UPDATE – Oops, original post had wrong link to McDonough article —  Fixed now, Sorry.

WASHINGTON DC – […]  McDonough, speaking privately to Democrats in a closed session Thursday  afternoon, said the president’s hands were tied, to an extent, in trying to move  the policy to fit his promise.
“We do not have a deal where everyone who has received a cancellation notice  that they can re-buy. We can’t mandate that,” he said,  according to sources present. But, he argued, the new policy shifts the  burden for cancellations to state insurance commissioners and insurance  companies — an important political distinction. If a tea party Republican  contends that someone lost his or her insurance because of the law, McDonough  said “that is absolutely untrue.”
At one point, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) asked why the White House isn’t  doing more to blame insurers for policy cancellation notices.
McDonough replied that there are good actors and bad actors in the insurance  industry.
“I think it is dangerous to paint with a broad brush,” he said.  (LINK)

In essence Obama’s “fixer”, Denis McDonough, is saying there are people in the Insurance industry who are “with us“, and there are some “against us“.

The problem looks like this: (more…)

Did you skip the 6th Grade ?

In a follow-up to President Obama’s declaration of his “insurance policy cancellation fix”, he outlined his real concern.
It is not a concern for the American People who are seeing the deconstruction of their individual healthcare;  it is not a concern for anyone now thrown into chaos by their loss of health insurance;   no, for Obama the concern is about how it might hurt his party and their re-election.
WASHINGTON DC – President Obama acknowledged Thursday that the problem-ridden rollout of open enrollment in the new health care law had hurt Democrats politically.
“There is no doubt that our failure to roll out the ACA smoothly has put a burden on Democrats, whether they’re running or not, because they stood up and supported this effort through thick and thin,” Obama said Thursday, announcing that insurers could allow customers to stay on cancelled plans for another year.
“I feel deeply responsible for making it harder for them rather than easier for them to continue to promote the core values that I think led them to support this thing in the first place,” he added.  (continue reading)

(Via Washington Post)  […]   [President Obama’s Plan is to] Allow insurers to renew existing plans in 2014 (which means they could continue into 2015) while forcing them to send Landrieu-like letters explaining why their plans don’t conform to the Affordable Care Act’s standards.

This doesn’t really ensure anyone can actually keep their plan — which means it also doesn’t affect premiums in the exchanges. But it makes it easier for Democrats to blame insurers for canceling these plans. And it perhaps makes it easier for the White House to stop congressional Democrats from signing onto something like Landrieu or Udall.
The insurance industry is furious. They’ve been working with the White House to get HealthCare.Gov up and running and they’ve been devoting countless man hours to dealing with the problems and they’ve been taking the heat from their customers over canceled plans, and now the Obama administration wants to make them into a scapegoat. (more…)

Yesterday we mentioned the CNN Jake Tapper interview of Leader Eric Cantor.  Tapper continues to repeat a common White House meme about “Junk Plans” as he questions Cantor.   Here is the video:

“[00:50] now these plans are being cancelled because they don’t meet the standards of Obamacare, the standards that would allow more / higher quality of quality care the administration says; Better care, covering more things”.
“Is that not a good goal to have fewer of what the Obama administration would call “junk plans”?”

Ergo some of these insurance cancellations are good for the insured, the ObamaCare plan is better for them, and the policy deserves to be cancelled. (more…)

If a Shoe Drops On The Horizon Will Anyone Notice ?  The Independent Payments Advisory Board (IPAB), Obamacare’s “Death Panel”, issue is a looming thunder-cloud way off on the horizon of public attention.  But one Democrat Senator has been put on notice, and shares his admission of concern. 
(Via Brietbart)  Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) said on C-SPAN Wednesday morning that the Independent Payments Advisory Board (IPAB) –the so-called “death panel” of Obamacare, which will cut Medicare costs by restricting care– should be “revisited.”

His comments came as more Democrats are joining calls to amend Obamacare, in particular by supporting the Keep Your Health Plan Act, proposed by Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI), which would fulfill President Barack Obama’s oft-repeated promise that patients could keep their existing health insurance.
Cardin was responding to a caller who had expressed concerns about the constitutionality of the IPAB, which former White House Office of Management and Budget director Peter Orszag has championed as a central part of Obamacare. (more…)

Internal polling numbers (DNC) in the states with Senators up for re-election, must be beyond terrible.   “Panicking”: a sudden, overpowering terror, often affecting many people at once.  Horrific Fear – A sudden widespread alarm.

WASHINGTON DC – Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Thursday will convene a special meeting of the Senate Democratic caucus and senior White Officials  ( <—  Denis McDonough / ValJar ) to discuss the troubled rollout of ObamaCare.

Reid on Wednesday told reporters he would not answer questions about the hundreds of thousands of insurance policy cancellations or other issues until he has further discussions with the White House.

The Senate leader said President Obama called him Tuesday evening to discuss healthcare and other issues. (more…)

(Washington Post)  Putting a statistic on disappointment, the Obama administration revealed Wednesday that fewer than 27,000 people signed up for private health insurance last month in the 36 states relying on a problem-filled federal website.
States running their own enrollment systems did better, signing up more than 79,000, for a total enrollment of over 106,000. (continue reading)
(Forbes)  In the market for individually-purchased health insurance, more than 4.8 million Americans have received notices that their preexisting plans are soon to be illegal, and will be cancelled. Many more cancellation notices are imminent. (link)
.

CNN’s Jake Tapper just interviewed Eric Cantor and continued to repeat the White House obfuscation position as he questioned the House Whip, Cantor:

“*Some* of these insurance policy cancellations are for junk plans”.   “These are insurance plans which do not live up to the high standard of Obamacare coverage”.

Ergo some of these insurance cancellations are good for the insured, the plan is better for them, and the policy deserves to be cancelled. (more…)

The latest Poll from Quinnipiac was released yesterday. [ AVAILABLE HERE  ]Obviously the media headlines are filled with uncomfortable to report on catch lines about President Obama, their chosen one,  polling with his lowest favorability 39%, and highest unfavorability 54%, of his entire presidency.
More people distrust President Obama 52%, than view him as honest 44%.
More people think he is “incompetent” 53%, than view him as capable 43%.
And surprisingly 51% to 43% say the media is not paying enough attention to what he is doing.
Many people reflect on these public opinions and ask what will Obama do to turn it around?
However, that’s perhaps directing the question to the wrong person. The real question should be WWDMD? What will Denis McDonough do? Or, What will Valerie Jarrett do?   Together, they are the real decision makers.

Typically, their approach is to deflect attention quickly.    However, the media is unable to ignore the millions of people impacted by Obamacare.
So, I ask you guys – what do you think Denis McDonough and ValJar will do?    What direction do you think they will take?    What narrative will they stimulate to create the needed diversion?