Hire This Man

A story about the absurd, ongoing woes of the ObamaCare navigators who can't actually navigate anyone past the rocks and shoals of HealthCare.fail includes this great detail:

Some navigators said it was hard not to feel discouraged, especially when their clients, locked out by the website, went home upset. “We have people who understandably say, ‘Well what the heck am I doing here if you can’t enroll me?’ ” said Ted Trevorrow, a navigator in Philadelphia who has not been able to enroll a single person yet. “I always want to say, ‘That’s a really good question.’ ”

That almost came from Ted Tomorrow, who would have the perfect name for this thankless job. Peak schadenfreude is still days away.

Comments

[Beasts of England]

How am I supposed to keep up?

[Jim Miller]

Miss Marple - I occasionally write about Australian politics -- and I write for a mostly American audience. Here, for example, is my explanation of the background to their September election.

Two fun facts: Former prime minister Julia Gillard had a live-in boyfriend, who was also her hairdresser. (I thought her hair looked nice, but I am about the last person you should ask if you want an expert opinion on such subjects.)

Tony Abbott has been a volunteer fire fighter for years, so when fires started in his area, he went off to fight them, as usual -- after he was elected prime minister. (Naturally, some of his left wing critics accused him of show boating, even though he hadn't told anyone in the news business what he was doing.)

[Danube on iPad]

Temporarily bed-ridden for 23 hours a day, I jolt awake early each morning to reach for the iPad and read the latest about this preposterously stupid, impossible catastrophe that (God willing) will for a century embody the rank stupidity of the entire statist, liberal project. Between naps I watch Fox News throughout the day for further raucous laughs. In the evening, with cocktails, I soak up every minute of Greta, BOR (yes, even that asshole) and the incomparable Megyn.

My joy knows no bounds. My chest swells with bloated, gloating joy. My heart soars like the hawk.

I intend to show no mercy whatsoever. I have instructed my buglers to play the deguello, and my guidon-bearers to break the blood-red flag. Let this be a fight to the death, here and now.

Wahoo!

Posted by: Danube on iPad | 

[jimmyk]

A contribution to a #rebrandObamacare funfest on Twitter, courtesy the People's Cube:

[daddy]

Just watching the replay of Lanny Davis on Megyn Kelly's Show, and simply posting for the record a bit of their exchange about Obama deceitfully selling ObamaCare to the American people..,Lanny BTW, says he doesn't think anyone in the Administration intentionally mislead anybody:

Megyn: What about the misrepresentation? I mean that plays a roll too.

Davis: The misrepresentations come from the failure to explain this program in a way that was...

Megyn: Honestly?

Davis: uhh I don't think there was intentional misrepresentation but that's just my bias. I think that we were all mistaken that one unintended consequence---increasing the regulatory standards; that you have to have a higher level of Insurance so that everybody can be covered at a better level of coverage; we didn't intend for people to lose their policies...

Megyn: (Shaking her head) I don't know about that. The facts are not bearing you out on that.

Little more back and forth and weaseling by Lanny until he finishes this way: "Finger pointing at President Obama isn't really fair."

At least he didn't call us racists. We're just being unfair.

So yesterday Bob Beckel told us that he personally would have cooked the Census books in a heartbeat to win an Election, and today Lanny Davis tells us that nobody on the Left, and especially not the President, ever intentionally misled anyone about ObamaCare.

[jimmyk]

"I don't think there was intentional misrepresentation but that's just my bias."

Translation: Even I don't believe these words that I am speaking.

[daddy]

Ughh:(

It's minus 5 and blowing like Hades outside.

In B-Ball, NC State lost tonight (at home) to tiny NC Central.
2 days ago my TarHeels lost (at home) to tinier Belmont College.
3 days ago Captain Hate's Terp's lost (at home) to Oregon State, while the student stupid body applauded Moochelle and Barack Obama.

And all the while MarkO is sitting on his ass somewhere warm drinking Tequilla and yodeling "PARKER!".

Dot, Have you got an extra percocet?

As I said, Ughh:(

[boricuafudd]

Davis: I think that we were all mistaken that one unintended consequence---increasing the regulatory standards; that you have to have a higher level of Insurance so that everybody can be covered at a better level of coverage; we didn't intend for people to lose their policies...

Translation: We thought that once enough people got the new "benefits", it would not matter that some lost their old coverage. I guess they were hoping that free birth control and free abortions would be enough to override the added costs and downsides.

[narciso]

Lanny Davis, is a hack ,whether for Pakistani generals, Carnival cruises or whomever else,
he comes off 'a tad disingenuous;

[raven]

This schadenfreude stuff is juvenile. I'm reminded of high school basketball players high-fiving each other in the third quarter as their powerhouse opponent stumbles and blows a 20 point lead. Obama is playing the long game. Are we? Read JE Dyer's excellent piece about how Republicans are dropping the ball on the huge opportunities in the Obamcare woes and playing their same passive, wishful-thinking game of hoping Obama implodes and the media starts doing their job. Guess what? Obama has survived all of his scandals so far and the media is NEVER going to do their job.

http://libertyunyielding.com/2013/11/20/three-things-to-keep-in-mind-about-obamacare/#comment-72872

[narciso]

Well O'Reilly is the blind men looking at the elephant's trunk thinking it's a tree, Greta is better, Megyn's persistent, but you can only get so far inside the likes of Lanny's positronic shell.

[narciso]

that critique is more appropriate to Allahpundit, or Joyner, or anywhere the Frum lies in repose, not here.

[Gus]

Narciso, Lanny Davis is a LIBTARD HACK. He is a CLOWN. That is the difference between a CONSERVATIVE and a LIBTARD. Lanny Davis has made a lucrative career by being a COMPLETELY FUKTARDISH craptard.

[Beasts of England]

The difference between the other scandals and this scandal is that the others didn't directly affect a lot of people; this one does - in the pocketbook. And during a moribund economy. Big difference. And the media, in spite of themselves, are forced to look. The statist message has been derailed.

[daddy]

In South Africa the 1st team of 3 girls have headed down to start excavating, and the twitter feeds are starting to slowly come in.

The Blog yesterday said the first 3 go down about 7 AM and the last 3 that take their places come out about 04:30 PM.

In the tent above one of the girls (Aussie Elen) in the second Team just posted a photo of what she is seeing on the monitors that are in the Ops Control Tent: In the command tent w/ @AGurtov Writing blogs & watching Marina, Becca, and Hannah kick ass.

Here's the picture she sent. It is very big, so you'll have to right click, but expanding it gives a good idea of what they can see.

And the names, (Post Box, Dragons Back, Chute), are names they've given to different areas of the cave and the vertical chute they have to crawl through:

[(A) nuther Bub]

You know what I'm grateful for? I'm grateful that I'm not invited to the Cheney family's gathering for Thanksgiving dinner.

[daddy]

A(B),

I'm sure that if you were doing the cooking at the Cheney family dinner, everybody would mellow out and have a wonderful time.

[daddy]

Here's a good twitter feed to follow and refresh for the latest updates and pictures of what's happening at the dig. John Hawks

[Jack is Back!]

DoT @ 0007hrs.

Pure Percocet Poetry.

Up early with the dogs waking us. Frederick has them outside for a quick nature's duty. Tomorrow (Friday) between 6 & 8 pm, his school choir and band are playing at the Christmas tree lighting at the Palm Harbor shopping center.

You can hear it on Beach Radio 92.7.

[Miss Marple]

I am still sick. Blech. Slowly getting better. I followed along yesterday on the iPad was too darn tired to post much.

I have drunk about a gallon of hot tea. I don't like tea very much.

End of whining.

Good morning, all!

[Extraneus]

‘Well what the heck am I doing here if you can’t enroll me?’

You're contributing personal information to be "cross-pollinated" with Organizing for America.

Duh.

http://www.projectveritas.com/enroll-america-director-conspires-to-release-private-health-care-data/

[daddy]

No very exciting tweets this morning from the Springbok sp'lunkers.

They collected Hominin bone number 500 early today, but except for team Leader Berger tweeting excitedly about something non-specific, it simply seems like a very fruitful day. I like how one of the Cave gals tweets and says that he is kibitzing to his daughter about going down in the cave, and like the standard teenager she essentially blows him off and tells him to chill---@LeeRberger "Careful up Dragon's Back." "I'm a pro, dad. I've got this." Megan Berger--- Ha!

The Team's vertebra expert showed up yesterday and almost immediately they dug up their first pieces of hominid vertebrae. So they have team leader Berger, all around guy Hawks, a cranium guy, and now a backbone guy. Some other experts have already bailed to go back to their colleges.

A new Video is up detailing the bruises and scrapes that the caver's acquire as a result of shimmying up and down the passages to the dig site. It has a good shot of one of the South African amateur cave explorers (who first found the hidden cave and spotted the fossils) poking his head thru a tiny passage and showing how small the opening is. It really is amazing the guts and NAFOD (No Apparent Fear of Death) that he and his spelunking buddy showed in finding and slithering into this tiny dark hole in the first place:

Taking a Beating for Science

Paleontologist Hawks tweets that it's a constant 19.8 C at 98% humidity (@70 degree's F) in the first cave chamber where most of the digging is going on, and that that chamber is about 5 by 7 meters.

Gnite.

[Miss Marple]

Interesting column on why Obama is losing the Millenials:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/11/20/why-youth-is-revolting-against-obama-hint-it-s-not-just-obamacare.html

[Steve]

DOH! healthcare.gov crashes while Sebelius is demonstrating its wonderfulness

http://commoncts.blogspot.com/2013/11/doh-healthcaregov-crashes-while.html

[peter]

I woke up in the middle of the night wondering how often Queen Elizabeth listens to her iPod loaded up with Obama speeches. Do you think she is listening right now, holding one of her Corgis in her lap, sipping on some Earl Grey?
"We are the ones we have been waiting for..."
Chinese commie fluxtards fill up the river with 6000 dead swine, we get one seventh of our economy thrown into chaos. Yep, we are the ones we have been waiting for.

[Miss Marple]

peter,

I wonder about that cringe-inducing speech collection myself. The original speeches live were bad enough. Without the backdrop of bunting and balloons, I bet they were even more awful.

By the way, a little tidbit from the NRO article about Valerie Jarrett is that SHE is the person who picks out all of the gifts for heads of state. That right there is enough to ask for her to quit.

[Miss Marple]

Obamacare forced my mother onto Medicaid

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303531204579207724152219590

[Miss Marple]

Jim Miller,

Thanks for the details on Australian politics!

I was so glad Abbott won!

[rse]

This strikes me as a very good explanation of what we are dealing with. http://mises.org/daily/6593/Todays-Wealth-Destruction-Is-Hidden-by-Government-Debt

It is what I have been struggling to explain as you take the effects of real widespread mind arson achieved through expensive K-12 education financed by taxes and people thinking they will get a taxpayer financed retirement in the end for pushing all this and the Left acting like the Kochs money can rebuild the Inner Cities.

And the people getting these redirected dollars in the Promise Zones simply treat as consumption, like food stamps. No stronger. Not productive. And the people who truly wish to be productive or stay that way being levelled.

Unger by the way write a lot about the capacities of ordinary people being the standard. Somewhere someone made him feel less than the shining academic star and he still has a chip on his shoulder about it. Reminds me of the covetousness of the lifelong A students who get to law school and cannot even crack the top third no matter how hard they try.

Law school by the way used to be blind grading by prof coupled to ranking of the perceived quality of exams. It can and was intended to be a blow to the ego and it really can bring out the worst in people.

[Janet - the districts lie fallow, while the Capitol gorges itself]

Obamacare Then, Affordable Care Act Now

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXRm0yVyn7k&feature=share

Excellent short video from FreeBeacon

[Porchlight]

GOP rolls in special elections:

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/364410/hispanic-republican-woman-elected-wisconsin-legislature-special-elections-show

Including a near (and still possible) win in an overwhelmingly Dem district in...California

[Miss Marple]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BZmLa1lCEAEYKV4.jpg:large

[Miss Marple]

Above is link to Time Cover.

Title is Broken Promise: What it means for this presidency

Little add on story: What it means for your health care.

See, the IMPORTANT thing is what it means for Obama. For the little people, they get a side story.

Go look at the cover and you will see what I mean. I can't figure out how to post pics here or I would bring it over. If someone can, it would be greatly appreciated.

[Janet - the districts lie fallow, while the Capitol gorges itself]

here ya go. kinda big, but right click for full pic

[Miss Marple]

Thanks, Janet! If that cover doesn't say everything about the press, I don't know what does.

1. It wasn't a "broken promise." It was a LIE.
2. The important thing is how it affects OBAMA.
3. Oh, yes, you little people, we have some info for you that we managed to squeeze in.

[Janet - the districts lie fallow, while the Capitol gorges itself]

MM, to post the picture just post the address like in your 8:08.
then put <img src=" in the front

and "> at the end

width should be around 400 or 450 (can't remember) to fit at JOM

*Extraneus is my teacher, so any further questions will have to be directed to him!

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

MissM and AliceH both linked to the WSJ oped by Ms Hopkins about her mother being forced into MedicAid in Washington State as her low premium catastrophic care policy was abolished by ObummerCare. That story shows the real truth of ObummerCare-- Statism v. Individual Freedom. That is ultimately why ObummerCare is an abomination that must be eradicated in full. I also suggest getting ahold of Today's WSJ, it shows in at least 2 other news stories and columns the destruction to the American Economy wrought by Obummernomics-- there is also and important news analysis on where the Fed is heading after its ..ehr... mixed QE record.

[narciso]

Hope you're feeling better, Mrs. Marple,

in other news;

http://www.algemeiner.com/2013/11/21/iran-says-no-deal-without-ability-to-enrich-uranium/

well then, no deal then.

[Old Lurker]

Shorter version, rse: Our leaders have taken $18 Trillion and counting from our childrens' future and spent it on a party. Party is now over but the debt remains.

And the real trouble is in the "and counting" part. It's like paying for the wedding but getting a bill each month thereafter for the booze already consumed.

[Marlene]

Speedy recovery to Stephanie,DoT and MM.

Janet,we're leaving tomorrow,see you on Monday.

[Old Lurker]

Would somebody who knows how post a link to Cathy's brilliant Eco 3 explanation last night which explains why the supply and demand curves in Obamacare simply never cross and never will?

It is a must read.

[anonamom]

MM, next time you feel a cold coming on, do the zinc lonzenge thing ASAP.

Even more effective at decreasing severity of symptoms as well as length was the zinc nasal ointment, but the FDA has outlawed it, because some people didn't use it as directed and burnt out their olfactory nerve.
We can't even get it from Europe.
(Husband compounded some for us though. Not as nice as Ziacam's product, but it'll do.)

Zinc in the pharynx does something to keep the virus from replicating.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

... and let the Iran sanctions roll on, and let the Iraqis continue to ramp up oil/nat gas production and pipeline export through Turkey, and maybe even the KSA. We may live to see a world where the fairly benign Iraqi Shia become the rich Shia and the Persians their poor cousins. An Iraqi Shia with cool but peaceful relations with the House of Saud, Gulf States and Turkey-- that's the way to impoverish and isolate the Mullahs. Barack Hussein O'Fuckup's worst geopolitical disgrace was abandoning the Iraqi project. Had he done 4 years ago with the Iraqis the deal he just did with Karzai, the Mullah's could have been hanging from pistachio farm signs by now, and the world would be a safer place. What a jackass he is.

[Janet - the districts lie fallow, while the Capitol gorges itself]

This was the first picture I ever posted at JOM -

Hah! Ya know...ol' Obama was a community organizer just like the latest guy in the Project Veritas videos. I bet he didn't work as hard as the Enroll America grifter though.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

OL@8:37-- that is the simple truth. I wish I had a way with words like that comment.

[Janet - the districts lie fallow, while the Capitol gorges itself]

Janet,we're leaving tomorrow,see you on Monday.

Yes, Marlene! See ya on Monday.

[narciso]

This of course, is a problem for generation the Ikwan has dispossessed the Shia in the Hejaz and Hasa, which is where the oil pipelines run,

[Old Lurker]

You do just fine, NK.

:-)

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

OL-- PS: Don't know if you are a daily WSJ reader, but today is a must read edition.

[Janet - the districts lie fallow, while the Capitol gorges itself]

from The Dubious Obamacare...thread

A random thought out there...

In a free market where people who buy insurance before they get sick can contractually protect themselves from freeloaders who wait to get sick before buying their insurance, a policy with a particular set of deductibles/co-pays/out-of-pocket/etc has a particular value. This value has two parts -- one has to do with the probabilities of getting sick during the year and how much the bills would be during the year. But the OTHER part of the policy value is its renewability in the face of coming down with a serious (expensive) health condition that extends into the future after the year is over. This renewal option has significant value in a legal regime where diligent insurance buyers are protected against the freeloaders who wait until after they get sick to buy insurance.

By eliminating the pre-existing condition exclusions, EVERYBODY gets the option to buy insurance in the future no matter whether they get sick or not, and they get it for free. So Obamacare inherently lowers the VALUE of every insurance policy to the policyholders (the buyers).

At the same time, Obamacare dumps all of these sick people (who gambled and lost and didn't buy insurance before they got sick) into the insurance risk pools. All of the insurance policies in aggregate must bring in enough revenue in premiums to pay the aggregate claims, and by allowing the freeloaders in to the risk pools the revenue needed goes up. In other words, this sharply raises the COST of every insurance policy.

The most fundamental law of economics is that transactions only take place when there exists a price/quantity point where the buyers value the good MORE than the price, and the sellers value the price at MORE than the good.

So Obamacare hits that from BOTH sides: the reason that the Obamacare policies are overpriced is not primarily about the coverages being bought, it's that the post-Obamacare policies no longer include a get-out-of-financial-ruin option for healthy people who get sick later. The reason that the policies cost so much more for the insurance companies to write is that they no longer protect premium-payers from freeloaders.

It looks pretty likely to me that in a post-Obamacare world the demand curve and the supply curve never meet -- there is NO price where the insurance is worth that to the buyers to buy and the sellers to sell.

So the next time you hear a comment about "overpriced Obamacare policies" remember that they are not just overpriced because of the coverages, but they are even more overpriced because they no longer provide protection against financial ruin for part of the premium price. The government has decreed that EVERYONE gets the option for free.

Posted by: cathyf | November 20, 2013 at 04:55 PM

[Old Lurker]

Thanks Janet.

[Extraneus]

HTML for Janet's pic @ 8:42:

<img src="https://scontent-a-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/994643_697491140261837_379759330_n.jpg"/>

The https... web address can be copied by right-clicking a pic in Firefox (maybe other browsers) and pasted between the quotes in the <img src=""/> code.

I believe it was Ann who first figured out that we could do this here. Prior to that, all we had was witty, informative or dumb text.

[peter]

Guess they need to bring in their best test pilot for this takeoff; maybe the Wichita lineman-- Daddy --any insider info on this? LUN

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

The Shia of course control the Basra/Southern fields, and 'share' with Sunni and ethnics other fields. The Shia and Gulf State worry is Hormuz. That might create pipelines heading in different directions. This is all filled with possibilities to isolate and evict the Persian Mullahs-- Bush-Cheney understood that, and pushed the agenda. Nothing is perfect-- one side effect of Bush-Cheney was the rise of sunni Islamism in Turkey, but that does not seem to be the threat posed by the Mullahs.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

Stories about Commercial jets landing at the wrong airports are .... troubling.

[Old Lurker]

And I should have mentioned that shortly after Cathy wrote the above, our in-house footnote reader, Rick, quoted one insurer's SEC filing stating that the "re-enrollment right" is worth about half of the premium being paid by an insured which put's Cathy's observation in context.

I guess my depression lately stems from the fact that this was all so basic and all so obvious that the simple fact that it could be sold with a straight face reinforces my lack of faith in the commonsense of my neighbors to protect the "Republic as long as we can keep it".

[Cecil Turner]

Obama is playing the long game. Are we? Read JE Dyer's excellent piece . . .

Apparently not. Concur Dyer is outstanding, and outlines the real issues. The main political problem for the GOP is that the current crisis is ephemeral. I'd be very surprised if it lasts to the upcoming attempt at entitlement reform, and the perfect opportunity it represents for Dem demagoguery.

Interesting column on why Obama is losing the Millenials:

Decent read, but I think the real answer is simpler: they've [finally] noticed they're at the bottom of the entitlement pyramid scheme.

[narciso]

No, NK, turkish salafism was a 'preexisting condition' suppressed by Ataturk's successors, who Erdogan has kneecapped with Ergonokon,

[rse]

It never meets as long as you don't have significant assets a hospital can come after if you get sick without insurance. People with assets need health insurance whatever the cost. Those without can now wait until they get sick.

Don't I have this right?

And OL that was a great explanation. You can see why it is so lethal coupled to the mind arson that is now intentional and official policy at all levels extending into higher ed.

OK, I have now tied that equity event I went to Tuesday night that has been troubling me so to the taxpayer funded community entities from when HUD was started. As well as that All_in Nation report I wrote about last summer that the CAP issued.

I cannot actually have MM's cold but it feels like it but it appears there is now a direct pipeline between what led to the 2008 financial crisis in terms of policies and what started with Nixon but Clinton put on steroids and GWB showed how compassionate he was by continuing and this equity push. And the definition of equity being used is straight out of Uncle Karl's theories.

So OL they are trying to throw another party while still funding the liquor bill from the previous party and they want to charge it again on someone else's account. In the meantime everyone involved in the end tracks back to community organizing and taxpayer funded entities.

[narciso]

And it happens on both sides of the Atlantic, Cameron has moments when the brain slug is dormant, but they are ephemeral, like when he pushed for capitalism education, while ignoring the damage his enabling has done to it,

[Old Lurker]

RSE, one reason we all like it here is that it is hard to find so many smart people in one place.

Your focus on the educational cancer that in the end will kill the host was stated last night by someone who got right to the heart of it by saying "even my professional friends don't seem to know where money comes from".

THAT would be a bumper sticker for the whole war.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

RSE-- and what pays for all this? The T-Bond ATM has done so since Clinton's first term. And that is shutting down ..fast. The Edsall NYT piece yesterday was the BIG TELL. An hoonest Lefty final squeaks out the truth-- paying out $!.5 TRILLION/Year to old retired worker white people drains too much money from the black/brown skin redistribution pipeline. Those old white people don't let Statists have to money to create the Socialist Crony state. Edsall flat out said that.. and he's right. The Statists are running out of credit, and without Debt created $$$$ they can't pay enough bribes to win.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

OT-- THIS is the President Hussein Obama aspires to be... permanent 'emergency' powers: http://hotair.com/archives/2013/11/20/awesome-venezuelas-maduro-gets-his-emergency-decree-powers/

[Miss Marple]

narciso,

Cameron is going to find himself in a real political dogfight come the next elections, and I have no sympathy for him.

When I was in Canterbury and London in the spring of 2012, shopkeepers and tour guides and total strangers would bitch to me about immigration and Euro Zone rules (once they heard my American accent).

UKIP just received promises of extensive funding by a British multi-millionaire, who wants Britain to stop the immigration lunacy (which means also getting out of the European Union) and rolling back all the regulations.

Cameron is such a disappointment to me that I would not be surprised to find out that he had been compromised and forced into these weird positions he takes.

[narciso]

Well not exactly, Ecuador for reasons rse has pointed out is a better model, Maduro is probably an embarassment for this DGI handler, but the alternative was Cabello who can't stand him,

Cameron is your prototypical wet Tory, like Heath, two generations ago, or mutineers like Heseltine, who was played to oily perfection by
Richard Grant, in that Thatcher biopic.

[Cecil Turner]

Guess they need to bring in their best test pilot for this takeoff; maybe the Wichita lineman-- Daddy --any insider info on this? LUN

No particular knowledge, but I'd note the airports are very close and oriented the same way. Not an acceptable mistake, but perhaps an understandable one. (BTW, the news reports of how much runway they need was based on max takeoff weight . . . I suspect--again without any inside info--that they will just light load it and take off.)

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

MissM-- Cameron is exactly what Margaret Thatcher said his ilk were and always would be. God we need a Thatcher and Reagan today, on both sides of the Atlantic. Can we get Harper for the USA and Abbott for the UK?

[Porchlight]

I'd be very surprised if it lasts to the upcoming attempt at entitlement reform, and the perfect opportunity it represents for Dem demagoguery.

I disagree. The bad things that are the result of this law will not end, and will only get worse, until it is repealed. Will Dems try to demagogue? Of course. Will they get away with it? Remains to be seen. But look at what's happened in just six weeks.

[narciso]

It's like viral code, something I'm all too familiar with, only when you 'restore' original settings, this is why they introduce Common Core or any other template,

[AliceH]

Anyone have data on how much one year of a serious, catastophic health event amounts to? Looking for rough numbers on max, and high-side-of-the-curve average.
I'm trying to quantify the dollar risk of being uninsured in a world where there is no premium penalty for re-entering the insurance market after a lag.

[narciso]

Well the Iron Lady would be 'deemed' too extreme in today's current climate, despite her background in the sciences,

[Jane]

"Obama is playing the long game."

I'd be absolutely shocked if that were true. Right now Obama is playing the "survival game" while his buddies in the WH do whatever they want.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

I'd fancy Thatcher's chances in either UK or USA elections right now. Especially USA, given her female persuasion.

[Porchlight]

ABC News poll from the other day:

[AliceH]

... That woman w stage IV cancer mentioned $1.2m over 7 years... If that's evenly distributed, then 1 year w/o insurance would have been ~$171k.

[hit and run]

"What we're also discovering is that insurance is complicated to buy."
--stuff Barack Obama said

See how wonderful Obama is -- he's fixed this problem! From that article Miss Marple and AliceH linked:

There was just one option—at the very affordable monthly rate of zero. The exchange had determined that my mother was not eligible to choose to pay for a plan, and so she was slated immediately for Medicaid.

There. How complicated was that? Easy-peasy.

Wait. What?

"I think that we should be able to take care of ourselves and to earn enough money to pay for basics, and health insurance is one of them,"
--stuff Charlotte Hopkins said

But that would be like all complicated and stuff. No, take your free ride and be thankful for your handout, Ms. Hopkins.

Wait. What?

"We don’t believe in handouts. We don’t think anyone should get a free ride."
--stuff Michelle Obama said

Then again, Ms. Hopkins really isn't getting a free ride broadly speaking. She's paying with her dignity and freedom, which as you read the article, is obviously much more valuable to her than the dollars the current workings of Obamacare are preventing her from using to pay for her own health insurance.

[Cecil Turner]

Will Dems try to demagogue? Of course. Will they get away with it? Remains to be seen.

It does, and we'll see. But I would point out that the vast majority of the electorate is basically innumerate, and the whole subject of entitlement reform is particularly prone to emotional arguments (e.g., granny off a cliff).

I'd suggest the last six weeks were mostly a function of the inability of the propagandists to cover for the "keep your health insurance" lie. I'd like to think it's the gift that keeps on giving, but I fear it isn't (or at least not enough to convince the critical 51% to vote for some short-term economic pain).

[Old Lurker]

Porch those two middle lines perfectly illustrate the issue. Reps know it can't be fixed because like the lady said "the lines never cross". Dems think it can either because they never took that class therefore have no idea where money comes from, or else they know Single Payer is the likely result (brer' rabbit).

[Jack is Back!]

Peter,

I believe if they only fuel it for the short hop to McConnell they can get it off that short a runway. No cargo. No crew except the right and left seat and max out t/o speed. Should be able to rotate between 4,500 and 6,000 feet.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

Hit/Run-- that Hopkins story hit home for me-- it shows there are things more important than money at stake with Statist ObummerCare.

Mooschelle sez 'no free rides'-- OH PLEASE her whole life has been one whole free ride. from her dad getting a Chi Town fireman's slot-- like all ChiTown jobs that was a political handout; like getting to Princeton via her brother the Star Basketball player threatening Pete Carel with transfer if he didn't get his fatassed sister in; to the phony baloney job UC Medical created for her to get $$ from her State Senator hubby. Mooschelle's whole life is one continuous handout, and given her vacation $$$, she's probably gotten the biggest $$$ handouts in history, this side of Putin's pals.

[Old Lurker]

Where money comes from?

Hit has the answer right there: "She's paying with her dignity and freedom"

Simple as that. Add human nature and shake.

[Jack is Back!]

From Geraghty's Morning Jolt:

Conservatives Gather in Boston; Injuries Kept to a Minimum

My goodness, what a wonderful, surreal evening.

Would you believe me if I had told you there are quite a few conservatives in the greater Boston area -- with some folks coming in from as far away as California and Montreal? The setting was almost dreamlike -- a tasting room in this old brewery, with all kinds of photos and artifacts from its illustrious history on the walls, overlooking the brewing room, with easily a dozen top-quality beers on tap and good food and hors' d'oeuvres. What's more, I think everyone had a good time. In the fifth year of the Obama presidency, almost everyone was positively giddy about how much trouble he's in -- but with a lingering dread of what the country will have to endure until he moves on to retirement.

This will sound like a joke, but it isn't: Shortly before we arrived, we got word that Mark Steyn was in a fairly serious traffic accident. He was able to make it to Boston, and as he put it, "it was a mild concussion and serious embolism, but they decided not to take me to a hospital, as my insurance was canceled a few days ago." He said the paramedics were concerned that he had had a stroke, because they believed he was "talking funny," and his friends assured them, "no, that's how he sounds all the time." No, really, he's fine, folks, and we're all glad to see him up and about.

I've noticed at National Review gatherings like this one or the cruise, you often find a lot of conservatives and Republicans who live in some of the bluest parts of the country. Gatherings like these are like a combination of a support group, a secret society, and an endangered-species preserve -- you're among friends you haven't met yet, and many of last night's guests were kind enough to say that even though we hadn't met in person, they felt like they knew me and the other NR contributors from reading us, day after day, week after week, year after year. I am a very lucky man to have readers like this, and I want to thank all of you out there for having me be a part of your mornings.

I also said that because of the many fine beers available, my thoughts in today's newsletter would wander, and at some point I would suddenly end sentences without

Did any Bay Staters here go?

Also, in same article - new poll showing 59% against 404Care.

[clarice]

OL, one good thing about this site is that you can esily link to individual posts. Just click on th date and time post, the post will get a link and you can use it.

I think Time blew the whistle because its only remaining subscribers are doctors an dentists who buy it at very cheap rates for their waiting rooms.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

CecilT/OL-- the best chance for repeal is the 2014 destruction of the Group Insurance market that will affect up to 15 TIMES as many people, and in WORSE ways. In 2014, the 2015 group plan renewals start up, and that's when rate increases, copays and possibly terminations affect up to 90+MILLION people will occur. ObummerCare may force tens of thousands of small-medium businesses to compleetly terminate group plans and ship their employees to ExchangeCare. those employers who keep plans will surely opt for higher employee contributions and co-pays. Oh-- and Obummer will have to do the corrupt union waiver deal to exempt union thugs from an ObummerCare tax. (THIS ISSUE too was a story in WSJ today). The anger against ObummerCare that will rise up as this happens will be massive. That's why I believe Obummer delays the employer mandate past '14 elections. In addition, the anti-bailout and waiver revocation Bills should pass the House, and be ignored by the Senate. Even if Obummer delays the employer mandate, those issues will keep ObummerCare corruption in the news, and the economy will continue to suck all the way up to '14 elections.

[clarice]

Cecil, the latest news is as the next part of the law rolls in--employer plans--100 million people will lose their insurance. I think that's gonna be a lot of unhappy voters.

[Miss Marple]

AliceH I would say $500,000 is a rough ballpark estimate. I am baing this on the health bills of my parents back in the 80's and 90's.

My mother had 3 brain surgeries for a non-malignant brain tumor which included one month in intensive care. My father later had both a heart bypass and colon cancer surgery in one year.

In each case their bills were around $300-400 thousand dollars (doctors and hospitals). Of course they were supported by the State Teacher's insurance through anthem, and my father's billing was curtailed to some extent by Medicare rules.

Using my non-scientific method of adding in inflation of the last 20 years plus also thinking you would get a cash discount, I came up with what I thought was a reasonable number. More informed people would probably have a more accurate number.

[maryrose]

NK;
So true wrt Moochelle Obama.

[Old Lurker]

On a different note, you music guys can spend the whole day watching the video linked at the bottom of the LUN.

Enjoy.

[Beasts of England]

AliceH - $200k per year - net negotiated, not gross billed - would be my somewhat educated estimate for a major medical condition.

[narciso]

The journal seems a little slow lately, I'm adding this to my bookmarks, because they seem to be so much on point:

http://thefederalist.com/2013/11/21/two-things-tocqueville-says-matter-american-democracy-two-things-going-away/

the reaction to Cruz, indicates no matter how credentialed you are, 'our betters' will not stand any delay in the refilling of the bunchbowl.

[Extraneus]

one good thing about this site is that you can esily link to individual posts. Just click on th date and time post, the post will get a link and you can use it.

Does that work? I clicked on one from your AT piece last week and it just took me to the top of the page. Here's one that takes me to the top of the last page in the thread, even thought the comment I'm trying to link is on the first page of the thread.

http://justoneminute.typepad.com/main/2013/11/buggy-its-not-built-yet.html?cid=6a00d83451b2aa69e2019b015b4d99970c#comment-6a00d83451b2aa69e2019b015b4d99970c

Does this link to a future hall of fame CH comment work for anyone?

[AliceH]

Thanks Miss Marple! Given the vast # of interdependent variables, that's the sort of estimate I was hoping for - a figure w description of event followed by assumptions.

[Account Deleted]

AliceH,

The first part of the calculation involves determination of the value of assets at risk under current BK rules. Permanent residence, retirement funds and car are excluded, for starters (IANAL and am quite willing to be roughly corrected for errors).

There is also the issue of peace of mind and you have the opportunity to use the Jan-Mar period to determine whether you can live with the risk.

[hit and run]

Clarice:
OL, one good thing about this site is that you can esily link to individual posts. Just click on th date and time post, the post will get a link and you can use it.

That's not my experience.

Extraneus:
I clicked on one from your AT piece last week and it just took me to the top of the page.

Thanks, pagination! All hail typepad!!!

I have to re-format the links taken from a comment thusly...

copying the link gives you this (taking out the justoneminute stuff so it doesn't make it into a hyperlink:

/main/2013/11/the-dubious-obamacare-insurance-waiver-finds-some-support.html?cid=6a00d83451b2aa69e2019b0166431b970b#comment-6a00d83451b2aa69e2019b0166431b970b

Thing is, you only get the comment id, not the page it is on.

So I first get the generic page url:

/main/2013/11/the-dubious-obamacare-insurance-waiver-finds-some-support/comments/page/1/#comments

And then replace #comments with the #comment-xxxxx in the first link

#comment-6a00d83451b2aa69e2019b0166431b970b

so it looks like this

http://justoneminute.typepad.com/main/2013/11/the-dubious-obamacare-insurance-waiver-finds-some-support/comments/page/1/#comment-6a00d83451b2aa69e2019b0166431b970b

[AliceH]

Also Thanks, Beasts! I obviously prefer your estimate ;)

[Thomas Collins]

No Schadenfreude for me. The article linked at raven's 1:06 AM post explains why. 404Care is not going to collapse of its own weight and be replaced with a market based system. It will be replaced with an even more socialized product with a Potemkin village type market. It's time for the GOP to develop and sell a true market based reform. If the GOP doesn't do this, it is the progs who will be schadenfreuding all over the place.

[hit and run]

Future hall of fame CH comment...

Link in comment itself:
/main/2013/11/buggy-its-not-built-yet.html?cid=6a00d83451b2aa69e2019b015b4d99970c#comment-6a00d83451b2aa69e2019b015b4d99970c

Link to page comment is on:
/main/2013/11/buggy-its-not-built-yet/comments/page/1/#comments

Bringing the two together:
http://justoneminute.typepad.com/main/2013/11/buggy-its-not-built-yet/comments/page/1/#comment-6a00d83451b2aa69e2019b015b4d99970c

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

This story highlights why I assume Obummer will delay the employer mandate once again, just like he did already, and just like the 'grandfather'. The keep your insurance LIE, will be back in the news with a vengence summer/fall 2014. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/11/20/second-wave-health-plan-cancellations-looms/

[narciso]

They go back to the next scam;

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2013/11/dems-hold-closed-door-session-with-nfl-nba-nhl-to-promote-global-warming/

[Beasts of England]

hit's link worked!