18 Thoughts to “Jon Stewart: Glitches and the weakest link”

  1. Steve Randolphva
    October 23, 2013 at 1:54 pm

    “The Fix: How Jon Stewart became Obama’s
    biggest problem” by Chris Cillizza
    (WaPo website 10-23-2013).

    According to Pew Reseach on market share for 18-29
    (the age group the ACA must have to work):
    Colbert 43 percent
    Daily Show 39
    O’Reilly 12
    Hannity 3

    1. Moon-howler
      October 23, 2013 at 2:42 pm

      Well, so much for the liberal left propping up Obama. Your information dispels that myth.

  2. Wolverine
    October 23, 2013 at 6:28 pm

    And now even Dem politicos, especially those on the 2014 election hotseat, are calling for a one-year delay in the ACA individual mandate because of the unacceptable tech and other problems in the program. Darn if that proposal doesn’t sound mighty familiar……somewhere before the shutdown…with all that partisan antagonism and namecalling in Congress and elsewhere. And Sibelius forgot to tell Obama that he would be in a pickle as soon as the launch was made? Ummmm….Yeah, sure, she clean forgot to tell the Big Boss, who is now holding the bag. Hoo boy, banana republic coming right up.

    1. Moon-howler
      October 23, 2013 at 7:22 pm

      In the first place, the exchanges can be reached by telephone. Secondly, the market website is mostly for those people in a bubble who are between Medicaid and having their own insurance. I think a year is a little excessive. What’s so magical about a year?

      As unfortunate as the technical problems are, the ACA is not dependent on the market exchange website.

      Just t quick poll, how many people on this blog are going to get insurance through the exchanges?

      Most of us won’t have anything to do with Obama care or the exchanges. Most of us will keep out existing policies.

      Wolverine, it seems like you and the media are trying to make a mountain out of a mole hill.

      Which dems are calling for a year’s extension? The only thing that might need to happen is a month or do extention of the open enrollment period.

  3. Second Alamo
    October 24, 2013 at 6:55 am

    Ah yes, the site will eventually work as planned, but the pain to your pocket book will never heal I’m afraid. What a mess, so at the end of all this will the nation be thankful that now everyone has health insurance, or will they be outraged at the economic hardship that those that work have had to bare because of it? Only time will tell, but that might only be a matter of months!

    1. Moon-howler
      October 24, 2013 at 10:49 am

      Are you affected by the ACA personally or are you just reading about all the people who are having to delve into second mortgages to pay for health care?

  4. Kelly_3406
    October 24, 2013 at 5:15 pm

    The ACA has affected me. Premiums went up for my healthcare by 12% and coverage for retirees was changed from defined benefit to defined contributions by my employer. The second change has huge implications for retirees and the premium increase is very large for a single year.

  5. George S. Harris
    October 25, 2013 at 8:58 am

    What happened to the promise that people who already had insurance they were happy with could keep it?

    http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Stories/2013/October/21/cancellation-notices-health-insurance.aspx

    According to this article, thousands of people have received notices that their policies has been cancelled since it does not meet the requirements of the ACA. New policies being offered often cost more, have a greater deductible and bigger out of pocket expenses. Not a good sign. I have been all for the ACA but am beginning to have doubts about the information that is being put out and the repeated failures of the system.

    1. Moon-howler
      October 25, 2013 at 9:30 am

      It’s hard to separate truth from fiction on some of this. That is something congress and prez are going to have to fix. I am curious why the companies can’t just make the adjustments in the policies and comply. Medicare gap has had no problems doing this.

      It seems like inflexibility on the part of the insurance companies to me. they are going to howl bloody murder anyway because a few road blocks have been thrown up to keep them from fleecing people as badly.

      I have no sympathy for insurance companies. They have been gouging people for years and the people have had little recourse. Anyone who has ever challenged them over something knows that they will move 6 ways to Sunday in hopes that you will just give up. Cell phone companies and insurance companies compete with each other for stonewalling. Has anyone ever won against an insurance company without hiring an attorney?

  6. Cargosquid
    October 25, 2013 at 1:17 pm

    “In the first place, the exchanges can be reached by telephone.”

    Which referred people back to the website.

    I DID find a glitch though. This looks like a doozy. Found here: http://washingtonexaminer.com/feds-invoke-privacy-to-shield-public-employees-while-snooping-on-the-rest-of-us/article/2537682

    “You have no reasonable expectation of privacy regarding any communication or data transiting or stored on this information system,” the warning reads. It can only be seen by using a web browser’s “View Source” function.

    So…how many people are being told this or finding this while using Healthcare.gov?

    1. Moon-howler
      October 25, 2013 at 3:34 pm

      Hopefully the people will speak up and say no they can’t make the website work.

      You don’t need to get insurance so why are you fishing?

  7. Cargosquid
    October 25, 2013 at 1:18 pm

    @George S. Harris
    Is it a war on women?

    http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/cbs-video-obamcare-takes-away-womans-health-care-choices_764705.html

    1. Moon-howler
      October 25, 2013 at 3:32 pm

      I would say this woman’s gripe is with the damn insurance company. They could add on the riders so they complied with the ACA. The insurance companies don’t have to cancel policies on people.

      If people think the insurance companies are their friends, they need to think again.

      This is something that congress needs to get on immediately. It just seems obvious to me…one more way the insurance companies are trying to screw the consumer.

  8. Cargosquid
    October 26, 2013 at 10:43 am

    Why is the insurance company at fault when said company was providing a welcome product and only had to change because of gov’t interference?

    To match the gov’t policies, they have to reconfigure the costs. Riders equals new policy.

    1. Moon-howler
      October 26, 2013 at 12:40 pm

      I am not so sure how welcome the product was. Had these people ever had to use the product? That is when most people find out just how sorry their product really is.

      How come there wasn’t a hue and cry when the Virginia legislature forced VA companies to carry specific coverage for autism? How about certain types of procedures for breast cancer? Those are just a few areas of health care interference that happened right here in Virginia. How come that wan’t government interference?

      How about the VA finally broadening the coverage for PTSD and finally recognizing the damages from Agent Orange. Isn’t that government interference?

      Most government interference for health care policies is to protect the consumer. Most of us don’t see it as interference.

      The policies have to have certain attributes to be a considered a bronze, a silver, a gold or a platinum. The companies can have other policies that don’t necessarily conform to the “metals” standards. How come it works for Medicare without a hitch? Those are all private insurance companies, btw.

  9. Kelly_3406
    October 26, 2013 at 12:24 pm

    This is an example of unintended consequences that proponents of Obamacare prefer to ignore.

    As we all know, Obamacare specifies what has to be covered by insurance policies. This presents a problem for insurance companies that previously wrote highly individualized, low-cost policies. The cost for these companies to figure out what riders would be needed to bring tens of thousands of diverse policies into compliance is probably tens of thousands of labor hours.

    But Obamacare removes the profit incentive for individualized service now that everyone is shepherded into one of only several options. So companies decided it would be cost effective to cancel individualized policies.

    There will be more unintended consequences in the future. The most likely in my opinion will be a huge consolidation of the healthcare insurance industry into two or three titanic companies that will become TOO BIG TO FAIL.

    1. Moon-howler
      October 26, 2013 at 12:44 pm

      There are a few do’s and don’t but other than that, no one is really mandating all that much. Some preventative screenings, pregnancy, birth control, allowing for pre existing conditions…what have I left off. I don’t see why insurance companies can’t leave the policies alone and stick in the requirements and be done with it.

      They can. They chose not to. Lets lay the blame at the foot of where blame belongs–the greedy companies.
      The CEOs are still raking in the millions. Have no fear.

      I am not sure I believe a lot of the crap I am reading to start with.

  10. Cargosquid
    October 26, 2013 at 12:37 pm

    @Kelly_3406
    Of course.

    Its MUCH easier to get graft from one or two sources…..

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