Articles tagged as

obamacare

He’s either a Schmuck or is now desperately trying to not to end up like Wily E. Coyote

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…

BLAM!  Here’s what Obama said in a proclamation concerning the National Day of Prayer:

“All of us have the freedom to pray and exercise our faiths openly,” Obama said. “Our laws protect these God-given liberties, and rightly so. Today and every day, prayers will be offered in houses of worship, at community gatherings, in our homes, and in neighborhoods all across our country. Let us give thanks for the freedom to practice our faith as we see fit, whether individually or in fellowship.

Really?  All I have been hearing from him is a bastardization of the actual wording of the First Amendment: “freedom to worship” instead of the proper wording of “or prohibiting the free exercise thereof” (as in “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;”).  He said that phrase often, freedom to worship, in trying to force those of faith into a tiny box when it came to HHS Secretary Sebelius ruling that ALL Obamacare insurance policies must be obeyed – no religious exceptions except for those who actually work in a “house of worship”.  Does your church, synagogue, or other religious group have an “external” ministry?

Sidenote: can we please stop calling it “health insurance”?  What it really is now is just a healthcare payment system – there is no risk so there is no sense of traditional insurance at play here.

Too bad – Obama has decided, from On High, that he has the power and the authority to arbitrarily decide who is religious and “worthy” to be given an HHS  exception to the contraceptive and abortifacient to be provided by all new Obamacare mandated healthcare payment insurance policies – or not. 

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“What To Cut”

Citizens for a Strong New Hampshire, a coalition of Granite Staters who support public policies that create jobs, limit government, lower taxes, and improve the economy, has released its first television advertisement, which will begin airing today. Titled “What to Cut,” the advertisement focuses on Senator Jeanne Shaheen’s deciding vote to pass Obamacare and the … Read more

So, Obamacare has just declared me to be a Winnah – a Trifecta even!

Heritage: Projected Premium Increases by State
Heritage: Projected Premium Increases by State

But this is more of the case of winning the “TSA Lottery” – and frequent fliers know EXACTLY what I mean.  You have just gotten the attention of theatrical security corps and they are about to go through your stuff and your junk and apply that micro-duster to your carryon.  Well, in the last couple of days, our HHS Bureaucratic Overlords (you know, the ones that have decided that Religious values has no place in THEIR Public Square) have announced a few more “features” that our pocketbooks are going to cringe over.  Most of us knew that the Young are going to be paying well MORE than their fair share in supporting Obama’s Socialized Medicine and that Oldsters would not be (mostly because they vote more frequently).  Those following this “train wreck” (great line, Senator Baucus!  Thanks for being the “Architect” for this – and now retiring as it comes into reality) pulling out of the station already knew that smokers are going to get hit REAL heard by this – their premiums may lead the pack (yes, pun intended).

But the news of the day is that there are now others in the Obama line to pay the Obamacare train wreck ticket prices:

  • If you are overweight – BMI, anyone?  (Check)
  • If you have high blood pressure (Check)
  • If you have high cholesteral (Check)

Yeah I win the Trifecta – even as the last two CAN be modified by weight loss, but EVERYone in my Mom’s family had the last two two – ya think the IRS will give me a pass on my paperwork (due to genetics)?  I CAN fix the first (yeah, I gotta start that diet again) but the genetics are already stacked against me there.  Hey, IT.JUST.ISNT.MY.FAULT!  But what about…

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Obamacare Humor (or is it?)

The phone rings and the lady of the house answers, “Hello.” … ”Mrs. Sanders, please.” ”Speaking.” ‘Mrs.. Sanders, this is Doctor Jones at Saint Agnes Laboratory. When your husband’s doctor sent his biopsy to the lab last week, a biopsy from another Mr. Sanders arrived as well. We are now uncertain which one belongs to … Read more

Failure to launch – thanks to Liberals?

‘Grok friend DCE (aka Chan) runs Weekend Pundit and every late Sunday afternoon / evening, he has a long running feature called “Thoughts on a Sunday“.  Every Sunday (or Monday), it is a must read.  This week had a bit on the idea that Society, under Liberal guidance, is prolonging teen-age adolescence into the mid-twenties.  Which, when you look at the results of such coddling, is not good for families, not good for business, not good for these “Arrested Developers”, – and (note to guys caught up in this liberal “you don’t need to take up your responsibilities”) perspective mates are seeing it (emphasis mine):

At first I thought it was just incipient old fogeyism creeping up on me, but now I see that my observations about some members of the younger generation refusing to grow up were not unfounded.

When I look at BeezleBub, soon to be 19 years old, and compare him to others 5 or more years older than him, he comes out far ahead in regards to maturity, responsibility, and fiscal smarts. (This isn’t just a thoroughly biased dad speaking as I’ve heard that observation again and again from a lot of others. It might explain why some “older” women – those in their early to mid 20’s – find him so appealing: he’s a grown up.) While it’s true that he still lives here at The Manse, he pays his way including paying for his tuition and books when he’s attending college.

The extended or never-ending adolescence certainly isn’t helping our younger generation learn about coping with the adult issues the rest of us deal with every day. And whether they realize it or not, it also makes them less suitable as potential mates, the “hook-up” culture notwithstanding.

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Congressional Democrats in DC – Can Congress grant ourselves a waiver from Obamacare – it costs too much!

And I am hoping it is going to cost them dearly – and not just as another deduction from their Federal tax paid payroll checks.  Like many Conservatives, my heart dropped when the Supremes declared it Constitutional – being penalized for simply being an American citizen that breathes if you decide to do “nothing”?  A Collectivists’ wet dream but in my mind, it shattered the Founders’ vision of a limited Government.  However, being a 3,000 page of a bill and now up to 20,000 pages of regulations (with more yet to come) to implement, States refusing to set up their own Exchanges and blowing out their budgets by expanding Medicare, are we starting to see panic as the October implementation date coming up?  And with this, are we seeing the first moments of the political equivalent of “insider trading”?

Or are we seeing the first screaming of those closest to an explosion starting to run to save their hides?

“I have no problems with Congress being under the same guidelines,” Burr told Politico. “I think if this is going to be a disaster — which I think it’s going to be — we ought to enjoy it together with our constituents.”

That would be US Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) over at The Corner and I think that SHOULD be the line that the Republicans should take – but will they cave?  At Politico (2 days ago):

Congressional leaders in both parties are engaged in high-level, confidential talks about exempting lawmakers and Capitol Hill aides from the insurance exchanges they are mandated to join as part of President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul, sources in both parties said.

…There is concern in some quarters that the provision requiring lawmakers and staffers to join the exchanges, if it isn’t revised, could lead to a “brain drain” on Capitol Hill, as several sources close to the talks put it.

The problem stems from whether members and aides set to enter the exchanges would have their health insurance premiums subsidized by their employer — in this case, the federal government. If not, aides and lawmakers in both parties fear that staffers — especially low-paid junior aides — could be hit with thousands of dollars in new health care costs, prompting them to seek jobs elsewhere. Older, more senior staffers could also retire or jump to the private sector rather than face a big financial penalty.

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Reality Alert to the Ivory Tower:

Emphasis mine:

On Tuesday, New Hampshire adjunct professors stood outside Manchester Community College to protest the limit.

Some said the realization that the health care law they once supported is being used against them was a harsh reality to swallow.

Craig Lange is a member of the team that has been negotiating for a contract since the adjuncts joined the State Employees’ Association two years ago. When the health care reform law passed, he was with a group of adjuncts at a system board of trustees meeting.

“We all applauded when the news came in that (the law) passed. . . . I didn’t think it would go this way,” he said.

This is what happens when Smart People support something that they didn’t read.  This is also what happens to Smart People when Government changes the rules of the economic game and the Smart People, who voted for the Democrats that drove this ObamaClunker over the Finish Line, failed to read the fine print and had nary a thought of merely clever people acting in their own interest. Which is to say, your bosses and your politicians that keep your bosses on a leash.  Welcome to the “new normal” of trickle down Obamaeconomics, boys and girls!  And just think of the irony – you all helped to grease the skids of your own healthcase and financial demise (as it were).

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Obamacare claims more victims: Juicy Couture. Clueless employees, though

Capitalism is easy to understand; here are Skip’s Rules:

  • Rule Number 1: The company owns the job.  Not you.  While good employers care about their employees, the Company comes first, long term.
  • Rule Number 2: Companies exist to make a profit. You have their job until you no longer help them make a profit.
  • Rule Number 3: This really should not exist but does because Socialists / Progressives / Fascists are trying to turn Companies into mere extensions of Government
  • Rule Number 4:  Given that Rule #3 now exists, Companies will react to it in ways that will ensure Rule #2 is fulfilled.

Corollary for Statists everywhere: TANSTAAFL (There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free Lunch) – and those that support them.  This post uses them all.  Here, Rule #3 is coming into the forefront of C-level execs, more and more, because several Obamacare cliffs are rushing at them. And now, some clueless retail employees at Juicy Couture are rather upset that their hours are being cut, and as the post says, they are demanding “just hours.”  And if they are “hip” shop, you can believe that oldy /moldies like me would probably not be out there on the retail floor – these would be the young  hipsters (and as it turns out, stupid and clueless for not being able to string  moves together and see where it ends) who voted for Obama:

You see, according to the campaign, the hip and trendy Juicy is doing what other companies are doing in an effort to cope with the burdensome regulations and costs of the “Affordable Health Care Act” (aka ObamaCare)–the company is downsizing its full-time payroll to (mostly) part-time workers.

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Stop whining! You will die when your government healthcare death panel tells you to.

I have written in the past about how the foundation of socialism—all statist political philosophy, in fact—is based upon lies. They promise wealth but deliver poverty. They promise equality but deliver a government overlord class of wealth and power. They promise justice…but deliver tyranny and inequity. They also promise universal, inexpensive, quality health care for … Read more

“Affordable” Care Strikes Again – Spouses and Children Hit Hardest

Obamacare out of money before it starts?Last week I reported on new rules released by the unelected bureaucrats at the IRS.  In the process of defining ‘Affordable,’ for the purpose of enforcing the Affordable Care Act (also known as Obama-Care), families that cannot “afford the employer coverage that they are offered on the job will not be able to get financial assistance from the government to buy private health insurance on their own.”

This week, the unelected bureaucrats at the Department of Health and (in)Human Services announced that as a result of their defining the meaning of affordable, for the purpose of enforcing the Affordable Care Act (also known as Obama-Care), they may not be able to subsidize the difference in costs between some individual and family plans.  If neither the employer nor the employee can afford to cover the difference, spouses and children would go uninsured.

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We Warn and Warn and Warn. The Pimps Ignore. Now, the Pimps Pay!

We’ve warned and received derision and dismissal in response.  We’ve argued and received denouncements and sardonic denials. Our claims were decried and characterized as far right paranoid fantasy. We’ve been told that our observation of what happens with Big Gov are delusional scare tactics and are meant to instill a Mad Max world type fear on the “gullible” listener or reader. And that its baseless and irresponsible for us to continue to disseminate our ideas.

However, the irresponsibility is not the arguing for these ideas but the close minded instant refutation of the ideas based on who is making the argument and ignoring the argument itself.

Conservatives and liberty lovers have made such arguments in many areas that have simply been dismissed or ignored. My particular niche usually focuses on the explosion of debt, lack of morality, and government gigantism and their consequences (i.e., societal decay). One of the manifestations of those things was the passage of Obamacare. I touched on that wretched piece of legislation several times, but the one that I’d like to mention here was in a blog entitled, “Palin for HHS Secretary”.

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Well, now you know why the Democrats want 16,000 new IRS agents for Obamacare

And H&R Block is absolutely ecstatic! Many of us political junkies already knew the connection between the IRS and Obamacare; the Federal agency most tax-paying citizens hate dealing with. Under Obama’s Affordable Care Act, you will get to be MUCH more chummy – not only will you have to share all your economic data with … Read more

So, Obamacare hates babies?

From Fox News comes the news that rationing that many conservatives have feared and warned about won’t come via a direct Obama decree, or rationing coming by longer wait times for delivered healthcare services, but by seeing those service simply disappear because Obamacare has a dim view of actually paying for the cost of delivering the service of delivering those babies:

Pregnant women in one southwestern Pennsylvania town will soon need to look elsewhere to deliver their babies, after a local hospital announced it will end the practice in March — blaming ObamaCare in part for the decision.

The Windber Medical Center will stop delivering babies after March 31 because its obstetricians are either leaving or refocusing their practices, and because hospital officials believe they can’t afford it based on projected reimbursements under looming federal health care reforms.

Huzzah!  Obama IS going to save some money for not being responsible for the care it said it would be!  Nothing says Universal Healthcare For All like “go somewhere else and get it”.  After all, if the care is not delivered, Obama won’t have to pay for it – brilliant!

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Thanks, Jeanne Shaheen – for raising our healthcare costs TWICE!

Health-insurance premiums have been rising—and consumers will experience another series of price shocks later this year when some see their premiums skyrocket thanks to the Affordable Care Act, aka ObamaCare.

We’ve already seen a lot of premium hikes – mine as gone up 20% this year.  And now, it’s going to get worse?  Glad to see that the Supreme Court decided this was a TAX, aren’t you?  Certainly, the cost of Obamacare is making me sick (yeah, I couldn’t resist) – you?  Especially if you pay for your own plan (you rich guy, you!)?

The reason: The congressional Democrats who crafted the legislation ignored virtually every actuarial principle governing rational insurance pricing. Premiums will soon reflect that disregard—indeed, premiums are already reflecting it.

I have seldom seen a worse pairing of words (congressional and rational) in a single sentence.  But hey, these are the dopes that can’t even pass a budget (any kind of a Federal budget, much less a rational Federal budget (yeah, I’m shaking my head at that one too)).

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Notable Quote – F. A. Hayek

Wherever liberty as we understand it has been destroyed, this has almost always been done in the name of some new freedom promised to the people.

– F. A. Hayek, the Road to Serfdom

 

Certainly, Progressives believe that they have new “freedom not to be bankrupted from illness” with Obamacare – but are destroying the First Amendment Right to expression of religion (the HHS mandate, and opposed to Obama’s “freedom of worship”)

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances

and making others indentured servants to pay for it:

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