The View from Right Field

Do We Have a Dysfunctional Congress – Or a Dysfunctional President?

As the presidential campaign heads into the fall, I assume President Obama will be out campaigning for Hillary Clinton and other Democrats.  And I assume he will spend a lot of time complaining about the “dysfunctional Congress” that he has had to deal with and that has frustrated his efforts.  Except, I am not sure it is only Congress that is dysfunctional.  It might be the President, too.

President Obama likes to say he was elected twice by the American people to deal with our problems.  It is certainly true he was elected twice.  And the first time he was elected, a Democratic Congress was elected, too.  The problem for him was it didn’t last long.

A Tale of a Seagull and the Affordable Care Act

We were at our condo in South Haven last week.  While walking on the beach, we saw a seagull hopping on one leg.  It must have hurt its other leg.  Later, as we walked back the way we came, we saw the bird again.  He/she/it was in a group with other seagulls and still hopping around on one leg.

We felt sorry for the little bird.  But then I realized everything would be okay.  After all, I have heard many people say that Obamacare is for the birds.  So I knew the little seagull would be fine.

Is “No Boots on the Ground” in Iraq the New “If You Like Your Doctor, You Can Keep Your Doctor”?

In 2009 and 2010, President Obama famously (or was it “infamously”) said that under his new healthcare plan, “If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.”  Obviously, it wasn’t true.  It is pretty clear that President Obama either knew or should have known this statement wasn’t true when he said it, which is pretty much the definition of lying.  The President, however, wouldn’t admit it.  Here, for example, is one of his attempts to explain what he really meant when he said it.

Which brings up the question of President Obama’s pledge that there would be “no boots on the ground” in Iraq.  Now that we have troops undertaking combat missions in Iraq – and people dying, what about this pledge?  Was it a lie, too, like “If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor”?  I don’t think so, though I am not sure if it helps all that much. 

I think President Obama really didn’t want to send combat troops back to Iraq and he was not planning on doing it.  What happened, however, was that the situation in Iraq kept getting worse and worse.  Eventually, he had to send combat troops. 

Why Is President Obama Still Blaming George W. Bush?

While President Obama was in New Orleans yesterday for the tenth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, the President couldn’t resist yet another chance to blame George W. Bush:

"We came to realize that what started out as a natural disaster became a man-made disaster, a failure of government to look after its own citizens." 

What a sad thing to say.  Is President Obama really so desperate to prove his presidency a success that he has to keep attacking his predecessor seven years after he beat him?

Should a president whose administration:

• Couldn’t build a proper healthcare website in 3½ years
• Turned the Animas River yellow
• Appears to be blocking an investigation by one of its own Inspector Generals into a security breach involving records of almost 22 million current and federal workers
• Doesn’t seem to be properly screening the people into whose custody it is placing thousands of illegal immigrant children
• Whose VA was, and may still be, doing a worse job in caring for our veterans than its predecessor
• And more and more

really be criticizing his predecessor for failures of government?  Maybe instead of worrying about what his predecessor did wrong, he should be spending more time getting his administration to do things right.

I Don’t Expect My Car Insurance to Pay for Regular Maintenance. Why Should I Expect My Health Insurance To Do So?

I took my car in for an oil change today.  In addition to the oil change, a couple of filters needed to be changed, and I needed a new serpentine belt.  Regular maintenance items.  The kind of thing you have to do every once in a while.  Sort of like going to the doctor for an annual physical. 

So why do I expect my health insurance to pay for the physical, when I don’t expect my car insurance to pay for the filters and belt?

Here’s Some Health Advice I Can Follow

This is from the print edition of today’s Chicago Tribune (section 1, page 21):

“‘Every doctor that sees me says they’ll kill you, but they die and I don’t.  So there must be a mistake somewhere.’

–- 104-year-old Elizabeth Sullivan, of Fort Worth, Texas, attributing her longevity to four decades of drinking three cans of Dr Pepper every day”

President Obama Proposes Yet Another Big Federal Database With Your Name In It

Earlier today President Obama announced a new federal research program whose purpose is to enable doctors and scientists to, in the words of The New York Times­, “develop drugs and treatments tailored to the characteristics of individual patients.”  In order to do this, the program will be collecting genetic and other data on one million people.  The Times explains:

“Federal officials described the project as a research consortium that would collect information from large numbers of people.  The data could include medical records, laboratory test results, profiles of patients’ genes, and information about their diet, tobacco use, lifestyle and environment.”

In other words, a big, new federal database is going to have your medical records, lab reports, and information on things like your diet and lifestyle, plus your DNA.

But President Obama says we shouldn’t worry: “We’re going to make sure that protecting patient privacy is built into our efforts from day one.”  Right.  Just like the Obamacare website was going to work on day one.

A Comment on Hobby Lobby

For those who object to the Hobby Lobby decision today, there is a simple solution: Instead of forcing private employers to provide contraception coverage as part of their health care programs, have the federal government provide contraceptives.  If you are worried about the cost, just provide them to women with lower incomes.  For example, just provide them for free to women who would, if they didn’t have private health insurance, qualify for a subsidy under Obamacare.  That should take care of anybody who can’t afford them.

But the Republicans in Congress won’t agree, opponents say.  Well, the Obama administration should have figured that out earlier and passed the program when Nancy Pelosi was Speaker.  Note:  Opponents of the Hobby Lobby decision need to be careful about saying that the House wouldn’t have passed it back then, what with pro-life Democrats and all, because at that point they are saying they want contraception coverage to be required even though Congress wouldn’t approve it.  Then their problem isn’t the Supreme Court; it’s democracy.

Bracketology and an Unserious President

Russia is invading Ukraine and annexing part of its territory.  The war in Syria is entering its fourth year with an estimated 150,000 people dead.  The U.S. economy continues to sputter along with millions of long-term unemployed seemingly locked into joblessness.  Who knows how Obamacare is doing; you certainly can’t tell from what the Administration is saying.

So, when will the President be publishing his picks in the NCAA tournament?  And how does he possibly have time to be doing it?

Obamacare: Where Are All the Uninsured People?

The Wall Street Journal reported over the weekend that at least two-thirds of the 2.2 million people who have enrolled in new health insurance plans through the Obamacare marketplaces (through December 28) previously had health insurance, either through a job or a private insurance policy.  In other words, at most one-third of the enrollees were previously uninsured.  And the percentage may be even lower than that.  A McKinsey & Co survey said it might be as low as 11%.

The Congressional Budget Office had estimated that the Obamacare marketplaces would, in the first year, sign up 5 million people who were previously uninsured.  Based on the Journal’s estimates, at most 700,000 uninsured people have signed up so far.

Some previously uninsured people have now signed up for Medicaid, but even the Administration doesn’t know how many it is.  Sean Trende at RealClearPolitics estimates that the number of people getting Medicaid because of the expansion of Medicaid under Obamacare, is considerably less than 500,000 people

When this all this started, there were roughly 40 million American adults without health insurance.  Obamacare has reduced that number by maybe a million or a million and a half people.  We have gone through all of this for that?  Why?