It's the day after Halloween and my pail was full of candy.
"Besieged President Obama heads to Boston; Speaks at Faneuil Hall today as attacks mount on health care law rollout" by Christopher Rowland | Globe Staff, October 30, 2013
Oh, the poor "besieged" president. No bias there.
WASHINGTON — President Obama, on a symbolic trip to Boston’s Faneuil Hall Wednesday, will highlight the Bay State’s success at expanding insurance coverage and its status as a national model as he seeks to stem the political damage caused by the rocky rollout of his national plan....
He's going to contribute the the greenhouse gas problem with a symbolic trip to raise campaign cash?
Even as the White House planned that defensive strategy, the administration was forced Tuesday to deflect the latest round of complaints about the health plan debut — this time that hundreds of thousands of Americans are receiving notices canceling coverage, mostly of bare-bones, individual health plans that do not meet new minimum standards.
Related: Slow Saturday Special: Obamacare Has Been Cancelled
Republicans in Congress cited the cancellations to contend that Obama broke his own promise in 2009 that Americans under his law could keep their existing insurance, if they liked it. The president’s promise ultimately did not square with the fine print of the 2010 act.
We call that a lie.
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News of widespread cancellations spread as officials and a squad of private contractors labored behind the scenes to fix the faulty Affordable Care Act marketplace websites, which have prevented people from signing up for subsidized insurance....
Related:
"Montreal-based CGI, one of the developers questioned over trouble with the website, is the same company that has overhauled the Connector’s website to comply with the federal law. The state site has had some technical problems, but it is running more smoothly than the federal portal."
They hired a FOREIGN FIRM to do this?
Also see: Done With Deloitte
I gue$$ bank ATMs are the only quality product they put out, huh?
Obama continued to come under fire in Congress for not explaining who in the administration was responsible for the flawed launch of the marketplace....
He's passing the buck?
Citing debilitating technical problems in the websites, Republicans and some Democrats are demanding that Americans be given a reprieve from the March 31 requirement to obtain insurance.
Even they are running from Obamacare now. It's politically toxic to support.
Obama’s visit to Massachusetts — where 97 percent of state residents have health care coverage — will provide a counterpoint to expected news Wednesday out of Washington. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius will face a grilling before Congress for the first time since the digital marketplace flopped dramatically on Oct. 1.
In a preview of Sebelius’s testimony, Marilyn Tavenner, the director of the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, who answers to Sebelius, issued the clearest administration apology to date on Tuesday before the House Ways and Means Committee.
“To the millions of Americans who’ve attempted to use HealthCare.gov to shop and enroll in health-care coverage, I want to apologize to you that the website has not worked as well as it should,’’ Tavenner said. “This initial experience has not lived up to our expectations, or the expectations of the American people, and it is not acceptable.”
Why didn't you listen to the consultants who said there were problems?
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Congress still has not received a clear answer from the administration on what went wrong with the federal insurance marketplace, which is estimated to have cost about $500 million.
Half a BILLION dollars for a piece of $hit!!
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Republicans in Congress seized on insurance plan cancellations in the individual market — which covers about 5 percent of Americans — to accuse Obama of breaking promises that people would be allowed to keep their coverage and their doctors if they liked them.
That means the cancellations aren't that serious, huh -- unless you get one.
As the law was written, that presidential promise was heavily qualified....
Translation: the lie was for your own good.
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No mention of the campaign stop?
"Health law will work, Obama insists" by Matt Viser | Globe Staff, October 31, 2013
President Obama came to Boston on Wednesday to deliver his most impassioned defense of his health care program since the bungled marketplace launch earlier this month, returning to the intellectual birthplace of his landmark legislation to defend its integrity.
Speaking before a boisterous crowd of health care executives, Massachusetts politicians, and families, he sought to frame the setbacks as temporary — as they were in Massachusetts — and part of the broad process of meaningful market reforms....
I'm $ure they are looking out for your health as they keep their eye on the bottom line.
In some of his most emphatic terms yet, the president accepted responsibility for computer crashes and other crippling problems of the rollout, and said he was trying to fix them.
Finally?
“There’s no excuse for it,” Obama said. “And I take full responsibly for making sure it gets fixed ASAP.”
The political damage control really doesn't make me feel any better.
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On the friendly political turf of Boston, the president acted part salesman (“The deal is good, the prices are low”) and part as an angry defender (“We are going to see this through!”).
Two things: Premiums are doubling and tripling so he's still lying, and if a car is traveling towards a brick wall at 100 mph it's no problem with Obama at the wheel.
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But this week, the administration has had to deflect complaints that hundreds of thousands of Americans are receiving notices canceling coverage, running counter to Obama’s pledge that, “If you like your plan, you can keep it.”
Oh it's only 5 percent of the people so who cares if he lied?
The cancellations are of bare-bones plans that do not meet new minimum standards and affect about 5 percent of Americans. Those weaker plans, many of them held by consumers in the individual insurance market, often do not cover certain treatments and have lifetime caps on coverage.
But it is BETTER than NOTHING!
Obama encouraged those who are having their policies canceled to “shop around in the new marketplace,” and he said they would discover they are eligible for better plans than the ones they had previously.
Please tell me he DID NOT SAY THAT after the PAST MONTH? Please tell me my president is not totally disconnected and delusional. What prescription pharmaceuticals is he on, and how can I get some?
But several times Obama conceded that people are having a hard time shopping in that new marketplace because the website has been plagued with problems....
Oh, that is sure big of him.
In Washington on Wednesday, before Obama landed in Boston, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius was grilled in Congress about the problems with the health care act’s launch. She called the rollout a “debacle’’ and said Americans should hold her accountable....
Then you're fired!
Related: Kathleen Sebelius apologizes for health site’s malfunctions
Not good enough.
Obama flew to Boston aboard Air Force One in the early afternoon. With the sun breaking through partly cloudy skies, the plane landed at Logan International Airport at 2:46 p.m. Obama was joined making his way from the plane by House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, Representatives John Tierney and William Keating of Massachusetts, Representative Steve Israel of New York, and Representative David Cicilline of Rhode Island.
He was greeted at the bottom of the steps by Patrick and Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino. Menino gave the president a Red Sox baseball cap.
Before the speech, Obama stopped with Boston Celtics legend Bill Russell to view a statue of Russell that is being unveiled this week on City Hall Plaza.
Related:
"Celtics legend Bill Russell was briefly detained and cited for bringing a loaded handgun into a Seattle airport in his carry-on bag on Wednesday night, officials said. Russell was scheduled to fly to Boston. It was not clear if he boarded his intended flight or a later one. Perry Cooper, a spokesman for Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, said Russell was cited for having a weapon in a prohibited area, and he was released to continue his travels after being detained for about 30 minutes. The gun was confiscated, Cooper said. A spokeswoman for the Transportation Security Administration said the loaded .38 caliber Smith & Wesson was detected during routine screening of carry-on luggage."
I'll bet Obama speaks to him about that.
Following the speech, Obama headed to Weston for a reception and dinner fund-raiser where about 60 high-powered, moneyed attendees filled Democratic coffers. The event was hosted by longtime Democratic fund-raiser Alan D. Solomont and his wife, Susan.
That is why he was coming here and why he is contributing to the global-warming problem.
Obama was scheduled to head to the airport after the fund-raiser, leaving about an hour before the first pitch is thrown at Fenway to start Game 6 of the World Series.
“I am well aware that a presidential visit is not the biggest thing going on today in Boston,” Obama said as he warmed up the audience at Faneuil Hall. “I tried to grow a beard. But Michelle, she wasn’t having it.”
That is a sad statement, isn't it?
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I hope he had security during his visit:
"World Series, President Obama visit pose challenge; Law enforcement from 40 communities expected to help ensure Boston is safe" by Maria Cramer | Globe Staff, October 30, 2013
A clinching World Series game at Fenway Park would be a security headache under any circumstances. Add in a visit from President Obama on the eve of Halloween and Boston police are concerned they will have an extraordinary time keeping traffic and revelers under control.
“The World Series, a visit from the president, and Halloween all at the same time. You can’t make this stuff up,” said Boston Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis, whose last day leading the department is Friday.
????
See: Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis departs
Going to be a "hackathon" over at M.I.T., huh?
Also see: Menino the Mercenary
Among his final tasks will be to oversee the deployment of thousands of police officers across the city Wednesday afternoon, when Obama arrives at Faneuil Hall to defend his health care overhaul.
By the time Obama leaves for a fund-raising event in Weston, police officers will have to take their places around Fenway, Kenmore Square, and other parts of the city known to attract sports fans as the Red Sox take on the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 6. If the Red Sox win, police would have to contend with masses of celebrants who would flood the streets.
If the Cardinals force a Game 7, police would have to come out again on Halloween, an already busy night in Boston, when children are out trick-or-treating and costumed adults head to bars and parties.
They didn't have to worry about it: Globe Grab Bag: Fenway $ellebration
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As fans file into the park, police will have a significant number of bomb-sniffing dogs and officers who specialize in detecting and detonating explosives on the streets.
State Police and police agencies from about 40 cities and towns will have troopers and officers on the streets to augment the city’s numbers. MBTA and State Police will also add bomb-sniffing canines.
State Police will provide a helicopter equipped with a camera that will zoom in on crowds and feed images in real time to police on the ground.
Undercover officers will be stationed strategically around the city to watch for anyone acting suspiciously.
There is no known terror threat anticipated, according to officials.
Is there ever?
Davis said police had no intention of discouraging people from wearing masks or bulky costumes. He said it is unlikely that anyone looking to commit a terrorist act would dress in costume.
“Somebody who is trying to get away with something like that is more likely to dress normally” and blend in, Davis said.
???????? Disguises no longer work for "terrorists?"
In recent years, police have changed their strategies for dealing with crowds. In the past, officers suited up in black riot gear and batons descended on jubilant crowds that flooded the streets, a practice which often led to tense confrontations.
That didn't work out to well, if I recall correctly.
Now, the strategy is to have lines of officers in regular uniform and reflective vests supervise the crowds and let fans celebrate within confined spaces....
Hopefully no one will be killed by the cops this time.
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Also see: President needs Management 101
He's got help:
"A better way to tackle health law" by Farah Stockman | Globe Columnist, October 22, 2013
In 1958, four years after the Supreme Court ruled segregation unconstitutional, the state of Virginia opted to shut down its public school system rather than integrate it. Virginia’s plan to stop integration by starving its own schools of funding was framed as heroic resistance to the federal government’s intrusion into the lives of ordinary Americans. The architects of Virginia’s partial government shutdown claimed the fight was about freedom. About halting creeping communism. And saving the country from certain doom.
Sound familiar?
No.
Just like the leaders of our recent partial government shutdown, Virginian politicians magnified the greatest fears of their constituents and captured national attention. Virginia’s Governor J. Lindsay Almond Jr., made the cover of Time magazine. And just like the leaders of the 2013 shutdown, he failed. Within months, he reopened the schools.
The tragedy then, as now, was that the hysteria surrounding integration shifted focus away from serious thinking about the very real challenges integration would bring. Instead of preparing their people for what would come — and brainstorming ways to minimize the disruption of the new system — Virginia politicians hardened opposition to a policy they would one day be forced to implement.
Today, the politicians fighting the Affordable Care Act are making the same mistake.
Instead of pointing out the very real and serious flaws in the new health care law, they repeat hyperbolic dubious claims.
Like the president's promise?
And more often than not those "hyperbolic dubious claims" are proved to be true later.
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Wouldn’t it be better if, instead of mimicking a doomsday cult, these Obamacare opponents would highlight actual problems that really do exist?
Okay:
"Chief executives at nonprofit hospitals earned an average of $600,000 a year — and in some cases, more than $3 million — but there was no correlation between high pay and good outcomes for patients, according to a study. These hospitals get big tax exemptions for providing charity care and other community benefits."
Related: Globe $alutes CEOs
That's funny!
For instance, there is a danger that the law makes it too easy for employers to “game the system” by choosing to pay the penalty for failing to provide health insurance instead of the premiums. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that some 7 million people might lose their current insurance because of that. Smart people who are worried about Obamacare ought to be talking about how to solve that problem.
Interesting that they are not.
Others fret that employees themselves might opt to pay the relatively small fine instead of signing up for a health insurance plan. Since they can’t be denied due to pre-existing conditions, there is the risk of moral hazard: People might sign up only when they are sick. That would make the system too expensive to sustain.
Already happening.
And perhaps the biggest looming challenge is how to handle the cost. We still don’t know whether the program will end up saving the federal government money in the long run, or end up costing lots of money.
Related: Obamacare Nothing But a Ca$h Grab by Bankrupt AmeriKan Government
That answers that que$tion.
The new law has created centers for innovation that could eventually pioneer ways to make health care more efficient. Paying doctors to keep clients healthy — rather than for each and every procedure — might result in better, cheaper health care. But then again, the Affordable Care Act could cause hospitals to consolidate and drive up costs.
She's for healthcare rationing?
The uncertain impact on the federal budget is a cause for concern — not just for the doomsday cult caucus, but for everybody.
I take that as a compliment.
Wouldn’t it be nice if fiscal conservatives focused on problem-solving about that? Every new law has flaws, especially one as complex as this.
After the insurance companies took all that time writing it? it's got flaws? WTF?
The problem is that neither Democrats nor Republicans have an interest in fixing what’s broken here. Democrats don’t want to admit anything is broken and Republicans don’t want to admit it can be fixed.
They are now because it is costing them politically.
So we are likely to live with the flaws in the Affordable Care Act for years to come....
Which is why the BAD LAW needs to be SCRAPPED like OTHER BAD LAWS! We don't have to "live with it."
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Also see:
The Downfall of a Once Great Reporter
Sunday Globe Special: H1-B Hijacking
Deen Overdone
Farah is Half Right
Feeling Sorry For Farah Stockman
Not anymore.
"As budget talks open, US says deficit fell" by Jackie Calmes and Jonathan Weisman | New York Times, October 31, 2013
WASHINGTON — Congressional budget negotiations opened Wednesday with a show of bipartisan conciliation but warning signs that Republicans and Democrats remained far apart on taxes and changes to entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare.
Senators and representatives handpicked by their leadership acknowledged the stakes as they met for the first time to hammer out a tax and spending plan that would avert future fiscal crises, including another government shutdown as early as mid-January.
The two lead negotiators, Representative Paul D. Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican, and Senator Patty Murray, a Washington Democrat, both said they were ready to reach a compromise.
But those pledges came with warnings.
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The budget negotiations stem from the deal reached this month to reopen the government after a 16-day shutdown and to raise its statutory borrowing limit.
It didn't raise it, it eliminated it.
The negotiating conference has until Dec. 13 to reach an agreement, leaving enough time for the House and Senate appropriations committees to draft spending bills that would avert another shutdown Jan. 15, when the government is again set to run out of money.
Related: Democratic senator seeks tally of shutdown cost
It actually cost taxpayers money because they were actually paid holidays for the federal workers, and the Globe tells me that was taxpayer dollars put to good use.
The lead negotiators have already indicated that they are not aiming for a sweeping “grand bargain” that would overhaul the entire tax code, make fundamental changes to programs like Medicare, and shave trillions of dollars from the $17 trillion national debt. Instead, they are aiming at an accord that would stave off the next round of across-the-board spending cuts, known as sequestration, while building confidence for a larger agreement in the near future.
But even that deal will not be easy.
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Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Republican, said he was willing to address the cost of Medicare, which is swelling with the aging population.
He's a Democrat, but....
But those statements were the exceptions among others dominated by ideological bottom lines.
Right. More shit-show politically fooleys to divide the people.
The next meeting is Nov. 13 so we can shelve this for a while.
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Also see: Social Security benefits to go up by 1.5 percent
At least Obama stood up to Democrats.
