New Week, Same Train Wreck

"The most effectual means of preventing [the perversion of power into tyranny] are to illuminate, as far as practicable, the minds of the people at large, and more especially to give them knowledge of those facts which history exhibits, that ... they may be enabled to know ambition under all its shapes, and prompt to exert their natural powers to defeat its purposes." --Thomas Jefferson, A Bill for the More General Diffusion of Knowledge, 1779

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So, as another new week dawns, how's Obamacare going?  Let's first look at the execution of the website itself.

Despite the premise of insuring an additional 30 million Americans -- which it will not do -- they used three years of prep time to build the website to handle a capacity of...wait for it...50,000 users.  But even that isn't going well.  Here are just a few of the problems that have been reported...

• Dead people can sign up in Kentucky.
• In Tennessee, cell phones are being given out as incentive to join the exchanges.
• In Iowa, five whole people got signed up in the first eight days.
• Hawaii was so buggy that they got zero sign-ups, shut it down, and are going to attempt a re-launch in a few days.
• Maryland's exchange was nonfunctional and had zero doctors in it.  Same with Minnesota.
• People can't get the plans the website tells them they have to get.
• The costs are far higher than their existing insurance. 
• There are numerous and legitimate concerns about the security of the myriad of organizations who are connecting to the exchanges and all the personal/confidential medical data they hold. 
• People are being forced to choose between buying food and health care (I guess the good news is that in jail people get plenty of food!).
  

In fact, it was such a terrible first week that only a whopping total of 51,000 applications were processed.  For anyone who's counting, that's roughly .00016% of the population of America.

Keep in mind that this website cost taxpayers around $630 million to create over the course of three years.  And yet, the problems are obvious and voluminous, and the results are undeniably atrocious, prompting speculation that they never even tested any of it before rolling it out to the public. 

What little data insurers are getting out of the exchanges is often faulty, forcing them to manually correct that data or risk having people who signed up still not get coverage.  When considering the magnitude of correcting even a small fraction of submissions manually, the insurance industry is now "scared to death" of Obamacare. 

The propaganda machine continues to be a debacle, too.  For example, a rally in South Carolina to tout the benefits of Obamacare ended up with only two people in attendance.  In Pittsburgh, a major event at Heinz Field featuring HHS Tyrant-in-Chief Kathleen Sebelius and the owner of the Steelers brought in only 100 people...and none of them could get into the website on-site, either.  Even the most fervent supporters of the government takeover of health care are freely admitting that it has been a complete and utter failure, and CBS called it "nothing short of disastrous."  CNN anchor/Obama cheerleader Wolf Blitzer suggested that, "If they weren’t fully ready, they should accept the advice that a lot of Republicans are giving them — delay it another year, get it ready, and make sure it works."  That's kind of like a vampire suggesting that garlic and sunlight are good for the skin.  Anyway, if this is the level of competence that surrounds just Obamacare's enrollment website...why does anyone think they can actually administer health care itself more effectively??

Now let's look at doctors.  First, check out this quick interview to learn more about how Obamacare is going to drive a deeper wedge between doctors and their patients. I guess that helps explain these survey results of 1,000 doctors:

• A majority (55.5 percent) of practices believe the exchanges will have an unfavorable, or very unfavorable, impact on their practice.
• Fewer than three in 10 practices (29.2 percent) definitely plan to “participate with any new health insurance product(s) sold” on an exchange, with a majority (56.4 percent) still uncertain.
• Of those not participating in the exchanges, the top concern, listed by 64 percent of practices, was “concerns about the administrative and regulatory burdens related to these products.”
• More than two in three practices said that reimbursement rates for exchange plans are somewhat lower (36.2 percent) or much lower (33.2 percent) than “average payment rates from all commercial payers in your area”—and these lower reimbursement rates likely explain the lack of robust commitment by physician practices in participating in exchange plans.

This particular survey includes doctors from some prime practices like the Mayo Clinic.  Not exactly a ringing endorsement, and yet another reason to stop Obamacare in its tracks before it becomes too entrenched to back out.  Oh, speaking of doctors and Obamacare, did you know that thousands of doctors in Connecticut were fired by United Health Care due to the enormous costs of Obamacare?  No more Medicare for their patients!  So much for "keeping your doctor and your plan" if you like them.

The final regulations governing Obamacare amount to over 10,500 pages of legalese that not even Democrats have read.  When asked, one prominent Dem questioned whether or not it was "important" to read all those pages.  Maybe those regulations -- and the lack of understanding of them on the part of lawmakers -- could help explain why costs continue to rise and jobs continue to sputter. 

But, unfortunately, it gets even worse.

Many people are just curious as to what it would cost them to have insurance under the new Obamacare system.  In order to find out what their new premiums would cost, they have to create an account on the website.  Once they're signed up for an account...it'll never go away.  As it is set up now, it's a permanent account.  And if you want to think they'll later change the system so you can simply delete your account, um, I have some land on Mars I want to sell you.  So what's the big deal here?  Well, it's not like any politician will ever *cough cough* use such data for political purposes, of course, but if one were to recall what dimbulb Congresswoman Maxine Waters let slip in a TV interview back in 2011:

It was actually a conversation in reference to Democrats who might run against Barack Obama in the future, but it sure would come in handy here, too, don't you think?  Hmmm...

Anyway, there are a bunch of other existential concerns, too.  The Obama administration is doing anything it can to make things miserable for as many people as possible in order to drum up anger at Republicans -- accurately or not -- for the government shutdown (which is actually only a 17% shutdown), including closing down services at the National Institutes of Health, which cares for children with cancer, and cancelling death benefits to families of soldiers killed on active duty.  The House Republicans sent up a bill to rectify that last one immediately, but Democrats in the Senate killed it.  No, I'm not joking.  The Obama Propaganda Machine (formerly known as the mainstream media) somehow neglected to ask a single question about these tactics in the most recent press conference.  Another fun fact is that the Department of Insurance in Illinois issued a public warning against the Obamacare Navigators -- lobbyists and activists paid by taxpayer dollars to sign people up for Obamacare -- that using them is a giant risk for identity fraud.  Perhaps most disturbingly is this:

However, at least two conditions [in the Maryland Obamacare exchange's privacy policy] may give some users pause before proceeding.

The first is regarding personal information submitted with an application for those users who follow through on the sign up process all the way to the end.  The policy states that all information to help in applying for coverage and even for making a payment will be kept strictly confidential and only be used to carry out the function of the marketplace.  There is, however, an exception: "[W]e may share information provided in your application with the appropriate authorities for law enforcement and audit activities."  Here is the entire paragraph from the policy the includes the exception [emphasis added]:

Should you decide to apply for health coverage through Maryland Health Connection, the information you supply in your application will be used to determine whether you are eligible for health and dental coverage offered through Maryland Health Connection and for insurance affordability programs. It also may be used to assist you in making a payment for the insurance plan you select, and for related automated reminders or other activities permitted by law.  We will preserve the privacy of personal records and protect confidential or privileged information in full accordance with federal and State law. We will not sell your information to others.  Any information that you provide to us in your application will be used only to carry out the functions of Maryland Health Connection. The only exception to this policy is that we may share information provided in your application with the appropriate authorities for law enforcement and audit activities.

The site does not specify if "appropriate authorities" refers only to state authorities or if it could include the federal government, as well.  Neither is there any detail on what type of law enforcement and/or audit activities would justify the release of the personal information, or who exactly is authorized to make such a determination.  An email to the Maryland Health Connection's media contact seeking clarification has not yet been answered.

The second privacy term that may prompt caution by users relates to email communications.  The policy reads:

If you send us an e-mail, we use the information you send us to respond to your inquiry. E-mail correspondence may become a public record. As a public record, your correspondence could be disclosed to other parties upon their request in accordance with Maryland’s Public Information Act.

Since emails to the marketplace could conceivably involve private matters regarding finances, health history, and other sensitive issues, the fact that such information could be made part of the "public record" could prevent users from being as free with their information than they might otherwise be. 

So, what it really boils down to is that your private health care information could easily become very public knowledge for any number of reasons.

Obamacare is a disaster in every way.  Financially it is unsustainable.  Technically, it is a debacle.  In terms of privacy and security, it is a giant exploit waiting to happen.  It is a very short leap to seeing where any information that gets entered into the system can be used against you (or without your knowledge) in any number of ways.

These Democrats will literally stop at nothing to enforce Obamacare on the American people because it is their shortest single route to tyrannical control over this nation.

Yes, Obamacare is the law of the land right now.  But so was slavery at one time.  So was the lack of women's right to vote.  So have any number of things that were incorrect, immoral, and wrong.  Let's get this one right right now.  The American people never did want this.  The only people who want this are tyrants in the government who are seeking control over you and your family, or the cowards who enable them.

Make some calls and send some emails.  Tell your elected representatives that you demand they support all efforts to defund and/or repeal Obamacare.  Then tell everyone you know to do the same.  This is the government versus the American people, and it's a battle this nation cannot afford to lose.