Herman Cain doesn’t believe this week’s report from the Congressional Budget Office that the Affordable Care Act will cost less than previously projected.
“The thing that is frustrating, that is disingenuous on the part of the Democrats . . . is that they don’t tell you about all of the negatives that are also out there,” the one-time Republican presidential candidate told John Bachman on “America’s Forum” on Newsmax TV.
Not even the Census Bureau will be able to keep track of the full impact of Obamacare, critics warn. The Census Bureau is significantly changing its survey questions on health care, which some fear will make it difficult to give an accurate reading of how many people have gained insurance under the law.
Republicans are now accusing the administration of overhauling the survey in order to obscure the effects of the Affordable Care Act.
An overwhelming percentage of registered voters have admitted that a candidate’s position on the troubled health care law will play an important part in deciding their vote in the upcoming elections, according to a new poll.
Republican senatorial candidates have been constantly hammering at Democrats who have supported Obamacare as the GOP bids to capture the Senate in November – and it appears from a USA Today/Pew Research Center poll that the tactic will pay big dividends.
Hoping to return to Washington by way of New Hampshire, former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown is using a variation of the state’s “Live Free or Die” motto to argue against President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul law.
Brown planned to formally announce his Senate bid Thursday night. In excerpts of remarks provided by his campaign, he said the health care law forces people to “live free or log on.”
According to a report by NBC news, new patients who bought health insurance on the Obamacare Exchanges have been stocking up on prescriptions, with one glaring exception – birth control. NBC cites new data in a just released report from Express Scripts, a prescription provider. The new information shows significantly more patients, than average, filled prescriptions for medications used to treat AIDS, pain, MS, rheumatoid arthritis, as well as other afflictions ranging from seizures to depression. The ratio for prescriptions for contraceptives was 31 percent lower in plans that Express Scripts handles. There is a certain irony here, as the issue of contraceptives began as polarizing debate in Washington, D.C., and has now made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The 2010 Affordable Care Act compels insurers to cover a variety of “health needs” – inclusive of contraception, cancer screens, and injections. Insurers are also required to cover anyone who applies, and they must also fund prescription drugs, though they may levy a co-pay.
Sometimes all it takes to get politicians to change course, as in 180 degrees, is the thought of upsetting seniors. Democrats, with a watchful eye toward the mid-term elections are waging a separate campaign related to their own reelections. These Democrats are going head to head with the Obama White House’s proposed, significant altering of the Affordable Care Act. It calls for the gradual shifting of federal monies away from Medicare Advantage. The plan is a privatized version of Medicare, offering everything from gym memberships to care coordination. It’s been long-endorsed by Republicans, who have wanted to make Medicare more private-sector oriented. Democrats have derided it as “an inefficient money suck.” Now, with emergent signs of a Democratic loss in the Senate this Fall, many legislators are changing their tunes – fast.
On Monday, April 7, 2014, at risk Democratic incumbents won their fight. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced, that instead of a considered 2 percent reduction insurer payments, they would actually bolster payments upward by 0.4 percent. The office is claiming the change is due to a reassessment of Medicare costs and the health (in relative terms) of new Medicare sign ups. Medicare Advantage consumers tend to be younger than other Medicare enrollees.
Insurance companies make hefty profits of coverage like Medicare Advantage, and their recent willingness to attack Democrats (supporting cuts to the program) in narrow races has been palpable.
Contrary to a recently published Drudge Report item, John Boehner blogs that Republican support for a legislative fix to Obamacare does not constitute advocating expansion. The Drudge Report recently led its website headlines with: “Republicans expand Obamacare?” In late March, 2014 – House leadership angered the rank and file by authorizing legislation to block a potential reduction in spending. This occurred via a voice-vote with only dozens of members actually on the floor.
Republicans claim they remain committed to repealing Obamacare outright, and replacing it with a viable GOP version. But Republicans are walking a tight line in 2014, as a divided minority in the House of Representatives.
The Affordable Health Care act story is not merely about failing websites or actual enrollment numbers, it’s also about the philosophy and daily perspectives of the persons behind it. Peter Ferrara, a senior fellow for entitlement and budget policy at the Libertarian Heartland Institute, relates examples of a President (Obama) out of touch with ACA reality. According to Ferrara, such awareness deficiencies ironically and tellingly showed during Obama’s April Fool’s Day speech. Obama cited: “millions more who have gained access through Medicaid expansion.” Ferrara says they cannot be included in the group, which Obama described as: “[who] finally had the same chance to buy quality, affordable healthcare – and the peace that comes with it – as everybody else.” Ferrara further elaborates: Medicaid is taxpayer financed, those covered by it will not be purchasing health insurance policies. Medicaid does not provide quality health care. It pays little to doctors and hospitals caring for the poor. Many quality healthcare providers won’t take on Medicaid patients. Heartland’s Ferrara additionally opines, we have a President in power who can’t comprehend, that when the government requires health insurers to provide additional benefits, the cost of their health insurance has to increase, just to ensure the insurer has enough money to pay all covered benefits. Thus, there is nothing “free” about Obamacare’s required preventative care.
Heartland’s editorial also claims some cancer patients have lost coverage – coverage which was serving to finance the doctors keeping them alive, because the insurance did not meet or satisfy Obamacare requirements.
President Barack Obama clocked a huge win by hitting his target 7 million Obamacare enrollment. Now he’s faced with a tougher task: not blowing it.
Obama’s got a history of watching his victories slip away before fully capitalizing on them. Last year alone, his reelection bump disappeared into a triple whammy of low-grade spring scandals. Then, all the goodwill he had coming out of the government shutdown was eclipsed by the devastating HealthCare.gov rollout.
More on the Ryan Budget. According to a recent report in the Hill.com, House Republican leaders may have staved off a conservative movement to protest a voice vote on Medicare legislation. Key critics, though, on the maneuver regarding the doc fix bill, still say they plan on supporting Ryan’s budget. The Hill cites Representative Mick Mulvaney (R.-S.C.) as one member of Congress upset regarding a voice vote. Budget votes are usually arduous for the party in power. Republicans at this point can only afford 16 defections, as they shepherd their legislation through the lower legislative chamber. It’s a scenario which assumes every Democrat is against it. Hurt feelings over the Medicare bill could be an issue. There appears to be no tangible motivation for a defection from Northeastern Republicans or appropriators – who are seen as favoring less deep cuts to discretionary funding, versus what Paul Ryan is suggesting.
