Saturday, November 16, 2013

Tribune Tiptoes around Obamacare lies

We've seen the Tribune Obamacare Op-Ed lamenting here, here, and here. The Tampa Tribune lamenting of ObamaCare continues with their Op-Ed today:  
Obamacare: a state of chaos.  Or perhaps we'll say it's "sort of" lamenting because their article starts out with this statement about Obama's "press conference fix out of thin air" announced Thursday:
President Barack Obama’s temporary fix to his health care law doesn’t really fix much at all. In fact, it will certainly lead to more chaos and may very well result in higher premiums for all consumers.
But ends with this:
Obamacare has at its core a noble premise: affordable and good health care for all Americans.  
Once the full rollout has occurred next year, and the full consequences are known, the public will have a better sense of where fixes are needed, or whether the entire law needs to be jettisoned. After that, Congress can act accordingly.
Does the Tribune do a 180 from the beginning to the end of their Op-Ed? Earth to Tribune - you can not have it both ways. Does the Tribune believe Obama can unilaterally make all these changes to laws he signed?

How about some historical and common sense perspective regarding Obamacare?

First of all ObamaCare was rammed thru on a totally partisan basis through a corrupt process of back room bribes and special procedural maneuvering. As Jonah Goldberg points out in his recent article in National Review Online, 
"Dems have only themselves to blame for Obamacare quagmire. 
Moreover, even though the legislation may go by the moniker “Obamacare,” the fact is the president didn’t write the law. Congress did, specifically congressional Democrats, with virtually no Republican input."
The Tribune needs to stop the masquerade for who is to blame for the Obamacare train wreck, chaos and mess. There's only one party responsible - the only party that voted for it - the Democrats. 

Since 2009, the Democrat mantra has been that "if you like your healthcare plan, you can keep your healthcare plan" as Goldberg points out:
Senate majority leader Harry Reid insisted that the Affordable Care Act “means making sure you can keep your family’s doctor or keep your health care plan, if you like it.” His number two, Senate majority whip Dick Durbin, said, “We are going to put in any legislation considered by the House and Senate the protection that you, as an individual, keep the health insurance you have, if that is what you want.” Senator Patty Murray, the chair of the Senate Budget Committee, said it too: “If you like what you have today, that will be what you have when this legislation is passed.” Democratic senators Chuck Schumer, Max Baucus, Jeanne Shaheen, Jay Rockefeller, Bob Casey, and many, many other Democrats spouted the same talking points. 
Heck, Nancy Pelosi’s website still says that under Obamacare you can “Keep your doctor, and your current plan, if you like them.”
This Washington Examiner article tells us:
In fact, the keep-your-coverage pledge was key to some Democrats' decision to support the Affordable Care Act.
For many Democrats, the keep-your-coverage pledge was not a throwaway line; it was a fundamental part of their case for Obamacare.
The article continues with this list of "you can keep your healthcare" quotes from 27 Democrats.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's office has compiled a list of 27 Democratic senators who pledged that Americans could keep their coverage under Obamacare. The list includes the entire Democratic leadership in the Senate as well as Democrats facing tough re-election races in 2014, like Mary Landrieu, Mark Begich, and Kay Hagan.
And our own Senator Nelson repeated the same mantra as he sent out letters like I received in November  2012 stating:  "Let's be clear, if you have health insurance now, you can keep it."
Letter from Senator Nelson on Obamacare
Republican Senator Enzi proposed a resolution in September 2010 to block the HHS narrow grandfather rule causing the cancellation chaos.  Every single Democrat, including Senator Nelson, voted against legislative fixing this issue they knew about in 2010. 

In addition, Eric Cantor brought up the same issue at Obama's "infamous" February 2010  Healthcare Summit at Blair House.  Obama, Reid, Pelosi, Nelson all knew back in 2010 their mantra was not true but they kept repeating it.  Senator Nelson kept sending letters out like above and Pelosi continues the false mantra on her website - as if they believe that simply stating it and having the media repeat it for them - it's true and Americans will believe it. 

Senator Nelson, who has been MIA on the Obamacare issues for months, addresses this issue through a Press Release Thursday:
“Congress enacted health care reform to help uninsured Americans get coverage, and it was not intended to take away from folks policies they're happy with,” Nelson said.
We could not find a public comment from Representative Kathy Castor.  She's been MIA on Obamacare publicly since her August 6, 2009 Healthcare Townhall, where this video caught Castor stacking the audience deck with her Obamacare and Union supporters who came in through the back door before the doors were opened to the general public.

And then Castor proceeds to blame insurance companies, one of the most regulated industries in our country, and says Obamacare will bring healthcare security to all. We've seen how that has worked out with 5 million Americans who have gotten cancellation notices, more on the way and hundreds of thousands of workers hours reduced to part time.

I was at Castor's town hall standing near the front of the line to get in and the door was blocked by a union thug. When the doors finally opened for the public and I quickly got in,  almost all the seats were already taken and I had to stand against the wall. Apparently, the intent of Castor's Healthcare town hall was to be a RAH RAH event with her supporters.

So there you have it.  Nelson was AGAINST codifying the law so you could actually keep your insurance BEFORE he was FOR an Obama unilateral squishy fix created out of thin air that creates more chaos. We assume Castor could care less about making a statement.

While we appreciate the Tribune's recent laments, where were they in 2009 and 2010 when Republicans and conservatives were predicting this Obamacare mess? Sorry but noble premises resulting in bad policies that hurt Americans is wrong.

The Democrat's failed attempt to take over 1/6 of our complex economy, our entire healthcare system, was always opposed by a majority of Americans and Floridians.  Common sense says if you want to fix a problem - first do no harm.  If you want to fix a problem affecting 10-15% of Americans, you don't harm the other 85-90%.  The media refused to tell the truth and allowed the lies and fraud to perpetuate.  

Eventually reality bites and bites good and hard. Obamacare was passed on deception, fraud and lies and a ponzi scheme requiring the young and healthy to buy overpriced health plans they don't want or need. This particular mantra is just the beginning and tip of the iceberg. Not only were Americans told they could keep their current plan, we were told we could keep our doctors, households would save $2500 a year and Obamacare will bring DOWN our healthcare costs and premiums. Instead what we are seeing are the majority of Americans signing up for Obamacare are going on Medicaid, very few signing up in the exchanges, Americans with existing plans getting cancellation notices, sticker shock on premiums, deductibles and co-pays and Americans not being able to keep their doctors.  According to this Reuters article
UnitedHealth Group dropped thousands of doctors from its networks in recent weeks, leaving many elderly patients unsure whether they need to switch plans to continue seeing their doctors, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.
Obamacare guts Medicare Advantage and Medicare to pay for Obamacare.  The beginning of the chaos has just begun. We would not have been in the mess if the media had done their job, told the truth and challenged the lies. 

The time for lamenting and masquerading who is responsible for Obamacare by the Tribune is over.  Obamacare cannot be fixed because it was built on a foundation of fraud. Instead of lamenting, theTribune should be screaming to end the chaos and repeal and replace ObamaCare with common sense, incremental solutions targeted at the 10-15% who were unable to buy insurance.

The Tribune must hold Nelson and Castor accountable. What are they afraid of?
The Truth!

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