Wednesday, October 02, 2013

It is day two and all of the Republican warnings about Obamacare are coming true. No, NOT the ones they told us, the ones they whispered secretly to each other. "It's going to work!"

"Goddammit I knew it would go this way!"
So here we are on day two and the conservatives are trying like crazy to get everybody in the country to focus on computer glitches, long wait times on the telephone, and every little bump or hiccup they can possibly identify.

Sadly for them, much of the rest of the country is ignoring them.

Just take a look at these headlines:

CONNECTICUT: Health Care Plans Begin: 28,000-Plus Go Online To State Marketplace 
GEORGIA: Enrollment Sites Are Swamped On First Day 
IDAHO: Idaho Health Exchange Launches With Few Hiccups 
KENTUCKY: Kynect Opens To High Demand 
MAINE: Insurance Marketplace Opens To Flood Of Interest 
MICHIGAN: Insurance Exchange Debut Draws Millions 
CALIFORNIA: Millions Try To Enroll 
PENNSYLVANIA: A First-Day Rush On Health Care 

"Wait, they like it?"
You get the idea. 

Were there glitches during attempts to sign up or learn more? You betcha!

Were these indications of a long term problem with the program? What are you, an idiot?

Here is how the Washington Post summed it up: 

The top story all day was that Republicans had shut down the federal government because President Obama wouldn't defund or delay the Affordable Care Act. The other major story was that the government's servers were crashing because so many people were trying to see if they could get insurance through Obamacare. 

So on the one hand, Washington was shut down because Republicans don't want Obamacare. On the other hand, Obamacare was nearly shut down because so many Americans wanted Obamacare.

Pretty much says it all, wouldn't you agree?

 So successful was the program that one of Fox News's very own broke ranks: 

Personally, as someone who pays through the nose for individual insurance in New York State — a state where, historically, few individual insurance options have even been available — I can’t wait to enroll in ObamaCare and see my premiums plummet, as they are expected to by at least 50%. 

Again, all this is why Republicans are in such a desperate rush to try and defund ObamaCare before October 1 — even if it means holding our economy hostage and even if most voters, including Republicans, oppose the repeated and wasteful defunding attempts. 

After all, the law is already popular when it’s not fully in effect and most people haven’t felt its benefits. We all know what will happen when ObamaCare takes effect — and works! 

So we are coming to the end of the second day of the Obamacare roll out, and the second day of the the Republican's attempt to hold the government hostage in the hopes of stopping it.

One of these things is a colossal train wreck, and will cost the country millions unnecessarily. And it is NOT the one the Republicans want you to think it is.

42 comments:

  1. Anonymous4:39 PM

    Kynect was already so popular that Obamacare can only help Alison Lundergan Grimes even more now.

    How are you doing there, Turtle Man? Rove doesn't seem to be helping you much ....

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous4:42 PM

    omg, Cruz has the GOP on the mat and is kicking them in the balls.

    http://www.politico.com/story/2013/10/ted-cruz-blasted-by-angry-gop-colleagues-government-shutdown-97753.html

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous4:52 PM

    Here's my Obamacare story:

    Yesterday, no luck. Today, succcess! I live in New Mexico which has a state exchange. In the past I have had to purchase a private policy through Blue Cross Blue Shield. It cost me about $300/month. My new Obamacare premium is $400/month. What? I am paying $100 more a month? If I were a Republican, my story would end there and I would mention death panels. But since I am a Democrat, I will tell you the rest of the story.

    My old deductible was $5000/year. It is now a very manageable $1000/year. With my old plan, a colonoscopy, a mammogram, a yearly physical, were all paid out of pocket by me. Now they are covered or require a small co-pay.

    If I end up in the hospital, my old plan only paid 60%, and only up to a limit. Now there is no limit and insurance pays 80%.

    And, I get to keep the same primary doctor I have had for years.

    For me, it was an easy to follow sign-up procedure. And it will be for everyone else too.

    I LOVE OBAMACARE!




    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous8:51 PM

      @ Anonymous 4:52 PM:
      I'm so glad to hear that you came out on top with ObamaCare! Well done!!

      Delete
  4. Smirnonn4:52 PM

    "So on the one hand, Washington was shut down because Republicans don't want Obamacare. On the other hand, Obamacare was nearly shut down because so many Americans wanted Obamacare."

    Exactly! I went online and found out I'll save a bundle (self employed, pre-existing conditions). Thank You, President Obama!!

    FU, gotp.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Dinty5:02 PM

    A message to Speaker Boehner (in my best Dean Wormer voice):
    Weepy, drunk and orange is no way to go through life, son.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anita Winecooler9:07 PM

      PERFECT! Bravo.

      Delete
  6. Anonymous5:21 PM

    frackin cruz and skank-two peas in a pod. they've got theirs and don't give a crap about anyone else.


    " In 2011, Cruz's total networth was, on average, $1.7 million.

    According to a story reported in the Huffington Post, Cruz's healthcare is provided by Goldman Sachs through his wife."

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous5:22 PM

    As I've read elsewhere: if the Mass. Health Plan devised by Mitt Romney were a disaster (has been in effect for seven years), then all the Republicans would have to do is point at Massachusetts and predict dire things if Obamacare went into effect.
    Have they? NO. Because, with the odd bit of patchwork that needed to be done after it was implemented, it's a success!
    Why do you think Mitt acted last year as though he'd never heard of his own signature achievement as governor?
    Because they know it'll work, and they know that, for every person who's had a pre-existing condition, or lost a job and thus their healthcare, or has hit their lifetime limit (easy to do with several major surgeries) -- Obamacare will work. And for those who remember that the ACA (which the Repub. soon will be calling it, to remove any credit for Obama) has helped them, they'll also remember at the ballot box.
    I see skies of blue ----

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous5:48 PM

    ... And there are TONS of fake claim pages out there, like this one:

    http://www.infowars.com/obamacare-fines-to-be-seized-from-bank-accounts/

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous5:53 PM

    Before I retired I worked in IT for a very large big box retailer (not WalMart). Every year during open enrollment or health plans, we were told to wait a few days before accessing the system so the servers wouldn't crash. Whenever there is a limited amount of times in weeks or months for enrolling in a health plan whether through an employer or through the ACA exchanges, there are usually some computer glitches for a few days. I'm very impressed that it is working so well after only two days of heavy use.
    I think Boehner's orange complexion might be caused by heavy drinking. When I was growing up, a friend of my parents was orange and he ended up with liver cirrhosis.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous6:54 PM

      He's going to need intensive health care -- maybe even a liver transplant. I hope he has insurance.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous6:57 PM

      Boozers are losers, as my grandpa would tell Mr. Boehner.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous8:28 PM

      I'll wager there are many in Congress today that are going to die slow painful deaths due to their having lived the high life for so long - had drugs, cigarettes and booze available to them all these years.

      They will get what they deserve due to having zero empathy for the poor and middle class that they represent across the nation.

      Hell awaits them - liars, frauds and cheaters!

      Delete
  10. Anonymous5:53 PM

    The medical insurance people are applying for right now through the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) will be put in place on 1/1/14. So there is a window of time for Americans to place their applications.

    This is gonna work and I'll wager the asshole Republican crowd is going to eat crow and look like the idiots they have already shown themselves to be!

    Vote them out of office...they do NOT work for the American people they are suppose to represent!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous6:00 PM

    Glad to hear the good stories from people who love Obamacare. If more people speak out about it's benefits and savings, and word gets out quickly, there's no way that the Republicans can put that toothpaste back in the tube.

    If Ted Scruz gets impeached from Congress, he'll be in the waiting lines, glitches and all, signing up for Obamacare. Now wouldn't that be a wonderful sight to see.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous8:25 PM

      As to Cruz - no he won't! He's got a rich wife - plus, he has his own wealth! Needs to be voted out of office in Congress though. So many in D.C. need to be shown the door in their next election cycles.

      Delete
  12. Anonymous6:19 PM

    I just hope that President Obama sticks to his guns and does not compromise anything and shows them up for the @ssclowns they are. Every last one of them and yes, Esther, I'm talking to you as well. Keep it up, you look more stupid by the minute!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous7:36 PM

      I didn't think that was possible, but you're right. Sarah's getting even more stupid. Desperation does that to people.

      Delete
  13. Anonymous6:22 PM

    GOP Can’t Impeach Obama, Closes Government Instead

    ...Let’s be clear what this is about: the refusal of a defeated political party to accept the legitimacy of the democratic process when it didn’t get its way. The focus on Obamacare as a means to delegitimize a twice-elected president is just the latest pretext after previous pretexts failed, from the president’s supposedly fake birth certificate to the “Fast and Furious” scandal to Benghazi and all the other would-be impeachable offenses investigated by the House’s Inspector Clouseau, Representative Darrell Issa of California. Think of the Obamacare-driven shutdown as parallel to the Monica Lewinsky–driven impeachment of Bill Clinton: a handy — though ultimately backfiring — vehicle for an attempted right-wing coup against a Democratic president. If the GOP’s real aim was to get government out of Americans’ medical care, it would be resuming its campaign to “reform” (e.g., gradually defund) Medicare, for starters. But you don’t hear anything about that anymore now that the party realizes that its base loves Medicare — so much so that tea-partiers carried signs saying “Keep Government Out of My Medicare!” in ignorance of the fact that it is a program of the government they loathe. So Obamacare is the chosen weapon instead. Unfortunately for the Republicans, it is going to detonate in their own caucus.

    http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/10/frank-rich-gop-cant-impeach-obama-closes-dc.html

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous6:24 PM

    Let’s hope Republicans don’t need health insurance to recover from pulling their heads out of their asses

    From Helen

    Margaret, the more Republicans I meet, the more I like my dog. Just once I would like to see a politician with an ass too small to fit his own head. It has been a rough few weeks sitting back trying to get my rest and stay out of politics, but honestly, there seems to be no end to this madness and I once again find myself not able to keep my mouth shut. I used to have a handle on life, but it broke. Let me count the new ways the Republicans found to wear their ass for a hat…

    One. I heard a Congressman from Texas today say that Obamacare was forcing hard-working, middle class families to purchase health insurance they don’t need. Now there is a congressman who has definitely put his head in a place where the sun doesn’t shine. Show me someone who doesn’t need health insurance and I’ll show you the second coming of Jesus. And for the record, it’s called the Affordable Care Act because before it was passed, healthcare was no longer affordable for most Americans. Do these Tea Party asshats really take us for fools?

    Two. We are a country that blindly followed Bush’s codpiece into “preventive” war not once but twice. Now a bunch of children get gassed to death by a dictator and we are suddenly too weary for war. Really? Republicans too weary for war. Sounds to me that they are too weary for a black commander-in-chief. Oh dear me. Did I say that out loud? God forbid someone suggest that Republicans are racists. He’s a Muslim from Kenya with a fake birth certificate…short version: he’s black.

    Three. Not crazy enough for you? How about thinking the answer to gun violence is more guns? We’re up to what, about one mass shooting a month now? It sure seems like there are plenty of guns to go around. How about we try a different approach like asking ourselves why we need more guns than actual people in this country. Are there really that many deer to hunt? And something tells me if the British are coming again, it’s not with muskets. One thing is for sure: Guns don’t kill people… but they make it real easy.

    Four. Oh but for the love of God if Texas wasn’t dealing with enough crazy already with Rick Perry, we now have to deal with Ted Cruz. Now here’s a guy who talks in circles so effectively, it’s no wonder his head eventually ran into his ass...

    http://margaretandhelen.com/2013/10/01/lets-hope-republicans-dont-need-health-insurance-to-recover-from-pulling-their-heads-out-of-their-asses/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anita Winecooler9:12 PM

      I want to be just like her if I'm lucky enough to reach her age. She's feisty and doesn't hold back any punches!

      She's spot on!

      Delete
  15. Anonymous6:38 PM

    Harry Reid on Obama at Shutdown Meeting, ‘The POTUS was very very strong, strong, strong.’

    ...Sen. Reid added, “One of the things that I felt very happy I was there. The President of the United States was very, very strong, strong, strong. This has never happened before. They can make all of the historical analysis that they want. It just has never happened before. Where a political party would be willing to take the country to the brink of financial disaster and say we’re not going to allow us to pay our bills. The president said he will not stand for that, and we said, I said, I’ll be happy to work with you Mr. Speaker on a way out of this, but we are where we are. We’re through playing these little games. It’s all focused on Obamacare. That’s all it’s about, and I’ve said before, and I’ll tell each of you here tonight. They did the same thing to Social Security. They did the same thing to Medicare, and they’re trying to do the same thing to Obamacare.

    ...The dynamic playing out in the Democratic Party is that the unity at the top has brought everyone together. Reid and Pelosi seem delighted with Obama’s hard line stance, and the president is drawing strength from the fact that his own party has his back. The Democrats are clearly engaged in an ultimate standoff with the tea party radicals in the House. Speaker Boehner could end this all right now if he would just allow the Senate passed CR to be voted on without amendment by the House. The Speaker refuses to do this.

    Boehner came out of the meeting at the White House looking like a beaten man. Democrats aren’t going to give in to the Republican stall tactic of going to conference so that the GOP can run out the clock and get to the debt ceiling deadline. House Republicans are trying to position themselves to take a new higher value hostage. Democrats aren’t budging, which means that the Republican hostage takers have built their own prison out of their Obamacare demands.

    What’s happening is that a strong president is leading a strong party to what could be a strong victory in a nation defining ideological confrontation.

    http://www.politicususa.com/2013/10/02/harry-reid-describes-obama-shutdown-meeting-the-president-united-states-strong-strong-strong.html

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous6:46 PM

    Must be a lot of people in Texas trying, still cannot get in after two days of trying several times per day. And of course our idiot governor said the ACA was a criminal act.. Drop dead you moron!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous8:26 PM

      What's kind of amazing is that everyone is trying to sign up right in the first couple of days. The actual health care policies don't start until Jan. 1, right? So, there must be a lot more people waiting in the wings so to say, who'll sign up after the initial deluge begins to wane.

      My husband has employer provided HC but I still plan to look on the exchange for subsidies. We pay $800 a month for health care in MA and our taxable income usually comes in under 50K. Just one kid at home now, but I'm hoping we can still get a break. I'm worried we might be the people stuck in the middle paying high premiums.

      Going to apply for fuel assistance this year too. Things were pretty tight last year. I need to put aside my pride and just apply. Food pantry too. I always think that someone else needs it more, but when my 14 year old is only eating pasta a couple nights a week maybe it's time to get some help.
      I'm hoping a break on the HC cost will ease our finances. I was losing work because I had an unreliable vehicle so we had to buy a car last January. An '08 Prius. Going from a Jeep to a Prius has really eased our gas expenses, the car practically pays for itself. Smartest thing we've done in a long time.
      Best wishes to all. Winter is Coming. LOL

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:34 AM

      Texas did not expand Medicaid and torpedoed subsidies. The TX rates are coming in high because of that. Some people are angry about the ACA instead of hating their state government. Elsewhere in sane states, people are rejoicing.

      Delete
  17. Anonymous7:01 PM

    O/T but I think this is important so that we can stop the stranglehold of religion on our politics and government. The Richard Dawkins Foundation needs our support.
    "Your subscription is confirmed! Now we need to hit 100,000 signups by October 31 to impact decision-makers and media across the globe, to help us support our existing projects in science and secularism -- and the ones we're about to announce.

    Help us make a difference please:

    -- Forward this email to friends, who can subscribe to our
    newsletter

    -- Visit our store for Atheist and science books, t-shirts,
    jewelry, and more

    -- Join us on Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook.

    -- Consider a donation.

    Thank you for all that you have done. Together we are changing the world.

    Edwina Rogers
    Executive Director
    Richard Dawkins Foundation"

    ReplyDelete
  18. Sharon7:55 PM

    I enjoyed watching Barney Frank tonight on Lawrence's show...Alex was sitting in. He went over all the votes Boehner made to increase the debt under Bush, with no problem. His voting record sucks wind...career politician spending all his adult life making this country slide downhill all the while living a rich life off the rest of us. Remember he has huge investments in various companies poised to make big bucks if XL pipeline goes thru. I am waiting to see him cry on camera over this....he is a disgrace.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Anonymous8:00 PM


    The New Face of Hate: Meet the Man Trying to Make White Separatism Respectable

    Richard Spencer sat sipping his chai latte at the Red Caboose, a train-themed coffee shop in downtown Whitefish, Mont. Clean-cut and restrained, he reminded me of a hundred outdoors-obsessed people I had known growing up here in the Flathead Valley, a resort area nestled in the shadows of Glacier National Park.

    But Spencer’s tidy appearance is about more than his sense of propriety; it’s a recruitment tool. Spencer advocates for white separatism and he wants to shake his movement’s reputation for brutality and backwardness.

    “We have to look good,” Spencer said, adding that if his movement means ”being part of something that is crazed or ugly or vicious or just stupid, no one is going to want to be a part of it.” Those stereotypes of “redneck, tattooed, illiterate, no-teeth” people, Spencer said, are blocking his progress. Organizations that monitor domestic hate groups say it’s just this unthreatening approachability that makes Spencer so insidious.

    Spencer says now, more than ever, it falls to people like him to be engaged and savvy if America is going to combat the growing threat of diversity. In particular, he’s irritated by the rise of U.S. minority births, which outnumbered white births for the first time in 2011.

    http://www.alternet.org/new-face-hate-meet-man-trying-make-white-separatism-respectable

    ReplyDelete
  20. Anonymous8:05 PM

    Damn, she's STILL harping about her loser husband:

    Ann Romney: If Mitt was President the government wouldn’t have shutdown

    ...Fox News Insider reports, “Well, it’s frustrating. It’s frustrating for me that a lot of Americans never got to see Mitt for the real candidate that he was. There’s so much vilifying that goes on in a campaign,” Romney said “You know that’s going to come, but for me at the end of the day, if people had honestly known he was the most capable candidate, that he would have made a difference, he would have stopped Obamacare.”

    Except Obama was elected and campaigned on the Affordable Healthcare Act.

    Romney said her husband would have “stopped Obamacare,” keeping Congress from a government shutdown.”

    http://freakoutnation.com/2013/10/02/psychic-ann-romney-if-mitt-was-president-the-government-wouldnt-have-shutdown/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anita Winecooler9:19 PM

      I caught this on Fox and Friends. Ann's not taking the loss well. Her inflection while speaking the president's name was particularly telling. The new female in the stupid sandwich had this cocky expression on her face, as if she "bagged" the story of the century.

      It's called Obamacare, Ann, and we know Mitt better than you do, and we don't have to wake up next to him, either!

      Delete
    2. Anonymous3:29 AM

      Sorry, Ann, but we saw Mitt for EXACTLY the candidate he was. Get over it.

      Delete
  21. Anonymous8:15 PM

    http://a.disquscdn.com/uploads/mediaembed/images/642/590/original.jpg

    ReplyDelete
  22. Anonymous8:20 PM

    A conversation on my fb newsfeed:

    Niki
    September 30 near Sunnyvale, CA via mobile
    This new insurance requirement is going to bankrupt me! Who the hell qualifies for any of the tax credits or subsidies because I obviously don't.
    Like · · Share
    7 people like this.

    Tammy Nor does your brother/ too poor. Nor do we/ too rich. I thought you'd be the one. Interesting
    September 30 at 3:30pm via mobile · Like · 1

    Niki Ahhhhh. I don't see why the poverty level is our base here. Yay, you're on state assistance. Let's assist you more by ruining everyone else. Apparently I make 5.8x the level (shes a teacher in her early 20s). I don't see how that's possible. I wonder what you are lol
    September 30 at 3:32pm via mobile · Like


    Linda That is the idea, make all of us poor and equal, that way we have to go to the government for everything, sorry hon, also since this is coming into effect your grandpas dr now charges $245 for a 25 minute simple office visit to which he has a deductible of over &100 of it, and this is Medicare the he paid into for years and they call it a subsidy. It is only going to get worse and I hate to say it, I love my country and hate my government. Puts me in a hard place. Love you

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous9:31 PM

      and the only numbers offered are for "your grandpas doctor" LOL

      Delete
  23. Anonymous8:40 PM

    What? The American peole are jammomg websites and phone lines to get insurance? No, no that can't be true, Cruz and the Big Boner told us Americans didn't want healthcare!

    ReplyDelete
  24. Anonymous8:45 PM

    BTW, though I have healthcare through my company I have turned 65 and am now enjoying the medicare I paid into my whole working career. That said, OBAMAcare has saved every senior on monthly meds $3500 a yr by closing the "dout hole" in medicare. Thanks President Obama and BTW I have 18 employees who have been able to keep their college age children on their family healthcare policies, Thanks President Obama!

    ReplyDelete
  25. Anonymous1:08 AM

    Veteran journalist Carl Bernstein on Wednesday called out Rep. Eric Cantor and said that the wing of the Republican Party behind the government shutdown is the “most dangerous” force in American politics since McCarthyism.

    “Eric Cantor and his Republican Party are the most dangerous demagogic force in American politics since Joe McCarthy, and that’s what this is about,” the Washington Post journalist said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “And it’s about the parts of the Republican Party that are willing to appease this awful force.”

    Bernstein said the wing of the GOP behind the shutdown was reshaping President Barack Obama’s role as president.

    “I think what we’re seeing is a redefinition and understanding of Barack Obama’s presidency, which is to protect the national security from this dangerous demagogic element that is on the precipice of really having a kind of power which is ruinous to America and ruinous to democracy,” Bernstein said.

    http://www.politico.com/story/2013/10/carl-bernstein-government-shutdown-97710.html#ixzz2geAJ7ZwP

    ReplyDelete
  26. Anonymous6:06 AM

    “They listen to nobody but themselves,” the Harvard political scientist Theda Skocpol told me. “They are convinced of their rectitude and convinced that they alone are qualified to save America from the dire threat of Obama and his polices. They have worked themselves into a dangerous place.”

    http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/02/business/economy/why-the-health-care-law-scares-the-gop.html?smid=tw-share&_r=1&

    ReplyDelete
  27. Anonymous9:26 AM

    Of course, the lamestream media is covering up the disaster
    That is Obamacare
    The People's house has inspired the country to rise in opposition to Obamacare.
    Obama and Obamacare are increasingly unpopular
    and will be both be defeated
    Sarah and Ted have led the way.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Anonymous11:44 AM

    The celebrity look alike for Ted Cruz is Grandpa Munster. I couldn't figure out how to post that pic, but here's the link:

    http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.munsters.com/images/grandpa-cast.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.munsters.com/cast.php&h=250&w=150&sz=23&tbnid=eHLVSDswxHFTeM:&tbnh=105&tbnw=63&zoom=1&usg=__SXSs1JJzeuloH9OcrD46c_fxJ4U=&docid=209rSwC78zdCiM&sa=X&ei=6cZNUpKnCoL0igKTv4CABQ&ved=0CE0Q9QEwBw

    ReplyDelete

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