Obamacare problems: the stab in the back
Jonathan Bernstein at Salon is spinning so hard I fear for his health.
After some obligatory throat-clearing about how the Obamacare rollout really wasn’t handled all the well, and how it must be fixed, he gets down to the heart of the matter:
Nevertheless, it’s worth noting that whatever their own responsibility for what’s gone wrong, the White House shares responsibility with the Republicans who have spent three years actively attempting to undermine the law. I’m not talking about repeal votes, which (while silly after a while) were totally legitimate, or about running against the program in subsequent elections, which was again entirely fair. No, I’m talking about actions designed ”” usually openly ”” not to make the law work better in their view, but to make it harder for the law to work well.
While some of these had obvious direct effects, most of them did not. And it’s hard, in most cases, to draw a direct causal line between disruptive actions and specific malfunctions in the Web site. Nevertheless, it’s hard to believe that any of these actively helped make the program run smoothly, and very easy to believe that the cumulative effect had at least some part to play in the October fiasco.
That’s just—sad.
Bernstein goes on to list eight things those Republicans did that weren’t all that helpful—perhaps—to a law that went against their philosophy of government and which they thought would be highly destructive if passed, and which didn’t even have the support of all the Democrats in Congress, much less the American people.
[NOTE: By the way, here’s the reference in the title. And no, the Democrats aren’t Nazis.]
“…. the White House shares responsibility with the Republicans..”
How cute!
We live in a society where 50+% are fools. We keep kicking the can, keep playing the racist-feminist-victim card, keep pretending, and one day the cans and cards and pretending collapse and the ring around the posey does all fall down. We have set sail for the place on the map where no one has ever returned. We, even the Obamaphone woman, will pay for many tomorrows.
No , Democrats may not be “Nazi” in the sense of the 3rd Reich.
They are, however a fascist (crony capitalist) movement which, economically is easy to call National Socialist. Obamacare is about nationalizing medical care on a socialist model…is it not?
What is Nazi an abbreviation for? Is NatSoc less offensive because it doesn’t have German linguistic roots?
Another example of Democratic childishness. So we Republicans weren’t enthusiastic enough and didn’t do enough to help out?
Well, the Democrats should’ve planned on that. When our side passes conservative bills, I expect the other side to resist. Expecting anything else is delusional.
They’re more invested in being anti-Republican than being for anything.
He’s far gone, that one.
All adults in the room understand that the executive branch responds solely to the President. They don’t even take marching orders from Congressional Democrats.
They only serve the one master.
He has a sign on his desk: the buck dies here.
Apparently the NY Times is unaware that the term “stab in the back” was foundational for the Nazi cause.
It was part of Adolf’s mantra that the civilian peace makers of WWI stabbed the German Army in the back. At no other time was the phrase so harped upon, thence to lead to Hitler’s purges, the Shoah and the War.
“All the propaganda that fits the narrative.”
Catchy, don’t you think?
blert
Apparently the NY Times is unaware that the term “stab in the back” was foundational for the Nazi cause.
You didn’t read far enough into the NYT article. [See “here’s the reference” link above.] And I quote:
The NYT published this at a time when it hadn’t gone as far left as it has today. The author of the NYT article was William Safire, who worked as a speechwriter for Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew. “Nattering nabobs of negativism” was Safire’s phrase.
I didn’t scroll down past the jump. My bad.
Mark Steyn detects a fly in the ointment, a bug in the soup, and a roach in the salad:
“The witness who coughed up the intriguing tidbit about Obamacare’s exemption from privacy protections [software code establishing no expectation of privacy could be assumed] was one Cheryl Campbell of something called CGI. This rang a vague bell with me. CGI is not a creative free spirit from Jersey City with an impressive mastery of Twitter, but a Canadian corporate behemoth. Indeed, CGI is so Canadian their name is French: Conseillers en Gestion et Informatique. Their most famous government project was for the Canadian Firearms Registry. The registry was estimated to cost in total $119 million, which would be offset by $117 million in fees. That’s a net cost of $2 million. Instead, by 2004 the CBC (Canada’s PBS) was reporting costs of some $2 billion – or a thousand times more expensive… But in this case the database had to register some 7 million long guns belonging to some two-and-a-half to three million Canadians. That works out to almost $300 per gun – or somewhat higher than the original estimate for processing a firearm registration of $4.60. Of those $300 gun registrations, Canada’s auditor general reported to parliament that much of the information was either duplicated or wrong in respect to basic information such as names and addresses.
Sound familiar?
Also, there was a 1-800 number, but it wasn’t any use.
Sound familiar?
So it was decided that the sclerotic database needed to be improved.
Sound familiar?
But it proved impossible to “improve” CFIS (the Canadian Firearms Information System). So CGI was hired to create an entirely new CFIS II, which would operate alongside CFIS I until the old system could be scrapped. CFIS II was supposed to go operational on January 9, 2003, but the January date got postponed to June, and 2003 to 2004, and $81 million was thrown at it before a new Conservative government scrapped the fiasco in 2007. Last year, the government of Ontario canceled another CGI registry that never saw the light of day – just for one disease, diabetes, and costing a mere $46 million.
But there’s always America!”
I’d commented on a previous post that ObamaCare would cost tens of billions more than expected. I’d like to amend that and say it will be so disastrous it will break the will of the Treasury — infinity, as in QE to infinity, will turn out to be finite.
Leftists and their students often taunted us about Vietnam, ridiculing our notions that the troops abroad were stabbed at home by Leftist insurgents, antiwar protestors paid by communists, and so forth.
The fact that they automatically default to the problem that was only ever true of themselves, is a sign of Leftist propaganda and defense mechanisms at work.
The Left doesn’t believe in Shariah either as a morality, but they are still allied with Islamic Jihad.
Too many people who have access to microphones or word processors are simply lacking in basic honesty. In addition they believe that the rest of us are fools with no memory capacity.
Even though in my dotage, I can remember that the Democrats shut the Republicans out completely when it came to drafting and passing Obamacare. Not only that, they got it through Congress with shady manipulation of the rules for committee hearings and for conference committees.
Now that the whole house of cards is teetering, they trot out their dishonest shills, such as Bernstein, to try to deflect the blame.
So the Republicans are doing what they can to make Ocare as ineffective and unpleasant as possible. Isn’t that like closing open air memorials during the partial shutdown.
Oldflyer,
The lack of basic honesty is a reflection of the left’s belief that the ends sought, justify whatever means are necessary to achievement of that end.
The 2012 election proved that enough of us are fools with no memory capacity.
That we can remember that “the Democrats shut the Republicans out completely when it came to drafting and passing ObamaCare” and that it was passed “through Congress with shady manipulation of the rules for committee hearings and for conference committees” does NOT mean that the low-info voter will remember (if they were ever aware of it at all)…and we can be certain that the MSM will not only, not remind them of the facts but will obfuscate the facts to the greatest degree possible.
Now that the whole house of cards is teetering, they’re trotting out their dishonest shills, such as Bernstein, to try to deflect the blame because keeping the low-info voter, i.e. useful idiot liberals in the dark by offering a scapegoat is of far more importance than ObamaCare.
All of the apologia, deflection through scapegoating and ‘bearing false witness’ and outright lies (while SOP for the left) is in this case, an effort at ‘damage control’ for without the low-info voter remaining on board, their power is severely curtailed.
katzxy:
You write, “So the Republicans are doing what they can to make Ocare as ineffective and unpleasant as possible.”
Actually, they are not. That there are is the contention of Adam Goldenberg—and he makes it rather weakly, at that; he doesn’t really give much evidence for it, and keeps backing away and offering qualifications. If you actually read his article and the list of 8 things the GOP has done, the gist of it is that they’ve opposed Obamacare—filibustered it, challenged it in the court system, tried to defund it, refused the Medicaid expansion, etc. That latter part, governors in many red states refusing the Medicaid expansion, is because they believe the costs would be too high and make it impossible for them to balance their budgets, once the lower federal funding kicks in later on. The left, of course, believes (or pretends to believe, for propaganda purposes) that these red state governors have done that just to throw a monkey wrench into the works. But actually there’s real reason for the governors’ fears that the government will renege on its promise to pay and leave them holding the bag, and/or that even the 10% contribution by the states will put them in the red. Many states require balanced budgets.
In addition, your analogy to the federal government’s decision to close open air memorials during the shutdown is not a particularly good one for another reason: Members of Congress represent their states, and they are expected to do what they can to block or challenge a policy with which they disagree, within the limits of the law of course. The federal government is the government of all the people. It is not supposed to make these decisions on a partisan basis, to hurt people maximally. The open air memorials apparently cost more to block than to keep open, and closing them was obviously a partisan political ploy and only a partisan political ploy. There was no other reason to do it.
That is not to say that the Republicans actually were motivated in their actions by the desire to “to make Ocare as ineffective and unpleasant as possible.” It is merely to point out that members of Congress are not the same as the federal government in that the are supposed to represent the people in the states, and the wishes of those people, whereas the federal government has a larger duty to the people as a whole.
Oh boohoo, Obama has finally failed so publicly, and on such a massive scale that the MSM can’t cover it up. And Ted Cruz had the temerity to put them in a position where delaying the healthcare exchange/individual mandate (a move the admin has used with other parts of the law when it suited them) is not politically feasible. About time they deal with their naked emperor.
The Left has formed an emotional attachment to Obamacare. Unfortunately, it is not viable. It is a burden. We need Planned Government. They are not prepared to accept responsibility, so the clump of policies should be aborted.
“We need Planned Government.”
Who shall do the planning? And do you favor a five-year plan?
I heard Mitsu say he thinks government IT projects are too incompetent. I’m sure Mitsu will volunteer himself and his corp to do the “planning” for Centralized Planning of a More Perfect Utopia.
Lizzy said…Obama has finally failed so publicly, and on such a massive scale that the MSM can’t cover it up.
Well, Ezra Klein’s doing his best to make it a Republican failure rather than Obama’s — The right doesn’t want Obamacare fixed. But it’s even worse for them if it fails:
and
Ann:
Medicare is working? Could have fooled me.
I think what he means is that Medicare is “working” compared to insurance on the exchanges, in terms of enrollment numbers.
As for what the Republicans wanted, most of them wanted to reform the insurance system by doing some combination of the following: (1) making insurance portable (2) instituting tort reform (3) have a high risk pool with subsidies, to cover pre-existing conditions (4) have fewer regulations rather than more, and more choices among types of plan.
Here is a nice summary of the original conservative plan (it describes Romney’s plan, before it was passed, but the plan it describes is his original plan that was different from Romneycare as the Mass legislature finally fashioned it).
The original conservative idea involved much less government regulation and more ability of the free market to deal with insurance, through maximizing choices and competition (Obamacare pretends to have the latter, but exercises so much government control on the makeup of plans that it is a completely different system):
Night and day difference from Obamacare. On the exchanges people cannot use employer contributions. And the regulation is very tight; Obamacare is far more like the author’s description of Henry Ford’s old design than the “carmax” model.
“And it’s hard, in most cases, to draw a direct causal line between disruptive actions and specific malfunctions in the Web site.”
I didn’t read the whole piece, and don’t plan to, and therefore will admit for the record that it’s possible this sentence in its full context is not crazy. But standing alone it is a thought that wouldn’t even enter the mind of a person not blinded by partisanship (or something–I guess it could be just plain old crazy).
Does he mean to suggest that it’s even possible that the software designers and programmers were in such fear of Republicans that they couldn’t think clearly? I can’t imagine what he means to suggest, actually, though he does sort of passive-aggressively imply that something dark might have happened.
Mac:
I think he means to suggest something of the sort. I called it sad rather than crazy, but it certainly isn’t what you’d call well-reasoned.
Perhaps he meant they were discombobulated, or so rushed that they couldn’t think straight or postpone the rollout when they realized it wasn’t going to go well. The pressure, you see.
Or maybe it was by Vulcan mind-meld.
There are lots of Vulcans among software developers, but very few or none in the Republican party. Although maybe only one was needed, so I guess that could be it.
Lost in all of the tumult: the medical-pharma complex is a cost-plus cartel at least ten times the size of the military-industrial complex.
If you lift the hood, you’ll find endless violations of the Sherman Antitrust Act.
The newest hyper-expensive drugs are ONLY sold to the government/ insurance industry. Private parties get the same drugs for FREE. (Compassion)
We’re talking about (micro-market) drugs that cost $300,000 per patient-year. (Cystic Fibrosis)
These are sold to hospitals/ clinics which then MARK THEM UP when seeking ‘reimbursements.’
This how and why the Medicare/ Medicaid budget is blowing through the roof.
America is subsidizing all of the new drugs to hit the market — straight out of the Federal budget.
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And in other news: Danish researchers have discovered that HALF of all chronic back pain can be cured by antibiotics. It turns out that the discs in the spine can become inflamed from a deep infection which takes 100 days ( not 10 ) to clear up with generic antibiotics. (!)
Previously, such sufferers had to either endure it, (pain pills) or go under the knife. The generics cost about $350 for a complete treatment.
This would’ve been discovered by accident long before, except that it’s customary to issue only 10 to 14 days worth of antibiotics for common infections. The existence of S L O W to cure, deeply embedded infections was not comprehended.
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And in other news: I’m on antibiotics right now for an ear infection. Instead of curing it, the prescription is curing my bum knee! I hurt my knee joint about ten weeks ago rather severely. (muscle cramps!) This left me limping when I wasn’t bed ridden. Dang thing wouldn’t heal.
But, now that I’m taking antibiotics, suddenly my knee is getting awesomely better — at an astounding tempo.
All of which is to say the Danes are on to something.
This is an epic discovery since the consequences of chronic back pain are terrible indeed. It leads to obesity, hypertension, and eventually cardiac arrest or stroke. Back pain is the number one reason for overweight in seniors. It causes them to become statues or couch potatoes.
The true believers cannot accept that Obama could possibly make a mistake, an error, a misstep, a (fill in the blanks following)….
It must be those raaaaacist Repubs!
As long as the medical-pharma complex is compensated on a cost-plus basis there is no hope of restraining their paydays.
Period, stop.
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Ages ago, (Carter administration) the airlines de facto lost their cartel. (CAB) The industry told us the sky would fall.
What happened was that industry wages — all of them — fell; taking with them the real cost of air travel. Curiously, corporate profits — across the industry — barely moved. (Not withstanding their insane volatility over time.) You see, when jets replaced aero-engines the performance gains were shunted to payrolls up and down the line — not to the public or to corporate. That’s how modern union dynamics operates.
Which gets us to physician’s pay. It’s ramped faster than inflation — non-stop — for decades. The MD down my street, fifty-years ago, used to drive a Chevy Caprice. Today’s MD drive only luxury cars: BMW, Benz, Rolls. (My eye doctor had a Rolls-Royce, and he only worked three days a week because he had to attend to his investments.)
The Soviets broke their economy on the presumption that tank production was a universal good.
We’re doing the same thing on the presumption that medical expenditures are an unlimited good.
Who’s to say that drugs costing $1,000,000 per patient-year aren’t just around the corner? We’re already at $300,000 per patient-year for some new wave medications.
This compensation scheme makes pharma a branch of HHS. In effect, an unregulated monopoly utility — with patent protection, to boot. (It’s a utility because the product sells itself being vital to life — and whose demand is rock steady.)
And it’s a crony-crowd, too. Pharma gives large to OFAy and the rest of Democrat organs of control: DNC, MSM (huge ad budgets) and Academe.
What a self-licking lollipop!
Even Hitler, who is furious about the disastrous rollout, knows that it was ultimately Bush’s fault: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3-RKS0_NKk
“Jonathan Bernstein at Salon is spinning so hard I fear for his health.”
The three most difficult words for anyone to say in any language:
While it’s now clear even to the left that the web site and back end technical problems are enough to put Obamacare on hold for at least a year I am sure back stabbing Republicans will find a way to help Obama escape blame, instead blaming it on the Tea Party or Republcan governors, or Ted Cruz.
But however it works out in reality I very seriously doubt that Obamacare will ever be repealed/replaced and we will be stuck with it for the rest of our lives.
“. . . I am sure back stabbing Republicans will find a way to help Obama escape blame . . . .” (Harold @10:23 am)
Perhaps, and then again, perhaps there is room for a smidgeon of hope:
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/10/right-flanks-huddle-to-push-conservative-goals-98902.html
Ron Jonnson (R -Wis) is going to introduce a bill in the Senate which would allow one to keep his health insurance if he likes it, just like Obama promised.
I doubt that Harry Reid will ever allow the bill to see the light of day, but a vote would be amusing. A vote for the bill would indicate the Senator believed the initial promise of the bill. A vote for would be an admission that the promise was a lie.
The Senate would be forced to either uphold Obama’s promise or his signature achievement. It can not do both.
People should only care about results, not ephemeral hope again
Neo, there’s an interesting blame-the-Republicans comment on this Atlantic story:
“The online launch may be disastrous (though it still sounds like a step forward to me) but let us not forget that the past several years have been pockmarked with start-stop budgeting issues thanks to fiscal cliffs, debt stand offs, furloughs, sequesters, and shutdowns. This environment does not incentivize federal workers to be at the top of their game…and republicans know this. ”
So apparently the Republicans managed to make the software people too discouraged to bother doing anything but a half-baked job (at best, it seems). I wonder if it’s a widespread talking point.
It takes the Regime a few days or months to prepare a brief concerning propaganda and anti propaganda defenses for the News people. This will then spread through an unofficial net channel and by word of mouth to the goons and tools at the bottom.
George Pal that is a very interesting description of the Canadian parent of the firm that built the Obamacare site. Leave it to Mark Steyn, a treasure.
A post script to the story appeared a few days ago. Since readers here are well informed, it is probably well known, but just in case someone missed it.
A Senior Vice President of the U.S. subsidiary of CGI, that is the company that actually was awarded the No Bid contract, was a classmate of Michelle Obama at Princeton; they were both members of “Black Princeton Students” or some such organization. Coincidence I am sure.
Oldflyer:
Actually, I happen to think that may indeed be a coincidence. When you attend a high-powered college or law school with a large graduating class, you might have a classmate in a lot of high places. One would have to know how close they were/are.
I have wondered from the start why that firm, however. I just don’t think the classmate is the answer.
The firm has a terrible record, by the way—I assume this article is what you were referring to.
“I have wondered from the start why that firm, however.”
Some anecdotal information. I have learned from my own local civic work that any governmental bureaucracy establishes shoals to avoid and Byzantine-like hoops through which one must jump in order to accomplish anything. The more successful one is at navigating those obstacles, the more likely one is to receive the contract. Perhaps the Canadian firm is simply skilled at navigation in much the same way as Obama is (only) skilled at campaigning.
On the other side, follow-up by the government and accountability to it are slap-dash at best. It’s no wonder the aphorism “Good enough for government work” is as old as it is.
Harvard is a nobility title granter. Thus it doesn’t matter how close someone is in Harvard. The nobility are always connected together.
Ymarsakar:
I believe this woman was a classmate of hers at Princeton (undergrad). But it’s the same principle for Harvard, Yale, Princeton, etc. And of course Michelle went to Harvard Law. If you add up her years at Princeton and Harvard, she went to school with a LOT of movers and shakers.
neo neocon
Daniel Greenfield has the dope on these two BBF.
It’s crony capitalism alright.
http://frontpagemag.com/2013/dgreenfield/obamacare-website-co-exec-michelle-obama-pal-visited-white-house/
The gal was hired solely BECAUSE she had a Pink House connection.
QED