uncomfortable conservative commentary
In yet another classic case of “do as I say, not as I do”, the mayor of the District of Columbia and city council have mandated its residents to enroll in their healthcare exchanges while also giving the same general public the privilege of paying for those politicians’ health care expenses.
Continue reading “DC Residents Paid $455k for Mayor, City Council Healthcare Costs”
One sad aspect of being informed on issues by the media and political partisans is how uninformed one can end up being.
More problematic is if that person becomes elected to the United States House of Representatives.
Continue reading “ObamaCare: The Reality-Check Education of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez”
Senator John McCain is precisely the poster boy for everything that’s wrong on Capitol Hill. He campaigns one way to his constituents and “serves” the American people contrary to how he campaigned.
His recent no-vote to repeal ObamaCare is the best illustration as to how many Republicans made repeated promises they apparently had no intention of keeping.
McCain has routinely sought out any media outlet that allowed him to speak out against Republicans, conservative values, he’s voted against policies he campaigned on to return him to the United States Senate, term after term, and spends too much time siding with Democrats than his own compatriots.
According to a Senate Democrat, McCain heard from two longtime friends pleading with him to oppose McConnell: Joseph I. Lieberman and Joe Biden. The former senator from Connecticut was long one of McCain’s best friends, forming the heralded “Three Amigos” along with Lindsey Graham.
Biden, the former vice president who often clashed in a collegial way with McCain on foreign policy matters, had a more emotional discussion with McCain. The Arizonan’s brain cancer is the same diagnosis that Biden’s son, Beau, received in 2013; he died two years later.
— Washington Post, 7/30/17
His latest vote against repealing ObamaCare should have come as no surprise. Making it as dramatic as he did should be what he’s remembered for: lying to get elected and serving HIS best interests; NOT the best interests of his state and the nation.
Granted, the Republican-led Senate would never pass “single payer”, “public option” health care for the nation. At least, we’d hope so but anything’s possible with this bunch.
Democratic leaders have long resisted advocating for a massive expansion of the government’s role in health care, wary of alienating independent voters and hanging swing-state senators out to dry on what’s long been a divisive issue. The party’s economic agenda released this week notably excluded single payer.
Senate Democrats face a tough electoral map in 2018, raising concerns that full-throated support for single payer could bury the party deeper in the minority. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) and Tester are among those who have expressed skepticism about a single-payer system.
— Politico, 7/27/17
When it comes to a Democrat Party that feeds off symbolism and emotion on behalf of the downtrodden, one would also think that here would be a golden opportunity to show their base just how committed they are to the alternative they’ve always wanted once Obamacare melted down leaving the American people no other alternative. Here was their golden opportunity to stand by their convictions, vote their conscience, act on their principles, etc.
It didn’t happen.
When it came time to finally be on-the-record, a record that they could proudly present to their constituents, “present” is all they had to offer because, with the help of their media, no one will know Democrats continue to deceive their base and the American people because they can.
Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) took to the floor to rebut comments made by Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) about Obamacare. He provided some visual aids that were still pictures.
We added some that move….
Not sure where the Iowa senator got the idea for this example, but it was a good one.
Believe it or not, Republicans weren’t always for fixing the “Affordable” Health Care Act. It was a Democrat piece of legislation based on a long-time political desire of then-First Lady Hillary Clinton in 1993 and later by then-Senators Clinton and Barack Obama during the 2008 Democrat presidential primaries.
The presentation of “ObamaCare” was mostly disingenuous and the media gave Democrats the appropriate cover whenever necessary.
On December 12, the self-appointed guardians of truth and justice at PolitiFact named President Obama’s infamous promise — that “if you like your health care plan, you can keep it” — its 2013 “Lie of the Year.” An understandable choice. But in its article detailing why the President’s promise was a lie, PolitiFact neglected to mention an essential detail. In 2008, at a critical point in the presidential campaign, PolitiFact rated the “keep your plan” promise as “True.”
— Forbes, 12/27/13
Republicans seem to forget the total opposition to ObamaCare that helped sweep them into control of the House in 2010 and the Senate in 2014. If you look at where we are today, they clearly forgot what got them there.
Fast forward to 2017, President Trump has pledged to “fix” ObamaCare instead of just letting crash under its own weight, taking millions of Americans down with it. Of course, Democrats are all-in for taking their sole fingerprints off the disaster of a mandate on The People. But let’s not allow Republicans to forget why they were put in power when they repeatedly promised to “repeal” ObamaCare.
BTW — We repeatedly requested Republicans “defund” ObamaCare if they couldn’t find the balls to “repeal”, but who are we?
For example, Republicans and Democrats both tout the benefit of young people being able to stay on their parents’ health insurance plans until they’re 26. Sounds great to easily-suckered millennial voters but not ONE politician ever asked parents if we either wanted to incur that cost or could afford to. It was just a done deal, even though it was once deemed a bad idea.
Senator Obama has a mandate in his plan. It’s a mandate on parents to provide health insurance for their children. That’s about 150 million people who would be required to do that.
— Senator Hillary Clinton, MSNBC Democrat Debate, 2/26/08
Initially, President Obama cited a small number of Americans who needed help getting health insurance for a variety of reasons. Instead of just addressing those who needed help, Democrats arrogantly decided to upend the entire health care apparatus in an effort to achieve their ultimate socialist goal: crash the insurance industry and implementing the “public option”.
And as the new law financially inconvenienced the Capitol Hill class, they found a workaround not available to anyone else.
The Affordable Care Act threw members and staff out of the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, and basically says they can only get health benefits through one of the law’s new Exchanges. Under pressure from Congress and the president himself, the federal Office of Personnel Management (which administers benefits for federal workers, including Congress) decided the House and Senate would participate in the District of Columbia’s “Small Business Health Options Program,” or “SHOP” Exchange, rather than the Exchanges that exist for individuals. The reason is that federal law would not allow members and staff to keep receiving a taxpayer contribution of up to $12,000 toward their premiums if they enrolled in individual-market Exchanges. Yet putting Congress in a small-business Exchange isn’t exactly legal, either. Both federal and D.C. law expressly prohibited any employer with more than 50 employees from participating D.C.’s SHOP Exchange. The House and Senate each employ thousands upon thousands of people.
— Forbes, 4/15/16
While we were all told how much cheaper and more accessible health care was going to be for all of us, the only people in the country who seemed to have gotten a good deal were the very people who forced ObamaCare on all of us.
Had the United States House, Senate, Supreme Court and their staffs been directly affected by the landmark legislation, we all know ObamaCare would have been something entirely different (if it was implemented at all), but they basically exempted themselves while mandating the public deal with the monetary ramifications of high premiums, high (thus unusable) deductibles, and non-compliance penalties. We can only guess that Capitol Hill politicians and the thousands of their staff, after the “taxpayer contribution”, aren’t paying a penny out of pocket for monthly premiums and deductibles.
Gutless Republicans now wish to repair a flawed piece of legislation they didn’t create, we didn’t ask for, and instead of keeping their promises to “repeal” ObamaCare; promises they made as far back as 2010 as a selling point to get the public to put them in control of the House and in 2014 to give them the Senate and in 2016 give them the White House, they’re going to “fix” the unfixable and again make us pay for it.
The American people didn’t ask for the transformation of our health care system, and certainly didn’t volunteer to pay significantly more into the Democrats’ social experiment. Republicans collectively promised hundreds of times to “repeal” ObamaCare. Now, they’re essentially saying they can’t get anything meaningful done on destroying ObamaCare unless we give them a 60-vote Senate majority in 2018. Haven’t we heard this before?
We can’t trust anything they say. But we already knew that.
The Democrats are uniformly doing all they can to save the “Affordable Care Act”, better known as ObamaCare.
The following should jar memories on where we’ve been led; a place Democrats don’t want the American people to go.
Democrats are playing mostly to the uninformed or those too young to know what life in the United States was like before ObamaCare was inflicted on the American people.
How many Americans are truly uninsured? The number the Obama administration and Democrats have used for more than a year now ranges between 40 million and 46 million—at the upper end, that would be somewhere between 1 in 6 and 1 in 7 Americans.
— US News & World Report, 8/20/09
Why, instead of tailoring a bill to help that 40-46 million, did the whole health care system in the United States have to be changed to forcibly affect all? People who were perfectly happy with their coverage were forced to buy plans at a higher price, not to mention be facing unrealistic deductibles. Being able to purchase plans across state lines at more competitive prices was never considered in the Democrats’ ACA.
During the 2008 Democrat presidential primary, candidate Hillary Clinton pointed out that forcing parents to pick up the tab on their older children’s health care was an unreasonable burden. Parents paying for their children’s health care up to age 26 became a primary selling point. Too bad parents were never asked if this is something THEY even wanted to absorb.
Also during that debate, candidate Barack Obama also said it was unfair to “mandate” people buy government health care and it was even more unfair to fine them if they couldn’t afford it. Passage of the ACA meant people were mandated to buy health care if they wanted it or not and would be fined if they did not comply.
I will sign a universal health care bill into law by the end of my first term as president that will cover every American and cut the cost of a typical family’s premium by up to $2,500 a year.
— Senator Barack Obama, 2007
Deductibles rose to the point that people couldn’t afford to use the health care they were forced to buy.
Prior to passage of the ACA, employees enjoyed a 40-hour work week. After, some business employers reduced the hours their employees down to 29 so they didn’t have to pick up the tab for their employees at the inflated government cost. Businesses that had more than 50 employees were required to pay for their employees’ health care and that forced many employers to not expand their companies as some may have wanted.
Many Americans now have to work two or more jobs to make the equivalent of what they earned before passage of the ACA.
The elected in the House, Senate, Supreme Court, their staff and families exempted themselves from the very law they imposed on the rest of us.
And since passage up to now, Democrats are complaining that Republicans don’t have fixes for a law they rammed down the throats of the American people and are now poised to dismantle their flawed experiment; an experiment millions will celebrate once ended.
One of the many reasons Donald Trump was elected President was his promise to end the Democrat nightmare that was and still is the “Affordable Care Act”.
The People will soon see how much money they’ll be saving and just who made their lives miserable since 2010.
Many Americans didn’t want it. Many Americans didn’t need it. “Health care” became a political issue because it was a fail-pet project of then-First Lady Hillary Clinton in 1993 and was rebooted during her 2008 presidential run.
Out of a nation of 360-plus people, why everyone’s health care had to be upset to cure the lack of “46 million” is a question still unanswered….
Even for folks who are weathering this economic storm, and have health care right now, all it takes is one stroke of bad luck — an accident or an illness, a divorce, a lost job — to become one of the nearly 46 million uninsured or the millions who have health care, but really can’t afford what they’ve got.
— President Barack Obama, March 5, 2009
So, the lives of millions were financially disrupted and expenses they hadn’t prepared for were suddenly (and forcibly) imposed on them by politicians, many of whom exempted themselves and their staffs from the “law” they composed. Now we’re seeing the fines that were created to dissuade those who still believe in some semblance of freedom in this country, are set to double because those who did the math were equally dishonest.
The math is harsh: The maximum federal penalty for having no health insurance is set to jump to $695, and the Obama administration is being urged to highlight that cold fact to help drive its new pitch for health law sign-ups. That means the 2016 sign-up season starting Nov. 1 could see penalties become a bigger focus to motivate millions of people who have remained eligible for coverage, but uninsured. They’re said to be more skeptical about the value of health insurance.
If you remember, it was the same Barack Obama in 2008 who argued it was unfair to “fine” people for not buying something they didn’t want.
Then again, we all know what the words of Obama are worth….
If you think about it, the very argument he made against Hillary then is what’s happening now. People who can’t afford the insurance won’t buy in, because despite the long-standing belief on Capitol Hill, people’s earnings are not solely devoted to their whimsical dictates. People have other expenses (like food, clothing, rent or mortgage, transportation, utilities, etc.) and have to budget accordingly. Forcing them, under penalty of law, to buy something they knew the couldn’t afford could also be the reason why Democrats have paid a political price for their arrogance.
The headline of Matthew Yglesias’ piece: “Democrats Are in Denial. Their Party Is Actually in Deep Trouble.” Now, I have been pointing this out since 2010. The midterm elections 2010, the first Tea Party midterm.
Remember that election? The Democrats lost 700 seats across the country. Governorships, state legislatures, mayorals, city council, you name it — and they lost another close to 700 in 2014. They are down nearly 1500 seats, between 12,000 and 1500 seats/elected positions nationwide.
— Rush Limbaugh, October 20, 2015
Many don’t believe Democrats have paid enough of a price.
Between the false promises and coercion made before it’s passing, the website the didn’t work, the demise of the 40-hour work week, the John Roberts betrayal, the Gruber revelations, the Republican 2014 midterm campaign “promises”, and now the ever-increasing fines for non-compliance, it’s no wonder they had to force the Affordable Health Care for America Act down the throats of the American people… and make them pay for it!
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Things on Capitol Hill seldom happen by accident. We just need look at what’s happening now and what just happened.
King v. Burwell may well be determining the fate of ObamaCare and the president is colluding with the Republicans to secretly pass the Trans-Pacific Partnership being rammed down the already sore throats of the American people, reminiscent of the way Democrats wrote-but-didn’t-read the Affordable Health Care for America Act. Why are Republicans going along to get along?
It may be as simple as a message sent with the recent events involving former Speaker Dennis Hastert.
A series of events that go back decades that was creatively charged by the partisan Justice Department, not for the sake of seeking “justice” because the blackmailer hasn’t been targeted. No, the series of events were dredged up to remind Republicans that all can be taken away if they don’t give Barack Obama what he wants.
So, what does he want now?
The Supreme Court could finally do their jobs and scuttle ObamaCare by ruling the state subsidies unconstitutional. The Republicans SHOULD have been ready with a public relations blitz reminding the American people the uber-partisan method on which it was written, the uber-dishonest way it was presented to the American people by the president and Democrats, and the ultimate vote for the legislation that had not one Republican fingerprint on it.
We know Obama and the Democrats have no plan if the Supreme Court rules against them. We know Obama, Democrats, and their media are ready to pounce on Republicans (should that happen), demanding the GOP fix the Gruber-mess implemented and imposed on the American people and economy. We know Republicans campaigned on defunding ObamaCare and after being given that mandate as a result of the midterm election shellackin’, blew off their promise, thus giving Obama and Democrats the opportunity to share the healthcare stink with the GOP (which Dems and their media will make them totally own).
Aside from being stabbed in the back by Republicans on ObamaCare, we also have the TPP which is being crafted in a manner reminiscent of ObamaCare, this time with Republican support. Let’s not forget, the unions don’t want TPP, Elizabeth Warren doesn’t want TPP, the majority of Americans skeptical of legislation being written and the details being kept secret under force of law don’t want it, yet Paul Ryan (the so-called economic guru) is working to help the president have blame to share once the first few factories close in an exodus to Asia.
So we have yet another scenario where politicians on Capitol Hill are plotting and implementing legislation behind the backs of the American people; legislation that they know won’t be good for us but will ultimately help a chosen few who will in turn send the proper amount of financial support to politicians in 2016.
And what could make Republicans so eager to screw over their base and the nation yet again?
Ask Denny Hastert….
Oh, and again we’re reminded of the need for term limits. The assumption could be made if any politician doesn’t support term limit legislation, they’re predators and corruption prone opportunists.
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Cruz: Treasury Dept. ‘political operatives’ might have tampered with Obamacare
A witness table sits empty of invited witnesses during a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee hearing on Thursday, June 4, 2015. Senator Ted Cruz denounced three Treasury officials for not attending the hearing on how the department wrote a rule allowing subsidies to be issued through the Affordable Care Act exchange run by the federal government.
This is yet another clear display of the contempt this administration has for the very American people they repeatedly lied to.
When it rains, it pours. A Windows 8 involuntary update has disabled our desktop and we’re on the backup laptop.
B&R and B&B Media is funded solely by contributions made by the readers who enjoy and use it. We are beholden to no political party, no advertisers, no outsiders, no sugar daddies, no corporate string-pullers. This means no annoying pop-ups, no email campaigns, no spam and no one controls us. We are self-funded and independent thus are on a week-to-week basis. Please value our time and donate today!
