Beltway Insider: ObamaCare Implosion; JFK 50th Remembered; Philippines Aid Trickles In; Virginia Senator Attacked

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Category: Beltway Insider

Published on Sunday, 24 November 2013 17:27

Written by Janet Walker

President Barack Obama’s greatest legacy, that of a universal healthcare system that would guarantee all the access to medical care, has proven to be his worst nightmare and potentially the destruction of his legitimacy.

According to Gallup, President Obama’s job approval, over the past week, tumbled, dropping two percentage points, to the lowest point of his presidency at39% of those polled that approve of his effectiveness as President and those who disapprove of his effectiveness as President remained at 53%, the highest level.

Affordable Care Act Implodes Under Intense and Continued Scrutiny

President Obama has stated the Affordable Care Act roll out was a “dismal failure,” his Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, testified before Congress calling the ACA Marketplace website “a debacle,” with repeated outages and the inability to handle the traffic.

House republicans have continued to voice deep concerns over the impact of ObamaCare on the American people. Senate Democrats are insisting the mood of the people and the implementation of the mandated medical care will improve.  

Health and Human Services numbers for October, touted as advances, are in reality not even 000.1% of the population that is mandated to enroll. With a total of 1.5million visitors to the marketplace, these numbers cannot be independently verified, allegedly only 106,000 have actually enrolled in insurance plans and have either paid or not paid the premium.

With pressure mounting from all sides, even from within as the standard bearers of the party have begun to publically voice criticism over the president for failing to maintain his promises to the people, President Obama has buckled and conceded the roll out is subpar and was clearly not the plan and has initiated the implementation of concessions geared to calm the troubled water.

He may have simply stepped into a boiling pot as his concessions are drawing sharp criticism, from Republicans in danger of losing the House, as they strongly suggest political maneuvering by the president by pushing back the 2015 open enrollment season until after the November 4, 2014 mid-term elections.

President Obama, in continuing to determine the best course of action, after millions of Americans had their insurance canceled met this week with CEO’s insurance companies to solicit ideas and brainstorm.

Marketplace horror stories are surfacing as proud, capable and self-sufficient Americans, are feeling stung when, without exception or option, they register for insurance, are deemed eligible and the only option offered is Medicaid.

Medicaid, at one time considered the only option for low income families, has notoriously been known for less quality care, fewer physician options, and substandard care and prior to ObamaCare Medicaid recipients have primarily been of poverty level, lower intelligence, with increased pre-existing conditions as well as elevated medical needs with higher frequency of illness.

Under ACA Medicaid determinations are income dependent. Those determinations are based solely on income. No assets are considered in the Marketplace determination. A home, of any value, totally paid, or any other equity invested, or a start up business that has yet to generate income, or any other variables usually considered by federal agencies in a aid determination are not considered.

Americans with no income, even if it has simply been a bad year, and are not paying out of pocket for medical coverage that meets governmental standards, will be deemed eligible, without option, for Medicaid.  

The only option at that point is to follow through and register for Medicaid or incur the costs for legally mandated medical coverage.

As with all open enrollment seasons, Obamacare has an annual open enrollment period allowing enrollees to make designated changes to their plan. All enrollees are entitled to make changes during any open enrollment season.

All independent news sources have reported the HHS has repeatedly inflated marketplace statistics to create the belief that the roll out is smooth, the people accepting and happy, and the law working.

JFK Tributes Mark 50^th Anniversary

The nation paused this week to remember President John F. Kennedy, who was assassinated November 22, 1963 as he rode with Texas Governor John Connelly, and their wives, in a motorcade in Dallas, Texas.

As the nation paused to reflect on the past fifty years, questions that nagged the collective consciousness over the last half century surfaced with renewed determination to finalize, despite acceptable historical accounts, the possibilities that a lone assassin, without any other person, did fire the fatal shots.

Every area of possibility from the Mafia, Cuba's President Fidel Castro, Cold War foe Russian President Nikita Khrushchev, has been microscopically examined and exhausted without a single shred of evidence that ties these groups to the assassin.

Footage from documentaries, released, show a gross breech in secret service protection a fact no person can deny. With no possible political tie to the assassination the only unexamined area is the President’s morality.

A lover of women, the nation had not seen a White House before the inauguration of President Kennedy who openly, albeit quietly, disregarded his marriage vows so rigorously.

As it was 1963, America was still a moral, god-fearing, nation. It was before the psychedelic explosion of excess and indulgence that gripped the nation and clearly before any president could survive a sex scandal and remain in office.

The only example of a blatant disregard for duty over personal sacrifice, up to that point, came when King Edward VIII of England abdicated his role as the King of England to marry his American born mistress and life love, Wallis Simpson.

President Kennedy’s moral struggles remained the best kept Washington secret throughout his presidency. It was the talk of Hollywood hopefuls, the target of Hoover’s FBI, and the shame of Secret Service sworn to serve and protect.

On that day, no Presidential Security detail was present, on point and in position. The vehicle that carried the entire team, remained one car length behind the President's vehicle.

The driver of the Presidential Security Detail vehicle did not snap into action speeding up to motorcade as the president, injured from the first shot, began to choke on his own blood, nor did one member of his detail attempt to dive over the backseat covering both the wounded President and First Lady.

It wasn’t until after the second, fatal, shot, the First Lady, covered in blood, climbed onto the trunk, before footage marks the Presidential protection detail moving in to assist, at that point, a mortally wounded president.

So during this week, when the nation paused to mourn, remember, memorialize, and on the day when history still records President Kennedy’s death as caused by a single, lone, gunman, a new theory, the unexamined area, as it is the only area where no press, no filmmaker, no private citizen would dare to tread as it would seem impossible, that a president would be assassinated because of his repeated moral failings, surfaces.

His memory remains untarnished as America has grown into a more tolerant nation, his dedication to making this nation a great nation, to easing struggle, to altruism, to facing challenges with courage are forever a part of his life and legacy and of ours.

President Obama said during remarks for the 50^th Anniversary of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, “It’s a truth that resonated with President Kennedy when he said, “…I am certain that after the dust of centuries has passed over our cities, we…will be remembered not for our victories or defeats in battle or in politics, but for our contribution to the human spirit.”

And that unbending belief -- that the power to make great a nation is found in its people and in their freedom -- that was his philosophy.  That is his legacy.

And it’s a legacy told in villages around the world that have clean water, or a new school, and a steady friend in the United States, thanks to the volunteers of the Peace Corps.  It’s a legacy found in the courage of all who serve under our proud flag, willing, like President Kennedy himself, to pay any price and bear any burden for the survival and success of our liberty.

It’s a legacy on display in the arts and culture that he and Jackie championed as part of our national character, a legacy planted on the moon that he said that we’d visit and that we did, in the stars beyond, but also in the breakthroughs of the generations of scientists that his audacious promise inspired. “

International Aid Slow in Reaching Devastated Philippines

Two weeks after Typhoon Haiyan slammed into the Philippines, the tiny island nation home to one of the largest concentration of people, is barely functioning as international aid trickles into the hardest hit areas of the archipelago nation.

Immediately after the apocalyptic storm, that was packing sustained wind speeds of 315km/195mph, it was estimated the death toll could reach 10,000. Those estimates were revised down and now, two weeks later, the known death tolls are inching toward the initial estimates. Already climbing past the 5,000 mark, searchers, with every discovery, hope it is the last.

International Aid has arrived in the deeply devastated area of Tacloban providing first responder services including fresh water, food and medical supplies treating the nearly 25,000 injured.

The remote areas, some of which are not accessible, have yet to be assessed for damage, casualty, and death.

With hard hit cities facing damage equivalent to The World Trade Center Terrorist Attack, the Philippine Nation has a long and expensive rebuilding process ahead of them.

Damage estimates from Typhoon Haiyan, which is recorded as the strongest tropical storm to ever make landfall, as with the death tolls, have fluctuated and are now believed to be at $14billion dollars and will cost insurance agencies up to $700million.

Virginia Senator, Creigh Deeds, Attacked by Son

Virginia Senator Creigh Deeds was the victim of a stabbing attack inside his home by his deranged son, Gus Deeds, who immediately committed suicide.

Police were called to the western Virginia home, Tuesday, in Bath County, were they found Senator Deeds injured with multiple stab wounds in his upper torso and head. His son, Gus, 24, was found in a separate room dead of what has been described as a self inflicted gunshot wound.

Senator Deeds, according to police reports, was attacked by his son who was recently diagnosed with an unknown condition that resulted in an emergency custody order being issued. The younger Deeds was removed to a local psychiatric care facility which is known to treat substance abuse and mental disease. He was released as the institution could not find adequate space.

The Senator was taken to the hospital, where his injuries were initially deemed severe although not life threatening. He was treated and released later in the week.

No further details have been released. Authorities have indicated an inquiry into the release of Gus Deeds has been opened.

Senator Deeds is now preparing the funeral arrangements for his son and has spoken openly about his son’s mental illness.

For more information on President Obama: www.whitehouse.gov   

For more information on the Affordable Care Act: https://www.healthcare.gov/

Sources: Gallup, Wikipedia, Whitehouse.gov,

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