“I think Democratic politics drove yesterday more than anything else. There was widespread panic on Capitol Hill this week… But you know the bigger, the thing we’re not really talking about – he didn’t fix anything. There was nothing that was fixed because he doesn’t have the power to do it. John Boehner’s right.”
UPDATE – Oops, original post had wrong link to McDonough article — Fixed now, Sorry.
WASHINGTON DC – […] McDonough, speaking privately to Democrats in a closed session Thursday afternoon, said the president’s hands were tied, to an extent, in trying to move the policy to fit his promise.
“We do not have a deal where everyone who has received a cancellation notice that they can re-buy. We can’t mandate that,” he said, according to sources present. But, he argued, the new policy shifts the burden for cancellations to state insurance commissioners and insurance companies — an important political distinction. If a tea party Republican contends that someone lost his or her insurance because of the law, McDonough said “that is absolutely untrue.”
At one point, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) asked why the White House isn’t doing more to blame insurers for policy cancellation notices.
McDonough replied that there are good actors and bad actors in the insurance industry.
“I think it is dangerous to paint with a broad brush,” he said. (LINK)
In essence Obama’s “fixer”, Denis McDonough, is saying there are people in the Insurance industry who are “with us“, and there are some “against us“.
The problem looks like this: (more…)
Obama: improvements to http://t.co/UYIQyILmM7 by 11/30 to be "marked and noticeable"; no guarantees will always work http://t.co/ApETgi0aKf
— Reuters Politics (@ReutersPolitics) November 14, 2013
(Via Washington Post) […] [President Obama’s Plan is to] Allow insurers to renew existing plans in 2014 (which means they could continue into 2015) while forcing them to send Landrieu-like letters explaining why their plans don’t conform to the Affordable Care Act’s standards.
This doesn’t really ensure anyone can actually keep their plan — which means it also doesn’t affect premiums in the exchanges. But it makes it easier for Democrats to blame insurers for canceling these plans. And it perhaps makes it easier for the White House to stop congressional Democrats from signing onto something like Landrieu or Udall.
The insurance industry is furious. They’ve been working with the White House to get HealthCare.Gov up and running and they’ve been devoting countless man hours to dealing with the problems and they’ve been taking the heat from their customers over canceled plans, and now the Obama administration wants to make them into a scapegoat. (more…)
Earlier today we proposed a counter campaign, “Got Cancellation?” to counter the ridiculous “Got Insurance?” Obamacare propaganda campaign. The basic premise is to highlight the insufferable contrast between the lie which Obamacare represents and the reality.
Here are some excellent examples of “Lost Insurance?” Or, “Got Cancellation” from reader Opinionated Vogon:
Ridden to ruin
(more…)
I’m not good enough with photo shop or visual skills. But when I saw the latest Obamacare ad campaign I had an idea. First, here is the Obamacare ad:
Every article I have read about this campaign is focused to the crass, rude and inappropriate advertising construct. Actually, that was not what caught my attention.
What caught my attention was an immediate recognition of how successful a counter campaign would be using images to reflect the opposite truth.
Rather than deconstruct a “Got Insurance” campaign of keg stands and sex parties. Why not focus on the reality of Obamacare: “Got Cancellation”?
(more…)
Yesterday we mentioned the CNN Jake Tapper interview of Leader Eric Cantor. Tapper continues to repeat a common White House meme about “Junk Plans” as he questions Cantor. Here is the video:
“[00:50] now these plans are being cancelled because they don’t meet the standards of Obamacare, the standards that would allow more / higher quality of quality care the administration says; Better care, covering more things”.
“Is that not a good goal to have fewer of what the Obama administration would call “junk plans”?”
Ergo some of these insurance cancellations are good for the insured, the ObamaCare plan is better for them, and the policy deserves to be cancelled. (more…)
Internal polling numbers (DNC) in the states with Senators up for re-election, must be beyond terrible. “Panicking”: a sudden, overpowering terror, often affecting many people at once. Horrific Fear – A sudden widespread alarm.
WASHINGTON DC – Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Thursday will convene a special meeting of the Senate Democratic caucus and senior White Officials ( <— Denis McDonough / ValJar ) to discuss the troubled rollout of ObamaCare.
Reid on Wednesday told reporters he would not answer questions about the hundreds of thousands of insurance policy cancellations or other issues until he has further discussions with the White House.
The Senate leader said President Obama called him Tuesday evening to discuss healthcare and other issues. (more…)