Free Republic

On Thursday, CNN senior reporter John King said that the Obama Administration’s most recent delay of a key Obamacare provision that was supposed to limit consumers’ out-of-pocket expenses on deductibles and co-pays could prove seismic come the 2014 midterm elections. “This one particularly though could have a huge political impact,” said CNN reporter John King. “Because as you mention, hidden in bureaucratic language, the end result is that when these changes kick in, the Administration promised for most Americans your costs would go down. Now it is saying, at least in the short term, your costs could be higher than...

As the debate rages over who benefits from the Affordable Care Act, one thing is becoming clear: The controversial program is a dream come true for rip-off artists. Consumer experts warn that the program has created a huge opportunity for swindling people by stealing their money and their sensitive personal information. "Any time you roll out a big government program like this, confusion is inevitable," said Lois Greisman, an associate director in the Bureau of Consumer Protection at the Federal Trade Commission. "This confusion creates a tremendous opportunity for the fraudster." Scammers have been at it for more than a...

WASHINGTON — Just seven weeks before the new state insurance marketplaces are set to open under the Affordable Care Act, it’s unclear whether the long-anticipated October rollout will be a smooth operation or the "train wreck" that some have predicted. Systems testing for the marketplaces is months behind schedule, according to recent government reports. So are funding and training for navigators, the outreach and enrollment workers who’ll help people choose marketplace health plans. In a final bit of down-to-the-wire drama, the data hub, which routes information from the marketplaces to various federal databases, might not get its final stamp of...

ObamaCare is poised to “destroy the foundation of the 40 hour work week that is the backbone of the American middle class.” And that’s the president’s supporters talking. The dire warning came last month in a letter from three of the nation’s most influential union bosses to Democratic leaders in Congress. “The unintended consequences of the ACA [Affordable Care Act] are severe,” the labor leaders bemoaned. “Perverse incentives are already creating nightmare scenarios.” Specifically, they noted, “the law creates an incentive for employers to keep employees’ work hours below 30 hours a week, and many of them are doing so...

The White House plans to delay yet another provision of Obamacare, the New York Times revealed on Monday, in what was described as “another setback for President Obama’s health-care initiative.” Indeed, it seems that every week the administration offers up a new example of the implementation “train wreck” of which Obamacare architect Max Baucus (D., Mont.), among others, has warned. Here are nine examples of how Obamacare implementation hasn’t gone according to plan: 1. Caps on Out-of-Pocket Insurance Costs The Obama administration plans to delay until 2015 a provision that limits out-of-pocket health-care costs, including deductibles and co-payments, for individuals...

Just a quick note ... We are recieving information concerning a train derailment and a sulfuric acid spill approximtely seven miles south of Naco, Sonora, earlier today. Apparently a small wooden bridge over a wash collapsed. At this point the spill is not thought to be a danger to the waters of the San Pedro river and there are no reports of casualities. I have no additional information at this time Below is the report from Mario Novoa, the Douglas Fire chief. Pat. "... HazMat techs from Nogales Sonora are in route to the scene of a train derailment in...

A train carrying highly flammable and corrosive materials derailed in north Louisiana on Sunday. Over 100 homes have been evacuated as a precaution, Gov. Bobby Jindal said, adding there were no fatalities or injuries and air monitors have not picked up anything to cause concern. According to a press release from Jindal's office, three cars were leaking as of late Sunday. One is leaking lubricant oil while a second is leaking Dodecanol, a tasteless, colorless alcohol that can cause mild skin irritation. The third, however, is carrying a highly corrosive substance called caustic soda, or lye. Two other cars containing...

Premiums will skyrocket next year! Premiums will be lower than expected! Premiums will be about the same! Consumers are understandably confused after weeks of conflicting pronouncements about the expected cost of plans, for individuals and small groups, to be sold in new online insurance marketplaces under the federal health law beginning Oct. 1. New York regulators said average premiums on those plans will be half of what they cost now, while Indiana warned of an average 72 percent increase. Florida's insurance officials projected 30 to 40 rate increases, while the White House trumpeted a report saying that rates in 10...

Montana Senator Max Baucus, who led the effort in Congress to pass Obamacare, is now referring to it as a “coming train wreck”. Baucus has announced he will not to seek re-election in 2014, perhaps to avoid the inevitable embarrassment of this pending disaster. He’s not alone in his concern. The prospect that too few Americans will enroll in the program, thus rendering it unfeasible, has the administration fearful that Baucus is right -- it may actually end up derailed. These enrollment fears have prompted the creation of dubious non-profit organizations to promote Obamacare. Enroll America and Organizing for Action...

A head on collision involving two commuter trains in Switzerland has resulted in the injury of 44 people. The collision occurred between the cities of Moudon and Payerne at about 6:50 p.m. local time, reports said. It is unclear at this point what caused the collision to occur. "We don't know why this crash happened," Swiss Federal Railways spokesman Reto Schaerli told CNN. "There is currently no train service between these two cities until midnight tonight at least."

The carriages careened off the tracks at a curve approaching the station at Santiago where the limit is set at 80 km per hour (50mph). But one of the drivers has admitted that the train took the curve at a speed of around 190km per hour, according to local media reports quoting sources close to the investigation. Alberto Nunez Feijoo, president of the region of Galicia, described the scene as "Dante-esque". "I saw a woman who had lost one foot," said Lidia Cannon, a tourist visiting the local fiesta. "But instead of crying or shouting or whatever because of the...

A passenger train derailed in Spain yesterday, killing at least 77 people trapped inside the crushed cars and injuring 143. There were Americans among the dead, according to television reports. The tragic high-speed derailment, along a curving stretch of track in the northwestern part of the country, was Spain’s worst rail accident in decades, officials said. Bodies were covered by blankets along the tracks as rescuers used pickaxes to pry open the cars and free people inside the train cars.

President Obama complained Thursday that "despite all the evidence that the (Affordable Care Act) is working the way it was supposed to for middle-class Americans, Republicans in the House of Representatives voted — for nearly the 40th time — to dismantle it." The line, part of a talk touting all the great things ObamaCare is already doing, got a chuckle out of the audience. But what Obama didn't say is that he himself has signed three bills that dismantled chunks of ObamaCare. Nor did he mention that his administration has had to issue hundreds of waivers and delay key features...

...The locomotive caught fire, so firefighters shut off the engine to stop the flames from spreading. That slowly disengaged the air brakes, and the driverless train carrying 72 cars of crude oil rolled downhill into the scenic lakeside town of Lac-Megantic, derailing, exploding and leveling the town center. At least 13 people were killed and some 37 are still missing, according to Canadian police... He secured the train at 11:25 p.m. on Friday, setting the air brakes and hand brakes, according to MMA. Burkhardt said the engineer set the brakes on all five locomotives at the front of the train,...

CNN) -- The chairman of the company whose driverless train barreled into the small Quebec town of Lac-Megantic and unleashed a deadly inferno told a Montreal newspaper he believes it had been tampered with. "We have evidence of this," Ed Burkhardt said in an interview published by the Montreal Gazette. "But this is an item that needs further investigation. We need to talk to some people we believe to have knowledge of this." The company did not immediately return phone calls from CNN about the report. Burkhardt is the chief executive officer and president of Rail World, the parent company...

At least one person dead and 1,000 evacuated after freight train carrying crude oil explodes in lakeside town in Quebec.At least 30 buildings are believed to have been damaged in the inferno [Al Jazeera] One person has died and several people are reported to be missing after a train, believed to be carrying crude oil, derailed and sparked several explosion in the middle of a small town in the Canadian province of Quebec.At least 30 buildings are believed to have been destroyed in the blast in Lac-Megantic on Saturday, and up to 1,000 people have been evacuated from the area.The incident occurred...

I thought I'd toss this image up here for the fun of it. I think it accurately portrays Obama's goals for the USA. I put it together yesterday after reading all the "train wreck" remarks at several websites. I also thought it appropriate to use an Amtrak train for the image.

GOP gloats over Obamacare delay By: Jason Millman July 2, 2013 08:31 PM EDT Obamacare opponents on Tuesday had a “We told you so” moment. As the Obama administration announced a one-year delay in the employer mandate, leading Republican lawmakers and political strategists painted the decision as an admission of the law’s failures – and a blatant attempt to shield Democrats during the 2014 elections. “Delaying the employer mandate is a clear admission by the Administration that the health care law is unaffordable, unworkable and unpopular,” Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) said in a statement. “It’s also a cynical political ploy...

Can't post from Bloomberg, but here is the link: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-02/health-law-employer-mandate-said-to-be-delayed-to-2015.html

Health Reform: Months before ObamaCare takes full effect, its popularity has hit an all-time low. And that's before the public experiences firsthand the many ill effects it will impose on the nation's health care system. Shortly before Democrats rammed ObamaCare through Congress, President Obama's pollster, Joel Benenson, wrote in the Washington Post that "once reform passes, the tangible benefits Americans will realize will trump the fear-mongering rhetoric opponents are stoking today." Not quite.