Obamacare Train Wreck: Obama: You Might Lose Your Doctor | Delayed Deadlines | Sequester Doesn't Apply

Today in Washington, D.C. - March 14, 2014
The Senate reconvened at 10:30 AM today for a pro forma session.

Yesterday, the Senate voted 96-2 to pass S. 1086, the Child Care and Development Block Grant Reauthorization bill after voting 100-0 to approve an amendment to the bill offered by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) limiting services under the bill to children from families whose assets are less than $1 million. Also yesterday, the Senate voted 72-22 to pass H.R. 3370, a bill to slow flood insurance premium increases. In addition, senators voted 95-4 to confirm Caroline Krass as CIA general counsel.

The House reconvened at 9 AM  today. Today, the House taken up and has already passed H.R. 4015 (238-181) — "To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to repeal the Medicare sustainable growth rate and improve Medicare payments for physicians and other professionals, and for other purposes." No further bills are expected today, the House will have some floor speeches and then adjourn. The House reconvene on Tuesday at 1 PM.

Yesterday, the House passed the following bills:
H.R. 3189(238-174) — "To prohibit the conditioning of any permit, lease, or other use agreement on the transfer, relinquishment, or other impairment of any water right to the United States by the Secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture."
H.R. 3973 (244-171) — "To amend section 530D of title 28, United States Code."
S.J. Res. 32 (Passed w/o Objection) — "Providing for the reappointment of John W. McCarter as a citizen regent of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution."

The Washington Post reported yesterday that that a bi-partisan Senate agreement has been reached between 45 Democrats and 5 Republicans to retroactively extend unemployment benefits.  Unemployment benefits expired 75 days ago for those who have exceeded 26 weeks of unemployment, some variations for different states.  The House would still need to agree to such a bill. WP said "he roughly $10 billion cost of the renewed federal jobless benefits would be offset by extending fees on goods coming through U.S. Customs and an alteration to the way corporations contribute to pensions, the senators announced. In addition, the legislation will include two changes to the unemployment program, one of which will require more job training for long-term jobless workers in order to continue receiving insurance benefits. Also, the legislation includes a provision that eliminates state or federal unemployment benefits for laid-off workers whose gross income the previous year topped $1 million — which, according to federal estimates, represented 0.03 percent of all recipients."

With all Obamacare news this week, President Obama’s interview with WebMD is rightfully attracting a lot of attention.

At the Weekly Standard, Daniel Halper picked up on the president admitting, “For the average person, many folks who don't have health insurance initially, they're going to have to make some choices. And they might end up having to switch doctors, in part because they're saving money.” Of course, as Halper point out, “This is different than what Obama said when he was selling Obamacare. ‘If you like the plan you have, you can keep it.  If you like the doctor you have, you can keep your doctor, too.  The only change you’ll see are falling costs as our reforms take hold,’ said Obama in his weekly address on June 6, 2009.”

According to the AP, “President Barack Obama says enough people have signed up for health care to make his signature law work. Obama tells medical web site WebMD that the 4.2 million people enrolled for this year, quote, ‘is already large enough that I'm confident the program will be stable.’” But even The Atlantic Wire is skeptical of this claim. They write, “President Obama said on Friday that the 4.2 million enrollments in Obamacare so far were likely sufficient for the law to work, according to the Associated Press. He might want to hold off on that prediction — at least until everyone pays. . . . But he didn't acknowledge questions over whether that 4.2 million figure is inflated. As several sites have reported in recent weeks, that figure includes people who have not paid for the plans they've signed up for. The administration has said in the past that they don't know how many people have actually paid, but insurance companies estimate it is somewhere between 15 to 20 percent. That means the actual number of participants in the program could be 630,000 to 840,000 fewer.”

At the same time Obama is talking up his unpopular health care law, he’s proceeding full speed ahead with what The Dallas Morning News called a “dizzying series of delays and changes” to the law, while rejecting Republican attempts to repeal it or some of the worst pieces of it. BusinessWeek says “the president has quietly delayed, modified, or selectively enforced elements of Obamacare more than a dozen times.” And The Wall Street Journal hints at yet another modification coming soon. “Thousands of ‘high risk’ people with existing medical conditions remain enrolled in a federal health-insurance program slated to close March 31, making it likely the Obama administration again will have to extend the program or risk seeing sick people lose coverage. The program was set up soon after the 2010 health law was passed to offer temporary assistance to people who couldn't get coverage from commercial insurers. It was intended to tide them over until they could take advantage of the law's requirement that insurers sell plans to everyone, regardless of medical history. That requirement took effect in January. . . . Amid the messy launch of the online insurance portals, which delayed millions of Americans from getting new health plans, the federal government postponed the program's closure to Jan. 31 to avoid the prospect that roughly 85,000 people still enrolled in it then would find themselves without coverage. The government later extended the program for two more months, to March 31, saying that it wanted to give these people more time to consider their options. People have to sign up by the end of this week for coverage that takes effect April 1. On the eve of that deadline, thousands remain still on the program's books, according to people familiar with the situation.”

Meanwhile, the president has made another unilateral decision on Obamacare, according to National Journal. “The Obama administration has decided that the sequester's mandatory spending cuts no longer apply to part of Obamacare. The health care law provides subsidies to help low-income people cover some of their out-of-pocket costs. Last year, the administration said those subsidies were taking a 7 percent cut because of the sequester, which imposed across-the-board reductions in federal spending. But now, the White House has changed its mind. It removed the cost-sharing subsidies from its list of programs that are subject to the sequester, eliminating the 7 percent cut for 2015. . . . The cost-sharing subsidies are expected to total $8 billion this year and $156 billion over the next decade. Who benefits from the change? The low-income families who qualify for these subsidies, as well as the White House and insurance companies. . . . [B]ecause the subsidy is paid directly to insurance companies, the change means more money for insurers as well. The cost-sharing subsidies aren't the Obamacare subsidies that get the most attention. Those higher-profile incentives are tax subsidies to help people cover the cost of their insurance premiums. . . . An administration official said the two types of subsidies were combined, and that's why the out-of-pocket subsidy is no longer subject to sequestration.”

Every week, more problems with Obamacare surface, more stories of how it’s hurting Americans are reported on, and the administration make more changes and modifications to the law without the consent of Congress.

Obamacare is a train wreck and it needs to be repealed and replaced. As Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said after the announcement of the last major Obamacare delay, “Americans have become increasingly aware of the fact Obamacare is broken beyond repair. The only ‘fix’ is full repeal followed by step-by-step, patient-centered reforms that drive down costs and that Americans actually want.”

---

Tags: Obamacare, Train Wreck: Obama, You Might Lose Your Doctor, Delayed Deadlines, Sequester Doesn't Apply To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!