So Far, Just 476K “Affordable” Care Act Applications Filed

By William Teach October 20, 2013 – 8:16 am

The administration is trumpeting this as a Big Win..

…but won’t say how many have actually obtained insurance

(ABC News) Last week, President Barack Obama gathered some of his top advisers in the Oval Office to discuss the problem-plagued rollout of his health care legislation. He told his team the administration had to own up to the fact that there were no excuses for not having the health care website ready to operate on Day One.

The admonition from a frustrated president came amid the embarrassing start to sign-ups for the health care insurance exchanges. The president is expected to address the cascade of computer problems Monday during an event at the White House.

Oh, good, another campaign event, we’re he’ll surely engage in some Blamestorming of Republicans for the problems.

Administration officials say more than 476,000 health insurance applications have been filed through federal and state exchanges. The figures mark the most detailed measure yet of the problem-plagued rollout of the insurance market place.

However, the officials continue to refuse to say how many people have actually enrolled in the insurance markets. And without enrollment figures, it’s unclear whether the program is on track to reach the 7 million people projected by the Congressional Budget Office to gain coverage during the six-month sign-up period.

If the numbers were great, you know they’d be trumpeting them. And, look, we all knew that once the ACA marketplaces were open, people would sign up. Heck, under the law, they have to, or they’ll be fine/taxed. And many do want affordable health insurance (not that most will be able to get it, especially considering the out of pocket costs). The Politico makes a good point

“It strikes me as a very positive number, especially given how hard it was to get through the process on healthcare.gov and in some states. Presumably it would have been far higher if not for glitches and hiccups,” said Larry Levitt, senior vice president of the Kaiser Family Foundation.

But he cautioned, “scorekeepers have always expected that early enrollees would be those who are sickest and most expensive, since they’ve been excluded from insurance until now. That is likely even more true given how hard the application process has been so far. It will be important to get the websites working smoothly to entice the young and healthy fence-sitters.”

Without the healthy, especially the young and healthy, enrolling, the system collapses under the ever growing weight of massive costs to the insurers and government.

Read: So Far, Just 476K “Affordable” Care Act Applications Filed »

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Climate Change Fascists Really Like LA Times Policy Of Restricting Debate

By William Teach October 19, 2013 – 5:00 pm

The “climate change” movement is comprised primarily of Progressives, who are, at their very heart, fascists. They talk a good game about open debate, but when it actually happens, they want it shut down. Remember when they burned a copy of The Mad, Mad, Mad World Of Climatism?

It’s Time for Newspapers to Deny the Climate Deniers

Opinions varied widely, and those with a background in traditional print journalism seemed to have the hardest time with the idea. After all, a reporter’s job isn’t to cloud the issue with opinion, but to simply deliver the facts. How can you do that if you don’t cover both sides?

I understand this instinct; it was drilled into us in journalism classes. However, like many others, I feel that its time has past when dealing with stories about environmental destruction at the hands of corporate polluters and especially climate change.

This goes to the LA Times (which hasn’t given up their own fossil fueled travel and paper delivery) saying they will no longer print any letter or piece that denies that Mankind is mostly/solely at fault for a minuscule 1.4F temperature increase since 1850.

Since the LA Times took its stand on climate change, a grassroots campaign has been launched, targeting other major newspapers. Led by Forecast the Facts (WT note: that’s Al Gores hyperventilating group), the campaign asks editors of the New York Times, the Washington Post, USA Today, and the Wall Street Journal to adopt similar policies.

On other words, another far left fascistic attempt to shut down opposition. Hiding behind all the “settled science” rhetoric is the notion that they know it’s not science and cannot stand up to inquiry, scientific or otherwise, so they do what they do best: shut people up.

Read: Climate Change Fascists Really Like LA Times Policy Of Restricting Debate »

Posted in Collapsing Science, Global Warming, Unhinged Tools | 29 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach October 19, 2013 – 1:00 pm

…is evil carbon infused beer, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Victory Girls Blog, with a post on the new reality sucking.

Read: If All You See… »

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“Conservatives” Supposed To Descend Upon Washington To Push For Amnesty

By William Teach October 19, 2013 – 11:33 am

I supposed the rest of us are all supposed to just fall in line and cater to these scofflaws, who demand they are given citizenship, despite breaking our laws, stealing identities, clogging up our services, refusing to learn English, demanding we cater to their language and preferences

(Fox Latino) They’re calling it a “fly-in.”

From all around the United States, some 300 conservative leaders from various religious denominations, the agricultural industry, law enforcement and business sector are planning to travel to Washington on Oct. 28 to press Republican lawmakers to work on a comprehensive immigration bill, reported USA Today.

These conservative leaders feel that they can succeed in swaying these lawmakers where others so far have failed.

“I’m not an advocate of open borders. I’m not an advocate of blanket amnesty. I just see (undocumented immigrants) who are hurting and want to contribute to their family … and the system is not working for them,” USA Today quoted Jeremy Hudson, a pastor, as saying.

Hudson’s Fellowship Christian Church is located in House Speaker John Boehner’s Ohio district. The USA Today report said that organizations involved in the fly-in are the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Partnership for a New American Economy, which was founded by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg; and FWD.us, co-founded by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other tech industry leaders who are pushing for more visas for highly-educated immigrants.

Hmm, I’m seeing lots of “social conservatives”, who are, with all due respect, not the same as fiscal conservatives, and tend to want more government. Also, are groups linked to Bllomberg and left leaning Zuckerberg “conservative”? Hell no. And there is a difference between pushing for visas (meaning less jobs for Americans) and any form of amnesty.

Ali Noorani, executive director of the National Immigration Forum, which is helping coordinate the effort, said to USA Today that those who will be taking part represent “the conservative base of the Republican Party.”

Well, now, the NIF, that’s a big conservative group, right?

(Breitbart) The National Immigration Forum (NIF), the force behind the so-called “Evangelical Immigration Table” (EIT), is actually a front group for players on the institutional left including billionaire George Soros and the Ford Foundation, according to reporting by Breitbart News and other outlets.

Another astroturfed group pretending to be something they aren’t. Don’t expect anyone in the left leaning media to bother noticing that the majority of the groups that show up on October 28 to demand “immigration reform” are not conservative.

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2013 Ranks As One Of The Least Active U.S. Weather Years

By William Teach October 19, 2013 – 9:04 am

I’m sure Warmists will find a way to blame this on Mankind’s output of greenhouse gases, particularly CO2. Probably because you, dear reader, drove a fossil fueled vehicle and refuse to unplug every appliance before you go to work. Or, perhaps they’ll flip back to their talking point that weather is not climate (via Climate Depot)

(SI Organization) There have been many forecasts in the news in recent years predicting more and more extreme weather-related events in the US, but for 2013 that prediction has been way off the mark. Whether you’re talking about tornadoes, wildfires, extreme heat or hurricanes, the good news is that weather-related disasters in the US are all way down this year compared to recent years and, in some cases, down to historically low levels.

Tornadoes
To begin with, the number of tornadoes in the US this year is on pace to be the lowest total since 2000 and it may turn out to be the lowest total in several decades. The table below lists the number of tornadoes in the US for this year (through 10/17) and also for each year going back to 2000.
(Source: NOAA, http://www.spc.noaa.gov/climo/online/monthly/newm.html)

Just 771 tornadoes. Previous low was 938 in 2002.

Wildfires are at lowest levels of numbers since 2004. Acres burned is 2nd lowest. Actually, this is the slowest season by count since 1985.

Extreme Heat
In addition to wildfires, extreme heat is also way down across the US this year. In fact, the number of 100 degree days across the country during 2013 is not only down for this year, but it is perhaps going to turn out to be the lowest in about 100 years of records (chart below).

The five summers with the highest number of 100 degree days across the US are as follows: 1936, 1934, 1954, 1980 and 1930. In addition to the vast reduction in 100 degree days across the US this year, the number of high temperature records (ie hi max and hi min records) is way down compared to a year ago with 22,965 records this year as compared with 56,885 at this same time last year.
(Source: NOAA, http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/extremes/records/; through 10/17).

Here in Raleigh we had zero 100 degree days. Average is 4-5. We didn’t even have that many high 90’s days. Then we get to hurricanes

Finally, as far as hurricanes are concerned and keeping in mind that the season isn’t over yet, there have been only two hurricanes so far this year in the Atlantic Basin (Humberto and Ingrid) and they were both short-lived and weak category 1 storms. Also, the first forming hurricane this year occurred at the second latest date going back to the mid 1940’s when hurricane hunters began to fly. Overall, the tropical season in the Atlantic Basin has been generally characterized by short-lived and weak systems.

In addition, this suppressed tropical activity has not been confined to just the Atlantic Ocean. The eastern Pacific Ocean has had no major hurricanes this season meaning there has been no major hurricane in either the Atlantic or eastern Pacific which only occurred one other year in recorded history – 1968. This is actually quite extraordinary since the two basins are generally out of phase with each other i.e. when one is inactive the other is active.

The article author, Paul Dorian, also notes that Accumulated Cyclone Energy (ACE) is extremely low. And low around the world. Make sure to read how (yes, a little trick to get you to click over to the article itself and give them web-hits). Along with the reduced activity, there have still been no major hurricanes (cat 3+) making landfall since 2005 (Wilma, October 24th). Also, there haven’t even been any major hurricanes to develop in the Atlantic nor eastern Pacific during 2013.

Since 2008, there has only been one US landfalling hurricane (Sandy was not a hurricane at landfall), and one could argue that Isaac was only a strong tropical storm at landfall.

Warmists love pushing the “extreme weather” meme. Yet, extreme weather (or, what was previously known as “the weather”) is not getting worse. Well, maybe some of the winter weather is getting stronger over the past 5 years. Which Warmists blame on, that’s right, greenhouse gases. Hence the change from “global warming” to “climate change”, so they can blame everything on Mankind. While still refusing to making substantive changes in their own lives.

Read: 2013 Ranks As One Of The Least Active U.S. Weather Years »

Posted in Collapsing Science, Global Warming | 15 Comments | Trackback URL

Many Doctors Not Thrilled With Obamacare Coverage

By William Teach October 19, 2013 – 8:20 am

We’ve been talking about the massive failures of the Exchange websites, which are part of the reason there have been so few completed applications where people actually obtain health insurance. But, what happens when people actually get the insurance? How do docs feel about this?

(NY Post) New York doctors are feeling queasy about ObamaCare — and many won’t participate in the new national insurance program because they fear they’ll go broke, The Post has learned.

“ObamaCare is going to send me more patients to see and then cut the payments to provide the care — that’s what’s going to happen,” predicted Donald Moore, a primary-care doctor in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn. “I will not accept it.”

Moore claims that President Obama made a big mistake by requiring uninsured residents to obtain medical coverage from for-profit insurers through the ObamaCare health exchanges instead of through public health programs like Medicaid.

Under tremendous pressure to keep costs down and profits up, Moore said he’s concerned that commercial insurers will pay doctors less for patient visits and services than either Medicaid or Medicare.

Remember, part of this goes into the mandates and requirement imposed by Obamacare on insurance companies along with all the treatments and visits that will be “free”, meaning the insurance company picks up the tab (hence the reason that so many insurers opted out of the Exchanges). Many doctors will not accept the ACA insurance. Doctors have long been opting out of Medicaid and Medicare or refusing to accept new M/M patients. Most aren’t in business to lose money.

This will drive the ACA patients to community health centers, which aren’t exactly new (Los Federales started giving them money in 1965) but were expanded under O-care. Patients will mostly see patient assistants, rather than doctors. In a lot of case this is just fine. If you have the flu, do you really need a big visit to the doctor? And surely you don’t need to go to the hospital. But these non-profit centers, funded heavily by the Government, will start playing a bigger and bigger part, especially since there is already a doc shortage. Where’s this money coming from? It means the government, and by extension, the taxpaying public, will be picking up a larger and larger share. Look at Oregon

Yesterday I wrote about Oregon’s big success signing people up for Obamacare: The state had, in the course of 17 days, signed up 56,000 people for the health law’s Medicaid expansion. In one fell swoop, the state had cut its uninsured rate by 10 percent.

That is, however, only part of the story from Oregon. When it comes to private insurance, spokeswoman Amy Fauver said that it has not yet had any sign-ups.

That’s right, as of yesterday, there have been no signups for O-care in Oregon. Because their website is such a disaster, they went to paper signups. None have been processed and completed. On day 18. But, moving 56,000 to Medicaid is not a success. It means more and more people under the banner of Government, with the taxpayer picking up most of the tab. And these folks will get, unsurprisingly, substandard care. From an ever shrinking pool of doctors and medical centers.

Just to be clear, O-care opponents had been saying these same things would happen all the way back to before it was passed. No one should be surprised when these things actually start happening.

Crossed at Right Wing News and Stop The ACLU.

Read: Many Doctors Not Thrilled With Obamacare Coverage »

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Harvard President Highlights The Hypocrisy Of The Divestment Movement

By William Teach October 18, 2013 – 4:58 pm

This one is actually from back on October 3rd, but it’s a great catch by Tom Nelson (who else?), and worth posting

Fossil Fuel Divestment Statement

Dear Members of the Harvard Community,

Climate change represents one of the world’s most consequential challenges. I very much respect the concern and commitment shown by the many members of our community who are working to confront this problem. I, as well as members of our Corporation Committee on Shareholder Responsibility, have benefited from a number of conversations in recent months with students who advocate divestment from fossil fuel companies. While I share their belief in the importance of addressing climate change, I do not believe, nor do my colleagues on the Corporation, that university divestment from the fossil fuel industry is warranted or wise.

So, not exactly a “skeptic”, eh?

I also find a troubling inconsistency in the notion that, as an investor, we should boycott a whole class of companies at the same time that, as individuals and as a community, we are extensively relying on those companies’ products and services for so much of what we do every day. Given our pervasive dependence on these companies for the energy to heat and light our buildings, to fuel our transportation, and to run our computers and appliances, it is hard for me to reconcile that reliance with a refusal to countenance any relationship with these companies through our investments.

In other words, Warmists want to do damage to Someone Else, but refuse to give up their own fossil fueled lifestyles. As I’ve written here and in comments elsewhere thousands of times, if Warmists aren’t willing to change their own lives in a substantive way, why should we believe what they’re pushing?

Read: Harvard President Highlights The Hypocrisy Of The Divestment Movement »

Posted in Climahypocrites, Global Warming | 7 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach October 18, 2013 – 1:00 pm

…is precious, non-renewable water being using to clean an evil fossil fueled vehicle, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Patterico’s Pontifications, with a post noting we can all now relax with the government open.

Read: If All You See… »

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Man Who Made $70 Million From Oil Moguls Really Likes Divestment Movement

By William Teach October 18, 2013 – 10:33 am

When I and other climate realists talk about hypocritical Warmists, we’re given all sorts of talking points and excuses. I should probably give them some sort of number. I wonder what they’ll think of this?

(Huff Post) Former Vice President Al Gore sees parallels between the last two and a half weeks of budget chaos on Capitol Hill and the climate crisis: Many will deny there’s a problem — until they are ultimately compelled to take action by forces beyond their control. (snip)

Gore also expressed support for the divestment movement that has been growing in popularity on college campuses in the U.S., referring to investment in fossil fuels as a “carbon bubble.” The movement contends that investing in fossil fuels is a moral hazard but will become a financial hazard, too, when there is a global price on carbon emissions.

“This bubble is going to burst. No one can say with certainty when,” said Gore. “But you can say with certainty that no more than one-third of these carbon assets can be burned, and hopefully not even that much.”

Remember when Gore sold his failing Current TV to Al Jazeera for $500 million, and made around $70-100 million himself? How AJ is backed by oil money. How even some Warmists criticized Gore for doing this? I like what one HuffPo commenter had to say

Living in mega mansion.
Travelling in own luxury jet.
Being driven around by chauffer in limo.
Weight around 250 – personal footprint.
Consumption, consumption, consumption.

And he has the nerve to preach to us how to live and
reduce our carbon footprint.
Hubris and hypocrisy.

In a little under a month we’ll be treated to COP19 in Warsaw, Poland, and huge climahypocrisy.

Read: Man Who Made $70 Million From Oil Moguls Really Likes Divestment Movement »

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Insurers Complain They’re Receiving Faulty Obamacare Data

By William Teach October 18, 2013 – 9:10 am

The hit parades on the “Affordable” Care Act just keep coming. Healthcare.gov apparently violates a copyright. One design firm removed all references to its work on the website. Tech experts say the entire website needs an overhaul. Buried in the code we find that you should have no reasonable thought that your information will be kept private. Then there’s this

(Fox News) Insurers say faulty data from ObamaCare marketplaces is straining their ability to handle even the first wave of consumers who were able to sign up for health insurance using federally run exchanges during the glitch-ridden rollout of the new law.

Executives at more than a dozen health insurance companies say they have received data from online marketplaces that is riddled with errors, including duplicate enrollments, missing data fields and spouses reported as children, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

It’s not like they had 3 years to get the website ready to go or something. Perhaps if they had tested it more than a week out? Na. Would most likely still have been a disaster. So far, only one percent of Exchange visitors actually signed up for insurance. USA Today reported on the first Delaware signup….on October 16th. The marketplace opened on October 1st, if you remember.

Let’s not forget that right now we are getting the stories of the website failures. We had been getting stories of companies dropping their insurance, cutting people to part time, and insurers dropping individuals and companies because of ACA mandates. We’ll start seeing more of those as time goes on, and probably ones about companies heavily dropping coverage as 2015 and the employer mandate approaches.

What we’ll start seeing soon are stories about how difficult it is to use the ACA insurance, being denied care, having to pay thousands out of pocket for service. Doctors not taking it. Doctors refusing to take on more Medicaid and Medicare patients. Substandard treatment. Actually using the insurance will be the nail that highlights how bad this program is.

More: The Lonely Conservative notes, based on a WSJ article about same as above

Some of the insurers they spoke to did so anonymously because the administration is pressuring them not to speak publicly about the problems. But what do you expect from the people who failed to hire or consult with outside experts because of political reasons?

Ed Morrissey notes that Ohio has managed to sign up 1, that’s right, one, customer since the Exchanges started.

The Lonely Conservative also notes a chart from Heritage noting the premium increases for the so-called “Affordable” Care Act. And no one has even focused on the deductible and out-of-pocket costs yet.

Read: Insurers Complain They’re Receiving Faulty Obamacare Data »

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