Obamacare - there has to be a better way

"Seeking to regroup from his health care law's disastrous rollout, President Barack Obama on Tuesday insisted that the sweeping overhaul is working and warned Republican critics that he would fight any efforts to strip away its protections."

"Protections."  That's what he's calling it.  While most of the news stories involving the great lie that went "If you like your health care, you can keep it." concentrate on those who lost their coverage because it didn't measure up to what the government thinks we all need, my personal case is just the opposite.

There's this nifty thing in the Affordable Care Act called the Cadillac Excise Tax.  It says, if your employer offers you what they deem is a Cadillac policy, the government is going to tax them for 40% of the value of the plan.  What that means is, if your employer offers a plan that Obama thinks is too good for you, that's not fair to everyone else.  To stop that, he's going to penalize them for that and make them pay this tax.  We didn't know anything about this tax until the wife's employer, which happens to be a hospital, informed their employees that the plan they had was one considered too good for Americans, and they were being forced to cease and desist.  Well, that's not entirely true.  They were ordered to stop allowing the plan or be taxed at such a rate that making that plan viable anymore wasn't an affordable option.  The result of all this is we now get to pay more for less coverage.  Yes, Nancy Pelosi, I'm so gald you passed it so we could find out this piece of crap was in it.

Next it'll be, you make more money than we think you need, so we're going to tax you more so we lower that bar.  Hello Karl Marx and "From each according to their ability.  To each according to their need."  We saw in the old Soviet Union how that works.  If you don't give people some incentive to excel, they don't.

We never realized our health care plan was all that.  We did know the wife's plan was better than mine, which is why we always use hers.  We just chalked it up to the fact that a hospital was offering it, like I get other perqs for my job, better health care would make sense to be one of hers.

Instead, we're finding out it's a "Cadillac" plan, so we can't have it anymore.  The bad news - our health care budget just got "Obamacare"d.  The good news - if I get pregnant, I'm covered now, where I wasn't before.

lead, follow, or get out of the way

This post comes out of my frustration with the White House on several levels.

We'll start with the health care panecea.  The wife works in health care, and at the moment, I feel a bit lucky to still be able to say that.  The hospital she works for recently went through what it supposedly the first wave of job evaluations, stemming from their evaluation of what Obamacare means to them financially.  I have heard people say that Obamacare means more jobs in the health care industry because more people will have access to it.  Well, I'm here to tell you, where the rubber meets the road, that's not happening.  This hospital, one of three in the country in an organization named after a food on the condiment aisle at your local grocer, has determined that they can't afford Obamacare as they have analyzed it, and jobs have to be cut.  They released several employees and gave others the option of finding another job in the organization in the next 6 months.  If they are unsuccessful, they too will be gone.  Some were allowed to keep their job and absorb the workload.  If that can be called lucky, the wife is.  She's hopelessly behind though, because she was already busy and now gets to absorb the work of two others that were let go.  She's now looking for something else, because of her frustration in being unable to keep up with everything expected of her.  The best part - that's only the first wave of cuts.  More are coming.  Oh, but everyone has the right to quality health care.  Sure they do.  The question is, what country are we going to have to travel to, to find it?

Next, and bigger, is the absolute lack of leadership being displayed by this president, especially with the whole sequestration deal.  I get that you're liberal and have an agenda, but that isn't my beef.  It's the gridlock.  Sequestration was designed (by the president, I might add) to be so insanely terrible that nobody in their right mind would actually let it happen.  Yet, here we are.  You have idiots on both sides of the aisle in government that are sitting on their asses and not budging on their positions.  The president is supposed to DO something about that, and doing something doesn't consist of joining the idiots on one side or the other and complaining that he can't do anything because the other side won't help.  We have plenty of idiots in congress for that.  He can't be one of them.  He has to find some compromise position that works.  I'm so tired of the 'I can't because they won't..." excuse.  If you can't, why did you ask for the job?  TWICE??  Let someone in there who can, or at the very least, if you're admitting failure, let someone else try.  Heck, let Joe try.  I'd even be willing to let Hillary give it a shot.  I may not like everything that gets done, but maybe something more than excuses will come out of Washington.  Someone has to be able to lock the idiots in a room and work with both sides to come up with something workable, and NOT sit with the idiots on one side and say THEY won't budge.  If you're president, there is no THEY in your government.  You don't get that luxury.  You own it.  All of it.  None of the idiots are a THEY.  They're all part of WE, and WE need to get things done.  Your JOB is to make that happen.  Please start doing it.

Obamanomics. Didn't work then. Doesn't work now. Will kick in...when?

OK, I'm frustrated.

I'm frustrated by a President who keeps saying he can fix the economy, but hasn't.  I'm frustrated with a President who says, "I'm doing everything I can and it's not my fault.  It's Bush's fault.  It's the Republicans' fault.  It's all someone elses fault."  I'm sorry, but after three and a half years of it being your show, it is your fault.  If you've been "doing everything I can" for three and a half years and the result is nothing, you need to change "everything I can", because....it's not working.

I don't know if Romney's a better answer.  All I know is you aren't one at all.  Please, don't give me this "the Republicans have my hands tied" crap.  If that's the case, explain health care.  You got that passed and not a single republican managed to stop you, and they tried...hard.  I have neighbors in forclosure.  I have one that has twins in their early twenties.  Both moved out and had decent jobs.  Now their both living back at home, one with her husband, because they're unemployed..but on the good side, they've got health care. For dinner tonight, they're having health care...medium rare.  Others are jobless and homeless, but they've got a health care over their heads.  Thank God for that!  The buzz word now is "insourcing".  Where's that been the last three and a half years?  Is that something new we made up because we want to attack Romney, painting him as someone who will do more "outsourcing"?  If it's not new, how's that been working?  I'm looking for results, and I'm not seeing a whole lot.

My issue is when you're arrogant enough to think you're doing it all right, and it's always someone elses fault, but it isn't working, you don't see a reason to change.  Everyone else needs to change.  You, after all, have all the answers.  After three and a half years of not getting better and you're the head guy, I think it's time to reassess.  The worst is...I think he might get another 4 years. That's another 4 years of ineffectiveness and excuses, and staying right where we are economically.  Economists are saying the economy will still be in the tank until 2016.  Is that because they're predicting another 4 years of Obama?  I'll be needing lots of that health care crap.

You're waiting for government to raise your taxes to do something good? Seriously?

Dear Doug Edwards, former Google Director of Consumer Marketing who asked Obama to raise his taxes - Dude, be proactive. Why wait for an inefficient government who doesn't have a clue what to do with your money? Have you not seen these people in action...or inaction as the case may be?  You want to help the homeless? Grab a hammer and help Habitat for Humanity build houses. Donate money to them for materials. You want to help medical research for curing cancer, multiple sclerosis, muscular distrophy, any number of diseases? There are plenty of charities for that. Write checks. You want to help fund education? There are plenty of after school programs and mentoring programs crying for your help. Stop crying to Obama to raise your taxes, waiting for a government that can't get out of its own way and get involved.  You don't need them.  Hell, you really don't even WANT them.  Get yourself busy.

Generals and Presidents

Why is it generals only get called on the carpet for criticizing Presidents in Democratic administrations? Clinton fired a general for calling him a clueless, womanizing stoner (OK, it wasn't a LIE, but he shouldn't have said it)...now McChrystal. Coincidence?

the draft is coming...

It has been leaked, with the first pick in this year's NFL draft, the St. Louis Rams will select Barak Obama. An unnamed source inside the Rams camp was quoted as saying, "True, the man's done nothing in football and skipped the combine, but he has unlimited potential and huge upside. It was good enough for the Nobel Peace Prize selection committee. It's good enough for us, and we think he'll put butts in seats. Can we sign him? Yes we can!"

The President addresses the troops

BREAKING NEWS... President Obama has made a surprise visit to Afghanistan... Still waiting for Joe Biden to clarify how big a deal this is, and Sarah Palin to find a reason to denounce it...

I swear, BOTH sides continually find a way to make me wish there were more options.

My government's taking care of me!

Wooo Hoooo! We just passed the "everybody gets health care" bill and Obama's celebrating with his allies. I want to get in on the party. Here, Barak. Here's five bucks. Have a cigrarette...on me.

go to class. do good. make us all proud

I think it's fairly well documented that my views are slightly right of center. Ok, maybe more than slightly. Still, I don't blindly go running with whatever comes down the conservative pike, and I don't buy the idea that whatever is being pushed by liberals is automatically the devil's spawn.

So it is with this speech the President wants to give to school children. I really don't get the uproar and opposition. People are actually refusing to let their kids to listen to the President tell them to do well in school...Why? Because he's Barak Obama? The President wants to tell kids to take responsibility for themselves and kick butt in school. In my mind, that's a tip of the hat to conservative America. Grab some personal responsibility, kids. Don't expect anyone else to do things for you. Don't wait for your government to do things for you. Don't expect the "village" to do things for you. You have the ability to be somebody. Do them for yourself.

I feel like there's a warped segment of people...people I usually tend to agree with...who are basing judgement on, "If Obama's for it, I'm against it." Let's not be throwing the baby out with the bath water. If the guy wants to tell our kids to study hard, I hope my kid listens. It certainly can't hurt.

meaningful health care refore can't happen without direct government involvement? excuse me?

While I can accept health care reform, I don't understand why Howard Dean thinks it can't happen without direct government involvement. What kind of ego must this guy have? I understand that he was once an actual doctor, but he sold that soul to politics years ago, or he'd understand what I'm talking about. Besides, he's the head of the DNC. He's not actually in the group of buffoons making up this policy. Yeah, I'm talking about the likes of you, "the outrage displayed at town meetings is not necessarily representative of the American public", Arlen Specter. Yeah, well Arlen, then again, maybe it is. All I know for sure is it isn't all generated from right wing radio talk show hosts, like our liberal friends want to believe. I haven't listened to one of those radio programs in at least a decade because the hosts aren't much higher than you on my credibility scale, and I'm still not a happy camper. Let's not assume, either, that the democratic party holds some monopoly on bufoonery. Politicians from both sides of the political aisle are equally capable of finding loopholes in the most idiot-proof of processes.

I'm sorry, but what do a bunch of kiss ass politicians know about health care? Who stepped up and knighted them the experts? What have they butted their fat asses into where it didn't belong that they didn't completely fuck up? Welfare? Affirmative action? Social Security? The track record isn't exactly impressive, and yet this guy thinks another huge program can't succeed without the government getting directly involved and....doing what? Not fucking it up? For once? This just in...our political "leaders" aren't qualified to play with themselves, let alone a national health care system. They need to be restricted to basic government functions, and leave the rest to people who know what they're doing.

This is a bit like giving the keys to your brand new Ferrari to your 16 year old neighbor who just totalled three other cars. Why would you do that? Health care reform may or may not work, but it stands a much better chance the farther it can distance itself from a bunch of washed up trial lawyers and political schmoozers.

a round of abortions, for all my friends

I'm all kinds of happy about this concept, because not only do I want to condone your "right" to murder your babies, I want to pay for it too.

Yay for politicized government sponsored heath care!

...and liberal America wants to whine about the abhorrent shit Dubya shoved down their throats?? Really? I so don't want to hear it. OK, I'm overreacting a bit, because nothing's really happened, yet, but this is the road people want to take us down...and I'm not happy about it.

Out of curiosity, I wonder how quick liberal America would be to support the "right" to an abortion if they knew some of those babies were gay. The call for hate crimes legislation might be deafening. What if PETA found out, God forbid, they were whales.

Bill Clinton

I have never been a big Bill Clinton fan. I never voted for the guy, and his wife just about makes me wretch. Seriously, I've had to change my habit of watching the national news during dinner, because when she appears, my appetite vacates the premises.

Having said that, when the guy comes through and does something good, I gotta give him props. He went to North Korea and managed to negotiate the freedom of two Americans being held for allegedly wandering into North Korean territory. That's pretty amazing, and well beyond what I thought him capable of. I was wrong. (Got that Jess? I'm admitting I was wrong about a liberal. Mark it down on the calendar :).)

I won't go into my opinion of irresponsible journalists, hikers, random idiots, who know the consequences and still choose to risk their well being, getting themselves in nasty predicaments in hostile countries and then expect their country to bail them out (too much). That's a different issue.

This though, was pretty cool. Good job Mr. Clinton!

can we get just an ounce of moderation?

Hi Iran,

I sympathize with you. I really do. I understand you feel like you got jobbed in the election and the wrong guy is leading your country. I don't know if you're right or wrong (because I doubt an honest vote count is even possible now), but I get that. Honest, I do.

I get the protest marches and the feeling of frustration. What I don't get is marching through the streets yelling "death to the dictator". Don't we have enough killing going on? Why is it always, "Go straight to death! Do not pass GO! Do not collect $200!"? Personally, I don't like the guy. I don't think he's helping your country and the world's opinion of it. He takes ignorance to a new level, easily surpassing the liberal view of George Bush (which I disagree with, but understand) in this country. Being stupid isn't a crime punishable by death though. Like you, I'd love to see a changing of the guard and more moderation in your country, but death is a bit extreme. Two wrongs don't make a right, and don't prove yourself to be just as bad as the guy you're trying to get rid of by stooping to his level.

How about "exile for the dictator" or "dictator for dog catcher"? As long as he's not running the country, is that a suitable compromise?

just stuff

Well, on the Jaguar front, the good news is they picked up an offensive tackle in free agency. Tra Thomas may be older and not quite the pro bowler he was, but he's better than anyone on last year's roster at that position. I just hope he's better than Hugh Douglas, the last free agent past his prime we got from Philadelphia. That guy was a huge waste of money. On the bad side, Matt Jones, who got in trouble last year for cocaine possession, got in trouble again in a random drug test (not a new charge, but breaking a condition of his plea deal on the cocaine rap) that picked up alcohol. He had a beer or two while playing golf with some buddies. In itself,that's not a crime, but when you agreed not to as a condition of an earlier offense, that's where the rub is. He's in jail for 10 days. I realize he was one of the better receivers we had last year, but that's not setting the bar very high. Can he go now?

I see our new president OK'd the government spending money for embryonic stem cell research. Yeah, let's take one more step to legitimize abortion...so we can harvest stem cells. I'll say it again. Embryos aren't the only source of stem cells. They're just the only source that involves dead babies. Coincidence? Oh sure it is. None of that matters though, because we're all seeing the first family through the distorted media drool they're covered in. I'm surprised Brian Williams isn't suffering from dehydration.

Speaking of abortion, I see the Pope gave Nancy Pelosi (who claims to be Catholic) a personal audience/reaming because of her views/voting record on the subject. I can't imagine having the head of a belief system which you profess to call your own, picking you out and saying, "Yo, we need to talk." That had to feel pretty good. Seriously, when you say it's OK to kill babies because of some mythical "right to choose", how can you possibly then say child abduction (or anything else, for that matter) should be illegal. Oh, if you swipe kids from their parents, that should be wrong, but if you kill them outright, that's OK. The logic escapes me.

My friends on the right side of the political world want to blame the current economic crisis on the Clinton administration, because they pressured banks into giving mortgages to people who otherwise couldn't qualify, and that got us into this foreclosure mess. It may be a factor, but I'll say this again too. No government got us into this mess. It wasn't the "failed economic policies of the last eight years" or the failed economic policies of the eight years prior to those eight years. Irresponsible borrowers got us into this mess. You know what you can afford to pay each month for a mortgage. If you agree to terms that have you possibly paying more than that, even if it's two years down the road, what the hell are you thinking? You gambled with your house. Then financial institutions around the globe gambled with your house. Everybody lost. No government put your name on that dotted line. That's on you. Just because someone will give you more credit than you can handle doesn't take away your personal responsibility to understand what you're getting into, and pay back what you take.

Played golf for the first time in ages this weekend. A friend retired from the Navy and his ceremony was on Saturday, with friends traveling in from all over the country. He organized golf Saturday morning for as many of the guests as wanted to play (me among them). I managed to keep the score in double digits, which made me pretty happy, considering the layoff. Some of the guys want to make it a weekly affair, and want me to participate. I just don't have that kind of time...too many other things to do. Now that I'm spending more time on a bike, I see that as far better exercise. It's not as social though, and I miss that part of golf.

Oh the "things that make me go Hmmmmm" front...I gave the guy who retired from the Navy a bike jersey as a gift, because he rides with me and will do the MS Ride this fall...and he doesn't have a lot of bike clothing yet. When he was opening presents and opened that one, one of his out of town friends started giving him grief. "Oh God, Fred. You aren't one of those people who wear those skin tight shorts are you. What do you do? Stand around comparing your package with all the other guys?" The guy went on and on about how you can pretty much see everything you have through those shorts. First, no you can't, or not easily anyway if they're black. There's padding down there for your bottom on long rides and to keep everything where you want it. Yeah, I guess if you get up close and start inspecting, you can make some observations, but...who does that? I can honestly say I haven't made a single package inspection and don't have any planned in the near or distant future. We don't wear those shorts to stand around. We wear them to bike ride. Second, this same guy, earlier in the evening, was bragging about doing naked cannonballs into a pool on a cruise ship. You wanna talk about hanging your junk out there for everyone to see?

Until next time....

well, there you go again

I watched the new president last night, and while I haven't given up hope, he didn't exactly instill any.

First we blamed the economic crisis on "the failed policies of the last eight years." That's just lazy. Saying "George Bush bad" may have got you elected, but eventually that isn't going to be enough. I'm sorry, but put the blame where it belongs. Government didn't get us into this mess. I don't care whose side of the fence you're on, government didn't buy or sell sub-prime mortgages. We did that. The people of this country did that. We knew better, but bought into the idea that we could live in million dollar houses on ridiculously small mortgages. Or, we knew we couldn't afford a house yet and needed to save more, but we bought into some realtors pitch that sold us up a risky river without a paddle. We knew better, but we allowed mortgage brokers to talk us into risks we couldn't afford. Investment houses knew the risk of buying those mortgages, but they went and did it anyway. The irony for me is, as a group, the "victims" of foreclosure are the people who got us into this mess. They're the biggest group to blame. Right behind them are the investment bankers who bought that same crap. Our own greed and rationalization bought us this crisis. Take it on the chin, America. You did this to yourselves. George Bush didn't do it to you.

True, government allowed that to happen, but that doesn't make them the culprit. Just because government allows one to be an asshole doesn't make it their fault when someone jumps on that opportunity. If you do that, it's on you.

Then, the prevailing message was, this plan isn't perfect. No plan is. But we have to act now. Well, if you have to act now, could you at least try to make it as perfect as possible, and not throw in all the pet projects you've been holding back for the last eight years because you couldn't have them then. I'll agree funding for the arts is a great thing, but it doesn't belong in a bill that's trying to save the country from economic disaster. Stop throwing that stuff in there and then complaining that your opponents aren't taking the crisis seriously and are "playing the same old games." No, they're not. They're not sliding unrelated crap into the plan and then defending the plan as something we have to do. You are. OK, maybe they are playing the same old games too, but that doesn't make it right. That just makes for the same old ineffective government that couldn't get out of its own way before and won't now. (You know, the one I thought we were changing from.)

Then when someone points that out, you say, well, it's not perfect, but we have to do something. Well then do something, but make that something effective in ending the crisis. Don't just do something to do something.

the new regime

It's kinda scary, actually. I listened to some of Obama's speech at the swearing in. I couldn't catch it all - I mean, I am at work and all that. The scary thing is, he's sounding a lot like me. There's a personal responsibility theme running through everything that, to my ears, sounds amazingly Republican. Maybe I'm just not hearing it right. I'm not sure. I, by no means, am suggesting that he's stealing ideas from the Lumberyard (although it wouldn't surprise me to find he's an avid reader who comes here to stimulate his own thought process), but it does make his theme far more inclusive when I find myself nodding in agreement.

What I'm hearing is, we can't be expecting other people to do things for us. The government isn't going to bail you out of squat. It's incumbent on all of us to step up to the plate and do our part to get us out of the mess we're in. That's a far cry from what I'm used to hearing which goes more like, "You are incapable of doing everything life throws at you on your own. You need the government to help you get through life (or said another way, "It takes a village"). From what I see, his is pretty much the same message we had from the last administration. It just comes in a prettier wrapper. It's not coming in the smug tone that Dubya oozed that made you want to smack him. It comes in more of a rallying cry that makes you want to be part of it. Maybe that, in itself, really is part of the answer.

I really do hope so.

the Obama swearing in ceremony

I watched some of the news this morning, and a big story seems to be the Obama "swearing in" ceremony and the shortage of tickets, and the people who have them feeling like they won the lottery (some of whom actually did to get their ticket). Part of the story was about people selling tickets, in one venue or another, to the highest bidder.

It got me thinking. If I had a ticket, as most of you can imagine, I'd be selling that thing, pronto. That's not the question though. I started thinking...if I had a ticket to the ceremony for any president...even that I voted for...would I go or would I sell it? I came to the conclusion that I would be in no hurry to go to any of them, regardless of party or any other circumstance. I mean, if I could go back indefinitely in time and go to one, I'm sure I'd like to go to...say...Abraham Lincoln's ceremony, but that'd just be to actually see Lincoln. It wouldn't be because it was that particular ceremony. Maybe it's my disdain for politicians and government in general, but if there was even a $10 profit to be made in the deal, I'd be selling that ticket. Any living president...I wouldn't waste a day off to go to downtown J'ville to see, even if I was guaranteed a seat in the third row.

So this morning I asked the liberal over the cubicle wall....if he had a ticket to the Obama show, would he go or would he sell it. He said he'd go in a heartbeat. Therein lies the huge philosophical difference, in my opinion. He still believes in government as a driving force to cure problems. I look at recent history (and by that I mean starting in the early 60s - my blame knows no party) and its abysmal track record, and I see no raging success story to back that belief. My expectations are far lower than his.

fire sale

I'm dumping my 401k, mutual funds, bonds, everything I have. I need cash and I need it now...lots of it.

I hear there's a Senate seat up for sale in Illinois, and what the hell. I'm up for a job change. Might have to break into the youngster's piggy bank, too...

gotta give the new President some credit

Barak Obama's actually talking to John McCain, and talking about working with him. I don't know to what extent that work will actually happen, but that's more than I've seen from any president-elect so far. I'm equally impressed with his request that Joe Lieberman keep his committee chairmanship in the Senate, despite his support for McCain. I'm seeing a deliberate attempt at bridge building, above and beyond any previous incoming administration, and I hope it yields results. I'm actually interested in seeing where it all goes.

On the other side of the coin, I have a hard time stomaching Hillary being Secretary of anything in the new cabinet, let alone State. That includes being anyone's personal secretary. I wouldn't want to see her unemployed or anything, but I do think anything she does for compensation should include the phrases, "Would you like fries with that?" and "Drive up to the second window, please." Before anyone thinks that's a sexist thing, it goes for her husband, as well. With both of them, I never felt like they gave a damn about what might be best for the country. Their motivation was and is what's best for the Clintons. In the last 20 years she's championed two major efforts....government subsidized health care in the 90's and a run at the Democratic Presidential nomination recently. I'm missing the 'rousing success' part of either of those initiatives (and not-so-secretly pretty pleased about her inability to get things done). I know the good people of New York differ with me on that opinion, but that just gives me another reason not to live there.

being grown up about it all

Did the gym thing last night. I usually do Tuesdays and Thursdays, and bike weekends, but Tuesday night we had something going on at home, and tonight I'm going to a function for the MS Bike ride, so I just figured, Wednesday was a better gym night.

Daymn, the place is crowded on Wednesdays. I'm usually one of the only people in there Tuesday/Thursday night, but there was quite a crowd, and they were watching Fox News...on all the TVs. I'm more of an ESPN kinda guy, but I figured...whatever.

I've said before, I'm not a big Fox News fan. Bill O'Reilly was on and I find him more than a little obnoxious, but I wasn't there to watch TV. I was there to sweat. He was interviewing Dennis Miller, who makes a point of making sure everyone knows he's really smart and really funny. It all gets old. He did say something though, that surprised and inspired me. O'Reilly asked him if he'd be tough on the new President, and this isn't a direct quote, simply because I can't remember, but the context is right. He said:

I'm actually hopeful. After watching his acceptance speech, I'm pulling for him. We only get one President, and he's going to be it. I hope he's successful. For the sake of the country, I hope he's so successful that in four years, I can't wait to get to the polls and vote for him.

I'm with ya Dennis.