Posted on 12/08/2013 8:02:15 PM PST by Armen Hareyan
President Obama's health insurance program and other regulations have unknown corporate costs that are hurting the economy and employment in the U.S., said business leaders on Wednesday.
According to a survey released by the Business Roundtable, the primary concern for approximately 39 percent of company CEOs in America is regulatory costs over the next six months.
The survey comes on the heels of Obama’s renewed push for his health insurance program on Tuesday, when he told Americans he’s going to make certain that the federal health care law works, even if even if has to spend the rest of his second term doing so.
As for all the problems that have plagued the website at HealthCare.gov, the president characterized them as typical for any kind of new start-up, shifting the focus quickly to health reform and the benefits of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.
According to a report released Tuesday from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which runs the Obamacare website, over 1.46 million Americans have learned they are eligible for Medicaid since the disastrous launch of the site and its online marketplaces on Oct. 1.
A blog post from the Department of Health and Human Services is reporting that, “In October, states that are fully participating in the expansion of Medicaid coverage made possible by the law, we’ve seen a more than 15 percent jump in applications compared to the average monthly enrollment in July through September.”
The post goes on to say that, “This shows a real need and desire for coverage for low income Americans."
Nevertheless, the launch of the online marketplaces at HealthCare.gov has been a disaster that has attracted plenty of criticism from Republicans and others who are against Obamacare. Same goes for some Democrats, as well as some Americans who initially embraced the federal health act, but have since soured after a series of serious problems erupted when the website debuted on Oct. 1.
To compound matters, the CMS reported for the first time on Tuesday that a single “bug”, which they said has been fixed, was behind many of the glitches, but an insurance industry source told CNBC that software-data errors at HealthCare.gov will likely affect people who have already enrolled for a plan, which could delay the coverage they signed up for from going into effect in a timely fashion.
In the meantime, the White House administration is saying that the Obamacare website received one million visitors on Monday, but despite their claims that the site was now working for most people and could deal with up to 50,000 visitors at once, problems continued, with technicians having to take the site down when 30,000 visitors apparently caused the site to stagger.
Visitors to the site also complained about experiencing more of the same problems they previously had, such as error pages, slow loading of pages and other glitches that prevented them from accessing and signing up for a health plan at HealthCare.gov. There were also continuing problems with the crucial last step of enrollment – paying for the plans in order to get health insurance coverage.
SOURCES: 1. Business Roundtable survey, Dec. 4, 2013; 2. Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS), Department of Health and Human Services, HealthCare.gov Progress and Performance Report, Dec. 1, 2013
This is touted as a success.
Hoorah! More free s***.
It has since before he was even sworn in.
More free stuff as in ObamaFlowers? I don’t think so, but this is an excellent analogy that I got in an email. Send it on to viral!
Obama Flowers - Have you ordered yours yet?
(Receptionist) Hello, Welcome to ObamaFlowers, My name is Trina. How can I help you?
(Customer) Hello, I received an email from Professional Flowers stating that my flower order has been canceled and I should go to your exchange to reorder it. I tried your website, but it seems like it is not working. So I am calling the 800 number.
(Receptionist) Yes, I am sorry about the website. It should be fixed by the end of November – or maybe December. But I can help you.
(Customer) Thanks, I ordered a “Spring Bouquet” for our anniversary, and wanted it delivered to my wife.
(Receptionist Interrupting) Sir, “Spring Bouquets” do not meet our minimum standards, I will be happy to provide you with Red Roses.
(Customer) But I have always ordered “Spring Bouquets”, done it for years, my wife likes them.
(Receptionist) Roses are better, sir. I am sure your wife will love them.
(Customer) Well, how much are they?
(Receptionist) It depends sir, do you want our Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum package.
(Customer) What’s the difference?
(Receptionist) 6, 12,18 or 24 Red Roses.
(Customer) The Silver package may be okay, how much is it?
(Receptionist) It depends sir, what is you monthly income?
(Customer) What does that have to do with anything?
(Receptionist) I need that to determine your government flower subsidy, then I can determine how much your out of pocket cost will be. But if your income is below our minimums for a subsidy, then I can refer you to our FlowerAid department.
(Customer) FlowerAid?
(Receptionist) Yes, Flowers are a Right, everyone has a right to flowers. So, if you can’t afford them, then the government will supply them free of charge.
(Customer) Who said they were a Right?
(Receptionist) Congress passed it, the President signed it and the Supreme Court found it Constitutional.
(Customer) Whoa.....I don’t remember seeing anything in the Constitution regarding Flowers as a Right.
(Receptionist) It is not really a Right in the Constitution, but ObamaFlowers is Constitutional because the Supreme Court Ruled it a “Tax”. Taxes are Constitutional. But we feel it is a Right.
(Customer) I don’t believe this...
(Receptionist) It’s the law of the land sir. Now, we anticipated most people would go for the Silver Package, so what is you monthly income sir?
(Customer) Forget it, I think I will forgo the flowers this year.
(Receptionist) In that case sir, I will still need your monthly income.
(Customer) Why?
(Receptionist) To determine what your ‘non-participation’ cost would be.
(Customer) WHAT? Your can’t charge me for NOT buying flowers!
(Receptionist) It’s the law of the land, sir, approved by the Supreme Court. It’s $9.50 or 1% of your monthly income.....
(Customer)interrupting) This is ridiculous, I’ll pay the $9.50..
(Receptionist) Sir, it is the $9.50 or 1% of your monthly income, whichever is greater.
(Customer) ARE YOU KIDDING ME? What a ripoff!!
(Receptionist) Actually sir, it is a good deal. Next year it will be 2%.
(Customer) Look, I’m going to call my Congressman to find out what’s going on here. This is ridiculous. I’m not going to pay it.
(Receptionist) Sorry to hear that sir, that’s why I had the NSA track this call and obtain the make and model of the cell phone your are using.
(Customer) Why does the NSA need to know what kind of CELL PHONE I AM USING?
(Receptionist) So they get your GPS coordinates sir
(Door Bell rings followed immediately by a loud knock on the door)
(Receptionist) That would be the IRS sir. Thanks for calling ObamaFlowers, have a nice day...and God Bless America.
Uncertainty my…. That bastard knows exactly what he’s doing. He is destroying the United States and that is what he really wants.
Ha...maybe he will be a write in candidate in 2016...
...He can just use the IRS/FBI/NSA to suppress the dims candidates/votes....and pull a "Chavez".as Presidente for life.
I think many Americans before forced off their current health insurance plans and into far more expensive health insurance plans could actually drive the US economy into a mild recession because many will have less discretionary income to spend.
“When will there be more clarity on the issue of health insurance?”
Who knows? They’ve completely bollixed it up.
And the way Obama keeps waiving, delaying, reversing, etc. - there’s no reason to think he won’t keep doing that.
I do not have insurance now. I’m hoping to get a job that will provide it to me. But if now I’ll look at the website, but not until probably mid-January, the rush should be over at that point.
I don’t expect to be able to afford it, but I’ll look.
I think there's a greater chance of planet Nibiru showing up before Christmas...
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