Sponsored Content
« Sea Change: Majority of Public Now Says Guaranteeing "Access" To Health Care (A Euphemism for "Taxpayers Paying for It") Is Not the Government's Responsibility | Main | Jay Carney Explains Healthcare.gov To You Technology-Challenged, Slack-Jawed Yokels »
November 18, 2013

Federal Government Spent $4.4 Billion On State Insurance Exchanges

14 websites -- $4.4 billion dollars. Only the US Government can spend that much money and produce nothing but a heaping pile of failure.

Quick, let's put them in charge of everything.

The Obama administration gave states roughly $4.4 billion in taxpayer dollars to set up their own ObamaCare websites, according to a new analysis, in the latest revelation about the faucet of federal spending switched on by the 2010 passage of the health care law.

Some of the states even took federal money, then decided to let the federal site handle enrollment.

So it was just another Obama slush fund.

Meanwhile, as regards the several hundred million dollar healthcare.gov pile of rancid garbage, Obama's team has a great idea: Let's just skip the website altogether, and tell people to contact insurers directly.

On a mission to help people bypass distressed health-insurance websites, the Obama administration said it may allow big insurers to directly sign up those who qualify for tax credits, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

Currently, customers who are eligible for subsidies can get them only when purchasing coverage on the exchanges.

Wow, sounds like another deployment of Unilateral Executive Lawmaking.

As you probably know from @benk84, Obama has a hot new way to define a 100% functioning website: as an 80% functioning website.

he Washington Post reported on Sunday that the Obama administration will consider the new online marketplace a success if 80 percent of users can buy health insurance. That is absurd. First, it's another broken promise. The president and his advisers responded to the disastrous rollout last month by vowing to deliver an Amazon.com-quality website by the end of November. (If history remembers President Obama for one thing, other than his barrier-breaking 2008 election, it might be the outsized and unmet expectations that paved the path of his presidency.) Second, in what other line of work is 20 percent failure considered a success? If one out of every five meals served by a restaurant is inedible, the joint goes out of business.

This is similar to, but more generous than, his previous guarantee that 100% of you could keep your insurance if you liked your insurance, which actually meant about 40% of you could.

That could mean that 1 million of the 5 million of the people who've lost their insurance due to Obamacare are prevented from getting new insurance altogether, at any price. They won't even be able to pay the sticker-shock prices that everyone else will be subjected to.

Update: An Administration official says 80% functionality is the best case scenario.


Update via @elliosch.

digg this
posted by Ace at 06:12 PM

| Access Comments




Recent Comments
BurtTC: "John Wilkes Booth Charles Guiteau Leon Czolg ..."

Kalel666: "Oh no! I hope the sandbag is okay! ..."

Hadrian the Seventh: " George Washington... He was 6 foot 8 Post ..."

The Fetterman Center of Excellence: "Our analysis of the situation indicates that Joe B ..."

Voter theater. : "Sand Pop was a bad dude, jack. Tried to assassinat ..."

ShainS -- Oppression Scientist and Your AI Interpreter [/b][/i][/s][/u]: "I saw Corn Pop's grandson there trip him up with a ..."

Azathoth: "They're in a hurry to cover up the fact that Biden ..."

Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? [/s] [/b] [/i]: "Amazon Employees Walking Out Following CompanyR ..."

Itinerant Alley Butcher: "I get the snark and don't necessarily disagree but ..."

Washington Nearsider: "George Washington... He was 6 foot 8 Posted ..."

Semi-Literate Thug: " Why can't they equip Biden with a powered exoske ..."

I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper: "I wonder if there are any piles of sand and black ..."

Recent Entries
Search


Polls! Polls! Polls!
Frequently Asked Questions
The (Almost) Complete Paul Anka Integrity Kick
Top Top Tens
Greatest Hitjobs

The Ace of Spades HQ Sex-for-Money Skankathon
A D&D Guide to the Democratic Candidates
Margaret Cho: Just Not Funny
More Margaret Cho Abuse
Margaret Cho: Still Not Funny
Iraqi Prisoner Claims He Was Raped... By Woman
Wonkette Announces "Morning Zoo" Format
John Kerry's "Plan" Causes Surrender of Moqtada al-Sadr's Militia
World Muslim Leaders Apologize for Nick Berg's Beheading
Michael Moore Goes on Lunchtime Manhattan Death-Spree
Milestone: Oliver Willis Posts 400th "Fake News Article" Referencing Britney Spears
Liberal Economists Rue a "New Decade of Greed"
Artificial Insouciance: Maureen Dowd's Word Processor Revolts Against Her Numbing Imbecility
Intelligence Officials Eye Blogs for Tips
They Done Found Us Out, Cletus: Intrepid Internet Detective Figures Out Our Master Plan
Shock: Josh Marshall Almost Mentions Sarin Discovery in Iraq
Leather-Clad Biker Freaks Terrorize Australian Town
When Clinton Was President, Torture Was Cool
What Wonkette Means When She Explains What Tina Brown Means
Wonkette's Stand-Up Act
Wankette HQ Gay-Rumors Du Jour
Here's What's Bugging Me: Goose and Slider
My Own Micah Wright Style Confession of Dishonesty
Outraged "Conservatives" React to the FMA
An On-Line Impression of Dennis Miller Having Sex with a Kodiak Bear
The Story the Rightwing Media Refuses to Report!
Our Lunch with David "Glengarry Glen Ross" Mamet
The House of Love: Paul Krugman
A Michael Moore Mystery (TM)
The Dowd-O-Matic!
Liberal Consistency and Other Myths
Kepler's Laws of Liberal Media Bias
John Kerry-- The Splunge! Candidate
"Divisive" Politics & "Attacks on Patriotism" (very long)
The Donkey ("The Raven" parody)
Powered by
Movable Type 2.64