Tag: Affordable Care Act

Obama and Obamacare: This Way to the Egress

On By kingsjesterIn Politics4 Comments

ObamafraudLegendary American Showman P.T. Barnum’s American Museum was so wildly popular that people would spend the entire day there. This would cut into profits, as the museum would be too full to squeeze another person in. In classic Barnum style, old P.T. put up signs that said “This Way to the Egress.” Many customers followed the signs, not realizing that Egress was a fancy word for “Exit.” They kept on looking for this strange new attraction, the “Egress”. Many patrons followed the signs right out the door! Once they had exited the building, the door would lock behind them, and if they wanted to get back in, they had to pay another admission charge!

It was then that the people realized that they had been suckered by a master con man.

That same kind of self-realization seems to be happening nationwide, over a century later.

A new CBS Poll, released yesterday shows that only 7% of Americans want to keep the unmitigated fiasco known as Obamacare as it is.

93% of Americans either believe that changes are needed to the law (48%) or want a full repeal (43%). And, that 93% includes 72% of Democrats!

On September 10, 2009, President Barack Hussein Obama addressed a Joint Session of Congress to introduce them to his plans for a State-run Healthcare System to replace the finest Healthcare System of the face of God’s Green Earth. Here are some excerpts from that address, courtesy of CBSNews.com:

…Here are the details that every American needs to know about this plan. First, if you are among the hundreds of millions of Americans who already have health insurance through your job, or Medicare, or Medicaid, or the VA, nothing in this plan will require you or your employer to change the coverage or the doctor you have. (Applause.) Let me repeat this: Nothing in our plan requires you to change what you have.

What this plan will do is make the insurance you have work better for you. Under this plan, it will be against the law for insurance companies to deny you coverage because of a preexisting condition. (Applause.) As soon as I sign this bill, it will be against the law for insurance companies to drop your coverage when you get sick or water it down when you need it the most. (Applause.) They will no longer be able to place some arbitrary cap on the amount of coverage you can receive in a given year or in a lifetime. (Applause.) We will place a limit on how much you can be charged for out-of-pocket expenses, because in the United States of America, no one should go broke because they get sick. (Applause.) And insurance companies will be required to cover, with no extra charge, routine checkups and preventive care, like mammograms and colonoscopies — (applause) — because there’s no reason we shouldn’t be catching diseases like breast cancer and colon cancer before they get worse. That makes sense, it saves money, and it saves lives. (Applause.)

Now, that’s what Americans who have health insurance can expect from this plan — more security and more stability.

…under my plan, individuals will be required to carry basic health insurance — just as most states require you to carry auto insurance. (Applause.) Likewise — likewise, businesses will be required to either offer their workers health care, or chip in to help cover the cost of their workers. There will be a hardship waiver for those individuals who still can’t afford coverage, and 95 percent of all small businesses, because of their size and narrow profit margin, would be exempt from these requirements. (Applause.) But we can’t have large businesses and individuals who can afford coverage game the system by avoiding responsibility to themselves or their employees. Improving our health care system only works if everybody does their part.

And while there remain some significant details to be ironed out, I believe — (laughter) — I believe a broad consensus exists for the aspects of the plan I just outlined: consumer protections for those with insurance, an exchange that allows individuals and small businesses to purchase affordable coverage, and a requirement that people who can afford insurance get insurance.

And I have no doubt that these reforms would greatly benefit Americans from all walks of life, as well as the economy as a whole. Still, given all the misinformation that’s been spread over the past few months, I realize — (applause) — I realize that many Americans have grown nervous about reform. So tonight I want to address some of the key controversies that are still out there.

Some of people’s concerns have grown out of bogus claims spread by those whose only agenda is to kill reform at any cost. The best example is the claim made not just by radio and cable talk show hosts, but by prominent politicians, that we plan to set up panels of bureaucrats with the power to kill off senior citizens. Now, such a charge would be laughable if it weren’t so cynical and irresponsible. It is a lie, plain and simple. (Applause.)

There are also those who claim that our reform efforts would insure illegal immigrants. This, too, is false. The reforms — the reforms I’m proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally.

AUDIENCE MEMBER [Rep. Joe Wilson]: You lie!

Now, in 2013, as Americans continue to lose their Health Insurance Plans, with an additional 50 to 100 million cancellations coming with the Employer Mandate, beginning in 2014, ol’ Joe Wilson looks to Americans to have been spot on.

More and more Americans are realizing the truth of Rep. Wilson’s exclamation, as Obama’s popularity rating plunged to 37% yesterday, in a new CBS Poll.

Apparently, Capitol Hill Democrats are among them. TheHill.com reports that

Vulnerable Democrats are scrambling to find ways to stand apart from the White House on ObamaCare as the rollout of the high-profile law continues to struggle — and threatens their reelections.

A number of red state Democrats in the House and Senate are rushing to embrace legislation to amend ObamaCare, seeking to improve parts of the law that have led to public outrage, and insulate themselves from attacks as they head into election year in 2014.

Sens. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), Kay Hagan (D-N.C.), Mark Begich (D-Alaska) and Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) have all supported different changes to the law in recent days.

Reps. John Barrow (D-Ga.) and Mike McIntyre (D-N.C.), both top GOP targets who voted against ObamaCare in the first place, have joined a GOP-led bill aimed at keeping people from losing their current insurance policies. Other House Democrats haven’t ruled out voting for similar legislation.

The widespread action is a sign that Democrats facing tough races are increasingly worried about the law’s adverse effects on their reelection chances.

Can’t you just see some of the Democrat Congresscritters, huddled in a Congressional Cloakroom?

We’ve got to protect our phony-boloney jobs, gentlemen! Hrumph!

German-American Political Theorist Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) once said,

The trouble with lying and deceiving is that their efficiency depends entirely upon a clear notion of the truth that the liar and deceiver wishes to hide.

And, since Obama and his Democrat minions had no clue as to what was actually in The Affordable Care Act”, and they did not want us to either, as Nancy Pelosi, herself, once quipped,

…we have to pass the bill so you can find out what is in it…

Now that we have found out what is in it, Americans don’t want it.

And, now, our entire nation, including Obama and the Democrats, is paying the price for all of their inefficient lies.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Obamacare and America’s “Yutes”: The Thrill is Gone

On By kingsjesterIn Politics5 Comments

obamacareyouthAs President Barack Hussein Obama’s Signature Legislation, the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, continues to swirl down the ol’ porcelain receptacle, the Administration has targeted America’s young people. Obamacare was designed on the presumption that young Americans will go head over heels for the new Healthcare Exchanges, and, in turn, that will finance the plan.

Guess what? That ain’t happening, according to nydailynews.com,

Fears that insurance exchanges that are the linchpin of President Barack Obama’s federal health care overhaul wouldn’t attract the young, healthy people needed to make them financially viable are being heightened by the early results of signups in several states.

If it becomes a trend, that could lead to increases in insurance premiums and deductibles next year. Along with the paltry enrollment numbers released this week, officials in a handful of states said those who had managed to sign up were generally older people with medical problems — those with the greatest incentives to get coverage.

It’s unclear whether that will persist. Young, healthy people may be more inclined to procrastinate, especially given doubts about the law’s technically flawed online signup system. They have until Dec. 15 to sign up if they want to be covered on Jan. 1.

Insurers have warned that they need a wide range of people signing up for coverage because premiums paid by adults in the younger and healthier group, between 18 and 35, are needed to offset the cost of carrying older and sicker customers who typically generate far more in medical bills than they contribute in premiums.

The first set of enrollment data revealed that 106,000 people signed up for coverage nationwide, far short of the 500,000 initial sign-ups the Obama administration had expected. In states where officials discussed more detailed information, it also became apparent that the people who flocked to the exchanges after they opened Oct. 1 were those who were desperate for coverage.

In California, the state with the largest uninsured population, most of those who applied were older people with health problems. In Kentucky, nearly 3 of 4 enrollees were over 35. In Washington state, about 23 percent of enrollees were between 18 and 34. And in Ohio, groups helping with enrollment described many of those coming to them as older residents who lost their jobs and health coverage during the recession.

However, the administration is going to do whatever they can to force young Americans to participate in Obamacare, even those young folks who are still in college, as foxnews.com reports…

For decades, universities and colleges have offered students bare-bones policies. But because of the Affordable Care Act, those policies no longer cut it – and universities are forced to decide whether to offer significantly higher-cost plans or cancel coverage altogether.

The new rules affect a broad swath of American schools, especially the small ones.

At Bowie State University in Maryland, the cost of student health insurance policies went from roughly $100 a year to $1,800 a year.

The cancelled plan offered $5,000 worth of medical coverage to students for just $54 per semester. University administrators said an acceptable replacement under the Affordable Care Act would have cost $900 per semester, a 1,500 percent increase.

Students who need individual coverage are likely to find a better deal for themselves on the Maryland Health Connection insurance exchange, University spokeswoman Cassandra Robinson said.

In the end, the school decided to drop the policy for all of its 5,500 enrollees. Students were notified of the dropped coverage on the school’s website.

“Bowie State University has suspended offering health insurance for domestic students for the 2013-2014 academic year,” according to the school’s official website. “Due to new requirements of the Affordable Care Act which will go into effect on January 1, 2014, the cost of insurance for domestic students will increase to approximately $1800 per year.”

The sticker shock didn’t sit well with some students who spoke out against the price hike.

“You’ve haven’t done anything Obama and I am disappointed in you,” one student said. Another told Campus Reform, “We don’t have that money. We can barely afford books.”

Well, gosh, that doesn’t sound like the perception the White House has of America’s young people.

In fact, one would think that being a young American is all about promiscuity and alcoholism, according to the Obamacare Ads put out by the Obama Administration.

The first ad shows a pretty young thing, all excited and showing off the birth control pills which she received through Obamacare. At her side is a swarthy looking young man, with his shirt out and sports jacket on, trying his best to look like a young John Stamos, with an anticipatory ear-to-ear grin on his face.

The other ad involves three male college students. two of them each have the leg of the third, and are holding him above a keg  while he balances himself with both hands while hollding a hose coming from the keg in his mouth.

Talk about aiming to the lowest common denominator in an advertising campaign…

Evidently, the only contact the White House has with college age and young adult Americans, has come from hanging out with the OWSers and/or watching the Jerry Springer Program.

Anyway, it certainly appears that they overestimated Obamacare’s popularity with that demographic and underestimated young Americans’ intelligence.

Or, perhaps, like the rest of us, these yutes simply don’t like being lied to.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Pelosi Denies Obamacare Disaster

On By kingsjesterIn Politics3 Comments

pelosigavelRemember the Victory March, which Democrats took on their way  to the signing of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare?

My, how things have changed. Democrats are running away from Obama and his Signature Legislation, like rats jumping off of a sinking ship.

But, hey. The House Minority Leader says, “Nothing to see here. Move along.”

Yesterday, on NBC’s Meet The Press, David Gregory interviewed House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, concerning  the disaster that is Obamacare.

DAVID GREGORY: Why aren’t you concerned at this point that this is in grave danger of not being done right?

REP. NANCY PELOSI: Well, I’m very unhappy about the website, as you can just imagine the president is. But I know the makings of the legislation, and what it does for people. And, again, look, this Republican measure on Friday, what makes matters so worse, allows the marketplace to be deprived of people who should be there getting lower prices with better benefits and perhaps even a tax credit.

So that wasn’t a fix, it was a make matters worse. But they’re running a political arena and you expect that. But you can’t be knocked for a loop just because somebody’s playing politics. If that was the case, we would have never passed it in the first place.

DAVID GREGORY: Final point: Democrats won’t lose seats next year over Obamacare?

REP. NANCY PELOSI: I don’t think you can tell what will happen next year. But I will tell you this: Democrats stand tall in support of the Affordable Care Act. We have great candidates who are running, who are concerned about our economy, and are concerned that government was shut down because of a whim on the part of the Republicans, costing us $25 billion to our economy and 0.6% of our GDP growth.

They’re concerned that overwhelmingly the American people support immigration reform, support background checks, support ending discrimination against people in the workplace; all of these kinds of things are the concerns of the American people. Jobs will be the major issue in the campaign, as they always are.

And this is an issue that has to be dealt with, but it doesn’t mean, “Oh, it’s a political issue, so we’re going to run away from it.” No, it’s too valuable for the American people. What is important about it is that the American people are well served, not who gets reelected.

On March 10, 2010, Rep. Pelosi said the following, in a speech to the 2010 Legislative Conference for National Association of Counties…

You’ve heard about the controversies within the bill, the process about the bill, one or the other. But I don’t know if you have heard that it is legislation for the future, not just about health care for America, but about a healthier America, where preventive care is not something that you have to pay a deductible for or out of pocket. Prevention, prevention, prevention—it’s about diet, not diabetes. It’s going to be very, very exciting.

But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of the controversy.

On June 10, 2012, during a luncheon with Opinion Writers, including The Washington Post’s Jonathan Capehart, Rep. Pelosi tried to explain her now famous remarks,

“In the fall of the year,” Pelosi said today, “the outside groups…were saying ‘it’s about abortion,’ which it never was. ‘It’s about ‘death panels,’’ which it never was. ‘It’s about a job-killer,’ which it creates four million. ‘It’s about increasing the deficit’; well, the main reason to pass it was to decrease the deficit.” Her contention was that the Senate “didn’t have a bill.” And until the Senate produced an actual piece of legislation that could be matched up and debated against what was passed by the House, no one truly knew what would be voted on. “They were still trying to woo the Republicans,” Pelosi said of the Senate leadership and the White House, trying to “get that 60th vote that never was coming. That’s why [there was a] reconciliation [vote]” that required only a simple majority.

“So, that’s why I was saying we have to pass a bill so we can see so that we can show you what it is and what it isn’t,” Pelosi continued. “It is none of these things. It’s not going to be any of these things.” She recognized that her comment was “a good statement to take out of context.” But the minority leader added, “But the fact is, until you have a bill, you can’t really, we can’t really debunk what they’re saying….”

Despite Pelosi’s protestations, time has revealed to be true that Americans’ concerns about the Affordable Care Act, the legislation which was crafted to socialize the American Healthcare System, and which is designed to lead into a Government-run Single Payor National Healthcare System.

Norman Mattoon Thomas, six-time Socialist candidate for president, said in a 1944 speech, that,

The American people will never knowingly adopt Socialism. But, under the name of “liberalism,” they will adopt every fragment of the Socialist program, until one day America will be a Socialist nation without knowing how it happened … The Democratic Party has adopted our (Socialist) platform.

Later, in 1961, Future United States President Ronald Reagan said,

One of the traditional methods of imposing statism or socialism on a people has been by way of medicine. It’s very easy to disguise a medical program as a humanitarian project. Most people are a little reluctant to oppose anything that suggests medical care for people who possibly can’t afford it.

What give me hope, though, is the backlash to the disastrous launch of Obamacare. Those Americans, who may have been supportive of Obamacare, at first, have now seen the reality of this misbegotten piece of legislation staring them in them face. The high premiums and lost insurance policies have been a cold slap in the face to Americans, who were expecting the legislation to be something quite difference due to the lies and manipulation of Obama, his Administration, Pelosi, Reid, and all of their sycophants in Congress.

Now that reality has set in, Obama and Pelosi’s protestations ring hollow with Americans.

There are two actions which are now paramount:

1. Repeal Obamacare fully.

2. Vote anybody who voted for it, out in 2014.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Obama and Obamacare: Obama Tries to Close Pandora’s Box

On By kingsjesterIn Politics4 Comments

obamababyYesterday morning, the 44th President of the United States of America, Barack Hussein Obama, appeared before the American People in a hastily-called Press Conference, is a desperate attempt to undo the disastrous effects of his Signature Legislation, the Affordable Care Act.

Here are excerpts from his prepared statement, courtesy whitehouse.gov:

Already, people who have plans that predate the Affordable Care Act can keep those plans if they haven’t changed. That was already in the law. That’s what’s called a grandfather clause. It was included in the law. Today, we’re going to extend that principle both to people whose plans have changed since the law took effect, and to people who bought plans since the law took effect.

“The bottom line, President Obama said, is that “insurers can extend current plans that would otherwise be canceled into 2014, and Americans whose plans have been canceled can choose to re-enroll in the same kind of plan.”

“So we’re going to do everything we can to help the Americans who’ve received these cancellation notices,” President Obama said. “But there are also 40 million Americans who don’t have health insurance. And I am not going to walk away from 40 million people who have the chance to get health insurance for the first time.”

It took 100 years for us to even get to the point where we could start talking about and implementing a law to make sure everybody has got health insurance. And my pledge to the American people is, is that we’re going to solve the problems that are there, we’re going to get it right, and the Affordable Care Act is going to work for the American people.

Shortly after this Dog & Pony Show was over, the reality of Obama’s promises started to be questioned.

TheBlaze.com is among a lot of others who immediately asked the question…

Does Obama Have Legal Authority to Alter Obamacare, Laws Passed by Congress?

President Barack Obama pauses while speaking about his signature health care law, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2013, in the Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington. Bowing to pressure, President Barack Obama intends to permit continued sale of individual insurance plans that have been canceled because they failed to meet coverage standards under the health care law, officials said Thursday. (AP/Charles Dharapak)

“The short answer is no,” David Corbin, a professor of politics at King’s College in New York, told TheBlaze.

“However, the way he’s been operating on this bill is that he can make alterations as he goes along,” Corbin said. “And so far, he’s been allowed to get away with it.”

“All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States…”

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Historically, the executive branch has not been allowed to alter laws passed by Congress, he said, adding that there is a constitutional argument to be made.

Corbin cited section one, article one of the U.S. Constitution: “‘All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.’”

“The president certainly has some regulatory and prosecutorial discretion in how he executes the law, but he has no legislative power,” Corbin said. “If his actions in this case (waiver, extensions, etc.) amount to him becoming a lawmaker rather than a law executor, they are unconstitutional.”

Though the Constitution is clear that “all legislative powers” belong to Congress, Corbin said it sometimes comes down to how those in power choose to “interpret” the law.

“I’m not sure he will be able to get away with it in this case because I think people are going to understand that if you are going to remove the law of any legal standing by having the enforcement mechanisms or the penalties stripped out, then what is the law?” the professor added.

Appearing on MSNBC on Thursday, former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean reportedly questioned if Obama really has the “legal authority to do this” when discussing the proposed change to the law, Fox News’ Bret Baier tweeted.

During a briefing before the presidential press conference, officials reportedly told members of the press that the White House does have the authority to delay enforcement for a year.

“HHS will be using its enforcement discretion to allow for this transition,” the official said, according to the Washington Times. “Enforcement discretion can be used generally in transitions, as well as a bridge towards legislation. This is something that has been used, for example, with the deferred action for childhood arrivals policy, pending immigration reform.”

Here’s Obama’s other problem: What if the State Insurance Commissioners refuse to co-operate?

Like Washington’s State Insurance Commissioner, Mike Kreidler, for example?

Within two hours of President Obama’s news conference announcing the proposed administrative fix for Americans upset by their policy cancellations, Kreidler issued a statement rejecting the proposal.

“I understand that many people are upset by the notices they have recently received from their health plans and they may not need the new benefits [in the Affordable Care Act] today,” he said. “But I have serious concerns about how President Obama’s proposal would be implemented and more significantly, its potential impact on the overall stability of our health insurance market.”

“I do not believe his proposal is a good deal for the state of Washington,” Kreidler’s statement continued. “We will not be allowing insurance companies to extend their policies.”

Kreidler said his office estimated that 290,000 people in Washington will need to buy new coverage for 2014 and that at least half of them will qualify for a premium subsidy if they purchase a plan through the state’s online insurance exchange, Washington Healthplanfinder.

“I encourage anyone who is shopping for new health plans — whether you’ve been uninsured or have received a cancellation notice from your insurer — to look at all of your options,” he said.

I was reading accounts of Obama’s Press Conference at work yesterday. What they revealed was a flailing swimmer who should have stayed in the Kiddie Pool…a discombobulated President, rambling in such a desperate fashion, that it appeared that he was looking for something…anything…to save his Signature Legislature and the hopes of the Democratic Party in both 2014 and 2016.

The problem for Obama and the Dems is: they own this fiasco. Not a single Republican voted for Obamacare in the middle of that dark night.

Hopefully, the Vichy Republicans will not pull defeat from the jaws of victory by proposing their own version of Obamacare, as Senator Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell, alluded to yesterday.

If your opponent is digging himself into a hole…stand back and let him finish.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Obama and Obamacare: The Worst is Yet to Come

On By kingsjesterIn Politics5 Comments

obamacaremoeIf you surf the Internet over to the “Healthcare Overview Page” of whitehouse.gov. , you will find the following promises concerning the Affordable care Act, unaffectionately known as Obamacare:

For those Americans who already have health insurance, the only changes you will see under the law are new benefits, better protections from insurance company abuses, and more value for every dollar you spend on health care. If you like your plan you can keep it and you don’t have to change a thing due to the health care law. The President addressed concerns from Americans who have received letters of policy cancellations or changes from their insurance companies in an interview with NBC News, watch the video or read a transcript.

For the uninsured or those who don’t get their coverage through work, a key component of the Affordable Care Act will take effect on October 1, when the new Health Insurance Marketplace open[s] for business, allowing millions of Americans to comparison shop for a variety of quality, affordable plans that best meet their health care needs.

…The law helps you by bringing down health care costs and making sure your health care dollars are spent wisely. Insurance companies will now be accountable to their customers for how they are spending premium dollars, and how much they are raising rates. Plus, the new law will help lower costs through new tax credits and new marketplaces where insurers will have to compete for your business.

As Americans found out a long time ago, all of President Barack Hussein Obama’s promises have expiration dates.

In the past, he and his Administration have been able to spin and obfuscate these broken promises to their advantage.

NOT THIS TIME.

Not even the Obama Administration can hide the disastrous roll-out of Obama’s Signature Legislation, Obamacare.

At 2:30 p.m. Central Yesterday, the official numbers were released via conference call by Secretary of Health and Human Services, Nurse Ratched, err…I mean Kathleen Sibelius.

That’s okay, Madame Secretary. If I were you, I wouldn’t show my face in public, either. This Administration needs a scapegoat to throw under the bus and you appear to be the next on the list.

According to Sebelius, 106, 185 Amercans successfully selected Obamacare through the exchanges. However you have to remember that number includes those Americans who simple chjose a plan and put it in their “cart” on the website, but never actually bought a plan.

Of that number, only 26,794 came through HealthCare.gov, the federal exchange site that serves 36 states. 79,391 came from state websites.

As bad as this news is, things are going to get much, much worse. Rush Limbaugh explains…

…right now, that’s the only thing affected is individual policies. Nevertheless, even though that limited number of people is affected, that limited number of people is causing all of this havoc. The other shoe to drop in 2014 is when this I same thing starts happening to people who get their health care at work. We’re not talking about employer-provided coverage here yet. That shoe doesn’t drop until next year. Right now, it’s just the individual insurance market that’s being affected by the exchanges.

It’s just the individuals who are unable to keep the plan they like. Wait until everybody who’s insured by their boss begins to lose their plan! That happens in January of next year. Then all hell is gonna break loose because then we’re talking about the vast majority of the people in this country. Admittedly, folks, the individual insurance market is not the major part of it. I mean, how many of you…? Let me just ask you the question. How many of you have a health insurance policy, or had, that you went out and bought yourself?

Show of hands. Let me see. Probably two out of 10 people. The vast majority of people get their health insurance at work, and none of this impacted them. They haven’t lost their plans yet. They haven’t had their plans taken away from ’em. Their premiums and all that stuff hasn’t gone up yet. That doesn’t happen in the employer-provided market until January. Now, wait until 80% of people with health insurance start being impacted by Obamacare, and it’s gonna make what’s happening now look like Romper Room.

See, if you get your insurance at work as an employee benefit, none of what’s being discussed here really has impacted you yet. About the only way it has is maybe you’ve been converted to part time. You may have lost your health insurance at work because your company can’t stay in business with the new rules. But for those of you who still get health insurance at work — and there’s one exception, talked about it yesterday. If your company is self-insured none of this is gonna matter to you until they get around to fixing it so that you do get hurt by it.

Right now the self-insured market is not impacted by any of this. There aren’t any rules or restrictions in the self-insured market. And again, the self-insured market is when your boss, your company, just pays for your health care directly, without an insurance policy. They set aside the same amount of money to insure everybody that works there. An employee goes to the doctor, has to get an operation, the company pays the hospital directly, the doctor directly, not an insurance company. That’s called self-insure. And Obamacare doesn’t touch them. Republicans got a carve-out for that. Now the Democrats are trying to fix that.

So the only way that you who have your insurance through your boss will not be impacted in January is if your company self-insures, and I don’t know how many it is.

…Most people are insured at work. Wait ’til they start losing their policies. Wait ’til they lose their plans that they like. We’re talking tons and tons of people. That’s the other shoe to drop in 2014. Nobody’s brought it up yet. I just want you to have a heads-up.

5 million Americans have lost their health insurance policies already as a result of Obamacare. 5 million.  

Before another American is hurt by this disastrous attempt at socializing America’s Healthcare System, it needs to end…now.  Senator Ted Cruz has been right, all along.

Repeal Obamacare now….before more Americans suffer.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Obamacare: NBC Cried, “Obama Lied!!!”

On By kingsjesterIn Politics9 Comments

obamadoctorWhen Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmm) assumed the office of President of the United States, he promised to have the most transparent Administration evah.

To say that ol’ Scooter has fallen just a wee bit short of that promise, is like saying that the Titanic hit an ice-cube.

On Saturday, August 8, 2009, during his Weekly Address, “The Smartest Guy in the Room” said,

As we draw close to finalizing – and passing – real health insurance reform, the defenders of the status quo and political point-scorers in Washington are growing fiercer in their opposition. In recent days and weeks, some have been using misleading information to defeat what they know is the best chance of reform we have ever had. That is why it is important, especially now, as Senators and Representatives head home and meet with their constituents, for you, the American people, to have all the facts.

So, let me explain what reform will mean for you. And let me start by dispelling the outlandish rumors that reform will promote euthanasia, cut Medicaid, or bring about a government takeover of health care. That’s simply not true. This isn’t about putting government in charge of your health insurance; it’s about putting you in charge of your health insurance. Under the reforms we seek, if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan.

And while reform is obviously essential for the 46 million Americans who don’t have health insurance, it will also provide more stability and security to the hundreds of millions who do. Right now, we have a system that works well for the insurance industry, but that doesn’t always work well for you. What we need, and what we will have when we pass health insurance reform, are consumer protections to make sure that those who have insurance are treated fairly and that insurance companies are held accountable.

Remember what happened a month after that, on September 9, 2009, during President Barack Hussein Obama’s very first State of the Union Speech?

On September 10, 2009, CNN.com reported the following:

A Republican House member shouted, “You lie” during President Obama’s health care speech to Congress on Wednesday, and members of both parties condemned the heckling.

After the speech, South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson issued a statement apologizing for his outburst.

“This evening, I let my emotions get the best of me when listening to the president’s remarks regarding the coverage of illegal immigrants in the health care bill,” the statement said. “While I disagree with the president’s statement, my comments were inappropriate and regrettable. I extend sincere apologies to the president for this lack of civility.”

Wilson also called the White House to apologize and spoke with Obama’s Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, who accepted the apology on the president’s behalf, according to a senior administration official.

“We can disagree without being disagreeable,” Emanuel said to Wilson, according to the official. “That was the point of the president’s speech.”

The outburst came when Obama denied that proposed health care legislation would provide free health coverage for illegal immigrants. Immediately, Wilson shouted, “You lie!”

The outburst caused Obama to stop and look toward the heckler. “That’s not true,” the president responded.

Hotair.com reported the following on August 28, 2009:

In what he called the “first myth” being spread by critics of his proposal for a government-run health care system, Obama said they are wrong in claiming illegal immigrants will be covered: “That is not true. Illegal immigrants would not be covered. That idea has not even been on the table.” Obama said.

Well, Mr. President, that idea must have been tucked under a stack of background briefing papers over there in the corner of the table because the Congressional Research Service (CRS) says this about H.R. 3200, the Obamacare bill approved just before the recess by the House Energy and Commerce Committee chaired by Rep. Henry Waxman, D-CA:

“Under H.R. 3200, a ‘Health Insurance Exchange’ would begin operation in 2013 and would offer private plans alongside a public option…H.R. 3200 does not contain any restrictions on noncitzens—whether legally or illegally present, or in the United States temporarily or permanently—participating in the Exchange.”

So you see, gentle reader, Joe Wilson was exactly right. Although he, like the rest of the nation, had no idea to what extent Obama did and would lie to all of us.

Last night NBC News reported that

President Obama repeatedly assured Americans that after the Affordable Care Act became law, people who liked their health insurance would be able to keep it. But millions of Americans are getting or are about to get cancellation letters for their health insurance under Obamacare, say experts, and the Obama administration has known that for at least three years.

Four sources deeply involved in the Affordable Care Act tell NBC NEWS that 50 to 75 percent of the 14 million consumers who buy their insurance individually can expect to receive a “cancellation” letter or the equivalent over the next year because their existing policies don’t meet the standards mandated by the new health care law. One expert predicts that number could reach as high as 80 percent. And all say that many of those forced to buy pricier new policies will experience “sticker shock.”

None of this should come as a shock to the Obama administration. The law states that policies in effect as of March 23, 2010 will be “grandfathered,” meaning consumers can keep those policies even though they don’t meet requirements of the new health care law. But the Department of Health and Human Services then wrote regulations that narrowed that provision, by saying that if any part of a policy was significantly changed since that date — the deductible, co-pay, or benefits, for example — the policy would not be grandfathered.

Buried in Obamacare regulations from July 2010 is an estimate that because of normal turnover in the individual insurance market, “40 to 67 percent” of customers will not be able to keep their policy. And because many policies will have been changed since the key date, “the percentage of individual market policies losing grandfather status in a given year exceeds the 40 to 67 percent range.”

That means the administration knew that more than 40 to 67 percent of those in the individual market would not be able to keep their plans, even if they liked them.

Yet President Obama, who had promised in 2009, “if you like your health plan, you will be able to keep your health plan,” was still saying in 2012, “If [you] already have health insurance, you will keep your health insurance.”

Indeed. 

How bad must evidence of the President’s duplicitous behavior, regarding his “Affordable Care Act” be, for the Vanguard of his Main Street Media Minions, NBC, to turn on him, in this manner? 

Joe and Mika, from Morning Joe, must have headed to the nearest bar, when they heard that NBC was going to go public with Obama’s treachery.

First CBS’ 60 Minutes’ report on Benghazi. Now this.

Could the sniveling weasels in the MSM have come to the realization that, if they keep trying to cover for this Administration, they will go down with Obama’s Sinking Ship of State?

Is the MSM simply in Survival Mode, or are they distancing themselves, in order to be a viable force for the Democratic Party, with the purpose of saving them from a Political Massacre in the 2014 and 2016 Elections?

Either way, the MSM is quickly distancing themselves from the indefensible disaster known as Obamacare, like it is last call at the local pub, and the last one there has to pick up the check.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Obama’s Banana Republic: Daylight Come and Me Wanna Go Home.

On By kingsjesterIn Politics3 Comments

obamamyworkThere is no question that Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmmm) is the most petulant President we have ever had in United States History.

If whatever Machiavellian Scheme he is working on at the time is foiled by the Republicans, usually because they have been forced to actually act on behalf of the American People, Obama’s modus operandi is to act like child who has been told to come in for supper on a school night. He usually throws a temper tantrum, surrounded by human props and/or shields, designed to distract the public from what an immature, shallow schmuck “the smartest man in the room” actually is.

A prime example of this petulance is the memorable tantrum/speech he gave after Congress voted down his Gun Control Bill, in which he attempted to take advantage of the massacre of American Children by a psychopath in Newtown, CT.

Obama, using some of the childrens’ parents as props, blamed everyone but himself for the failure of his attempt to deprive Americans of our Second Amendment Rights.

Now, the president’s petulance is showing again, as yesterday, after the House passed a continuing resolution to fund the government until Mid-December, but not Obamacare, the Manchurian President lashed out at Republicans during a speech at a Ford plant in Liberty, Mo., on Friday afternoon,

…So what Congress is doing right now is important. Unfortunately, right now the debate that going on in Congress is not meeting the test of helping middle-class families. It’s just they’re not focused on you. They’re focused on politics. They’re focused on trying to mess with me. They’re not focused on you. They’re not focused on you.

…Defunding Affordable Health Care would rob 25 million Americans of the chance to get health care coverage. It would cut basic health care services for tens of millions of seniors on Medicare already. That’s what House Republicans are fighting for.

And now they’ve gone beyond just holding Congress hostage, they’re holding the whole country hostage. One Republican senator called shutting down the government over the Affordable Care Act “the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard.” I agree with him. But that’s the strategy they’re pursuing. House of Representatives just voted on it today.

Now, I tell you what, Missouri. The American people have worked too hard for too long, digging out of a real crisis just to let politicians in Washington cause another crisis.

This is the United States of America. We’re not some banana republic. This is not a deadbeat nation. We don’t run out on our tab. We’re the world’s bedrock investment. The entire world looks to us to make sure the world economy is stable. We can’t just not pay our bills. And even threatening something like that is the height of irresponsibility.

So what I’ve said is I will not negotiate over the full faith and credit of the United States. I am not going to allow anyone to harm this country’s reputation. I’m not going to allow them to inflict economic pain on millions of our own people just so they can make an ideological point.

[Republicans in Congress] Just do your job. Don’t be the other guy, be the guy who’s doing your job. No obstruction. No games. No holding the economic hostage — economy hostage if you don’t get 100 percent of what you want.

Nobody gets 100 percent of what you want. You guys know that in your own lives, in your own families. I don’t know how many people are married here, but you know you better learn not to expect getting 100 percent of what you want. Otherwise you’ll be divorced real quick. Especially you men, I’m telling you.

So you should expect the same thing — same common sense out of Congress. You should expect some compassion. You should expect some compromise. You should expect the conviction of leaders who wake up and go to work every day, not to tear something down, but to build something better; not just for today but for the world we want to leave our kids.

We are the greatest country on Earth…in spite of you, President Obama.

Earlier this past week, Reuters.com reported that

The number of U.S. residents living in poverty edged up to 46.5 million last year, the latest sign that an economic recovery marked by a stock market boom has not trickled down to ordinary Americans.

The figures from the Census Bureau on Tuesday highlighted the lingering scars from the 2007-2009 recession and added fresh fuel to debates over government austerity and widening income inequality. It could also renew calls to raise the minimum wage.

Although the number of people in poverty went up from 46.2 million in 2011, the national poverty rate was unchanged at 15 percent, the annual report said. The poverty threshold in 2012 was an income of $23,492 for a family of four.

“Today’s data underscore that it is time for Congress to pivot from a focus on austerity to an agenda emphasizing jobs and shared economic growth,” said Neera Tanden, president of the Center for American Progress, a liberal policy group in Washington.

The recovery from the worst recession since the 1930s has been marked by a jump in stock prices to record highs, aided in part by the Federal Reserve’s ultra easy monetary policy.

While the Standard & Poor’s 500 index gained 16 percent on a total return basis last year, including reinvested dividends, the Census Bureau report showed median household income slipped to $51,017 from  $51,100 in 2011.

The economy has struggled to sustain growth rates of more than 2.5 percent since the recession ended.

Although the bulk of the more than 8 million jobs lost during the downturn have been recouped, many of the jobs have been in services industries such as retail and restaurants that typically do not pay well.

Belt-tightening in Washington to slash the government’s budget deficit has significantly shrunk the social safety net.

About 16.1 million children and 3.9 million people aged 65 years and older were living in poverty last year.

Since you have taken office, Mr. President, there has been a steady erosion of the pillars of American Society: self-reliance, self-discipline, and self-responsibility.

From the moment you took office, with your stated philosophy that “spreading the wealth around is good for everyone”, average Americans, such as myself, have found themselves out of  their job, with their home and car getting foreclosed and repossessed.

More and more Americans have decided that the American Tradition of pulling yourself up by your bootstraps (with God’s help) and getting on with your life, just isn’t worth all the hassles.

In other words, Pookie does not want to get up off the couch. 

Why should she be responsible for herself? She’s simply following the example of her president. 

When things have gone wrong (and, plenty has) during your watch, Mr. President…you have blamed on someone else: Bush, Congress, or us “Bitter Clingers”, with our Bibles and guns.

And now, once again, one of your Machiavellian Schemes, Obamacare, is on the verge of falling apart….and you are on the verge of another temper tantrum.

I can’t wait to see if Senator Ted Cruz launches a filibuster against your Socialist Healthcare System.

If he does, your temper tantrum should be one for the ages.

You mad, bro?

Until He Comes,

KJ

Obamacare: Covering Some Americans, Some of the Time

On By kingsjesterIn Politics5 Comments

obamadoctorOn September 9, 2009, President Barack Hussein Obama spoke before a Joint Session of Congress concerning his marvelous plan for state-run Healthcare in America. He said,

Now, if you’re one of the tens of millions of Americans who don’t currently have health insurance, the second part of this plan will finally offer you quality, affordable choices. (Applause.) If you lose your job or you change your job, you’ll be able to get coverage. If you strike out on your own and start a small business, you’ll be able to get coverage. We’ll do this by creating a new insurance exchange — a marketplace where individuals and small businesses will be able to shop for health insurance at competitive prices. Insurance companies will have an incentive to participate in this exchange because it lets them compete for millions of new customers. As one big group, these customers will have greater leverage to bargain with the insurance companies for better prices and quality coverage. This is how large companies and government employees get affordable insurance. It’s how everyone in this Congress gets affordable insurance. And it’s time to give every American the same opportunity that we give ourselves. (Applause.)

Now, for those individuals and small businesses who still can’t afford the lower-priced insurance available in the exchange, we’ll provide tax credits, the size of which will be based on your need. And all insurance companies that want access to this new marketplace will have to abide by the consumer protections I already mentioned. This exchange will take effect in four years, which will give us time to do it right. In the meantime, for those Americans who can’t get insurance today because they have preexisting medical conditions, we will immediately offer low-cost coverage that will protect you against financial ruin if you become seriously ill. (Applause.) This was a good idea when Senator John McCain proposed it in the campaign, it’s a good idea now, and we should all embrace it. (Applause.)

Now, even if we provide these affordable options, there may be those — especially the young and the healthy — who still want to take the risk and go without coverage. There may still be companies that refuse to do right by their workers by giving them coverage. The problem is, such irresponsible behavior costs all the rest of us money. If there are affordable options and people still don’t sign up for health insurance, it means we pay for these people’s expensive emergency room visits. If some businesses don’t provide workers health care, it forces the rest of us to pick up the tab when their workers get sick, and gives those businesses an unfair advantage over their competitors. And unless everybody does their part, many of the insurance reforms we seek — especially requiring insurance companies to cover preexisting conditions — just can’t be achieved.

And that’s why under my plan, individuals will be required to carry basic health insurance — just as most states require you to carry auto insurance. (Applause.) Likewise — likewise, businesses will be required to either offer their workers health care, or chip in to help cover the cost of their workers. There will be a hardship waiver for those individuals who still can’t afford coverage, and 95 percent of all small businesses, because of their size and narrow profit margin, would be exempt from these requirements. (Applause.) But we can’t have large businesses and individuals who can afford coverage game the system by avoiding responsibility to themselves or their employees. Improving our health care system only works if everybody does their part.

And while there remain some significant details to be ironed out, I believe — (laughter) — I believe a broad consensus exists for the aspects of the plan I just outlined: consumer protections for those with insurance, an exchange that allows individuals and small businesses to purchase affordable coverage, and a requirement that people who can afford insurance get insurance.

Regarding that whole promise of Universal Healthcare…Obama lied.

Yesterday, the Department of Health and Human Services announced that

A new report released today by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) shows that 56 percent, or nearly six in ten of the people who don’t have health insurance today may be able to get coverage through the Health Insurance Marketplace for less than $100 per month.

Beginning on October 1, individuals and families will have a new way to shop for coverage through the Health Insurance Marketplace. They’ll be able to compare their options using side-by-side information about price, quality and benefits. With one application they’ll be able to see if they qualify for premium tax credits or Medicaid that lower the costs of coverage right away. Coverage through the Marketplace starts as early as January 1, 2014.

“The health care law is making health insurance more affordable,” said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. “With more than half of all uninsured Americans able to get coverage at $100 or less, the health care law is delivering the quality, affordable coverage people are looking for.”

Of the 41.3 million individuals who are uninsured and eligible for coverage, 23.2 million (56 percent) may qualify for Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, or tax credits to purchase coverage for $100 or less per month. The amount an individual will save on premiums depends on their family income and size. Today’s report uses data about family income and size from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey to estimate the number of uninsured individuals who will qualify for lower costs on monthly premiums.

Today’s report also shows that if all 50 states took advantage of new options to expand Medicaid coverage, nearly 8 out of every 10 people (78 percent) who currently do not have insurance could be paying less than $100 a month for coverage under the Affordable Care Act. While some states are expanding their Medicaid programs in 2014, other states are not doing so. Under the health care law, states can receive 100 percent federal funding in 2014 to expand their Medicaid programs to cover people with incomes up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level. That’s about $15,800 a year for an individual, or about $32,500 for a family of four.

With less than half a month before Obamacare officially starts making all of our lives miserable on October 1st, Obama’s unwanted socialization of the greatest Healthcare System in the World looks as confused as its creator.

Several states have refused to fund his precious Healthcare Exchanges.

Plus, the nation has found out that Sarah Palin was right all along, as a codicil was found in this monstrous law, which cuts off eligibility for Cancer Treatment at the age of 76. So, if you are an otherwise healthy 77 year old, you are S.O.L….and you know what that means.

And then, there’s the fact that your doctor will be forced to ask you about your sex life, and will record all the lurid details, for Uncle Sugar to read, like an old magazine found in a truck stop men’s room.

Finally, the majority of Americans still want no part of this stupidly conceived and written intrusion into our daily lives.

Nearly 7 out of 10 voters are concerned about their personal health care under the Affordable Care Act and a majority wants to take the health care system back to 2009, according to the latest Fox News national poll.

The poll, released Tuesday, finds that 68 percent of voters are concerned about their health care under the new system. That includes 43 percent “very” concerned and another 25 percent “somewhat” concerned.

The number feeling concerned is more than twice that of those who are unworried (31 percent).

Even a 56-percent majority of Democrats feels concerned (31 percent “very” concerned). By comparison, 72 percent of independents and 77 percent of Republicans feel that way. …

To summarize: On October 1st, Americans will be saddled with a Healthcare System nobody wants, and which is not even ready to be implemented, in the first place.

Heckuva job, Barry!

Until He Comes,

KJ

Greasing the Wheels: Obama Delays ACA Employer Mandate…Until After the Mid-Terms.

On By kingsjesterIn Politics4 Comments

obamadoctorObamacare, or, as the Liberals refer to it, the Affordable Care Act, is hanging over America like an F5 Tornado about to touch down, leaving a barren landscape, as far as the eye can see.

Mark J. Mazur is the Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy, in the U.S. Treasury Department. He is responsible for developing, analyzing, and coordinating Treasury’s and the Administration’s agenda, policies, and guidance on tax issues.

Yesterday, Mazur made the following announcement on the Treasury Department’s Blog:

Over the past several months, the Administration has been engaging in a dialogue with businesses – many of which already provide health coverage for their workers – about the new employer and insurer reporting requirements under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). We have heard concerns about the complexity of the requirements and the need for more time to implement them effectively. We recognize that the vast majority of businesses that will need to do this reporting already provide health insurance to their workers, and we want to make sure it is easy for others to do so. We have listened to your feedback. And we are taking action.

The Administration is announcing that it will provide an additional year before the ACA mandatory employer and insurer reporting requirements begin. This is designed to meet two goals. First, it will allow us to consider ways to simplify the new reporting requirements consistent with the law. Second, it will provide time to adapt health coverage and reporting systems while employers are moving toward making health coverage affordable and accessible for their employees. Within the next week, we will publish formal guidance describing this transition. Just like the Administration’s effort to turn the initial 21-page application for health insurance into a three-page application, we are working hard to adapt and to be flexible about reporting requirements as we implement the law.

Here is some additional detail. The ACA includes information reporting (under section 6055) by insurers, self-insuring employers, and other parties that provide health coverage. It also requires information reporting (under section 6056) by certain employers with respect to the health coverage offered to their full-time employees. We expect to publish proposed rules implementing these provisions this summer, after a dialogue with stakeholders – including those responsible employers that already provide their full-time work force with coverage far exceeding the minimum employer shared responsibility requirements – in an effort to minimize the reporting, consistent with effective implementation of the law.

Once these rules have been issued, the Administration will work with employers, insurers, and other reporting entities to strongly encourage them to voluntarily implement this information reporting in 2014, in preparation for the full application of the provisions in 2015. Real-world testing of reporting systems in 2014 will contribute to a smoother transition to full implementation in 2015.

Per a report completed by the Washington Council of Ernst & Young…

  • According to Treasury Notice 2011-36, any employer with 50+ full-time equivalents is considered a large employer. For each calendar month of the preceding calendar year, employers must:

1. Calculate full-time employees (including seasonal): (30+ hrs/wk/month)

2. Full-time equivalents: aggregate number of hours worked by non-full-time employees (including seasonal) ÷ 120

3. Add the number of full-time employees and FTEs calculated in steps (1) and (2) for each of the 12 months in the preceding calendar year.

4. Add the monthly totals and divide by 12. If the average exceeds 50 FTEs, determine whether the seasonal employee exception applies (see below).

5. Seasonal employee exception: If an employer’s workforce exceeds 50 FT employees for 120 days or fewer during a calendar year, and the employees in excess of 50 who were employed during that period of

no more than 120 days (four calendar months, for this purpose only) were seasonal employees, the employer would not be an applicable large employer.

6. If the seasonal exception does not apply, the employer is an applicable large employer for the current calendar year.

  • If a large employer does not offer coverage to their full-time employees and their dependents, employers face a penalty of:

$2,000 x the total number of full-time employees (FTE) if at least one FTE is receiving a premium assistance tax credit

  • If a large employer offers coverage to their full-time employees and their dependents but the coverage is unaffordable to certain employees or does not provide

minimum value, employers face a penalty of:

  • The lesser of $3,000 x the number of FTEs receiving a premium assistance tax credit or $2,000 x the total number of FTEs

We’re talking big money here.

So, what would trump the Federal Government’s well-known penchant for avarice?

Their all-consuming survival instinct.

Obama and the rest of the Democrats know what a train wreck this ironically-named “Affordable Care Act” is going to be.

And, if they dare allow it to unfold on schedule, there will never be another Democrat elected again for decades, even if they bring in millions of replacement voters from Mexico, as they are trying to accomplish with the Senate Gang of 8’s horrendous Amnesty Bill.

Even time.com had to tell the truth about this move:

The so-called individual mandate is unaffected by the rule change. That provision requires the vast majority of Americans to purchase insurance or pay a penalty, with tax credits provided to those who can’t afford coverage.

Republican former Congressional Budget Office director Douglas Holtz-Eakin called the move “deviously brilliant,” by removing a potential electoral impediment from in front of congressional Democrats before the midterms.

“Democrats no longer face the immediate specter of running against the fallout from a heavy regulatory imposition on employers across the land,” Holtz-Eakin wrote. “Explaining away the mandate was going to be a big political lift; having the White House airbrush it from the landscape is way better.”

Uh huh.

So, by delaying this incredible tax burden aimed directly at the heart of our economy…America’s “Large” Employers…the men and women who actually provide us with jobs, the Democrats are hoping that American Capitalists have short memories, and absolutely no foresight.

Just as the Vichy Republicans believe that former illegal aliens will be so grateful for the passage of the Amnesty Bill, that they will actually vote for the GOP, so Democrats believe that America’s Businessmen will ignore the Employer Mandate that’s is hanging directly over their heads, like the blade of a guillotine.

I believe that both political parties are counting their chickeeeens….before they come home…to roost!

 

Obama Vs. the Supreme Court: Falls Count Anywhere

On By kingsjesterIn Politics5 Comments

The day after Wrestlemania XXVIII, President Barack Hussein Obama did his impression of “The Rock”, as he called out the Supreme Court.

Does ol’ Scooter know something that we don’t?

Reuters.com has the story:

President Barack Obama took an opening shot at conservative justices on the Supreme Court on Monday, warning that a rejection of his sweeping healthcare law would be an act of “judicial activism” that Republicans say they abhor.

Obama, a Democrat, had not commented publicly on the Supreme Court’s deliberations since it heard arguments for and against the healthcare law last week.

Known as the “Affordable Care Act” or “Obamacare,” the measure to expand health insurance for millions of Americans is considered Obama’s signature domestic policy achievement.

A rejection by the court would be a big blow to Obama going into the November 6 presidential election.

Republican presidential candidates, who are vying to take on Obama in November elections, have promised to repeal the law if one of them wins the White House.

Obama’s advisers say they have not prepared contingency plans if the measure fails. But the president — who expressed confidence that the court would uphold the law — made clear how he would address it on the campaign trail if the court strikes it down.

“Ultimately, I am confident that the Supreme Court will not take what would be an unprecedented, extraordinary step of overturning a law that was passed by a strong majority of a democratically elected Congress,” Obama said at a news conference with the leaders of Canada and Mexico.

Conservative leaders say the law, which once fully implemented will require Americans to have health insurance or pay a penalty, was an overreach by Obama and the Congress that passed it.

The president sought to turn that argument around, calling a potential rejection by the court an overreach of its own.

“And I’d just remind conservative commentators that, for years, what we have heard is, the biggest problem on the bench was judicial activism, or a lack of judicial restraint, that an unelected group of people would somehow overturn a duly constituted and passed law,” Obama said.

“Well, this is a good example, and I’m pretty confident that this court will recognize that and not take that step,” he said.

AFP reporting on yahoo.com continues the story:

Obama’s comments will be seen as a warning shot to the court, one of the three branches of the US government, and could draw complaints from critics that he is trying to influence the deliberations.

Gee, DiNozzo.  Ya think?

The health care case is the most closely watched Supreme Court deliberation since a divided bench handed the 2000 presidential election to George W. Bush over Al Gore, and could have far reaching political implications.

Obama also argued there was a “human element” to the health care battle, as well as legal and political dimensions.

He said that without the law, passed after a fierce battle with Republicans in 2010, several million children would not have health care, and millions more adults with pre-existing conditions would also be deprived of treatment.

And, with additional taxes levied on the American people, in order to finance Obamacare, small companies will begin to fold, and an already bad economy will become worse.

Opponents of the health care law argue that the government has overreached its powers by requiring all Americans to purchase health insurance.

But supporters say that the government is within its rights to regulate the health industry as it has the power to oversee commerce across state borders.

Without the mandate, they say, the costs of insuring an extra 32 million Americans would be prohibitive to the private health insurance industry.

The Affordable Care Act is highly polarizing in US politics as the election approaches and Obama is yet to get a political dividend for the huge expenditure of political capital required to pass the legislation.

If the court upholds the law, and he wins reelection in November, the legislation will likely stand for years, as it will be fully implemented by 2014, two years before his second term draws to a close.

But Republicans running to replace him in the November 6 election have all vowed to repeal ObamaCare.

“I think it’s important… to remind people that this is not an abstract argument,” Obama said.

“The law that’s already in place has already given 2.5 million young people health care that wouldn’t otherwise have it.

“There are tens of thousands of adults with preexisting conditions who have health care right now because of this law.”

Before you start breaking out the hankies over Scooter’s noble sentiments concerning his wonderful, heaven-sent Affordable Care Act, remember what the Congressional Budget Office reported recently:

President Obama’s landmark healthcare overhaul is projected to cost $1.76 trillion over a decade, reports the Congressional Budget Office, a hefty sum more than the $940 billion estimated when the healthcare legislation was signed into law. To put it mildly, ObamaCare’s projected net worth is far off from its original estimate — in fact, about $820 billion off.

Backtracking to his September 2009 remarks to a joint session of Congress on healthcare, Obama asserted the following: “Now, add it all up, and the plan I’m proposing will cost around $900 billion over 10 years — less than we have spent on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and less than the tax cuts for the wealthiest few Americans that Congress passed at the beginning of the previous administration.”

When the final CBO report was released before the law’s passage, critics surmised that the actual 10-year cost would far exceed the advertised projections. In other words, the numbers were seemingly obscured through a political ploy devised to jam the legislation through Congress.

I pray that the Supreme Court puts a stake in the heart of Obama’s vampiric National Healthcare Monster.

This nation’s health…and our pocketbooks…simply cannot afford it.