Obama Care Dead -- Round One

Along with the “must purchase insurance” mandate, the fiscal viability has always been at the core of opposition for those who think the Health Care law was seriously flawed. No matter how often book-people looked at the costs and the expected benefits paid, the numbers just didn’t balance the way Obama and his crew promised.

All one had to do, even if they weren’t an accountant or bean-counter, was look at two central themes of this law. First one was the no disqualification due to a pre-existing condition. While trying to get everyone covered and to reduce the financial burden of health care, especially care needed for things like cancer and other horrific diseases, was admirable, there was no way it could be sustained, especially since insurance companies couldn’t charge those folks more than healthy people.

The other financial burden of the health care law was a little more difficult to ascertain. The Community Living Assistance Services (CLASS) was going to be voluntary insurance plan that would pay a “reasonable” daily cash benefit for anyone who became disabled. The problem was since the program was voluntary (unlike regular insurance under Obama Care) and was not subject to denial due to health reasons. There was a significant question whether or not it could be sustained and not become a burden on the taxpayer.

Well, it looks like it was going to be a burden;

But a central design flaw dogged CLASS. Unless large numbers of healthy people willingly sign up during their working years, soaring premiums driven by the needs of disabled beneficiaries would destabilize it, eventually requiring a taxpayer bailout.

After months of insisting that could be fixed, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius finally acknowledged Friday she doesn’t see how.

“Despite our best analytical efforts, I do not see a viable path forward for CLASS implementation at this time,” Sebelius said in a letter to congressional leaders.

The law required the administration to certify that CLASS would remain financially solvent for 75 years before it could be put into place. (Source: AP News)

I will admit to a little amazement that someone from the spend-at-all-costs Obama Administration would actually admit that their “dear leader” might actually be wrong. I am also amazed that they are willing to throw a portion of Obama Care under the bus for something as small as not being able to pay for it. Heck, what’s another couple hundred billion dollars slung around the necks of the American taxpayer.

Oh, and one more thing: transparency, whodda thunk it?

Could it Happen?

Considering the foot-in-mouth episode of NC Governor Beverly Perdue regarding suspending Congressional elections, this little bit over at Patriot Update is more than a little scary. Does anyone think that Obama wouldn’t be willing to suspend the 2012 elections if there were some crisis going on? I generally try to stay away from conspiracy theories, but when you think about it, it really doesn’t seem all that far-fetched.

Thanks for the tip Sandy!

White House Visitor Logs Missing A Few Names?

The transparent Obama Administration that just keeps on being transparent. NOT!  Seems a few visitors to the White House are missing from the visitor logs.  The last time this much information was erased/missing from the White House an entire Presidency was brought down. Just whom does the White House staff not want us to know about?

DHS Demotes Whistleblower

Could this be considered doubling up on corruption? Political appointees at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) are interfering with Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) records, sometimes blocking records that under normal circumstances wouldn’t be considered as classified or close-hold.  And now the individual who blew the whistle is being demoted. Republican House member Darrell Issa, who is Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, is saying the demotion appears to be “an act of retaliation”

Mr Issa accused the administration of improperly demoting Catherine Papoi, the former deputy unit chief in charge of the Freedom of Information Act. His charge raised the stakes in the broad congressional inquiry into President Obama’s promises to improve government transparency.

Raise your hand if you are surprised that the President, who is from the Chicago political machine, would condone this sort of activity (withholding information and retaliation).

Weekend Links

Weekend Links (Sources: Seattle Times, Seattle PI)

LOCAL:

Taxes to be extended. How often do you hear about a government program that was supposed to be temporary wind up being permanent? Here in the local area, the state is looking for ways to offset a huge budget shortfall. One way to fund areas that might get the ax under budget cuts is to extend a tax on tourism that was scheduled to end in 2012. This tax was used to pay off Safeco Field, the Mariners Baseball Club’s new downtown digs. If lawmakers get their way, they will use it to expand the convention center to the tune of $600M, build and refurbish low income housing (mostly used by those employed in the hospitality industry), and the arts. The funny thing about this is that only King County (Seattle) will be effected. I covered this in a little more detail in an earlier post.

Seattle Mayor wants to shut down the Alaskan Way Viaduct. In what I would consider a pretty bold move Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn has stated he would like to see the viaduct closed in 2012, which had been an original target date. According to his spokesperson, he does not have a plan on how to handle any immediate traffic disruptions caused by an early closure.