Tell me again how the people will get the right take on Obamacare?

[Savannahmann]

Poll numbers are dropping. Vulnerable Democrats are abandoning ship. But the cheerleaders here are still insisting that somehow, someway, the people will get the proper spin from the beneficial law. Sure, some may be screwed, but fuck them, the majority is what matters.

Really? Is that what matters? On 9-11 roughly 3,000 people died. That is 3,000 out of the 300 million or so. A tiny fraction were directly affected. Figure a couple million had a friend of family member who was killed. But that tiny minority who was affected either directly or indirectly was enough that this nation passed the PATRIOT ACT and fired up the most asinine of departments, Homeland Insecurity.

We went ape shit as a people. Katrina, one small slice of America was affected. One medium sized city, and the areas around it. But it was such a debacle that the polarity of the Congress was changed to our favor. A relative few compared to the more than 300 million were affected, and the nation was outraged.

But somehow, we pretend that those few who were negatively affected by Obamacare won't be enough to affect the outcome of elections. The handful of Democrats who stood up and objected to the war in Iraq were lucky to keep their offices. But this doesn't apply we're told. The cheerleaders have announced that the public will get the right message in time.

Messages like this from NBC news. http://investigations.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/11/15/21482622-insurers-state-officials-say-cancellation-of-health-care-policies-just-as-they-predicted?lite

Several insurance industry officials and state insurance commissioners expressed frustration Friday, saying they were “baffled” by President Barack Obama’s assertion that the cancellation of millions of insurance policies occurred because a key provision of the Affordable Care Act didn’t work as expected. The administration was warned three years ago that regulations would have exactly that effect, they said.

They said the widespread cancellations in the individual health insurance market — roughly 5 million and counting -- are in line with what was projected under regulations drawn up by the administration in 2010, requirements that both insurers and businesses objected to at the time. Cancellations also are occurring in the small group market, which covers businesses with between two and 50 employees, they noted.

But these news stories don't matter. Because they're not being carried by our approved news sources, and the American People would never believe something from CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, and even MSNBC. I'm not sure what channels are approved, since all of them are addressing the issue. But that doesn't matter, because the people will appreciate what we've done for the majority.

Gang, we had better get serious, or we are going to find ourselves looking at Republican Majorities in both houses of Congress. If that happens, we will lie to ourselves about how stupid the voters were and how the Republicans cheated. Well, if we let the voters down, and we don't get smart, we have no right to expect them to support them. We have to earn their vote every god damned election, and we act like they owe us the vote. Every time we get that attitude, we lose.

[dogman]

1. You've identified an obvious problem.

I don't see any proposed solution.

[Savannahmann]

10. I've proposed the solution before.

But I'll re-state it here. First, President Obama has to get out there and start making proposals to encourage people to go to medical school. Offer Government assistance to those who pledge to go into GP or one of the specialties that is desperately short, like OB/GYN. I think we should focus on GP first, but that's my take on the matter. In doing so, we recognize the problem before we're hit over the head with it, and then blamed for it. This way we don't spend the first two weeks of the news stories pretending we didn't know anything about it, and then coming up with a completely unworkable and foolish solution in desperation to appear to be doing something.

[Skittles]

2. it still could succeed if they would get their act together

but the swooners who cannot see what an embarrassing display this all has been cannot be taken seriously

[dogman]

3. What about the swooners who accept this manufactured crisis?

What does getting their act together entail?

[Skittles]

4. LOL

omg

[dogman]

5. I see

This is just comedy. Cool

[NoOneMan]

6. Is the right take your take?

[frazzled]

7. When people start getting and using the insurance

Remember, the MA plan was wildly unpopular, until after a year or two, when it was fully operational. After that, its favorability ratings were extremely high (and not because MA is so liberal; it's not.)

Otherwise, if the media keeps beating negative stories (instead of the success ones), there's nothing to be done about it. But it still will have been worth passing this law.

In the words of the immortal George W. "Shrub" Bush, "who cares what they think?"

[CJCRANE]

8. I'm impressed. That was a very subtle way to incorporate 9/11 and Katrina into your argument

not by hyperbole but by downplaying those events.

[Savannahmann]

11. I wanted to take the two examples that everyone was throwing about

I wanted to point out that realistically, very few were affected by Katrina, but it was and is a National Disaster. The same was true of Hurricane Sandy. It was a national disaster that we are still trying to recover from, that affected a very small percentage of the entire population.

But those things that affected a small percentage of the population directly, and through extended family and friends, were events that changed the way this nation viewed things. It changed the political reality. If there had been no 9-11 with the fraction of the population dead, then nobody would have seriously offered, or voted for, the PATRIOT ACT. Anyone who had proposed it without a 9-11 would have been run out of town as an authoritarian jackass.

I wasn't downplaying the events. For those involved, they were horrific. For the families and friends of the 9-11 victims, it was a mass murder event of unprecedented proportions. But only 3,000 died. More die from gunshots every year, more die from auto accidents every year. Most years that many die from complications from Surgery. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/lcod.htm

My point was not to use hyperbole, or downplay. But to show how a few affected people can change the perceptions of the people, and that is not always in the direction of what is best for our people, our nation, and our party.

[B2G]

9. There are around 18 million private insurance policies

Most are going away, if not this year then next.

Obama won the popular vote in 2012 by 5 million votes.

Math is hard for some people.

[Savannahmann]

13. Most people make a very common mistake

They project their own ideals, and perceptions, onto others. If I see it this way, you almost certainly do too, and if you don't, you'll figure out how wrong you are.

That is where the art of conversation comes in, and you listen, and discuss, and consider your answers. Because that way you get inside the mental circle the individual is living in, and open the door for them to see.

[Skittles]

14. that's gonna be WAY over their heads, Savannahmann

trust me

[JNinWB]

12. Let's examine the coin's other side.

Before passage of the ACA, employers' premiums were increasing by double digits each year. The only way to stabilize premiums for the up-coming year was to select a plan with diminished coverage. Many employers cannot afford to pay up to $800/month per employee for health insurance and remain competitive.

Many small employers were already ditching their group plans and tossing their employees into the private marketplace, where they had to deal with pre-existing condition exclusions and "junk" policies. This canceling of group coverage will continue with, or without, the ACA.

This may be the first time that Americans have been forced to examine--really examine---health insurance premiums and coverage options. It's not a pretty sight. If voters don't like the provisions of the ACA and want to restore the earlier free-for-all system, they can elect Republicans to repeal the law.