Military history is full of accident both fortunate and unfortunate. Bad operations and equipment pick up apt but highly unflattering nicknames in an environment where function is paramount over politeness. I have a couple of favorites.
One is the B1-B. The first supersonic US long range bomber had all sorts of fancy avionics and radar defeating mechanisms. Most of them did not work properly, however, giving rise to the nickname of 'the world's first self-jamming bomber'. Another is the Tornado, an aircraft developed jointly by a joint English, German and Italian requirement. If I could pick three countries less able to understand each other I could not have done better. The resulting conflicting and redundant requirements gave rise to my all-time favorite nickname- a woolly, milk-giving sow. It sounds even better in German- ein eierlegendevollmilchsau. Great word.
Some military operations get deserved derisive names. The Allied landings at Anzio were completely ineffective in outflanking German fortifications in Italy. For 6 months the soldiers in the Anzio beachhead were trapped, achieving absolutely nothing. The Germans, looking down on the 'beachhead' aptly named it the world's first self-sustaining prison camp.
We are watching something like this with the current rollout, and I use the term euphemistically and only to describe the intention not the result. For months Republicans burned political capital trying to delay Obamacare. Who knew they had to do exactly nothing to watch the entire scheme experience spontaneous combustion? If you had offered Republican leadership the delays and exclusions of the law imposed by Obama himself they would have jumped for joy.
The number of screw-ups is matched by the outright lies, distortions and cover stories. When Healthcare.gov failed spectacularly and publicly Sebelius claimed only minor problems and Obama that he knew nothing. Except we have overwhelming paper evidence that everyone was warned it would not work. It turns out the best thing Obama could have done was delay the law voluntarily. Then we found out millions of people were losing coverage because their plans did not meet the requirements of Obamacare. Not only could they not buy new coverage but what was available was much more expensive than what they had previously. Obama's 'solution' was to tell insurers they did not have to follow the law, that they would not get in trouble for offering policies not meeting the law's specifications. Except that insurers don't believe that (and have absolutely no reason to), can not suddenly change policies quickly, can not simply reinstate millions of people and have no financial incentive to do so.
Now the web site is running a bit better but young, healthy people are not signing up. By running Obamacare through private insurers these companies' profit had to be respected. Doing so requires a dilution of risk by the signing up of healthy people, most of whom did not have insurance and few of whom complained about it. Their costs were much higher than they expected, so much so that it is cheaper for them to pay the penalty and buy nothing, knowing that catastrophic illness will be covered by EMTALA laws or emergency Medicaid. Premiums are likely to rise significantly to cover the costs of care for the high risk, older population that has signed up for Obamacare.
To relieve the inability of people to comply with the deadline for individual insurance, Obama has now declared the individual mandate does not apply to those who have lost insurance and can not pay for new policies. In doing so he admits his plan can not be enacted on time and that it is poorly affordable for those it purports to serve. And exactly when will these policies be affordable? Nothing will have changed one year form now except that the Senate elections will be over. Forgot about them? The Democrats haven't. They are afraid and they should be.
The employer mandate has already been delayed a year. What's left? Obama has abnegated his own law piecemeal. He may have avoided a really big mess but in so doing has eviscerated the ethical and societal ideas behind his law and merely drawn out the mess. This is like watching a plane crash in really slow motion. It doesn't make it easier; it makes it harder.
This is the most miserable piece of legislation design, passage and enactment I have ever seen. It is the gift that keeps on giving, the St. Bernard puppy one gives to an enemy. It is a wooly, milky pig. It is, truly, a self-jamming bomber.
Unlike the military, where error leads to unnecessary death, this mess will not kill anyone directly. But it will make millions of people's lives miserable. And I don't think they are going to forget about it on election day.
Ted
One is the B1-B. The first supersonic US long range bomber had all sorts of fancy avionics and radar defeating mechanisms. Most of them did not work properly, however, giving rise to the nickname of 'the world's first self-jamming bomber'. Another is the Tornado, an aircraft developed jointly by a joint English, German and Italian requirement. If I could pick three countries less able to understand each other I could not have done better. The resulting conflicting and redundant requirements gave rise to my all-time favorite nickname- a woolly, milk-giving sow. It sounds even better in German- ein eierlegendevollmilchsau. Great word.
Some military operations get deserved derisive names. The Allied landings at Anzio were completely ineffective in outflanking German fortifications in Italy. For 6 months the soldiers in the Anzio beachhead were trapped, achieving absolutely nothing. The Germans, looking down on the 'beachhead' aptly named it the world's first self-sustaining prison camp.
We are watching something like this with the current rollout, and I use the term euphemistically and only to describe the intention not the result. For months Republicans burned political capital trying to delay Obamacare. Who knew they had to do exactly nothing to watch the entire scheme experience spontaneous combustion? If you had offered Republican leadership the delays and exclusions of the law imposed by Obama himself they would have jumped for joy.
The number of screw-ups is matched by the outright lies, distortions and cover stories. When Healthcare.gov failed spectacularly and publicly Sebelius claimed only minor problems and Obama that he knew nothing. Except we have overwhelming paper evidence that everyone was warned it would not work. It turns out the best thing Obama could have done was delay the law voluntarily. Then we found out millions of people were losing coverage because their plans did not meet the requirements of Obamacare. Not only could they not buy new coverage but what was available was much more expensive than what they had previously. Obama's 'solution' was to tell insurers they did not have to follow the law, that they would not get in trouble for offering policies not meeting the law's specifications. Except that insurers don't believe that (and have absolutely no reason to), can not suddenly change policies quickly, can not simply reinstate millions of people and have no financial incentive to do so.
Now the web site is running a bit better but young, healthy people are not signing up. By running Obamacare through private insurers these companies' profit had to be respected. Doing so requires a dilution of risk by the signing up of healthy people, most of whom did not have insurance and few of whom complained about it. Their costs were much higher than they expected, so much so that it is cheaper for them to pay the penalty and buy nothing, knowing that catastrophic illness will be covered by EMTALA laws or emergency Medicaid. Premiums are likely to rise significantly to cover the costs of care for the high risk, older population that has signed up for Obamacare.
To relieve the inability of people to comply with the deadline for individual insurance, Obama has now declared the individual mandate does not apply to those who have lost insurance and can not pay for new policies. In doing so he admits his plan can not be enacted on time and that it is poorly affordable for those it purports to serve. And exactly when will these policies be affordable? Nothing will have changed one year form now except that the Senate elections will be over. Forgot about them? The Democrats haven't. They are afraid and they should be.
The employer mandate has already been delayed a year. What's left? Obama has abnegated his own law piecemeal. He may have avoided a really big mess but in so doing has eviscerated the ethical and societal ideas behind his law and merely drawn out the mess. This is like watching a plane crash in really slow motion. It doesn't make it easier; it makes it harder.
This is the most miserable piece of legislation design, passage and enactment I have ever seen. It is the gift that keeps on giving, the St. Bernard puppy one gives to an enemy. It is a wooly, milky pig. It is, truly, a self-jamming bomber.
Unlike the military, where error leads to unnecessary death, this mess will not kill anyone directly. But it will make millions of people's lives miserable. And I don't think they are going to forget about it on election day.
Ted
Comments
Post a Comment