Exhibit A by his own measure:
"Renewal time extended for noncompliant health plans; 2-year reprieve to aid Democrats in 2014 elections" by Robert Pear | New York Times, March 06, 2014
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration said Wednesday that it would allow consumers to renew health insurance policies that do not comply with the Affordable Care Act for two more years.
The action helps Democrats in tight midterm election races because it avoids the cancellation of insurance policies that would otherwise have occurred at the height of the political campaign season this fall.
OMG!
That was all about the Democrats POLITICAL HEALTH, not yours!
Administration officials said that people would be able to keep noncompliant policies through 2016 if state officials agreed.
In November, President Obama asked state officials and insurers to allow the continuation of noncompliant policies through this year, and he apologized for having promised — inaccurately — that people who liked their health insurance coverage could keep it.
In other words, he LIED!
Interesting choice of words from the lying war promoter. I guess there are some people who are liars, some who simply tell untruths (and work hard), and others that simply tell inaccurate promises. I guess the Globe doesn't like marijuana, either.
White House officials said Obama was trying to smooth the transition to a new health insurance system.
“This approach incorporates the flexibility that exists under the law,” said a senior administration official.
What CRAP! It's rationalization and justification for dictatorship is what it is. Presidents can't just waive laws whenever they want.
Republicans said they were not surprised by the president’s latest move. Indeed, they said it confirmed their contention that parts of the health care law were unpopular and unworkable.
Not impeaching him because of.... you guessed it.... politics!
The reprieve for noncompliant policies was the latest in a series of waivers, deadline extensions, delays, and dispensations announced by the administration. Lawyers said Obama was testing the limits of his powers.
“I support national health care, but what the president is doing is effectively amending or negating the federal law to fit his preferred approach,” said Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University. “Democrats will rue the day if they remain silent in the face of this shift of power to the executive branch.”
!!!!
Turley said that Obama was setting precedents that could be used by future presidents to delay other parts of the health care law — or to suspend laws dealing with taxes, civil rights, or protection of the environment....
No concern from the political cla$$.
The cancellation notices, sent to several million people, touched off a political furor that threatened the electoral prospects of Democratic candidates, including many who had voted for the Affordable Care Act. One Democrat, Senator Mary L. Landrieu of Louisiana, has offered legislation that would allow people to keep their current insurance plans indefinitely if they continue paying premiums.
It still does, but the point is this is all about Democrats political health, not yours.
Under the transition policy announced by Obama in November, insurers “may choose to continue coverage that would otherwise be terminated or canceled.” Insurers were allowed to renew existing policies even if they did not provide the “essential health benefits” prescribed by law.
In addition, the administration said, insurers could continue charging women more than men and could set higher premiums based on a person’s health status, in violation of the new law.
UNREAL!
Not only did he allow PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS back into the equation, he's waging a WAR on WOMEN!
Related:
"Add pay equity to President Obama’s 2014 do-it-himself wish list. The White House is launching a campaign to promote a host of economic issues facing women, a key voting bloc in this year’s midterm election. Obama hosted Democratic female lawmakers at the White House on Wednesday as his Council of Economic Advisers issued a report decrying a gender wage gap. Obama said he will address economic issues facing women and families at a Working Families Summit on June 23, cohosted by the administration and the liberal Center for American Progress think tank. The White House says ballots cast this fall by single women in particular will help determine which party performs best in the election.
Little double entendre there?
They argue the president’s focus on raising the minimum wage is particularly important for those voters, especially ones trying to support a family. But lawmakers have not embraced Obama’s call for the minimum wage increase."
What nerve! Someone check him over!
White House officials said Wednesday that the administration was extending the transition policy so that consumers could renew 2013 health plans for two additional years.
Republicans cried foul.
“Clearly, the president admits that Obamacare has failed by trying to hide its full effects from voters until he is safely out of office,” said Rory Cooper, a spokesman for Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia, the House majority leader. “They won’t be fooled.”
In response to Obama’s request in November, at least 27 states have allowed renewals of polices that do not comply with the new law, according to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.
Robert Laszewski, a consultant who works closely with insurers, said the reprieve for noncompliant policies “tends to undermine the sustainability of Obamacare” by reducing the number of people who will buy insurance through the exchanges.
The troubled rollout of the health care law has prompted the White House to revise many deadlines and requirements.
Like ALL of them EXCEPT the INDIVIDUAL MANDATE and TAX PENALTY!
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Related:
"People who go without insurance after March 31 may be subject to tax penalties. The Internal Revenue Service can deduct the penalties from any refunds to which taxpayers may be entitled. The latest figures were released as the White House makes a final push to increase enrollment."
And if not they will just lie about it (or stonewall) like everything else.
Related: Melancholy Monday
I don't know if one of the most beleaguered federal agencies is up to it. Maybe they could use some help.
"Groups scrambling to inform uninsured of deadline" by Connie Cass | Associated Press, March 03, 2014
WASHINGTON — You may be sick of hearing about the health care law, but if you don’t have insurance, now is the time to tune back in.
On March 31, for the first time, nearly everyone in the United States will be required to be signed up for health insurance or risk paying a fine....
Now, the administration, insurers, medical associations, and nonprofit groups are teaming up with volunteers to get the word out to uninsured people and guide them through the sometimes-rocky enrollment process. They plan special events at colleges, libraries, churches, and work sites.
Singing cats, dogs, parrots — even a goldfish — are promoting the message in TV and online spots from the Ad Council.
I'm sick of the endle$$ mind manipulation and agenda-pu$hing of cash-grabbing government!
As recently as last month, three-fourths of the uninsured did not know there was a March 31 deadline, according to polling conducted for the Kaiser Family Foundation. Most said they did not know much about the law and had an unfavorable opinion of it. Many worry they will not be able to afford the new plans.
See: Wishing You a Healthy Valentine's Day
It will make you want to cry.
The enrollment campaign emphasizes that subsidies are available to help low-income and middle-class households pay for their insurance.
Keep crying.
You can enroll by going to HealthCare.gov or by calling 1-800-318-2596....
Under the law, people who are not covered in 2014 are liable for a fine. That amounts to $95 per uninsured person or about 1 percent of income, whichever is higher. The penalty goes up in later years.
A year from now, the Internal Revenue Service will ask taxpayers filing their forms for proof of insurance coverage. Insurance companies are supposed to provide that documentation to their customers.
If you owe a penalty for being uninsured, the IRS can withhold it from your refund. The agency cannot put people in jail or garnish wages to get the money....
Some 12 million people could gain health coverage this year under the law, according to congressional auditors. Even so, tens of millions would go without. That is partly because of illegal immigrants, ineligible for marketplace policies.
Not true.
Some of the uninsured will not find out about the program in time, will find it confusing or too costly, or will just procrastinate. Some feel confident of their health and prefer to risk going uninsured instead of paying premiums. Others are philosophically against joining.
Figuring out just how many of the uninsured got coverage this year will not be easy because the numbers are fuzzy....
How can that be? This isn't some esoteric exercise; it's registration figures!
Some who sign up will end up uninsured anyway, if they fail to pay their premiums, but even then, about 30 million people in the United States would go uncovered. A gap in the law means some low-income workers can’t get help. The insurance marketplaces were not designed to serve people whose low incomes qualify them for expanded Medicaid instead.
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"White House won’t extend deadline for health care insurance mandate" by Robert Pear | New York Times March 13, 2014
WASHINGTON — Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of health and human services, said Wednesday that the Obama administration will not extend the deadline for people to sign up for health insurance or delay the requirement for most Americans to have coverage....
A$$HOLES! Proof this always was a CASH GRAB so they could wave money at bond buyers!
Testifying before the House Ways and Means Committee, Sebelius said the administration will not delay the individual mandate, under which most Americans must have insurance or pay a tax penalty. In addition, she said that officials will not extend the six-month open enrollment period, scheduled to end March 31....
They DELAYED EVERYTHING ELSE, but not that!
The Affordable Care Act is already a success, she said, because the range of private health plans available to consumers is “more robust than ever.”
OMG! Sebelius is either insanely delusional or a fabulous liar!
However, a few Democrats expressed disappointment and dismay at the way the health law was being carried out....
But it's a success!
Representative Tom Reed, Republican of New York, noted that in a special congressional election in Florida this week, the Democratic candidate defended the health care law but said it should be fixed.
And she lost.
Sebelius said she was open to possible changes but had not sent draft legislation to Congress. However, she said, “We have implemented a number of changes in the way the law was written to ease the transition” for consumers, insurers, and employers.
UNREAL!
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What else is he dictating?
"Obama halts bid to alter drug list under Medicare" Associated Press, March 11, 2014
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration said Monday it will pull the plug on proposed changes to the Medicare prescription program that ran into strong opposition on Capitol Hill.
Among other changes, the regulation proposed to remove three classes of drugs from a special protected list that guarantees seniors access to a wide selection of critical medications.
The three classes of drugs facing removal were antidepressants, antipsychotics, and drugs that suppress the immune system to prevent rejection of a transplanted organ.
The administration hoped to save a total of $729 million by 2019 with the change. But groups including the National Kidney Foundation and the National Alliance on Mental Illness pushed back hard.
Medicare administrator Marilyn Tavenner said in a letter to Congress that the administration will not move forward with the changes.
In his proposed budget for fiscal year 2015, which totals roughly $3.8 trillion, Obama steered clear of structural changes in social welfare programs, which make up about 60 percent of the budget.
But he proposed substantial savings in Medicare, including cuts in payments for nursing homes and home health agencies....
The administration also is planning steps to prevent people in the country illegally from obtaining Medicare.
--more--"
No going back....
"Governors agree there’s no turning back on health law; Leaders from both parties say it is time to move on" by Steve Peoples | Associated Press, February 24, 2014
WASHINGTON — The explosive politics of health care have divided the nation, but America’s governors, Republicans and Democrats alike, suggest that President Obama’s health care overhaul is here to stay....
Crazy! It's a horribly bad law but we gotta keep it! It's not flood insurance, right?
‘‘We’re just trying to make the best of a bad situation,’’
As governors gathered in Washington this weekend, they made pitches to raise the minimum wage, called for more freedom from federal regulations, particularly those related to the health insurance overhaul.
But governors from both parties reported that a full repeal of the law would be complicated at best, if not impossible...
The only thing left is the individual mandate and tax penalty!
Despite a troubled rollout, nearly 3.3 million people have signed up through Feb. 1 for health care coverage under the law.
They are now saying 4.2 million.
The White House reported that 1 million people signed up nationwide for private insurance under the law in January alone. It remains unclear that the administration will reach its unofficial goal of 7 million people by the end of March, but it still expects several million enrollees by then.
And if not they will just fudge the numbers some more.
--more--"
Related: Hispanics lag as ranks of insured up
Can't anyone fix this?
"GOP gets serious on health care" by Nathaniel P. Morris | February 24, 2014
January was a busy month for Tom Coburn, the junior senator from Oklahoma.
Though known for his staunch conservatism, he started off the New Year by introducing a bipartisan bill with Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts — the pair hopes to improve the transparency of federal agency settlements with corporations.
Soon after, Coburn shook the electoral landscape by announcing his intention to step down from his seat at the end of the year. As media outlets began assessing his legacy and scrutinizing potential replacements, he kept on working. In the week before the Super Bowl, he and Senator Angus King of Maine joined forces to revoke the tax-exempt status of certain wealthy organizations in professional sports.
But, of all of Coburn’s endeavors last month, proposing health care legislation that was widely received as the most viable Republican alternative to Obamacare was one of his most important. He is indeed a medical doctor and one of the Affordable Care Act’s most vocal opponents....
So, what’s in the proposal?
Who cares? It isn't going anywhere, not with that combination.
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And look who is fighting the law:
"Health data industry fights FDA oversight; Says safety rules would impede computer work" by Tracy Jan | Globe Staff, February 25, 2014
Related: Hispanics lag as ranks of insured up
Can't anyone fix this?
"GOP gets serious on health care" by Nathaniel P. Morris | February 24, 2014
January was a busy month for Tom Coburn, the junior senator from Oklahoma.
Though known for his staunch conservatism, he started off the New Year by introducing a bipartisan bill with Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts — the pair hopes to improve the transparency of federal agency settlements with corporations.
Soon after, Coburn shook the electoral landscape by announcing his intention to step down from his seat at the end of the year. As media outlets began assessing his legacy and scrutinizing potential replacements, he kept on working. In the week before the Super Bowl, he and Senator Angus King of Maine joined forces to revoke the tax-exempt status of certain wealthy organizations in professional sports.
But, of all of Coburn’s endeavors last month, proposing health care legislation that was widely received as the most viable Republican alternative to Obamacare was one of his most important. He is indeed a medical doctor and one of the Affordable Care Act’s most vocal opponents....
So, what’s in the proposal?
Who cares? It isn't going anywhere, not with that combination.
--more--"
And look who is fighting the law:
"Health data industry fights FDA oversight; Says safety rules would impede computer work" by Tracy Jan | Globe Staff, February 25, 2014
WASHINGTON — The fast-growing industry that makes digital medical records, the computer systems that can help doctors, hospitals, and insurers quickly keep track of patients, is gearing up for a Washington lobbying fight against federal safety regulations.
The outcome is expected to profoundly impact what has become an important tool in the health industry, one that has been aggressively encouraged and heavily subsidized by the federal government under the assumption that it will increase efficiency, reduce costs, and improve outcomes for patients.
Has not done that. It's done the opposite.
The Obama administration plans to release recommendations in the coming months on how information technology systems used in the industry should be regulated for safety. At issue is whether the systems should be considered medical devices, and therefore regulated by the Food and Drug Administration just as a cardiac stent or a pacemaker is regulated.
Backers of FDA regulation say digital records systems sometime contribute to prescribing errors and other patient mix-ups that can have dangerous, even fatal, consequences. Bad or missing data in a patient’s computer record, for instance, can lead to catastrophic medication errors.
But the health care industry, including many top hospitals as well as manufacturers of the systems that manage digital records, want looser regulation. They contend that submitting to FDA safety reviews would slow the pace of innovation and make software upgrades difficult.
Before the administration releases its recommendations, the digital records industry and a group of sympathetic lawmakers in Congress are launching a preemptive strike, pushing legislation that would strip the Food and Drug Administration of its authority to regulate the software systems.
It's a WAR!
I think these reporters need an exam because they have internalized such values.
“Right now, the FDA has the authority to regulate all of health IT. They say they exercise discretion to pick and choose which technologies they regulate. From our perspective, that is just not a tenable state of affairs,” said Dan Haley, vice president for government and regulatory affairs for Athenahealth, a health information firm based in Watertown that is among firms leading the charge.
Although the administration has not said what it will do, the recommendations could lead to requirements for more safety monitoring of medical record systems and the public reporting of errors that harm patients.
But additional FDA oversight, industry representatives maintain, would add costs and stifle innovation....
The proposed legislation would also prevent health software companies from being subject to the 2.3 percent tax charged to medical device companies as part of federal health reform. That tax went into effect last year but does not now apply to digital medical records.
Oh, that's what this is about: the health of their bottom lines!
Supporters of the legislation include Partners HealthCare, the parent company of Harvard teaching hospitals and affiliated medical groups, which is spending $1 billion to upgrade its digital health record systems....
The looming battle is focused on a sector of health care technology that has long been painted in glowing terms. Moving from paper files to digital records, say advocates, will contribute to seamless decision-making by doctors, eliminate wasteful spending and redundant tests, and reduce errors.
Except it hasn't, and Obummercare can't even access them!
The federal government has been fully on board with the push. President Obama’s 2009 economic stimulus bill included $36 billion for grants to help hospitals and doctors who purchase digital records systems. Massachusetts alone received more than $527 million in federal stimulus money promoting the adoption of digital health records.
In 2013, physicians and hospitals in the United States spent $36.2 million on health information technology, including digital medical records — up 9 percent since 2011, according to Gartner, an information technology research and advisory company based in Stamford, Conn.
The Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, a state economic development agency, estimates that the state’s health IT sector generated $8 billion in revenues in 2013, employing over 6,000 people at more than 200 firms.
But critics contend that increased public investment in the evolving medical records frontier should come with more accountability. And little is known about how frequently patients are harmed because of errors relating to these systems. Companies typically require hospitals to sign confidentiality clauses that prevent them from sharing information when something goes wrong, according to a federal study.
Some incidents are voluntarily reported to the FDA, but most criticism is based on anecdotes....
The industry asserts that excessive regulation of software changes, for instance, could hinder the continuous software updates that are required to fix bugs.
“That would essentially kill the way we do business and kill our ability to continually improve our product for doctors and patients,” said Haley of Athenahealth.
Related: eHealth's eRipoff
Time For Buffett
Glad to see Bush's cousin benefiting though.
Scott MacLean, deputy chief information officer at Partners HealthCare in Boston, said that the increased reliance on electronic medical records warrants scrutiny for errors but that the industry — not the FDA— is best positioned to police itself.
“The last thing I would want to do is roll something out that our clinicians would not trust,” MacLean said.
MacLean agreed there should be some oversight, just not to the same degree as medical devices traditionally regulated by the FDA.
As board chairman of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, the industry’s trade association and lobbying arm, MacLean cowrote a letter to Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius in November in an effort to influence the agency’s pending guidelines.
“It’s a somewhat adversarial environment, having to respond to FDA guidance all the time,’’ said Joe Ganley, director of state government affairs at McKesson Corp., a San Francisco health technology company with 650 employees in Massachusetts.
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Also see: Senate OK’s bill backing pediatric medical research
Time to seek a second opinion:
"Doctors group defects from rival, rejoins Beth Israel; After two years, group leaves Steward Health Care System" by Steven Syre and Michael B. Farrell | Globe Staff, March 03, 2014
The bruising competition among the state’s large hospital systems took an unusual turn Monday when a large doctors group in Newburyport defected back to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center just two years after jumping to rival Steward Health Care System.
The decision by the 200-doctor WhittierIndependent Practice Association highlights the competition among medical networks to win the hearts and wallets of the gatekeepers who decide which hospitals will receive their patients who need more intensive care.
This is making me $ick.
With health care reform exerting greater pressure on institutions to keep costs down, Beth Israel Deaconess, Steward, and other major hospital networks are all trying to find ways to keep their beds filled as often as possible to compensate for lower payments or lost business....
One way to do that? Poison and pollute us until we are sick.
Since its formation by a private equity group in 2010, the for-profit Steward has expanded to include 11 hospitals in Massachusetts and also has moved aggressively to attract independent physicians to its network.
You know where they got their name?
It’s unclear why the Newburyport doctors decided to leave Steward and return to the fold with Beth Israel Deaconess so soon after signing with Steward, in November 2011, although one reason may be the role the local medical center in Newburyport, Anna Jaques Hospital, would have played in the new network.
At the time, the Whittier physicians appeared to have originally been lured to Steward by a promise of lucrative incentives estimated at around $3 million. But the Steward agreement also allowed Whittier doctors to continue to refer patients to Anna Jaques, an independent hospital.
However, Anna Jaques officials said they later tried to work out a separate deal between the hospital and Steward, but were unsuccessful.
Under the terms of the new deal, Beth Israel Deaconess, Anna Jaques, and the Whittier doctors will effectively share the financial risk of caring for patients. In such an arrangement, doctors have a deal with the local hospital for routine care and can send more complex cases to Beth Israel.
“This is a very fluid time in regards to business relationships across the health care system,” said Leonard Marcus, a lecturer on public health policy at Harvard University.
The major driver of such agreements are changes to the health care payment system in which medical providers receive a single amount to care for a patient’s entire needs rather than fees for individual tests and services. In that environment, doctors and community hospitals that want to remain independent see looser affiliations with a big medical center as a way to spread the economic risk of such a single-payment system....
We got rationing through a single-payment system, but we couldn't have a single-payer system. What's the difference?
--more--"
Also see:
"Obama joked Tuesday with comedian Zach Galifianakis, including poking fun at the poorly reviewed ‘‘The Hangover Part III’’ during an interview on the website Funny or Die."
That will be how history remembers him, as a clown.
