Obamacare cost...

[imanihonjin]

Finally, the republicans in the house actually use smart tactics.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...efund-obamaca/

[VirginiaCougar]

I completely agree with the message of the cartoon, more so than the text beneath it. Although Lee is a real piece of work, a real embarrassment to the great state of Utah.

Here is a more complete discussion of why Lee and Tea Party Conservatives recent actions are nothing but a "road to nowhere."

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/...r-republicans/

Excerpts:

“Repeal ObamaCare now” or “No more debt ceiling increases” makes a good bumper sticker or tweet, but it is not a viable legislative strategy for Republicans in Congress...
On health care, pursuing a solutions-based approach that focuses legislative efforts on limiting the negative aspects of ObamaCare while finding partners on the other side of the aisle to make common sense cost reducing improvements to the legislation, the GOP can simultaneously burnish its legislative credentials and work to fix a law they view as broken."

Taking a similar belligerent approach on the pending need to increase the debt ceiling and approve a spending measure for the next fiscal year is likely to give the Senate the upper hand and could, if a government shut-down results, thrust Republicans to prolonged minority party status. Passing a blunt, simplistic, binary bill that is dead on arrival in the other chamber may perhaps make a great statement and spur donations to organizations championing such an approach, but rarely advances the cause."

[imanihonjin]

I completely agree with the message of the cartoon, more so than the text beneath it. Although Lee is a real piece of work, a real embarrassment to the great state of Utah.

Here is a more complete discussion of why Lee and Tea Party Conservatives recent actions are nothing but "road to nowhere."

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/...r-republicans/

Excerpts:

“Repeal ObamaCare now” or “No more debt ceiling increases” makes a good bumper sticker or tweet, but it is not a viable legislative strategy for Republicans in Congress...
On health care, pursuing a solutions-based approach that focuses legislative efforts on limiting the negative aspects of ObamaCare while finding partners on the other side of the aisle to make common sense cost reducing improvements to the legislation, the GOP can simultaneously burnish its legislative credentials and work to fix a law they view as broken."

Taking a similar belligerent approach on the pending need to increase the debt ceiling and approve a spending measure for the next fiscal year is likely to give the Senate the upper hand and could, if a government shut-down results, thrust Republicans to prolonged minority party status. Passing a blunt, simplistic, binary bill that is dead on arrival in the other chamber may perhaps make a great statement and spur donations to organizations championing such an approach, but rarely advances the cause."

But, but, but....aren't you the person who champions compromise? In reality you only champion compromise when the goal post is moved in your direction and oppose compromise as blunt, simplistic, and binary when you feel the post is being moved in the other direction as a result of compromise.

Raising the debt ceiling is a bad idea. Why have a debt ceiling if the raising of the debt ceiling is perfunctory? Obama agrees with me, you know (or at least he did in 2006)...


"The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a Sign that the US Government cannot pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government’s reckless fiscal policies. ...Increasing America’s debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that 'the buck stops here'. Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and Grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better."

So the compromise is you pick it....we can fund the government, raise the debt ceiling, and defund a program our nation just cannot afford at this time or YOU (Pres. Obama and democrats) can shut the government down.

Not sure how Republicans can be blamed for a government shut down when they have presented a plan that at least attempts to compromise with the Democrats. What have the dems offered in return as a compromise position other than stating that they will not negotiate with Republicans?

[Uncle Ted]

Obamacare is paying the health insurance for 35 million americans? Holy crap! No wonder we have nearly a two trillion dollar budget deficit. Of course, that implies that we actually have a budget. How's the budget coming?

[imanihonjin]

Wow. Just wow.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/theapoth...amily-of-four/

Unfortunately, the experts working for Medicare’s actuary have (yet again[1]) reported that in its first 10 years, Obamacare will boost health spending by “roughly $621 billion” above the amounts Americans would have spent without this misguided law.

[Uncle Ted]

Wow. Just wow.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/theapoth...amily-of-four/

That can't be right. VC says obamacare is going to save us money and eventually make health care like free for everyone. VirginiaCougar, use your poly science skills on iman and set him straight. He is scaring me.

[byu71]

That can't be right. VC says obamacare is going to save us money and eventually make health care like free for everyone. VirginiaCougar, use your poly science skills on iman and set him straight. He is scaring me.

I have heard the dems and the media indicating it may cost more initially, but the savings 10 years from now are going to be huge.

[imanihonjin]

I have heard the dems and the media indicating it may cost more initially, but the savings 10 years from now are going to be huge.

Uh huh. Sure.

[Katy Lied]

Is it because the baby boomers will all be dead then?

[byu71]

Is it because the baby boomers will all be dead then?

Does that mean the death panels are going to be up and running? It is the only part of Obamacare I like.

[Uncle Ted]

I have heard the dems and the media indicating it may cost more initially, but the savings 10 years from now are going to be huge.

10 years from now? Screw that. We want the savings now!

If these greedy b*turd employers keep dumping their employees on the exchanges then I am not sure we will have any savings left in 10 years... given the CBO keeps adjusting their estimates in the wrong way.

First, more expensive: The CBO significantly hiked the amount of money needed to fund the subsidies available through Obamacare's exchanges, hiking them by $233 billion. IBD explains: "The CBO's new baseline estimate shows that ObamaCare subsidies offered through the insurance exchanges -- which are supposed to be up and running by next January -- will total more than $1 trillion through 2022, up from $814 billion over those same years in its budget forecast made a year ago. That's an increase of nearly 29%. The CBO upped the 10-year subsidy cost by $32 billion since just last August." Part of that is expecting more people in the exchanges thanks to employer dumping and more limited Medicaid expansion, but "The rest is largely the result of the CBO's sharp increase in what it expects the average subsidy will be. Last year, the CBO said the average exchange subsidy for those getting federal help when ObamaCare goes into effect next year would be $4,780. Its latest estimate raised that to $5,510 -- a 15% increase. All these numbers are up even more from the CBO's original forecast made in 2010, which had the first-year subsidy average at $3,970."

Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/...#ixzz2fjOtfySr

Those greedy b*turd employers are cutting job-based insurance coverage right and left...

President Obama’s health care law will push 7 million people out of their job-based insurance coverage — nearly twice the previous estimate, according to the latest estimates from the Congressional Budget Office released Tuesday.

CBO said that this year’s tax cuts have changed the incentives for businesses and made it less attractive to pay for insurance, meaning fewer will decide to do so. Instead, they’ll choose to pay a penalty to the government, totaling $13 billion in higher fees over the next decade.
[...]

Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/...#ixzz2fjQSSchS

We need "free" government health care and we need it now! It is time to make health care providers indentured servants of the government. Our tax dollars most likely subsidized their many years of education anyways!

[SCcoug]

Obamacare, from throw away campaign applause line to ramrod legislation behemoth.

Soon-to-be-candidate Obama, then an Illinois senator, was thinking about turning down an invitation to speak at a big health care conference sponsored by the progressive group Families USA, when two aides, Robert Gibbs and Jon Favreau, hit on an idea that would make him appear more prepared and committed than he actually was at the moment.

Why not just announce his intention to pass universal health care by the end of his first term?

Thus was born Obamacare, a check-the-box, news-cycle expedient that would ultimately define a president.

“We needed something to say,” recalled one of the advisers involved in the discussion. “I can’t tell you how little thought was given to that thought other than it sounded good. So they just kind of hatched it on their own. It just happened. It wasn’t like a deep strategic conversation.”

Favreau, who would go on to become the chief White House speechwriter, said Obama wanted “to say something bold and ambitious about health care.”

“He had previously talked about how every year and every election we keep talking about health care and nothing ever happens,” Favreau said. “So we came up with that promise, really one of the first.”

The candidate jumped at it. He probably wasn’t going to get elected anyway, the team concluded. Why not go big?

http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.c...D-9AB63471E8E2

[Pelado]

Just days before ObamaCare officially launches, the Newspaper of Record discovers that those allegedly low premiums liberals brag about won't come cheap. At least, not if you want to actually use health care.

In fact, the cheapest ObamaCare Bronze plan available to 25-year-olds in several states will cost more than the median-priced plan in those states today, even after taking account of the subsidies.

In Virginia, a low-income 25-year-old will pay $127 a month for the cheapest plan after subsidies, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. But the Government Accountability Office found that the mid-priced plan in Virginia today costs just $112 a month.

It notes that a PriceWaterhouseCoopers study found "insurers passed over major medical centers" in many states to keep premiums down.

Those buying a Blue Cross plan in California's exchange will have access to 47% fewer doctors and 22% fewer hospitals than subscribers can get today, the Times reports. The Blue Cross plan in New Hampshire excludes more than half of the state's hospitals.

The result is that any patient who actually needs health care could end up having to choose between forgoing treatments or paying huge costs to go out of the network. Either way, they'll get far less than promised. As the Times discovers, "having an insurance card does not guarantee access to specialists or other providers."

No kidding. Welcome, New York Times, to the real world!

http://news.investors.com/ibd-editor...ium-costs-.htm

Federal officials often say that health insurance will cost consumers less than expected under President Obama’s health care law. But they rarely mention one big reason: many insurers are significantly limiting the choices of doctors and hospitals available to consumers.

From California to Illinois to New Hampshire, and in many states in between, insurers are driving down premiums by restricting the number of providers who will treat patients in their new health plans

“Doing so enables health plans to offer lower premiums,” the study said. “But the use of narrow networks may also lead to higher out-of-pocket expenses, especially if a patient has a complex medical problem that’s being treated at a hospital that has been excluded from their health plan.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/23/he...anted=all&_r=0

[Color Me Badd Fan]

http://news.investors.com/ibd-editor...ium-costs-.htm





http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/23/he...anted=all&_r=0

Can we please just put this legislation out of its misery?

[il Padrino Ute]

Can we please just put this legislation out of its our misery?

fify