The PPACA - Implementation Phase I

[LynahFan]

Re: The PPACA - Implementation Phase I

Sounds terrible.

I have to cut them a break on this. I don't think it's completely hypocritical to argue against grants in general while lobbying to get existing grants allocated to your district.

Say you happened to be against a proposed "bridge to nowhere" that you happened to live near, but despite your objections, the bridge got built anyway. Since it's already built, I say you can use the bridge and still look at yourself in the mirror with a clean conscience. The money is spent whether you use the bridge or not. Refusing to use the bridge would just be cutting off your nose to spite your face.

[Priceless]

Re: The PPACA - Implementation Phase I

I have to cut them a break on this. I don't think it's completely hypocritical to argue against grants in general while lobbying to get existing grants allocated to your district.

Say you happened to be against a proposed "bridge to nowhere" that you happened to live near, but despite your objections, the bridge got built anyway. Since it's already built, I say you can use the bridge and still look at yourself in the mirror with a clean conscience. The money is spent whether you use the bridge or not. Refusing to use the bridge would just be cutting off your nose to spite your face.

But then you'd be making a trip to nowhere.

Wouldn't you agree that it's slightly hypocritical to, on the one hand, say ObamaCare is socialism that will destroy America while also saying it provides money for a “crucial initiative to achieve a healthier Houston/Harris County” and "improve the health and quality of life of area residents"? If they weren't saying how terrible the ACA was that would be one thing, but they continue to demagogue about the law to the point of shutting down the government.

[LynahFan]

Re: The PPACA - Implementation Phase I

But then you'd be making a trip to nowhere.

Wouldn't you agree that it's slightly hypocritical to, on the one hand, say ObamaCare is socialism that will destroy America while also saying it provides money for a “crucial initiative to achieve a healthier Houston/Harris County” and "improve the health and quality of life of area residents"? If they weren't saying how terrible the ACA was that would be one thing, but they continue to demagogue about the law to the point of shutting down the government.

I thought your type was able to understand nuance, gray areas, and the like. I can applaud the Nazi's (tip o' the hat, Godwin) specific position on animal cruelty even though I think they were awful people in general. Just because one clause out of 2700 pages does a good thing does not mean that they have some moral obligation to like the whole law.

[FlagDUDE08]

Re: The PPACA - Implementation Phase I

I thought your type was able to understand nuance, gray areas, and the like. I can applaud the Nazi's (tip o' the hat, Godwin) specific position on animal cruelty even though I think they were awful people in general. Just because one clause out of 2700 pages does a good thing does not mean that they have some moral obligation to like the whole law.

The same goes the other way around, too. I'm all for Congress getting together to amend PPACA. It's too bad that one side is refusing to come to the table, so you can't do anything. Of course, at some point, they'll come to the table, but do what the cylons did at that table in the pilot of the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica.

[Rover]

I have to cut them a break on this. I don't think it's completely hypocritical to argue against grants in general while lobbying to get existing grants allocated to your district.

Say you happened to be against a proposed "bridge to nowhere" that you happened to live near, but despite your objections, the bridge got built anyway. Since it's already built, I say you can use the bridge and still look at yourself in the mirror with a clean conscience. The money is spent whether you use the bridge or not. Refusing to use the bridge would just be cutting off your nose to spite your face.

I gotta disagree here. If you've made opposition to this the centerpiece of your political existence, don't go around asking for benefits from it. That's a grade A hypocrite and the kind of person who's causing so much of the problems in the Congress nowadays.

If you recall the VP debate last year, alleged GOP Wonderboy Paul Ryan got destroyed by Uncle Joe Biden when he whipped out two letters Ryan wrote to him asking for stimulus funds for his district. If you don't think stimulus funds are working, why are you asking for them? Same concept applies here.

[FreshFish]

Re: The PPACA - Implementation Phase I

New state-run health-insurance exchanges have largely fixed their technical problems, marking a sharp contrast with the federal government more than a week after the centerpiece of the Affordable Care Act opened for business.

only 14 [states] chose to fully run their own, leaving the federal government responsible for the other 36.

The federal exchange at HealthCare.gov has been plagued by problems from opening day, including error messages and long wait times.

State officials appeared to be more nimble than the federal government.

Source.

[FreshFish]

Re: The PPACA - Implementation Phase I

There were no enrollments in Delaware in three days. North Carolina got one enrollee. In Kansas ObamaCare was unable to report a single enrollment. A senior Louisiana state official told me zero people enrolled the first day, eight the second.

so says Peggy Noonan at least. grill her about her sources (which "senior Louisiana official"?)

[joecct]

Re: The PPACA - Implementation Phase I

Thoughts?

http://www.ijreview.com/2013/10/8618...h-panels-work/

[Priceless]

Re: The PPACA - Implementation Phase I

Thoughts?

http://www.ijreview.com/2013/10/8618...h-panels-work/

This doesn't already happen everyday?

[FreshFish]

Re: The PPACA - Implementation Phase I

EXCLUSIVE: Just 51,000 people completed Obamacare applications during the website's first week, out of tens of millions of Americans in 36 states
Obamacare's main signup engine attracted just 6,200 new customers on its launch day and 51,000 after the first week.
MailOnline's sources are two Health and Human Services workers who have access to the data as it's crunched

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz2hV2eQKOm
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

[FlagDUDE08]

Re: The PPACA - Implementation Phase I

Thoughts?

http://www.ijreview.com/2013/10/8618...h-panels-work/

You could take this a couple ways. You could see it as critical thinking of what life is more important, you could see it as a practical example of why such a shortage is such an awful thing, or you could see it as the downsides to communism and how your quickness to act no longer matters.

[LynahFan]

Re: The PPACA - Implementation Phase I

Thoughts?

http://www.ijreview.com/2013/10/8618...h-panels-work/

Yawn. We did the exact same exercise when I was a kid (early '80s) except it was a lifeboat with only 6 seats. It's a generic exercise in ethical and moral reasoning, not a specific indoctrination about health care.

[FreshFish]

Re: The PPACA - Implementation Phase I

Yawn. We did the exact same exercise when I was a kid (early '80s) except it was a lifeboat with only 6 seats. It's a generic exercise in ethical and moral reasoning, not a specific indoctrination about health care.

Agree with you that it is a broader-based exercise about moral reasoning in general, disagree to the extent that this kind of moral reasonal also does have significant implications for allocation of scarce healthcare resources as well. It's already an issue in organ transplants, for example; and it will become even more acute as the older age cohorts become more heavily represented in the population at large.

However, I do think we need to counterbalance the overheated "death panel" rhetoric somewhat. Many people and families would prefer not to expend significant resources on end-of-life care for terminally ill. There is a backlash growing from people who'd prefer hospice care over forced incremental longevity that costs hundreds of thousands of dollars and drastically reduces the "quality of life" for the recipient (bed-ridden, tubes permanently stuck in veins, etc.) Apparently the doctors and hospitals feel compelled to exert such treatments and some of the patients and their families sometimes have to go to some lengths to say "thanks but no thanks."

No links handy at the moment but I've seen articles about the subject.

[joecct]

Re: The PPACA - Implementation Phase I

Agree with you that it is a broader-based exercise about moral reasoning in general, disagree to the extent that this kind of moral reasonal also does have significant implications for allocation of scarce healthcare resources as well. It's already an issue in organ transplants, for example; and it will become even more acute as the older age cohorts become more heavily represented in the population at large.

However, I do think we need to counterbalance the overheated "death panel" rhetoric somewhat. Many people and families would prefer not to expend significant resources on end-of-life care for terminally ill. There is a backlash growing from people who'd prefer hospice care over forced incremental longevity that costs hundreds of thousands of dollars and drastically reduces the "quality of life" for the recipient (bed-ridden, tubes permanently stuck in veins, etc.) Apparently the doctors and hospitals feel compelled to exert such treatments and some of the patients and their families sometimes have to go to some lengths to say "thanks but no thanks."

No links handy at the moment but I've seen articles about the subject.

Yep. Keep me comfortable, feed me, and hydrate me. But beyond that, it's my wishes as to what degree of care and maintenance I want.

[Priceless]

Re: The PPACA - Implementation Phase I

Agree with you that it is a broader-based exercise about moral reasoning in general, disagree to the extent that this kind of moral reasonal also does have significant implications for allocation of scarce healthcare resources as well. It's already an issue in organ transplants, for example; and it will become even more acute as the older age cohorts become more heavily represented in the population at large.

However, I do think we need to counterbalance the overheated "death panel" rhetoric somewhat. Many people and families would prefer not to expend significant resources on end-of-life care for terminally ill. There is a backlash growing from people who'd prefer hospice care over forced incremental longevity that costs hundreds of thousands of dollars and drastically reduces the "quality of life" for the recipient (bed-ridden, tubes permanently stuck in veins, etc.) Apparently the doctors and hospitals feel compelled to exert such treatments and some of the patients and their families sometimes have to go to some lengths to say "thanks but no thanks."

No links handy at the moment but I've seen articles about the subject.

Write a living will that spells out what kind of care you want and what kind of "life-saving" or "heroic" measures you want medical personnel to take. My living will is on file with three hospitals, my doctor's office and in the family's safe. It takes five minutes to complete and is a piece of cake.