51% Favor Delaying Individual Mandate, 34% Oppose

Just over half of U.S. voters still want to delay the requirement that everyone must have health insurance, but support for delaying that mandate is down, despite the ongoing problems with government exchange websites set up to provide health insurance.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 51% of Likely U.S. Voters think the Obama administration should delay the individual mandate because of the problems experienced by the health insurance exchanges. Thirty-four percent (34%) disagree and oppose any delay in the requirement that every American have health insurance by January 1. Fifteen percent (15%) are not sure. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

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The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on October 22-23, 2013 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

Via: Rasmussen Reports

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[VIDEO] OMB director: Er, no, I can’t gaurantee that HealthCare.gov will be running smoothly by mid-December

There doesn’t seem to be any end in sight to the Six Month Enrollment Period That Wasn’t, as the bottlenecked rate at which registrations to and applications through HealthCare.Gov turn into successfully insured enrollees continues to move at a crawl. The revelation of the March 31st-but-actually-February-14th cutoff date paired with the moving target that still is the “the online signup will be super easy and painless!” start date is every day shrinking the window in which people can either obtain health insurance or get stuck with the individual-mandate penalty, and as Speaker Boehner put it the other day, “how can we tax people for not buying a product from a website that doesn’t work?” If they can’t iron this thing out soon, even the political fiasco that would result from once again delaying the law might be more attractive than the from-all-sides criticisms with which their failure of a rollout will be rightfully saddled — and it certainly doesn’t sound like they’re sure they’ll have it under control any time soon, does it?

AL HUNT: But if people can’t sign up, they can’t get affordable care, and can you guarantee the public that by December 15, say, which is a little over 2 weeks before they can really join, that these problems will be largely rectified?

SYLVIA BURWELL: I think that the administration is working deeply on the problems that exist and I think it’s also important to recognize that there are other places and ways, in terms of whether those are the phone numbers, the navigators, and other tools and choices that people have to do that. I think also, from an OMB perspective, it’s also important to also recognize, in addition to the issue of health care for in the uninsured, the issue of people who have children up to 26 being covered, the issue of preexisting conditions, all of those are being worked on in a very successful way in terms of the substance and reducing costs.

HUNT: Cautiously optimistic you’ll have it rectified by December 15th?

BURWELL: I am optimistic that we’ll continue to make progress on the issue.

Via: Hot Air
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Removing one of the best incentives for good health

Thinking and responsible people wish to remain healthy for several reasons.  One of the main impetuses for being healthy is the avoidance of medical costs. It is expensive to be sick or in bad health.

Fully understanding and recognizing that some illnesses are tragically unavoidable, these comments refer to those that are avoidable.

Michelle Obama has taken on the imagery of promoting good eating and health habits, yet her husband's signature legislation will reverse many of her efforts tenfold.

Obamacare promises to protect people from high medical costs. And, as mentioned, if these costs and their avoidance are a prominent reason for sustaining one's health, then those efforts will be reduced simply because the pecuniary penalties for bad health habits have been reduced.

The government protects those who cannot, or in this case will not, protect themselves from themselves.

And once again we have counterveiling efforts from those in federal power. Just as Bernanke attempts maximum employment by flooding the country with dollars as the federal government subsidizes unemployment with idle comforts, Michelle promotes responsible health habits as the federal government shelters those who have a high propensity for bad health habits from high costs, and their own stupidity.

Via: American Thinker

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Barack Obama, Insurance Salesman

President Obama wants you to buy health insurance. Like, a lot.

The president has undertaken a months-long effort to convince people, particularly the Millennials who populate his political base, to give their business to America’s largest insurance companies. This sounds odd for a guy who used a populist pitchforking of “big insurance” to goose his health law over the finish line in 2010.

But it’s not as odd as you might think. Obama built his law in private in conjunction with the same companies he was skewering in public. The same goes for the drug companies that were the preferred targets of Democrats for most of the pre-ObamaCare era. Why?

Unable to unite his party behind his vision for a government-run insurance program open to all Americans, Obama outsourced the sales job to insurance and drug companies to get the deal done. His pitchfork routine was in part about gaining an upper hand in negotiations with his insurance and PhRMA  partners, but mostly about appeasing liberal lawmakers who were unhappy that Obama’s more liberal vision had vanished. They got Hillary Clinton’s health law even though they elected Obama. But it was insurance and drug lobbyists who did the hard work of squeezing moderates into the already unpopular plan. They sold what Obama could not.

Via: Fox News Continue Reading..... 

The ObamaCare Disaster Finally Hits Front Page of New York Times

Lower Health Insurance Premiums to Come at Cost of Fewer Choices

WASHINGTON — Federal officials often say that health insurance will cost consumers less than expected under President Obama’s health care law. But they rarely mention one big reason: many insurers are significantly limiting the choices of doctors and hospitals available to consumers.

From California to Illinois to New Hampshire, and in many states in between, insurers are driving down premiums by restricting the number of providers who will treat patients in their new health plans.

When insurance marketplaces open on Oct. 1, most of those shopping for coverage will be low- and moderate-income people for whom price is paramount. To hold down costs, insurers say, they have created smaller networks of doctors and hospitals than are typically found in commercial insurance. And those health care providers will, in many cases, be paid less than what they have been receiving from commercial insurers.

Some consumer advocates and health care providers are increasingly concerned. Decades of experience with Medicaid, the program for low-income people, show that having an insurance card does not guarantee access to specialists or other providers.

Consumers should be prepared for “much tighter, narrower networks” of doctors and hospitals, said Adam M. Linker, a health policy analyst at the North Carolina Justice Center, a statewide advocacy group.

“That can be positive for consumers if it holds down premiums and drives people to higher-quality providers,” Mr. Linker said. “But there is also a risk because, under some health plans, consumers can end up with astronomical costs if they go to providers outside the network.”

Via: New York Times

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Is This the Creepiest Anti-Obamacare Ad Ever?

Generation Opportunity unleashes creepy Uncle Sam in new video

A new ad from Generation Opportunity urges Americans to “opt out” of Obamacare by showing the consequences of government-controlled health care: Uncle Sam in your gynecologist’s office.

Via: WFB

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Health care in Syria is 'hell on earth,' doctors say

DO I HEAR OBAMACARE???

Syria’s once sophisticated health system is “at breaking point” and parts of the country are completely cut off from any kind of medical service because of “deliberate and systematic attacks” on medical facilities and staff, senior doctors said on Monday.

Horrific injuries go untended, women are giving birth with no medical care and patients battling cancer, diabetes and heart disease, as well as victims of sexual violence, have nowhere to turn, 55 medical professionals from across the world said in a joint letter in The Lancet medical journal.

More than half of Syria’s hospitals have been destroyed or badly damaged in attacks, nearly 470 health professionals are imprisoned, and about 15,000 doctors have been forced to flee abroad, said the letter’s signatories.

“Such attacks are an unconscionable betrayal of the principle of medical neutrality,” wrote the doctors, who include Gro Harlem Brundtland, former director-general of the World Health Organization and Hany El Banna, founder of the Humanitarian Forum and Islamic Relief.

Of the 5,000 physicians in the city of Aleppo before the conflict started, only 36 remain, the letter said.

Via: Fox News

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ObamaCare = Ripoff

If you’re between the ages of 18 and 34, the Obama administration is gearing up to hit you with a hard sell like you’ve never seen before. Lady Gaga, Jennifer Hudson, Amy Poehler and other celebrities are pressing you to sign up for insurance under the Affordable Care Act.

Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is handing out hundreds of millions in grants to get people to buy, and pressing companies to spend their own money too.

It has to be a hard sell, because it’s a bad deal for you: The system needs you to pay through the nose to make the ObamaCare math work.

This campaign is aimed at young people in general, but at Hispanic youth in particular, since Hispanics make up almost a third of the nation’s nonelderly uninsured population. That makes it of particular concern for the Libre Initiative, the group I lead, which focuses on advancing economic freedom among Hispanics.

President Obama even traveled to California on a visit aimed at building support in the Hispanic community and in Spanish-language media. The White House hopes 2.7 million young people will sign up, and that Latinos lead the way. The Libre Initiative is promoting a real debate in this community about how we can do better.
The White House is avoiding a pitch that convinces young people they’re getting a good deal — because they aren’t. According to recent research by the National Center for Public Policy Analysis, about 3.7 million of those ages 18-34 will save at least $500 if they choose not to buy health insurance and instead pay what the Obama administration calls the “shared responsibility” penalty. Another 3 million will save $1,000.

Via: The Libre Initiative

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Obama Pivots From War In Syria To Reviving “War On Women” With Pro-Abortion Fanatics Planned Parenthood And EMILY’s List…

Unable to start a war in Syria, President Obama is settling on reviving the War on Women.

Obama's team, fresh off a summer bookended by the IRS scandal and an uncomfortable struggle to rally Congress around a military strike on Syria, plans to reset the domestic policy debate with a new "women's initiative."

White House power Valerie Jarrett and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., will attend a kick-off event next week at the Center for American Progress, but Obama's allies previewed the the initiative in a conference call Friday.

"[T]his effort isn't behind one piece of legislation, per se, but really is about getting broad support action on the whole host of these issues — health, economic security, as well as leadership," said Neera Tanden of the Center for American Progress, which will host the Sept. 18 kickoff event.

Tanden hosted the call along with Planned Parenthood Action Fund's Cecile Richards, Mary Kay Henry of the Service Employees International Union, and Stephanie Schriock (who participated in the call under the auspices of American Women, but is perhaps better known as leader of EMILY'S List, a group that donates to pro-choice political candidates).

"What we're really trying to do in this initiative is to raise the voices of women to create much more public demand," Tanden also said. "If you look at these issues, they have really bipartisan support, [and] we want these issues to be ones where there's really a focus and a demand on both sides of the aisle to get things done, because — as Stephanie was pointing out — women really across the political spectrum think of these issues as ones that just really need to be addressed regardless of the politics."

Policies discussed ranged from increasing the minimum wage to the free contraception provided under Obamacare's HHS mandate.

Via: Washington Examiner

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Premiums Climbed $2,976 Since 2009, Despite Obama Vow

The average employer-provided family health insurance premiums have climbed $2,976 since 2009, according to an annual Kaiser Family Foundation survey released this week. They're up $3,671 compared with the year before President Obama took office. That's despite Obama's repeated promises that the health care reform law he championed would cut premiums by $2,500 in his first term.

And while annual premium increases have moderated over the past two years, that's due to trends in the insurance market largely unrelated to ObamaCare, and trends the law could actually reverse.

The Kaiser survey found that the average family premium this year is $16,351, up 4% over last year, and up 22% since 2009. After adjusting for inflation, premiums climbed an average 3.2% a year in Obama's first term, higher than the 2.7% average during President Bush's last four years in office.

During his first campaign for president, Obama repeatedly claimed that his health reform plan would, as he said at a Virginia rally in 2008 "lower premiums by up to $2,500 for a typical family per year."

Nevertheless, the White House has been touting recent signs of health cost moderation as evidence that ObamaCare is "already working to reduce costs."

Officials cite the fact that national spending on health care climbed just 3.9% in 2011, the same as the previous two years, and the slowest increase since the 1960s.

But the trends driving the slowdown in health spending have little to do with the Affordable Care Act.

Via: IBD

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