It was the best of times, it was the worst of times... or so Charles Dickens' story begins.
Picture this: A lonely old widow places a five dollar bill into the red bucket of a Salvation Army bell ringer. That money she was going to use to buy a few small food items for herself. Instead, she donated all she had to others in need, and left herself deprived of the basic necessities of life. Rather than hoard the money out of fear, she gave out of a joyful heart; and out of faith that her God would provide for her needs.
Then picture this: Multi-million-dollar celebrities appear in a television commercial for St. Jude's Children's Hospital and Research Center of New York. As soon as the shoot is over with, the stars have their make-up removed and change out of their wardrobe. Their charitable work is done. They then are ushered away from the studio into their limousines and chauffeuered back to their mansions in Beverly Hills or Malibu.
Without further thought, they go on about their leisure while their personal assistants and accounting staff worry about the details of their employers' charitable donations, which, for many of them, is required by contract as part of maintaining a positive public image. A few thousand here; a couple hundred thousand there. Mere drops in the bucket for these philanthropists.
Now, I ask you: Which donation meant the most, and had the greatest impact on humanity? The five dollar bill given by the needy widow, or the two hundred thousand a celebrity drops into the bucket of need for St. Judes?
By man's standards, the St. Judes donation would have the farthest reaching impact.
But measuring the charity by God's standards, the widow's donation meant the most to meet the needs of others, because it came from the heart. It wasn't some formality like the paper charities supported by celebrities.
While paper philanthropists like media personalities and entertainers can appear to have the largest of hearts because their money is farthest reaching, their generosity is eclipsed by the average, inconspicuous donation of a humble human being who just wants to do the right thing for somebody else.
So, before you begin admiring a movie star for his or her charitable contributions, look more locally at the humble donors in your own community as people to honor for the good that they do.
Most of them are anonymous. They do not want to attract attention to themselves for the good works that they do; the way celebrities naturally tend to do. Rather, they give secretly, because their reward exists not in this life, but the next one.
Monday, November 25, 2013
This is news?
A story was posted today on Yahoo! News about how more employers are passing higher costs of health care on to their employees.
For me, personally, this story comes about two years too late.
Beginning in 2011 the insurance premium I paid through my employer rose by 100 percent.
That's right. Within months of the Affordable Care Act becoming law, my premium doubled.
And it has remained just as high ever since.
Frankly, I dislike the phrase "See, I told you so," but this is one of those moments. I wrote a couple of years back about the likely consequences of Obamacare, and increased costs to the consumer was one of them.
I said back then that I am waiting skeptically for the "affordable" part of the ACA to kick in. Now, it looks like "affordable" will be more oxymoronish of the law rather than an integral part of it.
Fundamental economics teaches us that when demand for a product or service increases, the cost of said product or service for sale on the market also increases. This is particularly true for more "affordable" health plans; the supply of which remains dismally small.
In fact, when shopping for "affordable" health plans on my state insurance exchange web site, I found no individual or family plan below $300 a month in premium. Even the most basic plans with high deductibles were well over $300 a month.
How is this affordable for the average American household already struggling to meet expenses?
My advice is not to wait with bated breath for health care coverage to become more "affordable," in spite of what the President's law says. You may otherwise pass out from asphyxiation.
Talk is cheap, after all. Until I see the "affordable" side of things, I remain skeptical that Obamacare is a real fix to the problem of rising health care costs, and more convinced than ever that it was snake oil sold by a travelling charlatan, who just happens to have hung his hat at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue until January 2017.
For me, personally, this story comes about two years too late.
Beginning in 2011 the insurance premium I paid through my employer rose by 100 percent.
That's right. Within months of the Affordable Care Act becoming law, my premium doubled.
And it has remained just as high ever since.
Frankly, I dislike the phrase "See, I told you so," but this is one of those moments. I wrote a couple of years back about the likely consequences of Obamacare, and increased costs to the consumer was one of them.
I said back then that I am waiting skeptically for the "affordable" part of the ACA to kick in. Now, it looks like "affordable" will be more oxymoronish of the law rather than an integral part of it.
Fundamental economics teaches us that when demand for a product or service increases, the cost of said product or service for sale on the market also increases. This is particularly true for more "affordable" health plans; the supply of which remains dismally small.
In fact, when shopping for "affordable" health plans on my state insurance exchange web site, I found no individual or family plan below $300 a month in premium. Even the most basic plans with high deductibles were well over $300 a month.
How is this affordable for the average American household already struggling to meet expenses?
My advice is not to wait with bated breath for health care coverage to become more "affordable," in spite of what the President's law says. You may otherwise pass out from asphyxiation.
Talk is cheap, after all. Until I see the "affordable" side of things, I remain skeptical that Obamacare is a real fix to the problem of rising health care costs, and more convinced than ever that it was snake oil sold by a travelling charlatan, who just happens to have hung his hat at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue until January 2017.
Thursday, November 7, 2013
A little late for sorry
President Barack Obama has apologized to Americans who are losing their current health insurance as a result of the Affordable Care Act law of 2010.
"I am sorry that they are finding themselves in this situation based on assurances they got from me," the President told NBC News.
Yes, I'm sure you are, Mr. President. You don't have to worry about another election now. You are a lame-duck chief executive, sir, and it is a little late for sorries.
"We've got to work hard to make sure that they know we hear them and we are going to do everything we can to deal with folks who find themselves in a tough position as a consequence of this," Obama continued.
Really, sir? Will you work as hard as you did to rush Obamacare through Congress before the next election? Will you work as hard as you did to avoid the tough questions from Americans who read your law and raised concerns about it? Will you work as hard as you did in 2008 selling your snake oil of hope and change? I sure hope so, because this is your legacy, Barack. If this program fails before you leave office, the legacy of your eight-year tenure will be one great, big mess.
“Obviously we didn’t do a good enough job in terms of how we crafted the law," Obama said. "And, you know, that’s something I regret."
No kidding. You and your democratic buddies rushed this bill through Congress, ignored or downright silenced skeptics at townhall meetings, and insisted on getting this legislation passed into law before the next general election.
Mission accomplished.
Unfortunately, it came at substantial price. That being competency of the law, confusion over it, and the downward cascading effect it is now causing.
Obamacare is now circling the drain of irrelevance and is at risk of being flushed down the toilet of monumental, illegitimate failures.
According to NBC news, the Obama Administration knew since 2010 that millions of Americans could lose their health insurance coverage. Information from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services dating back to July 2010 estimated that “40 to 67 percent” of the 14 million consumers in that marketplace could lose their policies due to turnover in the individual insurance market, NBC News found.
Let's recount the many ways in which the President promised that this would not happen:
• June 15, 2009, in a speech to the American Medical Association: “That means that no matter how we reform health care, we will keep this promise to the American people: If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor, period. If you like your health-care plan, you’ll be able to keep your health-care plan, period. No one will take it away, no matter what.”
• March 19, 2010, in a speech at George Mason University four days before the ACA became law: “If you like your doctor, you’re going to be able to keep your doctor. If you like your plan, keep your plan. I don’t believe we should give government or the insurance companies more control over health care in America. I think it’s time to give you, the American people, more control over your health.”
• October 4, 2012, during the first presidential debate with Mitt Romney: “Number one, if you've got health insurance it doesn't mean a Government takeover. You keep your own insurance. You keep your own doctor. But it does say insurance companies can't jerk you around.
• September 25, 2013, during a speech in Prince George’s County, Maryland: “Now, let’s start with the fact that even before the Affordable Care Act fully takes effect, about 85 percent of Americans already have health insurance -– either through their job, or through Medicare, or through the individual market. So if you’re one of these folks, it’s reasonable that you might worry whether health care reform is going to create changes that are a problem for you – especially when you’re bombarded with all sorts of fear-mongering. So the first thing you need to know is this: If you already have health care, you don’t have to do anything.”
• October 30, 2013, during a Boston speech on the Affordable Care Act: “Now if you had one of these substandard plans before the Affordable Care Act became law and you really liked that plan, you were able to keep it. That's what I said when I was running for office. That was part of the promise we made. But ever since the law was passed, if insurers decided to downgrade or cancel these substandard plans, what we said under the law is, you've got to replace them with quality, comprehensive coverage because that too was a central premise of the Affordable Care Act from the very beginning.”
Ah, yes, the power of political promises. It is a darned good thing that Obama is now in his second and final term, because if this had come out before the end of his first, he'd have been a one-term wonder instead of a two-term regret.
I am personally still waiting for the "affordable" part of the ACA to kick in. Since 2010 my family's health insurance premium has doubled in out-of-pocket cost, and there is no indication in sight that I will start seeing any savings any time soon. Some of my copays have increased, too, so this adds insult to injury of having to pay more for health care coverage since the the passage of the Affordable Care Act of 2010.
The President's broken promise wouldn't be so tough to swallow had he not ended his apology this way:
“The majority of folks will end up being better off," he said of the changes caused by the ACA. "Of course, because the website not working right they may not know it."
Another promise from a guy who knows how to keep them.
"I am sorry that they are finding themselves in this situation based on assurances they got from me," the President told NBC News.
Yes, I'm sure you are, Mr. President. You don't have to worry about another election now. You are a lame-duck chief executive, sir, and it is a little late for sorries.
"We've got to work hard to make sure that they know we hear them and we are going to do everything we can to deal with folks who find themselves in a tough position as a consequence of this," Obama continued.
Really, sir? Will you work as hard as you did to rush Obamacare through Congress before the next election? Will you work as hard as you did to avoid the tough questions from Americans who read your law and raised concerns about it? Will you work as hard as you did in 2008 selling your snake oil of hope and change? I sure hope so, because this is your legacy, Barack. If this program fails before you leave office, the legacy of your eight-year tenure will be one great, big mess.
“Obviously we didn’t do a good enough job in terms of how we crafted the law," Obama said. "And, you know, that’s something I regret."
No kidding. You and your democratic buddies rushed this bill through Congress, ignored or downright silenced skeptics at townhall meetings, and insisted on getting this legislation passed into law before the next general election.
Mission accomplished.
Unfortunately, it came at substantial price. That being competency of the law, confusion over it, and the downward cascading effect it is now causing.
Obamacare is now circling the drain of irrelevance and is at risk of being flushed down the toilet of monumental, illegitimate failures.
According to NBC news, the Obama Administration knew since 2010 that millions of Americans could lose their health insurance coverage. Information from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services dating back to July 2010 estimated that “40 to 67 percent” of the 14 million consumers in that marketplace could lose their policies due to turnover in the individual insurance market, NBC News found.
Let's recount the many ways in which the President promised that this would not happen:
• June 15, 2009, in a speech to the American Medical Association: “That means that no matter how we reform health care, we will keep this promise to the American people: If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor, period. If you like your health-care plan, you’ll be able to keep your health-care plan, period. No one will take it away, no matter what.”
• March 19, 2010, in a speech at George Mason University four days before the ACA became law: “If you like your doctor, you’re going to be able to keep your doctor. If you like your plan, keep your plan. I don’t believe we should give government or the insurance companies more control over health care in America. I think it’s time to give you, the American people, more control over your health.”
• October 4, 2012, during the first presidential debate with Mitt Romney: “Number one, if you've got health insurance it doesn't mean a Government takeover. You keep your own insurance. You keep your own doctor. But it does say insurance companies can't jerk you around.
• September 25, 2013, during a speech in Prince George’s County, Maryland: “Now, let’s start with the fact that even before the Affordable Care Act fully takes effect, about 85 percent of Americans already have health insurance -– either through their job, or through Medicare, or through the individual market. So if you’re one of these folks, it’s reasonable that you might worry whether health care reform is going to create changes that are a problem for you – especially when you’re bombarded with all sorts of fear-mongering. So the first thing you need to know is this: If you already have health care, you don’t have to do anything.”
• October 30, 2013, during a Boston speech on the Affordable Care Act: “Now if you had one of these substandard plans before the Affordable Care Act became law and you really liked that plan, you were able to keep it. That's what I said when I was running for office. That was part of the promise we made. But ever since the law was passed, if insurers decided to downgrade or cancel these substandard plans, what we said under the law is, you've got to replace them with quality, comprehensive coverage because that too was a central premise of the Affordable Care Act from the very beginning.”
Ah, yes, the power of political promises. It is a darned good thing that Obama is now in his second and final term, because if this had come out before the end of his first, he'd have been a one-term wonder instead of a two-term regret.
I am personally still waiting for the "affordable" part of the ACA to kick in. Since 2010 my family's health insurance premium has doubled in out-of-pocket cost, and there is no indication in sight that I will start seeing any savings any time soon. Some of my copays have increased, too, so this adds insult to injury of having to pay more for health care coverage since the the passage of the Affordable Care Act of 2010.
The President's broken promise wouldn't be so tough to swallow had he not ended his apology this way:
“The majority of folks will end up being better off," he said of the changes caused by the ACA. "Of course, because the website not working right they may not know it."
Another promise from a guy who knows how to keep them.
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