systems.

 

http://www.weeklysta...ed_741033.html#

 

Michael Astrue served as HHS general counsel (1989-1992) and commissioner of Social Security (2007-2013).

 

 

• 
   
  

Edited July 26, 2013 by B-Man

[Doc]

I don't know if they meant that it would be only available on the internet, but it was easy enough to find examples of the promise of "on-line shopping" simplicity.

 

 

 

 

http://wfpl.org/post...edia-experience

 

 

 

 

The exchange will be like Travelocity.com or Orbitz.com for health insurance plans. When customers enter their basic personal information, an automated process will determine their eligibility for federal subsidies and offer a menu of private insurance plans to choose.

The technology will wield massive flows of socio-economic and health information for populations around the country that an insurance company, if privy to, could use as valuable business intelligence to determine what markets to play in.

 

Read more: http://thehill.com/b...m#ixzz2aAWySOFe

Should be called "K-Y-nect," as in "bend over, here it comes!"

[B-Man]

No comment really necessary............

 

Obamacare Call Center Will Not Offer Healthcare Benefits to Employees

By Eliana Johnson

 

In order to ensure Americans understand how to access the benefits available to them when many provisions of the Affordable Care Act go online October 1, the Obama administration announced last month that it is setting up a call center that will be accessible to Americans 24 hours a day.

 

One branch of that call center will be located in California’s Contra Costa County, where, reportedly, 7,000 people applied for the 204 jobs. According to the Contra Costa Times, however, “about half the jobs are part-time, with no health benefits — a stinging disappointment to workers and local politicians who believed the positions would be full-time.” The county supervisor, Karen Mitchoff, called the hiring process “a comedy of errors” and said she “never dreamed [the jobs] would be part-time.”

 

The Times indicates that a job posting advertised all of the jobs as full-time, and one call center employee, who said no reason for the apparent change was provided, told the paper, ”It reminded me of that George Clooney movie where he goes around the country firing people (‘Up in the Air’). The woman said, ‘I know you were led to believe you would be full-time, but things have changed…You are actually ‘part-time intermittent.’”

 

The Contra Costa employees are currently in training, and the call center — one of three based in California — is set to go live on October 1.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.

Edited July 26, 2013 by B-Man

[/dev/null]

No comment really necessary............

 

 

Tragic irony aside, let's examine the Obamanomics of this:

7000 applicants for 204 openings. That's about 35 applicants per part time job with no bennies. Summer of Recovery 5.0

 

Forward!

[IDBillzFan]

No comment really necessary............

 

ACA has become like the Anthony Weiner of Obama accomplishments. Just when you think the worst is over and the WH has apologized and explained everything is fixed and good to go, you turn on the news and there's another dick swinging around embarrassing everyone involved with it.

[IDBillzFan]

This is my kind of story...IRS employees who will run Obamacare want out of Obamacare.

 

Sorry if already posted.

 

Truly and genuinely embarrassing.

[DC Tom]

This is my kind of story...IRS employees who will run Obamacare want out of Obamacare.

 

Sorry if already posted.

 

Truly and genuinely embarrassing.

 

They're just misinformed and don't understand the law.