Obamaclypse Now - The ObamaCare 360 Edition

 

Somebody get me a dead horse, I've got some kicking to do...

Hey, here it comes now...

"This fix won't solve every problem for every person.  But it's going to help a lot of people... President Obama, November 14, 2013"

Mr. President, the 'Fix WAS in' almost one month ago when Republicans in the House of Representatives sent Harry Reid MULTIPLE Bills which postponed your Individual Mandate of ObamaCare for one year.  

YOUR guy, Harry, refused to allow any Bill touching 'your precious' prior to the Democrat-sponsored shutdown of the government (which, of course, no one remembers because for the past five weeks the ObamaCare fiasco has absorbed ALL oxygen in the room).

 

But, you probably don't remember that, do you?  

Yeah, that's what I thought.

So on Thursday you hold a Press Conference (the day before a vote in the House on a Bill which will 'legally' allow Americans to keep their health insurance) to um, tell us that we can keep our health insurance, if we can manage to...  Keep our health insurance.  

The problem, of course, is those 'evil corporations' providing Health Insurance to we, the great unwashed people of America - well, you neglected to tell them about your BOLD vision in advance of your 'ObamaCare 360' speech.  

In your haste to do what the House recommended that you do more than month ago, in advance of this past Friday's House Vote, you did what you do best...  

You led from behind.

Well, actually you DID tell insurance firms on Friday - after you told America what you needed the insurance companies to do for you.  You told them to take the next six weeks (two of which have major holidays within them) and figure out how to reverse a process which your administration took over three years to lay out for them. 

Yes, you gave providers roughly four and a half 'work-weeks' to bail your sorry rump out of the fire.  Their response to you came via a terse memo from Karen Ignagni, president of America's Health Insurance Plans...  

Yes, the infamous Poop Sandwich re-appears once again - this time it's the President's turn to 'eat up'.

“Making sure consumers have secure, affordable coverage is health plans' top priority.  The only reason consumers are getting notices about their current coverage changing is because the ACA requires all policies to cover a broad range of benefits that go beyond what many people choose to purchase today.

Changing the rules after health plans have already met the requirements of the law could destabilize the market and result in higher premiums for consumers.  Premiums have already been set for next year based on an assumption of when consumers will be transitioning to the new marketplace. 

If now fewer younger and healthier people choose to purchase coverage in the exchange, premiums will increase and there will be fewer choices for consumers.  Additional steps must be taken to stabilize the marketplace and mitigate the adverse impact on consumers.”

  

President Obama, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and EACH Democrat who voted for this epic legislative over-reach...  I believe you've just been called out.   

"The only reason consumers are getting notices about their current coverage changing is because the ACA requires all policies to cover a broad range of benefits that go beyond what many people choose to purchase today."  

Roughly translated:  It's your fault Obama, and this ain't over yet.

In last week's post I had requested that President Obama PLEASE not remove the Individual Mandate and that he reinstates the Employer Mandate to its original implementation date of January 1, 2014.  

Why?  Because until EVERYONE knows what is in the Law, we will never kill the Law.  Once again, the President chose not to listen to me. 

I believe that he may, however, be listening to James Carville, Democrat Strategist, who counseled the President as follows, “I think the best thing he can do is take a toke on the mayor of Toronto’s crack pipe.”   James Carville made the comment on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” earlier in the week.

James, buddy, the President does NOT need to travel to Toronto to take a pull off Ford's 'pipe' to improve his approval ratings - all he needs to do is walk into the House of Representatives, put his hands up, and say, "That's it, I was wrong - let's gut this ObamaCare thing..." and he'll be at a 85% approval rating in no time.  [Plus James, I'm pretty darn sure he's got plenty of good 'stuff' in the end table next to his bed in the White House building already.] 

Hey, wait one gosh darn minute!  

Since THIS President can change Law (hey, who needs a Legislative Branch!?!?!) with the mere force of his will, he can just tell us that it was all a 'misunderstanding' and that he was 'kidding' about the ACA in its entirety!

After all, isn't this what he did with BOTH the Employer and now the Individual Mandates?  He used his Barack Obama Super Powers to pre-empt legislation passed though the Legislative Branch and which HE signed into law.

What's the benefit of being an Imperial President if you can't 'change stuff up' when you need to?  

The Constitution?  He don't need no stinking Constitution...

Sometimes the light's all shinin' on me
Other times I can barely see
Lately it occurs to me
What a long, strange trip it's been

What in the world ever became of sweet Jane?
She lost her sparkle, you know she isn't the same
Livin' on reds, vitamin C, and cocaine
All a friend can say is, "Ain't it a shame?"

With apologies to the Grateful Dead, what a long, strange trip it's been (thus far). 

And ain't it a shame? 

Selective Prestidigitation

Prestidigitation:  Noun

• Sleight of hand

• French, from prestidigitateur prestidigitator, from preste nimble, quick (from Italian presto) + Latin digitus finger — more at digit 

I suppose I could have entitled this post, "Selective Magic".  However, these two words do not quite capture the sentiment I was going for as this post began to morph within my weary mind.  Not to mention, I very much appreciate the French / Italian / Latin origins of the word which you can also (after drinking an amber-colored beverage) mean a "Nimble, quick finger".  

One nimble, quick finger fully extended and intended for...  You guessed it - You.

  

Get the point (or, more accurately stated, 'finger')?

Here's the Magic which I'm trying to understand...

The Affordable Care Act was passed by a Democratic Majority in both the House and Senate.  It was passed via 'Reconciliation' because Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi didn't have enough votes to pass it 'normally'.  Nancy said we needed to "Pass the Bill to see what's in the Bill" and Harry just said something like, "Pass the Bill - or else" to his Democratic partners in the Democrat-controlled Senate.  No Republicans in either the House or Senate voted for President Obama's "Landmark Legislation", now officially referred to as, "ObamaCare".  

Remember WAY back when we used to joke about it being called "ObamaCare"?  

Since the Affordable Care Act's ill-conceived deployment on October 1st, 2013, no one says 'ObamaCare' out loud with so much as a smirk on their face.  Not only did the President get his Team to pass this abomination, now his name is firmly etched upon it for all eternity.  When CNN begins calling the ACA 'ObamaCare' - yup, it's ALL his now.   

Post ObamaCare 'launch', we speak in hushed tones, waiting for our health insurance cancellation notice to come in the US Mail.  We sit huddled quietly in our homes, hoping our neighbors (preferably ones we don't care for) will be the ones getting the health insurance cancellation notices as the ObamaCare Healthcare Angel of Death passes our home and hopefully alights somewhere else.  

Several people on my street have begun marking the doorway to their homes with Vick's Vap-O-Rub in an effort to ward off the the foul specter prior to it gaining entrance to their home.  As for myself, I've painted the entire exterior of my home with Preparation H.  

Why?  Because the past five+ years have been nothing less than a huge pain in my rump and if I can't prevent the thing from getting in, at least I can hopefully minimize the swelling, and itching associated with its entry into MY home.     

But here's the thing... 

There's more, (much more) to come - sorry, someone get the on the Internet and let the folks know to make LOTS more Preparation H...

President Obama gave the 'Employer Mandate' a 12-month extension, meaning that he pushed the ObamaCare 'Employer requirement' back a year for those companies who employ more than fifty people.

Why?  

1.  Because he could,  

And, 

2. Because no one in Congress wants to ask uncomfortable questions of the first White-African American President regarding his 'Legacy Landmark Legislation'.  

(If anyone has another explanation, please feel free to share it in the Comment section below - yes, I'd PREFER there be another explanation, offer one if you feel that it fits better than mine as stated here.)

How did he modify the Law?  In a word - Magic.  

The Legislative Branch (Democrats) passed ObamaCare and the Bill was signed into Law by the Executive Branch, a.k.a.: President Barack Obama.  

In July, 2013, President Obama took it upon himself to exempt 'some of the' legislation which HE and his minions passed through Reconciliation (a.k.a.:  'Cheating') in Congress - in effect, re-writing law at the Executive Branch, bypassing further Congressional approval.  

Yes, he over-rode his own legislation 'Extra-Constitutionally' just by...  

Making it up as he went along.

At this point you may be asking yourself, 'Hey, Mike, aren't laws normally passed in the Legislative Branch and approved at the Executive?  Well, yes, normally this is the case, but when you have a skilled Magician working magic to an enthralled (and pardon the expression, a 'Cowed' audience in Congress) no one seems (or wants) to stop the show.

As the ObamaCare juggernaut continues, cancellation letters are being printed by the millions, men and women fret about their ability to afford their 'Federally-Mandated' 'affordable' health care, and new insurance deductibles are in most instances higher than the 'unacceptable' policies the ACA, which forced the insurance cancellations of in the first place.

So, if the President is able to grant 'Companies', 'Firms' and 'Employers' a twelve-month waiver (delay) to allow time for the Law to get figured out by the people who are supposed to be implementing it, why won't the President grant a waiver on those people who are being hurt by the law TODAY?

He's shown that he has the power to do whatever he wants when it comes to overriding the Separation of Powers within the US Government already, so WHY won't he do it again, to the benefit of people suffering under his ill-conceived and single-party legislated Act?

ANSWER:  Because he chooses not to.  HIS Magic is done on HIS Terms - not ours.   

I guess maybe, as 'average Americans' begin to feel the pain inflicted upon them by the "Community Organizer In Chief", they'll also begin to feel the warmth and glow of his legislation in their own households.  I wonder, at this point, should Republicans be pushing to have the Individual Mandate pushed back?  

No.

And while we're at it, let's get rid of the Employer Mandate 'extension' as well - just in time for the 2014 elections.  

Between you and me?  There's not enough Preparation H in the WORLD to prepare what we're going to see once the Employer Mandate kicks in.

You think we've got flaming A-Holes in Washington, DC?  Wait until we, the 'Great Unwashed', begin to feel the magic of ObamaCare in our personal wellness, our finances, and in our daily lives by the end of this year..

But, as the President said, sometimes "maybe you're better off not having the surgery, you may be better off just taking the pain killer".

Sure, the pain killers won't CURE you, but you'll die quietly.   And seriously, the President is getting a such a terrible headache from all of your incessant yammering -- please be considerate of his very important thoughts and go back to fretting quietly as you've done in the past.  

If you can't be quiet, he'll dispatch a "Navigator" to your home to help you find your way back to civility...

Sure, what could go wrong?

"President Obama, Final Answer?"

Regis Philbin:  "President Obama, you said that you wouldn't negotiate with "Domestic (Republican) Terrorists" in delaying the implementation of Obamacare's individual mandate.  This required un-exempted Americans to begin registering for health insurance on October 1, 2013.  

Given that a majority of Democrats running for re-election are now requesting that you do the EXACT same thing, are they now "Domestic Terrorists" also, or are they having a brief, passing, moment of clarity given their impending political demise?"

President Obama:  "Well Regis, you know, er, that um, the most important thing about the Affordable Care Act is that I want single, pregnant women with breast cancer to get, um, you know, some kind of very complicated, and mostly-free medical treatment.  

I also want everyone to know that anyone intimately involved with Bill Clinton over the past forty years should be able to get free birth control, regardless of their age, sexual preference, religious belief, or political affiliation ..."

Regis Philbin:  "Okay then, thank you for your, um, interesting response, but if I may get back to the original question posed:  What DO you do now that Senate Democrats are proposing the same delay you refused to consider when discussing the Continuing Resolution with the Republicans?"

President Obama:  "Um, I'm not sure Regis, would it be okay if I called a friend?"

Regis Philbin:  "Sure, if you can find one..."

IRONY ALERT:  During the multiple manifestations of Republican-sponsored Bills passed in the House, delivered to (and ignored) by the Senate, and spurned by the President, there were several options to delay the Individual Mandate.  The efforts of these reported 'Hostage-Taking' Radical Republicans were dismissed by President Obama and Harry Reid without any regard for the fact that they might actually save the President's Political 'bacon' on the Obamacare roll-out fiasco.   

If Harry Reid had voted upon these Bills, and had passed the Senate, the government would NOT have been shut down and the debacle of the Affordable Care Act would have been 'mostly' deferred into next year, after the 2014 mid-term elections.

Then Republicans could have saved the Democrat Party, ObamaCare, AND given the President an additional year to get the thing right before unleashing the Health Insurance 'Kraken' which FOOS (Friends of Obama) cooked up while tripping on 'shrooms', inbreeding with each other, while eating strawberries and studying Alinsky's, "Rules for Radicals".

But.  No.  

Republicans tossed Obama, Reid, and Pelosi a lifeline and they...

Swatted it away. 

Good for them.  Bad for US. 

One month into the Affordable Care Act we find:

• Millions of Americans are losing their insurance (the coverage they WERE happy with)
• Registrations for FREE Medicaid insurance are surging via HealthCare.Gov (the majority of new sign ups are for FREE (for them, at least) Medicaid coverage)
• Few are actually signing up for the ObamaCare Coverage
• The President's Approval Rating continues to plummet
• And, everyone associated with HealthCare.gov KNEW the site was plagued by issues and yet they let the thing loose to shamble through the darkened streets like some deranged Frankenstein's Monster

America, Sebelius has released her beast.  It is hungry and must be fed.   

In 2014, when the employer mandate waiver expires, 93 Million other insurance policies will be in jeopardy of cancellation under 'Grandfather' provisions of the ACA.  

Gee, thanks President Obama, Harry Reid, and Nancy Pelosi for doing that voodoo that you do.  

Here's another life ring for you folks.  No string attached...

 
A sincere thank you to all Republicans in Congress, past and present, who voted against the original ObamaCare legislation.  Yeah, I know you guys will continue to feel the heat in the Media (for being mean, for being White, for being tall, thin, or fat), but if you don't stand for something, I guess, you'll fall for anything.

ObamaCare passed without a single Republican Vote FOR the legislation.  I wish the Republican Party would remind people about this from time to time.  

I wonder why they don't?  Do they want us to do it for them?  I'm not sure, but the last time I looked Mitch McConnell and John Boehnor's microphone is a bit larger than mine is.

Maybe they're just shy?

Ah, doesn't matter, the bottom line is that this nightmare is 100% owned by the President and Democrats in Congress.  Unfortunately, when poop rolls down hill, well, guess who's at the bottom of that hill?

Yes, this would be US, those 'radicals' who so terrify Barry, Harry, and Nancy.