Pearls Before Swine?

Doing some deep breathing, hoping my BP doesn't go through the ceiling as I listen to Speaker Boehner:  This White House can't be trusted, and he's going on about the ACA web site, saying this law "needs to be scrapped once and for all." That's what the Republicans have wanted all along, of course.  He called the U.S. health delivery system the "best in the world."  He didn't mention the 47 million uninsured Americans. (It gets harder to listen to any Republican bellyaching about the ACA, knowing they were totally unwilling to cooperate or compromise when the bill was going through the legislative process.  Only interested in obstruction.

 

 Democrats, on the other hand, compromised away the single payer option which would have resolved many of the insurance marketplace problems, in my view.  And the Republicans never, ever proposed an alternative plan to reform the health insurance system.  EVER.  They still fear that it will be a huge success, and I believe there's still a strong chance it will be.   That is, provided the bills proposed in House and Senate don't fly tomorrow.   Passage of either bill could easily gut, and in essence kill, the law.   Some members are running scared about re-election since constituents are upset about their misleading policy cancellation notices.  (Of course the people who will be getting insurance for the first time, or getting the consumer protections under the ACA, are not likely to call and say "Thank you for making this possible; it's the angry and frightened constituents who make the calls and raise the roof at Town Halls. )

 

Apparently Boehner holds a weekly press conference at this time, so he wasn't purposely stepping on the President's announcement about the ACA—which was my first thought when I saw the split screen and the Speaker's face on one side. 

 

Waiting now for President Obama to speak about insurance companies  cancelling policies.   But MSNBC has Sean Spicer, the RNC communications director.  Thankfully Thomas Roberts is on on deck and asking questions with follow-up.  He's not letting this guy get away with misleading claims—and Roberts does this without interrupting the guest or being rude in any way.  Just a damn good, ethical journalist and, by the way, the son of Steve and Cokie Roberts.  They must be extremely proud of him.  I am!

 

Here's the President:  First, it came as no surprise that this President repeatedly took sole responsibility and blame for the bad rollout of the ACA.  And he made sure to absolve Congressional Democrats of blame.   That mistakes were made was readily admitted, in fact declared.  And he said he had let his fellow Democrats down.

 

The President relaxed into a conversational stance with each questioner, as if it were an intimate one-to-one over a beer.  He was more than thorough in answering, never dodging or deflecting.  How rare that is for any political person!  He said his administration had fumbled the ball on the rollout, and he's head of this team; what he will do is continue working 24/7 to see that the site is up to speed by month's end.  It also sounds as if he will do an "autopsy" [my word] on what went wrong and why once the site is operating at optimum levels.  He said he's not giving up, not turning his back on the uninsured people who deserve affordable health care.

 

So, the President's plan for those receiving insurance cancellation notices:  Those consumers can renew policies that do not meet ACA standards; however, those consumers won't have the same protections as those who become insured under the new law.  Also, insurers must let consumers know this and offer them alternative plans.  The insurance industry has already issued statements saying they can't do this, that these changes will lead to other changes.  Some media speculation is that the President's plan to appease policyholders could accomplish what the Republican's have tried to do for three years:  Put the ACA "in peril." 

 

I just saw in my President a contrite and weary man, but also an earnest, honest, and determined man.  And talk about transparency! We Americans don't know how to react to such openness, such earnestness, in any public official, especially the POTUS.  The media surely doesn't!  They were saying he wasn't confident today, etc. "A beaten man."  I hope some media people or person will talk about the phenomenal fact of his earnest transparency.  His honest candor.  But maybe, as my grandmother used to say, that's asking for "pearls before swine."  Time will tell.