Gordian Knot

Obamacare is a very complex administrative process to both understand and, as we have seen, to utilize. Therefore when one sees things there deteriorating, one cannot decide if these are fatal events ... or, if the administration can throw money at these maladies in order to keep the patient alive.

One thing that we do know is that the Affordable Care Act is turning out to be anything but affordable. Premiums next year are slated to increase 10.1%. And this is still before the employer mandate fully kicks in. This portion of this Gordian Knot of a law is expected to add fuel to the pyre upon which the American health-care consumer is being sacrificed. That is why this mandate has been repeatedly postponed by administrative fiat ... apparently trying to save the Democrat party from election defeat.

Most recently there have been two events that cast a pall on this MIT Professor Jonathan Gruber's convoluted monstrosity:

1) Over one half of the government health-care insurance co-ops have disappeared or are expected to disappear by year end due to massive cost overruns ... see: Fox News Story. These co-ops were set up under this law to the tune of two billion dollars of taxpayer loans ... much of which is now in jeopardy. These dissolutions have left tens of thousands of consumers now without coverage ... not a good situation for these poor souls this law was supposed to help.

2) Just this past week UnitedHealth Group, the largest health-care insurance provider in the United States ... and the one endorsed by AARP ... has indicated that it is questionable whether it can continue to insure consumers under Obamacare ... having seen a $425 million revenue shortfall over the last year ... see: USA Today. If UnitedHealth drops coverage, an additional hundreds of thousands of consumers will lose their health-care insurance ... and, if this is an indication of possible financial problems at the other large insurers, then Obamacare is indeed in deep sneakers. However this threat by UnitedHealth may just be a plea for a government bailout.

Clearly, if the federal government chooses to bailout these co-ops, UnitedHealth and others, then Obamacare looks very much like a single-payer health-care system ... the objective of this administration all along. See also Marco Rubio's comments on this looming possibility: Breitbart Article.

Juxtaposition L

More holes in the "Affordable Care Act" than Emmenthaler cheese ... see: Another Obamacare Delay.

Juxtaposition XLIX

Obamacare

Gordian Knot

Slicing the Bologna

The hunk of bologna called Obamacare (the Affordable Care Act to those of you who are still hiding behind the “hope and change” mantra) is being quietly diminished one slice at a time by its administrative namesake, the Congress and the courts. There have been numerous wavers, exceptions, extensions, delays and forgiveness of its tenants mainly by the initial advocates of this atrocious monstrosity of a health-care law.

I started this blog by researching and listing all these changes, but then on Fox News tonight I heard that the number was 27 changes, so, with the help of Google, I found this compendium of the slices that have been taken out of this piece of processed deli meat … please peruse: National Review Article for these deleterious details.

One truly wonders whether, given the rate that these extra-Constitutional morphings of this law have been progressing … there is now any real resemblance to the original mandate that was passed in Congress with shameless shenanigans.  It would seem to this author that, if this altered law were now presented back to the Supreme Court, it would be a slam-dunk to be overridden as unconstitutional in its present form.  (Unless, of course, the Obama administration really does have compromising pictures of Chief Justice Roberts.)

In simpler terms, there is now nothing left of this bologna except baloney.

Afterward: I think that this must be the 28th slice ... see: Wall Street Journal Article.  Is there any meat left on the slicer? This law now seems a tabula rasa upon which anything can be written by anybody at anytime. 

I don't think that this is the way government is supposed to work ... or perhaps this is what Obama meant when he promised "fundemental change."

After Afterward: Reiterating the point: Powerline Blog.

Hippocratic Oath

“Do no harm” … that is the essence of the Hippocratic Oath that all doctors are supposed to live by. In other words, if a patient arrives with a hang-nail, don’t cut off his finger.  Wouldn’t it be nice if there were an equivalent motto that politicians were asked to forswear when they entered the public arena?

Clearly, the current administration and the Pilosi-Reid cabal felt few compunctions about breaking some eggs when they cooked up that atrocious omelet of legislation four years ago ... once proudly called Obamacare. But now is being shamelessly retagged by the mainstream media with its official title “Affordable Care Act.”  In fact, it appears that this bunch of miscreants not only broke a zillion eggs in the process, but also killed the chickens and burned down the farm. 

And it is not just the website that is the problem with Obamacare … it is its entire concept and execution (excuse the pun) … see: Breitbart Commentary

Actually I do believe that those bozos responsible might have taken an oath under their breath when they entered public office … the Hypocritic Oath.