Thread: Obama Is Embarrassed by ObamaCare

Obama Is Embarrassed by ObamaCare

by Phyllis Schlafly

July 10, 2013

Barack Obama assured us that, after his signature legislation ObamaCare went into effect, we would surely like it. Now Obama has decided he doesn’t want us to find out how it affects us until after the 2014 elections.
ObamaCare is designed to force employers of 50 or more fulltime employees to provide comprehensive health insurance that includes a mandate to pay for an abortion-inducing drug. The penalty for non-compliance is a tax of $2,000 per fulltime employee per year (beyond the first 30), and the Internal Revenue Service was supposed to start collecting the penalties on January 1.
Obama apparently thinks he can conceal the mess he created, which even the Democrats who voted for it now call a “train wreck,” by simply postponing the effective date of the employer mandate one year. But the ObamaCare law, as upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, unambiguously states: “EFFECTIVE DATE … The amendments made by this section shall apply to months beginning after December 31, 2013.”
Obama has no authority to alter the timetable of the law’s implementation. Maybe he should actually read the 2,700 pages of text in the ObamaCare law and its 20,000 pages of regulations.
Obama doesn’t seem to care whether his order to delay ObamaCare is lawful or not. He wants to avoid the trouble the destructive employer mandate would cause for Democratic candidates before the next election of the House of Representatives, an election he deems critical to his plan to “fundamentally transform the United States.”
The postponement of the employer mandate is not the first setback to the ObamaCare timeline. A few months ago, the Obama administration quietly announced that the federally run state-level exchanges will not offer a choice of plans to employees of small businesses until after the 2014 elections.
The one-year extension for employers will create havoc in the exchanges where individuals are supposed to buy next year’s health insurance. The government admitted July 5 that it won’t be able to verify whether applicants qualify for the subsidies that are supposed to make the required coverage “affordable,” but plans to give out the subsidies anyway.
Meanwhile, ObamaCare’s expansion of Medicaid is being rejected by the states. After the Supreme Court’s June 2012 decision in NFIB v. Sebelius gave states the okay to reject this expansion, 27 of 50 states did not implement ObamaCare’s Medicaid plan.
States were wise to reject this very expensive Medicaid expansion. ObamaCare required that anyone with income below 133 percent of the poverty level would be eligible for Medicaid, and sought to expand eligibility to able-bodied, non-elderly, childless adults, that is, to people without dependents who were able but perhaps unwilling to support themselves.
In addition to having sections of ObamaCare postponed and rejected outright, ObamaCare is also failing to fulfill Obama’s promise that it would decrease the deficit. The funds that were supposed to pay down the deficit included the money anticipated to flow from the penalty payments made by employers who refused to obey the mandate to provide comprehensive healthcare to their employees.
Now that employers will not be required to pay those fines in 2014 for violating the mandate, and indeed will not even be required to report whether they are complying, it is obvious that ObamaCare will not produce the promised deficit reduction.
This isn’t the first time Obama has taken actions that are clearly in violation of our laws. For example, two federal courts have ruled against him for making recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board while the Senate was not in recess.
Obama unlawfully removed the work requirement from the 1996 welfare reform law signed by President Bill Clinton, even though the law explicitly prohibits waivers to the work requirement. That reform required most welfare recipients to actually work or be in job training in order to receive welfare.
Obama simply used executive orders to pretend to legislate the DREAM Act which Congress has repeatedly refused to pass. His bypassing of the law was so out of line that even his former economic adviser remarked, “I don’t totally get how the president can do this through executive order.”
Obama had the Department of Homeland Security implement key measures of the DREAM Act in order to essentially grant amnesty to many illegal aliens. Because of the large number of applications for amnesty, background checks were given up in favor of so-called “lean and lite” procedures.
By the way, that is exactly what will happen to background checks for the 11 million illegal aliens who hope to be granted U.S. residency by the amnesty bill now awaiting action in the House. If the background check of the Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev couldn’t discover his obvious terrorist plans, what hope do we have for background checks of the 11 million?

http://www.eagleforum.org/publications/column/obama-is-embarrassed-by-obamacare.html

Jon McNaughton shared a photo.


This is how I feel about our country. Today I released this new painting titled, "The Demise of America." It is subtle, but has much meaning to me. Can you recognize some of the monuments and buildings burning? Please share this image as much as possible. Thank you.



***NEW MCNAUGHTON PAINTING***
It's called, "The Demise of America"
Available at www.JonMcNaughton.com

Obama Supporters Sign Petition to Repeal the Bill of Rights

Posted on July 9, 2013

The sad thing is these people vote.
Check it out:
Highlighting people’s complete ignorance on issues in ‘man on the street’ interviews never gets old. Guy brought you Mark Dice’s interview with California beachgoers for Independence Day, which was quite the gem, and now Dice is out with another one: Americans who want to repeal the Bill of Rights.




Read more: http://conservativebyte.com/2013/07/...#ixzz2ZDcliIzE


Awake yet...stupid is as stupid does!!!

ObamaCare contractor under investigation in UK


By Sam Baker -
07/15/13

The British government is investigating a company that recently won a lucrative contract to help implement the key pieces of ObamaCare.

British officials are investigating Serco, a company that contracts for a range of services with both the British and U.S. governments, according to a report in The Independent.

The investigation comes after an audit suggested that Serco had overcharged the British government for certain services unrelated to healthcare.

Serco won a significant contract earlier this month to help build new insurance exchanges under President Obama's healthcare law.The exchanges are designed to function as state-by-state marketplaces where people who do not get insurance through their employer can shop for a plan on their own. Most people using the exchanges will receive a tax credit, based on their income, to help cover the cost of their premiums.

Serco's contract to help build the exchanges could be worth as much as $1.2 billion over five years, according to The New York Times.

http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch...tigation-in-uk

Originally Posted by Newmexican

ObamaCare contractor under investigation in UK


By Sam Baker -
07/15/13

The British government is investigating a company that recently won a lucrative contract to help implement the key pieces of ObamaCare.

British officials are investigating Serco, a company that contracts for a range of services with both the British and U.S. governments, according to a report in The Independent.

The investigation comes after an audit suggested that Serco had overcharged the British government for certain services unrelated to healthcare.

Serco won a significant contract earlier this month to help build new insurance exchanges under President Obama's healthcare law.The exchanges are designed to function as state-by-state marketplaces where people who do not get insurance through their employer can shop for a plan on their own. Most people using the exchanges will receive a tax credit, based on their income, to help cover the cost of their premiums.

Serco's contract to help build the exchanges could be worth as much as $1.2 billion over five years, according to The New York Times.

http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch...tigation-in-uk

HMMM wonder who's pocket was going to get feathered in that deal!!!!

G4S and Serco face £50 million fraud inquiry

Serious Fraud Office investigates claims of over-charging for government contracts

NIGEL MORRIS
FRIDAY 12 JULY 2013

Whitehall contracts running into billions of pounds are being urgently reviewed after the Government disclosed that two major firms had charged the taxpayer to monitor non-existent electronic tags, some of which had been assigned to dead offenders.

In an announcement that throws the Coalition's privatisation drive into disarray, the Serious Fraud Office was called in to investigate G4S, the world's largest security company, over contracts dating back over a decade.

Serco, one of Britain's largest companies, also faces an inquiry by auditors over its charges for operating tagging schemes.

The firms supply an array of services to the public sector from running courts, prisons and immigration removal centres to managing welfare-to-work schemes and the Atomic Weapons Establishment.

Between them the two companies receive around £1.5bn a year from the taxpayer, but their contracts are worth billions of pounds because the vast majority run for several years.

They were also hoping to cash in on moves by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) to hand them further large contracts to operate prisons and supervise offenders in the community.

The process of awarding all contracts was put on hold last night as the inquiries got underway.

The MoJ began investigating all its agreements with the two firms, including the running of major prisons, while the Cabinet Office started scrutinising all other Government contracts with G4S and Serco.

Shares in both companies fell sharply after the announcement by Chris Grayling, the Justice Secretary.

Shares in G4S - which suffered torrid publicity over its mishandling of the last year's London Olympics security contract - finished the day 12.6p down at 213p. Serco tumbled by 54p to 626.5p.

Each of the companies relies heavily on Britain both for income and burnishing its international reputation. The move by the Government is unlikely to result in the wholesale loss of contracts, as the firms have few competitors of the same size but is a blow to their standing worldwide.

Mr Grayling's announcement came after an audit discovered G4S and Serco had overcharged taxpayers by up to £50m, billing them for offenders who were dead, back in custody or had left the country. According to one MoJ source, the companies charged for 18,000 offenders when the actual number was around 15,000.

Mr Grayling said latest estimates suggested taxpayers had been overcharged by the companies to the tune of “low tens of millions” since the electronic monitoring contracts were signed in 2005. He also disclosed that ministry staff could have known about the practice for five years and face possible disciplinary action.

He said in a Commons statement: “The House will share my astonishment that two of the Government's biggest suppliers would seek to charge in this way.

”The House will also be surprised and disappointed to learn that staff in the Ministry of Justice were aware of the potential problem and yet did not take adequate steps to address it.“

Mr Grayling said he was asking the Serious Fraud Office to investigate the G4S contracts as the company had refused to co-operate with a further audit to rule out wrongdoing.

An investigation by PriceWaterhouseCoopers found that overcharging could have dated back as far back as 1999 when earlier contracts were signed.

Serco has agreed to withdraw from the current tender process for an electronic monitoring contract worth up to £1m, while Mr Grayling plans moves to exclude G4S as it is still attempting to bid.

Serco had also been the leading bidder for prison contracts in Yorkshire, but Mr Grayling will delay their award until the fresh audit is complete.
An urgent review of contract management across the Ministry of Justice's major contracts has also been launched and will report by autumn, he said.
G4S and Serco were also among companies preparing to bid for a range of payment-by-results contracts to supervise low to medium-level offenders across England and Wales.

Ian Lawrence, general secretary of the National Association of Probation Officers union, said: ”We've long maintained that these companies are unfit for purpose when it comes to holding important public contracts. The outcome of the initial investigation into G4S and Serco suggests a good deal of malpractice has been discovered.“

Ashley Almanza, the G4S group chief executive, said: ”We place the highest premium on customer service and integrity and therefore take very seriously the concerns expressed by the Ministry of Justice. We are determined to deal with these issues in a prompt and appropriate manner.“
Serco Group's chief executive, Christopher Hyman, said: ”Serco is a business led by our values and built on the strength of our reputation for integrity.
“These values lie at the heart of the many thousands of our people who are endeavouring to deliver the highest standard of service to our customers around the world. We are deeply concerned if we fall short of the standards expected of all of us.”

Sadiq Khan, the shadow Justice Secretary, said: “Given the scale of the allegations, the Government must immediately call in the police and the Serious Fraud Office to investigate both companies as fraud has potentially taken place.”

Security breach: Other G4S fiascos

* G4S faced fierce criticism last year following the botched handling of its Olympics security contract. It failed to deliver the numbers of security staff it had promised and the Government was forced to bring in additional armed forces personnel. The firm will take a £70m hit over the bungled contract with Games organisers, Locog.

* Earlier this week an inquest jury ruled an Angolan man who died after being restrained by three G4S guards as he was being deported from the UK was unlawfully killed. Jimmy Mubenga, 46, died on a plane bound for Angola in October 2010. The Crown Prosecution Service said it would reconsider its decision not to bring criminal charges in the wake of the verdict.

* In January, multimillion-pound plans by three police forces to outsource services to G4S collapsed. Hertfordshire Police and Crime Commissioner, David Lloyd, said the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Strategic Alliance had discontinued negotiations with the firm.

However, last month it was revealed Lincolnshire’s police force now spends the lowest amount per head of population on policing in England and Wales after it handed over the bulk of its back-office functions to G4S.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk...y-8703245.html

July 10, 2013 Forbes: Why The White House Is Panicking About ObamaCare

inShare1

By John Goodman
“Last week’s announcement that the employer mandate will be delayed for a year and that income verification for people getting subsidies will also be delayed are the latest signs of trouble. The next shoe to drop may be the failure for people to obtain (ObamaCare) insurance — even if it’s free or highly subsidized.
Consider this:

• About one in every four individuals who are eligible for Medicaid in this country has not bothered to enroll.
• About one in five employees who are offered employer-provided health insurance turns it down; among workers under 30 years of age, the refusal rate is almost one in three.

Think about that for a moment. Millions of people are turning down (Medicaid) health insurance, even though it’s free! Millions of others are turning down their employers’ offers. Since employees pay about 27% of the cost of their health insurance, on the average, millions of workers are passing up the opportunity to buy health insurance for 27 cents on the dollar.
You almost never read statistics like these in the mainstream media. Why? Because they completely undermine health policy orthodoxy: the belief that health insurance (even Medicaid) is economically very valuable, that it improves health and saves lives, and that the main reason why people don’t have it is that they can’t afford it.”
Read More

http://conservative50plus.com/blog/f...d880ea-3065713

July 10, 2013 IBD: Obama Uses Corrupt Ploy To Boost Health Exchanges

By BETSY MCCAUGHEY, Investor’s Business Daily

“On July 3, the Obama administration quietly revealed that it will not enforce the Affordable Care Act’s employer mandate until 2015, though the law unambiguously requires that it go into effect Jan. 1, 2014.
Administration spokespersons depicted the change as a mere tweaking.
That’s untrue. It will affect 10 million workers, double the number of enrollees in the health exchanges and add a net $60 billion to the cost of Obamacare in 2014 alone.
The delay is the administration’s desperate strategy to prop up the health exchanges, which are scheduled to open Oct. 1. The administration fears an under-enrollment crisis. Weeks ago, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius implored the NBA and NFL to sell young fans on the idea of buying coverage on the exchanges.
Young healthy enrollees are needed to offset the costs of the sick and middle-aged and prevent premiums from spiking even higher than they already have.
But the sports leagues said no to shilling for ObamaCare. So, as a last resort, the administration postponed the employer mandate — making sacrificial lambs of the 6.9 million uninsured full-time workers whose employers otherwise would have been compelled to start providing them with coverage on Jan. 1 or pay a penalty, based on data from the Employee Benefit Research Institute.”
Read More

http://conservative50plus.com/blog/i...d880ea-3065713

Healthcare Reform Versus the Obamacare Sham

Written on Monday, July 8, 2013 by Sean Aland

The United States was truly in need of a healthcare overhaul that would take what is already the greatest healthcare system in the world to the next level. Change within the medical field is ongoing and has taken us from the archaic practice of bleeding to the miraculous life saving procedures that are commonplace today. There is always room to improve, but the changes need to come from the people closest to the problems, doctors and healthcare professionals, not a bunch of bureaucrats. More than 15 years ago, my brother who has been a practicing surgeon for over 30 years told me three things that could be done to improve healthcare, cost and, quality.
The first was “Tort reform.” We need to eliminate the ludicrous law suit lottery that is played by people who try to capitalize on any medical mishap as a way to “cash in.” What these medical lottery players don’t realize is that the cost of malpractice insurance like any other business expense is passed on to the consumer. Consequently, if a doctor has to pay $80,000.00 per year in insurance it is divided up among all of the paying patients he sees that year. Second was “Portable policies” or Portability, a concept that leads to more competitive insurance policies tailored to the customer’s needs. With portability in medical insurance, you could shop nationwide for the best price, benefits, and service, just as you now can with auto insurance. The competition would cause insurers to tighten up their policies, prices and customer service or go out of business. Finally, “Standardized insurance claim codes and forms. Due to the complexity and different filing codes, it currently takes an army of specialists to file claims. With standardized codes and forms you get less administration and cheaper upkeep. This, in turn, would mean less money in administration and upkeep costs passed on to consumers.
Unlike Obamacare with its more than 2,700 pages of legislation and 10,000 pages of regulations, these three simple actions would have immediate money-saving results. Compliance with a monstrous, convoluted healthcare law that “had to be passed to see what was in it” is impossible. Businesses and employers have complained bitterly about the difficulty of complying with rules that even the government enforcement agencies don’t completely understand. They feel something has to change before fines put people out of jobs or put them out of business.
The good news about Obamacare is that it is causing doctors to be creative innovators with their private practices, by cutting out the government altogether. Some doctors have gone into concierge medicine where you sign up and pay a monthly cash fee to be a member of their network. Your doctor makes house calls and phone consultations and is available to see you when you need to get in. Your medical records are kept confidential by your doctor, rather than in some enormous government database susceptible to hacking. Because insurance companies and government bureaucrats are not involved procedures that should not be charged for are not. The amounts charged represent reasonable costs versus inflated fees to cover processing, co-pays and regulations. This is just one example of the innovation that can truly result in affordable tailored healthcare. However, with Obamacare the incentive for innovation is removed. Dr. Ben Carson stated that the new regulations will take innovation and exploring new procedures, solutions and cures off the table since there are reimbursement codes only for approved procedures. New regulations require everything to be reported electronically with the proper codes. If a physician does not have a code for a new procedure, not only will he not get paid but could possibly end up being fined or sent to jail.
The new co-pays and fees with Obamacare will definitely hurt everyone monetarily even if not called a tax. I have a special needs daughter who requires medications everyday. The co- pay when we started with her medicine was $0. Then it it moved to $9.00, then $32.00 and now to $52.00 per refill. Even worse are active duty military who have to make co-pays on their health insurance and have seen huge increases as well.
Obamacare was passed as an all or nothing proposition to keep Republicans from cancelling or delaying the healthcare legislation one piece at a time. Today the Obama administration is cancelling, delaying, or changing pieces of the legislation continually which is just more proof that the entire plan is flawed and needs to be cancelled and re-accomplished.
The proof was just announced as I write this article. The Treasury Department announced that the administration is conveniently postponing the mandate and fines for businesses with over 50 employees until after the 2014 midterm election. The whole sham with Obamacare is that it was not implemented before the last elections because the Democrats knew it would be deadly for the election results. The 20+ new taxes that will have such a negative impact on small business and families will not inflict pain in the pocket until after the 2012 and now the 2014 election. The bottom line is that the law and all the maneuvering has never been about serving people’s financial or health care needs. Rather it has been all about power. Having it, holding onto it, and lording it over the masses.
The complaints of business owners finally reached the administration which had to yield and has now delayed implementation of a major component of the law. The question this raises is what else will they be willing to yield and delay implementation of? And if they don’t need to implement these sections now do they need to be implemented at all. Healthcare needs to be tuned up or even over hauled, but not in this way. The current delay is not by Obamacare opponents saying the current plan is a disaster, but rather it is the Whitehouse and administration acknowledging that Obamacare is a disaster. If this disaster cannot take place before the election, we need to ask why it should take place at all?

Read more: http://patriotupdate.com/articles/he...#ixzz2ZEdvezEP