January 1, 2014 is D-Day! (Dis-Insured Day)
There will be millions of Americans who will lose their health insurance because of the good intentions of Obamacare, the idea. They will be Uninsured because of the poor preparation of Obamacare. Thousands will suffer. Hundreds will die. And then the body count by the Republicans will begin. And Don't think the Republicans, the Libertarians, and the Tea Party won't go there. When I graduated from high school, the daily body accounts from Vietnam on the evening news were painfully etched into our minds. We all knew friends and families who were hurt by the Vietnam War.
The Non-Insured
But that is only half the story. There will be millions of others who have not had health insurance who have been waiting for the day they are saved from suffering, death, and bankruptcy. Those who have put off surgery and other medical treatments waiting to be covered. Their blood is on the hands of the GOP. Those are the people that the Republicans have voted 4 dozen times to keep them interned in the nightmare land of the uninsured.
The Only Humane Solution to this problem is for the President to declare a National Emergency and give victims of Healthcare.gov delays who have proof of filing an online or a paper application for Obamacare ,Temporary Medicare coverage for 12 months.+ That is the minimum time period that will be needed to straighten out this mess. THIS COULD BE THE FIRST STEP TOWARD SINGLE PAYER. CONSIDER THIS A DEMONSTRATION PROJECT. IF SOME LIKE THE PLAN, MAYBE WE COULD LET THEM KEEP IT AT THE END OF THE YEAR. This would be a good opportunity for single payer advocate organizations and politicians to coordinate efforts to demand temporary Medicare coverage for those who would have had coverage except for the failure of www.healthcare.gov, etc..
The Only Humane Solution to this problem is for the President to declare a National Emergency and give victims of Healthcare.gov delays who have proof of filing an online or a paper application for Obamacare ,Temporary Medicare coverage for 12 months.+ That is the minimum time period that will be needed to straighten out this mess. THIS COULD BE THE FIRST STEP TOWARD SINGLE PAYER. CONSIDER THIS A DEMONSTRATION PROJECT. IF SOME LIKE THE PLAN, MAYBE WE COULD LET THEM KEEP IT AT THE END OF THE YEAR. This would be a good opportunity for single payer advocate organizations and politicians to coordinate efforts to demand temporary Medicare coverage for those who would have had coverage except for the failure of www.healthcare.gov, etc..
Obamacare is quickly becoming a national disaster. It took SSA a whole year when Medicare began in 1965. And there was no choices to make and no insurance plans involved. Obamacare reminds me of the Asiana Airline staff who kept ignoring the warnings and crashed the Boeing 777 in San Francisco. We know what the results were in that case. We must respond to the Warnings. We must make the administration accountable. Obamacare regulations state that applicants have a right to the timely processing of their Applications, they have the right to appeal if they are not timely and they can ask for expedited appeals processing if they are experiencing a medical emergency. Will HHS be informing people of this? They did announce the availability of special enrollment periods. Does HHS/CMS have an emergency plan in place to save lives and injury to the millions who have no insurance come January? Also included below is a plan I submitted that would put Obamacare staff in all 1300 offices of Social Security nationwide. There is no cost as SSA has 5,000 to 10,000 empty desk/workstations. Social Security has lost 15% of their staff in the last 5 years.
See
http://whitecollargreenspace.blogspot.com/
for a plan to pay for single payer with no increase in taxes and no cuts in other benefits
See
for problems with Obamacare that government won't tell you about and ways to fix them.
Last Week staff from our city Hospital and Obamacare Application Helpers gave a public presentation to explain Obamacare and healthcare.gov. Many people are having major problems trying to enroll and/or see how much their premiums will be. That same day I talked to a Walmart employee. She said that she and her husband are uninsured. She takes no medicine because she can't afford to go to the Dr. and she can't afford the diabetes testing strips. I told her how to contact the Obamacare workers. She might get some help from expanded Medicaid, but it will not be in effect until April here in Michigan. Other Walmart employees told her that some of them were told that Walmart will try to fire some of the full-time employees so they can hire part-time employees. In addition, local hospital employees heard they might lose their insurance as it does not meet ACA standards. Those who help patients with low incomes also said that major pharmaceutical companies are scaling back the programs that provide free medicine to those who qualify. This is another area that needs investigated. FDA and drug company interest groups may have some data.
Obamacare is not ready for prime time. I believe CBO projects that HHS needs to enroll close to 7 million. Many of them have had coverage and are losing it on 1/1/2014. How will they get medicine, oxygen, treatment and other supplies for Aids, diabetes, cancer, heart disease, seizures, and on and on. If we had millions of Americans with the bird flu, FEMA has a plan for that.
http://www.fema.gov/guidance-directives
https://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/FluPan/References/National_Strategy_for_PI_Nov2005-508.pdf
What if the entire populations of Connecticut and Oregon came down with the bird flu? That's about 7 million people. That would be a national emergency, right. But wouldn't the fact that millions of Americans are losing there insurance on 1/1/2014 also qualify as a national emergency? Those hurting are not an homogenous group, geographically or socio-economically. But they are our neighbors, our relatives, our fellow citizens. Does Obamacare have an app for that. Does the White House have a Plan "B." How about we station Obamacare staff in all 1300 Social Security Offices to work nights and weekends providing 12 month temporary Medicare cards to those who have applied for but not received Obamacare coverage. This will give the feds, the contractors, the Medicaid agencies, and the insurance companies time to straighten out this mess. It will take at least 12 months to reach everyone. Social Security would only have to add two questions to the Medicare application they use right now. It could be programmed within a week. What else do we have to do? We are out of the "war" business. With no plan "B," Thousands will suffer and Hundreds will die. That is the fate of those in the nightmare land of the uninsured.
Obamacare is not ready for prime time. I believe CBO projects that HHS needs to enroll close to 7 million. Many of them have had coverage and are losing it on 1/1/2014. How will they get medicine, oxygen, treatment and other supplies for Aids, diabetes, cancer, heart disease, seizures, and on and on. If we had millions of Americans with the bird flu, FEMA has a plan for that.
http://www.fema.gov/guidance-directives
https://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/FluPan/References/National_Strategy_for_PI_Nov2005-508.pdf
What if the entire populations of Connecticut and Oregon came down with the bird flu? That's about 7 million people. That would be a national emergency, right. But wouldn't the fact that millions of Americans are losing there insurance on 1/1/2014 also qualify as a national emergency? Those hurting are not an homogenous group, geographically or socio-economically. But they are our neighbors, our relatives, our fellow citizens. Does Obamacare have an app for that. Does the White House have a Plan "B." How about we station Obamacare staff in all 1300 Social Security Offices to work nights and weekends providing 12 month temporary Medicare cards to those who have applied for but not received Obamacare coverage. This will give the feds, the contractors, the Medicaid agencies, and the insurance companies time to straighten out this mess. It will take at least 12 months to reach everyone. Social Security would only have to add two questions to the Medicare application they use right now. It could be programmed within a week. What else do we have to do? We are out of the "war" business. With no plan "B," Thousands will suffer and Hundreds will die. That is the fate of those in the nightmare land of the uninsured.
Come January, the WH may not be the Grinch who stole Christmas but it may be the Grinch who stole help and hope from those who are suffering and those who are ill.
The Grinch puzzled and puzzled...till his puzzler was sore.
Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before.
Maybe Christmas-he thought--doesn't come from a store.
Maybe Christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more.
Help me! I'm...feeling HONEST?
And what happened then--Well, in Whoville they say...that the Grinch's
small heart grew three sizes that day
Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before.
Maybe Christmas-he thought--doesn't come from a store.
Maybe Christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more.
Help me! I'm...feeling HONEST?
And what happened then--Well, in Whoville they say...that the Grinch's
small heart grew three sizes that day
but he still had no insurance
due to a government delay!
Healthcare.gov online software is still not fixed completely, the paper application software is failing, and the back-end software is a bust. Now consider the hundreds of insurance companies and the new software they will be using to interface with the government and you can see that it will take at least a year to get Americans enrolled or re-enrolled in life-saving, pain-killing health insurance.
God Help Us.
