"Tom
Clark Was expecting a blog on the botched O-Care roll out, since
you devoted so much time to the shutdown, which was considerably less
significant. What's up with that?”
So
never let it be said that I don't do requests. A good friend whom I
have many stimulating discussions with over more subjects that I can
even begin to remember asked the question displayed at the beginning
of the blog. While ignoring his rather silly idea that a shutdown of
our Fed and and near Default on our sovereign debt is not nearly as
significant as the fact that a government designed and sponsored
website has design and function issues, he does raise a valid point.
I devoted THREE WEEKS of my life (Which I will never get back mind
you) to talking about the major train wreck that was the Circus of
Fools, so why haven't I made any comments about the ongoing train
wreck that is the Electronic Enrollment for the ACA.
I
have a few reasons for not covering the whole debacle. Some good and
some not so good. My main reason is I do this column mostly just to
entertain myself. Despite a rather extensive audience, I am in no
way deluded into thinking my rants will do anything to change the
world. My attempts at punditry is never meant to show some in depth
knowledge of what I am ranting about. I do try to make myself at
least somewhat aware of the facts of what I am speaking about, but I
don't spend hours or days researching anything. I poke fun at
people, ideas and policies for amusement and hope to amuse other
people along the way.
Another
reason is I generally rant about things when I feel there isn't any
really good material out there already. I speak out when the only
things available are so one sided that they are as far from the truth
as you can get. As evidenced by the two links prepared, this is not
the case with the ACA roll out. Everyone and their cousins are
jumping in on this one. I personally think John Stewart's commentary
is the best of the lot, but there are literally 1000s of other pieces
from a wide variety of sources both Dem and Rep weighing in on this
issue. I really didn't feel my two cents was needed. However, since
I am here then I might as well toss in those two very worn pennies.
As
I pointed out many many many blogs ago, ever since the PPACA, ACA,
Obamacare was rolled out years ago, we have been overwhelmed with a
whole bunch of “WHATIFS.” Positive ones from the Dems and
Negative (One could even say Apocalyptic) ones from the Reps. One
side would tout claims that the ACA would be so awesome that it would
cure everything from the common cold to death and the other side
screaming that Obamacare would bring the end of the world and force
people to kill off Grandpa Ike to boil his remains down for soup.
(Yummy Old People Soup!) Despite all of this, we had absolutely no
actual facts to back any of this up, just a whole bunch of maybes and
numbers.
Now
that the ACA is in full swing (Snigger), we are actually starting to
get a bunch of actual facts and hard data to look at and this is a
good thing. Admittedly, since it has been less than a month, we
don't have a LOT of facts but we are getting some in. Some of it
looks good for the ACA and some of it looks bad.
Fact
#1: Despite the overwhelming problems facing the system, the ACA is
actually working. Thousands of people have used the Exchanges to
sign up for insurance that they never had before. (Last number I saw
had California nearing 10K alone.)
Fact
B: The Federal Exchanges are royally screwed up! After three weeks,
there are still more gremlins running around than a rainy night in
Mogwi Town after midnight during an all you can eat buffet. Even
though literally millions have attempted to sign up for insurance,
they have been unable to do so and for all those who have actually
managed to sign up there are a litany of other issues being caused by
the malfunctioning website.
Fact
III: Good news for the Dems and the ACA, a significant number of the
people who have managed to sign up for insurance using the exchanges
are of the much needed 20-35 range of young people who did not have
insurance before so this will help to bolster the overall prosperity
of the ACA.
Fact
dé: My friends who read Latin will get that joke. Many insurance
companies are canceling their less expensive policies because those
policies don't meet the minimum requirements to be available on the
exchanges. Instead they are pushing policies that are much more
expensive to their customers. Some sides are blaming Obamacare and
others are saying that the original policies were so crappy that they
couldn't even qualify for the basic levels of the ACA.
I
have no facts as of yet to back up either side of that coin. My own
Personal opinion (and that is all it is folks) drawn from decades of
studying basic human nature is that the Insurers are seeing a way to
make a crap load more money by cutting out the cheaper policies and
then offering more expensive policies on the Exchanges where people
“have” to buy them. Basic greed works every time as an
explanation for why people do what they do.
I
have never been either a big fan or a huge foe of the ACA. Unlike so
many people out there, I prefer to have at least a smidgen of facts
mixed in with my propaganda. So now that things are (slowly)
starting to roll, I look forward to seeing how things work out.
As
a closing note, I will add this odd thought. Instead of gloating
over how crappy the ACA enrollment system is working, its opponents
should be doing everything in their power to help fix the problems
and get the system working as well as it can. As long as there are
technical delays in the implementation of the ACA, proponents can
exclaim to the Heavens “We don't know it it is a good thing or a
bad thing yet.” The whole “lack of evidence” concept. The
only hope opponents have of killing Obamacare is to give it full rein
and stand back. Until it has had a chance to run itself off a cliff,
the whole thing will be a case of “Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda.”
End of Rant
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