A TOXIC BLEND: does a + b = c? a. joe mccarthy born - TopicsExpress



          

A TOXIC BLEND: does a + b = c? a. joe mccarthy born again ted cruz of texas rises to national prominence as flame-throwing critic of obamacare + b. obamacare seen as disaster by such moderate voices as the ny daily news editorial board = c. it cant happen here. the far right rises. danger davy danger. . . . . . NY DAILY NEWS EDITORIAL – OCT. 19, 2013 aHugeMess When NYs Obamacare website opened for business on Oct. 1, officials announced that it was flooded with 10 million hits — which was seen as a harbinger of massive demand. Two-and-half weeks later, a more sobering picture emerges from a fog of secrecy. As of Friday, zero people were fully enrolled in a health plan through the site. Here’s the breakdown on the operation: Of the millions who have visited NYStateofHealth.ny.gov, 134,000 have finished identity, income and citizenship verifications, learned what tax credits they qualify for and begun to shop. A smaller number of those 134,000 registrants have picked a plan and committed to paying premiums — though how much smaller is a mystery. Thousands, is all that New York exchange director Donna Frescatore would say. Those “thousands” translated to zero full enrollments because the Health Department has quietly held off sending enrollment data to insurance providers pending a check of its accuracy. The material was promised Oct. 1, then Oct. 15 and then Friday evening. Something has been wrong, perhaps with the system’s ability to compile data, perhaps with its ability to transmit information to health insurers. The federal government’s attempts to accomplish these tasks have been disastrous in other states. The questions about New York’s Obamacare rollout — which appear to have gone more smoothly than in other states — need answers. Candid accountability would be nice. Meanwhile, what’s happening here adds to doubts about President Obama’s ability to make his health-care overhaul work by Jan. 1, when the coverage people are shopping for now is due to take effect. Obamacare’s computerized enrollment system — despite three and half years of preparation — is a botch job. What Obama tried at first to dismiss as “glitches” are, in fact, serious flaws that are discouraging Americans from signing up, flooding the system with inaccurate data and dumping enormous paperwork challenges on the insurance industry. The mess is such that Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is understandably facing ever louder cries to quit or be fired. All of this agita, mind you, focuses on the program’s front door. Once inside, it’s far from clear that consumers will find coverage to be as affordable as promised, even after factoring in subsidies that will cost taxpayers a pretty penny. Also yet to be seen is what quality of service customers will get — or how reliably they’ll pay bills. If too few buy in, the economics of the program will collapse. To this point, Obama has escaped serious scrutiny of his signature reform. Coming off the debt-limit fiasco, congressional Republicans are about to delve in. That’s as it should be, because Obama appears to have a catastrophe on his hands.
Posted on: Sat, 19 Oct 2013 23:01:48 +0000

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