Cartoon Claims Obamacare Means Men Will Get STDs From Women Who Can Now Afford Birth Control

The Huffington Post  |  By Paige Lavender

 

A cartoon is claiming men can thank Obamacare for getting sexually transmitted diseases from "women who now get free birth control."
The cartoon depicts an angry man next to a woman holding a pack of birth control pills, both with sores on their mouths. Under the words "thanks Obamacare!" are the hashtags #gotbrokencondom, #gotherpes, #gotpregnant and #gotchildsupport.
The cartoon was done by A.F. Branco, whose work is published at a website called Comically Incorrect.
The cartoon is a parody of an ad for Obamacare from DoYouGotInsurance.com called "Let's Get Physical," showing characters named "Susie" and "Nate" described as "hot to trot." In the ad, Susie gives a thumbs up while holding a pack of birth control pills.
See the cartoon below:

UPDATE -- 12:26 p.m.: Branco gave the following statement on the cartoon to HuffPost:

I'm not against birth control or nor do I feel that it is any of my business what people do sexually. However, I do feel that contraceptives are inexpensive and accessible enough that I shouldn't have to pay for them through my taxes. I also feel that my government shouldn't be promoting promiscuous sex as though condoms are the answer to all STDs and promiscuous behavior.

This post has been updated with a version of the cartoon sent to HuffPost by Branco.

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Rick Perry Is Quietly Encouraging Texans to Sign Up for Obamacare

Rick Perry Is Quietly Encouraging Texans to Sign Up for Obamacare 

Published October 23, 2013 - 3:30pm

Katie Singh
Burnt Orange Report

Governor Rick Perry has always been one of the Affordable Care Act's most vocal opponents. He's called it a "monstrosity," a "stomach punch to the economy," and a "felony." But that hasn't stopped him from telling Texans to sign up for health coverage from the law.

That's right — Rick Perry's administration is encouraging Texans to enroll in the ACA's health insurance exchanges.

As the Texas Tribune reported last week, Texas will soon be shutting down its high-risk insurance pool for residents with pre-existing conditions, pushing them to seek coverage in the federal insurance marketplace created by the Affordable Care Act. According to the Tribune, "the state has deemed the high-risk pool obsolete, as the Affordable Care Act prohibits insurance companies participating in the federal marketplace...from denying coverage to Texans with pre-existing conditions." Governor Perry signed the bill abolishing the high-risk pool into law in June, and it will be shut down by the end of the year.

This is just the latest in a series of hypocritical moves by Governor Perry regarding the Affordable Care Act. Though he's called the law a "criminal act," Perry certainly has no problem accepting money from it. As we reported last month, Perry has accepted over $100 million in ACA grants, and was asking for even more to help expand a state program providing insurance to those with disabilities.

Perry's actions make it utterly impossible to take his position on the ACA seriously. The crux of his argument against the Affordable Care Act has been that it's better for states to control health policy than the federal government. But by accepting ACA grant money, and now by encouraging high-risk patients to enroll in insurance exchanges, Perry's actions have totally undermined his words. In accepting these parts of the ACA, he's essentially acknowledged that federal grants will enhance the state's existing health programs, and that the health exchanges will provide better coverage for people with pre-existing conditions than what the state has now.

Perry's actions confirm what policy experts have known since the law was passed — it's a step forward for Texans. Stacey Pogue of the Center for Public Policy Priorities told the Texas Tribune she "think[s] that people are going to have many more options and many better options in the marketplace than they do in the health pool today."

Texans in the high-risk pool currently pay twice the market rate for health coverage, but they will be able to find much cheaper options in the health insurance exchanges. The ACA's tax subsidies will also make coverage more affordable. In addition, the insurance plans available in the exchanges will expand the level of care people with pre-existing conditions can receive, "as they must cover 'essential health benefits,' some of which, such as maternity care, aren't [currently] covered in the pool."

So, the next time you hear Rick Perry call the Affordable Care Act an "attack on freedom" or some other hyperbole, remember that even he doesn't really think that. Perry's presidential ambitions mean he'll never admit it, but he's repeatedly accepted parts of the Affordable Care Act as good for Texas. In doing so, he's not only recognized that federal assistance can strengthen state programs, but he's also proven himself to be a Texas-sized hypocrite.

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Ted Cruz Quite Possibly Just Made His Most Ridiculous Statement — Ever

November 26, 2013

By Allen Clifton


It’s no secret that I absolutely cannot stand Texas Senator Ted Cruz.  I still go back and forth between him and Sarah Palin when trying to figure out who I loathe more.  Currently the edge goes to Cruz simply because he’s actually a senator, whereas Sarah Palin is nothing more than a failed vice presidential candidate and the Alaska governor who quit before her first term was up.
That being said, it’s not difficult at all to find ample quotes from Ted Cruz that are completely absurd.
But while there are plenty of quotes proving Ted Cruz is an idiot, the context of his recent comments about Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid using the “nuclear option” to change the rules of the Senate might just be his most ridiculous ever.
During an exchange with Bloomberg News’ Al Hunt, Hunt asked Cruz about the change in the rules made by Senator Reid:

Hunt: Will it complicate passing budgets or debt ceilings or anything?
Cruz: Of course it will. I mean, it will poison the atmosphere of the Senate.

Yes, that’s Ted Cruz accusing Harry Reid and Democrats of poisoning the atmosphere of the Senate.  The guy who many within his own party can’t stand.  The man who staged a fake 21-hour filibuster where he tried to compare “Obamacare” to Darth Vader and misconstrued the meaning of Green Eggs and Ham on the Senate floor.  The same Senator who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to force a government shutdown, knowing that it stood absolutely zero chance at accomplishing his ridiculous “goal.”
The same Senator Cruz who, in his very brief time in the United States Senate, has done absolutely nothing except use his position as senator to set himself up for a 2016 presidential bid – at the cost of the taxpayers, of course.
Ted Cruz epitomizes “poison” in the Senate.  It’s clear to anyone with any kind of common sense that Cruz only ran for the Senate because he had presidential ambitions for 2016 and needed a way to get his name known to voters.  And since his election he’s taken up the strategy that the only thing he’ll do is pander to the tea party, hoping that if he builds enough support with far-right Republicans, he’ll set himself up to claim the GOP nomination in 2016.
But like I said, you don’t have to believe me – many within his own party can’t even stand him.  Look at how quickly many leading Republicans emphatically denounced the idea of shutting down the government again once another vote on the budget will have to be held in a couple of months.
So while what he said wasn’t the most asinine thing he’s ever said, the context behind what he expressed might just be the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard him say.
Of all people, for Ted Cruz to accuse anyone of introducing poisonous behavior in the Senate could be a definition for hypocrisy.  And while this just might rank at the top of my list for ridiculous comments from the Texas senator, I’m sure it won’t be long before he says something else outrageous to trump its stupidity.

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Elisabeth Hasselbeck Knows Who Is ‘Smart,’ And That Is Young People Who Don’t Buy Insurance Because They Will Never Get Sick

Elisabeth Hasselbeck Knows Who Is ‘Smart,’ And That Is Young People Who Don’t Buy Insurance Because They Will Never Get Sick 

 by Rebecca Schoenkopf


Founding Mensa member and Fox & Friends cohost Elisabeth Hasselbeck knows genius when she sees it. Where has Elisabeth Hasselbeck seen genius today? In “young invincibles” refusing to buy insurance!

     “You know who is playing it smart?” Hasselbeck began. “Young invincibles. The young set out there who are not buying into Obamacare because they’re seeing situations like this and saying, ‘I’m not going to be the one responsible for paying for everybody else. That’s not what was sold to me.’ So they’re not signing up. Government’s freaking out because they need the young people to pay for Obamacare.”

We have never heard that particular formulation before, but who are we to question what is “smart” and what is “the opposite of that.”

But why does Hasselbeck want young people to be “smart” and not buy insurance? Oh, the usual reasons: young healthy people would have to pay for old sick people, by being alive, at the same time, in the same nation. (This is sort of like how people who buy Wonkette T-shirts are subsidizing people who buy Smoking Joe cups, because it does not cost anywhere near $7.99 to ship a T-shirt, and it costs way way more than $7.99 to ship a cup! We call it “socialism.” We also call it “we don’t know how to charge different amounts for shipping depending on which product you buy so we sort of tried to charge a happy medium EVEN THOUGH WAY MORE OF YOU buy cups than buy T-shirts.” We also also call it “if you buy a T-shirt AND a cup, you are getting a hell of a deal on shipping, so you should probably do that.”)

But yes, young people, definitely don’t buy insurance because someone, somewhere, might be helped by it if you do. Also, don’t buy anything, because did you know when you buy something you are helping to pay somebody’s salary? What a ripoff, right? Who do they think you are, Richard Branson? Why is it up to you to help pay salaries for all these “takers” doing the job selling you the thing you needed?

Also, it is definitely not like you are ever going to break your leg while snowboarding or whatever the cool “EXTREEEEME” sport is now, you will be fine, you are “invincible.” Also, stop paying your rent, because why is it up to you to make your landlord rich, and you are “invincible” and will never be evicted and if you do “sleeping rough” is very groovy and hep.

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5 reasons why the American people can't stand the Republican party 

Robert SobelOrlando Liberal Examiner

February 28, 2013

 

The Republican party often has people scratching their heads and it's not just "liberals" who are doing it. With The Republican party splitting into multiple factions, the once proud political party has been thrown into disarray Here are five reasons why the American people can't stand the Grand Old Party.
1. Bush wastes money and American lives-
After the United States was attacked on September 11, 2001, everyone throughout the country felt a variety of emotions. Some were upset, others scared or just plain angry. There isn't a right or wrong answer in how people felt because what happened was so horrific. It's natural to want revenge and that is how George W. Bush and the Republican party were able to get the country into a huge mess while lining their own pockets. Preying on the fear that came with the attacks on 9/11, the Bush administration decided to wage war, but with the wrong country. With his father, George H.W Bush, unable to capture Saddam Hussein in the early 1990s, George W. Bush wanted to finish the job that his father couldn't.
Knowing that Iraq was run by an evil dictator, had plenty of oil and could be a goldmine for companies to rebuild, Bush used the fear that overcame the United States to wage war with a country that had nothing to do with the attacks on that September day. Saddam Hussein was captured less than a year into the invasion of Iraq, but nearly a decade later the United States was still there.
The reason given to the American people for the invasion was that Iraq possessed "weapons of mass destruction," but later Americans were told that Iraq didn't have these weapons and that the United States had received "bad intelligence." Many believe that there were never any weapons in Iraq and that it was an excuse to invade the country. Many companies, such as Dick Cheney's Halliburton, made billions rebuilding in Iraq while others ran off to the bank as well. According to a 2007 report from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the war in Iraq would cost $1.9 trillion dollars, or about $6,300 for each U.S citizen. Mix that with the thousands of courageous soldiers who lost their lives or became injured and you have a mess that every American should be mad about.
2. GOP Depression-
Today's economic climate is a scary one. Though the unemployment rate has dropped to 7.9%, there is still only one job opening for every four Americans looking for work. As Ronald Reagan dropped the top tax rate from 70% to 28% during his eight years in office and deregulated big business and the financial sector, the United States was placed on a path of economic destruction. President Clinton stabilized the economy enough that he was able to hand a surplus to George W. Bush in 2001, but all the reckless actions by Wall Street drove the United States to the brink until a taxpayer bailout of the banks was needed in 2008. They say history repeats itself and that is true in this case.
When the economy took a hard down turn in the 1980s and in 2008, if was because the same economic policies were repeated that caused the Stock Market to crash in 1929. The Great Depression was caused by deregulation and bad tax policies, put in place by three consecutive Republican presidents. Starting with Warren Harding in 1921, through Calvin Coolidge and then Herbert Hoover, the United States fell into an economic depression. It took President Franklin D. Roosevelt, his New Deal and World War 2 to help get the United States back on track. Roosevelt had to deal with Republican opposition in congress and a new war, but after years in office, was able to get the job done.
3. Medicare Part D-
Republicans today seem to hate anything that the government does until they need it. Conservatives scream about programs like Social Security and unemployment benefits, but once they enter retirement or lose their jobs, they're quick to hold on to government assistance. Republicans want to privatize programs like Social Security and Medicare by taking them out of the government and putting them into greedy hands on Wall Street. While conservatives are opposed to these programs now, you don't need to go back too far to find Republicans supporting parts of programs like Medicare.
George Bush signed into law the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 (Medicare Part D) which went into effect on January 1, 2006. The program was supposed to subsidize the costs of prescription drugs for those who receive Medicare, but it was never paid for. In the long run, Medicare Part D raised prices, cost taxpayers billions of dollars and while the cost of Medicare Part D has been projected to be less than originally thought, much of the declining cost is due to President Obama's new health care law that was passed in 2010.
4. Sexual Morality?-
The Republican party pounds their chest as the voice of morality, clutching their Bible, fighting back against the LGBT community and abortion and love to bring up that President Clinton cheated on his wife. If people make certain claims, they should learn to look in the mirror first. Former Republican Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich has been married three times and has a dark history of infidelity. While Gingrich was one of the leading voices against President Clinton in the 1990s, he was actually cheating on his own wife. In fact, while his wife was in remission with cancer, Gingrich served her divorce papers.
The list of Republicans who have engaged in sexual affairs is endless. Former Republican mayor of Waterbury, Connecticut, Philip Giordano, is serving a 37-year sentence in federal prison for sexually abusing two underage girls. Republican congressman and anti-gay activist, Robert Bauman was charged with having sex with a 16-year-old boy he picked up at a gay bar while Republican legislator, Richard Gardner, admitted to molesting his two daughters. This doesn't mean that Democrats haven't done anything like this in the past, they have, but there's an old saying - "those who live in glass houses, shouldn't throw stones."
5. Unions aren't the problem!-
Just the word "union" seems to have a negative connotation these days. Conservatives point their finger at unions for every fiscal issue that the country has closing their eyes to the fact that unions are fighting for the middle class. Whether you're a member of a union of not, you must understand what a union is there for. Unions are a collective voice for workers to make sure that their rights are protected. These rights are not limited to, but include safe working conditions, fair pay, health care and other benefits. As executive pay has risen to an all-time high, wages for workers remain stagnant and are at an all-time low. Unions are put together to make sure that those at the top don't hold back the average middle class worker, but Republicans have tried to destroy the voice of the middle class for decades.
From the time Ronald Reagan fired the Air Traffic Controllers on August 5, 1981 to Republicans trying to push for "right-to-work" laws across the country, the voice of the middle class is starting to become silent. Republicans claim union workers are "lazy" and "greedy," but that is not the case. Are there workers who take advantage of the benefits of being in a union? Of course there are, every system has issues, but the majority are grateful and work hard. If Republicans want to truly be patriotic they should start supporting the middle class, not just the wealthy.

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Just How Stupid, Mean and Spiteful is the Evangelical-Controlled GOP/Tea Party South? Here’s How Stupid

November 22, 2013 By Frank Schaeffer

“What we could see, 10 years from now, is a Mason-Dixon line of health care… And [the GOP South] is doing it out of spite. Elsewhere, the expansion of Medicaid, the health care program for the poor, has been one of the few success stories of Obamacare… One side (with exceptions for conservative Midwest and mountain states) would be the insured North, a place where health care coverage was affordable and available to most people…
“On the other side would be the uninsured South, where health care for the poor would amount to treating charity cases in hospital emergency rooms. The South, already the poorest region in the country, with all the attendant problems, would acquire another distinction — a place where, if you were sick and earned just enough money that you didn’t qualify for traditional Medicare, you might face the current system’s version of a death panel.”  By TIMOTHY EGAN ( The South’s New Lost Cause, NY Times)

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Fact-checking the Sunday Nov. 24 shows

By Aaron Sharockman
Published on Sunday, November 24th, 2013 at 11:07 a.m.

Related rulings:

The Affordable Care Act alters the "sensible doctor-patient-relationship-centered health care program ... we see today."

Sarah Palin, Sunday, November 24th, 2013.
Ruling: False | Details

"Harry Reid was against (the nuclear option) before he was for it. Mitch McConnell was for it before he was against it. President Obama was against it before he was for it."

Matthew Dowd, Sunday, November 24th, 2013.
Ruling: True | Details

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On "Fox News Sunday," former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said: "There will be fewer people being covered under a sensible doctor-patient relationship centered health care program under Obamacare than what we see today."

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin returned to the Sunday news show circuit to pitch a new book and talk about the health care law with Fox News Sunday’s Chris Wallace.
In a taped interview, Wallace asked Palin about the issues of the moment -- the problems surrounding the rollout of the health care law and the decision by Senate Democrats to stop the ability of Republicans to filibuster judicial and presidential appointments.
On health care, Palin said she didn’t believe Congressional Budget Office projections, which show approximately 30 million uninsured Americans will receive health care as a result of the Affordable Care Act.
"I am one to question those numbers that 30 million more people will receive health care coverage under Obamacare. ... I don't believe a doggone thing coming out of Washington D.C. anymore," she said.
Moments later, Palin said: "There will be fewer people being covered under a sensible doctor-patient-relationship-centered health care program under Obamacare than what we see today. I guarantee you that."
PunditFact zeroed in on the idea that the health care alters the "sensible doctor-patient-relationship-centered health care program ... we see today."
That claim rates False.
There are reports that insurance companies are shrinking their networks, including excluding certain hospitals from coverage. This is particularly the case for insurance plans sold on the new state and federal marketplaces created by Obamacare. That means some people could be forced to switch doctors.
One insurance company, Anthem, told the Washington Post that it "still covers 74 percent of all primary-care providers and 78 percent of specialists," and that smaller networks would drive down the cost of their plans.
Some of this maneuvering was going on for years, and a trend already taking place in the industry may have just been accelerated by the law. In the spring of 2011, the Los Angeles Times reported on insurance companies in California offering a narrower list of providers to thousands of customers.
That’s a far cry from Palin’s actual words, however, which suggest a government intervention in the doctor-patient relationship. The health care law leaves the currently doctor-patient relationship in place.
Other pundits focused on the decision of Democrats to invoke the so-called "nuclear option." On ABC’s This Week, former George W. Bush adviser Matthew Dowd suggested it’s difficult for anyone to claim the political high ground.
"There's a virus going around Washington, D.C., and it's a virus of hypocrisy," Dowd said. "Harry Reid was against this before he was for it. Mitch McConnell was for it before he was against it. President Obama was against it before he was for it."
Dowd has history correct.
Back in 2005, a Republican was in the White House, Republicans controlled the Senate, and Democrats were being criticized for blocking judicial nominations.
McConnell, then the majority whip, said he supported using the nuclear option. Back then, Reid and Obama said they opposed the rule change.
"The American people want less partisanship in this town, but everyone in this chamber knows that if the majority chooses to end the filibuster, if they choose to change the rules and put an end to democratic debate, then the fighting, the bitterness, and the gridlock will only get worse," Obama said in 2005.
Last week, Obama said something quite different.
"I support the step a majority of senators today took to change the way that Washington is doing business -- more specifically, the way the Senate does business," Obama said.
Dowd’s claim rates True.
Steve Contorno and Julie Kliegman contributed to this report. Aaron Sharockman is the editor of PunditFact.com. Note to readers: PunditFact and PolitiFact will be off next Sunday Dec. 1, 2013. We'll return to live fact-checking the Sunday news shows Dec. 8. 

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BUSTED! Proof John Boehner Faked Obamacare Sign-Up Problems

BUSTED! Proof John Boehner Faked Obamacare Sign-Up Problems 

Posted by: Richard Rowe
November 24, 2013

Obamacare is a FAILURE!! Obamacare is a FAILURE!! Kneel before Koch!Oh, the right-wing fantasy machine is a powerful beast, capable of moving mountains (of stupid). And that machine burns loads of high octane furl in the form of bias, ignorance and (preferably) outright lies. John Boehner knows the good stuff when he sees it…unfortunately for him, we all saw him coming, too. On November 21st, Boehner managed to set down his glass of Koch-niac long enough to post “My Attempt to Sign Up For Health Care” on his (government sponsored) blog, Speaker.gov. Here he is, not posing for a picture while extremely hung over:


(Please note, no red lights on the phone.) The Speaker of the Keystone XL wrote:

“Earlier this afternoon, I sat down to try and enroll in the DC exchange under the president’s health care law. Like many Americans, my experience was pretty frustrating. After putting in my personal information, I received an error message. I was able to work past that, but when I went to actually sign up for coverage, I got this “internal server error” screen. Despite multiple attempts, I was unable to get past that point and sign up for a health plan. We’ve got a call into the help desk. Guess I’ll just have to keep trying…

Updated (5:35 pm ET:) Kept at it, and called the DC Health Link help line. They called back a few hours later, and after re-starting the process on the website two more times, I just heard from DC Health Link that I have been successfully enrolled.”

Oh, those liberal BASTARDS. If the Speaker of the House himself can’t get through, what chance do the rest of us have? Obama has failed…all hail Overlord Charles Koch!

Oh, wait…what do you mean “this call is being recorded for quality assurance?“

Indeed, this little stunt backfired big time on the Speaker…”Boehned” him, if you will. Scott MacFarlane, an NBC affiliate reporter broke the news on Twitter:

“Scott MacFarlane @MacFarlaneNews: DC health exchange spokesman says Speaker Boehner office kept DC representative on hold 35 minutes, “lots of patriotic hold music,” hung up.”

What? John Boehner is a lying sack of crap deliberately misleading the public in a blatant attempt to push his own agenda?
Say it isn’t so.

(If you look closely in the reflection on the back of Boehner’s computer monitor, you can see Charles Koch standing by the painting. Actually, you can’t, because Kochs don’t cast a reflection…but he’s definitely there. You can tell by that vacant ‘I will obey’ look in Boehner’s eyes.)
h/t: Politicus USA

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In rural Kentucky, health-care debate takes back seat as the long-uninsured line up

View Photo Gallery — A look at life in Breathitt County, Ky.: Hard hit by the loss of coal mining jobs, residents of this mostly rural Kentucky county sign up for health-care insurance at state-run exchanges under the Affordable Care Act.

By Stephanie McCrummen, Published: November 23 E-mail the writer

| in BREATHITT COUNTY, Ky. — On the campaign trail, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was still blasting the new health-care law as unsalvageable. At the White House, President Obama was still apologizing for the botched federal Web site.
But in a state where the rollout has gone smoothly, and in a county that is one of the poorest and unhealthiest in the country, Courtney Lively has been busy signing people up: cashiers from the IGA grocery, clerks from the dollar store, workers from the lock factory, call-center agents, laid-off coal miners, KFC cooks, Chinese green-card holders in town to teach Appalachian students.

Graphic

Although enrollment numbers for insurance exchanges set up in states by the federal government won't be available for several weeks, states operating their own health-care insurance exchanges under the Affordable Care Act, and the District of Columbia, have started to release enrollment data.

Now it was the beginning of another day, and a man Lively would list as Client 375 sat across from her in her office at a health clinic next to a Hardee’s.
“So, is that Breathitt County?” she asked Woodrow Wilson Noble as she tapped his information into a laptop Thursday morning.
“Yeah, we live on this side of the hill,” said Noble, whose family farm had gone under, who lived on food stamps and what his mother could spare, and who was about to hear whether he would have health insurance for the first time in his 60-year-old life.
This is how things are going in Kentucky: As conservatives argued that the new health-care law will wreck the economy, as liberals argued it will save billions, as many Americans raged at losing old health plans and some analysts warned that a disproportionate influx of the sick and the poor could wreck the new health-care model, Lively was telling Noble something he did not expect to hear.
“All right,” she said. “We’ve got you eligible for Medicaid.”
Places such as Breathitt County, in the Appalachian foothills of eastern Kentucky, are driving the state’s relatively high enrollment figures, which are helping to drive national enrollment figures as the federal health exchange has floundered. In a state where 15 percent of the population, about 640,000 people, are uninsured, 56,422 have signed up for new health-care coverage, with 45,622 of them enrolled in Medicaid and the rest in private health plans, according to figures released by the governor’s office Friday.
If the health-care law is having a troubled rollout across the country, Kentucky — and Breathitt County in particular — shows what can happen in a place where things are working as the law’s supporters envisioned.
One reason is that the state set up its own health-insurance exchange, sidestepping the troubled federal one. Also, Gov. Steve Beshear (D) is the only Southern governor to sign on to expanded eligibility parameters for Medicaid, the federal health-insurance program for the poor. The less technical reasons involve what Lively told Noble next.
“Okay, Woodrow, now you get to shop a little bit,” she said, explaining options he’d never had before.
“If you go to the doctor, all you’re going to pay is $1,” she began. “If you’re in the hospital for an extended period, you should only be billed $5. . . . If you get medicine, generics are $1 and brand is $4. . . . You can go to the dentist once a month — exams, X-rays and cleanings are covered. . . . Now for your teeth, the plan does take care of having them pulled and does take care of fillings, but not bridges, because that’s considered cosmetic.”
 Now, Lively explained, Noble simply had to choose among several Medicaid health-care plans. “So basically it’s whatever insurance company you go with — the effective date is January 1st,” she said, waiting for him to pick.
“My mom gets that WellCare, and she don’t pay nothing,” Noble said finally. “I’ll take that WellCare plan. My mommy got that, and it’s good.”

Graphic

Although enrollment numbers for insurance exchanges set up in states by the federal government won't be available for several weeks, states operating their own health-care insurance exchanges under the Affordable Care Act, and the District of Columbia, have started to release enrollment data.

“WellCare it is,” Lively said, typing in his decision as Noble considered Jan. 1.
“I got some warts on me I got to take off, some moles,” he said. “I might have that colonoscopy done. My mom had colon cancer twice. I never had money to do it.” He said he was told it could cost at least $2,000.
“I got this pain in my left shoulder,” he said, lifting his arm and rotating it. “Might be arthritis, I guess. I don’t know.”
Lively handed Noble some papers confirming his enrollment.
“Okay, you’re good to go — you tell your brother to come see me,” she said, and the next client walked in.
Lively grew up in the county and works for Juniper Health, which has a federal contract to enroll people in the state health-care exchange and runs the Breathitt County health clinic on Highway 15, a four-lane that branches off into narrow roads that wind through hills dotted with skinny trees and trailers.
Asked to describe Breathitt, Lively paused for a moment. “Poor,” she said. “Just poor.”
The per-capita income in Breathitt is about $15,000, and the rates of diabetes, hypertension and other health problems earned this part of Kentucky the nickname “Coronary Valley.”
Lively, who has been signing people up since the exchanges opened in early October, said one woman cried when she was told she qualified for Medicaid under the new law. She said people have been “pouring in” to her office, an unused exam room in the back of the clinic, where her set-up includes a table, a two-drawer filing cabinet, manila folders, a planner to track her schedule, a notebook to track her numbers and a laptop that connects to the state health-insurance exchange, Kynect.
Clinic doctors often send patients without insurance her way after their visits, but most come by word of mouth. Lively has signed up fathers who then sent their sons, and mothers who sent aunts. She signed up one Subway sandwich shop worker, and soon what seemed like the whole staff showed up.
Although she once had to dispel a rumor that enrolling involved planting a microchip in your arm, and though she avoids calling the new law “Obamacare” in a red state, most people need little persuading.
“All right,” she said to her next client, a 52-year-old disabled master electrician who said his mother, two brothers and two sisters all died from lung cancer. He had been ignoring a spot on his lung discovered during a visit to the emergency room after he had broken his ribs several years ago.
He also vaguely recalled being told at the time he had something called “wedging of the spine.”
“What do I need here?” said Jeff Fletcher, who was being sued for those medical bills. “Proof of income?”
“Yep,” Lively said, and Fletcher pulled out documents showing that he and his wife live on about $500 a month in food stamps and her disability check.
“You smoke?” Lively asked, going through a few routine questions.

Graphic

Although enrollment numbers for insurance exchanges set up in states by the federal government won't be available for several weeks, states operating their own health-care insurance exchanges under the Affordable Care Act, and the District of Columbia, have started to release enrollment data.

“Right- and left-handed,” he quipped as she typed.
“All right,” Lively said after a while. “You are covered.”
“I’m covered?” Fletcher said. He slapped the table. He clapped twice.
“Woo-hoo! I can go to the doctor now?” he asked Lively. “I’m serious. I need to go.”
Client 377 sat in the chair next. Ruth Strong, a 45-year-old woman with red, streaklike marks on her right arm, shoulder and neck from an untreated allergy attack, chatted with Lively about their kids. Strong was saying she wanted both her boys to go to college.
“Now, how much did you say it was going to cost to add you on?” asked Lively, who had talked to Strong before about signing on to the health-insurance plan of her husband, who worked for the school district. “Four hundred dollars?”
“Yes,” Strong said, looking at the floor and smiling. “I guess I’ve been without it for 15 years and will go without it one more if it costs too much.”
Lively entered Strong’s information. Her household income was too high for Medicaid, but she qualified for a subsidy of $228 a month and could choose from plans with a monthly cost ranging from $115 to $300, Lively said.
“It’s still high,” said Strong, who had not had a checkup in nine years.
Lively handed her a description of the health plans to take home and study, and then it was time for lunch, which Lively ate in the office between returning calls:
“Brenda, this is Courtney Lively calling you back.”
“You want to set up an appointment?”
“I will be here 8 to 4 tomorrow.”
Soon, Ronald Hudson walked in.
“Okay,” Lively began. “What Hudsons are you kin to?”
“R.T., Uncle Lenny . . .” said Hudson, a skinny 35-year-old who worked as an assistant director at the senior center and had just been released from the hospital after a blood-sugar spike.
He’d never had insurance before and said his hospital bills were up to $23,000 at this point.
“Good night,” Lively said, tapping in his information.
Kids: five. Salary: about $14,000 before taxes.
“You’re going to qualify for a medical card,” she told Hudson.
“Well, thank God,” Hudson said, laughing. “I believe I’m going to be a Democrat.”
Lively printed out his papers.
“RONALD’s Health Care Coverage Options,” one of them read.
“Oh, man,” Hudson said.
Donna Robinson had already enrolled, and now she arrived for her 2 p.m. with her son Gary Gross, 36, a skinny man with spiky copper hair, worn-out jeans and a thin tank top.
“Now,” Lively began. “Any income?”
“Naw,” Gross said.
“You smoke?”
“Yeah,” Gross said, adding that he did quit drinking. “It’s hard to quit, I tell you. I got cirrhosis already. I’m only a two on the scale of four, not too bad.”
“That’s already bad,” his mother said.
“Okay,” Lively said after a while. “You’re covered for a medical card.”
She went through his options.
“Now, I have problems with my teeth,” Gross said. “I need to get all of them pulled.”
“It does cover that,” Lively said.
“Oh, that’s great!” Gross said, sitting up straighter.
“Now it doesn’t cover dentures,” Lively said as she typed.
“I think that should be covered,” his mother said. “Try to eat an apple without teeth.”
“I love meat,” Gross said.
Lively gave him the papers confirming his enrollment.
“Easy as that,” she said.
“Wow,” Gross said, looking at them. “Thank you.”
In was late afternoon, and Mary Stamper, 36, arrived with four of her 11 children and a stack of well-worn, laminated Social Security cards. She sat down.
“I don’t see how you do it 11 times, girlfriend,” Lively said as the children bounced around the room. “Okay, what’s Mark’s birthday?”
It took an hour to enter in all her kids’ information and tally the household income from food stamps and a disability check drawn by her husband, a county maintenance worker.
Stamper said that she had Medicaid once when she was pregnant with one of her first children but that otherwise the part-time jobs she had held at the check-cashing place and as a nurse’s aide never came with it.
Lively typed her information in, and then something unusual happened: The system seemed to crash. She called the help line for the state health-care exchange and was told it was just being updated.
“I can tell you you’re getting a medical card,” she told Stamper, knowing what would happen when the system came back. “You’re going to get approved — I have no doubt about that. . . . You want WellCare?”
“Yeah,” Stamper said.
She stood up and stretched her back, which had been bothering her.
“I’m relieved,” she said. “I’ve been worried.”
Stamper and her kids left. It was the end of a long day, and Lively took a moment to look over her schedule for Friday. She had three appointments written in her planner and six calls to return.
“I’m nonstop,” she said.

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Michele Bachmann: ‘If God Wanted Everyone To Have Insurance, Why Did He Invent Miracles?’

Michele Bachmann: ‘If God Wanted Everyone To Have Insurance, Why Did He Invent Miracles?’

Posted on November 20, 2013 By WG Healthcare, Politics

 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Michele Bachmann, after complaining to CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that her insurance had been cancelled because of Obamacare, was asked later in the day about the people who have been uninsured and would now have insurance because of the Affordable Care Act. She was much less sympathetic toward them.
“It’s obvious that God put two types of people in this world,” said Bachmann. “There are hardworking Americans like myself, who have never taken a dime of taxpayer money and there are the people who should just hold their hands out to God.”
“If God wanted everyone to have health insurance, he wouldn’t have made those wonderful things called, ‘miracles,’” Bachmann continued. “He gave me the good fortune to have health insurance, for now, but even I’ll be losing it, thanks to Obamacare.”
When informed that the majority of the uninsured are working people and self-employed people, Bachmann said, “that’s terrific, but if they were truly hardworking, like I am, they would have insurance. But I don’t judge. That’s up to God and he told me that he’s going to get to work performing miracles for the luckiest of those people. You never know. Maybe He’ll heal a wart. Maybe  He will heal a poor person’s dandruff. Maybe He will even cure some cancer.”
When asked if perhaps it was God’s will that she would be losing insurance, Bachmann replied, “no, that’s Obamacare. It’s all Obamacare. He’s the anti-christ, you know. Oh, wait, I wasn’t supposed to say that out loud.”
“Anyway,” Bachmann continued, “God has granted me my miracles for my life. He gave me my Marcus and you’d better believe he left his share of broken hearts before I managed to snag him.”

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House Speaker John Boehner successfully enrolled in Obamacare

November 21, 2013

By Anomaly

Congratulations House Speaker John Boehner for successfully enrolling in the Affordable Care Act; Aka: Obamacare.
It was about an hour after Boehner’s office said he couldn’t sign up for Obamacare coverage on the District of Columbia’s exchange, that his office said, he had officially enrolled.








Boehner’s office wrote, “Kept at it, and called the DC Health Link help line. They called back a few hours later, and after restarting the process on the website two more times, I just heard from DC Health Link that I have been successfully enrolled.”
Politico reports:

 Responding to Boehner’s earlier failed attempts to sign up for coverage, the District’s exchange — known as DC Health Link — said it recently identified some system errors after enrollment.
“We recently discovered the fact that after enrollment, some users have been receiving a random error message,” DC Health Link communications director Richard Sorian wrote in an email. “Despite the message, these individuals have been enrolled. Our call center has been able to quickly resolve these matters. We are working on a system-wide update that will eliminate this soon. Users will be able to verify their enrollment in their secure, online account.”
Boehner’s office on Thursday afternoon said he originally received an error screen when he tried to sign up for coverage. “Guess I’ll just have to keep trying…” his office wrote at the time.

I plan to enroll too, but I’m not a ‘shop on Black Friday’ kind of person. I’ve been waiting for things to settle down. After I enroll, it will be like Boehner and I are BFFs. Isn’t that exciting?
Stuff not covered: How long did it take to enroll for coverage by an insurance company before Obamacare?

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STUDY: Nearly Three-Quarters Of Americans With Individual Plans Qualify For Obamacare Subsidies

By Sy Mukherjee on November 21, 2013 at 1:11 pm

"STUDY: Nearly Three-Quarters Of Americans With Individual Plans Qualify For Obamacare Subsidies"

CREDIT: AP Photo/J. David Ake

Over 70 percent of Americans under age 65 who buy insurance through the individual market will either qualify for Obamacare subsidies or the health law’s expansion of Medicaid in the states that accept it, according to a new study by Families USA.
Obamacare provides insurance subsidies to Americans making up to 400 percent of the poverty level — about $94,200 for a family of four — who enroll in plans through the health law’s statewide marketplaces. The new study finds that 71 percent of current individual policyholders have annual incomes that fall below this threshold. Earlier estimates by groups like the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) estimated that just under half of these Americans could qualify for subsidies.
Families USA’s study also confirms earlier reports that the current individual market burdens consumers with uncertainty. For instance, a full “64.5 percent of consumers with individual market insurance kept that insurance for a year or less” irrespective of income, according to study authors. Many of these plans also skimp on the types of benefits that Americans actually need when they get sick, such as maternity, mental health, prescription drug, and even hospitalization coverage, while placing annual and lifetime caps on coverage. The health law has far more robust minimum coverage requirements, outlaws benefit caps, and doesn’t allow insurers to drop customers or raise their premiums based on health status.
Researchers also noted that just a fraction of a percent of all non-elderly Americans have individual plans that they keep for more than a year but won’t qualify for a government subsidy when they go out to buy new plans through the Obamacare marketplaces.
“[U]nder the ACA, only 0.6 percent of Americans under age 65 will be at risk of losing their current individual market plan and will not be income-eligible for financial assistance that will make their new insurance plan more affordable,” concluded the authors. “Even among this 0.6 percent, some have insurers who will not or cannot cancel their plans. Others will decide that they are better off with higher-value plans in the new insurance marketplaces.”

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Latest Koch Brothers Trickery: Actress Fakes Testimonial in Anti-Obamacare Ad

Latest Koch Brothers Trickery: Actress Fakes Testimonial in Anti-Obamacare Ad 

Not that false advertising bother the rabidly right-wing billionaire brothers.

AlterNet / By Rod Bastanmehr

November 21, 2013    

Koch Brothers ad fake Alaskan.

Americans for Prosperity, the arch-conservative advocacy group backed largely by the Koch Brothers, released their latest attack ad against Obamacare on Wednesday, criticizing Alaskan Democratic Senator Mark Begich for his support of the Affordable Care Act. 
The commercial in question appears to feature an unidentified Alaskan voter, who complains about the betrayal at the hands of both Begich and Obama, while walking leisurely around her kitchen with a cup of coffee. But Connie Bowman, the woman in the video was interviewed  by the New York Times, and she said she's “just an actress,” with a fairly prolific voice-over and commercial career.
And she doesn't live anywhere near Alaska. She lives in Maryland.
“Today’s misleading ad from the Koch brothers is just more evidence that even billions of dollars can’t buy integrity,” Begich spokeswoman Rachel Barinbaum said in a statement. 
The ad comes days after the billionaire brothers announced their $4 million anti-Obamacare advertising campaign, sponsored by the Americans for Prosperity, which plans to target six congressional democrats who supported the Affordable Care Act. Begich is just the first.
Begich, who is currently up for reelection in the red state, described his plans on Tuesday for legislation that calls for creating a new category of insurance plans within Obamacare that would offer citizens lower premiums with higher out-of-pocket costs. 

Rod Bastanmehr is a freelance writer in New York City with a passion for music, film and culture. Follow him on Twitter @rodb.

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Obama’s new Obamacare ‘fix,’ explained in one minute

By Sarah Kliff, Published: November 15 at 9:00 am

Yesterday's news that President Obama was trying to reverse millions of health insurance cancellation notices can seem confusing - but it doesn't have to be!
Working with Post TV video producer Kate Tobey, we've put together this video that clocks in just under one minute (57 seconds, to be exact) and explains what, exactly, the president did yesterday.


Or, if you prefer your explainers in text form, you can check out this Q&A on how this policy works.

Sarah Kliff covers health policy, focusing on Medicare, Medicaid and the health reform law. She tries to fit in some reproductive health and education policy coverage, too, alongside an occasional hockey reference. Her work has appeared in Newsweek, Politico, and the BBC. She is on Twitter and Facebook.

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Michele Bachmann Considers Suing Obama Over Canceled Plans Fix

The Huffington Post  |  By Mollie Reilly Posted: 11/19/2013 4:31 pm EST  |  Updated: 11/20/2013 11:15 am EST  

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) said Tuesday that she and several of her Republican collegaues in the House of Representatives are considering suing President Barack Obama for allowing plans canceled under the Affordable Care Act to be extended through 2014.
According to Politico, Bachmann, speaking at an event sponsored by the Heritage Foundation, accused the president of violating the constitutional separation of powers by changing the health care law through administrative means, rather than consulting Congress.
"That's the essence of lawlessness and now it's our time to defend our prerogative," she said.
When asked about the lawsuit by MinnPost, Bachmann's office said a lawsuit was not imminent, but was under discussion.
"She and some of her colleagues have had discussions about the best recourse to put a stop to his unconstitutional actions," a spokesman said in a statement.
Last week, facing backlash over plan cancellations under the health care law, Obama asked insurers to let individuals whose plans had been cancelled to renew their plans another year.
"Insurers can extend current plans that otherwise would be canceled into 2014 and Americans whose plans have been canceled can choose to re-enroll in the same kind of plan," Obama said. "This fix won't solve every problem for every person, but it's going to help a lot of people. Doing more would require work with Congress."

The White House later offered legal justification for Obama's fix to the Washington Post's Greg Sargent.
“The Supreme Court held more than 25 years ago that agencies charged with administering statues have inherent authority to exercise discretion to ensure that their statutes are enforced in a manner that achieves statutory goals and are consistent with other administrative policies," a Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson said. "Agencies may exercise this discretion in appropriate circumstances, including when implementing new or different regulatory regimes, and to ensure that transitional periods do not result in undue hardship.”
 

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Healthcare plan enrollment surges in some states after rocky rollout

Healthcare insurance enrollment increases in some states that run their own exchanges, boosting hopes of Obamacare backers.

 

By Noam N. Levey

November 18, 2013, 7:20 p.m.

WASHINGTON — Despite the disastrous rollout of the federal government's healthcare website, enrollment is surging in many states as tens of thousands of consumers sign up for insurance plans made available by President Obama's health law.

A number of states that use their own systems, including California, are on track to hit enrollment targets for 2014 because of a sharp increase in November, according to state officials.
"What we are seeing is incredible momentum," said Peter Lee, director of Covered California, the nation's largest state insurance marketplace, which accounted for a third of all enrollments nationally in October. California — which enrolled about 31,000 people in health plans last month — nearly doubled that in the first two weeks of this month.
Several other states, including Connecticut and Kentucky, are outpacing their enrollment estimates, even as states that depend on the federal website lag far behind. In Minnesota, enrollment in the second half of October ran at triple the rate of the first half, officials said. Washington state is also on track to easily exceed its October enrollment figure, officials said.
PHOTOS: 2013's memorable political moments
The growing enrollment in those states is a rare bit of good news for backers of the Affordable Care Act and suggests that the serious problems with the law's rollout may not be fatal, despite critics' renewed calls for repeal.
But the trend also emphasizes how widely experience with the new law varies by location.
Fourteen states and the District of Columbia, covering about one-third of the nation's population, are operating their own Obamacare marketplaces and have their own enrollment websites. The others, including most states with Republican-led governments, have declined to do so, making their residents dependent on the malfunctioning federal site.
In addition to better-functioning websites, many states that are running their own marketplaces also have significantly more resources to help consumers sign up for coverage.
Many of the states that have declined to run their own websites have also refused to expand the joint federal-state Medicaid program, as the new law allows.
Overall enrollment totals in states using the federal site were dismal in October, according to figures released last week by the Health and Human Services Department.
For example, just 2,991 people successfully enrolled in health plans in Texas in October. That was fewer enrollees than in Kentucky, which has a sixth as many residents.
Altogether, 106,000 people enrolled in health coverage nationwide last month, a figure far below administration projections.
Nearly half of those who enrolled in October were in California or New York. Both states have continued to show growth in their numbers. In New York, enrollment has continued at roughly October's rate and stands at 24,509, according to state officials.
PHOTOS: The battle over Obamacare
Even with the growing consumer interest in health insurance in many states, the new marketplaces created by the health law need millions more enrollees. The Obama administration aims to get 7 million consumers into health insurance plans in 2014 to ensure that the marketplaces have enough people to be sustainable.
With fixes still being made to the federal website, it is unclear whether enrollment will catch up everywhere.
White House officials repeatedly have said they hope to have the healthcare.gov website working for the "vast majority" of users by the end of this month. But spokesman Jay Carney said Monday that the administration also is working with insurance companies to allow consumers to bypass the troubled site and enroll directly with insurers.
In California, Lee said Monday that the federal troubles have made enrollment more difficult even for states that use their own sites. State officials believe enrollment through Covered California has been depressed by media reports of problems with the federal site, Lee told reporters during a call organized by the consumer group Families USA.
Covered California has had to change its marketing strategy to remind Californians that the state website is different from healthcare.gov.
But while politicians in Washington, D.C., have been fixated on the website problems, many state officials are feeling considerably more optimistic about the law's long-term prospects.
"We're going to ride all this stuff out," said Kevin Counihan, chief executive of Access Health CT, Connecticut's marketplace.
Counihan, who worked for the marketplace that Massachusetts created after its trailblazing 2006 reforms, said he had been expecting even lower enrollment. Connecticut saw growing enrollment in November: 3,201 people signed up for health plans in the first two weeks of this month, nearing the 4,371 total for all of October.
Enrollment has been even stronger in many Medicaid programs.
About half the states have agreed to expand their Medicaid programs to most low-income residents in 2014. Under the law, the federal government picks up nearly the entire cost of that expansion for the first several years.
Nationwide, nearly 400,000 new people qualified for Medicaid coverage in October, according to federal data. In Oregon, whose marketplace has been one of the few trouble-plagued state sites, the state reported that it had already signed up 70,000 new people for Medicaid.
Officials nationwide cautioned that drawing firm conclusions about enrollment patterns was difficult at this early stage.
"It's hard to know what normal looks like yet," said Bethany Frey, a spokeswoman for Washington state's marketplace, known as Washington Healthplanfinder.
Many state officials say they think the biggest enrollment surge will take place after Thanksgiving. Consumers face a Dec. 15 deadline to sign up if coverage is to be effective Jan. 1.
The open enrollment period under the law lasts until March 31, giving consumers an additional three months to select health plans in 2014.
Experts also expect more people to sign up for coverage through 2014 as their circumstances change in ways that make them eligible to enroll outside of the regular enrollment period.
"We are in the beginning of the first inning of a nine-inning game," Lee said.
noam.levey@latimes.com
Kathleen Hennessey in the Washington bureau contributed to the report.

Copyright © 2013, Los Angeles Times

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Right flubs Gettysburg story - twice

11/19/13 03:24 PM

By Steve Benen

It’s not exactly a secret that President Obama looks to Abraham Lincoln as a political hero. When Obama was inaugurated, he used Lincoln’s Bible, and when it came time to place items of significance in the Oval Office, Obama chose a Lincoln bust and the Emancipation Proclamation.

 

With this in mind, on the anniversary of the Gettysburg Address, the right has chosen an odd story to complain about.

Fox News is manufacturing outrage over Obama’s decision not to attend the commemoration ceremony for the 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address and baselessly speculating that Obama’s resentment over the nation’s unfinished business “in bringing the country and its races together” may be the cause. […]

 

Fox News’s Brian Kilmeade discussed with Wall Street Journal columnist Daniel Henninger whether it is “inappropriate for our president to bypass” the commemoration ceremony of the 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address during the November 19 edition of Fox & Friends. At one point Kilmeade asked whether Henninger thought Obama was refusing to attend because “after that address and after the Civil War we still weren’t a perfect union? We still had to wait for the Civil Rights Act and so many – the integration of schools, Brown vs. the Board of Education?” Henninger replied, “I think probably that President Obama does think the unfinished business remains unfinished in bringing the country and its races together.”

It’s worth noting that Fox isn’t the only one raising a fuss – conservative outlets have been complaining about Obama “snubbing” Gettysburg for months.

 

There are, however, some angles to this the right has overlooked. First, there have been 28 presidents since Lincoln, and 27 of them did not commemorate the anniversaries of the Gettysburg Address – and this includes Reagan, who did nothing on the 125th anniversary, and never visited Gettysburg as president. (The exception was William Howard Taft.) Obama, in other words, is doing largely what nearly all of his predecessors have done without controversy.

 

Second, I’m trying to imagine the uproar from some of these same conservative critics if Obama did go to Gettysburg to mark the occasion today. We can all probably imagine the predictable rhetoric: Obama thinks he’s Lincoln! The arrogance! Why is he trying to politicize a cemetery? This must have something to do with distracting us from the health care website! And maybe Benghazi!

 

Making matters slight worse is, well, this.

President Obama’s recitation of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address is sparking hysteria from the right-wing media who slammed the president for omitting the phrase “under God.”

The right’s apoplexy on this was extremely broad – National Review, Breitbart, Daily Caller, Drudge, and others ran furious pieces expressing outrage that Obama had the nerve to omit the phrase “under God” from his recent recitation of the Gettysburg Address. Rush Limbaugh speculated that the president did this on purpose to “get a rise out of conservatives.”

 

The truth is less provocative. Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns had a variety of prominent figures – including all five living presidents – to read portions of the Address for a video. Burns relied on the text of the first draft of the speech – which did not include the words “under God.”

 

In other words, the right became apoplectic about Obama not using a phrase Lincoln didn’t write.

 

Conservative media has struggled badly of late, with a list of ignominious failures too long to list. Today does little to improve its reputation.

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Watch Megyn Kelly and FOXNews Get Called Out For Sabotaging Obamacare

posted by Omar Rivero November 18, 2013


It is always a beautiful thing when truth and reality are able to make it out of the dark crevices of Roger Ailes’s FOXNews deception pit, but that’s precisely what happened in this video clip.
When Ailes’s beautiful liar, Megyn Kelly, brought on White House advisor and Obamacare “architect” Ezekiel Emanuel on in order to bash him and the reform, she clearly wasn’t expecting to be forcefully confronted for her and her “news” network’s incessant Obamacare sabotage.
Here is a transcript of the relevant exchange:
Emanuel: “Remember, this was not an environment which was hospitable to setting up the (healthcare)exchanges. You and your colleagues were constantly criticizing, trying to underfund it, and trying to make sure that it didn’t work!”
Kelly: “A lot of that criticism proved true, unfortunately.”
Emanuel: “It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. ‘We’re going to do everything we can to try to make it fail”, and then when it fails, we’re gonna say, ‘Why did it fail?!?‘”
Unfortunately for the American people, he couldn’t be more right. FOXNews started trying to destroy President Obama’s signature healthcare reform from day one, shamelessly making everything up from “sticker shock”, abortion funding, and death panel myths.
Please watch the video below and share this and other related articles on social media forums so that everyone will know the truth about FOXNews’s Obamacare sabotage and shameless self-fulfilling prophecy.

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Jon Stewart rips Chris Wallace for comparing Obamacare to Katrina: ‘You might be out of your f*cking mind’

By Arturo Garcia

While Jon Stewart went to town on Monday on media outlets for parroting Republicans and comparing the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) troubled implementation to Hurricane Katrina, he stopped for a second to address Fox News Chris Wallace for saying Katrina “ended within a week,” while the new law could affect people “for years to come.”

“Are you out of your –” Stewart began to say, before stopping once he heard his audience’s collected groan. “Do you know you’ve disappointed our audience? They think you might be out of your f*cking mind.”

While he had no intentions of polishing the “.turd” that was the government health care exchange website healthcare.gov, Stewart said, he also mocked Republicans for being offended by the comparison, and pointed out that Gov. Bobby Jindal’s refused to allow his state to take part in one of the new health care exchanges offered as part of the ACA while accusing the White House of “bullying” Louisiana.

“Bullying?” Stewart asked incredulously. “The feds were gonna pay for the Medicaid expansion. How was that bullying? ‘Hey, four-eyes, you need to see an opthamologist, we can cover that. How is that bullying?’”

Frustrated, Stewart turned to his correspondents to find the proper George W. Bush-era debacle to link to “Obamacare,” with Samantha Bee choosing the debate over waterboarding political prisoners.

“Healthcare.gov is the towel Obama is wrapping around our faces,” Bee explained. “And the board is the failed promise of universal healthcare.”

“What’s the water?” Stewart asked her.

“I don’t know, water’s water, Jon,” Bee replied. “What am I, Robert Frost?”

Meanwhile, Al Madrigal reached back further and compared the new law to the second war against Iraq.

“When I think ‘glitchy website,’ the first thing that comes to my mind is, ‘decade-long war started under false pretenses,’” Madrigal said.

Watch Stewart and his panel discuss the failed “Obamacare” analogies, as posted online on Monday, below.

This article, Jon Stewart rips Chris Wallace for comparing Obamacare to Katrina: ‘You might be out of your f*cking mind’, is syndicated from Raw Story and is posted here with permission.

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