Pipe dream? Obamacare

[swchandler]

Bard/isobars,

Let me give you guys a dose of reality. In early November, I went in for my pre-op appointment with my orthopedic surgeon, and we ultimately ended up discussing the insurance exchanges under the ACA. The issue came up because I had noted that my monthly insurance premium had gone up for 2014, and I questioned that because it was my understanding that ever rising medical costs had been coming down a bit percentage-wise for the last few years. I went on to say that lower actual cost growth might be attributed to the passage of the ACA.

As an aside, he pointed out that all the medical organizations in Santa Barbara still hadn't signed up for the reimbursement rates associated with the California insurance exchanges. That surprised me given my understanding that his organization would accept Medicare rates. He pointed out that reimbursement rates under the insurance exchanges were significantly below those of Medicare.

While you both might want to come down and attribute this to the ACA, we have to remember that it's the private insurance companies, and not the government, that negotiate the reimbursement rates with providers for everything. Will insurance companies and medical providers find agreement before 2014 insurance policies come into effect? No doubt, time will tell, but I think that it will be the insurance companies that will ultimately cave in and agree to fair reimbursement rates. As a minimum, I have to think that will be at Medicare rates.

[mac]

A few more facts for those who call Obama Obango--and insist they aren't racists. For those who hate Obama for his socialism--but can't actually give a single thing that they would change to improve the ACA.

The ACA was designed to be implemented by the States. Embodied the original Republican thinking of state's rights. Socialism in action, eh? In the state's where the Governor's cooperated, it is working pretty well--at this stage. But among the 21 states with a Republican governor that pledged to resist it, they haven't merely turned down the extra money, and turned the administration back to the Federal government, 13 of those states have passed what are called "navigator laws" to try to prevent the actual implementation of the Act.

At the Federal level, the GOP has consistently tried, with substantial success, to cripple the administrative roll out of the law with their fiscal authority. Tyranny of the minority, I say again. Sebelius asked for money to do what was required after the GOP states--overwhelmingly in the south--refused. The GOP gleefully blocked as much funding as they could. Now they awfulize about the web site.

What is lost in this ascendancy of GOP talking points is that 5 million people--mostly of color and in the South--will not be able to take advantage of the coverage. Could that just be a coincidence? That the states who have tried to disenfranchise African Americans since the founding of the union, the states who have tried to block efforts to expand the ability of African-Americans to vote, are the same states that have turned down Federal funds that would allow African-Americans to become covered by the ACA?

I'll wait for BARD to tell me that pointed out the dramatic racial disparities in GOP policies is hate speech. Some of the rest of you might actually think about it.

[MalibuGuru]

[MalibuGuru]

Mac, it is a mental illness that creeps into your accusations. And in fact I feel you are the racist because you don't have faith in people of color to be able to rationally solve their own problems. There are too many wealthy Black people in our country run by a Black President for there to be any truth in your reality. Department of Justice run by an African American. A huge portion of the Federal government run by Blacks. In fact, we may have some reverse discrimination here.

Though 10 percent of the U.S. civilian labor force, African-Americans are 18 percent of U.S. government workers. They are 25 percent of the employees at Treasury and Veterans Affairs, 31 percent of the State Department, 37 percent of Department of Education employees and 38 percent of Housing and Urban Development. They are 42 percent of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., 55 percent of the employees at the Government Printing Office and 82 percent at the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency.

When the Obama administration suggested shutting down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage giants whose losses of $150 billion have had to be made up by taxpayers, The Washington Post warned, in a story headlined, “Winding Down Fannie and Freddie Could Put Minority Careers at Risk,” that 44 percent of Fannie employees and 50 percent of Freddie’s were persons of color.

[mac]

Sorry Steven Bard--I seem to have missed your response to the Southern States deciding to not cover nearly 5 million people of color.

[MalibuGuru]

[swchandler]

Hey Bard, where did you get the black employment statistics? Why do I have problem believing that you did all that research?

[MalibuGuru]

[swchandler]

The Occidental Observer highlights their focus as, "White Identity, Interest and Culture", right in the header at the top of the page.

Why am I not surprised that the article is titled, "Discrimination against Whites in Federal Employment"?

[pueno]