Roll With the Changes - REO Speedwagon 10:05 AM
Changes - David Bowie 10:01 AM
Strange Magic - Electric Light Orchestra 09:56 AM
White Rabbit - Jefferson Airplane 09:47 AM
Train In Vain - The Clash 09:44 AM
Jet - Paul McCartney & Wings 09:40 AM
Hells Bells - AC/DC 09:35 AM
Problems with the government's health-care website are forcing President Barack Obama to redraw his plans for the rest of the year as he looks for ways to regain political momentum.No, they won't act on it --- but boy, that oughta work wonders to change the subject from the healthcare debacle. That, and homosexual rights!
Scrapping a planned push to drive people to the balky website, the White House is organizing a flurry of events on the economy and immigration, as well as health care, a senior administration official said.
Several executive actions are in the works related to workplace skills and other matters, this person said, as the president moves to sidestep a polarized Congress to advance his agenda.
The president will headline a health-care event Monday with Obama re-election campaign supporters and another on Wednesday in Texas with volunteers who are helping consumers learn about and enroll" in the health-care program, according to the White House. On Tuesday, he will hold an event on immigration, followed by an economic event Friday at a port in New Orleans. The schedule will make Mr. Obama more visible than in recent weeks, which he has spent largely behind the scenes.
The White House is also preparing to announce several executive actions in December, including private-sector partnerships, aimed at jobs and economic growth, a senior administration official said. The actions, which are still being crafted, will focus on infrastructure and increasing workforce skills—a priority of business leaders Mr. Obama has been meeting with in recent weeks, the official said.
A push to raise the minimum wage is also under discussion in the West Wing, people familiar with the issue said. Mr. Obama urged Congress during his State of the Union address early this year to increase the federal minimum wage to $9 an hour, from $7.25 now, and index it to inflation. The proposal didn't gain momentum.
Now, Mr. Obama plans to spend more time on a minimum-wage increase, the senior administration official said, although White House officials said they don't expect Congress to act on it by the end of the year.
RT if you believe EVERY American should be treated equally under the law: http://t.co/Ao8OouCSvK #Equality #LGBT, pic.twitter.com/ARvpwc6lke
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) November 4, 2013
Nearly one-in-ten U.S. adults (8%) get news through Twitter, according to a new report by the Pew Research Center, in collaboration with the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Compared with the 30% of Americans who get news on Facebook, Twitter news consumers stand out as younger, more mobile and more educated.RTWT.
In addition, a separate Pew Research analysis of conversations on Twitter around major news events reveals three common characteristics: much of what gets posted centers on passing along breaking news; sentiments shift considerably over time; and however passionate, the conversations do not necessarily track with public opinion.
This two-part report is based first on a survey of more than 5,000 U.S. adults (including 736 Twitter users and 3,268 Facebook users) and, second, on an analysis of Twitter conversations surrounding major news events which spanned nearly three years. Twitter posts were analyzed for the information shared, sentiments expressed and ebb and flow of interest.
According to the survey, 16% of U.S. adults use Twitter. Among those, roughly half (52%) “ever” get news there — with news defined as “information about events and issues that involve more than just your friends or family.”
Mobile devices are a key point of access for these Twitter news consumers. The vast majority, 85%, get news (of any kind) at least sometimes on mobile devices. That outpaces Facebook news consumers by 20 percentage points; 64% of Facebook news consumers use mobile devices for news. The same is true of 40% of all U.S. adults overall, according to the survey.
Twitter news consumers stand out for being younger and more educated than both the population overall and Facebook news consumers.
They said if you liked your insurance you could keep your insurance—but that’s not true. It was never true! They said if you liked your doctor you could keep your doctor—but that’s not true. It was never true! They said they would cover everyone who needed it, and instead people who had coverage are losing it—millions of them! They said they would make insurance less expensive—but it’s more expensive! Premium shock, deductible shock. They said don’t worry, your health information will be secure, but instead the whole setup looks like a hacker’s holiday. Bad guys are apparently already going for your private information.Yesterday Fox News was on ObamaCare all night. This catastrophe ain't dyin' down any time soon.
Look at the simple, factual eloquence of Edie Littlefield Sundby, from Monday’s Journal. It is a story that tells you everything you need to know about ObamaCare. It is the single most persuasive and informative piece written since the whole program began.
And now there are reports the insurance companies are taking advantage of the chaos of the program, and its many dislocations, to hike premiums. Meaning the law was written in such a way that insurance companies profit on it.
And—I am limiting things to just today’s news – the New York Times reports that while millions may qualify for enough federal subsidies to pay the entire monthly cost of some health-insurance plans, the zero premiums come with some “serious trade-offs.” What serious trade-offs? Most of these plans, called the bronze policies, “require people to pay the most in out-of-pocket costs, for doctor visit and other benefits like hospital stays.” Huh? I thought the purpose of the law was to help with the cost of doctor visits and hospital stays!
Over the weekend, I asked AFP activists in Illinois to join me in a national day of mourning and protest today along with millions of other Americans whose insurance plans have been canceled thanks to Obamacare’s top-down tyranny. The do-gooders continue to lie, mock, and smear those who are being forced onto the exchanges and who face massive sticker shock despite Pinocchiobama’s promise that they could keep their plans if they liked them and keep their doctors if they liked them.That's Hadley Heath at the photo. Here's her story, at the Washington Examiner, "For some, losing so-called bad apple health insurance plans will mean paying more for less."
Here’s what you can do to raise your voices:
1) Tweet a phot of your cancellation to @WhiteHouse and @MyCancellationMy story: Obama lied, my health plan died.
2) Use #MyHealthPlanDied hashtag for all related tweets; and
3) Contact local media with your story.
In the WSJ today:
Everyone now is clamoring about Affordable Care Act winners and losers. I am one of the losers. My grievance is not political; all my energies are directed to enjoying life and staying alive, and I have no time for politics. For almost seven years I have fought and survived stage-4 gallbladder cancer, with a five-year survival rate of less than 2% after diagnosis. I am a determined fighter and extremely lucky. But this luck may have just run out: My affordable, lifesaving medical insurance policy has been canceled effective Dec. 31.After years of phony Obamacare fables, which the MSM swallowed whole, it’s time the media started reported the true horror stories of progressive wreckage.
My choice is to get coverage through the government health exchange and lose access to my cancer doctors, or pay much more for insurance outside the exchange (the quotes average 40% to 50% more) for the privilege of starting over with an unfamiliar insurance company and impaired benefits. Countless hours searching for non-exchange plans have uncovered nothing that compares well with my existing coverage. But the greatest source of frustration is Covered California, the state’s Affordable Care Act health-insurance exchange and, by some reports, one of the best such exchanges in the country. After four weeks of researching plans on the website, talking directly to government exchange counselors, insurance companies and medical providers, my insurance broker and I are as confused as ever. Time is running out and we still don’t have a clue how to best proceed.
The information surge is just beginning.
It's been just over a month since ObamaCare's disastrous launch, and it's just over three years until the scheduled election of Barack Obama's successor. It's going to be a long three years. The exposure of Obama's signature "achievement" as both incompetent and fraudulent (with its economic inviability yet to be realized) is also showing the administration's true face. It is an ugly one, and we can expect to see a lot more of it while Obama remains in office.There's more at the link.
This morning the White House went on the attack against a cancer patient who is also a victim of ObamaCare. Edie Littlefield Sundby of San Diego explains in today's Wall Street Journal that she's been managing a case of stage 4 gallbladder cancer, an affliction whose five-year survival rate is just 2%. Having survived the diagnosis by seven years so far, she beat very long odds--and she did so with the help of an excellent insurance plan that covered care at three hospitals, two in California and one in Texas.
In touting ObamaCare, Obama asserted at least two dozen times (in slightly varying language) that if you like your health plan, you can keep it. As Sundby explains, she is a victim of Obama's fraudulent sales pitch:
Since March 2007 United Healthcare has paid $1.2 million to help keep me alive, and it has never once questioned any treatment or procedure recommended by my medical team. The company pays a fair price to the doctors and hospitals, on time, and is responsive to the emergency treatment requirements of late-stage cancer. Its caring people in the claims office have been readily available to talk to me and my providers.Covered California is the state ObamaCare exchange, one of those that, unlike the administration-built federal one, has some degree of technical functionality. Thus Sundby was able to log in and check out her options, which--contrary to Obama's "new and improved" sales pitch, that people whose policies are canceled will get better insurance--were unsatisfactory. No plan available to her would cover both her primary-care doctor at the University of California, San Diego, and her oncologist at Stanford. Sundby asks: "What happened to the president's promise, 'You can keep your health plan'? Or to the promise that 'You can keep your doctor'? Thanks to the law, I have been forced to give up a world-class health plan. The exchange would force me to give up a world-class physician." This morning Dan Pfeiffer the fast-talking flack tweeted out a piece from ThinkProgress.org, a leftist propaganda outfit. Titled "The Real Reason That the Cancer Patient Writing in Today's Wall Street Journal Lost Her Insurance," the piece, by one Igor Volsky, claims that "Sundby shouldn't blame reform." Volsky instead blames United Healthcare, which, he writes, "dropped her coverage because they've struggled to compete in California's individual health care market for years and didn't want to pay for sicker patients like Sundby":
But in January, United Healthcare sent me a letter announcing that they were pulling out of the individual California market. The company suggested I look to Covered California starting in October.
"The company's plans reflect its concern that the first wave of newly insured customers under the law may be the costliest," UHC Chief Executive Officer Stephen Helmsley told investors last October. "UnitedHealth will watch and see how the exchanges evolve and expects the first enrollees will have 'a pent-up appetite' for medical care. We are approaching them with some degree of caution because of that."All this may be true, but it begs the question. The addition of a phrase to that last sentence shows why: Sundby is losing her coverage and her doctors because of a business decision her insurer made within the competitive dynamics of California's health care market under the regulatory structure established by Obama's comprehensive "reform." Obama did not qualify his pitch by stating that if you like your health plan, you can keep it unless your insurer makes a business decision to the contrary within the competitive dynamics of your state's health care market. To the contrary, he represented ObamaCare as protecting consumers from precisely that sort of cruel business decision, and he has not backed away from that fraudulent promise: At a speech last Wednesday, he asserted that the only policies being canceled were "substandard" ones offered by former "bad-apple insurers" whose practices ObamaCare reformed.
Get that? The company packed its bags and dumped its beneficiaries because it wants its competitors to swallow the first wave of sicker enrollees only to re-enter the market later and profit from the healthy people who still haven't signed up for coverage.
Sundby is losing her coverage and her doctors because of a business decision her insurer made within the competitive dynamics of California's health care market.
... that a senior White House advisor would disseminate such detritus to rebut the claim of a cancer survivor is deplorable.Staggering Democrat douchebaggery.
Sadly, there is no floor to the depths this administration will sink to defend itself or advance its agenda.
NYT coverage of LAX shooting is typical: zero ref to the shooter's "Patriot," anti-government rants; http://t.co/SbBr9iPeFB
— Eric Boehlert (@EricBoehlert) November 3, 2013
.@RSMcCain Here we go: Mark Potok, "Hatewatch: Alleged #LAX Shooter Referenced 'Patriot' Conspiracy Theories." http://t.co/5RYIBEbSSX
— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) November 2, 2013
.@SPLCenter You people have no shame. Disgusting exploitation of the #LAX tragedy. @RSMcCain
— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) November 2, 2013
There’s this weird little game going on between the Justice Department and the media where bits and pieces of LAX gunman Paul Ciancia’s one-page manifesto keep getting leaked out, and yet it seems no one has the entire note. So the shooter supposedly ranted about the “New World Order” and “fiat currency,” which is being interpreted by some as evidence of a right-wing motive — except, no it’s not: It’s Jared Loughner and Zeitgeist all over again.Clear enough. And RTWT.
Perhaps you’ve forgotten how Loughner, the 2011 Tucson shooter, was a big fan of the pseudo-”documentary” Zeitgeist, which wraps up 9/11 Truther stuff in a lot of conspiracy theory crap about bankers, “fiat currency,” and other such paranoid kook stuff.
WASHINGTON — The killing of a TSA screener in Los Angeles is symptomatic of a growing antipathy toward government workers and TSA personnel in particular, experts said Saturday.Despicable smears. "Tea party" pops into people's minds when they see these "anti-government" memes. And Mark Potok is the f-king last person to trust commenting on this. You might say (cough, cough), he has an agenda.
Specialists on hate crimes and union officials decried what they said was a general atmosphere of mockery and derision toward TSA agents that they said is amplified by late-night talk show hosts, politicians and news media.
"When people or institutions are vilified on national television and in the public square, you often see people latch on to them as enemies to be destroyed," Mark Potok, a senior fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center, said in an interview.
Potok has tracked radical groups for more than two decades. He said alleged shooter Paul Anthony Ciancia appeared to have subscribed to anti-government theories about a conspiracy to take away American freedoms and create a single global government.
The violent outburst Friday has put airport screeners around the country on edge, just weeks before terminals will see a rush of passengers during the stressful holiday season.
As Ciancia allegedly blasted his way through the checkpoint, the 23-year-old was looking for transportation security officers to shoot, officials said, and cursing the Transportation Security Administration.
A note found with Ciancia contained a rant against the government and the words "kill TSA," said a federal law enforcement official briefed on the investigation. "I would love to see people stop making villains out of government workers — they are good people" said J. David Cox, the president of the American Federation of Government Employees, the union that represents 45,000 TSA employees. TSA officers are verbally abused by passengers every day, Cox said.
"They may go through your luggage, they may question your name on your ticket, but all that is for your protection. It is not to harass you," he said.
Bill Fullner has reached his breaking point.Some folks will qualify for subsidies or they'll be sent to Medicaid, a failing Great Society-era program.
It started with the letter from his health-insurance company informing him it was canceling his plan and offering him a new one that’s nearly twice as expensive. Then the 60-year-old retiree from Mount Vernon heard about more people like himself with canceled plans and soaring premiums. Finally, he spent hours on the phone and computer trying — and failing — to find a new option that he likes.
“This whole experience has converted a lifelong Democrat into a foot soldier for the Republican Party,” Fullner said.
He’s not alone in his frustration.
In Washington, most of the 290,000 people covered by insurance plans they purchased on the individual market received letters this fall telling them that their plans are going away.
That’s because under the Affordable Care Act, insurance plans must meet new requirements, including limits on how much money patients spend in out-of-pocket medical expenses, and they must cover 10 so-called essential benefits such as preventive care, prescription drugs and maternity care.
So all 90,181 people with insurance coverage from Regence BlueShield have learned their plans will be canceled, as did all 60,000 people covered by Group Health Cooperative. Some 77,000 people with LifeWise Health Plan, a subsidiary of Premera Blue Cross, also learned their plans were being scrapped.
An additional 24,000 people with LifeWise are covered under “grandfathered” plans that predate the act and will not be canceled, though members will be getting letters in November informing them they can move to another plan if they would like to.
@lonelycon @instapundit The #shutdown gave @BarackObama a chance to put some distance between himself and #Obamacare. He didn't take it.
— Lem (@Lemang01) November 3, 2013
The AP on Obamacare: Ins. cancellations are new blow for administration: http://t.co/pRQ2RuczDa #changehascometoAmerica
— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) October 30, 2013
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Now is when Americans start figuring out that President Barack Obama's health care law goes beyond political talk, and really does affect them and people they know.The piece notes that some people have seen improved coverage under the law, but attitudes are overall negative and more change --- adverse change --- is coming down the pipeline, especially once the employer mandate kicks in after 2015:
With a cranky federal website complicating access to new coverage and some consumers being notified their existing plans are going away, the potential for winners and losers is creating anxiety and confusion....
The Obama administration insists nobody will lose coverage as a result of cancellation notices going out to millions of people. At least 3.5 million Americans have been issued cancellations, but the exact number is unclear. Associated Press checks find that data is unavailable in a half the states.
Mainly they are people who buy directly from an insurer, instead of having workplace coverage. Officials say these consumers aren't getting "canceled" but "transitioned" or "migrated" to better plans because their current coverage doesn't meet minimum standards. They won't have to go uninsured, and some could save a lot if they qualify for the law's tax credits.
Speaking in Boston's historic Faneuil Hall this past week, Obama said the problem is limited to fewer than 5 percent of Americans "who've got cut-rate plans that don't offer real financial protection in the event of a serious illness or an accident."
But in a nation of more than 300 million, 5 percent is a big number - about 15 million people. Among them are Ian and Sara Hodge of Lancaster, Pa., in their early 60s and paying $1,041 a month for a policy.
After insurer Highmark, Inc., sent the Hodges a cancellation notice, the cheapest rate they say they've been able to find is $1,400 for a comparable plan. Ian is worried they may not qualify for tax credits, and doesn't trust that the federal website is secure enough to enter personal financial information in order to find out.
"We feel like we're being punished for doing the right thing," he said.
Their policy may not have met the government's standards, "but it certainly met our minimum standards," Hodge added.
"The main thing that upsets us is the president ... said over and over and over again: If you like your health plan, you will be able to keep your health plan, guaranteed."
There's a chance the number of people getting unwanted terminations may grow. In 2015, the law's requirement that larger companies provide health insurance will take effect. It's expected that a small share of firms will drop coverage, deciding that it's cheaper to pay fines imposed under the law.
Up to now, the changes for employer plans have been incremental. They tend to expand benefits, not take things away.
For example, young adults can stay on a parent's coverage until they turn 26. Employers cover women's birth control as a preventive service, free of charge. Screening tests such as colonoscopies are also free.
But cost control provisions, mainly a tax on expensive insurance plans that starts in 2018, are converging with the long-standing push by employers to tame health costs. Some companies have raised deductibles and copayments for employees, saying they need to scale back to avoid tangling with the coming tax. Others are giving employees a fixed amount of money to shop in private health insurance markets that resemble those created by the law.
Expect cutbacks to be blamed on the law. Sorting out whether that's warranted may be difficult.
"What the Affordable Care Act did was give companies a very convenient excuse to say `Oh, gosh, we really have to get serious about insurance costs,'" said Paul Keckley, an independent health benefits consultant. "I think there's a bit of a bob and weave. The ACA was a convenient excuse for doing what (corporate) human resources departments have been calculating to do for years."
Congressional Republicans have stoked consumer fears and confusion with charges that the health care reform law is causing insurers to cancel existing policies and will force many people to pay substantially higher premiums next year for coverage they don’t want. That, they say, violates President Obama’s pledge that if you like the insurance you have, you can keep it.Once again, the editors, as cutout ideological leftists, just don't get it: People liked their plans, or they wouldn't have purchased them. They like the affordability and flexibility, and especially the power to choose their doctors and hospitals. Listen to Natalie Willis, who was featured in the blockbuster CBS report a couple of weeks back, now making appearances on Fox News:
Mr. Obama clearly misspoke when he said that. By law, insurers cannot continue to sell policies that don’t provide the minimum benefits and consumer protections required as of next year. So they’ve sent cancellation notices to hundreds of thousands of people who hold these substandard policies.
NYT on broken Obama promises: "Mr. Obama clearly misspoke" Nope; he clearly lied. Deliberately, repeatedly, to the people who voted for him.
— David Gaw (@davidgaw) November 3, 2013
Almost universal mockery of the NYT's apology. This propaganda effort really isn't going well—wherever it's tried.
— Charles C. W. Cooke (@charlescwcooke) November 3, 2013
The NYT has gone too far claiming Obama "misspoke" re keeping your insurance plans. The NYT LIED, exactly like Obama did. <toilet flush>
— Jane Sherry Gardner (@JaneESGardner) November 3, 2013
just when i was about to re-subscribe, the nyt gives me another reason to save my money.
— Dana Perino (@DanaPerino) November 3, 2013
Meet the new Soccer Mom: Obamacare losers.More at the link. (Via Memeorandum.)
Millions of married, older, white, college-educated, GOP-leaning Americans have quickly seen their political profile rise after their health insurance companies sent them cancellation letters with the launch of the giant new health care law.
It’s not a huge segment of the population — estimates show between 10 million to 19 million people bought health insurance from what Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius dubbed the “Wild West” individual marketplace.
But the ones who are making the most anti-Obamacare noise are part of this group (think of the self-employed, small business owners, freelance writers, musicians and taxi cab drivers) that share one politically pertinent common denominator. Their complaints — amplified in recent weeks by Republicans and reporters — demonstrate one of the first tangible stumbles of the Affordable Care Act.
“It’s not theoretical anymore,” said Virginia-based health industry consultant Robert Laszewski. “You can spin in the White House press room, but these are people who will be sitting down with their friends and families at Thanksgiving sharing stories about their cancellation letters. That’s going to be the only thing that counts.”
Horror stories already abound of people who can’t get insurance through their employer and are now finding that their old plans don’t measure up to Obamacare’s standards. There may indeed be better policies around the corner, giving people more protections when they actually do get sick and requiring guaranteed coverage for things like prescription drugs, emergency hospital visits, maternity and mental health and not being black listed due to a preexisting condition.
Still, it’s the shock of the change — especially after President Barack Obama repeatedly promised that anyone could keep the plan that they had — that is very real and threatens to resonate through the 2014 midterm campaign...
