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Morning Briefing
For November 15, 2013
1. The Other Problem With Fred Upton’s Legislation
Let’s say the House passes Congressman Upton’s legislation and the Senate passes Senate Landrieu’s legislation.
Let’s further say that Landrieu’s will not pass the House.
We have two pieces of legislation that cannot pass either chamber.
After
the President’s press conference yesterday, a number of states announced
that, contrary to what the President said, people will not be able to
keep their healthcare plans. Likewise, more than a handful of lawyers
came out and said the President has no authority to do what he did
yesterday without Congress’s consent.
In other words, what the President said was just words with nothing to back them up.
Insurance
companies understand that Mary Landrieu’s legislation would be
devastating for them. So I suspect they’ll go to Harry Reid, encourage
him to pass the Upton legislation, then send it on to President Obama
who will sign it.
Now, most everyone pushing the Upton
legislation points out that is really has no teeth. It is a paper tiger.
Even the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board concedes this. But the
Upton legislation gives the appearance of doing something.
So this Republican measure gets passed by the
House, passed by the Senate, signed by the President, heralded by the
media as a bipartisan success, and . . .?
And rates continue going up. The insurance
companies that play along do so by letting people keep their existing
plans at a much higher monthly premium. The public anger about Obamacare
grows.
And now the Republican Party owns it too.
They, after all, passed the Upton legislation. They, after all, promised
the American public that the Upton legislation would allow people to
keep their insurance plans.
Congratulations
Republicans, you are now, if Upton does pass, co-owners of the rate
shock Americans are suffering and your plan, as so many of you privately
acknowledge, really does absolutely nothing.
So desperate are Republican leaders to avoid
admitting they should have listened to Ted Cruz, they’ll become
co-owners of Obamacare rather than fight for full repeal or defunding
Obamacare. . . . please click here for the rest of the post →
2. Riddle Me This, Republicans
I have read Jeffrey Anderson trying to explain how the Upton + Landrieu combo is not a trap.
He and
other Republicans argue that Landrieu will destabilize Obamacare by
keeping people out of the exchanges who are needed in the exchanges to
fund it.
Some of them are honest about what is going to happen. Rate shock will escalate more quickly and painfully.
Insurance companies that have spent three
years preparing for the transition to Obamacare will be, with Landrieu,
required to let people keep their present insurance.
But the
companies will not be required to let people keep those present plans at
present rates. Rates are going to skyrocket. People will not be able to
afford what was just recently affordable. Further, they will not get
subsidies.
So what is more likely to happen? . . . please click here for the rest of the post →
3. President Obama’s “Administrative Fix” Will Make the Problem Worse
By now
you have no doubt heard that President Obama, in a disastrous and
meandering news conference, has announced that he will attempt, via
executive fiat, to implement something very similar to the Upton Plan,
which will purportedly allow (but not require) insurance companies to
continue to offer plans that were made illegal by Obamacare. Without
wading into the politics of this move, as a matter of policy, it is
going to be a disaster. That the President would even attempt it
indicates that he does not have even a rudimentary understanding of how
insurance works – which is a minor problem seeing as how he apparently
sees fit to unilaterally dictate insurance policy for the whole country
as of today. . . . please click here for the rest of the post →
4. Washington State to Obama: **** Off
There is
good news and bad news here. Barack Obama has made a career of
scapegoating people and playing one racial, ethnic, or economic group
off against another. Obamacare is no different. It is simply class envy
and income redistribution tarted up with good intentions.
Yesterday’s presser was intended to make
insurance companies the scapegoats for the Obama administration’s
galactic incompetence. The bottom line is that it will be virtually
impossible for insurance companies to recalculate rates, notify
customers, etc., by the deadlines. This would permit Obama to say he did
what he could but the evil insurance companies would not go along. . . . please click here for the rest of the post →
5. Fred Upton Supports the Landrieu Obamacare Fix. So Does Barack Obama
The
Upton bill is more of the kabuki theater the Establishment GOP has
entertained us with since the government shutdown. Why is it that the
same people who were trying so hard to help Obama fix Obamacare in
October are suddenly interested in killing Obamacare today? The short
answer is that they aren’t.
Fred Upton has said he supports Mary Landrieu’s bill. Barack Obama feels the same way.
That should tell you all you need to know about how useful Upton’s bill is to the cause of killing Obamacare. . . . please click here for the rest of the post →
6. Speaker Boehner Kills Immigration Reform… For Now
If
Speaker John Boehner is to be taken at his word, the House GOP may have
just made a critical decision that is both good policy and good
politics. A couple of weeks ago I posted about the growing pressure from
the Senate Gang of [your number here] led by the odious John McCain and
the duplicitous Lindsey Graham to legalize some millions of illegal
immigrants living within the United States [see Immigration Reform: One
Tiny Step at a Time]. At that time, John McCain was advocating a “pass
the bill to find out what’s in it strategy” of having the House pass
something that the Senate would replace in conference with the S. 744, a
bill that is some 1200 pages long and among other things defines the
minimum wage for various agricultural workers and makes Nevada a border
state. . . . please click here for the rest of the post →
7. Immigration Reform: One Tiny Step at a Time
The next challenge facing the conservatives
will be the comprehensive immigration bill so beloved of Democrats and
the Ruling Class. The ardor to pursue this has diminished since the
horror of Obamacare has become evident but the desire is still there . . . please click here for the rest of the post →
8. Arrests, Citations Lurk at Union Group Approved by Obama Admin to Promote ObamaCare in Wisconsin
Among
the 165 groups approved by the Obama Administration to promote or set-up
ObamaCare in Wisconsin is Wisconsin Jobs Now, a liberal
get-out-the-vote group affiliated with the SEIU. According to the
federal Department of Health and Human Services, the organization is
working as a certified application counselor, or CAC. Numerous
individuals who have been employed by Wisconsin Jobs Now or who work
there now have been investigated, arrested or cited by law enforcement
agencies for legal violations. . . . please click here for the rest of the post →
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