70% Of Calfornia’s Doctors Expected To Boycott Obamacare … But I Thought Obama Promised You Could Keep Your Doctor?

I guess MSNBC would consider 70% of doctors racists …

From The Washington Times, 70% of doctors in California expected to boycott Obamacare. The dirty little secret is just because you are enrolled in a healthcare plan, does not mean you have access to doctors and hospitals of your choice. Physicians have to belong to the network and accept what looks like Medicaid reimbursements. So much for that Obama promise, that if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor, PERIOD!

An estimated seven out of every 10 physicians in deep-blue California are rebelling against the state’s Obamacare health insurance exchange and won’t participate, the head of the state’s largest medical association said.

“It doesn’t surprise me that there’s a high rate of nonparticipation,” said Dr. Richard Thorp, president of the California Medical Association.
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California offers one of the lowest government reimbursement rates in the country — 30 percent lower than federal Medicare payments. And reimbursement rates for some procedures are even lower.
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“Some physicians have been put in the network and they were included basically without their permission,” Lisa Folberg said. She is a CMA’s vice president of medical and regulatory Policy.

“They may be listed as actually participating, but not of their own volition,”
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“This is a dirty little secret that is not really talked about as they promote Covered California,” Waters said. He called the exchange’s doctors list a “shell game” because “the vast majority” of his doctors are not participating.

But if you want to pay more, you can keep your doctor … so says Obamacare architect. So let’s understand this, Obama just created a two tier insurance plan, one for the rich and one for the peasants?

Hmm, I Don’t Remember Obama Saying the Following … Obamacare Architect Zeke Emanuel Says, “If You Want to Pay More For An Insurance Company that Covers Your Doctor, You Can Do That”

Can you imagine how the 2012 Presidential election would have turned out if Barack Obama had told the truth and said, if you like your healthcare plan and doctor, you can pay more to keep them?

Barack Obama said to pass Obamacare and to get reelected, “If you like your healthcare plan, you can keep it, PERIOD! Well, we all know that was a lie. Guess what else was a lie, keeping your doctor if you liked them and paying less. The latest misrepresentation coming to light has to do with individuals being able to keep their doctors. Obama stated, “If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.” But of course that was another Obama lie.  Obamacare architect Zeke Emanuel said on Fox News Sunday as he was dodging Chis Wallace’s questions to keeping one’s doctor, “the president never said that you were going to have unlimited choice of any doctor in the country that you want to go to.” Well, that was never the question.

It’s not that simple. In order to participate in health-insurance exchanges, insurers needed to find a way to tamp down the high costs of premiums. As a result, many will narrow their networks, shrinking the range of doctors that are available to patients under their plan, experts say.

“Many people are going to find out that the second part of the promise — that if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor — just wasn’t true,” says Gail Wilensky, who directed the federal Medicare and Medicaid programs under President George H.W. Bush. Factcheck.org labeled the promise “misleading,” noting that while the law doesn’t contain provisions designed to force people to pick new doctors, a switch may be inevitable for some. “The President simply can’t make this promise to anyone,” the site wrote.

Unbelievable, the gall of these people that they are now passing Obamacare off as a choice. The government is forcing people to buy an insurance that they say is okay or face a tax (penalty) and that is a choice? Individuals were perfectly fine with the coverage and doctors they had, but the government as now made it a choice that Americans must pay more to keep the very choice that they already had. ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!

The Weekly Standard:

The host, Chris Wallace: “President Obama famously promised, if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. Doesn’t that turn out to be just as false, just as misleading, as his promise about if you like your plan, you can keep your plan? Isn’t it a fact, sir, that a number, most, in fact, of the Obamacare health plans that are being offered on the exchanges exclude a number of doctors and hospitals to lower costs?”

Zeke Emanuel: “The president never said you were going to have unlimited choice of any doctor in the country you want to go to.”

Chris Wallace: “No. He asked a question. If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. Did he not say that, sir?”

Zeke Emanuel: “He didn’t say you could have unlimited choice.”

Chris Wallace: “It’s a simple yes or no question. Did he say if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor?”

Zeke Emanuel: “Yes. But look, if you want to pay more for an insurance company that covers your doctor, you can do that. This is a matter of choice. We know in all sorts of places you pay more for certain — for a wider range of choices or wider range of benefits.The issue isn’t the selective networks. People keep saying, Oh, the problem is you’re going to have a selective network–”

Chris Wallace: “Well, if you lose your doctor or lose your hospital–”

Zeke Emanuel: “Let me just say something,” said Emanuel. “People are going to have a choice as to whether they want to pay a certain amount for a selective network or pay more for a broader network.”

Chris Wallace: “Which will mean your premiums will probably go up.”

Zeke Emanuel”They get that choice. That’s a choice they always made.”

Chris Wallace: “Which means your premium may go up over what you were paying so that, in other words –

CMS Friday Document Dump: Obamacare Enrollment Error Rate on Healthcare.gov … One in Four, 25%

CLUSTERF*CK: The error rate for those enrolling in Obamacare on Healthcare.fail was so bad that CMS was forced to make the info public, of course in a Friday afternoon document dump of course.

Get a load of this America, after the Obama administration who promised us the most transparent presidency ever, refusing for weeks to tell us just how bad the extent of the back end problems of the Obamacare website truly were, provided on Friday afternoon  that 25% of Obamacare enrollments in October and November have been affected. This means that one in four of those that think they have enrolled in a plan, may have no insurance coverage on January 1, 2014. What a joke, these screw-ups actually want the people to think the new normal is a 10% error rate, as if that is a good thing?

Those technical bugs, separate from the troubles consumers had experienced accessing information on the website during the first two months, are posing a significant new problem for those who signed up and are expecting insurance coverage come Jan. 1.

One in four of those applications either did not get transferred to insurers, were transferred in duplicate form, or had major errors in information shared.

Insurers are supposed to receive the 834 Forms from healthcare.gov. The forms, meant to be read by computers, provide insurers with information on enrollees and what plan they have chosen. Without the information, insurers have no way of knowing who has signed up on the Obamacare exchanges and what coverage they need.

A spokesman for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on Friday suggested that the only way those who enrolled in October and November can be sure they will be covered in January is by paying their insurance bill and contacting their insurer to confirm their standing.

“I would certainly encourage any consumer that has a question of their insurance choice to contact the insurance company of their choice to get additional information,” CMS spokeswoman Julie Bataille told reporters Friday.

Oh, but do not fret, the gang that could not shoot straight have fixed the problems. How do we know that? Because our truthful president Barack Obama told us. This is the governments version of fixing the problem, now only 10% of enrollments are being affected, 10%!!! Not knowing who the 25% or 10% are, this would mean that ever individual who enrolled would have to call and make sure that they had been properly enrolled. This would completely overwhelm a customer service call center as none are set up for this type of volume.

Bataille said CMS, along with the outside firm QSSI, is working furiously to fix the back-end problems, and has succeeded in reducing the number of erroneous 834 Form communications to insurers to 10 percent of all applications.

That error rate could still be affecting a significant amount of applications, especially considering that healthcare.gov is operating much more smoothly this week and has seen its traffic spike.

The PJ Tatler discusses the Obamacare enrollment rate as being unacceptable and are 100% correct. Folks, I do this stuff for a living and deal with similar projects,  insurance data and metrics. And I will go one better, not only is 25%, 10% or 1% not acceptable in private sector, it is also not with many government contracts. I have dealt with with many government metrics that were 100% and 99.5%. If I had ever developed a process that in turn did nothing but created 25% or 10% more rework, I would have been sent packing immediately.

A 25% error rate in processing transactions is completely unacceptable. Hell, a 1% error rate would not be tolerated at any private sector firm, claims of “private sector velocity” to the contrary notwithstanding.

Charlie Cook Says, This is One of “the Most Dramatic Shifts I’ve Ever Seen in 40 Years of Involvement in Politics” Referring to the Generic Congressional Ballot

Charlie Cook, political polling extraordinaire of the Cook Political Report, stated that the recent political environment that it is “one of the most dramatic shifts I’ve ever seen in 40 years of involvement in politics.” The shift that Cook is referring to has Democrats in a panic as they try and find answers to right the ship that is taking on water after the failed launch of the Obamacare website and the misrepresentations and lies from President Obama that if you liked your healthcare plan, you could keep it, Period! The Obama mistrust has caused a ripple affect with the Generic Congressional ballot as Obamacare was passed 100% on a partisan Democrat vote. Democrats are damned no matter which way they turn, they can admit Obamacare was a complete mistake that they passed without reading or they can double down and infuriate the American people.

Sure enough, the Democratic numbers in the generic ballot began to pull dramatically ahead, resembling a steep ascent up the side of a mountain, ending about 7 points ahead of Republicans, 45 percent to 38 percent—an advantage that, were it to last until the election, would give Democrats a chance to recapture the House.

Then, in mid-October, the focus shifted from the government-shutdown fiasco to a different debacle, this time a Democratic disaster: the botched launch of the Obamacare website and subsequent implementation problems of the health care law, including termination notices going out to many people who had insurance coverage. The Democratic numbers from the generic-ballot test dropped from 45 percent to 37 percent, and Republicans moved up to 40 percent. This 10-point net shift from a Democratic advantage of 7 points to a GOP edge of 3 points in just over a month is breathtaking, perhaps an unprecedented swing in such a short period. Occurring around Election Day, such a shift would probably amount to the difference between Democrats picking up at least 10 House seats, possibly even the 17 needed for a majority, and instead losing a half-dozen or so seats.

Of course, with the election 11 months away, it’s too early to get really excited about this turnabout, but it demonstrates the volatility we are seeing these days in American politics. It must also give Democrats a sense of déjà vu, back to when the bottom fell out for them during the 2009-10 fight over passage of the Affordable Care Act. In that case, though, they suffered a gradual decline in party fortunes, starting in the summer of 2009 and culminating in the loss of 63 seats and the House majority in November 2010—the biggest drop in House seats for either party since 1948 and the largest in a midterm election since 1938. Democrats didn’t fare much better in the Senate, losing six seats.

From the Cook Political Report, ‘Everyone Hates Washington, but Democrats More Vulnerable.’

If there were a theme for 2014 midterms, it would be “fear and loathing of Washington, D.C.”

Congress is as about as popular as gonorrhea. President Obama’s approval ratings and personal ratings are at the lowest point of his presidency. Republicans, as well, have seen their favorable ratings hit all-time lows.

But while neither party can escape blame or scorn, Democrats are more likely to feel the fall-out than Republicans. Why? Democrats have more vulnerable seats in play in both the House and the Senate. The President’s approval ratings are a bigger driver of electoral outcomes than that of Congress. The Obamacare issue is more likely to be an anvil than a benefit politically for the Democrats. And, of course, there’s history working against Democrats too. See; Itch, Six Year.

But as stated at Hot Air, this is no reason for the GOP to start popping the champagne which I would agree with 100%. Although, the only thing I would disagree with is that the notion that there should be no more problems with the website and no more people will lose their insurance. The American people are not forgiving  when it comes to being lied to. The web site continues to have problems on the back end as they had to  admit that many who enrolled, one in four, or thought they enrolled may not really be. Also, doctors are running away from Obamacare like it is the plague, and it is. Also, even with Obama trying to postpone the enrollment period for the employer mandate until after the 2014 elections, the cancellation notices will be going out long before that.

Republican’s should not allow their present advantage in the generic ballot to spur them to purchase food and beer for a victory party, the 2014 mid-terms are a long time away and their is much that can happen.

Their latest advantage was not built on anything the GOP did, but on the failed Obamacare launch. Americans forgive and forget easily. However unlikely the scenario, should there be no more issues with the website and no more people losing the plans they were promised they could keep, the initial negative effect of the bad launch could wane.

Barack Obama Approval Down 23 Points Among Hispanics in Past Year from 75% to 52%

Barack Obama en el otoño político libre …

According to a recent Gallup poll, it appears that some one’s job approval poll numbers are in free fall with pretty much every demographic, and Hispanics are at the top of the list. Barack Obama’s job approval numbers are down with Latinos this year from 75% to 52%. ¡Dios mío … I guess me can expect an Obama mad rush for amnesty.  However, that is not the only group that Obama has lost ground with. Obama has also lost Moderates (-16), 18-29 year olds (-15), Independents (-15), women (-14), Conservative Democrats (-14) , Democrats (-13), 30-49 year olds (-12), 50-64 year olds (-12) and even Blacks at -9. However, it appears that Legal Insurrection has found one group that has maintained their support for Obama, Conservative Republicans are only at -2, down from 7% to 5%. HA!

Not only does Obama not have coattails, he is now considered toxic.

Can we call this a total and complete loss of the America people? Imagine if the election was held today with the American people knowing the truth about many of Obama’s lies and the MSM was forced into not carrying the water 100% of the time for their leader?

From Gallup:

President Barack Obama’s job approval rating averaged 41% in November, down 12 percentage points from 53% last December, his high-water mark since his first year in office. Hispanics’ approval has dropped 23 points over the last 12 months, the most among major subgroups, and nearly twice the national average.

Hispanics’ approval ratings of Obama have shown the most variation of any group’s ratings throughout his presidency. That means their views of him are less firmly anchored than those of other groups, which may help explain why their opinions of the president soured more than any other group’s in recent months. Despite the significant decline in their approval ratings over the past 12 months, a majority of Hispanics, 52%, still approve of the job Obama is doing.

A note to Republicans, namely Speaker John Boehner and the GOP leadership in the House … if you pass a BS amnesty bill you will collapse the Republican party forever. Hot Air correctly points out that the Democrats do not own the Latino vote. You have an opportunity to make real reform with immigration and deal with this issue in a common sense way.  One of those is to actually uphold the oaths that all of you took and to follow the US Constitution and uphold the laws of the land. I have always believed that Hispanics were not a monolithic voting block and were interested in many things other than immigration (amnesty), like the economy, real healthcare reform, jobs and the truth.

If the first two months of ObamaCare could push him nearly underwater with Latinos, what will another year of rate shock and shrinking provider networks do? Without lifting a finger, the GOP may be back in play for this demographic — not so much that they’d win it outright, but enough that they could close the gap to, say 15-20 points instead of 40-45. In a tight election, that would be ruinous for Democrats.