Just when you thought ObamaCare could not possibly be worse, we have Amy Goldstein and Sandhya Somashekhar\’s article from the usually Obama-sympathetic Washington Post, about the subsidy debacle…and the inevitable catastrophe it will cause, which appears to be inevitable:
What am I talking about? use the above link to read the entire article – or read the beginning of the article, which is shown below – and see for yourself:
Thegovernment may be paying incorrect subsidies to more than 1 millionAmericans for their health plans in the new federal insurancemarketplace and has been unable so far to fix the errors, accordingto internal documents and three people familiar with the situation.
Theproblem means that potentially hundreds of thousands of people arereceiving bigger subsidies than they deserve. They are part of alarge group of Americans who listed incomes on their insuranceapplications that differ significantly – either too low or too high- from those on file with the Internal Revenue Service, documentsshow.
Thegovernment has identified these discrepancies but is stuck at themoment. Under federal rules, consumers are notified if there is aproblem with their application and asked to upload or mail in paystubs or other proof of their income. Only a fraction have done so,according to the documents. And, even when they have, the federalcomputer system at the heart of the insurance marketplace cannotmatch this proof with the application because that capability has yetto be built, according to the three individuals.
Sopiles of unprocessed “proof” documents are sitting in a federalcontractor\’s Kentucky office, and the government continues to payinsurance subsidies that may be too generous or too meager.Administration officials do not yet know what proportion areoverpayments or underpayments. Under current rules, people receivingunwarranted subsidies will be required to return the excess nextyear.
Theinability to make certain the government is paying correct subsidiesis a legacy of computer troubles that crippled last fall\’s launchof HealthCare.gov and the initial months of the first sign-up periodfor insurance under the Affordable Care Act. Federal officials andcontractors raced to correct most of the technical problems hinderingconsumers\’ ability to choose a health plan. But behind the scenes,important aspects of the Web site remain defective – or simplyunfinished.
What a complete, utter mess. What an absolute disaster this is.
And congratulations on knowing about it. Because if you did not read the Washington Post article – which is from A WEEK AGO – you probably had no idea this problem even exists until now.
From Tom Blumer\’s illuminating…and thoroughly dispiriting…blog at newsbusters.org (do yourself a big favor and read Tom\’s entire piece…this is even worse that what is shown below):
Aboutone-third of the20 results returned in a Google News search on “healthcaresubsidies” (not in quotes) at 11 p.m. ET Friday eveningwere partial reprints or rewrites of the original story by WaPoreporters Amy Goldstein and Sandhya Somashekhar. Most of theremaining results were from center-right outlets, while a few camefrom medical sites. The results didn\’t change much when searchingon “healthcare” instead of “healthcare.” What the WaPopair reported is a breathtaking cacophony of incompetence which, asHeritagenoted last year, won\’t even “solve” itself whenObamacare enrollees file their 2014 tax returns.
Translation: ObamaCare continues to prove itself as a disaster. As an unworkable monstrosity. And as a classic demonstration of government bureaucracy at its worst: incompetence, inefficiency, and about a dozen more adjectives not fit for family viewing (though I\’ll bet you know them, and have a few more of your own).
But our wonderful “neutral” media? Even when the Washington Post, to its credit, puts the story out there for everyone to see, almost every other mainstream media outlet looks the other way. We can\’t have ObamaCare looking bad, can we? A great program like this….
And remember: these are the same mainstream media people who spent two months writing endlessly about the possibility that New Jersey Governor Chris Christie might – might – have had something to do with a couple of lane closings, for four days, on the George Washington Bridge. But a million people who are paying the wrong amount for ObamaCare, with ObamaCare incapable of fixing it? No problem at all.
I talk a lot about President Obama\’s Accomplice Media, and how they have foregone journalism to become paid propagandists for this man and his administration. This is just one example of why.
