Obamacare

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And this is likely part of the issue with the failure of the online registration system..for the new health care act system...

There are not enough government employees with enough time to properly write a contract...

And the contract employees only have to do what is in the contract...

Nah..they do not have to do 15 different jobs that are not in their contract job description...

It is a common fallacy that contract employees are more efficient than government employees and an obvious one...for people who are actually doing the jobs..and responsible for the end product..

As government employees can be slaved in to many jobs..as they are not controlled by clauses in contracts...

If real government employees..enough of them..worked to create that system..more than likely it would have worked..

Ergo NASA.. and the success there..in the 60's.. run by almost all dedicated GOVERNMENT CIVIL SERVICE EMPLOYEES...

THE POINT IS NO MATTER HOW LAZY SOME OF THE NASA FOLKS MIGHT HAVE BEEN..THE PRODUCT WAS DELIVERED ON TIME..AND IN PROPER WORKING ORDER..ENOUGH TO SUCCESSFULLY GET to THE MOON....

There really is no other practical explanation..for the failure of the health care act..online registration system...

i watched the same thing predictably happen when the DOD consolidated computer systems..for what IS called NMCI....

6 months..'quickly' turned in to 5 years..

As the refrain of it's not in our contract was sung over and over and over....again...

Where i was effectively and successfully performing 15 jobs..while they were whining about 1..with another duty..that was not in the contract...

Seriously.. in total effect.. this is just another friggin conspiracy theory..promoted by right wing and alex jones type enthusiasts...

it's just BS..as usual...

And now to be crystal..clear.. if a private corporation was responsible for the ACA with no red tape of a federal contract..it very likely could have been as or more efficient..than any completely government employee organized and run effort...

There has been more waste with the red tape of federal contracts..than almost any organized effort to get a job done anywhere in this country...

Federal contracts are what is more ripe for abuse than any other part of organized government efforts..

Ergo Iraq..and all the crap that happened there too..when rebuilding that country...

It's the effective reason we even went..free money for federal contracts....

Dick Cheney and his federal contract cohorts..if i need go any further..on that more than obvious incentive..for a money free for all....

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Yes, I'm quite terrible.

So, after FOUR MONTHS of trying. I finally got signed on to the ACA.

Not happy about it. But being unemployed, I need to eliminate my costs as much as possible, and I'd be penalized for NOT having health insurance.

The problem I had getting on? The stupid computer system kept deleting answers on my application. Someone on the other end had to manually enter the answers.

On my first try, I guessed my income based on minimum wage and 20 hours a week (what I can expect around here). I got nothing. Yes, Medicaid was expanded, but other than NOT wanting to be on Medicaid, my state was one of many that did not elect to expand Medicaid coverage. Subsidized coverage started at 11,490. Doing the math, that was basically 25 hours a week or more, which is feasible since I need more than a 20-hour per week job. I refiled the app with my expected income at $11,500, and that got me subsidized coverage.

Of course, I need to watch my income, and if I may go over that (or get a good job), I need to set aside for every penny the government paid for because the IRS may require me to repay part or all of it in 2015. [sarcasm] Good thing the ACA made everything simpler, right? [/sarcasm]

So, all you tax paying people get to foot the bill for my health insurance. I'm paying MORE (total cost) for a lesser policy than what I'm coming off of. [sarcasm] Another victory for the ACA. [/sarcasm]

The guy at the call center was very sympathetic. He suggested they set up a bar in the workplace (even if it was a cash bar) because of all the headaches they've had since day one. It was only in the last month they started getting things worked out so that policies could go forwards, and he acknowledged how stupid it was that to get a subsidized policy a person had to go through them or the website. It only bottlenecks the application process when any insurance office can take down the information and get things done.

I did just start with a tax prep service. So, soon I get to deal with all the bums rushing in to claim their EIC credit where the government gives them a refund they never earned...all footed by the taxpayers.

I, of course, don't qualify for the EIC because it's really set up to reward people for popping out kids that we'll have no jobs for after they finish high school.

Interesting

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/10/us/li ... 18218&_r=0

States are signing prisoners up for Medicare now.

While Thinkprogress tends to be a bit more preachy than I prefer, this is an interesting tidbit:

http://thinkprogress.org/health/2014/04/11/3425604/health-clinic-arkansas/

My take on Obamacare is that it seems to be focused almost entirely on the insurance industry and how to deal with them. Healthcare reform has to address a whole medley of issues, such as:

1. Availability of actual cures to diseases (if they exist), rather than limit everything to mere treatments.
2. Helping healthcare providers upgrade medical technology.
3. Ratcheting up R&D of higher quality, while also much more cost-efficient, technology and procedures.

As for socialized medicine, it isn't even close to being feasible given that we're trillions down the crapper.