Obamacare Dan Bubalo It’s often asked why Barack Obama is so fixated on health care reform. The answer provided by Democrats is that his mom couldn’t find room at the local hospital and had to give birth in a manger, and to date Jay Carney has not come out to deny that story or a number of other fabrications. Whether Obamacare is the Hindenburg, or the historic Hindenburg newsreel is a version of Obamacare is moot, except to say one didn’t end well and the other is combustible and about to go down in flames due to an excessive amount of gas. Obamacare is by any objective measure a catastrophe in progress, and we are subjected to watching its crash-sequence in super slow motion via daily reports of delays and incompetence caused by the faulty structure built by The Neophyte in Chief. The need for healthcare reform was “sold” by vilifying the insurance industry in order to prey on people’s emotions instead of plying them with facts regarding the practicality of undertaking such sweeping change, and done so without the architect conducting the requisite research. It is now clear that the reluctance to perform the appropriate industry studies has resulted in the unmanageable blob of regulation and confusion now strangling the delivery of heath care for a majority of Americans. The irony is that while the implementation of Obamacare as written and illegally amended is complex, the explanation for its impending doom is rather simple; those opposed to the ill-conceived legislation actually did their homework, and those that jammed the tax/law through Congress through manipulation, extortion, and coercion did not, which prompts a critical question: what made the advocates believe such a massive undertaking could succeed without a foundation? Voluminous numerical data was needed as the cornerstone to produce a viable adjustment to health care delivery, yet it was completely ignored. Either Obama had never heard of actuarial science or lacked the business acumen to grasp its significance, but in his haste to ram through legislation he began construction of his monument without a solid foundation, and through his own ignorance built on quicksand, which is why every time he and Executioner Sebelius diddle with the law it sinks even further into the quagmire instead of righting itself. And the lack of comprehension among left wing loyalists offering uninformed stop-gap solutions is equally pathetic, for it shows they, too, have no idea what an ill-fated plan it is at its core. The second shot Obama fired directly into his foot was his refusal to gain familiarity with the insurance industry in general and health care specifically, caused largely by an anti-business ideology which makes him reflexively blame commerce for all the ills of society. I mean, if you thought your car was performing badly would it occur to you to tear the engine apart even though you had no familiarity with auto repair? Such is the Special Obama Blend: absence of facts and logic, driven by radical prejudice, and cloaked in pompous indignation. The assertions of his shallowness and lack of understanding are validated by the variety of actuarial considerations about which we have NEVER heard. We have not heard discussions about the financial impact of risk and uncertainty, the mathematics or mechanisms used to assess the complexity of insurance carriers’ financial security systems and reserves, probabilities and outcomes, the analysis of human behavior and its unpredictability, mortality risks, morbidity analysis, drug and medical service risks, short and long term disability, the cost and funding of long term care insurance, disability payments, the offset provided by workers’ compensation, the long term viability and impact of social insurance programs, and re-insurance for catastrophic events. Details? Schmee-tails. Who needs them? However, because these and a myriad of additional considerations were not identified or actively analyzed and managed, it was a certainty that when it came time to force an insurance carrier to pay, the necessary money would not be available to satisfy the claim. In point of fact, there are medical entities already fraught with conflict between continuing to extend health care services while not receiving reimbursement in a timely manner, and it is resulting in those medical practices not being able to pay for overhead, equipment, or meet their own insurance obligations with respect to paying premiums for general medical malpractice, occurrence policies, claims-made policies, property and casualty, cyber liability, errors and omissions, and a host of other required coverages. The Flight, Fight, Freeze or Fawn Response is, indeed, a component of this president’s personality, which is exacerbated in people confronting acute stress. When dozens of generals and other senior personnel provided facts that ran contrary to Obama’s military narrative, he fired them or asked for their resignations. When facing opposition in Congress he stomped his foot and went rogue with his pen and phone. When the heat from the IRS scandal got too close to the Oval Office he feigned incredulity, and when an illegal gun running operation to Syrian rebels went sideways in Benghazi he hopped a plane to Vegas to attend a fundraiser. He’d rather appear on television with Ellen DeGeneres or fill out an NCAA bracket than meet with military advisers in order to coordinate a multi-national response to Putin, and when it came to Syria he drew red lines in the sand using invisible ink. Is it any wonder he refused to accept the advice from insurance industry executives before drafting a law that flew in the face of unyielding realities? The only pragmatic solution at this point is to propose a complete and total repeal of the Obamacare tax/law, and it is every bit as much the responsibility of the president to promote that curative step as it is the obligation of Congress. Admit defeat. Concede that the longer the charade carries on the more damaging it is to consumers as well as the economy. Agree that it’s time to go back to the drawing board and start from scratch and do it the way it should have been done the first time through: 4-6 years of actuarial studies, followed by a gradual implementation of new regulations over the ensuing decade. Such remedial action would still credit Obama with effecting change in an historical context and might even restore sanity in the health care industry, and he could dedicate a wing to that accomplishment in his library, whether it’s built in Hawaii, Indonesia, or Kenya. At the very least, during the interim and continuing avalanche of lies and misinformation, the next time you hear you can’t keep your doctor, you’ll know why. When you find out you cannot keep your health plan, you will have a better understanding why it was inevitable that you could not. Though you’ve been assured there are no death panels, believe me we’ve all been slotted for an appearance in front of those “committees”, and when you see insurance costs reaching stratospheric levels, you’ll realize it was inevitable and that eliminating the use of one’s cell phone won’t make up the difference in cost. Obama is simply a disorganized, uninformed, and ideological fool whose obsession and hatred for large insurers drove him to try and fix something that really wasn’t broken. It is imperative for voters in November to remember the names of the accomplices in Congress who clung to his pants leg in order to gain his favor, and which came at the expense of ruining the finest health care delivery system the world has ever known. Be a Conservative Monthly Supporter of Massies The Daily Rant
Posted on: Tue, 01 Apr 2014 02:30:56 +0000
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