O Gives Oh So Faux Apology…

Video: Broken Obamacare Promises - David Webb - David Rosenberg - 'The Kelly File' - 11-7-13

President Obama said in an interview on Thursday that he’s sorry a number of Americans are being forced to change their health care plans despite previous assurances the Affordable Care Act would allow them to keep their existing plans.

"I am sorry that they are finding themselves in this situation based on assurances they got from me," Obama told Chuck Todd during an interview with NBC News at the White House.

"We've got to work hard to make sure that they know we hear them and we are going to do everything we can to deal with folks who find themselves in a tough position as a consequence of this."

Obama’s admission represents the latest evolution on the issue dating back to before the Affordable Care Act was even signed into law in 2010. Up through September of this year, Obama was adamant that the Affordable Care Act would not impact Americans who already had their own health insurance.

But it was not a true apology nor was it an admission that he… they they lied to us.  And it is becoming ever more evident that they did.

"If you already have health care, you don’t have to do anything,” Obama said in a speech on September 25^th speech in Prince George’s County, Maryland.

But already 3.5 million Americans have had their healthcare plans cancelled, according to the Associated Press. Most of these are individuals who purchased plans directly from insurers, rather than through a workplace. The reason for the cancellations: their plans changed since the signing of the new healthcare law. While Obama was promising that you could keep your plan if you purchased it prior to the signing of the law on March 23, 2010, what he didn't say was that if a provider changed the plan its grandfather status would become void.

Since individual plans change frequently, the chances of individuals being able to keep their plans was always low. In fact, buried in Obamacare regulations dating back to 2010 is a Health and Human Services estimate that 40 to 67 percent of individual plan owners would lose that coverage because of normal turnover in the individual market.

About 80 percent of Americans with health insurance are covered through their employers or a government program such as Medicare or Medicaid. Conservative estimates now project the majority of those 5 percent of Americans who buy their own plans (about 14 million people) will likely have to make some kind of adjustment, sometimes at a higher cost.

The White House and administration surrogates have tried to mitigate criticism by contending some of those individuals will actually end up with cheaper and better plans. Nonetheless, Obama’s failure to include the "grandfather" clause in his if-you-like-it-you-can-keep-it speeches has turned into a growing controversy.

After the law went into effect in October, early reports began to emerge that Americans who buy their own insurance were starting to get letters from insurance companies informing them that their current plans were being cancelled and that they would need to replace their coverage in order to be in compliance with the Affordable Care Act.

White House officials continued to insist that Obama did not “lie” to the American public about the issue. However, throughout October, the administration’s stance continued to evolve.

“What the president said and what everybody said all along is that there are going to be changes brought about by the Affordable Care Act to create minimum standards of coverage," White House Spokesman Jay Carney said on October 28th. “So it's true that there are existing health care plans on the individual market that don't meet those minimum standards and therefore do not qualify for the Affordable Care Act."

After four years of sticking to his "if-you-like-your-coverage" promise, Obama recalibrated on Oct. 30. "Ever since the law was passed, if insurers decided to downgrade or cancel these substandard plans, what we said under the law is, you've got to replace them with quality, comprehensive coverage because that too was a central premise of the Affordable Care Act from the very beginning," he explained.

Just over a week later, that recalibration has become a faux apology.

And what he didn’t say is that as employers realize that they cannot afford to maintain coverage for their employees, many people will be forced into part-time or business will drop their whole program for everyone… dropping all those people into the exchanges.

Estimates are now as high as possibly 129 million people my lose their healthcare coverage.

And then there is the dirty secret that this is the plan… to force everyone into the exchanges and into a single-payer plan, which is socialize medicine.

Wake-up America.  Many are planning to just pay the the $95 fee and then voting out these Progressive Democrats in 2014 and 2016, replacing them with fiscal conservatives who will repeal this whole power-grabbing program and replace it with something that will help the poor and the middle class.

Related: Dirty Little Secret: Rationing is at Heart of ObamaCare

The earliest sign of autism is in the eyes, study says

MSN: Scientists think they've found the earliest sign of a child developing autism. Using sensitive eye-tracking software, they measured the eye movements of 110 children starting when they were 2 months old and ending at 2 years old. At around 2 months of age, children who didn't develop autism started looking at people's eyes more. Those who did started looking at people's mouths or at objects instead. Researchers are hopeful that with earlier detection, they can develop more effective therapy. They do warn people though, that the study still needs work. They're examining more children, and they specify that only their eye-tracking technology can detect the difference. It's perfectly fine for children to not look parents in the eye all the time. — By Nick Mangione [Source]

CMA Mocks Obamacare In Song: “Over 6 People Served!”

Performers, Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley at the Country Music Awards take Obamacare to task for its epic failure in their song, “ObamaCare by Morning”.

The hooting and hollering at this event should do your heart good!!  People are getting it.

Video: Obamacare by Morning CMA Awards Carrie Underwood & Brad Paisley

CARRIE UNDERWOOD: Brad, what's wrong?

BRAD PAISLEY: I twerked my back. I twerked it good.

UNDERWOOD: Brad, that's not what twerking means

PAISLEY: Yes it is. Twerking is a medical term, Carrie.

UNDERWOOD: No, no. Twerking is, well, have you ever been to a Luke Bryan concert?

PAISLEY: I thought those were mini-seizures.

UNDERWOOD: No, no. No.

PAISLEY: Oh. Anyway, I think I need to see a doctor.

UNDERWOOD: Hey, do you have that ObamaCare?

PAISLEY: ObamaCare? What's that?

UNDERWOOD: Oh, it's great. It's great.

PAISLEY: What is it?

UNDERWOOD: I started signing up last Thursday and I'm almost done. Let's go to the website and get you signed up.

PAISLEY: Oh, okay.

UNDERWOOD: Let's see here. Let's see. This can't be too hard, right?

PAISLEY: Why is it spinning?

UNDERWOOD: Oh, it does that.

PAISLEY: Okay, but why's it smoking?

UNDERWOOD: Oh, I don't, maybe we should restart it?

PAISLEY AND UNDERWOOD (SINGING): ObamaCare by morning why is this takin' so long?

PAISLEY (SINGING): I'm gonna wind up with hemorrhoids.

PAISLEY AND UNDERWOOD (SINGING): If I sit here till dawn. We'll have cataracts and dementia. Oh this is gettin' on my last nerve. ObamaCare by morning, over six people served.

Health Care Fukushima: 129 Million To Lose Their Plan

IBD: Meltdown: A health care scholar estimates that if ObamaCare is fully implemented, including the employer mandate, 129 million people will not be able to keep their plans. The train wreck has become a nuclear meltdown.

The never-ending and ever-changing story line emanating from the damage control room at the White House has morphed from you can keep your plan, period, to we said you could keep the plan you liked at the rates agreed upon only if we decide it's not substandard.

That, we were told, would only apply to some 5% of Americans. They would get a better plan whether they liked it or not.

It's as if the government decided the car you drove to work was "substandard" and forced you to drive a "better" car like the government-subsidized Chevy Volt.

ObamaCare is kind of like "cash for clunkers" only with fines and penalties thrown in. We fork over more cash in the form of higher premiums and deductibles and get the clunker known as ObamaCare.

The story has changed again as commentators try to split the hair between "intentional deceit" and "lie."

"Now, if you have or had one of these plans before the Affordable Care Act came into law and you really like that plan, what we said was you could keep it, if it hasn't changed since the law was passed," President Obama said Monday night. Oh, so that was what you meant by "period," Mr. President.

Every insurance plan changes as risk pools and claims vary over time. That's why people have had to renew their policies every year or so.

That is the ultimate Catch-22 of ObamaCare, one that will snare an astounding number of Americans in ObamaCare's tangled web of lies and deceit.

Those who thought their plans were exempted under the "grandfather" clause were sadly mistaken and ignored that phrase throughout ObamaCare — "the Secretary shall determine." Well, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius determined unless your plan was carved in stone tablets for all time, they had to go and changed the regulations.

Now, as the Daily Caller reports, an analysis by health care economist Christopher Conover at the Center for Health Policy & Inequalities Research at Duke University, shows just how wide that web will extend when ObamaCare is fully implemented in 2014.

It also helps explain the delay in the employer mandate — an attempt to cushion the blow.

When ObamaCare is fully implemented, Conover finds, an estimated 129 million people — that's 68% of the 189 million Americans with private health coverage — could lose their previous health coverage due to a combination of factors including the cancellations of existing plans as well as changes and "improvements" to existing coverage that will be required under the new health care law.

Kathleen Sebelius Senate Hearing Obamacare 11.6.2013, Sebelius Admits: It Is possible for convicted felons to become Obamacare navigators

Greg GutFeld: “There have now been more hearings on ObamaCare than people who have signed up for the program”

Below is the full hearing 3 hours - skip to 25 min 55 sec and that’s when the hearing beings.

Enzi questions are shortly before Cronyn.

Cornyn is speaking at 1:53 asking about the navigators possibly being convicted felons. Sherrod Brown follows.   At 1:59:40 is Thune ‘ who explains it is flawed legislation based on the outcome so far.  Predicated on promises which are broken.

She goes into a response that is evasive and misdirecting his question.

Most Americans would forgive it if you said you didn’t tell the truth.Just before 2:05 minutes you see her sitting there very thoughtful looking at her hands. This is a response not seen before – whether someone was talking in her ear or she had a small dose of conscience who knows?

Senator Roberts from Kansas, Sebelius’ home state, asked her to resign.

Video: Kathleen Sebelius Senate Hearing Obamacare 11.6.2013

That’s right folks… ObamaCare navigators could be convicted felons who would access to your personal information…

Video:  Kathleen Sebelius: It's possible for convicted felons to become Obamacare navigators

Video: Kathleen Sebelius Refuses To Answer Whether Obama's Keep Your Plan Promise Was True Or False

Video: Thune at Finance to Sebelius: You've Been Misleading the American People

Video: Senator Roberts Calls For Secretary Sebelius' Resignation in Finance Committee Hearing

Obama Now "Lying About Lies”

Obamacare, Deconstructed [video] 

The Dirty Secret Behind ObamaCare No One's Talking About

Forum: What’s Your Earliest Childhood Memory?

The Council Forum: Every week on Monday morning, the Council and our invited guests weigh in at the Watcher’s Forum, short takes on a major issue of the day,the culture or something that’s just fun. This week’s question was: What’s Your Earliest Childhood Memory?

The Razor: Memories have been scientifically proven to be quite fallible, especially those of children, so I’m not sure how accurate my memory is. It is possible I saw the video later, but there is no way to prove it either way. Nevertheless I have always believed that my earliest memory is, at the age of 20 months, seeing the video of Robert F. Kennedy getting shot.

My family was Irish-Catholic New Deal Democrats. The Kennedy family was the embodiment of the American Dream combined with enlightened leadership, and the Kennedys were spoken with almost as much reverence as the Pope and the Holy Church. It wasn’t until I was in college that I was old enough to assess the Kennedy legacy subjectively, and even today, as a registered Republican and libertarian, I still hold JFK and RFK is higher regard than most. The assassinations struck my family hard, and I remember what to me were the sound of balloons popping and everyone around me crying. How accurate is this memory? I wish I could say, but it’s the earliest one I can date.

Another early political memory is of President Nixon’s visit to China. I was a little over 5 years old at the time playing with my infant niece. I remember saying “Peking!” and making her laugh while watching televised footage of the visit. Over and over I said “Peking!” and she laughed that rugged laugh of the infant that they quickly grow out of yet is so wonderful to elicit, especially when one is a child himself.

GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD:  Whee… Mom n dad’s date night…

Bookworm Room: Two words:  Kennedy’s assassination.  I was just over two at the time, and my next memories don’t kick in for another two years, when I was about four.

The Colossus of Rhodey: The ambulance taking my mom to the hospital for the birth of my youngest sister. I was three.

JoshuaPundit: The earliest memory I have would have to be from when I couldn’t have been more than  two. One of the first places we lived was an apartment in Santa Monica, California. It had an eat in kitchen and a black and white checkered floor and I have a real clear member of me and my Day (Z”l) playing ball with a pair of balled up socks…him rolling the ball towards me and me going after it and laughing a lot. From around the same time, I also recall a favorite toy, a stuffed monkey I called (of course) Mr. Monkey. He looked vaguely like Curious George, only with black fur and red overalls.

The Independent Sentinel: My earliest memory was when I couldn’t breathe while suffering from the whooping cough.

My mother took me by the feet, held me upside down, and hit my back hard several times. She later said I turned blue.

I remember the doctor who came to the house. He was nice but looked sad. There were people whispering outside the bedroom.

My mother later said I was a year-and-a-half old. I don’t know if she was right about that but I didn’t have the language to find out what was going on so I must have been very young.

My mother said at the time that I would forget all about the episode so I decided to remember it.

I’m a rebel.

The Glittering Eye: I’ve been wracking my brains such as they are, trying to identify my earliest distinct memory. Since I’m probably the oldest member of the Council, as you might imagine, that would be from quite a while ago—from before most of my fellow Council members were born.

Like many people I have many memories from when I was five or six or more years old. For example, I remember Eisenhower’s first election campaign, MacArthur’s farewell speech, and so on but those aren’t my earliest memories. Oddly, I don’t remember Truman as having been president. Since he had once asked my dad to be his campaign manager I would have thought I might have remembered it.

My dad was what is now called an “early adopter” so I don’t remember a time without television. That means that I can date certain early memories by television shows that were only shown when I was four years old or younger and never shown in syndication. I can remember several of those.

I am the oldest of five siblings. I can remember when the third child was born and at that point I was less than four then. I can also remember being potty-trained and when I was moved from a bed with sides to one you slept on top of, something that struck me at the time as a dangerously unsafe state of affairs (I’m used to it now). Those must have been when I was between two and four years of age.

None of that compares with my wife’s earliest distinct recollections when she was less than two years old. I have learned that she never forgets anything ;-)

Nice Deb: My first memory is of being locked in the bathroom when I was 1 1/2. I remember my mother was outside the door in the hallway, trying to explain to me how to unlock it, but I just wasn’t getting it, and I was crying out of frustration and fear. My dad was at work so she called the fire dept. for help. They came with a big hook and ladder truck, sirens blaring which surprised my mother. She was a bit overwhelmed, not expecting such a big to-do. A fireman climbed up the ladder and broke through the bathroom window. He snatched me up, opened the door from the inside and handed me to my mother, “here ya go, ma’am.”

Mrs. Joshuapundit: I was about three and a half when my younger sister was born. My earliest memory is my mom throwing me a present she got for me out of the window of the hospital.

Ask Marion: My first memory is a bit blurry; I was 23-months old.  It is of walking down the gang-plank at the end of our sail, from Austria, by way of Germany to America.  I think the only reason I remember that from such a young age is that it must have been so important and momentous to my parents… leaving their former life behind and seeing the Statue of Liberty with a new future in front of them that it left a huge imprint on my mind even at that young age.

My next, clearer memory, was at age 31/2 when my mother and I walked to Alexander’s Market in Burbank, CA.  She was nine months pregnant. I, as I did every time we passed that counter, asked to get a banana split at the ice parlor at the entrance to the market.  The answer was generally no; I certainly couldn’t eat one on my own.  That afternoon my mom said yes and of course she had to eat the lion’s share.  Within two hours after that special treat and our walk home, my mother went into labor for which I felt responsible. I have always loved banana splits, but after that day I didn’t ask for another one for a long time.

Sharing our thoughts and memories is critical to the process of maintaining our family and cultural heritage.  Sitting and really talking is something Americans don’t do enough these days.  Make if part of your holiday season and New Years’ resolution list.  Looking back helps us as we move forward; it gives us perspective and often even answers, as long as we don’t get stuck there.  The question made me think of the Charles Krauthammer’s book: Things That Matter (Kindle)

Books, Knowledge, History, Memories… How Erasing Them Changes Cultures, Countries, The World – Updated 

Simpler Times – A Groetzmeier Christmas 

Happy 100th Birthday, Daddy

Well, there you have it.

Make sure to tune in every Monday for the Watcher’s Forum. And remember, every Wednesday, the Council has its weekly contest with the members nominating two posts each, one written by themselves and one written by someone from outside the group for consideration by the whole Council. The votes are cast by the Council, and the results are posted on Friday morning.

It’s a weekly magazine of some of the best stuff written in the blogosphere, and you won’t want to miss it.

And don’t forget to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter..’cause we’re cool like that, y’know?

Self-Important Intellectuals are Neither Important nor Intelligent: Autism Meme and Dehumanization @Guardian

by asd2mom

Cross-posted at Raising Asperger’s Kids

I have written on the subject of using psychological and developmental disabilities as insult before. Usually my disdain for the self-important pundit goes to those who attack individuals with intellectual disabilities.  Here, Here, Here  Unfortunately there is now a new trend in the writings of those who consider themselves intellectually above all us common-folk, these so-called intellects have decided to use autism as an insult in political discourse. HERE  (I have also written about the use of “autistic” as comic fodder HERE)  Meanwhile, today I came across a new post found in The Guardian (Read about it HERE). The article is entitled “If we accept Israel is metaphorically autistic we lose all hope of change.” No I didn’t leave a comment as they were already closed.

The Guardian is one of England’s leading newspapers. It is supposed to be a leading indicator of the thought processes of the intellectual, or rather the intellectual left-wing elite. Personally I don’t read it. It wreaks of antisemitism and for that reason alone there are watchdog blogs in the Jewish community that continually monitor their press. If I read anything from Britain its in The Daily Mail or The Telegraph. I don’t have to agree with everything written on these pages, but at least they don’t make me want to lose my lunch or bleach my brain. One caveat: There is a terrific advocate in the autism community Kristina Chew who writes occasionally for The Guardian. I do read anything she writes, even when I disagree with her. Her personal blog Here

The interesting issue concerning this latest anti-autism screed is that these left-wing intellectuals, who champion identity-politics and political correctness in their nations, these hypocrites who call out those they consider Islamaphobes and racists, seem perfectly fine with insulting the entire community of autistics. They think that by asking Simon Baron-Cohen about autism that that somehow insulates them from being labeled a bigot. Guess what, it does not. In fact one of the commenters dismissed the authors talk with Baron-Cohen because  Baron-Cohen, himself being Jewish, would not accept the idea that Israel is akin to an autistic person. (Heck if you can’t get a little Jewish conspiracy crap in The Guardian, you can’t get it anywhere. By the way, this is also what passes for acceptable discourse in the progressive world of The Guardian.)

Now don’t get me wrong. I am completely revolted by this latest diatribe against Israel. I am an ardent supporter of the State of Israel. The only more supportive of Israel you can get than me, is those who leave the USA to go live in Israel. But my issue with the above article isn’t about their attitude towards Israel (that is an article for a different day.) My issue is how easy it is for the intellectuals to disenfranchise and demean an entire community of people. Of course I really shouldn’t be surprised by this act of intellectual dishonesty. The Guardian editors tend to dehumanize anyone they think is their political opposite, so to deny the humanity of the autistic community is not really a giant leap for them.

The idea that somehow the autistic community is a monolith and that every autistic person is a clone of “Rain Man [Blu-ray]” is beyond ignorant and outdated. The idea that autistics are without empathy, are violent and are withdrawn has been scientifically proven void. The autistic community itself, particularly the self-advocates, are open, vocal and without par in teaching about the realities of living with autism and what they hope for the future. Autistics are proud of who they are, and quite frankly happily, openly, vociferously and proudly declare their existence and their humanity. (In fact both of my boys are not without their own autism-as-insult bullshit meters. My younger son just took someone to task on twitter for using autism as insult. He proudly proclaims his aspieness in his profile.)

I find it rather interesting that people who are so touchy and thin-skinned, as The Guardian progressives tend to be when it comes to their own selves, have no problem with insulting an entire group of people. Oddly collective-identity-punishment for the politically correct seems to be a new version of the old theory of replacement theology. Moreover, the idea that autistics are now fair game to be maligned bespeaks of eugenics and quite frankly Nazism.

Yes I know people throw the Nazi adjective around very easily into today’s day and age, but remember before the Nazis began the Final Solution to the Jewish Question, they practiced how to efficiently kill on the intellectually and psychologically disabled. No doubt there were many autistics who were marked for murder during those experiments. On another wholly disturbing level, political scientists have noted that there are  eight stages of genocide. This Guardian article employs most of them in dehumanizing autistics and Jews.

This is why the autism as political insult is not only intellectually dishonest but it is intellectually dehumanizing and morally repugnant. The purpose of The Guardian article was to say that Jews have no right to self-defense and that Israel has no right to exist. It states that Israel ‘s actions are beyond the pale of decent society and compares her actions to those of autistic persons. The forgone conclusion of the article is that genocide against the 6 million Jews of Israel is a legitimate action. By equating the actions of the State of Israel to members of the autistic community The Guardian newspaper ipso facto says autistics also have no right to exist. The Guardian author promotes the Nazis agenda that Jews, and those with disabilities, need to be expunged from the Earth.

I suppose the question then becomes what to do about this antisemitism and anti-autistic meme that has taken hold of certain levels of society? Is it simply enough to write and castigate those who have so fallen from the tree of human civilization that their politics hearkens back to one of the darkest periods in human history or is there more that we, as a society need to do, to teach, challenge and promote a concept of acceptance, tolerance and the golden rule?

*****

Meanwhile November 9th is the 75th anniversary of Kristallnacht. This was the beginning of the Nazis evil march through Europe. It is a good time to remember that these attitudes of disenfranchisement and dehumanization are anything but gone in the world today.

Here
Here
Working definition of antisemitism EU and USA
Angela Merkel on antisemitism and the 75th anniversary of Kristallnacht

Social Justice, Humanity and Autism
Blood Libeling Those with Autism

*****

Oh OK. You know I couldn’t help myself. Here is a blog I wrote about Israel, the Palestinians and the Peace Process. This article is a good answer to the same infantile Guardian article referenced above:  Cognitive Dissonance: Releasing Murderers in Order to Secure Peace

Book: Autism and Asperger Syndrome (The Facts) - Kindle

Obamacare, Deconstructed [video]

Video:  ObamaCare Deconstructed

Think the Affordable Care Act is good for America? Think again.
Oct 14: This just in: People are figuring out just how much "free" health care costs.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/theapothe...
The momentum is on our side.

SOURCES:
1)
Jackson & Coker
Survey: Physician Opinions of the American Medical Association (2011)
http://www.jacksoncoker.com/Promos/in...
Forbes
"Doctors and AMA split over Contentious Issue of Obamacare" by Sally Pipes (Sept. 2011)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/sallypipe...
2)
The New York Times
"White Coast in the Rose Garden, as Obama Rallies Doctors on Health Overhaul" by Sheryl Gay Stolberg (Oct. 5, 2009)
http://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.co...
Doctors For America
White House Rose Garden Ceremony - Press Release (Oct. 5, 2009)
http://www.drsforamerica.org/news-2/p...
3)
Congressional Budget Office Report
Effects of the Affordable Care Act (March 2010)
http://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/file...
4)
Congressional Budget Office Report
Effects of the Affordable Care Act (May 2013)
http://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/file...
5)
House Energy & Commerce Committee Report (May 2013)
http://energycommerce.house.gov/sites...
6)
Gallup
Survey of Small Business Owners (May 2013)
http://www.gallup.com/poll/162386/hal...
US Chamber of Commerce
Small Business Outlook Study (July 2013)
http://uschambersmallbusinessnation.c...
7)
Supreme Court Decision on the Affordable Care Act
http://hastings.house.gov/uploadedfil...
8)
US Dept. of HHS
Federal Poverty Guidelines (2013)
http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/13poverty...
House of Representatives' Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
"IRS: Enforcing Obamacare's New Rules and Taxes"
http://oversight.house.gov/wp-content...
9)
Washington Examiner
"IRS employee union: We don't want Obamacare" by Joel Gehrke
http://washingtonexaminer.com/irs-emp...
10)
Kaiser Family Foundation
ACA Subsidy Calculator
http://kff.org/interactive/subsidy-ca...
11)
Office of Personnel and Management - Salaries (April 2013)
http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversi...
12)
Pew Research Center
"Baby Boomers Retire" (Dec. 29, 2010)
http://www.pewresearch.org/daily-numb...
13)
American Association of Medical Colleges
"Physician Shortages to Worsen Without Increases In Residency Training" (2010)
https://www.aamc.org/download/153160/...
14)
American Association of Medical Colleges
"Recent Studies and Reports on Physician Shortages in the US" (Oct. 2012)
https://www.aamc.org/download/100598/...
15)
National Association of Community Health Centers
"Access Denied: A Look At America's Medically Disenfranchised" (2007)
http://www.nachc.com/client/documents...
16)
American Association of Medical Colleges
State Physician Workforce Data Book (2011)
https://www.aamc.org/download/263512/...
17)
Merritt Hawkins & Associates
Survey of Physician Appointment Wait Times (2009)
http://www.merritthawkins.com/pdf/mha...
18)
Wall Street Journal
"The Affordable Care Act's Rate Setting Won't Work" by Howard Dean. (July 28, 2013)
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001...
19)
Forbes
"Unpublished CRS Memo: Obama Administration Has Missed Half Of Obamacare's Legally Imposed Implementation Deadlines" by Avik Roy
http://www.forbes.com/sites/theapothe...

Perspective: New Law - "The Affordable Boat Act" 2014

The Hull Truth –  Stolen from another website - Cross Posted at AskMarion:

The U.S. government has just passed a new law called: "The affordable boat act" declaring that every citizen MUST purchase a new boat, by April 2014. These "affordable" boats will cost an average of $54,000-$155,000 each. This does not include taxes, trailers, towing fees, licensing and registration fees, fuel, docking and storage fees, maintenance or repair costs.

This law has been passed, because until now, typically only wealthy and financially responsible people have been able to purchase boats. This new law ensures that every American can now have a "affordable" boat of their own, because everyone is "entitled" to a new boat. If you purchase your boat before the end of the year, you will receive 4 "free" life jackets; not including monthly usage fees.

In order to make sure everyone purchases an affordable boat, the costs of owning a boat will increase on average of 250-400% per year. This way, wealthy people will pay more for something that other people don't want or can't afford to maintain. But to be fair, people who cant afford to maintain their boat will be regularly fined and children (under the age of 26) can use their parents boats to party on until they turn 27; then must purchase their own boat.
If you already have a boat, you can keep yours (just kidding; no you can't). If you don't want or don't need a boat, you are required to buy one anyhow. If you refuse to buy one or cant afford one, you will be regularly fined $800 until you purchase one or face imprisonment.

Failure to use the boat will also result in fines. People living in the desert; ghettos; inner cities or areas with no access to lakes are not exempt. Age, motion sickness, experience, knowledge nor lack of desire are acceptable excuses for not using your boat.

A government review board (that doesn't know the difference between the port, starboard or stern of a boat) will decide everything, including; when, where, how often and for what purposes you can use your boat along with how many people can ride your boat and determine if one is too old or healthy enough to be able to use their boat. They will also decide if your boat has out lived its usefulness or if you must purchase specific accessories,(like a $500 compass) or a newer and more expensive boat.

Those that can afford yachts will be required to do so...its only fair. The government will also decide the name for each boat. Failure to comply with these rules will result in fines and possible imprisonment.

Government officials are exempt from this new law. If they want a boat, they and their families can obtain boats free, at the expense of tax payers. Unions, bankers and mega companies with large political affiliations ($$$) are also exempt.

If the government can force you to buy health care, they can force you to buy a boat....or ANYTHING else..

So Yah...it's that stupid...  and that frightening!!

Mark Levin: ObamaCare Is A Purely Political Law And A Power Grab

Obamacare Debacle - Many Losing Their Plans - Chris Wallace - Fox News Sunday - 11-3-13

Video:  Obamacare Debacle - Many Losing Their Plans - Chris Wallace - Fox News Sunday - 11-3-13

Nov 3, 2013:  Another tough week for the Obamacare rollout and the massive number of folks who are having their medical insurance coverage cancelled in the process. This week, FNC's Chris Wallace hosts a highly spirited debate between James Capretta (Ethics & Public Policy Center) and Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel (Former Adviser to President Obama on Obamacare)

Related: 

Betsy McCaughey: Obamacare designed to vastly expand single payer Medicaid by eviscerating Medicare

Ezekiel Emanuel & The Complete Lives System: part 3 of Health Care: Why We are Scared (Video)

Ezekiel Emanuel, architect of ObamaCare..please read

“Death Panel” Three Years Later

"People 70 and over will not be treated under Obamacare… and you thought DEATH PANELS were gone"  -  Betsy McCaughey recently warned baby-boomers that if they are under 65, they better line up their doctors, at least a primary care physician and an internist, now… because with all the people being enrolled in Medicare/Medicaid under ObamaCare, once they turn 65 and go on Medicaid they will have a hard time finding doctors, if they can find them at all.

She also warned that if they have major surgery, they need to cobble together enough funds for a private nurse for the first night because hospitals are already laying off staff, including nurses.

McCaughey is the author of Beating Obamacare: Your Handbook for the New Healthcare Law, Decoding the Obama Health Law: What You Need To Know (Kindle) and Obama Health Law: What It Says and How to Overturn It (Encounter Broadsides) (Kindle).  She knows of what she speaks!!

Memo: Administration bungled Obamacare long before GOP had power to obstruct

Washington Examiner: An emerging theme from Democrats struggling to explain the Obamacare fiasco is that stubborn Republican opposition has hobbled the administration's efforts to implement President Obama's complex national health care scheme. If you want the particulars, just glance at "The Obamacare sabotage campaign" by Politico's Todd Purdum.

But a memo revealed in a new Washington Post examination of the rollout shows the administration was already on a disastrous path in May 2010, just two months after Obamacare was signed into law -- and six months before Republicans won control of the House and more Senate seats in the November 2010 elections. At the time the memo was written, Democrats still had the huge majorities in the House and Senate with which they had passed Obamacare on party-line votes.

In the memo, dated May 11, 2010 and sent to top administration economic official Larry Summers, Harvard professor and health care expert David Cutler, a supporter of the administration's efforts, wrote that "the early implementation efforts are far short of what it will take to implement reform successfully." Cutler continued: "For health reform to be successful, the relevant people need a vision about health system transformation and the managerial ability to carry out that vision. The President has sketched out such a vision. However, I do not believe the relevant members of the Administration understand the President's vision or have the capability to carry it out."

Cutler laid out a set of problems: 1) poor leadership at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, a key organization in creating Obamacare; 2) clueless management at the Department of Health and Human Services on the subject of setting up exchanges; 3) an ineffective effort to work with insurers in implementing reform; and 4) general incompetence. "The overall head of implementation inside HHS, Jeanne Lambrew, is known for her knowledge of Congress, her commitment to the poor, and her mistrust of insurance companies," Cutler wrote. "She is not known for operational ability, knowledge of delivery systems, or facilitating widespread change."

All that was at a time when the administration had control of Congress. Although the election of Scott Brown had ended the Democrats' filibuster-proof control of the Senate, the fact is, Republicans had no control of anything. Later, after their landslide victory in the 2010 midterms, House Republicans could block funding increases the administration needed to pay for Obamacare's inevitable cost overruns. And Republican governors could make use of a feature Democrats wrote into the law that allowed states to decline to create their own exchanges, leaving the job to the federal government. But Cutler's memo shows the administration was well on the road to a disastrous debut of Obamacare long before Republicans could do anything to make the job harder.

See: Original MEMO Document (PDF) » 

What this memo does is again bring us back to the question:  Are they (Obama and cronies) really that inept?  Or was the plan really always that ObamaCare in its present state was meant to fail, leaving it to the government to swoop in and create a new single-payer (socialized medicine) plan.  Obama and Harry Reid have both said it was the second. 

So beware and watch the other hand.  The only real answer, either way, is to clean house in Washington D.C. in both Congress and the White House in the next two elections (2014 and 2016) and in the process repeal and replace this disaster  known as ObamaCare with a free market solution that really will help the average American and those without affordable healthcare insurance. ObamaCare does neither!!

**And if you understand that, it means no Hillary Clinton and no Chris Christie, who might as well be a Democat half the time, but rather real change… AM~ 

Yes, the Democrats' Plan Was to Create a Transition to Single Payer 

First Battle of 2014 and 2016 Elections: Next Tuesday and the Fate of ObamaCare

Obamacare Hype - ' The Land Of Oz ' Lies! - Judge Jeanine Pirro Opening Statement 

Wake-Up… 1,492,000 HC Plan Cancellations and Counting… All Part of the Plan to Force All But the Elite Into a Single Payer Socialized Medicine…  It has always been: 

The Dirty Secret Behind ObamaCare No One’s Talking About

Obamacare Hype - ' The Land Of Oz ' Lies! - Judge Jeanine Pirro Opening Statement

Video: Judge Jeanine Pirro - Opening Statement - Obamacare Hype - ' The Land Of Oz ' Lies! - 11/2/13 

Video: Wizard of Oz Jokes Dominate Kathleen Sebelius Obamacare Hearing

Video: What Did Obama Admin Know? - House Oversight CMTE Investigates Obamacare Judge Jeanine Pirro

Next Tuesday and the Fate of ObamaCare

American Thinker – Cross-Posted at AskMarion: No election -- state or national -- will be as important in sending a message about ObamaCare or massive lawbreaking by government than the one on Tuesday in the Virginia governor's race.

Republicans running in 2014 and 2016 are watching whether Ken Cuccinelli wins to determine if they should be bold, hard-charging Ted Cruzes, or whether they should roll over by making weak, token passes at ObamaCare that will do nothing but ensure its permanence.

The Washington establishment wants to paint this election as a referendum on principled conservatism -- tea partyism.  Ken Cuccinelli is more than just a conservative.  He is a constitutional conservative, and like Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, Rand Paul, (Sarah Palin, and Michele Bachmann), makes establishment Republicans nervous.

The collaboration of establishment Republicans with big government and their lack of effectiveness in controlling it are exposed when constitutional conservatives hold office.

Already the forces for bloated, lawbreaking government are giddy with the prospect that Virginia's Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli will go down in defeat.  The Washington Post headline reads, "Cuccinelli's hard-line conservatism seems headed for decisive rejection in Va."

Democrat Terry McAuliffe, an ObamaCare supporter who has stated his desire for a public option that would lead to a government-run healthcare system, has the lead and a huge money advantage in these final days.  The lead is shrinking, and may be overcome.

ObamaCare is not merely a massive expansion of the federal government.  It stands for the imposition of federal government lawbreaking in the most basic, private elements of our lives.

It will be run in the same fashion shown by the lawbreaking IRS, NSA and EPA, and as the incompetent rollout shows, even worse.  The more the imposition of government in our daily lives, the worse it acts.

Bureaucrats will bully ordinary Americans over basic medical decisions, some of life or death, some of religious importance, and many about our loved children and our elderly.  Those who fight the system will be targeted for heavier handedness.  The Bill of Rights will become even less relevant than they are now.

The left and the political establishment understand the stakes next Tuesday more than conservatives do.  New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has poured over $1 million into this race to squelch gun rights.  Bill and Hillary have been helping their friend McAuliffe, who rented the Lincoln Bedroom when he was their top fundraiser. 

Crony capitalists far and wide will see if one of their own will be rewarded in the face of his own highly questionable GreenTech business that is under investigation by the SEC, and has raised questions of whether it is a visa-for-cash scam.

Ken Cuccinelli was the first state attorney general to file suit against ObamaCare, appropriately saying that the case was about freedom instead of healthcare.  The election on November 5 is a signal to Republicans.  Will they get the right message?  More appropriately stated, will we send them the right message?

President Obama will campaign with Terry McAuliffe this Sunday.  With his presidency collapsing around him as his signature accomplishment shows itself to be a massive failure, he is eager to pass the torch for his agenda.  A win for McAuliffe would be resuscitation for ObamaCare and government lawbreaking.  A win for Cuccinelli would be the real beginning of the end of Obamacare.

Ken Cuccinelli for Governor of Virginia

Please get involved… Vote, Volunteer, Donate

Famous $5-a-visit doctor hangs up stethoscope: Dr. Russell Dohner retires at 88

Examiner: When it comes to affordable health care, no one in America understands the concept quite like Russell Dohner. While medical costs and insurance rates continue to skyrocket and politicians and pundits continue to argue over the Affordable Care Act, a very special physician from a small town has been practicing affordable health care for nearly 60 years! But according to an NBC News article published on Nov. 1, after nearly six decades of practicing medicine, Dr. Dohner has hung up his stethoscope and closed his doors for the very last time. Sadly, just when we could use him and doctors like him the most!

Dr. Russell Dohner

Considered a local hero by many, the 88-year-old physician from Rushville, IL., has been the town doctor since 1955. He delivered more than 3,500 babies during his career (which is more than the entire population of Rushville) and treated generations of local families. And in all the years he's practiced medicine, he never took a vacation. He still made rounds at the local hospital and made house calls, too!

And if that weren't amazing enough, Dr. Dohner charged his patients $5 per visit. Yep, you read the right. He charged $5 since the fee was increased from $2 back in the 70s! You can imagine at $5 a visit, he was a pretty busy guy. In fact, patients lined up early to see him. With no appointments, it was strictly first come, first serve. And the fees weren't the only thing that stayed the same over the years. The office looked pretty much the same - wood paneling and all! With no computers, records were handwritten. You know - by hand!

Dr. Dohner didn't practice medicine for the money. He was there to take care of people. A life-sized bronze statue of Dohner was recently erected on the Rushville town square. The humble doctor was recently inducted into the Senior Hall of Fame at the Illinois Governor's mansion.

The end of an era has come. Please wish Dr. Dohner a happy and healthy retirement on his Facebook page.

"If you like your plan, you can keep your plan" - Barack Obama [video supermix]

Video: "If you like your plan, you can keep your plan" - Barack Obama

NewsBusters: To counter accusations that the President lied when he repeatedly told Americans they can keep their health insurance plans if they liked them, the administration has claimed that he was referring to the millions of people covered by their employers.

An article from Forbes Thursday thoroughly refutes this claiming that Obama officials back in 2010 predicted that 93 million Americans would have their plans cancelled as a result of ObamaCare including a vast amount of those with employer-sponsored plans:

If you read the Affordable Care Act when it was passed, you knew that it was dishonest for President Obama to claim that “if you like your plan, you can keep your plan,” as he did—and continues to do—on countless occasions. And we now know that the administration knew this all along. It turns out that in an obscure report buried in a June 2010 edition of the Federal Register, administration officials predicted massive disruption of the private insurance market. [...]

[T]he administration’s commentary in the Federal Register did not only refer to the individual market, but also the market for employer-sponsored health insurance.

Section 1251 of the Affordable Care Act contains what’s called a “grandfather” provision that, in theory, allows people to keep their existing plans if they like them. But subsequent regulations from the Obama administration interpreted that provision so narrowly as to prevent most plans from gaining this protection.

“The Departments’ mid-range estimate is that 66 percent of small employer plans and 45 percent of large employer plans will relinquish their grandfather status by the end of 2013,” wrote the administration on page 34552. All in all, more than half of employer-sponsored plans will lose their “grandfather status” and get canceled. According to the Congressional Budget Office, 156 million Americans—more than half the population—was covered by employer-sponsored insurance in 2013.

As we found out from Lisa Myers' report Monday, the administration predicted that between 47 and 60 percent of individually-purchased policies would be cancelled under ObamaCare.

Forbes did the math to calculate a total:

51 percent of the employer-based market plus 53.5 percent of the non-group market (the middle of the administration’s range) amounts to 93 million Americans.

What this means is that not only did Obama lie when he repeatedly told Americans that they can keep their plans if they like them, he also lied in Boston on Wednesday when he said he was referring to the majority of Americans coverered by their employers.

Will media report this?

Stay tuned?

Noel Sheppard is the Associate Editor of NewsBusters - (HT Twitchy)

Sarah Palin - Facebook:  President Obama flew in to Boston yesterday to deliver another “ShamWow”-style infomercial for Obamacare, and it went about as well as his entourage’s snarled traffic debacle in Beantown.

As millions of Americans are being kicked off their desired insurance plans and seeing their premiums skyrocket, the President had a lot of 'splaining to do today. For starters we anticipated a Presidential apology for lying to Americans repeatedly when he promised things like, “If you like your current health care plan, you can keep it.” Make no mistake, he knew he was lying when he said that. And make no further mistake, after five years of false Obama claims, no one should actually expect contrition on this administration’s part.

Bloomberg reports that in June of 2010, the administration knew millions would be kicked off existing healthcare plans due to Obamacare; but President Obama continued to knowingly deceive the American people with repeated claims that if we liked our current plan we could keep it.

So, finally busted, did the President apologize? Was remorse and sympathy shown for Americans who now can’t afford health insurance thanks to Obamacare? Nope. He instead informed us that Americans who receive cancellation notices have been on “substandard” plans supplied by “bad apple” insurers. That’s right. Obama didn’t lie to you when he said, “if you like your plan, you can keep it.” Why? Because, you sillies, you DIDN’T REALLY like the plan you chose for yourselves! No arguing. Barack Obama knows best and he’ll tell you whether you actually liked your insurance plan or not. If you’re an elderly bachelor, your old plan was clearly “substandard” because it didn’t offer maternity care. What’s that you say? You don’t need maternity care? Well, according to the President today, he says you do, and any insurance plan that doesn’t offer it is a “junk” plan provided by a “bad apple” insurer.

But don’t worry, the President also promised that only “rich” people making $250,000 or more will see their premium costs rise. This lie is so appalling and so easily debunked that the brazenness with which he made it is simply breathtaking. But who will hold him accountable for it? Media, you know I love you... so let me help you save your hide with the American public by suggesting you fact-check that.

Despite the Obamacare rollout disaster and the broken government website (which HHS Secretary Sebelius admitted is a “debacle” in her testimony before Congress today), the President gleefully highlighted the few people signing up for Obamacare as indicative of his socialized medicine’s “success.” He neglected to mention that the government is forcing Americans to sign up for his program or pay fines that will increase each year we fail to do so.

For sheer chutzpah, the President closed his speech by praising America’s “rugged individualism.” Because nothing says “rugged individualism” like heavy-handed big government forcing individuals to buy a product they don’t want and arrogantly telling them they didn’t really like the product they wisely chose for themselves and could afford.

Thanks for the infomercial, Mr. President. I don’t know anyone who wants your “ShamWow” product, but the IRS will make sure we call that toll free number or go online to order it right now…. well, just as soon as your impossibly broken $600 million website is fixed and your phones lines aren’t busy.

Happy with this, America? Make your voices heard. 2014 is just around the corner.

Video: Rep. Marsha Blackburn: Obama could take away your right to buy cheap shoes

10/31/13 - Rep. Marsh Blackburn (R-TN) warned on Thursday that President Barack Obama could soon take away the freedom to purchase cheap shoes if his health care reform law was allowed to stand. At a House Energy and Commerce Committee on Wednesday, the Tennessee Republican had grilled Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius because the Affordable Care Act had forced insurers to upgrade some policies that did not meet new minimum government standards.

"Some people like to drive a Ford, not a Ferrari," Blackburn had quipped at the hearing. "And some people like to drink out of a red Solo cup, not a crystal stem. You're taking away their choice." In an appearance on the Fox News Channel on Thursday, host Martha MacCallum concluded that the point about the Solo cup was the "bigger picture" about the health care law.

"I will always go to the mat and fight for freedom, free people, free markets," Blackburn insisted. "And I think for the federal government to come in and take away the choice that people have had in the health care market and say, 'Hey, we don't like what you've been buying, we're going to make you buy this.'"

"What's the next thing going to be? You can't buy that Solo cup? You can't buy an inexpensive blouse? You can't buy a pair of shoes that cost less than another pair?"

She added: "So do they think that the federal government is going to become the determiner of the cost and set prices of everything that you can buy at a quality that they say is worthy? Come on! This is absolutely ridiculous. I am not going to sit here and let them get by with this."

- Sarah Palin  - Facebook

P.S. Take a look at this article by Fox’s Eric Bolling: Why the Healthcare.gov website failure matters big-time

Excerpt: As Eric asks, “If they can’t get a basic website up and running in three years… How on God’s green Earth are they going to administer health care to 300 million Americans? So, with billions upon billions of health related communications clearing through the government medicine portal annually, our very health will be hanging in the balance…Therefore, you must conclude: The Obama administration has our lives in their hands… Ask yourself… Do you trust President Obama, Valerie Jarrett, Kathleen Sebelius and Jay Carney with your life? I certainly do not!  Video: Glenn Beck: Day 30 And Heathcare.gov Still Isn't Working…

The Lies Continue On ObamaCare 

Sebelius, ObamaCare and More Spin…

Sharyl Attkisson told on Obamacare enrollment figures: ‘There aren’t any’

Sharyl Attkisson told on Obamacare enrollment figures: ‘There aren’t any’

Twitchy Team:

CBS Evening News ✔ @CBSEveningNews

We're on the air in the East. Now @SharylAttkisson has new documents on the health care debacle from the government's war room.

3:30 PM - 31 Oct 2013

Obamacare Enrollment:

Oct 1 - 6 people  -  That’s right!   a  total number of 6 folks signed up for Obamacare on Day 1

Oct 2 - 100

Oct 3 -  248

 

Video:  CBS News: 6 - total number of folks who signed up for Obamacare on Day 1

(CBS News) WASHINGTON - For 31 days now, the Obama administration has been telling us that Americans by the millions are visiting the new health insurance website, despite all its problems.

But no one in the administration has been willing to tell us how many policies have been purchased, and this may be the reason: CBS News has learned enrollments got off to an incredibly slow start.

Early enrollment figures are contained in notes from twice-a-day "war room" meetings convened within the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services after the website failed on Oct. 1. They were turned over in response to a document request from the House Oversight Committee.

The website launched on a Tuesday. Publicly, the government said there were 4.7 million unique visits in the first 24 hours. But at a meeting Wednesday morning, the war room notes say "six enrollments have occurred so far."

They were with BlueCross BlueShield North Carolina and Kansas City, CareSource and Healthcare Service Corporation.

By Wednesday afternoon, enrollments were up to "approximately 100." By the end of Wednesday, the notes reflect "248 enrollments" nationwide.

The health care exchanges need to average 39,000 enrollees a day to meet the goal of seven million by March 1. The war room notes give a glimpse into some of the reasons customers had problems:

• "Direct enrollment (signing up directly on an insurer's website) is not working for any issuers."
• "Experian" credit reporting agency is "creating confusion with credit check information."
• "Issuer phone numbers are not appearing correctly on the Pay Now page."

The notes leave no doubt that some enrollment figures, which the administration has chosen to keep secret, are available.

"Statistics coming in," said notes from the very first meeting the morning of Oct. 2. Contractor "QSSI has a daily dashboard created every night."

But head of CMS Marilyn Tavenner would not disclose any figures when Rep. Dave Camp, chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, asked earlier this week.

"Chairman Camp, we will have those numbers available in mid-November," she said.

Health and Human Services told CBS News Thursday it's in no position to confirm or discuss enrollment figures because it doesn't have any. A spokesman suggested the numbers obtained by CBS News may not include all the different ways to enroll, such as paper applications. The spokesman also said that enrollment figures in Massachusetts' health care plan started off negligible but then skyrocketed as a deadline neared.

HealthCare-Gov.pdf by CBSPolitics