• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

The Supreme Court cannot be allowed to become the ultimate, unaccountable arbiter of everything.

They are not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

Republicans don’t lie to be believed, they lie to be repeated.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

I have other things to bitch about but those will have to wait.

They punch you in the face and then start crying because their fist hurts.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

Oh FFS you might as well trust a 6-year-old with a flamethrower.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

Republicans got rid of McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

Republicans do not trust women.

Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.

Everybody saw this coming.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

Prediction: the gop will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

No one could have predicted…

Mobile Menu

  • Seattle Meet-up Post
  • 2025 Activism
  • Targeted Political Fundraising
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • COVID-19
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • 2025 Activism
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • Targeted Fundraising!
You are here: Home / Civil Rights / Racial Justice / This Week In Blackness / To Question Obamacare, It Helps To Understand Obamacare

To Question Obamacare, It Helps To Understand Obamacare

by Elon James White|  October 30, 20135:43 pm| 124 Comments

This post is in: This Week In Blackness

FacebookTweetEmail

Don’t you love it when our elected officials ask stupid questions because they don’t understand how things like insurance work? “I would encourage you to be just like the American people,” said Colorado Rep. Cory Gardner, as he explained that  HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius should drop her current healthcare plan and sign up for the exchange. Because when you have something, it always makes sense to get rid of it to have it again, right?

And as even more blackface costumes keep appearing for Halloween, we decided it was time for some education. North Carolina State professor and author of the book Right to Ride Dr. Blair Kelley explained the history of blackface and why Tyler Perry really is a minstrel show.

On today’s #TWiBRadio, #TeamBlackness breaks down the use of Britney Spears to keep away pirates, why there are better ways to kill the one you love than setting them on fire, and that one Black friend does not a racist force field make.

Subscribe on iTunes | Subscribe On Stitcher | Direct Download | RSS

This morning on #amTWiB, the Morning Crew discusses the upcoming Red Bull liability suit, a Nevada politician willing to be pro-slavery, and Ray Kelly getting booed off stage.

Subscribe on iTunes | Subscribe On Stitcher | Direct Download | RSS

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: « NSA is all up in your LOLCATS for real, says WaPo bombshell
Next Post: Long Read: “The Tea Party Is Going Down, But…” »

Reader Interactions

124Comments

  1. 1.

    BGinCHI

    October 30, 2013 at 5:53 pm

    Nothing personal, but can we space out the fucking posts here?

    Love,

    BG

  2. 2.

    kc

    October 30, 2013 at 5:54 pm

    “I would encourage you to be just like the American people,” said Colorado Rep. Cory Gardner, as he explained that HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius should drop her current healthcare plan and sign up for the exchange.

    I guess, being a public official, Sebelius restrained herself from responding to this idiocy with the withering contempt it so richly deserves.

  3. 3.

    Yatsuno

    October 30, 2013 at 5:55 pm

    @kc: She had a moment today. She must have the patience of Job or something. I would have cut someone at that point.

  4. 4.

    EconWatcher

    October 30, 2013 at 5:56 pm

    Is it just me, or are we really taking a shellacking?

    I was energized after we won the shutdown, and looking forward to torturing them with immigration reform. Instead, we’ve got these “own goals” with the website glitches and the promise that you can keep your own plan, which does seem like it should have been worded a lot more carefully.

    Someone talk me down. But this stuff seems like a pretty big deal that could stick.

  5. 5.

    piratedan

    October 30, 2013 at 5:56 pm

    @kc: seems to me that the answer should be, let’s go ahead and do it together Representative Gardner.

  6. 6.

    BGinCHI

    October 30, 2013 at 5:59 pm

    @EconWatcher: We are definitely getting killed among the low info morans who don’t know anything except what Fox and CNN tell them. Worse, I’ll bet you there are people all over signing up for cheaper health care who have not gotten even the slightest bit more inclined to agree that Obama and the Dems are doing something important and positive.

  7. 7.

    Greg

    October 30, 2013 at 6:00 pm

    @EconWatcher:

    Is it just me, or are we really taking a shellacking?

    It’s all in how many people are paying attention. The Republicans looked horrible in front of lots and lots of people (the shutdown got beyond people who follow politics and even beyond people who watch/read national news).

    The Obama Admin now looks bad only to those people who are paying attention to politics, and primarily, only to those people paying attention to politics who have already internalized right-wing frames. They aren’t changing many, if any, minds here.

  8. 8.

    kc

    October 30, 2013 at 6:00 pm

    @kc:

    I don’t know how anyone puts up with that horseshit.

  9. 9.

    kc

    October 30, 2013 at 6:02 pm

    @Yatsuno:

    She should have let him have it.

  10. 10.

    piratedan

    October 30, 2013 at 6:02 pm

    @EconWatcher: it’s Republicans being Republicans…. the press will stop as soon as the next new shiny appears, so next up, the Va. Governor’s race… because the HHS folks will let the R’s continue to illustrate that they know nothing and the usual pushback from the initial spate of grossly misrepresented reporting will take place. But we’re in piranha click mode for the moment….

  11. 11.

    kc

    October 30, 2013 at 6:03 pm

    @EconWatcher:

    I share your frustration. And I’m still not sold on the wonderfulness of the ACA in the first place.

    But let’s think positive: The dumb-ass right-wingers have been overplaying their hands a lot lately. They’ll do it this time, too.

  12. 12.

    Chyron HR

    October 30, 2013 at 6:06 pm

    Big surprise, a True Progressive ally in the fight against Obamacare dares to question one of Obama’s Inner Niggers, and you Obots jump to crucify him. But what about the Keystone XL pipeline, I ask?

  13. 13.

    EconWatcher

    October 30, 2013 at 6:06 pm

    @piratedan

    I avoid TV and cable news, because it makes me nauseous, but my impression is that there’s almost no reporting on the people who are benefiting from the law, and a singular focus on people who have to change policies. Presumably, word of mouth about good deals on the exchanges should help, but is that enough to counteract the bad publicity?

    If we get spanked in the midterms even the freakfest shutdown, I really will need to start scouting around for a new country….

  14. 14.

    shelly

    October 30, 2013 at 6:10 pm

    Like I said before, the Republicans don’t care shit about health insurance or helping uninsured Americans. The faux outrage is just a cover for their glee at seeing this as a big help in the 2014 elections.

  15. 15.

    Another Bostplainer

    October 30, 2013 at 6:13 pm

    @EconWatcher: No reporting on the worthless policies people have been buying for years that basically don’t cover anything.

  16. 16.

    Reasonable 4ce

    October 30, 2013 at 6:20 pm

    An important part of what’s going on is that the Press Corpse knows full well how badly the House Repukes tripped over their dicks. Therefore they must put their thumb on the scale and go into full Obama bashing/concern-trolling mode to restore “balance, ” facts and context be damned.

  17. 17.

    mclaren

    October 30, 2013 at 6:21 pm

    @Another Bostplainer:

    No reporting on the worthless policies people have been buying for years that basically don’t cover anything.

    It’s the magic of the Free Market ® ™ in action! It’s the invisible hand!

    Sometimes the Free Market ® ™ doesn’t give you a hand, though — more often, it only gives you the finger.

  18. 18.

    piratedan

    October 30, 2013 at 6:27 pm

    @EconWatcher: there is some of that going on, but this is just the beginning stages of the pushback against the GOP/MSM narrative. Not saying or glossing over the issues, but they’re not insurmountable by any means. The MSM has done their normal stellar job of allowing the GOP talking points to be introduced first and step out onto the stage and simply accept them at face value. When have we seen this before? ummm all the time? The website is working in places where there was interest in making it work. Other places, it’s more difficult because so many states decided that they weren’t going to help out, most likely because those poor people don’t vote GOP anyways (if they’re paying attention) and those that remain willfully obstinate will vote GOP too. Yet the word is getting out there, as far as I know the paper and phone processes are working and guess what, those registrations are just as valid as the ones made thru the website. GOP obstructionism is here to stay (at least until 2014) so we’ll continue to see the usual grandstanding and obtuseness and incivility to any and all things that they choose to associate with the current administration.

  19. 19.

    KG

    October 30, 2013 at 6:27 pm

    @EconWatcher: caught a bit of the president’s speech today while on the treadmill. He reminded people that when Medicare Part D passed (without funding) that it’s website had issues, yet Dems didn’t spend three years throwing a temper tantrum – they tried to help fix it. Same with what happened with RomneyCare in Massachusetts. Hell, anyone who has ever dealt with a Windows update knows how much of a pain in the ass the roll out of a new program can be.

  20. 20.

    MattR

    October 30, 2013 at 6:29 pm

    Prepare to be amazed. Greta Van Susteren commits an act of journalism and questions Dianne Barrette, who was featured in a recent CBS story, about the details of what her old plan did and didn’t cover as well as the options available to her now.

  21. 21.

    Sly

    October 30, 2013 at 6:30 pm

    @BGinCHI:
    People who watch Fox and CNN are “misinformation morans” and “superficial interest in current events morans,” respectively, neither of which remotely amount to a constituency the size of the low-information voter. Those people are basically in the knowledge category of “There’s a website that isn’t working? Eh. Whatever.”

    Always remember that the lion’s share of people who watch any amount of cable news are basically looking up at the TV from a seat in an airport lounge or a hotel bar, and that’s only if they don’t have the ability to change the channel to ESPN.

  22. 22.

    El Cid

    October 30, 2013 at 6:30 pm

    “Why are you not a Moon astronaut, Sebelius? Americans have been on the Moon. Why are you unwilling to be on the Moon? Are you not supportive of American space efforts? I think it’s absurd that someone in charge of as big a program as you are refuse to make good on NASA’s promise to walk on the Moon.”

  23. 23.

    charluckles

    October 30, 2013 at 6:30 pm

    Good god that guy is a massive embarassment.

  24. 24.

    russ

    October 30, 2013 at 6:30 pm

    health insurance now illegal under ACA are just like interest only mortgages, sometimes the gov’t should protect people from their own stupidity. I believe Darwin would agree.

  25. 25.

    Another Bostplainer

    October 30, 2013 at 6:31 pm

    @mclaren: Idiots don’t even understand how bad they are getting screwed with their cheap plans.

  26. 26.

    Litlebritdiftrnt

    October 30, 2013 at 6:31 pm

    @Another Bostplainer:

    Surprisingly Gretta Van Sustrean (whatever) did a piece last night on a person who was featured on CBS with just such a policy, it cost her $54.00 a month and basically paid $50.00 for whatever she used, including presumably at $15,000 ER visit. Gretta basically said to her that her policy was basically worthless and wouldn’t she be better off paying $200 a month in the exchanges for a policy that would cover virtually everything. I am too lazy to go find it but Wonkette had a story on it.

    The majority of the people who are getting cancellation notices and premium hikes are people with worthless policies and catastrophic policies. In other words Moochers, who go to the ER for a cold and expect the rest of us to pay for it.

    Also too, I have not used my insurance in something like 12 years, and our premiums go up about 12% every year, guaranteed. I have been looking into the exchanges but here in NC thanks to our dickhead governor we only have one option, Blue Cross, which of course our current policy is with.

  27. 27.

    Another Bostplainer

    October 30, 2013 at 6:33 pm

    @Litlebritdiftrnt: Yep, moochers.

    http://www.mediaite.com/tv/cbs-news-misleading-obamacare-report-womans-plan-paid-50-per-service-doesnt-cover-hospitalization/

  28. 28.

    Litlebritdiftrnt

    October 30, 2013 at 6:34 pm

    @MattR:

    Thanks Matt, that is what I was talking about above.

  29. 29.

    El Cid

    October 30, 2013 at 6:35 pm

    Obama promised me that if I liked my insurance I could keep it. He lied.

    I paid just $40 a month and my plan was exactly what I need, if I experience any sickness or injury my insurer sends me a free packet of Sea Monkeys and a coupon for 50% the lunch menu of KFC.

    Now my insurance company (I think it is an insurance company, though they spell it “onsurance” and I found it in Craigslist) sends me a text that they can no longer provide me my coverage plan due to Obamacare sending out their jackbooted thugs to crush their helpless company.

    Why did you lie to me, Obama?

  30. 30.

    MattR

    October 30, 2013 at 6:40 pm

    @Another Bostplainer: If you click through that Mediaite article to look at the actual application for the old BCBS plan, it says in bold letters.

    I understand that this product provides limited beenfits and is not considered major medicial coverage. I understand this policy does not meet the definition of qualifying previous coverage or qualfiying coverage as definied in FS 627.6561. As a result, I may have to meet a pre-exisitng condition requirement when renewing or purchasing other coverage

  31. 31.

    BGinCHI

    October 30, 2013 at 6:41 pm

    Bush lied, people died.

    Obama lied, people lived better lives through affordable health care.

  32. 32.

    Mnemosyne

    October 30, 2013 at 6:41 pm

    @EconWatcher:

    Is it just me, or are we really taking a shellacking?

    I think it’s just you. Basically, this is the MSM’s revenge for being forced to admit during the shutdown that the Republicans fucked up and both sides don’t really do it. So they pull one quote out of context and get some quotes from insurance company shills and SCANDAL!!

    The one thing I’m a little concerned about is that the publicity will discourage people who get letters from their insurance company from going onto the Exchanges and shopping around. Anecdotally, it sounds like the health insurance companies are trying to take this opportunity to upsell people to plans they may not need, and the MSM kerfuffle over the website and Obama killed my healthcare plan! may discourage people from looking at their options because they’ll figure it’s all the fault of “Obamacare” and they have no recourse.

  33. 33.

    TaMara (BHF)

    October 30, 2013 at 6:42 pm

    My representative at work. I’m going to do everything I can to see him shown the door. We’re pretty purple, so it might be possible.

  34. 34.

    Sly

    October 30, 2013 at 6:43 pm

    From the Grio link:

    Minstrelsy became America’s first national popular culture.

    And its first real cultural export of any prominence. To the extent that, in 1841, when John Lloyd Stephens, the U.S. Ambassador to Central America, arrived in Mexico, the brass band started playing the minstrel song “Jump Jim Crow” because they thought it was our national anthem.

  35. 35.

    MattR

    October 30, 2013 at 6:43 pm

    @BGinCHI:

    Bush lied, people died.

    Obama lied, people lived better lives through affordable health care.

    Ergo, Obama is worse than Bush.

    QED

  36. 36.

    The Other Chuck

    October 30, 2013 at 6:44 pm

    @BGinCHI:

    Bush lied, people died.

    Obama lied, people lived better lives through affordable health care.

    When one’s worldview is made up entirely of nihilism and spite, the former is a goal and the latter is objectively a bad thing. Perfectly logical.

  37. 37.

    aimai

    October 30, 2013 at 6:47 pm

    @Mnemosyne: I have to believe that any knock on effect is going to be short lived. Basically, people like a gamble and they are driven to get information when they think the payoff can be huge. The truth is that the uncertainity surrounding what you get when you go on the exchanges will probably create a certain kind of curiosity and drive to “win” through and get the health care as much or more than it will actually discourage someone. One thing we can say for sure about americans is that they hate, hate, hate to think someone else is getting something they aren’t. So its going to be a slow, steady, but incremental process of word of mouth. Someone is going to be telling the latest horror story from Fox News at the water cooler and someone else is going to say “but I did really well on the exchange! And its private insurance!” and then everyone is going to dive for their computers to try to overcome this momentary comparative advantage that their friends and neighbors got.

    I don’t care what people say–if there is a bargain out there in health care the majority of people who need it are going to find a way to get it even as, at the same time, they bitch and moan to their representatives about the evils of Obamacare.

  38. 38.

    TaMara (BHF)

    October 30, 2013 at 6:50 pm

    @BGinCHI:
    @MattR:

    You two are on fire!

  39. 39.

    MattR

    October 30, 2013 at 6:52 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    Anecdotally, it sounds like the health insurance companies are trying to take this opportunity to upsell people to plans they may not need

    This was my response to somebody on Facebook. I pointed out this is the perfect time for insurance companies to gouge their customers by either terminating unprofitable plans and blaming it on Obamacare or by pushing people into unnecessarily expensive plan with unimpressive benefits (which of course makes them very profitable for the insurance company). For example, the letter than the woman at the center of the CBS report who was also interviewed by Greta Van Susteren received from BCBS said that it was automatically enrolling her in a new, expensive plan if she didn’t take affirmative steps to opt out by November 1. I am guessing many insurance companies are doing this and hoping that their customers don’t realize that they are being given the equivalent of a Hummer to replace their Yugo and that there are plenty of better options in between.

    @aimai: This may be the result down the road, but I think this first year gives insurance companies a tremendous opportunity to use scare tactics to profit from the uncertainty (and the healthcare.gov website issues)

  40. 40.

    David Koch

    October 30, 2013 at 6:58 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    Basically, this is the MSM’s revenge for being forced to admit during the shutdown that the Republicans fucked up and both sides don’t really do it.

    I disagree. I think the MSM did everything to cover for the republicans. Look at how desperately they tried to make the war memorial the focal point, yet ignored the confederate flag wavers.

    Given the polls and how the public found out about the disgusting confederates clowns on their own, it tells me no one is listening the traditional media anymore in this twitter, blog, smartphone age.

  41. 41.

    pseudonymous in nc

    October 30, 2013 at 7:02 pm

    “I would encourage you to be just like the American people,” said Colorado Rep. Cory Gardner

    Yes, because Americans offered health insurance through work drop it all the time.

    Still, if she dropped her FEHB plan, she could enroll with Medicare, since she’s 65. But perhaps Cory Gardner means that “the American people” don’t enroll with Medicare at 65.

  42. 42.

    Tim C.

    October 30, 2013 at 7:03 pm

    I think this is about the best advice to my fellow pale Americans about blackface.

    http://shouldidressinblackfacethishalloween.com/

  43. 43.

    jacy

    October 30, 2013 at 7:04 pm

    @El Cid:

    I experience any sickness or injury my insurer sends me a free packet of Sea Monkeys and a coupon for 50% the lunch menu of KFC.

    That’s the real problem with American healthcare, the decline of the Sea Monkey industry. Why when I was kid, healthcare was cheap and plentiful, and there was an advertisement for Sea Monkeys in the back of ever comic book. Coincidence? I think not.

  44. 44.

    BGinCHI

    October 30, 2013 at 7:05 pm

    @Tim C.: I think that is the same web site as shouldiwaxmyballs.

  45. 45.

    rikyrah

    October 30, 2013 at 7:08 pm

    Senator Will File A Lawsuit Forcing His Staff To Pay More For Health Insurance

    By Igor Volsky on October 30, 2013 at 5:20 pm

    he LA Times’ Mike Memoli reports that Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) will file a lawsuit to prevent Congressional staffers and lawmakers from receiving subsidies when they purchase coverage in the Affordable Care Act’s exchanges, substantially increasing their health care costs.

    Under current law, lawmakers and some of their aides will be required to drop their existing health care coverage in the tax-subsidized Federal Health Benefits Program (FEHB) and enroll in the insurance exchanges at the core of the health law beginning on Oct 1. Though Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) — the author of the amendment responsible for the shift — had initially stipulated that Congressional employees “use their existing employer contribution” to buy insurance, the final law did not specifically mention the role of the employer, leaving regulators concerned that the language could prohibit the government from contributing to the insurance costs of Congressional employees and leave poorly-paid aides responsible for the full cost of coverage.

    …………………………………..

    But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and the Democrats (and Congressional staffers), strongly opposed the change and it was eventually dropped. “Okay. Go after members of Congress. But even doing that. Now, I can handle if I have to buy insurance without employer contribution. But some of my senators can’t,” Reid told the Huffington Post shortly after the shutdown ended. “Forget about that. Forget about senators. They can do okay. But staff — we have staff people of [Sen.] Susan Collins. She has people who work in Maine and make $25,000 a year. One of the reasons you can get somebody like that is that you give them health care. … How in good conscience could you do something like that?”

    http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/10/30/2863561/senator-file-lawsuit-increase-health-care-costs-congressional-staffers/

  46. 46.

    Tim C.

    October 30, 2013 at 7:09 pm

    @BGinCHI:

    This could be a great meme…..

  47. 47.

    piratedan

    October 30, 2013 at 7:10 pm

    @rikyrah: because Harry, Republicans are dicks……

  48. 48.

    BGinCHI

    October 30, 2013 at 7:12 pm

    @Tim C.: It also gets used by traffickers of honeydoesthisdressmakemelookfat.com.

  49. 49.

    piratedan

    October 30, 2013 at 7:13 pm

    @BGinCHI: would a floor buffer be involved?

  50. 50.

    Betty Cracker

    October 30, 2013 at 7:15 pm

    @BGinCHI:

    Nothing personal, but can we space out the fucking posts here?

    Short answer? No. Even if we try (which I do), we’ll squash each other’s posts sometimes. It just happens.

  51. 51.

    BGinCHI

    October 30, 2013 at 7:17 pm

    @piratedan: Depends on the size of your floor.

  52. 52.

    BGinCHI

    October 30, 2013 at 7:19 pm

    @Betty Cracker: You left out the love part.

    Seriously, it just seems like there is nothing new for hours and I’m grading papers and I need some stimulation and then suddenly there are three threads in 5 minutes.

    Why can’t things work exactly the way I need them to?

    /White People Problems

  53. 53.

    Omnes Omnibus

    October 30, 2013 at 7:20 pm

    @rikyrah: Ron Johnson is an asshole. I go back and forth over whether he or Scott Walker is the bigger asshole. I think it is Johnson. Walker is merely doing more damage.

  54. 54.

    Tim C.

    October 30, 2013 at 7:21 pm

    @BGinCHI:
    shouldIeatthisexpiredshrimp

  55. 55.

    BGinCHI

    October 30, 2013 at 7:24 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: Once you’re an asshole, I mean a real asshole, I really don’t think size matters.

  56. 56.

    BGinCHI

    October 30, 2013 at 7:25 pm

    @Tim C.: Click over to couldgodmakeamountainsobigevenhecouldntliftit.com

  57. 57.

    Baud

    October 30, 2013 at 7:26 pm

    @EconWatcher:

    Is it just me, or are we really taking a shellacking?

    Only for about 40 years now. Welcome to the Democratic Party. Suck it up.

  58. 58.

    LanceThruster

    October 30, 2013 at 7:26 pm

    When you’re destroying the village to save it, it matters little what you actually know about the village.

  59. 59.

    Omnes Omnibus

    October 30, 2013 at 7:30 pm

    @BGinCHI: shoulditrustarepublican.com is good too.

  60. 60.

    BGinCHI

    October 30, 2013 at 7:33 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: I also really like honeydoyouwanttoeatinfrontoftheTVoratthetablewherewecantalkaboutourday.org

    I send Mrs. BG there frequently.

  61. 61.

    David Koch

    October 30, 2013 at 7:35 pm

    @Baud: we’re taking such a shellacking the neo-confederates are being sweep out of Robert E. Lee’s state and the national GOP is 40 pts under water.

    please don’t throw me in the briar patch

  62. 62.

    GHayduke (formerly lojasmo)

    October 30, 2013 at 7:37 pm

    Spent a couple hours today surfing HC.gov’s web site to try to suss out what the costs would be for a friend in Missouri. He thought it would be $700 per month for him and his girlfriend

    Turns out It would cost them $210/month (if they were married) but they’re not, so her insurance would be $280 per month, and he is likely eligible for Medicaid.

    They’re still going to pay the fine because…morons, I guess.

    I actually called Blue Cross of Missouri to find out if his hearing aids would be covered. The insurance salesman told me PPACA was “a disaster”. I told him the web site was less than functional, but in states where the governors are not jack-asses, everything was going fine. I told him to set his commentary aside, could he give me the information i needed?

    He told me that CURRENTLY hearing aids are dissallowed, but he didn’t know what would be coming on 1/1. Turns out under PPACA hearing aids are covered at $700 per ear every three years.

    Oh, healthcare.gov worked fine for me.

  63. 63.

    Omnes Omnibus

    October 30, 2013 at 7:38 pm

    @BGinCHI: doesthisdressmakemyasslookbig.gov

  64. 64.

    BGinCHI

    October 30, 2013 at 7:44 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: You think Obama ever visits that site?

  65. 65.

    Baud

    October 30, 2013 at 7:46 pm

    @BGinCHI:

    If he does, I hope he uses incognito mode.

  66. 66.

    Omnes Omnibus

    October 30, 2013 at 7:46 pm

    @BGinCHI: I think he, like the two of us, already knows the answer.

  67. 67.

    JCJ

    October 30, 2013 at 7:48 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Ron Johnson is an asshole. I go back and forth over whether he or Scott Walker is the bigger asshole. I think it is Johnson. Walker is merely doing more damage.

    Aye, that is an excellent summary. You are lucky to live in Madison. Here in Brookfield/Waukesha I still see cars with both of their bumper stickers and a house I drive by nearly every day still has a Walker sign in the front yard. That does not help my blood pressure.

  68. 68.

    David Koch

    October 30, 2013 at 7:49 pm

    doesthisdressmakemyasslookbig.gov

    White husbands: no honey, of course not

    Latio husbands: Hell YES!

  69. 69.

    BGinCHI

    October 30, 2013 at 7:50 pm

    @JCJ: Your blood pressure would go down if you just turned that wheel and gave that yard a little bit of a spin.

  70. 70.

    JCJ

    October 30, 2013 at 7:51 pm

    @BGinCHI:
    Oooh! I like that idea!

  71. 71.

    BGinCHI

    October 30, 2013 at 7:52 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: Word.

  72. 72.

    BGinCHI

    October 30, 2013 at 7:53 pm

    @JCJ: Black electrical tape over a few letters/numbers to change the tags. A ski mask would be a nice touch.

  73. 73.

    JCJ

    October 30, 2013 at 7:55 pm

    @BGinCHI:
    You sound experienced at this!

  74. 74.

    eemom

    October 30, 2013 at 7:56 pm

    best response I’ve seen so far to the “cancelled policies” bullshit:

    Perhaps Obama should have said, “if you have a plan that isn’t a ripoff and doesn’t leave you entirely exposed to risk, you can keep it.”

  75. 75.

    BGinCHI

    October 30, 2013 at 7:57 pm

    @JCJ: All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  76. 76.

    Omnes Omnibus

    October 30, 2013 at 7:57 pm

    @BGinCHI: I was going to suggest a stolen car, preferably one with Walker and Johnson stickers, but your approach is simpler.

  77. 77.

    Violet

    October 30, 2013 at 8:01 pm

    @eemom: “If your insurance company doesn’t decide to change or eliminate your policy, you can keep it. Obamacare allows your current policy to be grandfathered in so nothing will change for you. If your policy goes away, it’s the insurance company making that decision.”

  78. 78.

    BGinCHI

    October 30, 2013 at 8:01 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: Let’s let the kid practice first. I don’t want legal jumping all over us.

    I do think a Practical Jokes on Republican Neighbors thread would be useful.

  79. 79.

    Just Some Fuckhead, Thought Leader

    October 30, 2013 at 8:01 pm

    I’m prolly gonna dress up as a white person this year for Halloween.

  80. 80.

    Omnes Omnibus

    October 30, 2013 at 8:04 pm

    @Violet: Not amenable to a soundbyte so the news wouldn’t play it.

  81. 81.

    Baud

    October 30, 2013 at 8:04 pm

    @Just Some Fuckhead, Thought Leader:

    Scary.

  82. 82.

    Gin & Tonic

    October 30, 2013 at 8:05 pm

    Three threads in an hour and I bet we’ll have to wait till the 5th inning to get a World Series thread.

  83. 83.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    October 30, 2013 at 8:05 pm

    @shelly:

    The faux outrage is just a cover for their glee at seeing this as a big help in the 2014 elections.

    Exactly.

    Or 2013, even.

    There was a report on local NPR news on the way home that former Rep. Tom Davis said that the Cuccinelli could win the Virginia governor’s race because it is “a referendum on Obamacare”.

    Anything to change the subject to the new shiny… :-(

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  84. 84.

    Omnes Omnibus

    October 30, 2013 at 8:06 pm

    @BGinCHI:

    I do think a Practical Jokes on Republican Neighbors thread would be useful.

    Ever so useful.

  85. 85.

    gelfling545

    October 30, 2013 at 8:07 pm

    @Litlebritdiftrnt: So she paid $54/month & her plan paid out $50 for any service & $15/ prescription (which for people who have actual insurance would be co-pays, not the insurance company’s disbursement). Unless she goes to the doctor really frequently, it seems like having no insurance & just saving the premiums would be would be a better option.

    I saw plans somewhat like these when I thought about buying dental insurance. They call them medical discount plans here in NY and are not allowed to call them insurance. The web sites all have disclaimers: This is not an insurance policy; and they pay out maybe slightly less than you pay in per year, if that.

  86. 86.

    Tomolitics

    October 30, 2013 at 8:08 pm

    Where is TG Chicago to tell me (over & over) what a big fat LIAR! Obama is? A nation turnes its lonely eyes to you, TG… [He’s probably just “on duty” over at Kos tonight.]

  87. 87.

    eemom

    October 30, 2013 at 8:13 pm

    @David Koch:

    I disagree. I think the MSM did everything to cover for the republicans. Look at how desperately they tried to make the war memorial the focal point, yet ignored the confederate flag wavers.
    Given the polls and how the public found out about the disgusting confederates clowns on their own, it tells me no one is listening the traditional media anymore in this twitter, blog, smartphone age.

    I agree with your take. The emmessemm didn’t admit shit against the false equivalence narrative during the shutdown…..thereby prompting the usual handwringing and despair from those on this blog who really believe that every John Q Low Info Voter out there takes the words of David Brooks as gospel.

    And YET, the polls proved otherwise. It really was quite heartening.

  88. 88.

    JCJ

    October 30, 2013 at 8:15 pm

    @BGinCHI: I would need a lot of suggestions. My neighborhood is nausea inducing with political signs for every Republican sociopath around election time.

  89. 89.

    eemom

    October 30, 2013 at 8:22 pm

    @I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet:

    There was a report on local NPR news on the way home that former Rep. Tom Davis said that the Cuccinelli could win the Virginia governor’s race because it is “a referendum on Obamacare”.

    heh. Asshole Davis was my “former Rep”…..and it was the exactly the Cooch batshit crowd that crushed his ambition to run for Senator……so I can only assume the pathetic old has-been said this because he was so fucking desperate to get on the radio and prove he’s still relevant to the two people in the state who still remember who he is.

  90. 90.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    October 30, 2013 at 8:26 pm

    @eemom: Chris Hayes just showed two reports, one by his reporter and another by Paul Waldman, that demolished a Very Dramatic Story from NBC news about a 45 YO woman in CA who’s premiums have gone up ZOMG! 65%, from IIRC ~$444 to about ~~625. They were comparing her current bare-bones (junk) policy to a gold policy from the CA exchange. A bronze policy would in fact be about 75 dollars less, a silver plan ~$25 more. The numbers are rough and from memory, but the larger point is the people who made that report, working in the same bldg as Hayes, will probably never know what a bad job, and if they do, will dismiss it as biased reporting by Hayes and Waldman.

    I’m a man the same age as the woman in the report, and my grandfathered (and admittedly fairly good) policy is about the same price of this woman’s gold policy.

  91. 91.

    Omnes Omnibus

    October 30, 2013 at 8:27 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Hey, this Maybach costs way more than my used Kia.

  92. 92.

    Kay

    October 30, 2013 at 8:27 pm

    @EconWatcher:

    Presumably, word of mouth about good deals on the exchanges should help, but is that enough to counteract the bad publicity?

    Does any responsibility go to the individuals who might get spanked in the midterms? Just take Obama out of it for a minute. This is a Democratic-enacted law. They have to run on it.

    Can they make some effort to defend it? It’s just crazy that the biggest Obamacare defender is the governor of Kentucky. Even if they hate it, think it sucks, are angry about the website or the Obama Administration’s handling of any of it, THEY have to run on it. He doesn’t.

    Sherrod Brown was here last week and I asked him about 2010 and the ridiculous pack ‘o lies Medicare/Obamacare attacks that contributed to every state candidate losing here in 2010 and he said “we were unprepared.”

    If the plan prior to this was to run on “Republicans are insane” maybe that was a bad plan.It’s nice that they were handed a gift with the shutdown, but are they just sitting around waiting for these things to fall into their laps? They could have some role in how this law is perceived, obviously, because Republicans in Congress have certainly played a role in how it’s perceived.

  93. 93.

    Micheline

    October 30, 2013 at 8:29 pm

    @I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet: After seeing the two polls that came out today where McAuliffe’s lead has substantially shrank, I can believe that Cooch has a chance.

  94. 94.

    Micheline

    October 30, 2013 at 8:29 pm

    @I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet: After seeing the two polls that came out today where McAuliffe’s lead has substantially shrank, I can believe that Cooch has a chance.

  95. 95.

    Mnemosyne

    October 30, 2013 at 8:34 pm

    @gelfling545:

    I sometimes wonder if, frankly, these are people who’ve never had real insurance. Until they got their crappy “medical discount plan,” they paid out of pocket for everything, so it makes the medical discount plan look good.

    I think a lot of those people are going to have their minds blown when they find out how actual insurance was supposed to work all along.

    @eemom:

    That’s kind of what I meant — the MSM embarrassed themselves with their coverage of the shutdown, and now they’re pissed off and looking for revenge.

  96. 96.

    eemom

    October 30, 2013 at 8:39 pm

    @Micheline:

    Other polls are saying the exact opposite.

  97. 97.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    October 30, 2013 at 8:40 pm

    @eemom: Heh.

    A couple of things I’ll never let Davis live down:

    1) Chairing the House committee that tried to subpoena Terri Schiavo to testify.

    2) Giving his wife multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars from his campaign war chest for her failed state senate race – an $18k a year job.

    He could talk a good game, but he was just as bad as many of the other national Rs out there.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  98. 98.

    Kay

    October 30, 2013 at 8:42 pm

    @EconWatcher:

    And it’s not “you”, you don’t have any control over it, it’s just that Democrats have known for years that the law gets attacked regularly, like clockwork, and each time they’re just completely… surprised!
    It’s hilarious in a way. “Why isn’t Ezra Klein supporting this law for Democrats?” Does he work for the giant Democratic Party campaign apparatus? Why is it his job?
    NBC did a horrible, sloppy hit piece on the grandfathered policies? Now there’s a shocker. That never happens. It’s happened every six months since 2009, some huge lie about this law.

  99. 99.

    Mnemosyne

    October 30, 2013 at 8:42 pm

    @Kay:

    It is definitely frustrating to watch congressional Democrats run away from ACA even after the debacle of 2010, where all of the Blue Dogs running against it got thrown out on their ears.

    My rep here in blue California was a little waffle-y when the voting was going on, but he’s been 100 percent behind PPACA ever since. And he waltzed back into office in 2010, in 2012, and will probably be back again in 2014. Because he actually supports the Democratic agenda and stands behind the big initiatives. Duh.

  100. 100.

    Hal

    October 30, 2013 at 8:47 pm

    @Micheline:

    After seeing the two polls that came out today where McAuliffe’s lead has substantially shrank, I can believe that Cooch has a chance.

    Cooch has been down in every poll for 6 solid months at least. One Quinnipiac poll has him down “only” by 4 points today, where other’s have him down by 6 in one and 15 in another. This is the point where the media needs a horse race and here we go.

  101. 101.

    Kay

    October 30, 2013 at 8:49 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    Oh, my God, at some point you’re like “no more hemming and hawing! The time for that has passed!” It made some sense when they were waiting for the SCOTUS and then for the real timid skittery types I guess they were waiting to see if Obama was re-elected before bolting and running away, but all of those things are over.
    For the younger or newer reps you feel like saying “you know he’s down the road in 2016 and you’re still a Democrat, right?”
    What could they possibly have to lose with a robust defense at this point? They did draft and pass the thing, did they not?

  102. 102.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    October 30, 2013 at 9:12 pm

    @I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet: Wasn’t Davis also the one who made a reference to the “underclasses” being overly sensitive to Romney’s makers and takers rhetoric? and then issues an eye-rolling non-apology for not being politically correct? He’s one of Tweety’s pet old-fashioned moderates.

  103. 103.

    mai naem

    October 30, 2013 at 9:16 pm

    I listened to/watched a good part of the Sebelius hearing. I thought I saw a combo of “WTF Are you kidding me?” and just a condescending attitude(in the best way) of “you little nothing congresscritters who will never amount to anything, I am closing my ears, lalalalalalalalala, I can’t hear youuuu, Also to, FU.”

    @Hal: I think the Dem supporters always worry because of Dem lower turnout.

  104. 104.

    Mike in NC

    October 30, 2013 at 9:23 pm

    @I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet:

    There was a report on local NPR news on the way home that former Rep. Tom Davis said that the Cuccinelli could win the Virginia governor’s race because it is “a referendum on Obamacare”.

    My former Congressman, now still a shit-eating weasel and presumably a highly paid lobbyist.

  105. 105.

    David Koch

    October 30, 2013 at 9:27 pm

    @Kay: The President’s rally today was a knock out

    http://www.whitehouse.gov/photos-and-video/video/2013/10/30/president-obama-speaks-changes-and-improvements-individual-insuran

  106. 106.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    October 30, 2013 at 9:31 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Maybe – it sounds like him.

    I found this clip (5:47) of Davis on Hardball. I couldn’t bear to turn the sound on, but the body language is full of bromance. :-/

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  107. 107.

    Kay

    October 30, 2013 at 9:41 pm

    @David Koch:

    I heard some of it on the radio.

    One of the reasons the shutdown worked out so well for Democrats politically is because Harry Reid was the bad guy to Obama’s “reasonable man.”

    Reid seems to enjoy the role and he’s good at it. They play off each other well. Why not try that again on the health care law? Reid is ancient, he’s not running again and he seems to be a genuinely vicious person with an ax to grind. It’s perfect!

  108. 108.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    October 30, 2013 at 9:44 pm

    @Kay: are you watching The Rachel Maddow Show? She said some pretty interesting stuff about the vibe Reid gives off in person. He comes across as the ex-boxer the mob once tried to kill with a car bomb , and who is reported to have once tried to strangle a guy who tried to bribe him (and later married LaToya Jackson– the attempted briber, not Harry Ried).

  109. 109.

    Matt McIrvin

    October 30, 2013 at 9:44 pm

    @I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet:

    There was a report on local NPR news on the way home that former Rep. Tom Davis said that the Cuccinelli could win the Virginia governor’s race because it is “a referendum on Obamacare”.

    Based on the polls, it sounds to me like the 2013 version of the Romney Yard Sign Surge.

  110. 110.

    Baud

    October 30, 2013 at 9:51 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    I saw that. Reid looked like he was on top of the world.

  111. 111.

    David Koch

    October 30, 2013 at 9:54 pm

    @Kay: Top segment of Rachel’s show was good.

    From what I’ve seen online, in general, I think Lawrence O’Donnell, Ed, and Martin Bashir have done great work. Rachel does a good job when she wants to but she doesn’t like to be partisan. Tweety has been ripping Cruz and the teabaggers limb from limb. Hayes is unwatchable for too many reasons to list.

  112. 112.

    Kay

    October 30, 2013 at 9:59 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    are you watching The Rachel Maddow Show?

    No, I turned off cable. I have satellite radio because it’s more difficult to turn off and on when I go thru one of these phases, which is where I heard (part of) Obama’s speech, in the car.
    I read a long piece on Reid years ago. Even if he’s exaggerating his hardscrabble upbringing it sounded very rough, and my sense of him was always that he is, bluntly, mean. A harsh person. I thoroughly enjoyed him giving them shit during the shutdown. Democrats so rarely go all the way to the edge like that. I think the two of them are a good team, and Obama has needed a reliable, powerful congressional ally for a long time. It just makes sense to have one. I actually think Kennedy would have been that person, but of course he died, so we don’t know.

  113. 113.

    Omnes Omnibus

    October 30, 2013 at 10:03 pm

    @Kay: I have never been the Reid basher that others have been. I think that he is, by nature, a fighter, but has been really limited by the nature of his caucus. He is in a position now where he can do his thing. I bet he is loving it.

  114. 114.

    Kay

    October 30, 2013 at 10:03 pm

    @David Koch:

    I don’t know why so many people hate Hayes. The two times I listened he was a raving populist. I know he also does brogressive, and he LOOKS like he would be that sort of person, but is he actually?

  115. 115.

    Hal

    October 30, 2013 at 10:05 pm

    @David Koch:

    Hayes is unwatchable for too many reasons to list.

    I like Chris Hayes, but I found his show more enjoyable when he was doing the 2 hour block on the weekends. I think Maddow is usually spot on, though she can be a worry wart. I disagree with some of her positions but in general she is a great BS detector.

    I usually tune into MSNBC during the day and I’m finding Andrea Mitchell only so so. She regularly has Chuck Todd and Chris Cilizza on and they both seem so full of shit to me. Todd was just tweeting a response to someone who said in essence, who cares about Obama’s approval rating, and Todd came back with the old “but what about midterms and his agenda?” As if Obama having a high approval would ever matter to this group if Republicans. He is just amazingly disingenuous, I usually have to mute the guy.

  116. 116.

    Kay

    October 30, 2013 at 10:14 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I agree.

    Sherrod Brown said he thinks they’re going to get an immigration deal. I bet that’s really, really important to Reid, because Latinos saved him in his last election and that would be a legacy item for him.

    I don’t know how they do it, but I still believe they’re going to get it done. We don’t see the activism on it because it’s never covered (outside of Latino media) but Democrats are apparently very conscious of the pressure and feel as if they have to deliver. I think they have to deliver. They ran on it in ’08 and ’10 and again in ’12.

  117. 117.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    October 30, 2013 at 10:18 pm

    I like Chris Hayes, but I found his show more enjoyable when he was doing the 2 hour block on the weekends

    I don’t watch his new show much, but he often seems too committed to the idea of three or four person panels that just don’t work in his new format, not least because he really seems to dislike having an unexpressed thought of his own, and as someone who thinks (in my own decidedly phlegmatic way) that the NSA needs to be reigned in, his rhetoric about domestic spying was wildly over-the-top (Obama is only marginally better than Nixon).

    Chuck Todd strikes me as remarkably shallow in his thinking, even for the Village Junior Leaguer that he is.

  118. 118.

    Kay

    October 30, 2013 at 10:28 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Chuck Todd strikes me as remarkably shallow in his thinking, even for the Village Junior Leaguer that he is.

    Well, he rose to stardom based on counting delegates.

    Counting delegates isn’t that difficult :)

    I know, I know, there were TWO WHOLE (major!) categories of delegates and that threw everyone for a loop, but really, it’s just counting. I feel some sympathy for him because he seems very aware of what people say about him, like, on Twitter. That must be awful.

  119. 119.

    eemom

    October 30, 2013 at 10:34 pm

    @David Koch:

    Hayes is unwatchable for too many reasons to list.

    Well, if you WERE to list them, you’d have to include: you’re not a 51 year old woman with a Mrs. Robinson complex who finds him utterly adorable.

    ‘Sides, we share an alma mater (together with Justice Kagan).

  120. 120.

    David Koch

    October 30, 2013 at 11:14 pm

    @eemom: cougar!

  121. 121.

    dcdl

    October 30, 2013 at 11:25 pm

    @Violet: I just had this conversation with my mother. She was complaining about my brother’s insurance increasing a lot. He works for a big company. I told her it has nothing to do with Obamacare and more to do with the insurance using the excuse of following federal rules so they “have to’ increase rates. She just kept saying ‘Obama said if you like your insurance you can keep it and it will be grandfathered in.’ I kept telling her it is the PRIVATE insurance messing with my brother not Obamacare. Man, the circles we went and went.

    Obamacare will get a bad rap from some people thinking it’s Obamacare making private insurance raise their rates. People are such suckers.

  122. 122.

    Matt McIrvin

    October 30, 2013 at 11:26 pm

    @David Koch: It was an excellent speech; he didn’t sound like a guy who had been knocked down. The meat of it was about 17 minutes in.

  123. 123.

    Patricia Kayden

    October 31, 2013 at 9:15 am

    @BGinCHI: Can that fit on a bumper sticker?

  124. 124.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    October 31, 2013 at 2:57 pm

    @Matt McIrvin: Yup.

    BlueVirginia has a good article on Cuccinelli’s closing ability. No need to panic just yet ;-) but turnout is still very important.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

Comments are closed.

Primary Sidebar

On The Road - Mike in Oly - Woodard Bay Natural Resources Conservation Area
Image by Mike in Oly (5/24/25)

Recent Comments

  • Ruckus on Guerilla Politicking (Open Thread) (May 24, 2025 @ 4:26pm)
  • RandomMonster on Guerilla Politicking (Open Thread) (May 24, 2025 @ 4:23pm)
  • Timill on Guerilla Politicking (Open Thread) (May 24, 2025 @ 4:18pm)
  • Citizen Scientist on New Angel Match for the PA Supreme Court Effort by The Civics Center (May 24, 2025 @ 4:15pm)
  • The Lodger on Guerilla Politicking (Open Thread) (May 24, 2025 @ 4:14pm)

PA Supreme Court At Risk

Donate

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year
View by Past Author

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
War in Ukraine
Donate to Razom for Ukraine

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

Meetups

Upcoming Ohio Meetup May 17
5/11 Post about the May 17 Ohio Meetup

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Links)
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Posts)
Fix Nyms with Apostrophes

Hands Off! – Denver, San Diego & Austin

Social Media

Balloon Juice
WaterGirl
TaMara
John Cole
DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
Betty Cracker
Tom Levenson
David Anderson
Major Major Major Major
DougJ NYT Pitchbot
mistermix

Keeping Track

Legal Challenges (Lawfare)
Republicans Fleeing Town Halls (TPM)
21 Letters (to Borrow or Steal)
Search Donations from a Brand

PA Supreme Court At Risk

Donate

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2025 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!