Post Shutdown & ObamaCare Is Fun Issue
Yay! Another tax season is done. I'm emerging from my cave....
I'll have my thoughts on the shutdown at the end. First, ObamaCare!
What's the solution to the website bugs? Paper applications. Hmm, but those paper applications then have to be entered on the same website! No, I'm not making this up.
An Oregon television station noting that the Affordable Care Act is looking very unaffordable.
Chicago Tribune: Technical problems:
If you’ve tried to sign up online for health coverage under the problem-plagued Obamacare exchange, our sympathies. Many people have tried to create accounts and shop for insurance under the new law. Few have succeeded. Those that have enrolled have found that the system is prone to mistakes. Some applications have been sent to the wrong insurance company…
• Illinois officials boasted that insurance premiums here would be lower than expected. But the Tribune reported Sunday that 21 of the 22 lowest-priced plans offered for Cook County residents have whopping annual deductibles of more than $4,000 for an individual and $8,000 for family coverage. That’s much more than many families can afford to pay.
• The Obama administration delayed issuing major rules to set up the exchanges until after the 2012 presidential election and refused to push back the Oct. 1 launch date, lest Republicans take political advantage, The New York Times reported on Sunday.
• Sloppy design of the architecture of the computer system, not simply an overload of users, created the problems that are blocking people from applying online for coverage, The Wall Street Journal reported last week.
The Tribune also reports on the broken promises (you can keep your plan, prices would go down, etc.).
Is the Administration lying that there were four bidders for the ObamaCare website? Well, one design firm has taken down the fact that they helped design healthcare.gov from their own website.
Tech Experts: Health Exchange Site Needs Total Overhaul:
The federal health care exchange was built using 10-year-old technology that may require constant fixes and updates for the next six months and the eventual overhaul of the entire system, technology experts told USA TODAY.
The site could be perfect, but if the systems from which it draws data are not up to speed, it doesn't matter, said John Engates, chief technology officer at Rackspace, a cloud computer service provider.
"It is a core problem in the sense of it's fundamental to this thing actually working, but it's not necessarily a problem that the people who wrote HealthCare.gov can get to," Engates said. "Even if they had a perfect system, it still won't work."
On the bright side, they're only using 10-year old technology!
The inevitable Hitler learns about the ObamaCare Exchanges:
Lightning can strike out of a blue sky...but not really (but a neat photograph).
Tea Partiers know science better than the average American.
You're not getting your Full Tilt Points back via remission. That's not a surprise to me.
Onto the shutdown. I'm not at all a fan of the GOP strategy, or as I should say, the Ted Cruz strategy. I think shutting down the government was the wrong fight. A continuing resolution without any strings is what I would have done. However, I think some negotiating on the debt ceiling would have been good. Let ObamaCare get fully implemented: It's a disaster, and as more and more comes out about it, either Obama will ask for a one-year delay or the people will be voting Democrats out of office en masse next year. It's the Democrats' baby, and they'll pay the electoral price. I have to deal with some of the ludicrous tax aspects of it. Did you know that the deadline for open enrollment for ObamaCare is March 31, 2014, but the deadline to enroll without penalty is February 15, 2014? It's true, and neither the Obama Administration nor the IRS (which will enforce it) had no idea of the quirk in the law. (I did, but that's only because of the research service I use informed me of it.) While NPR is saying an individual who buys coverage after February 15th would only be liable for one month of penalty, my research service says he or she would be liable for the full penalty. I trust my tax research service a lot more on this issue--they're used to reading quirky laws.
The best strategy for the GOP (but not the country) is to let ObamaCare implode. The best strategy for the country is to delay ObamaCare at least one year until the bugs, er, features, are taken out. It's not ready for prime time. Given Obma's ego, he won't ask for a delay. If he doesn't, and the GOP doesn't shoot themselves again, there will be lots of Democrats who wish ObamaCare had been delayed next November.
I'll have my thoughts on the shutdown at the end. First, ObamaCare!
What's the solution to the website bugs? Paper applications. Hmm, but those paper applications then have to be entered on the same website! No, I'm not making this up.
An Oregon television station noting that the Affordable Care Act is looking very unaffordable.
Chicago Tribune: Technical problems:
If you’ve tried to sign up online for health coverage under the problem-plagued Obamacare exchange, our sympathies. Many people have tried to create accounts and shop for insurance under the new law. Few have succeeded. Those that have enrolled have found that the system is prone to mistakes. Some applications have been sent to the wrong insurance company…
• Illinois officials boasted that insurance premiums here would be lower than expected. But the Tribune reported Sunday that 21 of the 22 lowest-priced plans offered for Cook County residents have whopping annual deductibles of more than $4,000 for an individual and $8,000 for family coverage. That’s much more than many families can afford to pay.
• The Obama administration delayed issuing major rules to set up the exchanges until after the 2012 presidential election and refused to push back the Oct. 1 launch date, lest Republicans take political advantage, The New York Times reported on Sunday.
• Sloppy design of the architecture of the computer system, not simply an overload of users, created the problems that are blocking people from applying online for coverage, The Wall Street Journal reported last week.
The Tribune also reports on the broken promises (you can keep your plan, prices would go down, etc.).
Is the Administration lying that there were four bidders for the ObamaCare website? Well, one design firm has taken down the fact that they helped design healthcare.gov from their own website.
Tech Experts: Health Exchange Site Needs Total Overhaul:
The federal health care exchange was built using 10-year-old technology that may require constant fixes and updates for the next six months and the eventual overhaul of the entire system, technology experts told USA TODAY.
The site could be perfect, but if the systems from which it draws data are not up to speed, it doesn't matter, said John Engates, chief technology officer at Rackspace, a cloud computer service provider.
"It is a core problem in the sense of it's fundamental to this thing actually working, but it's not necessarily a problem that the people who wrote HealthCare.gov can get to," Engates said. "Even if they had a perfect system, it still won't work."
On the bright side, they're only using 10-year old technology!
The inevitable Hitler learns about the ObamaCare Exchanges:
Click to viewLightning can strike out of a blue sky...but not really (but a neat photograph).
Tea Partiers know science better than the average American.
You're not getting your Full Tilt Points back via remission. That's not a surprise to me.
Onto the shutdown. I'm not at all a fan of the GOP strategy, or as I should say, the Ted Cruz strategy. I think shutting down the government was the wrong fight. A continuing resolution without any strings is what I would have done. However, I think some negotiating on the debt ceiling would have been good. Let ObamaCare get fully implemented: It's a disaster, and as more and more comes out about it, either Obama will ask for a one-year delay or the people will be voting Democrats out of office en masse next year. It's the Democrats' baby, and they'll pay the electoral price. I have to deal with some of the ludicrous tax aspects of it. Did you know that the deadline for open enrollment for ObamaCare is March 31, 2014, but the deadline to enroll without penalty is February 15, 2014? It's true, and neither the Obama Administration nor the IRS (which will enforce it) had no idea of the quirk in the law. (I did, but that's only because of the research service I use informed me of it.) While NPR is saying an individual who buys coverage after February 15th would only be liable for one month of penalty, my research service says he or she would be liable for the full penalty. I trust my tax research service a lot more on this issue--they're used to reading quirky laws.
The best strategy for the GOP (but not the country) is to let ObamaCare implode. The best strategy for the country is to delay ObamaCare at least one year until the bugs, er, features, are taken out. It's not ready for prime time. Given Obma's ego, he won't ask for a delay. If he doesn't, and the GOP doesn't shoot themselves again, there will be lots of Democrats who wish ObamaCare had been delayed next November.