Obama goes surfin’ – Learn about healthcare.gov with Barack!
I can tell you one thing for sure, there’s no way in hell you’re going to get me to do a video on how to use RadioViceOnline.com. But walking customers through a government website via video seems to be right up this guy’s alley … since it does not involve answering actual questions about the health care legislation he signed.
There’s gotta be a few good sound bites from the chief marketing officer of the United States of America in here somewhere…
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCQSGnZ0lTg
My first question. How much money did the federal government spend on this website … especially since all of the information on the site already is readily available on the Internet? Just do a search and you’ll see plenty of private sites that already do exactly what healthcare.gov can do, if not more!
It’s kind of like the government creating a state-sponsored traffic reporting division when there are already tons of private news organizations providing traffic every eight minutes!
From Mary Katherine Ham over at The Weekly Standard.
Obama’s tour of the site reveals that a hefty part of it is dedicated to teaching us about all the things Obamacare could maybe mean for us under the rosiest of predictions and without regard for unintended consequences. So, if you’re a person who’s having trouble getting health insurance because of a pre-existing condition, never fear! There’s a tab on the homepage, which clearly states your problem is solved. If you’re a person who’s worried about losing your current insurance when government mandates kick in and your employer finds it more advantageous to dump you on the government, the site boasts a web video that clearly restates demonstrably false Obama talking points about being able to keep your insurance plan. See? Problem solved. Aren’t you glad the president taught you how to use this site?
Ahh, AP at Hot Air picked out the same paragraph from Mary Katherine Ham that I did.
Does the president let those who have been able to benefit from consumer-driven health care plans know they are getting screwed?
The “Medicine Cabinet Tax” takes effect Jan. 1, 2011: Thanks to Obamacare, Americans will no longer be able to use health savings account (HSA), flexible spending account (FSA), or health reimbursement (HRA) pre-tax dollars to purchase non-prescription, over-the-counter medicines (except insulin).
The“Special Needs Kids Tax” takes effect Jan. 1, 2013: This provision of Obamacare imposes a cap on flexible spending accounts (FSAs) of $2500 (Currently, there is no federal government limit). There is one group of FSA owners for whom this new cap will be particularly cruel and onerous: parents of special needs children. There are thousands of families with special needs children in the United States, and many of them use FSAs to pay for special needs education. Tuition rates at one leading school that teaches special needs children in Washington, D.C. (National Child Research Center) can easily exceed $14,000 per year. Under tax rules, FSA dollars can be used to pay for this type of special needs education.
I’ve been told the Obama administration left the above facts – among others – out of the video since they needed to keep it short and sweet … didn’t really want to complicate the viewers on the first of possible many video tutorials.
Insiders tell me the next video was going to be an “introduction to presidential golf”, but well, you know… So instead, they are going with how to check the air pressure in your car’s tires.
Wonder if I can pre-order somewhere…
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The site is not broken.
I looked, and I looked, but I couldn't find the tab that would explain how they are going to pay for this. Nor could I find a button to push if I am a new undocumented visitor from another country.
The most egregious omission was the total lack of anything in Spanish!!!! No "press here for Espanol"? Wassup?
I wonder if they will make a "Classics Illustrated" version for all the Congresscritters that couldn't be bothered to read the actual bill? Maybe a Cliff Notes version for the ones that can read?
Notice how often the phrase "fraud, waste and abuse" is bandied about on this site? As if the most egregious perpetrators of that triumverate isn't the government itself.
They also added a "pared down" version of the Øbamacare bill, which still reads like a bad lawyer joke. Does this sound familiar?:
SEC. 10502. INFRASTRUCTURE TO EXPAND ACCESS TO CARE.
(a) APPROPRIATION.—There are authorized to be appropriated,
and there are appropriated to the Department of Health and
Human Services, $100,000,000 for fiscal year 2010, to remain available
for obligation until September 30, 2011, to be used for debt
service on, or direct construction or renovation of, a health care facility
that provides research, inpatient tertiary care, or outpatient
clinical services. Such facility shall be affiliated with an academic
health center at a public research university in the United States
that contains a State’s sole public academic medical and dental
school.
(b) REQUIREMENT.—Amount appropriated under subsection (a)
may only be made available by the Secretary of Health and Human
Services upon the receipt of an application from the Governor of a
State that certifies that—
(1) the new health care facility is critical for the provision
of greater access to health care within the State;
(2) such facility is essential for the continued financial viability
of the State’s sole public medical and dental school and
its academic health center;
(3) the request for Federal support represents not more
than 40 percent of the total cost of the proposed new facility;
and
(4) the State has established a dedicated funding mechanism
to provide all remaining funds necessary to complete the
construction or renovation of the proposed facility.
Is that the "Dodd clause"?
You betcha! 😉
A veritable Wizard of Smart! Gov'nmt Run Healthcare was never this smart & easy when I was in the service; the VA system had been misplacing surgical patients, doing wrong procedures/removing the wrong limbs, you might see a corpsman or an RN, with persistence you might actually see a PA or a pediatrician. Then you might be sent driving 2 or so hours to a larger base where a real doctor got on the phone and chewed out your "baby-doctor" because you'd been misdiagnosed! While still active, I'd been sent to a VA hospital and seen old vets lined up down the hallways and around the corners- waiting for medications, consultations… It was like medieval times. But the recruiting brochures looked nice and always had smiling faces of diversity- like that website of Barry's does.