ObamaCare on its first day has shown the following results:
10 million people visited exchange websites.
4.7 million visited the government website for ObamaCare
7.5 million visits to New York’s exchange website
16,000 hits per second in California to the exchange website.
Almost 2,200 accounts created in Nevada and 1,200 in Kentucky.
It is clear that millions of Americans are excited about gaining health care, a basic human right, long overdue!
But meanwhile, the Tea Party Republicans have held America hostage, and Speaker of the House John Boehner has allowed that to happen, ignoring his constitutional duties as second in line to the Presidency under the Presidential Succession Act of 1947!
And as a result:
Visitors to national parks and the Smithsonian museums were turned away, although veterans of World War II knocked down barriers and occupied the World War II Memorial in Washington, DC.
The National Institutes of Health has suspended testing for children who have cancer.
The Food and Drug Administration has suspended examination of overseas produce and seafood coming into the country, creating a possibility of food borne diseases which could kill many Americans.
800,000 government employees are not being paid, and may not get back pay.
Washington DC government is crippled, without approval of a budget.
These are just examples of the disaster being created!
The only good thing coming out of this is to make Americans aware of the fact that our federal government DOES make a difference in people’s lives, and we take government and its employees and agencies for granted.
Hopefully, average Americans will start to appreciate and understand the importance of government in our lives, and stop believing the anarchists who make up the Tea Party Movement.
And hopefully, Speaker Boehner will finally show “cajones” and repudiate these right wing extremists and agree to end the crisis that the Republican Party has created out of spite!
Parable of the Marbles
Once upon a time, there was a foolish group who had a bag full of beautiful marbles. Now this group was quite proud of its marbles. In fact, they thought so much of them that they would neither play with them nor let anyone else play with them. They only took them out of the bag in order to count and admire them; they were never used for their intended purpose. Yet this group carried that coveted bag of marbles everywhere they went.
Well, there was also a wise boy who wished he could have such a fine bag of marbles. So this boy worked hard and earned money to purchase a nice bag to hold marbles. Even though he had not yet earned enough with which to purchase any marbles, he had faith and purchased the marble bag. He took special care of the bag and dreamed of the day it would contain marbles with which he could play and share with his friends.
Alas, the foolish group with all of the marbles didn’t take care of the marble bag itself, and one day the bag developed a hole in the bottom seam. Still, they paid no attention and, one by one, the marbles fell out of the bag.
It didn’t take long, once the foolish group’s marble bag developed a hole, for the wise boy to begin to find those beautiful marbles, one at a time, lying unnoticed on the ground. And, one by one, he added them to his marble bag. The wise boy thus gained a fine bag full of marbles in no time at all. This boy played with the marbles and shared them with all of his friends. And he always took special care of the bag so he wouldn’t lose any.
And what about the foolish group? Because they were selfish and careless, they lost all of their marbles and were left holding the bag.
Paul, I really like this, and it has great symbolism for those who are smart enough to ponder it! Thanks! 🙂
Republicans can’t do the right thing. They’re all bought and paid for. It’s funny, as in Irony, that Americans stood by and let our government become corrupt. We are all to blame for our problems, For the last 35 to 40 years we just stood by and let the Republicans destroy our nation.
The blood is on all our hands.
I totally agree, John! This all began with the Reagan Presidency, and George W. Bush made things much worse, and the GOP controlling Congress from 1994-2006 clinched the disaster!
Professor Feinman ~Really great entry listing the stats for the numbers of Americans accessing the ACA website and exchanges!
Excellent corollary with marble parable Paul!
Reality check from UK media that we don’t get from US media.
Less than 1% of visitors are signing up for Obamacare on state health exchange websites!:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2442115/EXCLUSIVE-Less-1-cent-Web-visitors-signing-Obamacare-state-health-exchange-websites.html
California’s program registered an estimated 0.58 per cent of website visitors in its first day
A Connecticut congressman boasted that his state took 167 applications for Obamacare services on day one, a rate of 0.59 per cent
Obama administration won’t say how many Americans signed up on the central website that covered insurance exchanges for 36 states
Kentucky’s 5.3 per cent application rate seems to be the nation’s highest
Other states wouldn’t provide statistics, or tracked only the creation of new online accounts, not numbers of completed applications…
Ooops! http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2013/10/02/obamacare-kicks-in/?hpt=ac_bn1
Dr. Drew Pinsky was on Anderson Cooper 222 last night. Anderson Cooper said to Drew Pinsky, “I don’t know all the details of what exactly is covered. It’s an incredibly confusing thing. I spent all day reading about it.” This is about Obamacare. Drew Pinsky talked about the people he treats and deals with and what they think about it.
PINSKY: There’s really another interesting layer to this that people aren’t talking about. Today, I often spend a lot of my time finding resources for people who don’t have insurance. So today I had three calls. I said, “Good news.” (bangs table) “You can sign up for Obamacare today.” Not interested. Not so interested in spending money. Just want care. To get people that have never done this before used to the idea that, not only they have access, they can get this coverage, they must do this —
COOPER: Because the people you’re talking to feel that they can fall back on the social safety net —
PINSKY: The safety net.
COOPER: — emergency rooms visits and whatever.
PINSKY: They’re used to using the safety net, which is unfortunate. We’ve almost acculturated ourselves to this safety net. There’s hubristic part of this to an which is the idea that people who are uninsured can go online. I can’t get my healthy, educated young males to go online and sign up for any insurance. My uninsured, uneducated, perhaps stricken-resourced population to get on line? That’s hubris to say, “Oh, just go online and sign up!”
So there’s Dr. Drew Pinsky explaining that the people he deals with say, “What do you mean, pay for it? I’m not going to this website. What the hell? I’ll just do the emergency room if I get sick. I’m not going to any website here. I’ll just fall back on the social safety net. I’ll be taken care of!”
He’s saying that most of his patients don’t know how to do this anyway. “What? You’re asking me to go online and sign up for what? Medical care? Health insurance?” They’re clueless. This is a guy on CNN, and he’s admitting that the people he deals with and treats haven’t the slightest idea of two things. They haven’t slightest idea what’s going on and when they find out, “Well, I’m not doing that. I’ll just rely on the social safety net.”
In summary he saying nobody’s going to want free health care if they have to pay for it! Go figure!!!LOL!
No, Eugene, it shows how stupid many people really are about basic responsibilities that every adult has. It shows ignorance, which the Republican Party and conservatives promote, and meanwhile, many will die because of lack of health care, but after all, do YOU care or anyone like you? No, just pure selfishness and self centeredness, which is the “Christian way”, right? What hypocrisy, and for people who claim to believe in life!
Ooops #2.
ObamaCare’s Bitter Irony: It May Increase Number Of Uninsured
http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials-viewpoint/093013-673120-obamacare-may-actually-boost-number-of-uninsured.htm#ixzz2gT7y5AfK
What Pinsky is actually saying is that Obama’s constituents aren’t going be able to figure out how to sign up online! He’s just being polite in the interview. And these so called “stupid” people are Obama’s and the Democrat party constituents! They live in the Democratically controlled inner cities and public education system! They are the Democrats party creation and they want them to continue being as you say “stupid” just so they continue voting Democrat! The Democrats thrive on these innocent people!
What about all of the white ignorant poor in Kentucky, West Virginia, the Great Plains, and the South, Eugene? There are plenty of white poor, and single mothers, mostly white, but you only talk about minorities, demonstrating that you feel these people are unimportant, and should be denied health care!
Excuse me Ronald, but where did I use the word minorities?
You are just assuming, and you know what happens when you assume.
I said inner cities and public school system. As far as I know the public school system controlled by the leftist democrat teachers union is nationwide. They affect everyone. Even “white ignorant poor” in Kentucky as you say. Notice that I never dwell into race, but you instantly start dividing us between minorities and white or poor white. Who is the raced obsessed person here? I rest my case. Good night.
Your case is based on quick sand. Your case has not rested!
@Juan Roberto Eugene
My wife works in our local public school system. In our neck of the woods, we don’t have a teachers union.
Reality check:
Americans want Obamacare so badly they flooded the servers the first day.
http://www.politicususa.com/2013/10/02/americans-obamacare-badly-flooded-servers.html
@Juan Roberto Eugene
Time to bust your bubble. Not all people who vote for Obama live in inner cities. I’m a Democratic voter in a small rural town in the South. Also, most people in the town, even the county I live in, are Republican voters.
Professor,
Check out what Jimmy Kimmel did on his show, hitting the streets asking average people which is better, Obamacare or the Affordable Care Act. Hilarious!
Because me being a Democratic voter is a minority in my neck of the woods, I consider myself to be Blue in a Red Town and County.
I know. It is all an issue of racism, as people like the new health care law, until it is attributed to Barack Obama! A really sad state of affairs!
This is a good article about the excise tax on medical devices.. I can tell you from experience that durable medical equipment is way overpriced and has been for years! These corporations have profited unfairly and patients have been taken advatage of.
http://www.americansfortaxfairness.org/blog/2013/10/01/tuesday-tax-tradeoff-29-billion-tax-break-for-medical-device-companies-or-healthcare-for-the-uninsured-2/
Thanks, Maggie, for showing once again how the GOP loves to help massive corporations rip off the American people in the name of capitalism. That is more important, to back corporate corruption, than providing health care for millions of Americans, right? Such is the Republican Party!
I know how you feel Jane Doe. I also am a Democratic voter living in a highly conservative rural community.