There you go conservatives: Obamacare is failing

Postponing the implementation of a lie does not turn the lie into the truth.

CNBC is now saying insurance are saying WTH? This is BS that the admin wants to shift the blame to us if we don't continue adhering to the law(min. requirements) and keep canceling policys. Hmmm..the plot thickens. Thsi sh!t puts reality TV to shame .

DonDiego is pleased pjstroh recognizes the injustice inflicted on Ms Sundby of San Diego.

But the President did not offer to oblige his concerns.

DonDiego's primary concern has always been adherence to the Constitution and adherence to the Rule of Law.

For three years the President commanded and the insurance companies complied with significant effort and expenditures to design insurance policies which would comply with Obamacare by January 1 2014. Now, six weeks before the deadline and after many [most?] of the policies deemed noncompliant have been cancelled, the President turns around and commands the insurance companies to restore those policies, . . . but just for one year.
Why? Because (1) his Administration is incompetent and (2) he fears political consequences for his Party because of his incompetence.
If DonDiego were an insurance company CEO he would tell the President to pound sand. [This is probably one of many reasons DonDiego is not an insurance company CEO.]

The President offered to "permit" [as a good King may deign to do] insurance companies to reissue cancelled insurance policies for one additional year to persons who held them previously. [So Ms. Sundby of SanDiego will lose her insurance next year, . . . conveniently right after the 2014 elections.]

i. This does not address DonDiego's concern about the significant increase in Government power which the ACA represents. DonDiego would prefer the Government had less power, not more.

ii. This does not address DonDiego's concern that President Obama is likely violating the Constitution.

iii. This does not address DonDiego's concern that the President is likely violating his oath to " . . . faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
iii.a. The President is not executing the Law; he is unilaterally commanding that one provision of the law will not be enforced for one year.
iii.b. The President is likely not defending the Constitution of the United States; he is violating the separation of powers delineated therein.

[n.b. DonDiego realizes the President probably does not give a rat's ass about violating an oath; but most of his predecessors would have.
And DonDiego realizes that the President doesn't give a rat's ass about ignoring Law; he still has many more important things to do.]


DonDiego understands the Republicans intend to introduce a Bill tomorrow to delay the prohibition of non-complying policies for one year.
He objects to such stop-gap measures, whether by Democrats or Republicans, for many of the reasons cited above, . . . but at least it is probably a legitimate function of Congress to do so. It would be better to scrap this likely unworkable law, and start over by first defining precisely what the purpose of the law should be. And then designing the simplest means by which to accomplish that goal Constitutionally. [This explains why DonDiego is not a career politician.]


DonDiego has just explained, . . . again, . . . some of the principles he thinks worth upholding.

What principles does pjstroh support, if any?

As executive, the President has authority to determine which violations of law to prosecute. Here, he is saying that he will decline to prosecute for one year that portion of the law that forbids insurers from renewing any health insurance policies sold in the individual market that do not meet the minimum standards set by the ACA.

Please explain to me how that differs from every President to date's decision not to prosecute medical marijuana users in those states that permit that activity? Those people ARE breaking federal law, you know.

Possession of any amount of marijuana (even a single marijuana cigarette) is punishable by up to a year in jail and a fine of $1,000 on the first offense. The second offense carries a 15-day mandatory sentence, and can be extended for as long as two years in prison. Any possession after that gets a 90-day to three year prison term, and a $5,000 fine.

Presidents Clinton, Bush, and Obama have all decided not to enforce the federal anti-drug laws against medicinal marijuana users, despite the clear language of federal law. Where can I find your complaints about that?

Fact is, this discretion is one of our system's many checks and balances, this one a check on the legislative branch. You'll note that the Article II does not say that a law shall be carried out at all cost, so every President operates on the assumption that federal agencies can be given some leeway in how they do it.

On this point, if you don't like what President Obama is doing, there will be an election in late 2016. Have at it!

Chilly, do you like Obama ,or are you in love with him ?

Your (don Diego's) new concerns are different and contradict the concerns you voiced the last few weeks...because the president has officially called your bluff about your sincerity voicing them. With an Olive branch offered to the people at the center of your original posts You have officially abandoned those criticisms in favor of new ones...and your new concerns are critical of the olive branch!

You accused people on this board of being heartless for not empathizing with a specific woman in California and her more expensive ACA plan....and now you are critical of the effort to address her plight.

....oh, and regarding to your question as to what I stand for...lots of stuff. You can tell Im serious too because I dont change my mind on policy based upon what political team sponsors it

This rule change does nothing nor does any of the discussed legislation offered by Democrats or Republicans. It is all just noise. Obama's rules change and the proposed legislation doesn't force insurance companies or state insurance regulators to comply. The insurance companies aren't going to bother to go through the state certification process to be able to sell a policy for a year. States aren't going to want to expend state resources to certify dying policies for another year. So the bottom line is it makes no difference it is all just for show.

i. There is no contradiction.

ii. There are more issues than one. One of DonDiego's more recently written concerns is that President Obama promised people they would not lose their health care insurance or their doctor if they liked it or him.
ii.a. When Obama stated that lie he knew it was a lie; Obamacare expressly requires non-compliant policies to be cancelled if they have undergone any modifications in the past 3 years. His own administration experts expected most of the individual policies to be cancelled, . . . and they have been.
ii.b. DonDiego finds the plight of Ms. Sundby and many others for which Obamacare is the one-and-only cause sad and reprehensible. But it is the Law. It is a bad Law. It is an unfortunate Law for those who are affected so adversely. But it is the Law, . . . and it is President Obama's fault.

iii. DonDiego doubts President Obama "called DonDiego's bluff".
iii.a. President Obama probably does not even know DonDiego; DonDiego hopes things stay that way.
iii.b. DonDiego offered no bluff.

iv. DonDiego is capable of holding several non-contradictory opinions simultaneously. This is different from changing one's mind.
Can pjstroh not understand it is possible to (1) oppose Obamacare, (2) feel sympathy for those whom Obamacare has injured, (3) recognize other defects of the Law, (4) recognize the cavalier treatment the Obama Administration is showing the insurance industry, (5) recognize the costs of Obamacare are rising as an incompetent Administration maladministers implementation of a bad Law, even before the first insurance bill is paid, or the first subsidy is dispersed, or the first insurance payment on behalf of an enrollee occurs, (6) recognize that the predominant feature of Obamacare, so far, has been a rise in Medicaid enrollment - not forseen by any prior cost estimates, e.g. the CBO, (7) recognize that Obamacare is, nonetheless, the Law, (8) recognize that President Obama wants to unilaterally change the Law, (9) believe that Laws should be enforced in accordance with the Constitution, and (10) concur with Henry David Thoreau: "That Government is best, which governs least."

v. Had the Republicans proposed the ACA, DonDiego would've opposed them.

As one of the most liberal folks on this board I have constantly opposed Obamacare because it is a bad deal and a bad program. Just because Obama has applied a lot of turd polish to the ACA it doesn't magically turn into gold.

Lets just admit that Obama knew this week that somethings had to change with this "law"! Cause if he did not do anything about it his fellow dems that are up for re-election where going to jump ship and vote for a republican based change. Lets at least give the guy a little credit. That is really hard for me to type that!

We can't afford this new health care! That's really all that matters and MY policy is going to go up 100% in the next few years. Now that is a fact! Government mandates DON"T work for the working public. It only seems to work for those who don't know the meaning of WORK