When will the callous disregard for human life end? Have those steadfast on obstructing and delaying the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) not understand that they will be causing the suffering and likely deaths of many because of their failed ideology. What do they have to offer citizens if they were miraculously able to stymie Obamacare? The answer is the same it has been for decades; nothing.
What is true is that over the last several months Republican politicians have been in a competition with themselves. It has been a competition as to who can be the most aggressive in obstructing the President on every issue. At no time is the well-being of American citizens considered. It has been simply a visceral hate for the President and his policies no matter how many people it helps.
Georgia Insurance Commissioner Ralph Hudgens (R) is the latest candidate attempting to out macho other Republicans in what he is doing to obstruct Obamacare. When one listens to the thrill in his voice on how he intends to attempt to stymie the health insurance exchanges, it is rather scary. It is hard to believe that politicians would attempt to use the law in Jim Crow fashion to cause actual harm to the citizens of their state. What is even scarier is the response, the applause, and cheers by the audience. Can they not see the evil in their actions?
The Affordable Care Act made provisions for ‘navigators’. These are people hired by organizations to help people purchase health insurance policies. The federal government is offering training programs and grants to help create these ‘navigators’. In order to obstruct this process, Hudgens says in the video below,
The problem is Obamacare. We’ve got to now determine what we can do to solve that problem. Let me tell you what we are doing; everything in our power to be an obstructionist.
You have probably have heard about the exchanges. Well exchanges are coming to Georgia, not the state is not setting them up. The federal government is going to set them up.
But we have passed a law and with the help of senator McCoon and others, we have passed a law that says that a navigator, which is a position in that exchange, has to be licensed by our Department of Insurance.The ObamaCare law says that we cannot require them to be an insurance agent, so we said fine, we’ll just require them to be a licensed navigator. So we’re going to make up the test, and basically you take the insurance agent test, you erase the name, you write ‘navigator test’ on it
He has also stated that Georgia has passed a law that forces insurance companies to state specifically that any rate increases are not the fault of the Governor, general assembly, or department of insurance but because of Obamacare. In other words irrespective of reasons, he forces insurance companies to lie.
Americans are waking up. Several town halls have proven that the expectations many Republicans had that opponents of Obamacare would storm town halls did not materialize. In fact the opposite has occurred (see here and here).
One can only hope that Democrats fight with this same intensity promoting Obamacare. Moreover one hopes the Democrats will campaign on Obamacare during the 2014 campaign. There is ample video of many Republicans who in order to placate the Tea Party overtly take positions on Obamacare that hurt the well-being of their constituencies. As Obamacare is rolled out successfully in states that put the well-being of their citizens ahead of ideology, state run by obstructionist will kick them out of office as citizens realize they were lied to.
Source: Jay Bookman – Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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Makes me sick. They actually passed a law requiring insurance companies to lie to the people of the state of Georgia. And unfortunately I’m sure the insurance companies will be happy to comply because now they can raise their rates and blame the Affordable Care Act while they keep the profits. Now they HAVE to blame the ACA.
In addition to their lobbying efforts, this gives insurance companies another tool to force their profit-seeking will onto the public. The Affordable Care Act places certain requirements on the insurance industry, requirements that were long overdue, requirements that demand accountability and protections for the public. The insurance industry is used to having total control of their industry, shaping the industry to maximize their profits, and oftentimes at the expense of the American people. So this law that the Georgia legislature has passed, with the help of this man, Georgia Insurance Commissioner Ralph Hudgens, diminishes the influence and protections by and for the people and gives it back to the insurance industry so they can get back to focusing on maximizing their profits. Rest assured that this man has personally benefited from the insurance industry for supporting and passing this law, while the people are harmed.
Frankly, it’s no different from what the gun industry does in their lobbying efforts and the legislation they sponsor that mutes the voice and ignores the will of the people so that they, like the insurance industry and many other powerful industries, can focus solely on maximizing their profits. It’s the perfect example of the dysfunction of our plutocracy.
Notice how this man’s audience cheers when he said their new law creates insurance “navigators.” I bet there’s few, if any, applauding this who have the faintest idea what an insurance navigator is and what exactly this man is talking about. But like Pavlov’s dog, they’ve been trained to drool when a Republican says anything negative about Obama or the Affordable Care Act. Hitler and Joseph Goebbels had created this same kind of dynamic with their constituents through the Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda which taught people to hate Jews and people of other races, and to embrace whatever was supported or propagated by Hitler and the Third Reich. I just hope our forces of good do a better job here than Germany’s did there during the 1920s and 30s.
“They actually passed a law requiring insurance companies to lie to the people of the state of Georgia. And unfortunately I’m sure the insurance companies will be happy to comply because now they can raise their rates and blame the Affordable Care Act…”
That law has to be unconstitutional because health insurance companies are required to spend at least 80% (85% for some group policies, I believe) of the premiums paid by insured clients on actual medical care.
So if they jack up the premiums, the insured clients will still benefit at the same 80% rate. So the insurance companies might as well cooperate with the federal ACA law, and not the Georgia law.