And The Problem With The Problem With This Analysis...

Heritage releases a study showing health insurance premiums are rising in most states due to ObamaCare.

The standard progressive pushback - Hey, what about those subsidies! - is provided by Talking Points Memo.

And I will now extrapolate from experience with the Connecticut website to point out the hidden flaw in that pushback.

For various reasons left unexplained here, in 2013 my family had an Anthem plan with a $3,000 deductible/$6,000 out of pocket maximum and monthly premiums of about $1,600 per month.

Anthem has cancelled that plan with the advent of ObamaCare (and dropped a major local hospital from their network). We will be switching to employer sponsored coverage and aren't eligible for subsidies but just for my own edification I went to the CT website. Their "Gold" offering in Connecticut will cost (unsubsidized) roughly $1,9000 for similar deductibles and co-pays. That would have been a bit of a blow.

But what about the subsidies? Ahhh! Connecticut seems to have attached a random number generator to their website to help with that calculation.

For estimated income of $50,00, the site advises that we would be eligible for Medicaid.

At $60,000 the estimated subsidy is $1,200/mo, based on "cost sharing reductions", which I infer includes state aid.

At $70,000 we would be eligible for $1,072/mo of "Federal Tax Credits".

At $80,000 that becomes $935/mo. of Federal Tax Credits.

At $90,000 that becomes $1,045/mo. Why is the subsidy rising with income? I have no idea.

At $100,000 the subsidy is estimated to be $966/mo.

At $110,000 the subsidy is estimated to be $887/mo.

And at $111,000 (and above) the subsidy is estimated to be 0. Yike! Earning an extra $1,000 costs a Connecticut family roughly $10,000 in tax credits? Geez, what happened to those halycon days where earning an extra $10,000 per year (rising from $80k to $90k) could result in a greater subsidy?

[ObamaCare and marginal tax rates are discussed by economist Casey Muilligan in this paper and the WSJ. The Kaiser subsidy calculator produces the same subsidies as the CT website; the subsidy cliff is at 400% of the poverty line, which varies by locale and family size.]

If I had to bet I would bet that the CT website is not producing accurate information, which is a problem. I am also open to the possibility of user error, but I have tried this multiple times and gotten the same answer; if a mistake is that easy to make and overlook repeatedly, I blame the website design.

But if the info is accurate (and it might be!), that is an absurd marginal tax rate, to say the least. As a random middle class entitlement I imagine any of these subsidy numbers would be appealing. But it might be nice if the underlying logic was discernible. [My current guess is that their are CT state subsidies that are phased out with income on a different path from the Federal subsidies. Or something - at lower income levels the Kaiser-estimated Federal subsidies are much higher than the CT website subsidies, but at higher incomes the match is exact. For comparison purposes I used a family of four, mom and dad are forty (non-smokers) and the kids are ten and twelve.]

BONUS PUZZLE: From 85k to 89k, the monthly subsidy falls from $876 to $844; it then rises to $1,045 at 90k, as noted above. So an extra $1,000 in income yields an extra $2,400 in Federal tax credits - cool. Maybe not quite as wacky as the plunge from $110k to $110k, but still not the sort of increasing progressive tax people seem to be comfortable with.

 

Comments

[Threadkiller]

.

[daddy]

Byron York details the phoniness in the "ObamaCare Success Story's" that the President trotted out to stand behind him today:

At the White House: Obamacare success stories that aren't

Malik Hassan...is looking forward to enrolling...He recently used Healthcare.gov. to process his application and is waiting for the options for potential plans in Philadelphia."

etc.

[Jeff Dobbs]

Here's Obama's Rose Garden statement (in a bearded spock universe).

[daddy]

...Nathaniel Hojnacki, a student...Hojnacki recognizes the importance of coverage and is planning to enroll after he explores his coverage options on the DC exchange."

[jimmyk]

Their "Gold" offering in Connecticut will cost (unsubsidized) roughly $1,9000 for similar deductibles and co-pays. That would have been a bit of a blow.

Assuming that $19,000, doesn't that compare favorably to $1600/month?

But there are lots of stories of these situations where it pays to earn less money. Granted they are only in narrow ranges of the cutoffs, but it's still an idiotic way to design the subsidies.

[NK(tryin'2.0)]

TomM-- I assume the Ct website is CORRECT and NO user error on your part. Obummer and Drunken Dan want no Household income in excess of $110,000, ... well you can have the extra income, but it will be taxed at a 100% marginal rate. The only thing Dems can produce is Serf Manufacture.

[daddy]

...LaJuanna Russell, of Virginia...Russell owns a business, has employees, and believes Obamacare might help her in the future.

[Joan]

I'm more than puzzled. Who is going to pay these subsidies? Makes no sense. Our government doesn't have subsidy money just piling up in corners to dispense to ... who? what???? This program makes no sense at all. Honestly, it doesn't. I didn't think anyone and everyone was going to be eligible for subsidies.

I know this sounds stupid, but ... what kind of program (really) is obamacare? My goodness, rather than writing this bewildering 404Care law, they SHOULD have just passed a national health. Makes more sense.

I know I'm just sputtering, but this is just stupid.

Now you see why I don't comment all of the time. :) Politics renders me senseless. :)

[daddy]

...Zohre Abolfazli of Tennessee...Abolfazli has managed to get onto the Obamacare website, register, and now plans to shop for coverage.

[daddy]

...Ezra Salop, 25...is looking forward to enrolling on the ACA exchanges so he can continue growing his small business.

[daddy]

...Karmel Allison...began researching her options on CoveredCA and has publicly described her experience as finally feeling equal to others...

[lyle]

I know all you savvy JOMers have probably seen this chart but if you haven't check it out:

http://www.freedomworks.org/blog/joncgabriel/the-reality-of-americas-finances

[peter]

Anyone know where I can get a Valerie Jarrett mask for Halloween? I want to really scare the trick or treaters

[Dave (in MA)]

Malik Hassan...is looking forward to enrolling...He recently used Healthcare.gov. to process his application and is waiting for the options for potential plans in Philadelphia."

Is he on furlough already?

[Dave (in MA)]

Another day, another shooting in a gun-free zone...
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/10/21/police-respond-to-reports-shooting-at-nevada-middle-school/

[jimmyk]

fixed?

[lyle]

Check out EvilFerrets-R-Us, Peter

[Jeff Dobbs]

(heh. tried to turn off italics. comment rejected.)

[maryrose]

daddy:
I get it. The other 10 people are in the PROCESS of obtaining Bammycare.Who knows if they will be successful or like their options?
Joan: I am so glad someone else is as confused as I am. Now to add to the confusion,if you don't opt for O-Care because you have an exemption is it for one year or more? Initially exemptions were for 1 year but how long is the congressional subsidies payoff good for? If TM has to pay more for Anthem coverage why do congresscritters get a break. At least TM BUILT this website. What has Congress done lately?
I have run the gamut of BCBS Anthem and Aetna. Everytime while employed we were just informed it would cost more and doctors {in the network" would be available. The mental illness coverage was always quite sparse. I've paid thousands over the years in presciption drug costs before generic prices kicked in. Someone is getting rich off of the latest scheme and it is not the taxpayer.

[Old Lurker]

"... what kind of program (really) is obamacare?"

Duh, try this:

"If you have money, put it in this bucket. If you want money, take it out of the bucket. We the government will hold the bucket for a fee."

Clear now?

[maryrose]

daddy:
Karmel is a recipient of Preezy's latest program of "spread the wealth around" To me in 2008 that statement was the biggest "tell" of what the future was going to bring.Did I use the pluperfect there?

[Clarice]

Re the presser, when they replay it I hope it's to the tune of "t wouldn't be make believe[if you believed in him]."

[Old Lurker]

And Joan, if you really were senseless, you WOULD be in politics! The more senseless you are, the higher you would rise.

:-)

[maryrose]

OL: I am at the library ,laughing hysterically at your comment!
Hit: On the other thread I told you about how to get rid of woodpeckers because they can totally destoy you house. They are beautiful birds but you can dter them by hanging shiny CDS on your house so that the bright light scares them off. I admit I was concerned all weekend after your annoucement that the cautious members of your family are absent.

[maryrose]

clarice:
Or singing some version of "High Hopes"

[NK(tryin'2.0)]

OL-- and while some of us ut $100 bills into the bucket, and government workers, heathworker unions and political cronies take $20s out, the Karmel creatures of the world take out their pennies from the bucket, but contine to vote Dem because they 'FEEL' better. The Dem Gangsters have their voter marks pegged.

[maryrose]

How long are the exemptions good for?

[Joan]

Old Lurker, 2:12: Easier to understand. Wastes a lot less paper. Tax table guides are overwhelming, can't imagine what the government guides will look like for this program.

It's all so senseless.

[Old Lurker]

NK you see that I was very precise in my choice of words. The simple having of money requires that all of it goes into the bucket. The simple wanting of money entitles you to take an undefined quantity out of the bucket, allowing for those who want more or can figure out how to double or triple dip can take more than others, no problem. Finally, the fee for holding the bucket is also undefined, figuring that since the government is holding the bucket, it gets first dibs on anything it wants.

I think that covers it, don't you?

[Joan]

For one thing, if they were going to shunt so many people onto Medicare (who went onto the exchanges), why wouldn't these people have already been qualifying for Medicare?

None of it makes any sense.

Wonder what the majority of doctors' offices are thinking ... when contemplating the paperwork?! Rhetorical question. Been repeated over and over for months, but why are Democrats such demons?

[lyle]

why are Democrats such demons?

Comes with the territory when you're so much smarter than everyone else, wingnut.

[Clarice]

maryrose, don't worry. I had Mrs hit hide and lock the chainsaw.

[NK(tryin'2.0)]

OL-- yep that about covers it. One further thing though, the government holding the bucket has a gun in the other hand, and if you or me fail to put enough into the bucket, or the Karmels take too many pennies out, the government shoots us. That completes the pretty picture.

[peter]

LOL, daddy at multiple posts. By the way, I wanted to ask a question about one of your posts of yesterday-- Can an ungulate ululate?

[maryrose]

Joan;
Most dems are not math or science majors.
they majored in the humanities.
"Social justice" is their template.
Karmel needs to get free stuff. The rest of us have to earn our own way and pay for someone else at the same time. Congress and Preezy are exempt from this. As OL says they can take whatever they want out of the bucket.

[Threadkiller]

"One further thing though, the government holding the bucket has a gun in the other hand, and if you or me fail to put enough into the bucket, or the Karmels take too many pennies out, the government shoots us. That completes the pretty picture."

Doesn't this make the case for the shutdown?

"The government shoots us" while O-care falls under its own weight and the party of stupid offers me a mask to wear at my execution.

No thanks.

[daddy]

But there are lots of stories of these situations where it pays to earn less money.

Just a thought. I know that for Military Vets who pull 20 years and earn a Retirement pension, there has always been the one time option at date of Retirement to elect to either:

1) Accept the Retirement for the rest of your life or
2) Refuse to accept your Retirement forever

Option (2) was very, very rare, but sometimes the hatred of the retiring Sailor towards his/her ex was so ferocious that he/she would elect to not take the Retirement check, just to screw the spouse waiting for his/her share. (Never saw it personally---only heard of it)

In future, I wonder if Legislation could be pushed through that would allow Retirees' to elect to selectively receive only so much per retirement check, (not simply all or none, but maybe 60% or 75% etc---modifiable annually as situations warrant) in order to allow them to not make too much, and thereby allow them to work the system to advantage to reap the greatest personal benefits off the Public dole regarding ObamaCare, etc?

If so many other jokers are able to work the system, why shouldn't our Military Vets be given the flexibility to do the same?

And if them, then why not everybody else in America who receives a Retirement pension? Why shouldn't every American's be given the exact same option to suck as much off the Public dole as any other moocher in the system?

Ain't this whole damn thing supposedly based upon fairness?

[MarkO]

Relax, TK, it's all going according to plan. No need to do a thing.

If we just do nothing and stay out of the way, we'll have both houses and the Presidency in three years.

[jimmyk]

why wouldn't these people have already been qualifying for Medicare?

Joan, for those suckers states that went along with it, Medicare eligibility hugely expanded--somewhere I read it was from 133% of the poverty line to 400%.

[maryrose]

Marko:
From your lips to God's ears.
I think this additional 4 years of incompetence from Barry is so that everyone will fully realise the utter folly of democrat lack of leadership and also how awful our media has become. A propaganda filled socialist country is not what America wants. Hopefully a greater number of people will awake in time to save our coubntry in the next two elections.

[NK(tryin'2.0)]

TK-- the shutdown gave the bucket holder a Glock 9mm with a 15rd clip(if there is such a thing) to replace the .38 revolver with 6 shots. It's harder to disarm the bucket holder now, IMO.

[Threadkiller]

The shutdown was the 15 day waiting period to keep the Glock out of the hands of a lunatic.

[Thomas Collins]

Keep in mind that San Fran Nan Pelosi stated that a feature of 404Care is that you can quit a productive job to pursue your art. To proponents of an ever expanding administrative state, disincentives to work are a feature (at least until OPM runs out).

When I read discussions of disincentives to work, I think about Sultan Knish's post (discussed on a previous thread today) about the left not playing by the rules. To classical liberals and conservatives, disincentives to work built into a social benefits system are a problem to be addressed in good faith. To the leftists, the disincentives are simply another means to make people dependent upon nannycrats.

[Threadkiller]

"I think this additional 4 years of incompetence from Barry is so that everyone will fully realise the utter folly of democrat lack of leadership and also how awful our media has become."

How do you suspect the Wal-Mart EBT raiders will vote in 2016?

[daddy]

Can an ungulate ululate?

Peter,

I was laughing at that line in the ADN story saying that Kincaid Park was popular with ungulates.
How the hell do they know that? Did they ask a Moose?

That tickled me, and I momentarily considered doing a limerick on ungulates who ovulate, but I couldn't come up with ululates so I gave up the effort up and went to bed.

Lemme see now...

There once was a Kincaid Park ungulate
Who charged a dog walker at moment late.
As Fry and Scout zipped,
o'er a tree daddy tripped
and when his Glute ripped he did ululate!

[maryrose]

NK:
I disagree. Barry is weakened every time he has to come out and defend the indefensible. He is not the winner here. His policies are failing everyday and he is wishful thinking about amnesty. Unless he violates the constitution and uses executive orders for everything he will not be able to shove his agenda through Congress. He has burned many bridges to the House of Representatives. They would rather deal with Biden than him.He is on defense and would have taken us to default. Do I think he will reform entitlements? No ,because his base will pummel him if he does. Is he a lame duck? Yes because if we win both houses in 2014 he is nothing but a footnote in history. The first black president-whoop de doo.

[NK(tryin'2.0)]

Alas, the lunatic has had the .38 in hand since 1/1/11 when Medicare payroll tax increases were raised and mediCaid expansion occurred, and he held that .38 all the while the evil ObummerCare Regs were written by that harpy Seblius, the shutdown allowed the lunatic to grab the 9mm while the voters were distracted, it will be a bit toighter to disarm him completely now.

[maryrose]

TK
Then we have to get out more of the makers of America than the takers in America to the voting places.

[jimmyk]

you can quit a productive job to pursue your art.

Reminds me of this:

In communist society, where nobody has one exclusive sphere of activity but each can become accomplished in any branch he wishes, society regulates the general production and thus makes it possible for me to do one thing today and another tomorrow, to hunt in the morning, fish in the afternoon, rear cattle in the evening, criticize after dinner, just as I have a mind, without ever becoming hunter, fisherman, shepherd or critic.

[maryrose]

NK;
Obama is disarmed every day by the floating crap shoot of the roll-out of bammycare. He is now holding an empty magazine because his SIGNATURE achievement is going up in flames. Only three people on that stage with him got coverage. Are you kidding me? If this was baseball he be returned to the minors. In the corporate world-he and Sibelius would be fired. This is a disaster and it could have been avoided. all he had to do was swallow his pride and delay it for a year. It will prove to be his undoing.

[Ignatz]

--Joan, for those suckers states that went along with it, Medicare eligibility hugely expanded--somewhere I read it was from 133% of the poverty line to 400%. --

Medicare or Medicaid?

[NK(tryin'2.0)]

Guys-- look at the subsidies in CT (same concept in every state). The one thing I agree with Cruz about and disagree with DoT, is once the subsidies start it's basically GAME OVER. Once that family of 4 making 100K is dumped into an exchange by their employers (which may be a completely rational economic act by small and medium businesses) they will NEVER vote to give up their subsidy-- that's the lesson of history. People who get subsidies WILL sign up for ObummerCare, and that will result in rate hikes for everybody else. But Obummer doesn't care about THAT, Everybody else is RICH, or their employer should get them into an Exchange. The evil Dem plan is to destroy the private healthcare finance system, and subsidies will do that, sooner than later. Cruz was right about urgency, but defund didn't have a chance and was a negative distraction.

[Neo]

I see no problem. It simply boils down to the simple fact that …

ObamaCare is racist

… at least, the overloaded website .. and the overloaded phones .. are racist.

Anything that makes Pres**ent Obama or Secretary Syphilis look bad is .. racist.

[Threadkiller]

38s are harmless.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ce2lXteUDB4

[1_cathyf_says_typepad_is_the_most_wonderful_software_in_the_world_2]

...unless you are a congress member. Then you make $180,000/year, and you get $1,400/mo in subsidy...

[NK(tryin'2.0)]

Then why let the lunatic get ahold of a 9mm Glock during the distraction?

[NK(tryin'2.0)]

CathyF, well they were already getting that subsidy under the existing Tax Code.... HEY WAIT A SECOND!!!

[maryrose]

None of the compromise bills went anywhere in the Senate.
We are now negotiating whether Barry likes it or not. And he is not getting the kind of amnesty he wants. Even Rubio has figured out that preezy will just dump border control law if he doesn't like it to get to illegals voting democratic sooner. Obama enforces what he wants when he wants. He got schooled badly by the sequester so now he is AFRAID to negotiate.

[jimmyk]

Sorry, that should have been "Medicaid" in my 2:55, thanks, Iggy.

[maryrose]

NK:
Only you think he has a loaded Glock. OOh ,that sounds kind of nasty somehow...

[Threadkiller]

"Then why let the lunatic get ahold of a 9mm Glock during the distraction?"

Guns don't kill people, people kill people.

Trying to disarm someone does not equate to purposely arming someone.

Either way, by your analogy, standing by doing nothing ensured the lunatic would remain armed.

[NK(tryin'2.0)]

The Glock is indeed loaded-- every indication is that privately financed healthcare will be in chaos in 2014. And Dems, while they can't build anything, are masters of manipulating a crisis-- with the teamates help in the Legacy Media of course.

[Threadkiller]

"The Glock is indeed loaded-- every indication is that privately financed healthcare will be in chaos in 2014."

Are you saying the 38 wa empty the whole time or are you saying it was going to cause the same chaos as the dreaded Glock?

[NK(tryin'2.0)]

Yes, not shutting down would have left ObummerCare holding the .38, but IMO a Repub House/Senate is big enough and bad enough to grab the .38 out of its hands in January '15 by repealing through budget reconciliation.

[maryrose]

In 2014, with control of the Senate we will fund the government we want in place. If Obama vetoes spending bills-that's on him. We can defund Planned Parenthood and the EPA and any solar fantasies he is dreaming about. We will cancel congressional exemptions and let him veto that. He can shhot his mouth off and empty his Glock but all it will do is make him look defensive and weak. The dems are slowly descending from their supposedly high moment. It's all downhill from here on out.

[Old Lurker]

Maryrose: "I think this additional 4 years of incompetence from Barry is so that everyone will fully realize the utter folly of democrat lack of leadership and also how awful our media has become."

"Must destroy the village to save it" comes to mind...

[Threadkiller]

I see. I am battling Future NK, where the Republicans have won the Senate.

[Porchlight]

How do you suspect the Wal-Mart EBT raiders will vote in 2016?

Just like they always have. But that's not a surprise.

I sound like I'm in denial - about more things than one I'm sure - but Romney didn't lose by a whole hell of a lot and that was with the whole Dem machine fully activated.

Obamacare rewards the moochers/looters already voting Dem, if they vote at all. It punishes the middle class most of all, who vote for both parties and are much more likely to show up to vote than the moocher/looter class. And upper middle class/wealthy business owners will also take a hit. All of that works in our favor, not the Dems' favor - assuming Obamacare is the utter failure/destroyer we expect it to be.

[Threadkiller]

Sadly, the GOP spine that has been replaced with a Democratic pecker has made the path to poor much easier that the path to wealth.

When Jindal wants to touch the 100% he will do so with "welcome to the middle class" olive branches and he will not address why we were kicked out in the first place.

[NK(tryin'2.0)]

TK@3:38-- then your future is a Dem House/Senate and Singlepayer in January '15. Congratulations.

[maryrose]

TK; supposedly the EBT users are only 47%. We can beat them with 53% of the vote of people that make America great and want it to remain a Republic not a dictatorship.

[Threadkiller]

The future of a lunatic with a 38 is a GOP House and Senate.

The future of a lunatic with a 9mm is a Dem House and Senate.

[Threadkiller]

Do we run to the left or the right of Romney to get the 53%?

[Lester]

Who is going to pay these subsidies?
Borrowed money is going to pay insurance companies for overpriced crap insurance for expensive subsidies to get people to sign up for insurance with coverage they don't want. It is the Democrats circle jerk.

[NK(tryin'2.0)]

I'm glad we boiled it down TK. IMO, the lunatic with unlimited arms is is the 2009-2010 Dem House/Senate, the Lunatic with the .38 is the Dem Senate/Repub House 2011-2014, a 2015Repub Senate/House disarms the Lunatic and begins negotiations to release the hostages-- US.

[NK(tryin'2.0)]

TK@3:58-- now we are talking. IMO, the Romney message was basically correct (solid conservative-- but focused on economic not cultural issues), but the Billionaire Messenger was wrong (and I was wrong about that). Get me a walker, S Martinez, or other NOT RICH Repub messengers,and better data mining and a solid conservative can win in '16.

[Threadkiller]

How do you figure the 38 has a limited amount of ammo?

[Ignatz]

--The one thing I agree with Cruz about and disagree with DoT, is once the subsidies start it's basically GAME OVER. Once that family of 4 making 100K is dumped into an exchange by their employers (which may be a completely rational economic act by small and medium businesses) they will NEVER vote to give up their subsidy-- that's the lesson of history.--

I made this point a few months ago, a point that DoT conceded even while maintaining Barrycare will strangle itself.
The only way this thing dies if it destroys the healthcare system while the memory of what a good one was like is still fresh in the minds of the voters.

A subsidy for a disaster will not be too popular with somebody who paid for high quality care.

A subsidy thirty years from now will seem like fresh, sweet alfalfa for the dull eyed sheep who have never known anything but Indonesian quality healthcare.

[Threadkiller]

Is your answer "left" or "right", NK?

[NK(tryin'2.0)]

Ignatz-- that's my take ... that's why my vote was to use the ObummerCare EffUps to win a 1 year delay of everything, including subsidies (as opposed to defund). This is not easy to keep track of and fight the right fight.

[NK(tryin'2.0)]

Fight with a solid conservative (ie TP small government economics) economic message, don't showcase cultural issues, win like Walker, and McConnell, and Jindal, and Mitch Daniels and on and on.

[Threadkiller]

Romney was solid in his pledge to "repeal" and "replace" O-care.

Is the perfect candidate one who is more or less aggressive in this stance?

[NK(tryin'2.0)]

There is no 'perfect' candidate for POTUS. Romney was too easily smeared because he's a billionaire.

[Old Lurker]

I still yearn for a high deductible simple policy I could buy from an off shore insurance company that would be free of all US govt input or oversight.

I pay them a premium once per year.

At the end of each year they agree to reimburse me with one check for all of my medical bills that exceed an agreed amount as evidenced by Paid Bills I have sent them.

Repeat.

[narciso]

Taranto delivers the smackdown,

Another way of putting it is that ObamaCare isn't just a technical failure. And it isn't just an economically unsustainable scheme. Now it's a rhetorical disaster too. Even by the standards of Obama speeches it was terrible. It was so bad, it was the ObamaCare website of political oratory.

[Threadkiller]

Does the less than perfect, but better than Romney, candidate take a position to the left, or the right, of "repeal"?

[1_cathyf_says_typepad_is_the_most_wonderful_software_in_the_world_2]

The problem with the one-year delay was that it didn't delay the most important thing, which is all of the mandates that make most current plans illegal. We still have a little time to get the right timing, which is everybody already having gotten their "your current plan which you like was outlawed by the Dems, here's a plan you hate that costs gobs more" letter in the mail, and what we need is for the Republicans to deliver a one-year reprieve on that sometime in November.

I still don't think that this is over... The time is ripening: cancellation plus sticker shock letters, with people unable to get on the Obamacare web site to find out if they can get any subsidy. So in about another 2-6 weeks we get the Democrats begging for a delay, and then the Republicans delay ALL of the regulations for a year. So then the insurance companies can send out another round of letters, the "your current insurance is legal again for one year, would you like to renew?"

Then we go into the '14 elections with the Republicans saying, "Look, you found out that your insurance was going to be cancelled, and we got you a one-year reprieve. If you elect us, then we will repeal Obamacare and you really WILL get to keep your insurance." Except this time everybody KNOWS what's in those letters because they already got them.

[Jack is Back!]

Want to witness something scary in regard to LIV's and EBT addicts who vote? Visit the local Walmart (as I had to do today). Normally, I avoid Walmart since I feel so overdressed in pleated shorts, a golf shirt and real shoes. But I needed fabric dye and it was my only quick option.

It is a truly amazing sight. I believe I was the only one there who did not have a visible tattoo and/or a piercing adornment. From the look at the bodies, the aisle that carries the Crisco must be the most popular. I am going to go back and cruise the parking lot and record how many Obama stickers I can find. Bet there are plenty.

[NK(tryin'2.0)]

Pray God Taranto is correct as to how voters respond to Obummer's 'speech'.

[NK(tryin'2.0)]

IN '16, the message I'll sign the Repeal, Obummer has vetoed.

[Beasts of England]

OL@4:33 - Great idea! Count me in...

[Threadkiller]

So you find the message of "repeal" to be a good selling point to the 53%?

[jimmyk]

From the Onion:

(Sorry it's too wide, but you get the idea.)

[Beasts of England]

No visible tattoos, JiB?

[narciso]

Like Dr. Strangelove's reflexive salute:

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/obama-ties-govt-shutdown-obamacare-rollout_763765.html

that really was underwhelming condescending to people who are supposed to be his base, but they are disposable, apparently,

[Old Lurker]

Jimmy, the Onion screwed that up.

Should be showing 5.25" floppies not those new fangled small things in hard cases.

[jimmyk]

OL, you and Taranto think alike.

[maryrose]

Taranto hit it on the head. Obama on defense is uninspirational. In fact it is Preezy at his most vulnerable. Even his supporters can tell that he is lying his-ss off.

[Jack is Back!]

BoE,

I don't even have invisible tattoos:) Poor choice of words. But if you live in 'Bama you probably have even better Walmarts to gape at, right?

[maryrose]

OK, we are dipping into classism here. I'm ok with people who shop at WalMart. It's Obama's lousy economy that has made dollar stores the next big thing.And duly note-this is the OBAMA economy. Forever stuck on stupid and never below 7% that is reported.