Category Archives: Obamacare

Awkward!

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) cynically repeated his plan to do the impossible in a debate yesterday with his Dem challenger Allison “Secret Ballot” Grimes.  He wants to destroy Obamacare “root and branch,” but keep it in Kentucky!  Um, you can’t do that.  He said he wants to keep the “website,” but Kynect isn’t just some website, it is the state version of Obamacare and would automatically cease to exist if Obamacare were repealed.  If he recognizes that Kynect is good for the people of his state, why would he want to deny health care to people in other states?

 

 

Quote of the Day

“If you had told most Democrats in 2010 that by the time the 2014 election rolled around Obamacare would have rolled out with lower premiums and higher enrollment than anyone projected they would have been thrilled. They knew when they passed the law that it was going to be a political loser in the 2010 election but they figured that if they could just get it up-and-running — and insuring millions of people — it would be a winner in future elections. And perhaps it will be. But the definition of ‘future’ keeps getting pushed out. Obamacare is working, but not for Democrats.”

Ezra Klein, Vox

He’s With Stupid

Running for Senate in his new home state of New Hampshire, where Obamacare has achieved more than 200% of its goal for signups, Scott “Empty Barn Jacket” Brown says he will repeal Obamacare, but the people who have signed up can keep it.  Obviously, it is stupid to promise people they will have Obamacare when Obamacare no longer exists.

But now Mitch McConnell is promising the same thing in Kentucky, where almost half a million people have signed up.  McConnell says the state’s exchange has nothing to do with Obamacare.  But of course if Obamacare goes, so goes the federal exchange and all the state exchanges.

Moron of the Day

Republican Scott Brown, having lost his Massachusetts Senate seat to Elizabeth Warren and now trying to take Jean Shaheen’s New Hampshire seat, has been running hard against Obamacare, vowing to repeal it.

But the thing is, Obamacare has done really well in New Hampshire, hitting 211% of its enrollment goal, higher than any other state.  So Brown has been running around promising that he’ll “grandfather in” New Hampshire residents to Obamacare when it’s repealed.

Um, how do you grandfather people into a program that you’ve repealed?  You can’t, and that’s why Scott is our Moron of the Day.

Drip, Drip, Drip

Add Indiana to the list of GOP-controlled states that will expand Medicaid, so long as they don’t have to call it an Obamacare expansion.  Gov. Mike Pence (who may run for prez in 2016) has negotiated an expansion with the feds under his Healthy Indiana Program.  It’s a win-win — the feds get another state to insure people who fall in the ridiculous gap between those who qualify for Medicaid and those who qualify for Obamacare subsidies, and Pence can say it’s different from the Obamacare expansion.  But bottom line, more people get covered.

The arc of the health insurance universe bends slowly, but it’s bending toward coverage.

The Circus Comes to Town

As expected, the House voted, 232-186, to establish a select committee to investigate Benghazi.  The 232 included 7 Dems, no Republicans voted against.

This is the downside to Obamacare working out.  And the Prez failing to ‘splain.  Which you could still do, Barry.

How We Know the GOP Has Given Up on Obamacare

Because they’re back to Benghazi!

And John Boehner appointed one of the major nut jobs in the House, Trey Gowdy of South Carolina, to head the special select committee, because, you know, this is like Watergate or Irancontra.

I wish the President would just give a speech and explain that Benghazi was a CIA op running weapons from Libya to Syria.