WyBlog

My health insurance premium just got jacked up 18 percent. Thanks Obamacare!

Attached to my latest pay stub was a little love note from the gals in accounting. The annual increase for our medical plan is now due. My next paycheck will reflect the increased contribution of $459.23.

The current rate is $389.54. An eighteen percent increase. Since we're paid biweekly that works out to a new premium of just under 12 grand per year.

Thanks Obamacare! Way to keep those costs down!

You know what really irks me? If I lived in a state with sane politicians I could choose a less expensive plan. One that only covered catastrophic illness for instance, and left me to pay for routine stuff out of my own pocket. But New Jersey doesn't have sane politicans; we have guys like Dick Codey.

Dick Codey has probably done more to increase the cost of my health insurance than anyone else in Trenton. How? By pushing for laws mandating all sorts of "free" coverages in every health plan offered in our state. His greatest triumph involved requiring insurers to provide unlimited coverage for mental health and substance abuse. Seems that his wife suffered from bouts of postpartum depression, and like a good liberal he wasn't content with seeking a solution to her problem, he had to enact a law!

Then there was his infamous assertion that mental patients have a Constitutional Right to air conditioning. Because, you know, stuff like that is free. And of course he was a proponent of including "medical" marijuana in prescription drug coverage.

So thanks to Dick Codey my health insurance will pay for dope, and if I get hooked, it'll pay to wean me off the weed (in air-conditioned comfort) too!

I guess when you think of it like that, 12 grand a year is a bargain.

Posted at 13:40 by Chris Wysocki   [/obamacare]   Comments | Perm Link |
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Obamacare + Obamanomics = skyrocketing health insurance premiums

We can't afford The Affordable Care Act.

On average health insurance premiums rose 9% over last year, reversing a downward trend that's been occuring since 2001. This is the first year where the supposedly "popular" features of Obamacare kicked in.

The more onerous aspects are even more expensive.

How expensive? We'll find out next year. But here are a few clues. My company's small group plan is usually a bellwether for premium trends. We're experience rated so increased costs are immediately passed along as higher premiums. Our September renewal just came in. The increase is 32%.

Thirty-two percent. By hiking co-pays, cutting name-brand drugs, and raising the yearly limit on individual and family out-of-pocket costs we cut the increase down to 9%.

Gee, now we're "average." Except for, you know, all that other stuff we'll be paying for now that insurance won't cover it.

Meanwhile, Obamanomics means drug shortages.

So, what could be causing these shortages?

Ah ha! Cost controls and excessive regulation! Which is pretty much the essence of Obamacare. Throw in the inevitable manufacturing glitches and well, it's impossible to repeal the Law of Supply and Demand no matter no matter how many unicorns and rainbows you have in your pocket.

But repealing Obamacare? That's something we need to do pretty darn quick.

Posted at 20:49 by Chris Wysocki   [/obamacare]   Comments | Perm Link |
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Whoops, there goes your employer-sponsored health insurance

At least one in ten midsize to big employers will definitely ditch their health care plans once federal insurance exchanges start in 2014. A survey conducted last month by large benefits consultant Towers Watson shows an additional 20% of employers are "unsure" of what they'll do.

The studies suggest that some employers, especially retailers or those offering low wages, feel they will be better off paying fines and taxes than continuing to provide benefits that eat up a growing portion of their budget every year.

Then there's the implicit pay cut that occurs when folks start shelling out for their own health insurance. Who's up for that?

And remember "If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan"?

Me neither.

Posted at 11:53 by Chris Wysocki   [/obamacare]   Comments | Perm Link |
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TANSTAFBC: There Ain't No Such Thing As Free Birth Control

Ladies (and girls), get in line for your latest government handout — free birth control pills! And breast pumps and condoms and pap smears and of course the "morning after" pill.

The new guidelines, which the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) labeled "historic," will require new health insurance plans to include women's preventive services including FDA approved contraceptives, breast feeding support, and well-women visits — all without charging a co-payment, co-insurance or a deductible — beginning August 1, 2012.

Free stuff! From Barry and the Democrats! Vote for them!

But of course "free stuff" is not actually free. Somebody's gotta pay. And that somebody is Maggie. She's not pleased.

I learned today that I am forced to pay for your birth control and your morning-after, or a-few-days-later, abortion. Condoms included. It will all be "free" to you, because Obama said so. I'll pay for your breast pump and other breast feeding "supports." If I'm sounding bitter, I guess I shouldn't. "These historic guidelines are based on science and existing literature." Nevermind. I'm. Still. Bitter. No copays. Complete coverage. You still have time to run out and buy your condoms. Coverage starts today. There's about 4 hours left to do what you're going to do and bill it to me. Go on now. Ron Burgundy is waiting.

Yup, the bottom line is buried in the various news reports:

Of course, insurers are likely to pass the cost of free screenings to their customers through higher premiums.

Proving once again that ObamaCare won't save us money. It's more socialist cost-shifting, because according to HHS, "currently, nearly one in three women finds it difficult to pay for birth control."

Really? Maggie's not convinced, and she's on a roll:

How many of you who cannot afford your own "birth control" smoke and/or drink, have cell phones, and autos, eat lunch out, have tattoos and pierced ears, get a mani-pedi to boost your spirits, and have more than one television set? When you go out to party it's only on Ladies Free Night…right? You don't ever buy romance novels, or tabloid rags at the Super Market…right? And of course, you're not paying any income tax — so I pay that for you as well. And what's wrong with your man? He can't provide for you? Oh, I see…you don't know where to find him?…don't remember his name…never knew his name? Or how about that hubby or live-in? Bet he drinks his weight in beer. And smokes. Eats pork rinds by the gross.

C'mon Maggie, you're eviscerating feminist dogma here! Women have just as much right to cat around as men! So long as someone else pays for it. We can't have the little dears depleting their pin money, can we?

The important thing is that the government cares about women's health. They really do! They're like the Hallmark of health care — they care enough to make you pay for the very best. For someone else.

I think we're supposed to be grateful for their benevolence. It says so on page 1933 of the Affordable Care Act, right under the Pledge of Allegiance to the spirit of FDR that all our kids will be forced to learn in school in order to receive their daily allocation of government cheese.

TANSTAFBC, so BOHICA!

UPDATE 03 Aug 2011 09:33:
Linked by Gator Doug, who has the scoop on a sure-fire zero-cost alternative to birth control pills.

Posted at 10:08 by Chris Wysocki   [/obamacare]   Comments | Perm Link |
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Yes New Jersey, it's time to declare Obamacare "null and void"

The Tenth Amendment used to mean something. If NJ Assemblywoman Alison Littell McHose has her way it could regain some of its lost stature. She has introduced legislation (A4155) to join ongoing efforts in 12 other states which would nullify the federal government's unconstitutional Obamacare mandates.

Yes folks, Obamacare really is unconstitutional. Just ask constitutional scholar Randy Barnett who was the original voice in the wilderness railing against the individual mandate back in 2009. Funny thing though, courts keep agreeing with him. And his notion of Ninth and Tenth Amendment limits on federal power are now considered mainstream.

One of the mockers is terrorist-sympathizing Rutgers law professor Frank Askin. There is no progressive shibboleth to which his knee will not jerk. And true to form he exercises his keen legal mind to opine on the issue of nullification:

"What kind of Lunacy?"

Well Mr. Askin, it's the kind of lunacy our Founding Fathers would have applauded. Unlike, for example, your particular brand of lunacy which imparts Miranda and Geneva Convention rights to foreign citizens who are engaged in waging war on these Unites States.

Or perhaps you meant the lunacy of Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver who refuses to even consider McHose's bill. North Dakota considered it, and their governor recently signed a nullification measure into law. Unsurprisingly the sky did not fall and the citizens of that state remain free to go about their business as they please.

Ah but Askin (and Oliver) fall back on "the Supremacy Clause," a tired old argument which says anthing Congress does automatically supercedes any state or local statutes. Unfortunately for them Professor Barnett has effectively torpedoed that line of reasoning via the Enumerated Powers clause. And of course those pesky Ninth and Tenth Amendments.

Otherwise James Madison wrote Federalist #45 for naught.

Posted at 21:08 by Chris Wysocki   [/obamacare]   Comments | Perm Link |
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Remember when AARP told us how wonderful Obamacare was gonna be?

Yeah, me neither.

November 6, 2009:
In a surprise visit to the Press Secretary's daily briefing with the press, President Obama fired back at conservatives gathering on the other side of Washington D.C. yesterday. He broke in to share with reporters the information that the AARP (American Associate of Retired Persons) and the AMA (American Medical Association) had endorsed the healthcare legislation that will be voted on in the next few days. He called these major endorsements and told Americans that they could stop listening to fear mongers and storytellers now that these organizations were on board.

So, riddle me this Batman. If Obamacare is indeed so fucking wonderful, why did the AARP ask for, and just receive, a waiver from it?

The Daily Caller has learned that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) rate review rules, which it finalized on Thursday, exempt "Medigap" policy providers, like the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), from oversight when such providers increase payment rates for their supplemental insurance plans.

Come to think of it, being exempted from Obamacare would be pretty wonderful, wouldn't it? Maybe that's what they meant!

Rumors that AARP would be moving their national headquarters to Nancy Pelosi's Congressional District could not be confirmed at this time.

Posted at 14:38 by Chris Wysocki   [/obamacare]   Comments | Perm Link |
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Our ObamaCare Future: Take two aspirin and go home to die

A preview of our ObamaCare future, courtesy of Britain's National Health:

Dr. Donald Berwick, the guy President Obama picked to lead our nation's implementation of ObamaCare, is on record praising the NHS as a "model" of what our health care system should become. He's the architect of Britain's NICE (National Institute for Clinical Excellence), their version of the new Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB), established under ObamaCare to control our nation's health care costs.

NICE wields complete power over the health care options of all residents of Great Britain. They decide what treatments are available and who is eligible to receive those treatments. When NICE says "no," it's almost always due to cost considerations.

An autopsy showed that Mrs. Owen died of complications from an enlarged heart. Treating that is probably expensive, two codeine pills and a shot of Demerol undoubtedly saved the hospital a ton of money.

For their part, Stawell Hospital has "reviewed their policies" and "minor changes had been made."

Yeah, I'll bet they've made "changes." Next time NHS sends someone home to die they'll save even more money by skipping the codeine and Demerol and go straight to some nice inexpensive placebos.

You gotta love that hospital name — pronounced as "Stay Well" — it's good advice!

Show up sick and chances are quite good that You're Gonna Die. Welcome to ObamaCare.

UPDATE 11 May 2011 08:59:
Now a Recommended Read at Pundit & Pundette!

Also linked by Theo Spark. Thanks!

Posted at 10:33 by Chris Wysocki   [/obamacare]   Comments | Perm Link |
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The Most Transparently Opaque Administration Evah!

Remember when candidate Obama promised us "the most transparent Administration in history?" Who bought that line of BS? You? Shmuck.

Remember when the chattering classes went berserk because Dick Cheney held a "secret" meeting with oil company executives? The Democrats said they'd never do something like that. Oh, you bought that line of BS, too? Moron.

Remember when President Obama promised that negotiations over his health care overhaul would be carried out openly, in front of TV cameras and microphones? How'd that work out for you? Rube.

Obama to Congress: No White House meeting minutes for you!

Obama's secrets are so secret he can't even tell Congress how many secrets he's got. That must be how Democrats define "transparency."

Posted at 19:25 by Chris Wysocki   [/obamacare]   Comments | Perm Link |
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Attack of the "Snooki Tax" Enforcement Agents!

President Obama's new budget calls for the hiring of 81 new IRS agents who will be dedicated full-time to one task, and one task only. Enforcement of the "Snooki Tax" — a new 10 percent excise tax on tanning salons.

That is correct. 81 new bureaucrats to travel the nation to see if tanning salons are paying the 10% tax. They need to make sure that underground tanning salons don't pop up next to Meth Labs and illegal casinos. Who knows what will happen if somebody sets up a tanning bed in their basement to make some money without paying the new ObamaTax. Maybe some jail time for that ObamaCare criminal.

I guess these guys will be first up on the IRS hit squad parade, eh? You never can tell where the next hotbed of criminal activity will turn up. 5 tans for $25? Better make that $27.50!

There truly is nothing which Obama won't tax. If he could figure out a way to do it he'd tax the sun. Like the beach badge checkers those 81 new IRS agents could soon be patrolling the sand collecting their tanning tax from one and all. Don't forget to ask about their low weekly and seasonal rates!

Or, maybe they can charge on a sliding scale based on the Snooki Tan Index.

I guess I shouldn't give them any ideas, right?

Posted at 12:43 by Chris Wysocki   [/obamacare]   Comments | Perm Link |
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Obamacare: Unconstitutional, and void

Congress does not have the power to force you to buy health insurance.

Judge Vinson agreed, and because of Obamacare's "no severability" clause, all of it has to go.

"I must reluctantly conclude that Congress exceeded the bounds of its authority in passing the Act with the individual mandate," Vinson writes. "Because the individual mandate is unconstitutional and not severable, the entire Act must be declared void."

Void. Unenforceable. Not operable.

Judge Vinson struck a decisive blow for Freedom today. Yes, Freedom. And Liberty.

Of course the Obama Administration will appeal this ruling faster than Nancy Pelosi can say, "more Botox, Stat!" If there's one thing Barry and his liberal band of socialists hate it's Freedom. Freedom is messy. Freedom means they can't guarantee equality of outcome. Freedom is incompatible with their grand design for wealth redistribution. Freedom gives people the idea that they're in charge of their own destiny, and then who needs a benevolent bureaucracy staffed by elite intellectuals?

Obamacare is the antithesis of Freedom.

Thank God for patriots like Judge Vinson. Coupled with a similar ruling in December by Judge Henry Hudson in Virgina it's likely that the U.S. Surpreme Court will be weighing in sooner rather than later now.

Good.

Give me Liberty, or give me death!

----

Posted at 16:31 by Chris Wysocki   [/obamacare]   Comments | Perm Link |
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My latest RWN post: Happy New Year to your FSA and HSA from ObamaCare

Good News Comrades! Hidden in ObamaCare are some pretty nasty revisions to how your Flexible Spending Accounts and Health Savings Accounts work. As in they're going to be working a whole lot less for you and a whole lot more for Uncle Sam.

Read it an weep via my latest post over at Right Wing News.

And while you're there don't miss William Teach on how Obama Says To Hold Him Accountable In 2011. Yeah, we can hold Barry accountable alright. It'll just take 12 patriots and a courageous prosecutor. The word you're looking for is Treason.

Posted at 15:23 by Chris Wysocki   [/obamacare]   Comments | Perm Link |
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Federal Judge grants everyone an Obamacare Waiver

Well, this should certainly cut down on the number of groups petitioning HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius for waivers from Obamacare — a federal judge has just ruled that the individual mandate is unconstitutional.

Everybody gets a waiver! Just in time for Christmas too.

The president was going to issue a statement but Michelle needed him to walk the dog, so Bill Clinton is once again standing by in the briefing room. Stay tuned to the Memeorandum thread for his official remarks.

Of course this ruling is but the first step. Still it's encouraging to hear from a judge who actually understands the Constitution. When the case inevitably reaches the Supreme Court I imagine we'll be treated to some variant of "if you don't want the government forcing you to buy health insurance then get on the subway and go to Maryland" from at least one of the sore-loser dissenters.

Posted at 14:18 by Chris Wysocki   [/obamacare]   Comments | Archived | Perm Link |
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Patients refused treatment when government-run health care does not pay claims

Imagine that one day your oncologist turns you away because your insurance company hasn't paid a $15,000 past-due bill. Then a local surgi-center posts a sign saying that people with your insurance aren't welcome. Afterward you spend months fighting for benefits you know you're entitled to while collection agencies hound you day and night.

It's a nightmare scenario tailor-made to emphasize the need for a sweeping government overhaul of our health insurance system, isn't it?

Except that it's a government-run health plan causing all that trouble!

The Toms River NJ Board of Education is self-insured. That is, they run their own health care plan and handle all the claims internally. And they've pretty much screwed the pooch on efficiency and accountability.

Want your claim paid? Stand up in front of a school board meeting and complain. Otherwise, the check isn't in the mail. Schools Superintendent Michael J. Ritacco deflects criticism of the claims handling by saying "insurance is pretty complicated."

No shit Sherlock.

That's one reason so many of us aren't very excited about handing control over our insurance to government bureaucrats like you. That whole "complain to get your claim paid" thing won't work very well when 300 million Americans are lined up to knock on Nancy Pelosi's door.

Posted at 14:11 by Chris Wysocki   [/obamacare]   Comments | Archived | Perm Link |
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Dear Secretary Sebelius, We want a waiver too. Signed, The American People

Obamacare for me, but not for thee?

The New York Times reports that the Obama administration's Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has been busy granting selective waivers to Obamacare's mandates, restrictions, and requirements. The Times reports that, "To date, the administration has given about 30 insurers, employers and union plans, responsible for covering about one million people, one-year waivers on the new rules that phase out annual limits on coverage for limited-benefit plans, also also known as 'mini-meds,'" and that "[a]mong those that administration officials hoped to mollify with waivers were some big insurers, some smaller employers and McDonald's, which went so far as to warn that the regulations could force it to strip workers of existing coverage."

How convenient, eh? HHS secretary Kathleen Sebelius can more or less unilaterally decide to whom the law applies and to whom it doesn't — and when, where, and under what circumstances.

It's good to be king! So, who do we gotta see to get our waivers? Are we not worthy?

Steve Burri notes that the person holding all that disretionary power won't always be an Obamabot.

Once having set the precedent for granting waivers, how can anyone rightfully complain when more waivers and exemptions are granted? Perhaps even codified into law at the hands of a Tea Party dominated Congress?

Can you say "repeal Obamacare?" Sure, I knew you could.

Posted at 11:54 by Chris Wysocki   [/obamacare]   Comments | Archived | Perm Link |
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How is Obamacare "interstate commerce" if I can't buy insurance from another state?

To almost no one's surprise a federal District Court judge has ruled in favor of the individual mandate in Obamacare.

U.S. District Court Judge George Steeh ruled Thursday that the so-called individual mandate — a requirement President Barack Obama opposed during the presidential campaign but later embraced as part of sweeping changes — falls squarely within Congress's ability under the Constitution to regulate interstate commerce.

Allahpundit notes that this really is well in line with the Supreme Court's ridiculously expansive Commerce Clause jurisprudence. Which alas is true, but not because the Supreme Court is correct. They may have sent themselves down a rathole while concocting a rational for FDR's New Deal but that doesn't mean they can't be persuaded to see the error of their ways.

On the other hand, I actually wish the purchase of health insurance was interstate commerce. True interstate commerce, as in I can buy health insurance from a company that is in another state. Like New York, where the RPI alumni association offers a Blue Cross plan which is 35% cheaper than the crappy Aetna plan I'm forced to buy here in New Jersey. Oh sure, Blue Cross has a "New Jersey" plan, it's even more expensive than Aetna.

But right over the border there's that tantalizing "New York" plan, taunting me with its lower premiums and better benefits. True "interstate commerce" would mean that I could buy it.

There's one telling line from Judge Steeh's decision.

The health care market is unlike other markets.

Ayup. If I want a sofa I can buy it in New York, or Oregon. And there is no government agency telling the sofa manufacturers which fabrics and designs they must sell. There's no "New Jersey" sofa. But in health care a bunch of Trenton bureaucrats get to decide which plans I'm allowed to buy. If my needs don't happen to fit into one of their designated plans, tough.

Obamacare does nothing to alter this model. In fact it restricts my health insurance purchasing options even more by requiring me to participate in an "insurance exchange" set up and administered by those same Trenton bureaucrats. Now they're not just specifying which sofa I can buy, they're forcing me to buy the sofa from them too.

That my friends is the antithesis of freedom.

(Via Memeorandum)

UPDATE 09 Oct 2010 16:03:
Quoted and linked by The New York Times!

How freakin' cool is that?

Posted at 10:15 by Chris Wysocki   [/obamacare]   Comments | Archived | Perm Link |
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Insurers dropping child coverage is part of Obama's master plan

The general consensus is that everyone could have foreseen today's top news story:

Hand-wringing by his sycophants aside and assuming that "everyone" could see it coming, this is exactly what Obama wanted to happen. What better way to presage the need for Universal, Government-run healthcare than by saying, "it's for the children"?

So here we are. A high-profile showdown over a hot-button, tear-jerker issue; one to which the only compassionate reaction could be a government program to step in where the evil, capitalistic insurance companies fear to tread.

It's not like we weren't warned:

Obama's sinister plan to reshape the very fabric of America is working.

The clock is ticking to November 2^nd. Can we repeal this monster before it becomes Too Big to Fail?

(Via Memeorandum)

Posted at 15:22 by Chris Wysocki   [/obamacare]   Comments | Archived | Perm Link |
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Senate Democrats refuse to repeal Obamacare's onerous 1099 reporting requirement

The Barack Obama Death to Small Business Tax Reporting Act of 2010 will stand.

Senate Democrats successfully defeated an amendment offered by Senator Mike Johanns (R-Neb) that would have repealed an Obamacare provision which requires all businesses to file Form 1099 with the IRS for every vendor that sells them more than $600 in goods.

President Obama insists the reporting provision is necessary to ensure compliance with our tax laws. Business groups, and anyone with even an ounce of common sense, have pointed out that it is a regulatory nightmare.

Think about a midsized trucking company. The back office would have to collect hundreds of thousands of receipts from every gas station where its drivers filled up and figure out where it spent more than $600 that year. Then it would also need to match those payments to the stations' corporate parents.

See, this is what happens when you hire a bunch of academics who've never worked a real job in their lives and put them in charge of our economy. They say they're out to help small business, but the reality is quite different.

Just remember, when you vote for a Democrat this November, you are voting for shit like this. Or, you can wise up and throw the bums out.

By putting the Democrats out of a job you just might encourage businesses to start hiring again, which of course would do more to improve our economy than anything Barry and his rubber-stamp Congress has done.

UPDATE 15 Sep 2010 09:38:
Linked at Bread Upon the Waters!

And picked up by Doug Ross!

Thanks!

Posted at 14:32 by Chris Wysocki   [/obamacare]   Comments | Archived | Perm Link |
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Will we have to build our own camps?

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, the Chief Obamacare Cheerleader, has hit upon the winning formula for persuading us to accept the magnificence of national socialized healthcare.

Reeducation Camps!

"Unfortunately, there still is a great deal of confusion about what is in [the reform law] and what isn't," Sebelius told ABC News Radio in an interview Monday. "So, we have a lot of reeducation to do," Sebelius said.

Reeducation. Hmmm. Or should I say, "Mmm, mmm, mmm"? C'mon kids, sing the praises of Dear Leader and his plan for socialized medicine!

They haf vays of makink you like it.

Will the Purple People Beaters of the SEIU force us American Zeks to build our own camps?

Posted at 09:39 by Chris Wysocki   [/obamacare]   Comments | Archived | Perm Link |
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NJ spent $141 million for Obamacare, and only TWO people signed up

Your Obamacare dollars at work.

New Jersey signed on to the first new set of plans, designed to allow uninsured people with pre-existing conditions to purchase health insurance. The policies provide coverage from day one, with no exclusions whatsoever.

Premiums range from $212 to $768 monthly depending on age.

After much fanfare, after all the hullaballoo about people without insurance clamoring for health care, after the federal government allocated $141 million dollars to cover the costs, the results are in.

Two people signed up.

TWO.

At $70.5 million a person that Obamacare sure is a real bargain.

Posted at 14:20 by Chris Wysocki   [/obamacare]   Comments | Archived | Perm Link |
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Taking Avastin? Do not ask for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee

The anti-breast-cancer drug Avastin is expensive. It's also the drug of last resort for women who have no where else to turn. Now the FDA is considering rescinding its approval of Avastin. Which of course will mean that it will no longer be available in the US.

Not because it isn't "safe and effective". There's no denying that. Thousands of women are reaping the benefits of Avastin at this very moment.

Avastin is being yanked from the shelves to spare Barry a political headache because Medicare and Medicaid don't want to pay for it.

And so the FDA is doing Donald Berwick's dirty-work.

How else can Barry control costs and reassure the public that he's not, as maintained by his critics, denying useful and effective drugs to seniors in order to free up money for ObamaCare?

And so it begins. The first of the Death Panels has convened.

Posted at 16:57 by Chris Wysocki   [/obamacare]   Comments | Archived | Perm Link |
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The more Americans know about Obamacare the less we like it

Nancy Pelosi was right about one thing, they had to pass Obamacare so we could find out what's in it. And boy oh boy, what's in it is really, really unpopular. It seems that the more we find out, the less we like it.

A new Fox News poll shows that only 15% of Americans believe Obamacare is just fine in its current form. A whopping 78% of us would rather make significant changes to it or see Obamacare repealed altogether.

Count me among the repealers. But then you already knew that.

Small businesses aren't fans of health care reform. And now that New Jersey has signed on to a pilot program to "help" uninsured people with chronic, pre-existing conditions, we can see just how laughably pointless the so-called reforms really are.

Providing people with pre-existing conditions access to health insurance is one of the top goals of Obamacare, right? And sure enough, by following the provisions in the new law New Jersey now offers residents a choice between 2 different policies, both of which cover all medical expenses from day 1, with no exclusions whatsoever.

Great! I know a guy, a few years younger than me, who needs insurance. He lost his job, COBRA ran out, and he's certainly got "pre-existing conditions".

Let's see how much a shiny new Obamacare policy will cost him!

But really Barry, six or seven grand a year to an unemployed guy is a helluva lot of money. You might as well make it 60 grand; he can't afford it either way.

And yet the Obamabots can't seem to wrap their feeble minds around yesterday's Michigan referendum results. See, Obamacare requires my friend to buy health insurance. At the point of a gun they'll take six thousand dollars that he doesn't have and pat themselves on the back for "helping" him.

There in a nutshell is everything you need to know about why Obamacare is Teh Fail.

Posted at 11:57 by Chris Wysocki   [/obamacare]   Comments | Archived | Perm Link |
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Despite Obamacare's promises, no relief is in sight for small business health insurance costs

It's about time somebody noticed that Obamacare promises everything under the sun but actually delivers very little. Today's Star-Ledger exposes the fallacy behind the much touted "cost savings" supposedly coming to small business owners.

Premiums in New Jersey are among the highest in the nation and are rising much faster than any tax credits or other incentives that might be used to offset them. Since 2000 average healthcare premiums have increased by more than 75% per worker. There is nothing to indicate those increases won't continue indefinitely.

The only potential relief for escalating costs might come from the "insurance exchanges" planned for sometime after 2014. But New Jersey already has one. Established in 2000 to help small businesses obtain group coverage it's rates are now the highest in the state. As a bellwether for our future it doesn't exactly engender confidence.

Mr. Balka wrote to President Obama about his predicament. He got a form letter in response. Thanks Barry, it's nice to know you care.

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Healthcare is free in Mayberry, R.F.D.

That's the reassuring message brought to you by Andy Griffith as he becomes the latest celebrity spokesperson for Obamacare. Harkening back to 1965 Sheriff Taylor wants us to remember how truly great Medicare is. Nevermind the billions in unfunded liabilities, it's free!

And don't you worry your dottering old heads either, your "guaranteed benefits" are safe, and with the new health care law "more good things are coming." Free checkups! "I think you're gonna like it."

Who wouldn't believe Andy Griffith, right? He epitomizes small-town America. Even though millions of seniors are skeptical of Obamacare's cost cutting provisions all it's gonna take is one reassuring sound bite from Andy and Aunt Bea to set things right. He wouldn't lie to you, would he?

As a matter of fact, yes, he would lie to you. He'll say whatever Medicare tells him to say because they're paying him to say it. He's an actor, it's what he does.

And whether you want to believe it or not, Mayberry was not quintessential small town America. It was a TV show.

You want real small town America? My friend Irish Cicero knows real small town America. He grew up in one, as did his parents and grandparents and great-grandparents.

Life was hard, but rewarding. Everybody worked. Character mattered. Men were men, and women were ladies who commanded respect. Children were seen but not heard. God was the measure of all things.

It's an amazing treatise, read the whole thing. A taste:

These people grew up (or lived) during the Depression. Most of them had sung songs around the piano, or at church, when they were kids. Of course they played outside, as television hadn't been invented. They read story books and they dreamed up fantasies. If a dog got sick, you had to worm it; if you were hungry, you killed the chicken out back; the women canned; the men took pride in self-sufficiency. My own Dad, for example, was an electrician. He frequently traded wiring jobs for just about anything but money. My Dad had a hard time taking money for anything because money was a source of anxiety and crushed pride in the Depression. No, the way these Depression kids worked was, "I'll wire your house, you bring your post hole digger over." "I'll cut you 20 boards, you bring your mower and rake." Men got lost for days in new projects. It gave them pride.

I daresay those folks wouldn't dream of gorging themselves on "free stuff".

And Irish Cicero's Aunt Lyn would whack Andy Griffith upside the head for thinking otherwise.

Posted at 18:01 by Chris Wysocki   [/obamacare]   Comments | Archived | Perm Link |
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Bloomsbury facility for disabled adults provides a glimpse of our Obamacare future

Our liberal socialist betters in the Democratic Party love to remind us that only government can handle the really big problems. Like health care. Their goal is universal government-run health care ala Canada or Great Britain.

Nevermind the countless examples of abuse and neglect emanating from those countries' health care chambers of horrors. If such abominations are acknowledged at all we're assured that those things can't happen here.

Tell that to the developmentally disabled adults held under the government's care right here in Bloomsbury, New Jersey. While a woman starved to death in a room reeking of urine her government bureaucrat caseworker wrote glowing reports praising the "quality" of the care she was receiving.

An isolated case? Or systemic indifference?

But as the saying goes, when "everybody" is culpable, no one is responsible.

Poor overworked bureaucrats! And now they're going to be handed the keys to everyone's health care! The government which can't be bothered to compassionately deal with one obviously sick disabled woman will be entrusted to fairly administer health care for millions of us.

That's sure to turn out OK.

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The allure of Obamunism illustrated by a cartoon

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. And yes, this picture says it all.

Vote Democrat, it's easier than getting a job!

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The IRS has sufficient authority to enforce the individual mandate in Obamacare

I'm kind of a tax lawyer groupie. I know just enough to be boring at cocktail parties, and I find the intricacies of tax law fascinating, but I am by no means an "expert". So I read with interest the findings of guys who are actual tax lawyers deciphering the inner workings of Obamacare's individual mandate to purchase health insurance. Their conclusion? The IRS has sufficient administrative authority to enforce the mandate.

You gotta read the whole thing, it's arcane and it's long, but their conclusion is clear — if you don't buy health insurance or pay the fine the IRS will own your ass.

These guys aren't wack-job liberal shills either. They're real serious tax scholars. There's no agenda here, just the letter of the law.

Setting aside the Constitutionality of the mandate for a moment the validity of its enforcement by the IRS opens up some very interesting questions. For starters, what else can Congress mandate that we must do under penalty of having the IRS make our lives even more miserable?

How about forcing every American to buy a car from Government Motors?

If it's [enforceable] to impose an insurance mandate, i.e. "you must purchase a product from this industry," why would it be [unenforceable] to refine that to "you must purchase our product from this industry"? In fact, assuming that the feds gave you a choice between not buying a car at all and having to buy GM if you did choose to buy one, the GM hypothetical would operate more like auto-insurance laws — which are, of course, fully [enforceable] — than the true mandate that's found in ObamaCare.

Lovely.

And when it comes to student loans they're already forcing us to patronize one favored lender. (Unless you live in North Dakota.) And in typical government monopoly fashion student borrowers will pay more and get less. The "vig" on their loans goes toward funding Obamacare so it's all good according to the Obamabots.

So, what else might the Obamunists force us to buy?

The social engineers Barry appointed to the FCC recently decided all Americans have a "right" to universal broadband internet service. Is it a stretch to imagine them designating an Official Broadband Carrier and mandating that we purchase service from it if we want to use the internet? Such a scheme sure would make life easier for the copyright police, eh?

There's been talk in Congress of bailing out or nationalizing the newspaper business. Pinch Sulzberger's Peoples Commissariat for the Ministry of Truth is already a wholly owned subsidiary of the Obama Administration. How long will it be until we're all forced to subscribe to The New York Pravda or The Washington Izvestia? That would be one way to curb the influence of Fox News!

Once upon a time the citizens of these United States were free to go about their business unfettered by the paternalistic embrace of government. We have now reached the time where the Constitution, like so many other old books and stories, is just another fairy tale we wistfully read with our grandchildren.

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A real-life Obamacare joke

An actual conversation I overheard on Saturday night:

Gee, I wonder why they're worried about their health insurance? Isn't Obamacare supposed to address the dire problems faced right now by the uninsured?

Un, no. Tear-jerker sob stories nonwithstanding, the uninsured have to muddle through until 2014.

That's the trouble with Obamunism, there's never a magic unicorn around when you need one!

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John Conyers cites the "good and welfare clause" as justification for Obamacare

CNSNews.com asked House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) how the U.S. Constitution justifies requiring individuals to purchase health insurance.

Conyers said: "Under several clauses, the good and welfare clause and a couple others. All the scholars, the constitutional scholars that I know -- I'm chairman of the Judiciary committee, as you know -- they all say that there's nothing unconstitutional in this bill."

Well alright then, that explains it!. But, my friend the Mind Numbed Robot says there is no "good and welfare clause" in the U.S. Constitution. At least not that he can see.

In the comments on his post I said that maybe he's not looking in the right place. The "good and welfare clause" is one of those emanations of penumbras first unearthed by that notable Constitutional scholar B. Hussein Obama in the discarded writings of Thomas Jefferson's illegitimate son's roommate's brother-in-law. So to a liberal it's like a direct mandate from The Man himself.

I also believe the "good and welfare clause" is incorporated into the Fourth Amendment via osmosis, and was recently used as the justification for granting a wealthy Congressman's wife the services of a court-appointed lawyer. The "good and welfare clause" exempts Monica Conyers from dipping into her limo and Louis Vuitton purse budget when faced with the prospect of significant jail time.

OK, kidding aside, maybe Rep. Conyers really meant to cite the "welfare is good clause". I believe that particular clause was inserted into the Constitution by Lyndon Johnson when he snuck into the National Archives one night to scribble it into the margins on their official copy. Just look at how much fun the government has had since then pouring our tax dollars down a rathole in search of an end to poverty and human stupidity!

If taking my hard-earned money and routing it via the government into the pockets of deadbeat layabouts is Constitutional, then surely eliminating the middleman and forcing me to simply give my money to somebody else is Constitutional too.

Or so the liberals will tell us.

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Socialist Obamacare equals "Death to America"

The 1960s radicals have reached the pinnacle of their power. They tried to destroy America with bombs but then discovered that it's much easier to subvert the system when you're running the show.

Barack Obama has proclaimed "Death to America". Bill Ayers and Jeremiah Wright are giddy with excitement. Freedom died last night.

Personal responsibility is now declasse. Why work for a living when Obama's Socialist Utopia will provide you with a never-ending bounty of free stuff?

Twenty-something slackers sign up for food stamps so they can enjoy organic salmon from Whole Foods. Obama is their man!

Who needs a job? Unemployment benefits have been extended for life. It's free money — Obama is their man!

Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, welfare, SCHIP, and now Obamacare. Taking from the strong and productive to give to the weak and lazy. Join the weak and lazy and get free healthcare and checks from Uncle Sam Barry. Obama is their man!

Buy a million dollar house while collecting unemployment and get an $8,000 tax credit to blow on a nice vacation. HAMP will bail you out because only chumps pay their mortgage. Squatters of America unite, Obama is their man!

Need a new car? Government Motors pays cash for clunkers! Bad credit is no problem because Obama is their man!

How about a new refrigerator? (Gotta have somewhere to store that organic salmon, right?) There's Cash for Refrigerators! Chill out dudes, Obama is their man!

Still living in mom's basement because your student loans have come due? Stop worrying and collect a bailout. College students, Obama is their man!

We are no longer the land of the free and the home of the brave. It's now the land of the free stuff delivered to the home of the complacent.

Obama Akbar!

America, R.I.P.

UPDATE 22 Mar 2010 17:19:
Donald Douglas found this graphic at The People's Cube.

He called it "The Sun Sets on Liberty".

Ronald Reagan proclaimed "morning in America".

Barack Obama envisions America fading off into the sunset.

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Obamacare, abortion, and Poisoning Pigeons in the Park

I wasn't able to attend the "Kill The Bill" rally today in Washington, D.C. Robert Stacy McCain is covering it live, with frequent updates. Nancy Pelosi's feverish backroom maneuvering continues unabated, although it now seems likely that she has purchased the necessary 216 votes to ensure the House will pass the Senate bill outright.

Enough ostensibly "pro-life" Democrats have apparently sold their souls for Pelosi's thirty pieces of silver. The audacity of this unspeakable woman praying to Saint Joseph for help passing Obamacare makes me nauseous. We all know what it does; it fully funds infanticide on demand with our tax dollars. Barry will supposedly issue an "Executive Order" countermanding federal abortion funding. Uh huh. It won't be worth the paper it's printed on. Anyone who hangs his hat on believing otherwise is a fool.

While I was walking through the park with Sophie today I reflected on this beautiful Spring day (today is actually the first day of Spring). It occured to me that an old Tom Lehrer song exactly captures the disdain which Pelosi and her fellow Democrats have for us.

We're the pigeons. Obamacare is the poison, dressed up as salvation. They pretend to want to improve our healthcare, when their real goal is to kill off as many of us as possible so their CBO score will come out right.

The thing that really gets me? To most Democrats poisoning pigeons is a crime, but slaughtering millions of innocent children is a Constitutional right and sound public policy.

Saint Joseph, pray for us.

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