Anyone here trying to buy Obamacare?

[wa3zrm]

President was told healthcare website would work, official says

WASHINGTON -- President Obama was assured that the healthcare insurance website was ready to launch on Oct. 1, even as private contractors and some administration officials knew the site had failed in early testing, a senior White House advisor said Sunday.
Obama aide Dan Pfeiffer said the president repeatedly asked about the healthcare.gov website, a key piece of his 2010 healthcare overhaul legislation, and was told it would meet his expectations.
Along with the president, Pfeiffer hyped the website in the weeks before the troubled launch, promising it would “be a consumer experience unmatched by anything in government, but also in the private sector.”
“We did believe that,” Pfeiffer said on ABC's "This Week."
The "results do not match up to his expectations or the American people's expectations," he added. "It's inexcusable. There is no question about that.”

(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...

[Bigblue1]

Holy F#ck! What did I just watch?

[wa3zrm]

MERRY CHRISTMAS: OBAMA CAMPAIGN WANTS YOU TO GIVE 'HEALTH CARE FOR THE HOLIDAYS'

This holiday season, getting a lump of coal in your stocking might actually be preferable, considering the alternative gift from the folks at Organizing for Action is Obamacare. Their newest cult campaign is called "Health Care for the Holidays." How festive. "This holiday season, make sure to talk to your loved ones about getting covered," the group's newest ad campaign says. "These conversations don't have to be tough — OFA can help." Because your family holiday gathering should actually be an opportunity for you to register them for Obamacare, or something. OFA even provides you with these handy talking points to sell your loved ones on signing up. Follow these easy steps and you're sure to be the life of any holiday get-together:
Start by asking: "Have you thought about signing up for health insurance on the new marketplace?"
Offer to walk them through it: "Would you like to take some time with me to sign up right now?"
Ask them to make a plan, and commit to it:"When do you plan on signing up?"
Don't forget to follow up: "Have you signed up yet?"
"It might not always seem like it, but your family listens to you," OFA says. "So have the talk."
See their creepy cult video ad after the jump...

[Bigblue1]

I read the trib daily and Eric Zorn is an Obamanite to the highest level. This is a catastrophe for Obama if he's not pulling any punches. There's a good editorial from yesterdays trib as well. shown here. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/o...,1815563.story

[wa3zrm]

Why Obama lied about Obamacare

"We will keep this promise to the American people. If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor, period. If you like your health care plan, you'll be able to keep your health care plan, period. No one will take it away, no matter what." — President Barack Obama, touting the Affordable Care Act in a June 15, 2009, speech.
This was not true, period.
I call that a lie.
And look. I admire the president. I support the Affordable Care Act insofar as it was clearly the most ambitious expansion of coverage that could possibly have eked through Congress.
And it's tempting for me to spin Obama's lies as omissions, oversimplifications or plain old political salesmanship and rhetorical inflation. Means that justified the ends.
The result is a greater threat to the future of heath care reform than a glitchy website or balky millennials ignoring the insurance mandate — a loss of trust. Period.

(Excerpt) Read more at my.chicagotribune.com ...

[wa3zrm]

Obamacare Early Enrollment Numbers Very Small, Documents Show (Six on first day)

For 31 days now, the Obama administration has been telling us that Americans by the millions are visiting the new health insurance website, despite all its problems.
But no one in the administration has been willing to tell us how many policies have been purchased, and this may be the reason: CBS News has learned the number is very small.
Early enrollment figures are contained in notes from twice-a-day "war room" meetings convened within the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services after the website failed on Oct. 1. They were turned over in response to a document request from the House Oversight Committee.
The website launched on a Tuesday. Publicly, the government said there were 4.7 million unique visits in the first 24 hours. But at a meeting Wednesday morning, the war room notes say "six enrollments have occurred so far."
They were with BlueCross BlueShield North Carolina and Kansas City, CareSource and Healthcare Service Corporation.
By Wednesday afternoon, enrollments were up to "approximately 100." By the end of Wednesday, the notes reflect "248 enrollments" nationwide.

(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...

[Burnsey]

22%? If i had a 22% approval rating at work i would be what you call "unemployed"

14% approval rating for Congress........all of the above should be unemployed, BUT they have the premium insurance that we pay for.....

[Thunder_Snus]

President Obama's Approval Ratings Drop To An ALL-TIME Low Amid Obamacare Debacle http://www.dailymail.co.uk/reader-co.../link/40897977

22%? If i had a 22% approval rating at work i would be what you call "unemployed"

[trebli]

President Obama's Approval Ratings Drop To An ALL-TIME Low Amid Obamacare Debacle http://www.dailymail.co.uk/reader-co.../link/40897977

[wa3zrm]

NBCUniversal’s Insurance Premiums to Rise Due to Obamacare

CNBC’s morning anchors were troubled by the news that their own insurance plans will become more costly under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
On Oct. 30’s “Squawk Box,” CNBC Senior Correspondent Scott Cohn revealed details of NBC’s open enrollment, brandishing an official fact book outlining the process. He quoted the document, revealing that the ACA would increase employee premiums.

Cohn observed “Some of these costs, when you look at this, are way up -- double digits.”
Aetna Chairman and CEO, Mark Bertolini explained that “Aetna alone will pass through to its customers over a billion dollars of taxes and fees associated with the Affordable Care Act.”
Ironically, NBC has worked hard to promote Obamacare. In the week before the exchanges opened, NBC launched their own week-long campaign, to “help Americans get the most out of the Affordable Care Act.” NBC affiliate MSNBC was even more blatant in touting Obamacare.
According to the new health plan, “federally mandated health care changes will require Comcast-NBCUniversal to pay new fees and implement plan design changes that will contribute to the increased cost of our plans.”
These plan changes would also affect other NBCUniversal outlets like NBC and MSNBC.

[wa3zrm]

Obama: I take full responsibility for fixing health site (makes a full-throated defence)

US President Barack Obama has accepted "full responsibility" for ensuring the troubled healthcare website gets fixed.
Speaking in Boston, he said he was "not happy" about the glitch-laden project, but made a full-throated defence of the broader 2010 healthcare law.
Earlier, his embattled health secretary apologised to the American people over the botched website rollout.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is the largest overhaul of the US healthcare system since the 1960s.
Commonly known as Obamacare, it aims to extend health insurance coverage to the estimated 15% of the American population who lack it.
But a key element of the law, the federal website where consumers can shop for health insurance plans, has been plagued by errors since its launch on 1 October.
'The model works'
Mr Obama said in Wednesday's speech: "There's no denying it - right now the website is too slow. Too many people have gotten stuck. And I'm not happy it about it. And neither are a lot of Americans who need healthcare."
He added: "So there's no excuse for it. And I take full responsibility for making sure it gets fixed ASAP. We are working overtime to improve it every day."
He spoke in Boston, Massachusetts, a state that in 2006 introduced a groundbreaking healthcare law that inspired the Obama administration's own nationwide overhaul.
"Massachusetts has shown the model works," he said.

(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...

[Thunder_Snus]

Everyone wants to complain about their insurance.....until the government makes it even worse.

[SnusnPA]

I got my notice in the mail a month ago that Coventry wasn't offering me plans, or re-upping my policy, but instead shoveling me to the exchange. Not liking this at all. I enjoyed my freedom of shopping around for my own health insurance directly.

[wa3zrm]

The Obamacare Ripoff: More Money for Less Insurance (Look at the source!)

It's always exciting to be part of a chapter in American history. I happen to be one of the hundreds of thousands of people whose insurance coverage was canceled for not complying with the terms of the Affordable Care Act. As a result, not only will I pay more, but I have had to divert many otherwise useful hours to futzing around with websites and paperwork.
President Obama promised, "If you like your health insurance, you can keep it." It was a more ambiguous promise than it sounded. Who likes his or her health insurance? But it was there, and it did its job.
I probably need to be clear straight off that I am not presenting myself as any kind of hard-luck case. Maybe from some social justice perspective it's perfectly fair and reasonable to load all the costs of health reform onto people like me. The trouble is, this administration has been less than candid about what those costs would be.
As best I can tell, the ACA will require me to pay $200 a month more for a policy that is marginally worse than the one I have now.
Here's the before and after contrast:
My family was enrolled in a Carefirst high-deductible plan that cost $667.63 per month. In-network deductible, $5,400; out of network, $10,800. Out-of-pocket limit: $6,400 in-network; $12,800 out of network. The plan was joined to an HSA.....

(Excerpt) Read more at thedailybeast.com ...

[wa3zrm]

Security hole found in Obamacare website


Until the Department of Health fixed the security hole last week, anyone could easily reset your Healthcare.gov password........

(Excerpt) Read more at politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com ...