Posted on 04/02/2014 11:40:21 AM PDT by Kaslin
Despite all the hoopla from the Administration and its media shills about how wonderful it is that a certain, arbitrary number of American citizens have “signed up” for ObamaCare by particular benchmark dates, the fact remains this federal law is rotten from start to finish. It remains one of those rare pieces of legislation that contains on balance not one positive provision; not a single worthwhile crossed “t” or dotted “i.”
Still, we taxpayers continue to pay billions for ObamaCare’s implementation, even as it forces millions of citizens into healthcare plans that do not meet their needs and into relationships with doctors not of their choice. As the finest healthcare system on the planet unravels and burns because of ObamaCare, our generation’s Nero fiddles and bloviates about how great it is, and how “easy-peasey” it is to become an ObamaCare member, in the childish phraseology of Valerie Jarrett, one of the President’s key advisers.
In the 2013 edition of his annual Wastebook, Republican Sen. Tom Coburn lists the year’s most wasteful government programs, all funded by taxpayer dollars. Some of these programs range from tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars -- such as $390,000 spent by NASA to dress a man in a green costume to teach kids about global warming on YouTube. Others -- like the $65 million in federal relief funds for Hurricane Sandy spent by state and local politicians on tourism-related television ads -- reach nine figures and beyond. The point of the Wastebook is to illustrate by concrete examples the amount of federal waste occurring every day, all across America.
Yet, there is one government program that needs no special attention, and ranks as the most wasteful, ineffectual attempt at federal micromanagement since Prohibition: ObamaCare. The damage wrought by ObamaCare can be measured in many ways: its astronomical economic costs, its negative impact on personal freedom, or the irreparable damage visited on America’s healthcare system. By whatever yardstick one uses, the law is and will be a disaster.
Often, wasteful government programs are limited in their impact to economic loss, such as funding irrelevant scientific studies with no real-world application. Other examples, like the $1.7-billion NSA data center under construction in Utah that cannot keep its equipment from melting down, have serious civil liberties implications that spread the damage far beyond economic costs.
In a class by itself is ObamaCare, which not only hands taxpayers another $17 trillion in long-term unfunded liabilities, and forces employers to choose between religious freedom and crippling IRS fines, but also directly affects the health and well being of every single American. This nightmare scenario hits doctors, patients and hospitals even as the healthcare industry struggles to meet an ever-changing flood of regulatory requirements that already were making healthcare more expensive and less efficient, not better.
The cognitive dissonance displayed by top Obama Administration officials -- seeing the reality of ObamaCare, yet denying any problem is more than just a temporary “glitch” -- only exacerbates this devastation. Rather than hit the brakes and find a viable, long-term solution to close the Pandora’s Box they have opened, Democrats have turned a blind-eye to Obama’s illegal “work-arounds” that defy the rule of law and jeopardize the balance of power between the White House and Congress. Some of these “fixes” were passed in a matter of seconds, without even so much as a heads-up to members of Congress that a vote was occurring. Each change, delay, or “Executive decision” has only served as warning to Americans that the trouble we see now is just the tip of the iceberg; a small glimpse of things to come.
Clearly, electoral politics are more important to Democrats than the general welfare of the American public, as revealed right off the bat in the rush to launch ObamaCare even before its $379 million website was functional (and it still is not working correctly). Winning elections and achieving legislative “victories” was the true motivation for this shoddily constructed model of healthcare “reform.” Now, as we say in the South, many of these Democrats who supported ObamaCare as legislation, are being hoisted on their own petard – staring at defeat this November.
There are legislative and appropriations measures Republicans in the House, and even the Senate, can take in the interim to slow down parts of ObamaCare; as well as to stop the President’s unlawful steps to delay certain provisions to make his Administration look better, or at least not look so bad. It is to be hoped that between now and the 2016 national election, those steps will be taken.
The overarching goal, however, must be to ensure that the Republican nominee for President two years hence defeats Hillary Clinton or whoever the Democrats nominate. This is essential because ObamaCare will crash and burn; it will fail. And we must do everything in our power to make certain no supporter of this legislative monstrosity is residing at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue to pick up the pieces when the downfall comes.
Nothing should be done.
These folks, at one time, at an opportunity to purchase insurance when they were well and chose not to.
Why should I or anyone else pay for their poor choice?
It's a modern version of natural selection.
It's absurd to think we should even consider such a move.
The were co-conspirators in its enactment.
Let them go under and be acquired by responsible people.
But it has. And now millions of people who were sick with pre-existing conditions rushed out and got insurance they would have previously been denied.
What specifically happens to those people if we repeal Obamacare?
Will insurance companies then be allowed to dump those people?
Yeh I’m not saying I’m for it because the insurance companies were all too eager to jump on the Tragicare bandwagon but thats what will happen.
then that ought to eliminate Jebby Bush and Chris Christie since these two establishment RINO PsOS will not support a repeal no matter what they proclaim in a campaign
This is precisely what we need more of...people shopping around for the best price on healthcare just as they do for everything else in their life.
In a perverse way, Obamacare just might bring this about in a way that wouldn't have been possible. Ask any employee to voluntarily give up his low deductible health plan, and he will raise a huge stink. Many with such coverage will also continue to not care how much that MRI or any other procedure cost, because "insurance pays for it". But now that their hands are being forced, people will have to become savvy healthcare shoppers by necessity.
I think you missunderstood what I asked.
What happens to those who now have insurance who would have previously been denied it?
If nothing is done... then all those sick people will simply keep paying their premiums and keep the insurance they now have.
America has always been the best place for rich and poor alike becasue it has been free. People have died to get here, not for government handouts becasue of some pre-existing condition. They've risked their lives to be free. Whatever problems are there will need to be sorted out by the AMERICAN PEOPLE on a state-by state basis, not on an unconstitutional federal government basis.
But, now that is has, there are consequences we have to deal with that we didn't before it was passed.
Prior to this passing, if some idiot decided not to get insurance and got hurt of sick... it was no ones fault but his own.
BUT
Now that Obamacare has passed. That idiot now has insurance, and if the Republicans take away that insurance he and millions like him will line up for the cameras with their sob stories about how the evil Republicans want to bankrupt him and kill him.
How do we counter that? Because you KNOW it's coming (assuming we'll ever have the votes to repeal to begin with)
It would be like cutting the school lunch program, except a million times worse, because taking away their insurance they currently have will literally be a death sentence. How is the GOP going to stand up to that kind of pressure?
Look, one of the biggest problems in the GOP, is hand-wringing about political fallout from doing the right thing. That's probably THE biggest reason we're in the mess we are right now. Statesmen and leaders are elected to DO THE RIGHT THING and not worry about popularity which goes up and down like a yo-yo. In the meantime, get healthcare back where it belongs - in free enterprise and let the states deal with whatever interim issue there are.
We'll all be much better off.
A few months back, when the GOP leadership surrendered on the budget, they fully funded ObamaCare for two years.
That surrender included billions of dollars worth of potential subsidies and bail outs for insurance companies that have a problem trying to make money under ObamaCare.
By the way.....
Is any nationally known Republican - besides Ted Cruz - publicly calling for the total repeal of ObamaCare?
If someone is, I haven't heard about it.
That seven million may be how many signup attempts there were - but many of those are duplicates. Even of those who signed up, only a fraction actually paid - which is what counts when you track sales.
Hi, Kaz
Thanks
As long as the federal law that makes ER care free is not repealed, the people will pay whatever the market in the ER bears.
It’s not just the people that 0bamacare seeks to control, it’s medicine, doctors, nurses, techs, meds, equipment, treatment protocols, everything.
Fedguv wants it all.
Ha! indeed.
Depends on whether you are on a cash or accrual basis.
I have thought the same thing. If it is done right. For instance, take away the tax deduction/credits whatever form the companies and give it to the individuals. Allow shopping across state line, etc.
There is no fix. REPEAL!
If we were smart, and I don’t think we are, we would do absolutely nothing and just let the natural course of events restructure the system. It would be back in full operation, economically and operationally in a very short order. Just let it be profitable AND WITHOUT ANY GOVERNMENT INTERFERENCE.
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