By John W. Lillpop
In his weekly radio address, President Barack Obama sought to blame all of the woes facing his Marxist health care scam on Republicans in Congress.
According to the President, Republicans, by trying to avoid a devastating “train wreck” that a new entitlement would bring to future generations of already- bankrupt Americans, are nothing but obstructionists to his loopy progressive nonsense.
As reported at reference 1:
President Obama on Saturday offered one of his strongest defenses to date of his signature domestic achievement, lambasting Republican critics of his health care law as obstructionists who are playing politics with the well-being and economic security of millions of Americans.Obama’s fact-starved defense of his legacy accomplishment ignores the fact that some of the harshest criticism of his namesake law emanates from comrades on the very far left, namely, big labor unions.
In blunt terms, Mr. Obama used his weekly address to describe health insurance as a “right” and distinguished states that have embraced his law against those that have not.
He said the Affordable Care Act is already helping young adults stay on their parents’ health plans and offering free preventative care.
“But there’s also a group of Republicans in Congress working hard to confuse people, and making empty promises that they’ll either shut down the health care law, or, if they don’t get their way, they’ll shut down the government,” he said.
“Think about that,” he added. “They’re actually having a debate between hurting Americans who will no longer be denied affordable care just because they’ve been sick — and harming the economy and millions of Americans in the process. And many Republicans are more concerned with how badly this debate will hurt them politically than they are with how badly it’ll hurt the country.”
His defense of the law comes less than two months before state-by-state insurance markets, or “exchanges,” start to enroll Americans without employer-based insurance who may buy coverage with the help of government subsidies.”
As reported at reference 2:
Labor unions are among the key institutions responsible for the passage of Obamacare. They spent tons of money electing Democrats to Congress in 2006 and 2008, and fought hard to push the health law through the legislature in 2009 and 2010. But now, unions are waking up to the fact that Obamacare is heavily disruptive to the health benefits of their members.Clearly, big labor is not impressed with the fact that ObamaCare will add 30 million uninsured to the rolls of the insured AND, in the process, reduce health care costs!
Last Thursday, representatives of three of the nation’s largest unions fired off a letter to Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, warning that Obamacare would “shatter not only our hard-earned health benefits, but destroy the foundation of the 40 hour work week that is the backbone of the American middle class.”
The letter was penned by James P. Hoffa, general president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters; Joseph Hansen, international president of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union; and Donald “D.” Taylor, president of UNITE-HERE, a union representing hotel, airport, food service, gaming, and textile workers.
“When you and the President sought our support for the Affordable Care Act,” they begin, “you pledged that if we liked the health plans we have now, we could keep them.
Sadly, that promise is under threat…We have been strong supporters of the notion that all Americans should have access to quality, affordable health care. We have also been strong supporters of you. In campaign after campaign we have put boots on the ground, gone door-to-door to get out the vote, run phone banks and raised money to secure this vision. Now this vision has come back to haunt us.”
The union leaders are concerned that Obamacare’s employer mandate drives smaller companies to shift their workers to part-time status, because employers are not required to provide health coverage to part-time workers. “We have a problem,” they write, and “you need to fix it.”
“The unintended consequences of the ACA are severe,” they continue. “Perverse incentives are causing nightmare scenarios. First, the law creates an incentive for employers to keep employees’ work hours below 30 hours a week. Numerous employers have begun to cut workers’ hours to avoid this obligation, and many of them are doing so openly. The impact is two-fold: fewer hours means less pay while also losing our current health benefits.”
And what about the fact that Obama has personally carried the bitter water that exempts Congress critters and their overpaid, under worked staffs from the ravages of Obamacare?
What about the fact that elements of Obamacare have been delayed by Obama to avoid the political fall out likely in 2014?
Still, the labor union experience is a trove of invaluable experience for would-be socialists: Namely, Socialism is cool, except when compared to the fruit of free markets!
Ref 1 http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/aug/17/obama-uses-radio-address-describe-health-insurance/#ixzz2cJxFVlth
Ref 2
http://www.forbes.com/sites/theapothecary/2013/07/15/labor-leaders-obamacare-will-shatter-their-health-benefits-cause-nightmare-scenarios/
