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Opinion
The fix is in
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
In case you missed it, McCook's very own Ben Nelson was on TV this past Sunday. I'm sorry, The Honorable former Sen. Ben Nelson, (D) Nebraska, now CEO of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, to more properly use his new $1 Mil a year job title.
CEO Ben's words were much more measured than when he stepped up to the microphones and proudly told us that he cast the crucial 60th vote to push Obamacare over the finish line a few years past. Ben told Chris Wallace on Fox News (enemy of the progressive wing of the Democrat Party) Sunday that President Obama's latest so-called fix for those who have seen their health insurance policies canceled is far from a done deal. Sen. Ben reiterated that the president's suggestion of a fix is just a suggestion, not law and that the healthcare insurance interests he now represents are concerned about their financial health--they don't want to go bankrupt!
Actually for this old non-believer in the Obama magic it was rather fun to watch our own special politician twisting in the wind along with our socialistic leaning President. Ben was only looking out for the best interests of his constituents, that is us, when he cast that crucial vote for Obamacare. In exchange for his vote Senator Ben made a political deal, later called the "Cornhusker Kickback", which I don't remember the details and probably like a lot of political promises never happened anyway. Now he has to protect that new $1 Mil a year job even if it means appearing in the lion's arena of Fox News Sunday. It is as my mom used to say "He made that bed now let him lie in it."
Poor President Obama seems to be having a personal crisis as he watches his favorability poll numbers move into the tank. It seems that the declining numbers are everybody else's responsibility, certainly not his. After all back in campaign mode he had to tell us that "If you like your healthcare plan you can keep it. Period!" or he wouldn't have been reelected. Unfortunately voters have good memories, aided by video tapes that roll over and over, so his declarative statement didn't stand the test of time. To be charitable he may not have understood the insurance business when he made that statement as he has had zero experience in running any type of business. The Affordable Care Act was off the shelf work put together by that stalwart of liberal thinking Teddy Kennedy and most likely President Obama never read or understood it in the first place. Why did we elect someone with absolutely no experience to the highest office in our beloved land anyhow?
Thankfully I am not among the 5 million or so healthcare policy owners who received the recent notices of cancellation. My fellow military retirees and I were just waiting for the second shoe to drop. We knew that our present good deal would evaporate and there would be an astronomical increase in healthcare related expense. It can and probably still will happen unless the Affordable Care Act, "Obamacare" is massively overhauled or better yet completely repealed.
Still I recently was treated to a rant about how expensive the new healthcare insurance policies, mandatory, are going to be. This from one of my flight students, a local professional businessman. He had received one of the famed cancellation notices and definitely was not happy. An $1,100-a-month increase just for his family comes to mind all with less coverage due to higher annual deductible than the plan that he had and liked before. At the time, he had no clue that our president's non-constitutional fix was on the way and I suspect that he will find any relief from that "suggestion" anyway.
Meanwhile our U.S. foreign policy is a disaster with Lurch running around over the world making our friends, for example Germany, unhappy and then being saved from disaster with Iran by no less than France. China and Russia are celebrating our huge decrease in worldwide influence as they build their military as fast as they can. The president could spend a little more time tending to that important part of his job.
Sadly our own U.S. Air Force is going through financial pain that will significantly degrade our capability due to sequester and budgeting by continuing resolution. It is a little hard to be optimistic about this country's next three years under this, to use a Korean War military term, "fubared" administration.
That is the way I saw it.
Dick Trail