Illinois Obamacare Ad Features Married Gay Couple

An ad for GetCoveredIllinois.gov features a married gay couple, Jake and Allen, talking about the benefits of signing up for affordable coverage.

Watch the 30-second spot where the duo explains how they got covered and its benefits for both of them as a married couple,

Americans hate Obamacare (until they use it)

Oh America, you are adorable.

Back in 2010, a Newsweek poll showed that Americans “hate” Obamacare, but loved it component parts.

Even Republicans, who “loathe” Obamacare, overwhelmingly support most of the legislation’s key provisions.

So it’s shouldn’t come as a surprise that a new Gallup poll shows Americans, yet again, hopping mad about Obamacare.

But as CNN notes, another Gallup poll shows that the actual people who use Obamacare, love it:

Over seven in 10 Americans who bought new health insurance policies through the government exchanges earlier this year rate the quality of their healthcare and their healthcare coverage as “excellent” or “good.” These positive evaluations are generally similar to the reviews that all insured Americans give to their health insurance.

The people who hate the Affordable Care Act are generally people who have no idea what it even does, and who aren’t affected by it at all.

There are a number of lessons here:

1. Democrats stink at messaging.

2. Republicans are awfully good at messaging.

3. Lying doesn’t tend to impede the success of the GOP message machine.

4. Americans are seldom shy about having a strong opinion on something they know nothing about.

In the end, I’d like to say ignore the polls, but the Republicans are so good at misrepresenting the truth, that even a lie — especially a lie — can do a lot of damage. I’ve said from day one that Democrats were doing a lousy job of selling their programs. Whether it was the stimulus that quite literally saved our country, or Obamacare, that wasn’t all we wanted, but it also wasn’t too shoddy either.

Unfortunately in life, and politics, doing good isn’t enough. You have to market what you’re selling, and continue to market it even after it’s sold. The bad guys won’t stop trying to shoot it down. And you should never cease defending it.

New Gallup Poll Crushes Vital Piece of Republican Propaganda Against Obamacare

Years from now, history is going to look back on the Affordable Care Act (aka “Obamacare”) as a law that befuddles people who weren’t alive when it was first passed. They’ll look back and mock those who levied such blind hatred toward the law much in the same way we do those who stood against every other piece of historic legislation that was passed in this country.

Because no matter what “horrors” Republicans try to sell to the American people about “Obamacare,” reality continues to prove otherwise. Aside from all the ridiculous nonsense (death panels, government takeover of health care, socialism) the biggest talking point they initially tried to use was that it was a “job killer.” Then again, what isn’t a “job killer” to Republicans? It’s their go-to fear mongering talking point. Well, as we’ve seen with unemployment dropping below 6%, over 10 million private-sector jobs being created since the law was passed and 2014 being the best year for job creation since the 90′s – the ACA hasn’t “killed jobs.”

Then we can’t forget about this time last year when Republicans were falling all over themselves with joy following the disastrous marketplace rollout. Though reality ultimately showed that it had very little impact as over 8 million Americans used the health care exchange to sign up for health insurance.

The next lie they then tried to push was that even though over 8 million people signed up for “Obamacare,” only a small fraction of those people would actually pay. Wrong again. In fact, 90 percent of the people who signed up for health care through the marketplace paid for their coverage.

Another ‘Red’ State Admits They Were WRONG About Obamacare, Quietly Accepts Medicaid Expansion

Remember earlier this year, around the time news of the ACA roll-out’s success were starting to trickle in, when Republicans finally started revealing their true fears about it?

Rand Paul summed it up nicely:

“People get assumed and accustomed to receiving things, particularly things that they get for free.”

Or, to paraphrase: “We’re terrified people will like it, and then we’ll all look like idiots.”

After the roll-out, fully half the states in the U.S., all of them controlled by Tea-baiting GOP lawmakers refused federal funds to expand Medicaid in their states. A good move from a political demagogue’s point of view…maybe not so much for the people of those disproportionately impoverished states, who were left asking, “Why are we still dying because you won’t give us the medical care we’re legally due?”

Of course, those with any degree of reason knew that that wouldn’t last forever, especially considering the fact that most of the poorest states in the Union are controlled by the GOP. Arkansas and Iowa were among the first opt-out states to opt back in under pressure from the public, adopting modified “private option” plans that can utilize the Medicaid money offered by the Fed to pay for or subsidize private insurance.

Now, Tennessee is looking to join that group, among three other red states including Pennsylvania planning on doing the same.

As reported by The Tennessean, Republican governor, Bill Haslam, is in the process of submitting a plan to the HHS (formerly controlled by FEMA Death Marshall Kathleen Sebelius) to utilize Obamacare dollars in a manner similar to Arkansas and Iowa’s Private Option plans.

Evidently, the pressure from 150,000-plus poverty-stricken Tennesseans who need healthcare has proven slightly more powerful than the nonsensical screams of those Tea Partiers who put this guy into office.

Undoubtedly, this swing among Tennessee and GOP states like it is indicative of a larger trend, and you can bet it’ll be a feather in Obama’s cap. After all, there’s no better political tool than a willing defector. Fair enough. But for our part, we welcome Tennessee, Arkansas, Pennsylvania, Iowa and states like them to the civilized world.*

*”Civilized world” obviously not including Florida, currently controlled by Medicaid scam artist and TeaLord Rick Scott.

Obamacare Check Up!

MUST SEE: Paul Ryan Holds ‘Poverty Hearing,’ Gets Obliterated by Black Mother of Three

Well, it happened. Paul Ryan actually allowed a poor person to testify at one of his sham “poverty hearings,” and we’re pretty sure that he’s not ever going to do that again.

On Wednesday, Tiana Gaines-Turner, a childcare provider who supports three children on just $10.80 an hour, was allowed to speak before the House Budget Committee about her experiences. Surprisingly, given his incredibly racist comments in the past, the person he allowed to speak was of darker hue.

When asked how the Affordable Care Act impacted her family, she explained that the ACA has allowed her to receive adequate medical assistance. Her children were covered, of course, but now her family has adequate medical insurance through Obamacare.

She explained that, while she and her husband are both working, they still struggle to adequately provide for their children. “We’re always trying to climb up,” she said. “There’s a constant climb [...] It’s not something that we choose to do.” She explained that her husband wants to go back to school, as does she. They want full-time jobs, but are unable to find them. “Just because you can obtain a job, and you have two people in your household like me that are working. That doesn’t mean that everything is solved. That doesn’t mean that you don’t still need assistance.”

Watch some highlights from the hearing, below. You won’t regret it, but Paul Ryan does.:

American Family Association: Boycott Macy's For Sponsoring Gay Sex Parades

Just in via email: 

Most American families don't know about the contemptible role of Macy's department stores in supporting "gay pride" throughout the nation. The radical events and activities of a typical 'pride' week-end are decadent and highly-sexualized. They are a disgrace to communities and certainly shouldn't be financially supported by a retailer like Macy's that claims to serve families. 

Sex parades in many cities, among them New York City, Columbus, Phoenix, Cincinnati, San Francisco, Seattle and Kansas City, are supported by Macy's sponsorship. In Orlando, Macy's is the "presenting sponsor" of the parade. 

The red star that has become Macy's logo can often be seen floating as a balloon high above the marchers in these parades, and Macy's employees march in the parade with signs and T-shirts that read "Pride and Joy." Yet some of their fellow parade participants are partially-clothed and engaged in simulated sex acts, even while children are present. Some floats and signs mock man/woman marriage in support of same sex "marriage" while others outwardly mock sincerely held Christian faith.

The email goes on to denounce Macy's for offering a gay wedding gift registry and closes with a link to a form letter demanding that the company cease promoting "a very dangerous, unhealthy, and destructive lifestyle."

Quote of the Day

"Even critics are acknowledging that the ACA is bringing health care to those who desperately need it. In short, it's working. ...In fact, over 421,000 Kentuckians have signed up for health insurance through 'kynect'—about 75 percent of whom didn't previously have insurance and about 52 percent of whom were under age 35. That's almost 1 in 10 Kentuckians. Those numbers—and the testimony of the people behind them—contradict the mindless nattering of partisan-minded critics who need to leave their Washington D.C. echo chambers and talk to the people they represent. Because if each of the over 421,000 people who signed up via 'kynect' could grab 10 minutes of Sen. McConnell's time to explain what health care coverage means for their families, and if the Senator had the endurance to listen 24/7, it would take eight years to hear from each enrollee. That's longer than the entire new Senate term he says he deserves."

—Democratic Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear.

Fox News Contributor Handily Debunks VA-Obamacare Connection

On a recent episode of Fox News Sunday, host Chris Wallace tried to link the Veterans Health Administration scandal (VA) with Obamacare, suggesting that due to “big government,” Obamacare will eventually experience management problems similar to those plaguing the VA.

Panelist and USA Today columnist Kirsten Powers disagreed.

”They’re not the same thing. Of course, the VA is really government-run health care where you have the government controlling everything. That’s not what Obamacare is. Obamacare is more like insurance. You don’t have the doctors working for Obamacare. So I don’t think it’s the same thing.”

Powers went on to say that Wallace’s position is not an unusual one for Republicans. The specter of big government is a common weapon in the GOP arsenal, she said.

”So this is not a surprising argument coming from Republicans. It is always their argument. Take anything that is happening in the world and this is the argument that they funnel it through. It’s always proof that big government is a problem. So it’s not surprising.”

Many have suggested that privatization is the answer to the VA’s woes, but that would be a mistake said Powers:

”So this idea that somehow putting things off into the private sector is going to make everything work also doesn’t work if you consider your experiences, at least experiences I’ve had with insurance companies, health insurance companies.”

The Real Veterans Scandal: 258,000 Have No Healthcare Thanks to GOP Governors

While the GOP/Tea Party fiddles, blaming Obama for everything that’s wrong, our Veterans are dying. This is the same Congress where the majority have never served in the military.

First we send soldiers to fight our wars and we promise them we’ll take care of them. Then we don’t provide them with adequate protection while they’re in combat. Just as a reminder, at the onset of the “no real weapons of mass destruction war in Iraq.”  The Bush administration routinely sent soldiers into combat without adequate combat gear.  Consequently many of the veterans today are those who were sent to war ill prepared.  Now we’re denying them adequate medical care and basic living necessities like food and shelter.

There isn’t one problem with Veterans, there are multiple problems that our Veterans are facing. And according to the American Community Service survey in March 2013…

“Analysis of the 2008-2010 American Community Survey (ACS) indicates that 535,000 uninsured veterans and 174,000 uninsured spouses of veterans—or four in 10 uninsured veterans  and one in four uninsured spouses—have incomes below 138 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL) and could qualify for Medicaid or new subsidies for coverage under the Affordable  Care Act (ACA).”  

Remember this is the Congress that will go to any lengths to discredit President Obama – regardless of whom them hurt.  And they call themselves Patriots.  The Republican controlled congress voted down jobs bills which included veterans; the same R-Congress cut unemployment benefits which affects Veterans; and 23 Republican states are refusing to expand Medicaid. Veterans can qualify for Medicaid especially since the VA (which is routinely underfunded by Congress) can’t handle all the medical needs of our soldiers.

And what are Americans doing about it? Any ideas?

McConnell sees distinction between ACA, ACA exchanges

Senate hopefuls Michelle Nunn (D-Ga.) and Alison Lundergan Grimes (D-Ky.) have taken some heat this week, some of it deserved, for less-than-clear answers on the Affordable Care Act. Both are broadly supportive of reform and have endorsed key provisions, but both have been reluctant to say to how they would have voted if they’d been in the Senate when “Obamacare” was up for a vote.

 

The question obviously won’t go away and they’ll need clear answers, sooner rather than later.

 

But while scrutiny like this is fair, it’s important that campaign watchers not miss the other side of the coin: some Dems may be hedging on some health care questions, but in a variety of races, the Republican line is a complete mess.

Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell says he would try to repeal the Affordable Care Act if he’s elected Senate majority leader.

 

But the veteran senator won’t say what would happen to the 421,000 Kentuckians who have health insurance through the state’s health care exchange.

 

McConnell told reporters Friday that the fate of the state exchange is unconnected to the federal health care law. Yet the exchange would not exist, if not for the law that created it.

This AP report doesn’t include any exact quotes, and I’m reluctant to draw sweeping conclusions from paraphrases. I’ll be interested in McConnell’s exact words.

 

But if the AP’s rough account is accurate, the Senate Minority Leader’s position is plainly incoherent. It’s simply not possible to separate the law’s exchange marketplaces from the law itself. Like it or not, one is a key part of the other. The federal law was responsible for creating and funding the existence of the state exchange. When consumers – in Kentucky and elsewhere – use these marketplaces to sign up for private coverage, many are able to afford the insurance thanks to subsidies made possible by the federal law Republicans have been desperate to obliterate.

 

Or put another way, when McConnell says he wants to destroy the entirety of the Affordable Care Act, “root and branch,” he necessarily means eliminating the marketplaces where insurers compete for consumers’ business – it’s one of the “branches.”

 

So why suggest otherwise?

 

Again, his exact words matter, but if the AP’s right, McConnell probably wants to draw a distinction between Obamacare and a key feature of Obamacare because most of his constituents probably like these exchange marketplaces, and this election year, he doesn’t want to be on the wrong side of Kentucky’s mainstream.

 

In other words, the political winds have changed direction so dramatically that even McConnell realizes that shouting “Repeal!” over and over again is no longer a sustainable posture, even in – especially in – a red state like Kentucky, which has had great success in implementing the law.

 

What’s more, this isn’t just about McConnell. If the media wants to press Democrats like Nunn and Lundergan Grimes about hypothetical votes four years ago, it’s certainly a legitimate area of inquiry. But at the same time, Republicans like Scott Brown in New Hampshire, Terri Lynn Land in Michigan, Tom Cotton in Arkansas, and Thom Tillis in North Carolina also refuse to answer equally legitimate questions about basic parts of the health care debate. And when they try to respond, many end up repeating gibberish.

 

Some of these candidates have a decent excuse: they’re running their first Senate campaign and may simply be out of their depth. But if so, what’s Mitch McConnell’s excuse?

GOP Determined to Punish Millions of Newly Insured Americans for Supporting Obamacare

The Republican Party is prepared to go down with the ship, even though the only ones left on board are the rats.

One of the main conversations of the 2008 election was healthcare reform.  The American people spoke when they chose President Obama over Senator McCain.  In 2012, with the Affordable Care Act being a central issue, the American public spoke again and decided to continue with President Obama.

Now, with more than 8 million people signing up through healthcare.gov, even more being helped through the Medicaid expansion, and people signing up directly through insurance companies, the Republicans are panicking.  Instead of switching their position, and working to make the Affordable Care Act better, they are more determined than ever to harm the American people by repealing the law with no replacement.

Unfortunately, not everybody who could be receiving affordable healthcare is.  That is because Republican Governors and legislatures are refusing to accept federal funds for the Medicaid expansion.  Despite being paid for 100% for the first 3 years, and no less than 90% thereafter, Republicans are still refusing to help their residents.

During a press conference on Thursday, President Obama said, “You have 5 million people who could be having health insurance right now at no cost to these states, zero cost to these states, other than ideological reasons, they have chosen not to provide health insurance for their citizens.  That’s wrong. It should stop. Those folks should be able to get health insurance like everybody else.”

Obviously, if President Obama shows the slightest hint of victory, Republicans lose their minds.  President Obama urged the Republican Party to “move on” and continue with more pressing problems facing our country.

In response, the Republican Party released a video opposing President Obama and taking his statements out of context.

In the video, the Republicans claim,

HYPOCRITES: Anti-Obamacare Koch Brothers Received $1.4 MILLION in Obamacare Subsidies!

The Associated Press (AP) is reporting Koch Industries, the evil corporation headed by Tea Party founders and funders Charles and David Koch, two of the most high-profile opponents of President Obama and his reform of healthcare, has benefitted from $1.4 million in subsidies – from the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

According to thinkprogress.org, the subsidies are from a $5 billion ACA program designed to help businesses provide coverage to those employees who are over 55 but not yet eligible for Medicare. Koch Industries, the business empire of the two brothers, applied for ACA subsidies in August 2010, along with a host of other business and industries who, while publicly opposing any change to the law, were never going to miss out on the chance to secure millions of dollars in government subsidies.

As noted by thinkprogress.org 

“The Early Retiree provision resembles one passed by Republicans in 2003, which gave subsidies to employers who offered drug coverage to their retirees before the Medicare Part D program went into effect in 2006. As the New York Times explained, the goal then was the same as it is today, ‘to discourage those employers from terminating those programs, which would have saddled the government and seniors with higher costs’.”

This is not the first example of Republican hypocrisy over the Affordable Care Act. Paul Ryan has requested ACA funds for his congressional district in Wisconsin, despite having voted for its repeal on over 30 separate occasions. In a cross-party venture, Republican congressmen Vance McAllister worked alongside senators David Vitter (R) and Mary Landrieu (D) to lobby the Obama Administration to keep a healthcare enrolment call-centre in their state of Louisiana open beyond the coverage period in order to preserve over 600 jobs. Texas Governor Rick Perry (R) has even publicly encouraged families in his state to sign up for coverage in the federal exchange in an effort to save the state money.

Bad News For Republicans: New Poll Shows More Americans Support Obamacare Than Oppose It

Poll: Americans are behind Obamacare.

The newly released poll reveals that Obamacare now has more support than opposition. For the first time, President Obama’s signature health care law has turned the numbers around. 49 percent back it while 48 percent oppose. The overall poll is close, but looking deeper into the results tells an interesting story.

Conservative support for Obamacare has doubled since November.

As it turns out, support for Obamacare has risen across party lines. In just the last three months alone, support for the law has risen among Democrats from 65 percent to 76 percent. Support for Obamacare has slightly dropped among Republicans and Independents. But, in a surprising twist, support for the law has actually risen among conservatives. Yes, I said conservatives. Since November, the percent of conservatives who support the Affordable Care Act has more than doubled. 36 percent of them back it compared to only 17 percent five months ago. It looks like a lot of conservatives actually like having affordable health care.

7.1 million Americans are covered by Obamacare despite GOP doomsday claims.

This is fantastic news for Democrats as the 2014 midterm election approaches. Despite all of the apocalyptic claims that the GOP has repeated about the law since 2010, it’s clearly becoming more popular. More than 7 million Americans have signed up for coverage since the law took effect. The law has also created hundreds of thousands of jobs. Even Disney World employees are feeling the positive effects of Obamacare. And even though all of their doomsday claims have been debunked, Republicans are burying their heads in the sand rather than admitting they were wrong.

The fact is, 7.1 million Americans no longer have to worry about going bankrupt if they get sick. As the law continues to cover more and more people, it is likely to get even more popular as time goes by. Polls will eventually show Obamacare with the same kind of support that Medicare and Medicaid currently enjoy. At some point, the GOP will have to abandon their anti-Obamacare stance to avoid peril at the ballot box.

The true apocalypse will occur in red states where Republicans reject Obamacare.

This is especially true in red states, where GOP governors have prevented their own residents from accessing health coverage. Studies show that thousands of Americans will die needlessly in red states because of GOP opposition to Obamacare. The GOP is literally willing to sacrifice the lives of their own constituents. As Americans in these states suffer, the GOP should expect a backlash unlike any they have ever experienced. If anything will spur people to vote against the GOP in these states, it’s the deaths of loved ones that could have been prevented. The impending death toll in red states is the true apocalypse that is going to occur. And it will be 100 percent caused by Republicans.

They stole her photo, then claimed she hated Obamacare. She doesn’t.

Helene isn’t having the best week.

The Texas blogger was visiting Las Vegas for a bachelorette party this past weekend, and woke up on Saturday to find that she’d become the latest anti-Obamacare posterchild.

The thing is, Helene never signed up for the job.

In fact, she told me yesterday that she’s quite happy with the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and with the “affordable” health care it helped her find.

“Not only do I not agree with what the image is portraying,” Helene wrote me, “I actually have Affordable Healthcare!”

So, if anything, Helene is an Obamacare success story.

But that didn’t stop over 17,000 people on Facebook from sharing an image of her face, posted just days ago, with a caption complaining about Obamacare.  To add insult to injury, the people who stole her image couldn’t even spell “conspiracy” right.

When in doubt, lie

Regular followers of the health care reform saga will find this story all too familiar.

The Republicans have attempted to repeal the ACA some 50 times since it was first passed.  They also challenged the law all the way to the Supreme Court, where they lost.  And they made the presidential election of 2012 about repealing “Obamacare” – and they lost that too.

But far from being daunted, Republicans are only more emboldened by their certainty that President Obama has circumvented democracy by passing legislation with a majority in Congress, then getting it declared constitutional by the Supreme Court, and finally reaffirming the mandate with the popular vote.

But, when the truth fails them, Republicans fall back on their trusted steed, the lie.  And boy have they been lying a lot lately about Obamacare.  You see, the Republicans keep trotting out Obamacare “horror stories” that just aren’t panning out.  Probably the most famous GOP example of the ACA’s failings was the story they told the night of this year’s State of the Union:

Obamacare? Are you nuts?

The deadline is coming! Are you signed up yet?

GOP WOULD BAR POOR FROM HEALTH CARE ALTOGETHER

During a Republican primary debate in the last presidential election cycle, there was a dispiriting moment in which tea party audience members cheered at the idea that a comatose uninsured American -- unable to afford health insurance -- would be left to die. That infamous outburst, among others, has prompted GOP bigwigs to try to cut back on primary season debates, hoping to limit appearances that might expose the party's baser impulses.

But that mean-spirited and contemptuous attitude toward the sick is alive and well in the Grand Old Party, as its maniacal (and futile) resistance to Obamacare has made clear. Now, one Republican politician is pushing that callousness to new lows: He wants to bar the uninsured from hospital emergency rooms.

Last week, Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal criticized a decades-old federal law that requires all hospitals that receive Medicare funds and have emergency facilities -- and that's most -- to treat any patient who walks in needing care, regardless of his ability to pay. "It came as a result of bad facts," Deal said, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "And we have a saying that bad facts make bad law."

Deal says that many people use emergency rooms unnecessarily, and those patients inflate health care costs. He is factually correct. But there are other facts that undercut his arguments and reveal his hypocrisy.

First off, Deal is among those red-state Republicans who have vociferously opposed the Affordable Care Act, which makes health insurance available to hundreds of thousands of people who couldn't otherwise afford it. If more people had health insurance policies that paid for doctors' visits, fewer would use emergency rooms for routine complaints.

Second, Deal, like many Republican governors, has refused the Medicaid expansion made possible by Obamacare, even though the federal government would pick up 100 percent of the cost for the first three years and 90 percent until the year 2022. That expansion is the best chance many Georgians without means have for getting health insurance.

So, to sum up, Deal hates Obamacare and refuses its Medicaid expansion, which would keep the working poor out of emergency rooms. In addition, he wants to deny them access to emergency rooms unless they can pay. Really, governor? Don't you insist that your values are "pro-life"?

It's no wonder that GOP strategists shuddered when audience members responded so cruelly during the CNN/Tea Party Express debate in September 2011. It portrays the party as pitiless -- a reputation unlikely to attract a majority of voters.

Quiet as it's kept, most Americans support keeping Obamacare, despite the relentless pounding it has taken from Republicans. (And despite a website rollout that was infuriatingly incompetent.) A new poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that 56 percent of Americans favor keeping it in place, while just 31 percent want to repeal it. (Twelve percent want to replace it with a GOP plan.)

That's likely because most voters, no matter their reservations about Obamacare, know that the Republican Party has no good solution for the millions of Americans who work every day but still don't earn enough money to buy a health care plan. Americans have struggled with the nation's dysfunctional health care "system," and they know it's overdue for an overhaul.

Meanwhile, as the mid-term elections draw closer, the GOP struggles to come up with a plan that pretends to overhaul the health care system. Looking to avoid being painted as mere obstructions, House Republican honchos are working to draw their caucus together behind a bill that would replace Obamacare with a workable alternative.

But the most sincere plan so far -- one offered by Sens. Richard Burr, R-N.C., Tom Coburn, R-Okla. and Orrin Hatch, R-Utah -- would probably offer policies too skimpy to do any good once a policy-holder gets sick.

Besides, even that replacement idea seems unlikely to draw broad support among the far-right tea partiers, who believe that allowing the uninsured poor to die is the appropriate government response to the health care crisis.

That's a hulking bit of hypocrisy for a party that advertises itself as "pro-life." Deal's latest proposal is one more reminder of how little that label means.

Congressman Who Voted 3 Times for Medicare Cuts – Blames Obama for Cuts to Medicare

President Obama was elected President of the United States, there have been two consistencies from the Republican party: 

• No matter what President Obama supports, just do the opposite. 
• Blame President Obama for everything, even if it’s something we’ve done. 

There’s also a lesser one where Republicans often like to take credit for positive things going on in the country, when those events are actually due to Obama’s policies. 

In Florida, Republican Representative Tom Rooney is accusing the Affordable Care Act (aka “Obamacare”), and by proxy President Obama, of making deep cuts to the Medicare program. 

Rooney said: 

“Here’s the reality. To help pay for his health care law, the president made deep cuts to the successful Medicare Advantage plan, which serves almost 30 percent of all Medicare beneficiaries.” 

Actually what “Obamacare” does is reduce spending for Medicare by cutting back on excessive payments the program was paying to some health care providers. You know, companies that were billing Medicare for services that the patient didn’t really need. So while it’s cutting spending, it’s not the same kind of cuts that we’re used to dealing with. It isn’t a direct reduction of funds as much as it is a requirement that Medicare be more efficient with what it’s paying out. 

They’re in no way a reduction in benefits, but provider payouts. 

So, while some might call these “cuts,” what they really are is requirements that make Medicare more efficient. In fact, according to Think Progress, the Affordable Care Act extends the solvency of Medicare by a decade by saving the program $716 billion. 

It’s easy to see how some Republicans could spin this into an attack on “Obamacare” and President Obama. Let’s not forget the recent CBO report that said “Obamacare” could reduce the workforce by 2.5 million workers – except that’s not what Republicans said. Instead, Republicans blatantly lied, claiming that the results of the CBO report said “Obamacare” would cost 2.5 million jobs. Which is of course a gross distortion of the truth. 

Now, this obvious attempt to mislead voters by Representative Rooney is bad enough. But it gets worse. You see, Mr. Rooney himself voted for these same “cuts” three different times. Yet now he wants to act appalled by them. See, these are the same type of cuts that Wisconsin Representative Paul Ryan has proposed in every single one of his budgets in 2011, 2011 and 2013. Budgets that Mr. Rooney and the vast majority of House Republicans voted for. 

 It’s absolutely comical, and hypocritical, for someone like Representative Rooney to now come out trying to slam the president for Medicare “cuts” when: 

1. They’re not actually cuts. 
2. It’s essentially the same exact thing he’s voted for three times. 

But it’s just more of the same from the Republican party. Doing anything and everything to blame something on President Obama, even if it’s something they’ve previously supported.

Doctor In Ron Johnson's Anti-Obamacare Story Refutes Claim

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) has long attributed his inspiration for entering Washington politics to a mission of repealing the Affordable Care Act. A common thread in the tea party-backed senator's calls for repeal is a story involving a reconstructive heart surgery that saved his infant daughter’s life 30 years ago, during the freer health system before Obamacare. 

But the doctor Johnson credits with the lifesaving heart surgery seems to disagree, according to progressive news blog Uppity Wisconsin.

In numerous speeches and op-eds, Johnson claimed the work of Dr. John Foker would not have been possible under the Affordable Care Act and its stifling regulations. If his family had lacked the freedom to access doctors qualified to reconstruct his daughter’s heart, Johnson argued, his baby wouldn’t have survived. 

In a 2012 interview with CNS News, Johnson said:

I would not have run for the U.S. Senate had Obamacare not been passed. … Our story has a happy ending because we had that freedom. … That’s what this health care law is all about, it’s an assault on our freedom. It’s going to lower the quality of our care. It’s going to lead to rationing. The types of medical innovation that saved my daughter’s life [and] that saves millions of Americans -- I won't say it’s going to come to a grinding halt, but it’s going to be severely limited.

According to Uppity, however, Foker is not only “generally supportive” of the Affordable Care Act, but contends that President Barack Obama’s landmark health care law does not go far enough.

Cantor readies yet another anti-ACA vote

Members of Congress take a few weeks off for the winter holidays, and in the process, party leaders in both chambers use the time off to prioritize. When lawmakers return refreshed, eager to get the new year off to a strong start, what should be at the top of the to-do list?

 

Senate Democrats and the White House are focusing primarily on extending federal unemployment benefits, helping struggling families keep their heads above water while giving the economy a boost. Indeed, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) will bring a temporary extension to the floor early next week and the White House is lobbying in support of the bill.

 

GOP leaders in the lower chamber have a very different priority.

House Republicans will kick off the second session of the 113th Congress next week by voting on another bill to undercut the president’s health care law.

 

In a memo sent to Republican colleagues on Thursday, Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., announced that the chamber would take up a measure next week to “strengthen security requirements” on the error-plagued HealthCare.gov website and “require prompt notification in the event of a breach involving personal information.”

The Majority Leader added, “American families have enough to worry about as we enter the new year without having to wonder if they can trust the government to inform them when their personal information – entered into a government mandated website – has been compromised.”

 

That’s nice rhetoric, I suppose, and it certainly dovetails well with the coordinated Republican effort, complete with carefully staged “field hearings,” to raise fears about health care and security. It’s obvious that GOP officials really put a lot of thought into multifaceted public-relations plan.

 

But it’s nevertheless a reminder about Republican lawmakers’ indifference to substance and governing.

 

Listening to Cantor yesterday, one might assume security requirements at healthcare.gov are a legitimate area in need of congressional attention. But those assumptions would be wrong – there have been no security breaches; literally zero Americans’ personal information has been compromised; administrative security testing for healthcare.gov is constant; and when rare vulnerabilities have popped up, the problems have been identified and resolved quickly and safely.

 

House GOP leaders know all of this. It’s not a well-kept secret.

 

So why would Cantor go out of his way to make this the #1 post-holiday priority for the House of Representatives? Especially when there’s so much real work to do? Because GOP officials are eager to scare consumers – if Americans are worried about non-existent security problems, maybe they’ll think twice before enrolling for coverage and participating in the system. And if consumers can be convinced to steer clear of signing up for insurance, it’ll undermine the federal care system overall, which would satisfy the GOP’s unhinged ideological goals.

 

The House Republican health care agenda is, in other words, predicated on ham-fisted demagoguery.

 

It’s a national embarrassment, or at least it would be if GOP lawmakers were still capable of shame.