Let me try to understand this: The key incentive for small businesses to support Obamacare was that they would be able to shop for the best deals in health care super-stores—called exchanges. The Administration has had 3 years to set up these exchanges. It has failed to do so.

This is a really bad sign. There will be those who argue that it’s not the Administration’s fault. It’s the fault of the 33 states that have refused to set up their own exchanges. Nonsense. Where was the contingency planning? There certainly are models, after all—the federal government’s own health benefits plan (FEHBP) operates markets that exist in all 50 states. So does Medicare Advantage. But now, the Obama Administration has announced that it won’t have the exchanges ready in time, that small businesses will be offered one choice for the time being—for a year, at least. No doubt, small business owners will be skeptical of the Obama Administration’s belief in the efficacy of the market system to produce lower prices through competition. That was supposed to be the point of this plan.

Certainly, the Republicans who have stood in the way of these exchanges—their own idea, by the way, born in the conservative Heritage Foundation—deserve a great deal of the “credit” for the debacle. But we are now seeing weekly examples of this Administration’s inability to govern. Just a few weeks ago, I reported on the failure of the Department of Defense and the Veterans Administration to come up with a unified electronic health care records system. There has also been the studied inattention to the myriad of ineffective job training programs scattered through the bureaucracy. There have been the oblique and belated efforts to reform Head Start, a $7 billion program that a study conducted by its own bureaucracy—the Department of Health and Human Services—has found nearly worthless. The list is endless.

Yes, the President has faced a terrible economic crisis—and he has done well to limit the damage. He has also succeeded in avoiding disasters overseas. But, as a Democrat—as someone who believes in activist government—he has a vested interest in seeing that federal programs actually work efficiently. I don’t see much evidence that this is anywhere near the top of his priorities.

One thing is clear: Obamacare will fail if he doesn’t start paying more attention to the details of implementation, if he doesn’t start demanding action. And, in a larger sense, the notion of activist government will be in peril—despite the demographics flowing the Democrats’ way—if institutions like the VA and Obamacare don’t deliver the goods. Sooner or later, the Republican party may come to understand that its best argument isn’t about tearing down the government we have, but making it run more efficiently.

Sooner or later, the Democrats may come to understand that making it run efficiently is the prerequisite for maintaining power.

Comment by Gordon Ray Kissinger on April 4, 2013 at 7:00pm: HHS Resurrects ‘ACORN’ Through ObamaCare

Thursday, April 4, 2013

ObamaCare provides millions of dollars in grants to hire community activists and others as “navigators” to assist individuals enroll in health insurance provided by state or federal exchanges and, according to recent reports, register people to vote. In a new rule proposed Wednesday, HHS lays out numerous guidelines for these “navigators”, including paying them up to $48/hour for their work. The rule, guidelines and voter registration effort are a potential vehicle to resurrect ACORN or an ACORN-like entity.

One organization expected to take a lead role in distributing the funds and overseeing hiring is Enroll America, a new non-profit headed by Anne Filipic, a former Obama White House official under Valerie Jarrett. Filipic was also a senior staff member at OFA director and a former Obama campaign director. The organization was founded, in part, by Families USA, a far-left advocacy organization that lobbied aggressively for ObamaCare, a source at HHS told Breitbart News. Filipic has said she expects Enroll America to spend $100 million on the enrollment effort. A large percentage of this is likely to come from federal funds.

Post Continues on www.breitbart.com

Read more: http://patriotupdate.com/2013/04/hhs-resurrects-acorn-through-obama...

Comment by Gordon Ray Kissinger on April 4, 2013 at 6:49pm

Dear Friend,

Today we released the results of our Small Business Outlook survey for the first quarter of 2013, and small businesses had a lot to say about the health care law.

New requirements under Obamacare are now the biggest concern of small business owners, topping concerns about economic uncertainty for the first time in two years.

Not only are they worried about the requirements, they’re cutting back staff and staff hours as a result.

71% of the small business owners surveyed say the law makes it harder for them to hire more employees,
31% said they plan to cut back hours to reduce the number of full time employees to avoid triggering the employer mandate.

Read the full results here.

Tomorrow, March’s unemployment numbers will be released. Indicators that small businesses are laying off instead of hiring is bad news, especially with over 20 million Americans unable to find full-time work and another 2.5 million who have given up looking all together. The current unemployment rate is 7.7% but when you factor in discouraged and underemployed workers, the real number is 14.3%.

As The Hill reported:

“While the general trends of the economy appear to be improving, a closer look shows workforce participation still falling and full-time employment still historically low,” said Dr. Martin Regalia, the Chamber’s chief economist said on Thursday.

About one-third of small businesses…plan to cut back hours to reduce the number of full-time employees…. In addition, 32 percent of small businesses plan to reduce hiring because of the [employer] mandate. “In today’s economy, we need policies that will breed confidence and encourage small businesses to expand, not cut back staff and employees’ hours.”

If our small businesses can’t grow and hire under current policy, what can we expect for the future state of our economy?

Make sure to read the full report for more survey results, and we’d love to hear what you think.

Thanks,

Rob Engstrom
Senior Vice President and National Political Director
U.S. Chamber of Commerce

U.S. Chamber of Commerce 1615 H Street, NW Washington DC 20062-2000

Comment by Gordon Ray Kissinger on April 3, 2013 at 8:43pm: As ObamaCare Crumbles, Obama Returns To–Can You Guess?–Fundraising

3 April 2013

Remember how since-demoted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said we’d have to pass the massive ObamaCare health law to find out what’s in it?

Well, now three years later that’s happening and a lot of people are not liking what they see.

Remember how ObamaCare was going to save you money?

Not going to happen. Premiums are going up, some by as much as 100%. And a new study by the nonpartisan Society of Actuaries finds that on average insurers will have to pay 32% more for claims under ObamaCare.

Remember how ObamaCare was going to cover more than 44 million uninsured Americans?

Not going to happen. As the immense law and its 86-inch tall stack of new regulations roll out, millions of Americans will remain uncovered, even if the troubled, challenged law works flawlessly, which it hasn’t. And won’t. The latest Congressional Budget Office estimate is that even with full implementation, more than 30 million Americans will remain uncovered by the so-called Affordable Care Act.

Remember how ObamaCare was not going to add “one single dime” to costs?

Not going to happen. The Congressional Budget Office estimates ObamaCare will add $1,300,000,000,000.10 to the costs of the nation’s healthcare. Obama masks this with new taxes, of course, and shuffling monies around within government programs, including cuts to Medicare.

Remember how last year the Supreme Court, lead by a cowed Chief Justice John Roberts, finally settled in the affirmative the legality of ObamaCare’s core individual mandate, which takes effect next January?

Read More: http://news.investors.com/

Read more: http://MinuteMenNews.com/2013/04/as-obamacare-crumbles-obama-return...

Comment by Gordon Ray Kissinger on April 3, 2013 at 8:33pm: Fed Gov't to Hire Tens of Thousands of 'Navigators'

Tens of thousands of health care professionals, union workers and community activists hired as "navigators" to help Americans choose Obamacare options starting Oct. 1 will be paid up to $48 an hour, more than six times the federal minimum wage of $7.25, according to new regulations issued Wednesday.

The 63-page rule covering navigators, drawn up by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, also said the government will provide free translators for those not fluent in English -- no matter what their native language is.

"The proposed requirements would also include that such entities and individuals provide consumers with information and assistance in the consumer's preferred language, at no cost to the consumer, which would include oral interpretation of non-English languages and the translation of written documents in non-English languages when necessary to ensure meaningful access," said the regulations.

The rules also addressed conflict of interest and other potential issues that navigators could face as the public's first stop on the Obamacare trail.

It is still not clear how many navigators will be required. California, however, provides a hint. It wants 21,000.

That could be an expensive proposition, since every one of them must be paid a minimum of $20 an hour. According to the new regulations, navigators and assistants will earn $20 an hour, while navigator project leaders will earn $29 an hour. Navigator senior executives will be paid $48 an hour.

The rules allow navigators to come from the ranks of unions, health providers and community action groups such as ACORN and Planned Parenthood. They are required to provide unbiased advice.

Some in Congress are already wary of the navigators. Louisiana Republican Rep. Charles Boustany Jr., chairman of the House Ways and Means Oversight subcommittee, has raised questions about a voter registration provision in the Obamacare application Americans will have to fill out to receive health care, and whether Democratic-leaning activists will influence which party people choose to join.

http://yourtubenews.ning.com/forum/topic/show?id=3181219%3ATopic%3A...

Comment by Gordon Ray Kissinger on April 3, 2013 at 8:04pm: Obamacare Incompetence

Let me try to understand this: The key incentive for small businesses to support Obamacare was that they would be able to shop for the best deals in health care super-stores—called exchanges. The Administration has had 3 years to set up these exchanges. It has failed to do so.

This is a really bad sign. There will be those who argue that it’s not the Administration’s fault. It’s the fault of the 33 states that have refused to set up their own exchanges. Nonsense. Where was the contingency planning? There certainly are models, after all—the federal government’s own health benefits plan (FEHBP) operates markets that exist in all 50 states. So does Medicare Advantage. But now, the Obama Administration has announced that it won’t have the exchanges ready in time, that small businesses will be offered one choice for the time being—for a year, at least. No doubt, small business owners will be skeptical of the Obama Administration’s belief in the efficacy of the market system to produce lower prices through competition. That was supposed to be the point of this plan.

Certainly, the Republicans who have stood in the way of these exchanges—their own idea, by the way, born in the conservative Heritage Foundation—deserve a great deal of the “credit” for the debacle. But we are now seeing weekly examples of this Administration’s inability to govern. Just a few weeks ago, I reported on the failure of the Department of Defense and the Veterans Administration to come up with a unified electronic health care records system. There has also been the studied inattention to the myriad of ineffective job training programs scattered through the bureaucracy. There have been the oblique and belated efforts to reform Head Start, a $7 billion program that a study conducted by its own bureaucracy—the Department of Health and Human Services—has found nearly worthless. The list is endless.

Yes, the President has faced a terrible economic crisis—and he has done well to limit the damage. He has also succeeded in avoiding disasters overseas. But, as a Democrat—as someone who believes in activist government—he has a vested interest in seeing that federal programs actually work efficiently. I don’t see much evidence that this is anywhere near the top of his priorities.

One thing is clear: Obamacare will fail if he doesn’t start paying more attention to the details of implementation, if he doesn’t start demanding action. And, in a larger sense, the notion of activist government will be in peril—despite the demographics flowing the Democrats’ way—if institutions like the VA and Obamacare don’t deliver the goods. Sooner or later, the Republican party may come to understand that its best argument isn’t about tearing down the government we have, but making it run more efficiently.

Sooner or later, the Democrats may come to understand that making it run efficiently is the prerequisite for maintaining power.

Read more: http://swampland.time.com/2013/04/02/obamacare-incompetence/#ixzz2P...

Comment by Gordon Ray Kissinger on April 3, 2013 at 8:03pm: Obamacare Incompetence

Let me try to understand this: The key incentive for small businesses to support Obamacare was that they would be able to shop for the best deals in health care super-stores—called exchanges. The Administration has had 3 years to set up these exchanges. It has failed to do so.

This is a really bad sign. There will be those who argue that it’s not the Administration’s fault. It’s the fault of the 33 states that have refused to set up their own exchanges. Nonsense. Where was the contingency planning? There certainly are models, after all—the federal government’s own health benefits plan (FEHBP) operates markets that exist in all 50 states. So does Medicare Advantage. But now, the Obama Administration has announced that it won’t have the exchanges ready in time, that small businesses will be offered one choice for the time being—for a year, at least. No doubt, small business owners will be skeptical of the Obama Administration’s belief in the efficacy of the market system to produce lower prices through competition. That was supposed to be the point of this plan.

Certainly, the Republicans who have stood in the way of these exchanges—their own idea, by the way, born in the conservative Heritage Foundation—deserve a great deal of the “credit” for the debacle. But we are now seeing weekly examples of this Administration’s inability to govern. Just a few weeks ago, I reported on the failure of the Department of Defense and the Veterans Administration to come up with a unified electronic health care records system. There has also been the studied inattention to the myriad of ineffective job training programs scattered through the bureaucracy. There have been the oblique and belated efforts to reform Head Start, a $7 billion program that a study conducted by its own bureaucracy—the Department of Health and Human Services—has found nearly worthless. The list is endless.

Yes, the President has faced a terrible economic crisis—and he has done well to limit the damage. He has also succeeded in avoiding disasters overseas. But, as a Democrat—as someone who believes in activist government—he has a vested interest in seeing that federal programs actually work efficiently. I don’t see much evidence that this is anywhere near the top of his priorities.

One thing is clear: Obamacare will fail if he doesn’t start paying more attention to the details of implementation, if he doesn’t start demanding action. And, in a larger sense, the notion of activist government will be in peril—despite the demographics flowing the Democrats’ way—if institutions like the VA and Obamacare don’t deliver the goods. Sooner or later, the Republican party may come to understand that its best argument isn’t about tearing down the government we have, but making it run more efficiently.

Sooner or later, the Democrats may come to understand that making it run efficiently is the prerequisite for maintaining power.

Read more: http://swampland.time.com/2013/04/02/obamacare-incompetence/#ixzz2P...

Comment by Gordon Ray Kissinger on April 1, 2013 at 8:55pm

DEMOCRATS REALIZE THEIR POLICIES SUCK!

I won’t go as far as calling this an Easter miracle, but it is noteworthy. The Democrats crafted the rotten Obamacare law, and then voted for it before they read it all, and now they want to repeal parts of it. It’s amazing that these incompetents managed to continue winning elections. But I suppose when the media allows them to get away with blaming the other side for their own failures, anything is possible.

First they said they want to repeal the medical device tax, now this:

A big political story this year is likely to be Democrats turning on their White House minders as the harmful and unpopular parts of the Affordable Care Act ramp up. On the heels of the recent 79-20 Senate uprising against the 2.3% medical device tax, now comes the surge of Democrats pleading on behalf of Medicare Advantage.

Liberals have claimed for years to hate this program, but by now Advantage provides private insurance coverage to more than one of four seniors. And those seniors like it.

However, the ObamaCare true believers who run the Health and Human Services Department don’t answer to voters, and they have written draft regulations that cut Medicare Advantage even more deeply than Congress mandated in the Affordable Care Act. Those cuts will bite hardest in states like Oregon (where 42% of Medicare beneficiaries use Advantage), or Florida (37%), New York (33%), California (37%) and Arizona (38%).

The extra cuts stem from HHS’s discretion and were dropped from the sky with no warning in February. More than a few Democrats seem to have caught the anvil. Some 139 Members of Congress have formally objected in 16 letters to HHS so far, and the signers include 26 Democrats in the House and 13 in the Senate. (Read More)

Those 13 in the Senate include New York Senator Chuck Schumer and his little puppet Kirsten Gillibrand. Maybe the next time they’ll read the legislation before they vote for it. Then again, that might be asking a bit too much of these mental midgets, who only seem capable of showing up for photo-ops and mugging for the cameras.

http://lonelyconservative.com/2013/03/democrats-realize-their-polic...

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Comment by Chuck Cottom 19 hours ago: Either way it goes, we the people will come out on the short end unless congress is covered by our insurance they forced on us

Comment by mark thompson 22 hours ago: Seems like there are plenty of richards.....know what I mean Christine.

Comment by Christine Garcia 23 hours ago: Any politician who robs Peter to pay Paul can always count on the support of Paul. Well, DUH!

And it looks like there are a lot more Pauls out there than Peters. Plus the Pauls vote more than once and don't need voter IDs!

Comment by James Allen Greenough 23 hours ago: All of Obama care needs to be repealed!!! The sooner the better!!!

Comment by H, yabbadabbadoo yesterday: The members of congress don't really care. They will tell any lie and pander to any cause that will cause them to gain elected office. The stupider the electorate is, the easier it is for them to be deceived. They are stupid for a reason, The laws they pass do not effect them personally. It is mind over matter. They don't mind and we all don't matter. Otherwise the stupidity would have stopped a long time ago.

As long as them mooks clamor for their EBT cards and their O-phones and they have the right to vote; the democrats will give them what they want to obtain elected office no matter how bad is screw up the country financially. Now the republic is paying the price for short signed politicians and those who prefer not to work fora living.

Sad but true.

mech