Bummer: The Initial Consumer Experience Of Healthcare.gov Didn’t Live Up To Expectations

By William Teach October 21, 2013 – 7:02 am

As Obamacare ramps up with huge numbers moved to Medicaid and Medicare, along with those who will obtain insurance through the Exchanges (eventually), consumers should be prepared for lots and lots of failed expectations. Unless your expectation is poor service, poor care, byzantine dealings in order to use your insurance, lots of out of pocket costs, denial of some treatments and medicines, and long waits for care

(HHS) Unfortunately, the experience on HealthCare.gov has been frustrating for many Americans. Some have had trouble creating accounts and logging in to the site, while others have received confusing error messages, or had to wait for slow page loads or forms that failed to respond in a timely fashion. The initial consumer experience of HealthCare.gov has not lived up to the expectations of the American people. We are committed to doing better.

It’s The Government. We don’t expect any of it to do better.

In response, we have made a number of improvements to the account service. Initially, we implemented a virtual “waiting room,” but many found this experience to be confusing. We continued to add more capacity in order to meet demand and execute software fixes to address the sign up and log in issues, stabilizing those parts of the service and allowing us to remove the virtual “waiting room.” Today, more and more individuals are successfully creating accounts, logging in, and moving on to apply for coverage and shop for plans. We’re proud of these quick improvements, but we know there’s still more work to be done. We will continue to conduct regular maintenance nearly every night to improve the experience.

They should have left the waiting rooms in, that way those with Obamacare can get used to them. As for regular maintenance, HHS is supposedly bringing in the “best and brightest” to fix the website. I wonder how much it will cost the American People to fix this $634 million boondoggle of a website?

(Politico) The changes will give people more information and options up front without having to wrestle with the flawed online process. It gives more information about health plan choices and provides clearer instructions on how to download a paper application, get through by telephone or find someone to assist in person.

“As part of our ongoing efforts to make improvements every day, new content is being featured on HealthCare.gov in response to user feedback. It’s now easier than ever to preview plan information, access a downloadable application form and find in-person help in local communities,” HHS spokeswoman Joanne Peters said in a statement released late Sunday evening.

The changes allow people to see health plans and prices in their region without having to jump over online hurdles that have aggravated millions of people trying to get on the Healthcare.gov site, the portal for health-care coverage in the 36 states where HHS is running the insurance exchanges.

Those are things that they initially wanted to hide till they had everyone’s personal information. And they have updated. Down at the bottom of healthcare.gov you can find pre-subsidized rates without giving more than very basic information. Unfortuantely, once you get to the plans you only get the costs, not what the plans actually cover. What are the details. What the network is. Copays. Deductibles. In other words, what you’re paying for.

Crossed at Right Wing News and Stop The ACLU.

Read: Bummer: The Initial Consumer Experience Of Healthcare.gov Didn’t Live Up To Expectations »

Posted in Healthcare | 1 Comment | Trackback URL

Hooray! You Can Fight Hotcoldwetdry With Your Fork

By William Teach October 20, 2013 – 3:42 pm

No, really

(TribLive) Swarms of giant hornets have killed dozens of people and injured 1,600 in central China in recent months. Experts believe unusually warm temperatures there have enabled the hornets to breed more successfully. Jellyfish recently clogged water-intake pipes at a nuclear power plant in Sweden, forcing a 1,400-megawatt reactor to shut down. Almost all jellyfish breed better and faster in warmer waters.

Most of us probably aren’t surprised to hear that events such as this past summer’s “biblical” flooding in Colorado and the loss of sea ice that has forced 10,000 walruses to come ashore on Alaska’s northwest coast are likely linked to climate change. But other effects of an increasingly warmer planet — such as those jellyfish — may be less expected. Experts warn that we should brace ourselves for everything from aggravated allergies and outbreaks of tropical illnesses in once-cold climates to increased interpersonal violence and global security threats.

The solution to these disparate problems may be just as surprising: Go vegan.

Nature is never ever supposed to change, according to Warmists, hence, we all have to give up meat, says Paula Moore, a senior writer for PETA. You have your marching orders, Warmists. You all have to give up meat. Get to it.

Read: Hooray! You Can Fight Hotcoldwetdry With Your Fork »

Posted in AGW Idiocy, Global Warming | 2 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach October 20, 2013 – 1:00 pm

… is a tiny home that would be perfect for Everyone Else, as long as they aren’t pulled by fossil fueled vehicles, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is This ain’t Hell…, with some Sunday feel-good stories.

Read: If All You See… »

Posted in If All You See | 3 Comments | Trackback URL

Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup

By William Teach October 20, 2013 – 9:56 am

Happy Sunday! Another great day in the Once And Future Nation Of America. This pinup is by Edward D’Ancona, with a wee bit of help.

What is happening in Ye Olde Blogosphere? The Fine 15

  1. Jo Nova notes how CO2 benefited the US
  2. Atlas Shrugs discusses the Halal racket
  3. American Glob has more from the most transparent administration (n)ever
  4. Bookworm discusses liberal elites and racism
  5. Doug Ross has the most terrifying chart you’ll see all week
  6. Fire Andrea Mitchell has more on the new commie NYC mayor
  7. Five Feet Of Fury has zombies!!!!!! (yes, I love zombie stuff. Read a lot of zombie books. Reading one now)
  8. Gay Patriot notes that debt was once unpatriotic
  9. House of Eratosthenes discusses The Fail
  10. Jihad Watch notes an FBI investigation into a water supply threat
  11. Legal Insurrection opines about a racist lie that spread
  12. Maggie’s Farm discusses “The Change” (healthcare)
  13. Moonbattery notes Deval Patrick joining hands with radical Muslims
  14. neo-neocon covers America’s march to the gallows
  15. And last, but not least, The First Street Journal discusses a bad idea whose time has come

As always, the full set of pinups can be seen in the Patriotic Pinup category, or over at my Gallery page. While we are on pinups, since it is that time of year, have you gotten your “Pinups for Vets” calendar yet? And don’t forget to check out what I declare to be our War on Women Rule 5 and linky luv posts

Anyone else have a link or hotty-fest going on? Let me know so I can add you to the list. (BTW, since someone asked, the reason I leave links for the previous week up (or you might see a *) is because they are place holders for later in the day or for next weeks. Easier than rewriting all the time. Also, the listing order has to do with how they are added over time, not how good a post is. I just copy and paste from the previous week, then edit. If you see one of the *’s, go ahead and check out the blog anyhow, see if there is an update. I cannot update with my Android during the day.

Read: Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup »

Posted in Patriotic Pinup | 1 Comment | Trackback URL

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 »

Posted in Healthcare | 1 Comment | Trackback URL

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… »

Posted in If All You See | 1 Comment | Trackback URL

“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.

Read: “Conservatives” Supposed To Descend Upon Washington To Push For Amnesty »

Posted in Illegal Immigration | 1 Comment | Trackback URL

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 »

Posted in Healthcare | 4 Comments | Trackback URL
Pirate's Cove