Or, as Obamacare defenders call cancellations followed by roiling chaos: "transitioning."

The New York Times reported (on Saturday, the least-read day of the news week) that the insurance market was in chaos, with insurers not knowing who their supposed insured clients even are. Digested at Hot Air:

In addition to the difficulties many face in proving they have coverage, patients are also having a hard time figuring out whether particular doctors are affiliated with their health insurance plan. Doctors themselves often do not know if they are in the network of providers for plans sold on the exchange.

But interviews with doctors, hospital executives, pharmacists and newly insured people around the country suggest that the biggest challenge so far has been verifying coverage. A surge of enrollments in late December, just before the deadline for coverage to take effect, created backlogs at many state and federal exchanges and insurance companies in processing applications. As a result, many of those who enrolled have yet to receive an insurance card, policy number or bill.

Many are also having trouble reaching exchanges and insurance companies to confirm their enrollment or pay their first monthÂ’s premium. DoctorsÂ’ offices and pharmacies, too, are spending hours on the phone trying to verify patientsÂ’ coverage, sometimes to no avail.

ObamaCare SuperFan Ezra Klein interviewed Obamacare critic and insurance industry executive (i.e., someone who actually knows something) Bob Laszewski and heard similar grim tidings. @benk84 linked this in the morning news dump, but here's some of the more important stuff:

There are two things [insurance companies are doing with the massive pile of botched, error-ridden 834s Obamacare is generating]. There are some obvious errors you get and the insurer can go back to the customer and straighten them out. ThatÂ’s a very laborious task. The other thing that the administration is doing is a manual reconciliation. ThereÂ’s unfortunately no computerized check between who HealthCare.Gov thinks is enrolled and who the insurance industryÂ’s computer systems think is enrolled. So itÂ’s being done manually. ThatÂ’s a big problem.

The other challenge now is getting people to pay for coverage. I was surprised today calling around to people to find only about 50 percent have paid. ThatÂ’s not a reason to panic yet. The due dates for payment have been sliding all around, so people can be confused. But it can be a mess. Some insurers are doing autocalls like politicians do the night before the election asking people to pay.

Laszewski also says everyone's all but given up on the prospect of getting balanced risk pools in Obamacare:

ItÂ’s not positive. I donÂ’t want to say people have given up on the notion theyÂ’ll get a good mix. They know the administration will make a big push. The insurance companies will spend big on advertising and outreach. So no one has given up. But it doesnÂ’t look good right now.

ThereÂ’s a big misconception that this is about young people. ThatÂ’s baloney. ItÂ’s about healthy people. A healthy 20-year-old might only pay a $100 premium. You want healthy 40 and 50-year-olds. The big problem right now is really total enrollment. We only have about 10 percent of the uninsured in here. Insurers think you need more like 70 percent of a pool of people to sign up.

...

The problem with the enrollments today is that theyÂ’re so small, itÂ’s less than 10 percent of the uninsured coming in, it really canÂ’t be anything but sick people.

And all that, the Washington Post is surprised to discover, is just a preamble for what's coming. Also digested at
Hot Air:

When millions of health-insurance plans were canceled last fall, the Obama administration tried to be reassuring, saying the terminations affected only the small minority of Americans who bought individual policies.

But according to industry analysts, insurers and state regulators, the disruption will be far greater, potentially affecting millions of people who receive insurance through small employers by the end of 2014.

While some cancellation notices already have gone out, insurers say the bulk of the letters will be sent in October, shortly before the next open-enrollment period begins. The timing — right before the midterm elections — could be difficult for Democrats who are already fending off Republican attacks about the Affordable Care Act and its troubled rollout.

Some of the small-business cancellations are occurring because the policies donÂ’t meet the lawÂ’s basic coverage requirements. But many are related only indirectly to the law; insurers are trying to move customers to new plans designed to offset the financial and administrative risks associated with the health-care overhaul. As part of that, they are consolidating their plan offerings to maximize profits and streamline how they manage them.

If you like your plan, you can keep it: Except we've rigged the game such that no one can offer you your previous policies and remain solvent.

The transformation of the small-group market is just one of the many ripple effects of the Affordable Care Act that will reshape the insurance industry in coming years....

I love that: "transformation," "ripple effect." Especially "ripple effect," as if this was not the central intention of the scheme.

The impact of cancellations in the small-group market is expected to be less dramatic than in the individual market, partly because a higher percentage of small-business policies provide more generous benefits. Still, the changes being made by the insurance industry are leaving some small-business owners confused and disillusioned about the law — whether it is directly to blame for the changes or not.

Um, the law is directly responsible, but thanks, WaPo, for making it an allegedly Open Question about what is to blame for this.

Also, the Washington Post is working from Obama's Big Book of Lies in this paragraph -- claiming the new policies are only more expensive because they're "more generous." They're actually less generous. The majority of the premium hike is due to forcing healthy people who buy insurance proactively (i.e., before becoming seriously sick) into a pool with unhealthy people who only attempted to buy it after becoming sick.

Stephen Lohman, owner of Allegheny Plant Services, a trucking company in Pittsburgh, said the Aetna PPO plan he offers his 38 employees will be discontinued at the end of this year. He said he has been offered a new Aetna policy with premiums that are 40 percent higher, and that other insurersÂ’ rates are similar.

“We were very surprised,” he said, adding that it is “important to me personally” to offer insurance to his employees, but he is not sure he can afford the premium increase.

40% higher premiums. Just "ripple effects," you know.

more...

Posted by: Ace at 07:05 AM | Comments (258)
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Baffling.

“I don’t think the tea party is going to seize upon Fort Lee and the George Washington Bridge as their defining difference for Chris Christie,” Rove said. “In fact, I think his handling of this, being straightforward, taking action, saying I’m responsible, firing the people, probably gives him some street cred with tea party Republicans who say ‘That’s what we want in a leader, someone who steps up and takes responsibility.’”

I'm not sure if Rove has completely put aside his Analysis role for an Advocate one, and so comes on TV to push his favorite center-leaning candidate, no matter how wrong the spin.

Or if he is this disconnected from the pulse of politics.

The plural of "anecdote" may not be data, but based on my own daily informal survey of where the passion in the conservative wing of the conservative movement is, it remains strongly anti-Christie.

One thing Rove says here is true: that BridgeGate will not define Christie in the Tea Party's eyes. But that's because Christie is already over-defined in the eyes of many Tea Partiers. As I see every day: "Northeastern centrist-liberal RINO," "Gun-grabber," "amnesty-shill," "Islamist judge appointer," "extremely selfish political operator who constantly subverts the movement to advance himself" (see his 2012 RNC speech in which he fulsomely endorsed... nothing).

If there was even any grudging respect for Christie after the press conference, I didn't see it.

BTW, I think people are wrong to rule out Christie categorically. Sometimes the only good option is one you don't particularly like. I could see, for example, a scenario in which conservatism continues to be unpopular at the national level, and Christie (or a similar RINO) might be our only plausible vehicle for winning the White House.

Not saying that will be the case. I'm saying it could be that way. And in that case, a Christie nomination might be our least bad option, with our worst bad option being "run a symbolic candidate who will be doomed on Election Day and curse the nation into another four years of grueling political and economic hell."

But none of that suggests that Christie gained any "street cred" with Tea Partiers. All I see is BridgeGate getting incorporated into the already-substantial list of Christie's disqualifications, with the added bonus of a fresh source of resentment: the feeling that many on the disaffected right have that a non-RINO conservative would be crucified and left for dead by the Establishment over a Christie level blunder, while the Establishment works overtime to keep the RINO viable.

But note that while the Republican Establishment may be trying to resuscitate Christie, your Progressive Media most decidedly is not.

But maybe he's right and I'm wrong: Were any of you who self-identify as Tea Partiers partly won over by Christie's press conference?

Posted by: Ace at 08:05 AM | Comments (467)
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Happy Monday.

No me likey el Healthcare-o doto govo.

The Recess Appointments Clause case, Noel Canning v. NLRB, will be argued today at the Supreme Court.

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[On iTunes]

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 02:50 AM | Comments (206)
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"It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it." ~ Robert E. Lee

The film in one word: Intense

My Moron recommendation: 5 Ewoks. It's a must-see!

But first some background, in order to properly frame the review.

I first met Marcus Luttrell in 2008. We brought him up to Boston for a fundraiser for my son's autism school, which had just moved to a much larger location. Funds were critical to getting it up and running, with the big auction item at the event being naming rights to the playground that was on the drawing board.

I didn't really think the tie-in would work that well - it's Boston not Beaumont, and what does a Navy SEAL's experience have to do with working with kids with autism anyway? - but, hey, the book was a best-seller at the time and the school was founded by a Navy brat, so what the hell?

The house was packed to listen to Marcus speak, and speak he did, relaying the tale of the lone survivor. Hearing him tell the story in person, at points pantomiming an imaginary M4 in his hands as he's describing the firefight, made a lasting impression on everyone in the room including my little brother, now a 2nd Lieutenant in the Army, who I brought up from Georgia to meet Marcus.

Before the program started we talked a little about the movie, which was just at the concept stage at that point. Marcus was concerned that any movie wouldn't do justice to his teammates and the story. It took nearly 6 years from then, and the film went through fits and starts of casting and funding, but the ultimate outcome couldn't have been a better tribute to the memories of his fallen brothers.

Posted by: andy at 05:34 AM | Comments (96)
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Gates and Barack Obama's Narcissistic War Insecurities

Moe Lane breaks down this paragraph from Gates' book and how much it says about Obama. The context is a request by Adm. Mullen and Gen McChrystal for 5000 more support troops early in Obama's term in order to keep the Afghan situation from deteriorating further:

[JCS Chairman Admiral Michael] Mullen and I repeatedly discussed with the infuriated president what he regarded as military pressure on him. "Is it a lack of respect for me?" Obama asked us. "Are [Petraeus, McChrystal and Mullen] trying to box me in? I've tried to create an environment where all points of view can be expressed and have a robust debate. I'm prepared to devote any amount of time to it-however many hours or days. What is wrong? Is it the process? Are they suspicious of my politics? Do they resent that I never served in the military? Do they think because I'm young that I don't see what they're doing?"

For Obama their request was all about him and political maneuvering. The possibility that Mullen and McChrystal really thought the 5,000 enablers were necessary doesn't seem to have occurred to him.

And Obama, Biden and their advisors didn't seem to understand military matters and the military in general.

That Sunday meeting was unlike any I ever attended in the Oval Office. Obama said he had gathered the group principally to go through his decisions one more time to determine whether Mullen and Petraeus were fully on board. The commanders said what he wanted to hear, and I was pleased to hear my proposal being adopted.

Then came an exchange that is seared into my memory. Biden said he was ready to move forward, but the military "should consider the president's decision as an order."

"I am giving an order," Obama quickly said.

I was shocked. I had never heard a president explicitly frame a decision as a direct order. With the U.S. military, it is completely unnecessary. As secretary of defense, I had never issued an "order" to get something done; nor had I heard any commander do so. Obama's "order," at Biden's urging, demonstrated the complete unfamiliarity of both men with the American military culture.

We're in the best of hands.

Walmart vs ObamaCare

And it's Walmart FTW despite being The Worst Worst Place Ever To Work according to the Left.

This is really amazing - the much derided Walmart health-care benefits are much better than one could buy under Obamacare. Premiums are steeply lower for Walmart recipients, as are the required deductibles. And Walmart insurance gives employees access to more hospitals and many more doctors than are in the Obamacare exchanges. Will we see the same sort of protests against Obamacare as we've seen against Walmart? Of course not.

Posted by: Maetenloch at 06:17 PM | Comments (566)
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For your non-astro needs, here's a fresh open thread completely unrelated to the Moon in every possible way. more...

Posted by: CAC at 03:54 PM | Comments (138)
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[We Politely Request That All Off-Topic or Political Comments Be Directed to the Thread Directly Below This One, Which Will Serve Officially as the Current "Active Conversation" Thread for All Discussions Not Related to this Topic]

With the moon getting full mid-week, deep-sky objects take a backseat to closer worlds, and none is closer than earth's sole satellite. The moon makes amateur astronomers out of all of us at some point in our lives, sunlight reflecting across it's battle-scared surface connotes everything from the paranormal to the amusing. So grab your binoculars or telescope, and let me show you around the only extraterrestrial surface man has walked, golfed, and driven on. more...

Posted by: CAC at 03:59 PM | Comments (42)
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• "The Fundamental Problem With Obamacare"
  
• VDH: A Return To The 1930s
  
• Piling On: Feds Investigating Christie's Use Of Sandy Relief Funds
  
• Obama Planning To Pay The Insurance Companies Their 30 Pieces Of Silver
  
• Pro-Gun Lawmakers Eye State-By-State Strategy To Nullify Federal Gun-Control Statutes
  
• Maryland Officials Were Warned For A Year About Website Issues
  
• The Unshocking Christie Scandal
  
• The Race To Become Too Big To Fail
  
• Why Haven't We Given Up On The Unemployment Rate
  
• Foregin Media Hint At Obama Marital Trouble
  
• The Fed And Cult Of Expert Management
  
• Oh She's Going To Make A Great President
  
• Lone Survivor Tops The Box Offices
  
• Major Chemical Spill In WV Poisons Water Supply
  
• Banks Saying No To Marijuana Money
  
• Maybe The House Doesn't Always Win
  
• The Ace Of Spades Lifestyle Isn't Restricted to Bipeds
  
• Peter Mayhew Unloads Stockpile Of Star Wars Set Photos
  
• Criminal Sketch Artists Who Absolutely Nailed It
  

I derive my sense of self worth based on how many twitter followers I have. Please follow me on twitter.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 05:10 AM | Comments (227)
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Or the disturbing trend in this weekend's NFL games: Hard-hitting football! more...

Posted by: Open Blogger at 11:59 AM | Comments (83)
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We Politely Request That All Off-Topic or Political Comments Be Directed to the Thread Directly Below This One, Which Will Serve Officially as the Current "Active Conversation" Thread for All Discussions Not Related To This Topic.

-- Sincerely, the Fascist MGMT

It's a deceptively simple drink, and in these Global Climate Change® times, when the concept of summer is a confusing and hazy memory, the warm, tropical flavors of this drink are perfect.

My apologies to the Horde, because the Daiquiri is named after a beach in Cuba, and was made famous in a bar in Havana called La Floridita.

In its defense, both drink and the bar predate the murderous communist government of the Castros, so in a way, drinking a Daiquiri is a small gesture in defiance of the communist regime. more...

Posted by: Open Blogger at 12:00 PM | Comments (143)
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