He fails to discuss the fact that the majority of the constituents in those Republican governed States agree with their States decision. They want nothing to do with Obamacare…….But that would not fall into the sweet little package being used by both sides of the aisle. That little topic he loves to use at every turn, claiming that the other side is playing politics. How convenient for him. The truth is this is not a fight for the good of the People or the Nation. But rather a fight to control the flow of all those taxpayer and corporate lobbyist dollars. A political game of Tug-of-War if you will.
Partisan BS at it’s finest!
He also fails to address something aside from the fact that while those who do not have insurance may be his concern because those who already have insurance have seen the changes and the added cost that have been implemented by the healthcare program. There has been no adequate discussion on the repercussions to middle class Americans who are having to make due with smaller paychecks and the ever rising costs associated with the financial rot that is affecting this Nation. Yes those who qualify will be able to receive free healthcare or State sponsored healthcare. What about those who make just enough to keep their bills paid and food on the table?
What about those barely able to eek out a living with what little they make and still be able to put gas in the car to keep going to that underpaid job?
Who is going to help them when the time comes to get this insurance exchange, that is being touted as the answer to all our ills ( pun most definitely intended), is more than they can possibly afford and still feed their children?
The fact is that those who cannot afford insurance because they literally cannot afford to , even , take their kids to a burger king for a cheap meal just as a treat, something once taken for granted by mainstream families everywhere in this Nation.
They cannot afford a kid meal’s worth out of their established budget and yet they will be expected to pay for insurance?
Adding insult to injury they will be found to not qualify for the financial assistance necessary to receive discounted or free healthcare because they make more than is allowed according to the bean counters that established the criteria, from their cushy offices in Washington. The simple truth is they will either have to pay for an insurance they cannot afford or they will have to pay a fine that they still cannot afford. Either way the middle working class pays out the nose , like it or not .
After all , with all the homeless American families now eating in soup kitchens and sleeping in cars or in shelters, what’s a few more right ?
They won’t lose any sleep over it that much has been made painfully obvious. As they are so far removed from the everyday struggle that Americans have to simply survive. The truth being that they are unable to fathom what it is like going to bed at night hungry because the only food in the house has been set aside to make sure the children have something to eat.
Either way we don’t get to choose because this legislation has been jammed down our throats and now they are worried about their 2014 campaign?
Yes, well we already know that the only thing politicians care about is being re-elected so they can keep filling their pockets with their ill gotten gain from selling the American people down the river. That however, does not a proper and just program make of the Healthcare program that has now been made law against the will and to the detriment of the PEOPLE!!
~Desert Rose~
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Obama defends health law as Democrats fret over 2014 elections
By Sam Baker – 05/10/13 03:29 PM ET
President Obama on Friday sought to quell Democratic worries and public misconceptions about his healthcare law, months before its biggest provisions are set to take effect.
Members of Obama’s own party have relentlessly criticized the administration for not doing enough to sell the public on ObamaCare, especially as new coverage options are about to come online. Some Democrats fear a rough rollout could cost them in the 2014 midterms.
“Undoubtedly, there will be some mistakes and hiccups” as major pieces of the law fall into place later this year, Obama said Friday.
But he said the law’s supporters “have an obligation to now make sure that full implementation moves forward the way it needs to.”Most of the law’s biggest provisions will take effect between Oct. 1 and Jan. 1, 2014.
“I’m here to tell you, I am 110 percent committed to getting it done right,” Obama said.
Public polling shows the healthcare law remains unpopular — just 35 percent of those polled in the most recent Kaiser Family Foundation tracking poll said they have a favorable opinion of the law, while 40 percent had an unfavorable view.
That’s a major concern for Democrats ahead of a midterm election that historically goes against the president’s party. Republicans are hoping to add to their advantage in the House, and to retake the Senate.
Obama, for his part, is hoping to buck history. If Republicans gain congressional seats next year, his years as a lame-duck president are likely to begin immediately. But by gaining seats — and especially by winning back the House — Obama could give himself a chance to add to his record in the last two years of his term.
A senior administration official downplayed the bad polling Friday, saying reactions to the health law break along partisan lines and that internal polls look slightly better for the White House.
Read Full Article Here
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Poll: Many Americans uninformed about health care overhaul, some don’t know it’s law
A Tea Party member reaches for a pamphlet titled “The Impact of Obamacare”, at a “Food for Free Minds Tea Party Rally” in Littleton, New Hampshire October 27, 2012. REUTERS/Jessica Rinaldi
President Barack Obama reflects on the status of the Affordable Care Act while speaking Tuesday at the White House.
By Domenico Montanaro, Deputy Political Editor, NBC News
As the Obama administration girds for “glitches and bumps” along the path to full implementation of the health-care law, a new poll indicates many Americans are still unclear about the details of the new law and, in some cases, unaware it’s actually law of the land.
A whopping 42 percent of Americans do not know that the Affordable Care Act is, in fact, law. Included in that 42 percent — 12 percent believe it has been repealed by Congress, 7 percent think the U.S. Supreme Court overturned it, and 23 percent are unsure of its status, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation health tracking poll.
For the record, no portion of the law has been repealed; and the Supreme Court upheld it last summer in a 5-4 decision. The law continues to be viewed more negatively than positively, with just 35 percent saying they have a favorable view and 40 percent saying they have an unfavorable one. But the prolonged implementation, complexity of the law, and messaging by opponents has aided in the confusion. The administration is starting to push back, beginning with the president.
“It’s still a big undertaking,” President Barack Obama acknowledged Tuesday in a press conference at the White House. “And what we’re doing is making sure that every single day we are constantly trying to hit our marks so that it will be in place. … Even if we do everything perfectly, there will still be glitches and bumps. … And that’s pretty much true of every government program that’s ever been set up.”
The poll comes as the administration Tuesday took one step to streamline the application process for health insurance for the uninsured, unveiling a shorter, three-page application form rather than the earlier, 21-page version that was criticized. Enrollment begins Oct. 1 for insurance that would take effect Jan. 1.
Nearly half of all Americans – 49 percent – say they still do not have enough information about the law and how it will impact their families. There are plenty of people happy to try and fill in the gaps.
Republicans, for example, have begun mounting a messaging campaign against the law’s implementation, hoping it can help them in the 2014 midterms and potentially hand over control of the Senate to the GOP, which needs to net six seats to accomplish that goal.
They have seized, in particular, on retiring Democratic Sen. Max Baucus’ comment at a hearing earlier this month that implementation of the law will not just see “glitches and bumps,” but said it will be a “train wreck.”
“I urge my friends on the other side to join with Republicans and stop this ‘train wreck’ before things get even worse,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, up for re-election in 2014, said on the floor of the upper chamber.
Views of the law have gotten worse since the presidential election, sliding from 43 percent favorable to 35 percent. Democrats are mostly responsible for the drop, as pre-election partisanship begins to fade and details of implementation begin to come into focus.
But on Tuesday, President Obama – in his most extensive defense of the implementation of the law so far – said, “Despite all the hue and cry and ‘sky is falling’ predictions about this stuff, if you’ve already got health insurance, then that part of ‘Obamacare’ that affects you, it’s pretty much already in place.”
What remains, he added, is getting the 10 percent to 15 percent of Americans who do not have health insurance, and who will face a penalty next year if they choose not to purchase it, to enroll in state or federal exchanges. The federal government’s job is also made more difficult, the president said, because big states like Florida and Texas, both states with Republican governors, have opted against setting up exchanges.
Read Full Article Here
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Schumer: Health Insurance Rates Likely To Spike, Obamacare Partly Responsible
May 3, 2013 7:10 AM
Sen. Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat and longtime backer of President Obama’s Affordable Care Act, said that insurance rates are likely to spike – and “Obamacare” is partly to blame. (NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images)
Rochester, N.Y. (CBS DC) – Sen. Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat and longtime backer of President Obama’s Affordable Care Act, said that insurance rates
are likely to spike – and “Obamacare” is partly to blame.
Speaking with WHEC Rochester, Schumer said, “Our insurance department is empowered to protect families and we’re going to watch them like a hawk to make sure they do, because if they don’t, these rates could go through the roof.”
“It’s in part because of Obamacare, but health care costs have been going up in double digits for years and years and years. The good news is in this bill, there’s a way to stop it.”
The comments from Schumer were in response to many insurance companies’ failure to announce premium increases for next year. Some healthcare experts are warning that premiums could go up by more than 10 percent on January 1 when Obamacare kicks in across the country.
Read Full Article Here
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GOP seeks $4B for ObamaCare program
By Sam Baker – 04/17/13 07:52 PM ET
House Republicans are trying to pump $4 billion into an ObamaCare program.
The Energy and Commerce Committee passed a bill Wednesday to beef up funding for the healthcare law’s high-risk insurance pools, which have stopped accepting new patients due to a lack of funding.
The additional money for high-risk pools would come out of another part of the healthcare law — its fund for prevention and public health, which Republicans decry as a “slush fund.”
It’s the first time Republicans have tried to fix, rather than repeal, a program in the healthcare law, and the move has angered many on the right.
Some Republicans were clearly prepared for criticism.
“A minority of our conference feels that the only vote that should be taken against ObamaCare is a repeal vote — all or nothing, to kill it dead,” Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.) said. “I’ve always felt that … if we see areas we can chip away at, that are the most egregious parts of the bill, we really should do that.”
Republicans have a lot riding on the performance of the high-risk pools.
While the program is a relatively small piece of the Affordable Care Act, high-risk pools make up the cornerstone of Republican plans to “repeal and replace” the law.
House Republicans have said high-risk pools should replace one of the healthcare law’s most popular provisions — the requirement that insurance companies cover people with pre-existing conditions.
If the high-risk pools in the Affordable Care Act prove ineffective, Republicans could have a harder time making the argument that they could help make up a viable alternative to ObamaCare.
Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) said it’s “ironic” that Republicans are trying to spend more money on a government-run healthcare system, while the Democrats’ healthcare law covers the uninsured through the private market.
“People ought to be able to buy insurance,” Waxman said. “And people with pre-existing conditions are higher-risk and would be charged a higher price if we didn’t spread out the population to get as many people as possible covered.”
Under a high-risk pool, the government pays to insure sick people who have been denied coverage because of a pre-existing condition. The pools contain only the sickest and most expensive patients, and the government is left with the bill.
Under the Affordable Care Act, insurers lose the right to deny people coverage because of pre-existing conditions and the cost of covering sick people is spread across the entire healthcare system. The law established temporary high-risk pools as a bridge until the ban on coverage denials takes effect on Jan. 1, 2014.
Read Full Article Here
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WashingtonPost
