Live Thread: HHS Secretary Testifies on HealthCare.gov Enrollment Issues

http://www.c-span.org/ ^ | 10.30.13 | C-span

[Jane Long]

Hey, Kathleen....”Don’t Do This to Me” is exactly what millions of Americans are saying about 0Scare!

[privatedrive]

I haven’t been able to watch either.

Did anyone ask:

“In response to those who have been calling for your resignation, you said “I don’t work for them”. Ms. Sebelius, will you please tell the American people: Who Do You Work For?”

[Red_Devil 232]

Trying to answer my own question. I may be wrong but Marilyn Tavenner CMS manager is scheduled on 11-05-13. I don’t know if Sebelius is scheduled to attend this hearing

Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

Republican Members

Lamar Alexander (TN)
Michael B. Enzi (WY)
Richard Burr (NC)
Johnny Isakson (GA)
Rand Paul (KY)
Orrin G. Hatch (UT)
Pat Roberts (KS)
Lisa Murkowski (AK)
Mark Kirk (IL)
Tim Scott (SC)

[MinuteGal]

"I didn't see the Pubs making any progress."

How right you are,

I was disappointed but not surprised at the net results.

As usual, the Pubs were expending time, energy and space gathering twigs for firewood that will only be usable for an unnoticed brushfire while ignoring the big forest standing there before their very eyes.

Rush described this hearing brilliantly today. He pointed out that until the GOP understands the IDEOLOGY of Obama and the Democrats (radical Alinsky-style SOCIALISM) they will continue losing the battle.

The hearing and all the tedious blah, blah on both sides was meaningless. It's noteworthy that we get all excited by grandstanding admissions in Sibelius' testimony ("I'M the one responsible!") because the rest of her answers were beyond empty, slippery and unenlightening, and her occasional (pre-planned) admissions, by comparison, became earthshaking events.

In fact, who didn't know that Sibelius would pretend to fall on the sword for Obama, that she would obfuscate and delay, and would be so ruefully "forthright" in admitting glitches and errors in roll-out. She played according to script, was well-versed and performed admirably. This hearing was just another blip in the road on the Left's inexorable march to total control....and is a side event that czars like Sibelius take in stride while continuing to continue with their agenda without scarcely skipping a beat.

In other words, the GOP interrogators, as usual, were focusing on all the wrong points when they should have come in prepared to knock her off her seat with the evils of the Act itself.....i.e., what a socialistic health system looks like and what its results are, where its ever had any success the world over, what will happen to the doctor system, the hospital system, the waiting-room system, the prescription drug system, the rising-premium system....etc.

Instead, they spent precious hours in the hearing on, ta da dum!..... the "website system".

The committee Pubs are so out of it when it comes to lasering in on critical talking-points and when it comes to actually co-ordinating among themselves with a PRE-PLANNED hearing strategy....so out of it that the White House collectivists must be laughing its collective head off.

The Pubs had a spotlight on themselves today with millions watching and a media that was all agog....but, with an exception or two, they failed miserably. The hapless Pubs just DON'T GET IT....or maybe, just maybe, a lot of them don't want to.

Either way, we conservatives are left in the lurch by these pitiful wusses.

Leni

[M Kehoe]

Good afternoon lovely lady.

Unfortunately, your analysis is spot on.

5.56mm

[kabar]

But that wont be till after the election as Obama delayed that mandate, unless its only delayed till next October.

The employer mandate was delayed until Jan 1, 2015. Employers will not be fined if their insurance doesn't meet Obamacare standards or if they don't provide it (for firms with 50 or more people.)

If, as I anticipate, many employers decide to drop their healthcare plans and force their employees into the exchanges, then they will begin notifying their employees and the insurance companies at least 90 days before so their employees can shop for insurance. And the insurance companies must require some notification period for dropping their services since their group plans are based on the length of time and number of people covered.

So I believe Oct 2014 will see some major shift from employer provided health plans to the exchanges. The employers can do the math and see it is cheaper and easier for them to pay the fines. Generally, business has supported Obamacare because it wants to decouple healthcare from employer provided benefits.

Another factor to consider is that premiums may go up significantly if there is not the needed numbers in Obamacare. The rising premiums will not only affect the individual market, but also the group plans.

As far as the midterm elections are concerned, this move will come at the wrong time for the Dems. October will be the month as it was this time when the notifications go out on the health care costs and plans for the next year. I can recall when all of this was being debated in 2009 that some studies projected that ultimately over 100 million will be moved out of employer provided healthcare plans.

FYI

Beginning in 2015, employers with 50+ full-time employees or full-time equivalents must offer medical coverage that is "affordable" and provides minimum value to full-time employees and their children up to age 26 or face penalties.

Coverage is “affordable” if employee contributions are less than 9.5% of:

Employee's W-2 wages

Employee’s monthly wages (hourly rate x 130 hours per month),

OR

Federal Poverty Level for a single individual

A plan must pay 60% of the cost of covered health services to provide "minimum value."

[ExTexasRedhead]

Conservatives must organize and fight to retake our freedom, ya think?

[kabar]

Originally required by March 1, 2013, the Department of Labor says employers now have until late summer or fall 2013 to notify employees of the future availability of health insurance exchanges in their state. This notice must include:

- Written notification informing employees about the state’s exchange

- Notification to employees if the plan offered by the employer is not of “minimum value.” If it is not, employees may be eligible for a tax credit if they purchase a qualified health plan through an exchange

- Notification to employees that if they purchase a health plan through an exchange, they may lose the employer’s contribution to health benefits offered by the employer

[flaglady47]

“The committee Pubs are so out of it when it comes to lasering in on critical talking-points and when it comes to actually co-ordinating among themselves with a PRE-PLANNED hearing strategy....so out of it that the White House collectivists must be laughing its collective head off.”

Bingo. The hearing was boring and formulaic. Same old bull, different subject.

[MinuteGal]

"Conservatives must organize....."

Right on....too many conservatives are no more than keyboard kommandos, summer soldiers....or just plain lazy except for their tongues.

However, MOTIVATED conservatives, I feel, are quite well-organized. We have our conservative clubs, the Tea Party, our web sites, our local GOP groups, our donors lists, our Free Republic and a zillion other ways to organize our efforts. There's no lack of OPPORTUNITY to organize or be organized.

With the exception of conservative leaders like Cruz, Lee, etal.....its the conservatives in both houses of Congress, not us, THAT ARE NOT ORGANIZED when the rubber hits the road like today....probably being too stubbornly independent, therefore hard to organize....or too many wanting to be "stars" who deem themselves better than their peers and who prefer operating on their own......or perhaps they're just conservatives with absolutely no oomph or drive at all except at election time.

They should take lessons from we conservatives here in flyover country on how to be organized for effectiveness!

Leni

[Toespi]

The prez is live in Boston, talking about how Obamacare was a bipartisan effort.

[Toespi]

Hecklers in crowd to stop the pipeline. He is very blue today and using the southern negro accent.

[Toespi]

Oh wait......he is back to normal talk, the accent was just for effect.

[Impala64ssa]

Ahh don' feel no ways tahred....

[Whenifhow]

Did you notice the “shout out” he gave to Kasich? Wonder what NSA info they had on Kasich to encourage him to comply to expand medicaid in Ohio.

[Whenifhow]

Description under the video - 8 min

Rush Limbaugh: Republicans Seemed ‘Afraid’ to Go After ‘Punching Bag’ Sebelius

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxieXWLX7_I

[Popman]

???

Not sure how that verse applies to my post...

[Toespi]

Years and years of rumors here in Ohio about gayness.

[Whenifhow]

http://energycommerce.house.gov/hearing/ppaca-implementation-failures-answers-hhs

3 Hours 34 Minutes

Full Committee Hearing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7FesGs9zuo

Energy & Commerce Committee Member list
http://energycommerce.house.gov/about/membership

[Road Warrior ‘04]

Listened to the hearing on the radio and if I could have gone through the radio, I would have strangled the condescending dems and that lying bitch, Supercilious!

BTW, listening to Blackburn and she won't answer the question, as an American citizen, did Obama lie? SCREAMING AT THE TUBE!