Sometimes, I get so mad at Republicans, I can’t see straight. (Note to Foreign Readers: When I said, “I’m so mad, I can’t see straight, that’s just an expression. I can see straight. See, it sorta means, well, oh never mind.”
Where was I?
STAN: He does that a lot.
HARRIET: Who does what a lot?
STAN: Goldenbergstein. He starts out on one topic, then drifts off into something else.
At a recent rally, the trousers of two Republican Senators suffered spontaneous combustion when they began a speech with, “You can trust us. We’re Republicans.” (Image from Jay Branscomb)
Oh, I remember now. I’m flaming mad at Republicans. Again. Not that the Democrats are a party to text home about. Both parties suck when it comes to doing the job they were elected to do. Namely, representing their constituents AND proactively promoting the life, liberty and pursuit of happiness of all Americans.
I do think Republicans have earned one award for leadership. They are the biggest liars on the face of the Earth! Case in point? What they’ve been saying about the Affordable Care Act Act, also dubbed ObamaCare by our “fiends across the aisle.”
It turns out that five states who have studied ObamaCare carefully think it will bring healthcare costs down. Just what it was meant to do.
Now I’m sure you’ve heard terrible things about ObamaCare. About how it was going to ruin healthcare in America. Forever. I’ve heard it so many times, I started to believe it.
Ever since President Obama’s Day One, January 20, 2009, the Republican leadershi* has done everything they could to wreck every proposal supported by the President. Not that all the things Obama and Democrats proposed were all good for America, mind you. You don’t have to be a student of political science (an oxymoron, for sure) to realize that politicians of BOTH political parties care about one thing above all else. And it isn’t the American people. It all about getting re-elected. Everything else be damned.
The Party of No. Not the Party of Know.
But the GOP (Grand Ol’ Prostitutes) haven’t been very discriminating when it comes to their criticism of Obama. They were consistent, however. They HATED Everything Obama! And when he got re-elected, they doubled down their hatred. They were the party of No acting like they were the party of Know.
It wouldn’t matter if the President said, “George Washington was the first president of the United States,” Senators Lindsay Graham, Mitch McConnell and that ditsy lady who was Governor of the Eskimos would call on their Republican brethren and sisteren to “denounce the bald-faced lies emanating from Oval Office.”
Never mind, that Obama isn’t even bald!
STAN: Harriet, don’t you think we should do something about it?
HARRIET: About what? About the fact that the Republicans are bigger liars than the Democrats? I think it’s a little late for that.
STAN: No. No. About the fact that Goldberger…
HARREIT: Goldenberg, Stan, Jack Goldenberg. (HARRIET CORRECTS STAN.) The least you can do is get the name right of the man who created you. After all, you’re just a Fig Newton of his imagination. (Let the foreign Readers try to figure that one out.)
STAN: Goldberg. Goldenberg. Whatever? If Goldenbergowicz doesn’t get to the point soon, his Readers will have to go somewhere else for their eight Minutes of Brilliance.
HARRIET: Ten minutes.
STAN: Whatever.
But let me get to the point. The danger in hearing all the lies and venom spewing forth from the Grand Old Party, a k a, the Republicans. is that you hear something so many times, it starts to ring true.
Judith Leiber makes gorgeous pocketbooks. Personally, I prefer handbags designed by Masha Keja.
Here’s my evidence, members of the jury. The Affordable Care Act. The national law that, among other things, gave all Americans a healthcare plan that prohibited insurance companies from considering preexisting conditions and protected American wallets and Judith Leiber pocketbooks from catastrophic illnesses.
It’s safe to say, you haven’t heard much that is good about the Affordable Care Act. Republicans said it would destroy US healthcare as we know it, bankrupt companies, and send healthcare costs so sky high, only those buried in the ground would be able to afford it.
Nonsense. Poppyc*ck. It just ain’t true!
Honest Abe was a great Republican President, but even he misspoke from time to tine, His claim to have grown up in a house made entirely of Lincoln Logs just doesn’t ring true.
In a front page story in yesterday’s New York Times (that’s right Republicans, the NY Times!), it was reported that the cost of individual health care plans for New Yorkers under the Affordable Care Act will be 50% less than they are today.
What? What? Fifty percent less? How is that possible? How could it be? Is this just another half truth, mis-truth on out and out lie promulgated by Barack and Crew?
No, it is true. To quote the NY Times:
“State insurance regulators say they have approved rates for 2014 that are at least 50 percent lower on average than those currently available in New York. Beginning in October, individuals in New York City who now pay $1,000 a month or more for coverage will be able to shop for health insurance for as little as $308 monthly. With federal subsidies, the cost will be even lower.
Supporters of the new health care law, the Affordable Care Act, credited the drop in rates to the online purchasing exchanges the law created, which they say are spurring competition among insurers that are anticipating an influx of new customers. The law requires that an exchange be started in every state.”
The Affordable Care Act is not the monstrosity many Republicans believe it to be. There are many good provisions in it. Also, some bad ideas added by pork barrel Republicans AND Democrats.
And New York isn’t the only state to report that healthcare costs will go down once the Affordable Care Act goes into effect and competition starts to rule the marketplace. Four other states have also reported they expect the costs for individual healthcare insurance will drop as competition increases. Many other states, fearing the worst, haven’t even looked into the possibility that healthcare costs may go down. they may be surprise at what they will find.
Republicans been saying all along that the Affordable Care Act is the worst thing to hit America since sliced rotten bread. Republicans warned that the new healthcare act would threaten the country with sky-high healthcare costs so prohibitive, only rich Republicans could afford it.
Oh, well, as Roseanne Roseanna Danna used to say: “Nevermind.”
Nancy Pelosi, the former Squeaker of the House
This next paragraph is not totally true. The new few paragraphs after it will explain why.
Now, of course, I would be remiss if I left my Brilliant Readers with the impression that the Affordable Care Act doesn’t have some provisions that may be more harmful than helpful. But whatever the failures of the bill, they all can’t be blamed on the Republicans. Democrats share the blame too, and no one is more of a culprit than the leader of the Minority Party in the House, the former Squeaker herself, Nancy Pelosi, who actually had the nerve and stupidity to say: “But we have to pass the [healthcare ] bill so that you can find out what is in it.”
After I wrote the above paragraph, I decided to check out whether she could have really said that the House of Representative should pass the bill without reading it. She did. But only when you take it out of context is there anything wrong with what she said. Here, first watch how Fox News reported it:
OK, Pelosi did say what Fox News said she said, but only when you distort the truth of what she meant and take it out of context.
Here ‘s the TRUTH in context. It’s a little messy and hard to understand, that’s why it’s so much easier to believe what the Republicans want you to believe.
Republicans first said ObamaCare was all about abortion. When that didn’t take hold, they said it was about Death Squads who would soon decide who lives and who dies. When that was proved false, they said the bill would be a huge job killer.
Representative Pelosi knew the Affordable Care Act was about prevention and prohibitive preexisting conditions. She knew that since the bill would open up competition among insurance companies, costs would eventually go down.
Her comment about “passing the bill without reading it” was NOT meant to make the bill a law, only to clarify the truth of the bill, so that when the proposed bill reached the Senate, they would get a better idea of what the bill was about.
It a process called reconciliation where the Senate and House bills are compared so Congress can reach a consensus. Pelosi knew the House bill would never pass the Senate,. So she knew she needed the bill to pass so there was something to compare to the Senate bill.
Confused? Of course you are, and so am I. But that’s exactly what the Dirty Tricksters would want. Lies are much easier to accept when you don’t have all the facts.
And the Republicans and Fox News wouldn’t have it any other way.
OK, Readers you made it the end even thought today’s blog was a little short on humor.
STAN: Who are you calling a little short?
I had hoped to use today’s blog to show you photographs I took of alien spaceships landing in a field in Owings Mills, Maryland. And the shots I took of the alien family once they morphed into human form.
That will have to wait until next time.
Thanks for stopping by.
Hi Jack…reading you from France now and lol-ing over the foreign reader references…I guess I fall into that category, especially after needing some interpretation (helps having a 30-something son) of some of the last blog’s Facebook piece. Incidentally, here in France a comedian has a riotous sketch calling that phenomenon,”Face de Bouc” (a bouc is a ram). I adored the pants on fire photo and soooo agree with your assessment of the Affordable Care Act. Happy to be reading you. Take care and keep up the great blogging! Oh yeah…what’s the Judith Leiber purse story? I guess my pop culture knowledge keeps me in the “foreign reader” category!
Well, the republicans are not the only ones lying. The Indianna State Insuance Department is lying too.
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Obamacare will be costly for Hoosiers who already have health insurance, according to a report from Indystar.com.
“Insurance rates in Indiana will increase 72 percent for those with individual plans and 8 percent for small group plans under President Barack Obama’s healthcare overhaul, according to the state’s insurance department,” reads the report.
“The spike in costs is due primarily to new mandates under the law, which requires insurers to cover those with pre-existing conditions and to offer a minimum level of benefits, said Logan Harrison, chief deputy commissioner with the Indiana Department of Insurance under Republican Gov. Mike Pence. New taxes and fees under the law also contributed, Harrison said.
The Indiana governor tells the paper: “This new data regrettably confirms the negative impact of the Affordable Care Act on the insurance market in Indiana. … The Affordable Care Act requires many Hoosiers to purchase more comprehensive and more expensive health insurance than they may want or need. These rates call into question just how affordable health insurance will really be for many Hoosiers.”
Costs for individual plans is expected to increase from an average of $255 per member per month in 2012 to $570 in 2014, when the most aspects of the law go into effect.
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And that Republican-loving Democrat Chuck Schumer is lying too…
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Sen. Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat and longtime backer of President Obama’s Affordable Care Act, said that insurance rates are likely to spike – and “Obamacare” is partly to blame.
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And the Ohio Department of Insurance is lying, as well as one of the nation’s leading actuarial firms. This conspiracy is vast!!
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on Thursday(6/6/2013), the Ohio Department of Insurance announced that, based on the rates submitted by insurers to date, the average individual-market health insurance premium in 2014 will come in around $420, “representing an increase of 88 percent” relative to 2013. “We have warned of these increases,” said Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor in a statement. “Consumers will have fewer choices and pay much higher premiums for their health insurance starting in 2014.”
The rates that Ohio reported are proposed rates; the Department of Insurance still has to formally approve them. “A total of 14 companies proposed rates for 214 plans to the Department. Projected costs from the companies for providing coverage for the required [by Obamacare] essential health benefits ranged from $282.51 to $577.40 for individual health insurance plans.”
It’s called “rate shock,” but it’s not shocking to people who understand the economics of health insurance. In August 2011, Milliman, one of the nation’s leading actuarial firms, predicted that Obamacare would increase individual-market premiums in Ohio by 55 to 85 percent. This past March, the Society of Actuaries projected that the law would increase premiums in that market by 81 percent. Like good players on “The Price is Right,” they both came in just under the Dept. of Insurance’s figure.
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And the fact that my own insurance rates have already gone up shows just how deeply this lie has been swallowed. Even the insurance companies are lying. I’ve got the evidence right here on my bill.
I’m so glad it’s not true though. What do they say? Liberalism is bliss. That’s how the saying goes, right? Because, I’m a blissful liberal, relaxing in the knowledge that everyone is just lying and there’s nothing to worry about. Maybe if I move to Detroit where liberalism has reigned since 1961 I can get away from all these lies and live in a liberal utopia.
We’re both right to some extent. You’re right because the government, which doesn’t have to make a profit, will be able to offer rates lower than any private insurance. I’m right because the rules of the new healthcare make insurance more expensive and will force private insurance rates up.
The end result will be, the government system wins, private insurance goes out of business, and then the IRS controls everyone’s healthcare. And if your telephone activity shows that you’re a likely democrat voter, you’ll get that cancer treatment you need. But if your tax forms show donations to the NRA, well, we just can’t afford to treat everyone.
Stan: I never thought of it that way.
Harriet: What way?
Stan: Well, if the government controls your healthcare, and spies on your every phone call, email, text message, and Google search, and they decide to connect the dots, well, they could discourage grassroots political movements. People would be too afraid to donate to, or get involved in causes that the government doesn’t like.
Harriet: I don’t think we should be talking about this. Our creator is listening and we’re just here to make silly comments.
Stan: Right. Forgive me Goldenrod.
When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. When the government fears the people, there is liberty.
~Thomas Jefferson
Not a job killer, huh? So explain the unemployment trends since that awful law passed. Unemployment spiked like a rocket immediately following passage and has only trended down to 60% higher than per-Obama numbers since then.
http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS14000000
But that’s still Bush’s fault. Right? As bad as the politicians are, I am most offended by the citizenry. The devotion and worship of this empty suit known as Barack Obama is the greatest offense to our nation that she has even endured. He is a criminal.
10minutesofbrilliance? More like 3 minutes of talking points. And, for the record, the NY Times is not some holy writ. It is widely known to lean so far to the right that ink is found on the floor in deep puddles.
Jack,
Today was my first trip to your site… and I loved it. I especially appreciated the relatively even handed treatment of both sides of the ACA that you showed. (Yeh, I know; “relative” is a very relative term!!!)
In my later years now, and I’m still a year or so younger than you, I tend to no longer jump out of my skin at issues like this, even though they are of monumental importance. To all of my Republican friends, and I have several, I say, “Give Obamacare some time.” Everyone acknowledges that there are plenty of screw-ups in the bill, but these too will get straightened out. FDR got just as much grief in the 30’s when the SSA was passed and the government started collecting taxes for it. It seems that Social Security has worked well for many years now, even though it now needs a major overhaul if our kids hope to enjoy its benefits.
In closing, let me just say that all of this hoop-la will pass as time goes on and calmer heads finally prevail to make the necessary “corrections”. Finally, I must say that I still remember what either Warren or you told me as we discussed Nixon’s assent to the Presidency; “Americans get not only the president that they voted for, but the president that they deserve!”
T
Jack,
While I do support the ACA, it is important to get the facts right. Healthcare coverage costs are going down in those states that implement the Act because of the federal subsidies that are funded with taxpayer dollars. Further, the big thing in my opinion that the Act is credited for, is its effect on slowing the increase in healthcare costs themselves. If America can get those increases under control, we might have an opportunity to get a handle on the entire industry.
Obamacare is certainly no panacea. What it is currently is a reasonable start in the right direction to rein-in the formerly uncontrolled explosion of costs to try to keep our citizenry healthy. If the results of those efforts would be as spectacular as the bills that they accumulate are, perhaps it would be worth the costs. The point is mute however. Just yesterday, I heard on NPR that the US ranks somewhere around 26th to 33rd in quality of overall healthcare services. If I got that fact right, then our efforts across the board in services rendered as well as costs to provide them need overhauling. That’s another matter altogether and for another day.
To paraphrase Fareed Zakaria, “For now, that is how I see it.” Take care and L’shanah tovah.
T