Mike Luckovich for November 06, 2013

He said , If you like your policy you can keep it." Nothing was said about if we think it is substandard you will be cancelled. Is lying a disease of the Democrats?

Can’t happen with government intervention.

To the points made by CDK and NFL…if the gov’t were distinguishing between the “substandard” plans we actually chose and like and those we chose only because we couldn’t afford better it would be one thing. But this “I will tell you what you need” administration is absolutely creepy in its self-focused power grabs into other people’s lives.

but filmless bho knows better than your wife what she wants

Let me see if I get this cartoon. If I have mediocre insurance I CAN afford and takes care of my basic health care needs, I’m getting screwed. If that insurance gets cancelled and by law I have to get “superior” insurance I cannot afford; I’m NOT getting screwed?

Hey Luckovich! Define “substandard.” Obama sure as hell can’t! The way I see it, the policies offered under the ACA are “Substandard” if they don’t meet my standards and needs for health insurance.I for one think the “best” and a “quality” health insurance policy is one that meets my needs for a good price and that I, ME, can best determine what those needs are, not the government!

yep bho blames everyone else but

http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/mercedes-schlapp/2013/11/06/obama-is-dodging-accountability-when-it-comes-to-his-health-care-failures

Imagine demanding insurers issue policies that actually insure anybody.

There were times we had a policy we’d have liked to keep, but the insurance company figured out that it might, just possibly, pay off one day, so they changed it on us — to something that cost more and did less for us. Hooray for free enterprise!

You’re welcome.

“Get rid of the trash, reign in the excesses in profit and see healthcare return to normal.”

Well, the ACA is pretty much normal for the US. Nothing has changed at all, except that apparently Romney and Ryan have been setting the qualifications for treatment. That is, it might be harder than ever for women to get appropriate, timely treatment, whatever their condition.

It must be that I don’t understand this health care and medical stuff very well. I actually imagined that the qualification for receiving medical care was a need for same.

Turns out I was wrong. Seems women never actually need medical care, and their treatment must be continuously and rigourously scrutinized for violations of need. Silly to waste treatment frivolously on those who don’t need it, eh?

And Morty – I thought you had a pretty clear picture of what is going on here, but I see you haven’t grasped the core US principle that there is no such thing as ‘excess’ profit. In the US, you are not only entitled to take as gross a profit as you can possibly screw out of your business, no one will quibble if you wreak mass destruction on the environment or the people in it. The only consideration is how much you can pull out of it for your own use.

Once you grasp that, the rest really does become crystal clear.

“Obama DID lie. He DID say the guy could keep it. He didn’t limit it to substandard policies. It was limited to “if you like it.””

And given the amount of mileage the GOP has gotten out of it, what makes you think that the insurers didn’t offer him assurances which they went back on as soon as he’d gone public with it?

There is no shortage of lies, to be sure, but when has any insurer been honest about his business practises?

I haven’t been that naive since I left school.

Tigger, GOP opponents knew they were screwed almost from the beginning. They’ve been screaming from the beginning. The GOP made it crystal clear that they would not cooperate with any health care scheme which would shut the insurers out or restrict them in any way. They would not cooperate with aggressive negotiations with BigPharma so people might be able to afford to eat if they’ve refilled their prescriptions.

How did you not notice any of that?

The comic portrays the owners of “inadequate” health insurance as “screwed,” and complaining about “[President] Obama said I could keep this [inadequate policy.]” In the author’s opinion, an inadequate policy is worthless, and the owners are not at all injured by having their policies cancelled (i.e., screw removed.) The author says nothing as to the worth of an ObamaCare-approved policy, despite the growing consensus that such a policy is much more expensive than the inadequate policy. By using the “screwed” metaphor, the author inoculates Obama et al from any concern that the could have “liked” and wanted to “keep” their insurance or their doctor. So, the fact that Obama lied — deliberately, purposefully, wantonly — is instantly forgiven and forgotten. But not by me.

My insurance is so substandard it should be illegal. In fact, it’s nearly worthless.

Mine was NOT substandard. My 2014 plan will cost me slightly more every month but has much worse coverage.

Rx will cost twice as much if generic and it will pay only 40% of the cost if no generic is available even if it’s on the formulary. My deductible will be ten times higher, going from $500 to $5000. My out of pocket limit will be 7.2 times higher, going from $2500 to $18000.

Obviously, nobody in congress or the administration is in touch with the reality of middle class life where even those who have good jobs with benefits are struggling to make ends meet and have seen our benefits reduced annually for the last decade or two, our pensions terminated, and our 401k plans parasitized by junk fees bordering on outright theft.

That’s not what we needed from Ms. “pass it to find out what’s in it” Pelosi and President “campaigning is my core competency” Obama. Damn their lies.

Luckovich really missed the mark with this one. The people who’ll REALLY get the screw through the guts are those poor slobs who buy the obamacare Bronze Plan believing it will protect them when the reality is that plan is practically a guarantee of bankruptcy and forever ruined financial health for all who get hospitalized.