When someone tells me they have some good news and some bad news for me, I usually opt for the good news first. Not knowing my degree of good fortune I might not have to worry about the bad news. It looks as though the president adheres to the same principle.
The Obamacare website fix has improved a great deal over the
last month. The White House announced on Sunday that
it had met its goal for improving HealthCare.gov so the website “will work smoothly for the vast majority
of users.” Purportedly the website is working 90% of the time. In government speak that’s
a grand slam. To think the government can run anything at full efficiency is a contradiction in
terms. But alas, now the bad news: The Obamacare website is working 90% of the
time.
Some very important issues remain. Many insurers are not
getting the requisite data from consumers needed to accurately assess coverage,
premiums and subsidies where appropriate. “Until the
enrollment process is working from end to end, many consumers will not be able
to enroll in coverage,” said Karen M. Ignagni, president of America’s Health
Insurance Plans, a trade group. In addition security issues have not been
resolved.
So in the very near future, expect
the Insurance companies to be demonized by the administration as the bad guys
in this noirish tale. And the Democrats, like an army of Charlie McCarthy dummies, will bobble their heads affirming the misconception. President Obama is adroit at rationing out
blame for his failures and quite frugal sharing victories.
But I don’t think the website fix and all the glowing
reports from administration officials as well as the spin from the president’s
adoring, sycophantic, Pravda-like press
will move his poll numbers in a positive direction. Because no matter how much
sweet smelling perfume you splash on a pile of steaming dog excrement it doesn’t change the effluvia.
In the next phase of
this Edsel of a piece of legislation, people will begin to get a much clearer picture of the horrors that await them and
their families. Higher premiums and deductibles; and networks that will
preclude the possibility of being able
to continue with the doctors to whom they have entrusted their family’s health. And
the kicker is that it will be much more expensive than the rates they paid in
the pre-Obamacare era.
In this case the good news is also
the bad news.
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