Saturday, November 16, 2013

The underpinning lie—the 40 million

"On Tuesday, about 40 million more Americans will be able to finally buy quality, affordable health care, just like anybody else. Those marketplaces will be open for business on Tuesday no matter what -- even if there’s a government shutdown. That’s a done deal." Barack Obama, Sept. 27, 2013

The lie here isn't what we all know followed, a massive meltdown and confusion of unbelievable proportions, but the "40 million will finally be able to buy affordable health care."  Many of those 40 million (that figure is rather squishy, since it seemed to get larger each time I saw a reference) were already able to buy insurance--certainly not the plan the government has decided we all need--but it was out there. Many were illegal aliens since the Census on which this figure is based includes people, not citizens.   Many chose not to participate in an employer's plan, or to not sign on for Medicaid, or to not work.  Some wanted just catastrophic and chose to pay out of pocket for their day to day care. Now with subsidies provided by the responsible ones who did buy insurance, their insurance is "affordable?"  Is $99 a month affordable if the man pays no taxes, has no skills, is homeless or mentally ill? What is he supposed to do?  Sell his EBT card?  Is if affordable if he's passed on to Medicaid in states that aren't allowed to run a deficit, and Obama's word can't be trusted not to change at the next press conference?
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2013/09/27/obama_to_congress_do_not_shut_down_the_government.html

In his press conference on Thursday when he announced the same delay for which Tea Party were demonized just a month earlier, he also lied.  And pretended to have been unaware of the problems of 5 million losing their insurance and doctors.  Some media sources, all friendly, called this a mea culpa and an apology, but I never heard one word where he accepted the blame.  As on everything else in these last 5 years, he just says he didn’t know, or found out late, or heard it on the grapevine.

One of the few people who actually got to see and talk to the president during the run up to the Oct. 1 rollout was Valerie Jarrett, his right hand, who wrote on the WH blog July 2. "We are on target to open the health insurance marketplace on Oct. 1 where small businesses and ordinary Americans will be able to go to one place to learn about their coverage options and make side-by-side comparisons of each plan’s price and benefits before they make their decision.” Also, in July it was decided to delay the employer mandate until after the mid-terms so Democrats wouldn't be hurt. Now he's decided (and it's probably not any more lawful than his other decrees to change the law) to postpone the individual mandate until after the elections, again because Democrats have to run for reelection among some very unhappy people who have lost their insurance.

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