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Two weeks after the opening of Obamacare there is an 88% decrease in people attempting to use the poorly performing site. In the first week under 0.5% of the people visiting the site were enrolled in Obamacare, a horrific and exceedingly embarrassing statistic to the administration.
Sebelius is marvelous at stating lies. She still contends the problems with the website is there are just too many people wanting the product. She still does not acknowledge the problems and that a delay may have been better. This is at the same time as USA Today reports that tech experts state that the exchange needs a total overhaul. It was apparently built on 10 year old technology. Sebilius then stated that Obama did not know anything about the website problems. Why don't we believe her. She will be gone as soon as the political climate allows.
After Sebelius stated her usual lie, federal contractors have identified the problems and state that it will take weeks to fix them all. Some state it may take to almost Christmas which is after the latest date for people to sign up for coverage beginning on the first of the year. The feds have stated that almost 500,000 people have submitted applications but still have not stated how many have actually enrolled. Insurers have said their numbers are very low. The major problem stems from the feds insisting they quarterback the system and they did not know what they were doing. Obama attempted to allay some of the angst when he appeared with all five people who have actually signed up and said that Obamacare is more than a website. He is wrong. It is a website and without the website there is nothing else.
Since it is a website, it is vulnerable to hackers. John McAfee stated that the site was a hacker's dream. It has all the information on millions of people on the same site and is a sitting duck for identity theft. He could not believe that the government was so stupid as to put all on one site instead of sending the person to the other insurance sites where the information would be submitted. He stated that this can not be fixed without changing the whole nature of the site. Software can not fix it.
The LA Times states that Obamacare not only has the well documented website problems but also multiple others as well. These may not even be as easy to fix as the website. The paper states that many who do not have insurance want to be able to see the options but do not have computers nor email addresses that are required to sign up over the internet. Obamacare advocates are using the word of mouth do get women to insure themselves and their children. This is a slow tedious process and is sure to fail in the time allotted. Even after people sign up they have to wait weeks to months to find out if they can get subsidized care.
NBC reported that the White House knew in 2010 that Obama lied. They knew that people were not going to be able to keep their own insurer and would need to change. This would possibly mean the need to change their physicians. They also knew the prices would dramatically increase for those who did not receive federal handouts to get the insurance. The White House stated not that the claims were not true but that it was not news and Obamacare will fix it, another lie.
Covered CA, the California exchange, has announced that almost one million people will lose their current health plan on New Year's Eve.
It seems that the vast majority of people attempting to get health insurance via the exchanges are going for Medicaid and not private plans. This shows that the entire program is really a huge Medicaid expansion at least in the states that went for the Medicaid portion.
United Healthcare has been hit by a decrease in Medicare Advantage payments. This has lead to the decision to drop out of some markets next year. They also state their employer sponsored plans are changing due to business sending their retirees and active employees to healthcare exchanges. This is exactly what Obama said would not happen.
The Boston Globe continues to have a glass half full look, even if unrealistic, of the problems finding a physician in the People's Republic of Massachusetts. They had a major magazine article on the subject and told stories of people who had hard times finding primary care physicians. They ignored the real reason that physicians trained in the republic are not staying. The state has gone to the vile HMO system that never worked before and will not work now. It states that physicians should not be like everyone else in the country and be paid for what they do but for what their consumers do. They marvel that there will soon be another residency program in the state and they will put out a whooping 8 new physicians a year in primary care. There is not a guarantee that part of these 8 will not follow their colleagues out of state.
New York City people who want to go to NYU or Presbyterian can only sign up for 3 of the 9 state offered exchange plans. The hospital systems continue to accept insurance outside of Obamacare plans. How's that "you can keep your physician" doing for you now?
In an unbelievable story there is an outbreak of Polio in Syria which threatens many children who have not had the vaccine due to the war.
Clinton Memorial Hospital in Wilmington, Ohio has dropped its residency program is family practice and will use the funds to work on other health issues. They state that residencies belong in metropolitan areas. This is a loss of 12 residents and 5 faculty members.
DISCLAIMER: Although this
article is updated periodically, it reflects the author's point of view at the
time of publication. Nothing in this article constitutes legal advice. Readers
should consult with their own legal counsel before acting on any of the
information presented.