Blame-Shifting? Nooooo...

The Times engages in a classic bit of wishful reporting as they cover Obama's shredding of the ACA for a quick political boost:

Republicans portrayed the policy switch as an effort to shift blame to insurance companies.

Republicans? Here is how the Orator-in-Chief explained this grinding of the gears at a very late date in the process:

And so what we want to do is to be able to say to these folks, you know what, the Affordable Care Act is not going to be the reason why insurers have to cancel your plan.

Normally insurance companies take months to set up plans, negotiate with network providers, get state insurance commissioners to sign off on the proposed rates, and then do a bit of marketing. Now they have until December 15 for customers whose plans are cancelled as of Jan 1. But hey, don't blame Obamacare! It has only been the law for three years now; if insurance companies really thought it would go into effect and acted accordingly, well, psych!

Maybe all the state insurance commissioners friendly enough to chat with the Times are also Republicans:

After the president announced the proposed changes, insurance regulators participated in a heated conference call, according to one regulator, where many expressed deep unhappiness about the proposal.

Some on the call felt “the president kind of threw us under the bus today,” the regulator said on the condition of anonymity because the discussion was supposed to be private.

FWIW, the Times editors are troubled:

President Obama has come up with a modest fix for a self-inflicted political wound: his repeated — and wrong — assertions that Americans would be able to keep their health insurance plans if they wanted to under the health care reform law.

The fix, which deals with the cancellations of individual policies, is far preferable to a destructive Republican bill that is expected to come up for a vote in the House on Friday and to a Senate bill sponsored by some Democrats. But it raises a few troubling questions, most of which cannot be answered quickly.

Among the questions apparently not troubling the editors is, how is this even legal? They are worried a little about the economicd and a lot about the politics:

It is not clear at this point how many insurers might be willing to reinstate the plans they have just canceled or how many state insurance commissioners might be willing to approve such reinstatements, or how many Congressional Democrats might consider the president’s proposal adequate to placate angry constituents and stifle Republican attacks.

The Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, praised Mr. Obama’s move as an important step toward addressing the problem and pledged to do more, if needed.

The White House had no estimates on how many consumers whose policies were canceled might want reinstatement as opposed to buying something better, often with the help of subsidies. It is also unclear how the temporary fix might affect the overall goal of upgrading the benefits covered and keeping premiums affordable.

If a relatively small population of people get extensions, as some experts think likely, the effect on premiums in the overall health insurance market may be minimal. Even so, this disturbing reversal is caused by the incompetence of the administration in ushering in reforms that millions have been waiting for.

 

 

Comments

[Threadkiller]

Jim McDermott just accused the Republicans of being socialists.

The House is in disarray.

[E.M.T.]

Shut up, Jane, you ignorant slut.

[Ignatz]

--It will never become law...--

Who says?

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

Harry Reid/Obummer-- Reid = no vote, Obummer =Veto even if there is

[Captain Hate on the iPhone]

Repeal or nothing.

[Account Deleted]

"This games out very nicely for '14 elections."

It's OK theater but the prog effort to pin it on the President's lies and incompetence masks the fact BOzocare is 150% DEMOCRAT LEGISLATORS.

BOzo didn't build it. He's not smart enough to handle a 10 piece tinker toy project.

[bgates]

HealthCare.gov is the rarest of birds

That's what we used to call a rara avis back on the catamaran in T Coddington Van Voorhees Harbor, old boy. (language at the link. Oh, the language. Ace was not happy with Chris Buckley.)

[E.M.T.]

Give it a rest, NK. Enough is enough. You pest.

[GMax]

A little more gaming.

Suppose that enough Democrats force Dinghy Harry to put it to a vote, and Zero really does veto.

You then try for an override, and if unsuccessful, you beat up every single Democrat in a district with less than a +11 rating for not doing what was promised to the American people, making the point that with enough votes a veto is no longer effective.

The democrats hold deuces methinks.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

Repeal is the end game. Since 1/11 the repubs have only had the House; now they have the House, Brutally unpopular ObummerCare rollout, and '14 elections. What to do? Off the top of my head, keep it relatively simple, Upton, then Waiver revoke bill, then Repeal bill voted out of the House. I think Obummer then delays the WHOLE thing to work on more feexes. That's a nice way to go into '14 elections.

Win Senate, vote Repeal by Budget Reconciliation 1/15. Then what?

[bgates]

"static HTML"?

is this 1996?

That would explain the $600M budget for a website, as well as yesterday's possibly-simplistic Dem who thought the guys who invented Yahoo are still in college.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

Gmax-- and the Red/Purple State Senate Dems have been dealt the Jokers. They completely need Reid/Obummer to bail them out. HA!

[Dave (in MA)]

"static HTML"?

is this 1996?

They probably would have gone with a GeoCities page if it was still around.

[bgates]

Janet, your Conan video reminded me of the 2008 NYT classic, The Future Does Not Belong to Those Who Insult the Prophet of Islam.

I mean, "Comedians Find Obama Jokes a Tough Sell".

What's so funny about Barack Obama? Apparently not very much, at least not yet....But so far, no true punch lines have landed.

Why? The reason cited by most of those involved in the shows is that a fundamental factor is so far missing in Obama: There is no comedic "take" on him, nothing easy to turn to for an easy laugh...."The thing is, he's not buffoonish in any way," said Mike Barry, who started writing political jokes for Johnny Carson's monologues in the waning days of the Johnson administration and has lambasted every presidential candidate since, most recently for Letterman. "He's not a comical figure," Barry said.

It appears the keen comedic eye has uncovered a subtle flaw in our god-king: he's a stuttering cluster&c &c.

[Extraneus]

Aren't those the same people that have to suppress a gag reflex when they see an interracial couple?

Ha!

[bgates]

That's the choice - Crap Obamacare or Repeal.

Here's a Thomas Sowell quote I like:
No matter how disastrously some policy has turned out, anyone who criticizes it can expect to hear: “But what would you replace it with?” When you put out a fire, what do you replace it with?

[Danube of Thought]

At 9:49 TK is once again suggesting that there is something fishy about the White House Xerox machine, since it produced a "layered" pdf of O's birth certificate. He knows that the existence of layers in a scanned pdf means nothing at all, but he thinks his readers don't know it.

Watch this video, and decide for yourself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIXZ_DF_U3I

[Some Guy]

If Barry is the QB does Reggie Love play center?
Or is he a wide receiver?
Split end?
Hah!

He used to be a tight end...

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

Repeal, is the one and only end game here. The ONLY way to get that is winning the Senate in '14, and repealing by Budget Reconcilition. Obummer will of course veto the Budget-- BUT THAT's the TIME to shutdown the Federal Gov't, because the voters just voted for repeal in'14 elections, that's what they want, so shutting down the Federal gov't under those circumstances is a political winner. How does it end up? Unknowable right now-- but it's the only chance for repeal. The GD Dems screwed us real bad in 09-10.

[Some Guy]

Enjoy this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfPtgW8AIVc

I don't think this is what Obummer wanted as the takeaways from his presser.

[Extraneus]

Heh. Great book review at the rara avis link, bgates.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

Here's the latest on Dem votes for Upton: http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/364066/democrats-brace-messy-vote-jonathan-strong-betsy-woodruff

[Danube of Thought]

Six Dems voted for the Upton bill.

[henry]

Pelosi must have threatened to sext them some selfies.

[Threadkiller]

TK has "readers."

[AliceH]

They haven't voted yet, DoT. It's all procedural stuff still.

[Jack is Back!]

DoT,

Wasn't that a procedural vote? No final vote yet. Now voting on tabling the appeal of the Chair's ruling.

[Threadkiller]

DoT would like TK's readers to believe that misprision of felony isn't serious or real.

TK's readers know that ECL says otherwise.

[centralcal]

TK has readers?

[E.M.T.]

Degenerate, Some Guy, must get a cheap, kinky thrill out of talking dirty talk about gays, sign of latent homosexual tendency.

[Dave (in MA)]

Pelosi must have threatened to sext them some selfies.

Brings to mind the old e-mail, If you receive an email titled "Pictures of Sarah Palin nude," don't open it. It could contain a virus. If you receive an email titled "Pictures of Nancy Pelosi nude," don't open it. It could contain pictures of Nancy Pelosi nude!

[MarkO]

Repeal.

Return to normalcy.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

"It could contain pictures of Nancy Pelosi nude!"

If they were photos ca. 1965, I'd take a look.

[Extraneus]

Are you ok, Anne?

[Jane]

"Suppose that enough Democrats force Dinghy Harry to put it to a vote, and Zero really does veto"

How about this: Congress challenges Obama's ability to change the law at whim in Court. When they win, they refuse to vote for anything but full repeal. By then 190% of Americans will support repeal - even the dead ones.

[MarkO]

Are those the ones with the Donkey at the corner of Polk and O'Farrell?

[Threadkiller]

"TK has readers?"

Where did you read that, ccal?

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

Does Congress have standing to sue the 'feex'? Sen. Mike Lee has his doubts at Federalist Society dinner.

[jimmyk on iPad]

"If they were photos ca. 1965, I'd take a look."

Oy, as some kind of "What went wrong?" medical mystery?

This may be as close as you'll get. Did you all know she was "Miss Lube Rack 1955"?

http://www.usacarry.com/forums/politics/37947-how-pelosi-got-started-too-much-attention-went-her-head.html

[Ignatz]

--At 9:49 TK is once again suggesting that there is something fishy about the White House Xerox machine...--

You mean other than the thousands of lies it is used to produce for the citizenry to consume every day?

Some people took his comment as a bit of a one liner, harmless joke rather than an opportunity to provoke a pointless fight.

[Ignatz]

Miss Lube Rack;
Where to begin?

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

JimmyK-- well thank you very much. Was that NancyP though? she would have been 15yo in 1955.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

Ignatz-- stop before you start.

[Ignatz]

--Suppose that enough Democrats force Dinghy Harry to put it to a vote, and Zero really does veto.--

Why would Harry and Barry pass up the opportunity to stick the Republicans to this gawdhelpus of a tar baby they now own exclusively, especially when the Upton bill is pretty much what Barry just proposed?

[jimmyk on iPad]

Ok, Snopes says it's false. It was too good to verify.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

sanFranNan HS Yearbook photo--

http://www.motifake.com/nancy-pelosi-demotivational-poster-49259.html

[Threadkiller]

Thanks Ig, but TK's readers have asked TK a question that has TK stumped.

"Does Danube, or any of his readers, have proof that the pdf was created on a Xerox machine at The Whitehouse?"

They probably want an official looking link.

[Neo]

.. for one additional year ..

If there is a political reason to extend these insurance plan now, what makes anybody think that there won't be an even bigger reason to extend them on Oct 1, 2014, a mere 5 weeks before the mid-term elections, when not only will individuals be required to get new insurance, but so will employers ?

This is pure-and-simple "kicking-the-can" down the road to an even worse time, politically.

[Captain Hate on the iPhone]

DoT, isn't this Upton garbage the "fix" to 404Care that you warned against?

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

CaptH-- Upton is not the 'end game'. Let's say Upton becomes law-- it won't-- but say it does. Nothing stops House from banning waivers, or even complete repeal vote in future. Passing Upton is not a 'global settlement' final deal on ObummerCare.

[clarice]

Extraneus--Never yet melted likes your photo montage.http://NeverYetMelted.com/

[Jane]

I like that fox.

[Captain Hate on the iPhone]

NK, if Upton somehow happens, all of a sudden the MFM says that the GOP are co-owners of 404Care along with the donks and all electoral advantage for 2014 is gone. I hope in a year, when the donks still control the Senate, that DoT heaps as much abuse on that shithead Fred Upton as he has Christine O'Donnell and Sharron Angle.

[Jack is Back!]

I agree Upton doesn't become law nor does Obama's fix become operative at the individual state levels (universally). All this is a false shield for the Dems but won't work the way they think.

Landrieu is toast in the house and it won't become law. It will fall on its own. A natural death. Its the Dems only hope. If it is still around by next November only Dems from California, New York and Mass will be in the House and Senate.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

Rest easy CaptH-- the Upton vote will not be monumental. The real deal is the growing disgust persuadable voters have for ObummerCare, and a clear majority of voters have concluded that Il Bozo is a lying sack of shite. Those are the things with lasting consequence.

[Jack is Back!]

23 Dems so far Yea for Upton. Now 27 with 32 to go. 3 Republicans have voted No.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

Upton Dems-- OVER IT IS!
Which 3 idiot Repubs voted no?

[Extraneus]

Heh.

[Ignatz]

Concur with CapH @ 1:29.

[Some Guy]

I don’t see any genuine downside to the Upton bill.

The key electoral issue is that the cancellations were predicted and in 2010, democrats had a chance to do something to stop it, but Democrats voted unanimously against it.

Not a single one of them can plead ignorance or hide from that vote.

Voting to close the barn door now won’t help them or hurt the GOP.

[Danube on iPad]

"Does Danube, or any of his readers, have proof that the pdf was created on a Xerox machine at The Whitehouse?"

It was you who brought up the White House Xerox machine. As the video shows (1) the pdf could have been produced on any ordinary copying machine, and (2) the fact that it appears to have "layers" when opened in Adobe Reader means absolutely nothing at all, as even the loons at World Net Daily have acknowledged.

[Extraneus]

.

[Jack is Back!]

39 Dems. I disagree that Upton hurts the Republicans and makes them co-conspirators. All it did was allow people to keep their cancelled policies. It did nothing to endorse 404 Care. Have no idea how they can pin that tail on the elephant.

If it ever went into effect, which, of course, it won't, it would kill 404 Care because it would delay those 5 milliion cancelled policies from converting to 404 Care. They need 7 million by March to make this thing work mathmatically and financially.

Wealth distribution is a bitch when you don't have any wealth to distribute.

[Extraneus]

His handwriting isn't very smooth anymore. Seems a little shakey.

Nope. Autosigned.

[Porchlight]

Does the Upton bill allow insurers to offer/renew noncompliant policies, or does it force them to?

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

39 Dems vote Yes-- complete panic stampede. Love it love it.
Who were the 3 no Repubs? super TPs who will only vote for Repeal? That's fine.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

Porch-- Upton permits does not require.

[Some Guy]

'If presented with a bill to do what I just promised to do yesterday, I will veto it'

Pure genius.

Playing five dimensional chess, while the rest of the world is merely playing actual games that exist.

[Threadkiller]

It was you that brought up the Xerox machine as it related to the pdf.

Should I quote your testimony?

I do not know if your iPad can scroll back more than 10 comments, so I would be more than happy to assist you.

If you can't even share with your readers where your knowledge comes from, why should my readers believe you?

[AliceH]

The four Republican no votes:
Bridenstine
Broun
Hall
Massie

FINAL VOTE RESULTS FOR ROLL CALL 587

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

SomeGuy -- heh...

..OR, this veto threat proves yesterday's feex was complete BS... another LIE. Val Jar is obviously running the WH, everything he does now is complete idiocy.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

AliceH-- are those 4 TPs? did they vote no, because this wasn't repeal?

[Old Lurker]

Upton will not become law of course, which leaves Obama's pretend fix of yesterday.

Legal question:

By not changing the law, Obama is saying that the old policies remain illegal but will not be prosecuted for a year, right?

I always thought (correct me, please) that a contract requiring an illegal act was not enforceable. So if I buy another year on my now illegal policy and then incur say a $1M claim, what stops my carrier from denying my claim?

[AliceH]

No idea, NK.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

OL- answer-- state insurance regs estop Insurers from disclaiming b/c of contract illegality, because the contract form was approved by the State Insurance Commission in the first place. Ahhh... but what if the States don't bless these reissued plans?

This whole thing is turning into a giant Shite Sandwich for insurers.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

OK AliceH--

I don't recognize those 4 as RINO Reps.

[Threadkiller]

At one point in Carney's presser, OL, he said something to the effect of:"although you guys have misreported, misrepresented, or avoided telling people what I have been saying here. It is within the ACA to allow State health commissioners the necessary autonomy to do exactly what the President says they should do."

IOW, the law already provides for "keep your plan" initiatives.

Has any read this law yet?

[Old Lurker]

Thanks NK.

Any insurance company would be a fool to extend any of these policies.

[Captain Hate on the iPhone]

OL has accurately described the Kafkaesque legal nightmare that 404Care and attempts to tinker with it have produced. That pile of garbage needs to be permanently eradicated ASAP.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

OL-- that would be my legal advice to the insurers. So let's game that out-- ObummerCare prevents ANY fix to Keep your Plan, the insurers can't do it so long as ObummerCare is in place-- the ONLY FEEX is Repeal. This may play out quite nicely.

[Danube on iPad]

"DoT, isn't this Upton garbage the 'fix' to 404Care that you warned against?"

Not quite, because as I understand it Upton's bill would spell the end of Obamacare. But I don't know.

Sorry about that "six Dems" post; I misinterpreted a headline.

[Newspeak Monitor]

The word "substandard" is being redefined in front of our eyes. A better plan that covers more and costs less is now according to Obamacare "substandard".

[Danube on iPad]

"That second one was either Photoshopped or it was scanned using the Whitehouse Xerox copier.

"Posted by: Threadkiller | November 15, 2013 at 09:49 AM"

[AliceH]

"substandard" means it lacks the essential addpon of a "Shared Responsibility Payment"

[sundiver]

"Aren't those the same people that have to suppress a gag reflex when they see an interracial couple?"

Pete Sessions? I think he said he can't stand to look at our Black POTUS.

[AliceH]

"Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's office has compiled a list of 27 Democratic senators who pledged that Americans could keep their coverage under Obamacare. The list includes the entire Democratic leadership in the Senate as well as Democrats facing tough re-election races in 2014, like Mary Landrieu, Mark Begich, and Kay Hagan."

[Captain Hate on the iPhone]

Welp I hope the Upton thing works out as well as others believe it will.

[Stephanie]

Rubio's learning:

Obamacare includes a provision that allows the federal government to funnel taxpayer dollars to insurers that face the prospect of losing too much money under the new health care law, and conservative critics want to repeal it.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said the provision could amount to a bailout of the insurance industry, which stands to lose if the troubled Obamacare exchanges fail to enroll enough people to make the system financially viable. Obamacare enrollment has already been stymied by glitches at the healthcare.gov sign-up site and it could be dampened again under an administrative fix President Obama proposed this week to resolve problems with millions of cancelled policies…

“We need to protect taxpayers from having to bail out anyone as a consequence of Obamacare,” Conant said in an email exchange with the Washington Examiner. “Rubio’s bill will fully repeal the ‘risk corridor’ provision in Obamacare, preventing a bailout.”

http://hotair.com/archives/2013/11/15/rubio-to-introduce-bill-that-would-repeal-risk-corridor-a-k-a-bailout-provisions-of-obamacare/

[AliceH]

Rubio is introducing a bill to repeal the "risk corrider" provision, preventing any TBTF bailouts of Insurance Cos.

This is being touted as brilliant - I'm still getting my mind around it.

http://www.conservativeintel.com/2013/11/15/rubio-bill-would-repeal-obamacares-insurer-bailout/

[Threadkiller]

Nice quote, DoT. Did the layer that said "pdf" get lost?

If no such layer exists, I want to thank you for proving that I did not mention a pdf.

I will make sure my readers know that you deserve the credit for undermining yourself.

Do you need help with quoting your comment? I'm here for you.

[Captain Hate on the iPhone]

Levin played a series of clips of Landrieu bragging about her vote for 404Care and her refusal to contemplate any changes.

[Stephanie]

He should call that bill the 'Presidential Promise that ACA won't cost the taxpayers one dime' bill.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

The 27 Dem list, very nice work there by McConnell.

Upton is a nice step becuase it shows Dem panic and that now it's every Dem for themselves. Upton is one more step on the road to repeal, not even a monumental step, but a nice step.

Big steps will be the '14 Senate elections, or maybe even Obummer delaying the individdual and employer mandates until 10/1/15.

[centralcal]

Stephanie - Some muck-a-muck in the insurance industry was on early AM with Martha McCallum. He was very pro-Obamacare and talked about how tax money would be used to cover losses.

I thought that was rather dumb of him to do - I mean, admit it on TV like that. ha.

[Threadkiller]

A reader contacted me with a concern. He suggests that you may not know what "That second one" referenced.

History dictates that you generally don't read what I write before you insert your assumptions of what I said into the conversation, so I think you deserve the benefit of the doubt.

Take a moment, re-read, and let us know what you missed.

[Danube on iPad]

The Upton bill would not just do what Obama proposed yesterday. It would allow insurers to sell "substandard" policies to new custoers, not merely extend existing policies.

"Suppose that enough Democrats force Dinghy Harry to put it to a vote, and Zero really does veto."

How many is enough?

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

I never heard of this-- from AliceH's link, ObummerCare has a partial BlueGovIns BAILOUT built into the law-- this was one of the 30 pieces of silver the insurers took, unreal: http://www.conservativeintel.com/2013/10/25/now-we-find-out-whats-in-it-obamacares-taxpayer-bailout-for-health-insurers/

[Stephanie]

I don't know how you missed it NK, we've touched on it here several times.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

Duh-- I completely missed the 3% loss bailout discussions.

[Stephanie]

What about the 8% loss bailout provision? It's the really insidious one with the adverse selection spiral coming...

from the Hot Air link:

Nutshell version: An insurer who’s offering a plan on the ObamaCare exchange sends a cost projection for that plan to HHS. If it comes in a bit under cost, they cut a check to HHS for the difference; if it comes in a bit over cost, HHS cuts them a check to make up the shortfall. It’s a way for insurers to spread the risk of cost miscalculations among themselves. Adrianna McIntyre, the economist who inspired Freddoso’s post, calls it “insurance for the insurers.” So far, so good. Problem is, there’s no cap on losses that HHS might be forced to cover if lots and lots of individual plans end up costing way more than the insurers projected. If a plan’s actual cost exceeds 103 percent of the projection, Uncle Sam covers half of the overrun; if actual cost exceeds 108 percent of the projection, Uncle Sam covers 80 percent.