The Obamacare enrollment website remains badly broken despite two weeks of intensive round-the-clock efforts at repairs.
HHS isn’t making any predictions about how long it will take to fix it — or rebuild it. But advocates, lobbyists and industry officials are talking about it as a months-long repair effort.
How many months is an open question — and one with big consequences for the massive effort to enroll 7 million people in the new insurance exchanges and millions more in Medicaid by the end of March. People trying to switch from their current insurance into subsidized exchange plans could also face gaps.
A two-month delay, for instance, would be a different scenario than five or six months, particularly since people can face penalties if they don’t apply by mid-February.
(PHOTOS: 25 unforgettable Obamacare quotes)
In the meantime, few people can get through the enrollment process online. According to some analysts like Millward Brown Digital, thousands of consumers have stopped trying, at least for now.
At a summit of health care advocacy groups at the Newseum on Tuesday, the audience was asked how many had successfully made it through HealthCare.gov even far enough to browse the selection of health plans. Only two out of about 70 people raised their hands.
The administration hasn’t said much about the nature of the technical problems. Officials initially described them as the kind of “glitches” that inevitably occur in a tech launch, and attributed them to the high interest in new health coverage options that drove unexpectedly high traffic to HealthCare.gov.
Via: Politico
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Friday, October 18, 2013
Dana Milbank: Now, lead from the front
Let us hear no more about President Obama leading from behind.
Since a White House adviser uttered that phrase to the New Yorker’s Ryan Lizza in 2011 to describe Obama’s leadership in Libya, “leading from behind” has become a favorite refrain of Republicans trying to portray Obama as weak.
Rep. Darrell Issa (Calif.) detected “a policy of leading from behind, of indecision” in Syria. Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.) said Obama’s “strategy of leading from behind meant [Moammar] Gaddafi’s weapons stockpiles went unsecured.” Sen. Dan Coats (Ind.) said Obama’s insistence on higher taxes was more evidence that “the president continues to lead from behind.” Rep. Doc Hastings (Wash.) even said that “the American people have been waiting for the Obama administration to stop leading from behind” — and to hurry up approval of the Keystone XL pipeline.
But the last use of the phrase I could find in the congressional record was on Oct. 2, at the start of the shutdown, when. Sen. John Barrasso (Wyo.) said Obama had been “once again attempting to lead from behind in a crisis.”
They aren’t saying that now.
Obama got out in front of the shutdown and debt-ceiling standoff. He took a firm position — no negotiating — and he made his case to the country vigorously and repeatedly. Republicans miscalculated, assuming Obama would again give in. The result was the sort of decisive victory rarely seen in Washington skirmishes.
#Obamacare Watch: This Is What Technocracy Looks Like edition.
And this is why we left that particular political philosophy in the Thirties, where it belongs.
Grim reading on the Obamacare exchanges here from Yuval Levin (short version: the exchanges are in one whole joojooflop situation), with an important caveat:
Via: Red StateThe character of the conversations I had with these very knowledgeable individuals in the last few days reminded me of something: It reminded me of the daily intra-governmental video conferences and calls in the wake of hurricane Katrina in 2005. I was witness to many of those, as a White House staffer. What I saw in the first days of the disaster quickly fell into a pattern: local, state, and federal officials on the ground would report on what they knew directly—which was often grim—and then they would pass along information they’d heard but hadn’t gotten first hand, which was often much more grim but almost always ultimately turned out not to be true. Some of these stories went public (remember the shootings at the Superdome? They never happened). Some didn’t. They were often reported with a kind of detached authority that made them believable, and they were a function of living in panic amid an unbelievable situation over time.The combination of these conversations over a week has therefore left me thinking that it may not be clear to anyone exactly how deep and lasting these problems will prove to be, which could mean they’re worse than they seem but could mean they’re not as bad as they seem. The technical architecture of the federal exchanges and to a lesser extent the state ones has been very badly screwed up. The problem may be so bad as to render Obamacare’s rollout impossible in practice at this point. But it may not be. And right now no one knows if it will or will not. My gut sense after listening to these insiders, for what little it’s worth, is that it’s not likely that the situation will prove to be much worse than it now seems, and it’s more likely that it will prove to be less bad than it now seems.But I don’t know, and no one else does either.
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[VIDEO] Piers Morgan Asks If Dems Will 'Unleash' Cory Booker on 'Renegade' Ted Cruz
In an interview with Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) on his Thursday night show, CNN's Piers Morgan sounded just like a Democratic strategist.
Morgan told the Democrat that "you sound eminently reasonable" and accused Sen. Ted Cruz of being the problem in Washington. "[H]e thinks that getting the shutdown was good business for Ted Cruz, Incorporated. What are you going to do about this young renegade who doesn't really care about being reasonable?" Morgan asked Manchin. [Video below the break. Audio here.]
Morgan told the Democrat that "you sound eminently reasonable" and accused Sen. Ted Cruz of being the problem in Washington. "[H]e thinks that getting the shutdown was good business for Ted Cruz, Incorporated. What are you going to do about this young renegade who doesn't really care about being reasonable?" Morgan asked Manchin. [Video below the break. Audio here.]
If Morgan wasn't being enough of a liberal hack already, he pressed the Democrats to go on the offensive. "What about unleashing your new attack dog, Cory Booker? What about putting him on Cruz point man to point man?" Morgan wondered.
Manchin was actually the more reserved of the two voices, and he refrained from taking direct shots at Cruz. Morgan concluded the interview with some more sugary praise. "Senator Joe Manchin, it's a breath of fresh air talking to you. You are a rare voice of reason in a sea of complete insanity."
Manchin was actually the more reserved of the two voices, and he refrained from taking direct shots at Cruz. Morgan concluded the interview with some more sugary praise. "Senator Joe Manchin, it's a breath of fresh air talking to you. You are a rare voice of reason in a sea of complete insanity."
Below is a transcript of the segment, which aired on Piers Morgan Live on October 18 at 9:05 p.m. EDT:
PIERS MORGAN: Here's the problem, Senator, is that you sound eminently reasonable and your actions endorsed the fact that you've tried to get through this and ultimately have been successful as have some of the Republicans you've been dealing with. Mitch McConnell today was very reasonable with what he said. He said, "There will be not another shutdown." This is all fine. But you guys aren't the problem. The problem is Senator Ted Cruz who has his gander up, he's got a popular vote now. He's massively more famous than he was two weeks ago. He's getting loads of money pouring in, he's the darling of the Tea Party. And he today is saying "Well, let's not too hasty," because he thinks that getting the shutdown was good business for Ted Cruz, Incorporated. What are you going to do about this young renegade who doesn't really care about being reasonable?
Roland Martin Confronts Ben Carson Over Obamacare ‘Worst Thing Since Slavery’ Comments
On his NewsOne radio show Friday morning, Roland Martin confronted Dr. Ben Carson over his recent comments that Obamacare is “the worst thing that has happened in this nation since slavery.”
Noting other post-slavery issues like Jim Crow laws, Martin asked, “Did you go too far?”
“That’s my opinion,” Carson responded. “First of all, I recognize that slavery was a horrible thing … I realize how horrible it was … I didn’t say this is as bad as slavery, I said this is the worst thing since slavery.”
“Which includes Jim Crow,” Martin shot back.
“Yes, absolutely,” the neurosurgeon explained. “This nation was founded on the principle that it would be a new type of nation, that was for, of, and by the people. A constitution was put in place that would assure that the people remain at the pinnacle of power and that the central government would never reach the point where it had control of the people. [Obamacare] fundamentally changes the relationship.”
The Affordable Care Act, Dr. Carson asserted, will give the government control over “everyone’s health.” Martin pushed back, declaring that the healthcare law empowers the individual. The doctor responded by saying that the law gets in between the patient-provider relationship.
“This is only the beginning,” Carson continued. “What you will see is that a lot of the insurance companies will begin to fold … Ultimately we will have a single-payer system if we don’t stop this from happening.”
Listen below, via NewsOne:
A call to arms: Emboldened tea party moves to finish off weak Republicans
Far from chastened by the debt debate, tea partyers and conservative groups signaled Thursday they’ve concluded they didn’t lose, but rather were sabotaged from within by weak Republicans — and they took the first steps to oust one of them.
Mississippi state Sen. Chris McDaniel announced he would challenge U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran in the Republican primary next year, a day after the GOP’s senior senator voted to end the 16-day government shutdown and grant President Obama more borrowing authority.
Mr. McDaniel immediately saw a flood of support from the outside groups that had rallied against this week’s debt and spending agreement.
“Our country can’t afford any more bad votes that stem from old friends and back-room deals,” said Daniel Horowitz, deputy political director of the Madison Project. “And as witnessed from the recent budget battle against Obamacare, we cannot win against Democrats if we don’t grow our conservative bench in the Senate.”
For the past two weeks, the deep divisions within the GOP have been on very public display.
Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas, Mike Lee of Utah and their allies pushed to withhold all government spending unless Mr. Obama agreed to cancel Obamacare, while party leaders called that a losing strategy and tried to come up with alternatives.
Via: Washington Times
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Mississippi state Sen. Chris McDaniel announced he would challenge U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran in the Republican primary next year, a day after the GOP’s senior senator voted to end the 16-day government shutdown and grant President Obama more borrowing authority.
Mr. McDaniel immediately saw a flood of support from the outside groups that had rallied against this week’s debt and spending agreement.
“Our country can’t afford any more bad votes that stem from old friends and back-room deals,” said Daniel Horowitz, deputy political director of the Madison Project. “And as witnessed from the recent budget battle against Obamacare, we cannot win against Democrats if we don’t grow our conservative bench in the Senate.”
For the past two weeks, the deep divisions within the GOP have been on very public display.
Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas, Mike Lee of Utah and their allies pushed to withhold all government spending unless Mr. Obama agreed to cancel Obamacare, while party leaders called that a losing strategy and tried to come up with alternatives.
Via: Washington Times
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]VIDEO] Former Obama Official Warns Americans: 'Back Off' Opposition To Obamacare
It was enough to make a conservative yearn for the good old Bush-era days of "Dissent Is Patriotic" . . .
For there on Morning Joe today was former Obama official Melody Barnes, warning Americans to "back off" their Reagan-inspired opposition to big government in general and Obamacare in particular. Instead, instructed Barnes, Americans should focus on making Obamacare work. View the video after the jump.
For there on Morning Joe today was former Obama official Melody Barnes, warning Americans to "back off" their Reagan-inspired opposition to big government in general and Obamacare in particular. Instead, instructed Barnes, Americans should focus on making Obamacare work. View the video after the jump.
Joe Scarborough was having none of it, asking why he should back off opposing something that he and millions of other Americans, thinks is harmful to the country. Opposing Obamacare is not "unpatriotic", observed Scarborough.
MELODY BARNES: It is to everyone's benefit that people back off of what was the Reagan administration legacy that government is bad, government workers are bad and think about how we're going to make this work because what we've seen time and time again with Katrina and moving forward is if we don't have an effective federal government people get hurt. In fact people can die.
JOE SCARBOROUGH: Hold on a second. why would I back off if I think health care policy is bad for the country in the the long run, the federal government is not competent enough to run it, and the launch has been terrible. Sam Stein asks the question are Republicans going to do their best to help this implementation? No, I don't think they are. And I don't think it means they are unpatriotic if they don't. Obviously what happened over the past few weeks, Sam, absolutely idiotic and self-defeating but why should the Republicans say hey listen we want to help you implement a program that we think will end private insurance over the next decade? That goes against everything I believe and millions and millions of Americans believe.
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