“Heh-heh, what’d I tell you? Just don’t work, does it?”
Theoretically, elected officials are placed in office and kept there to serve the needs of their constituents. In other words, they work for the people.
So, when a constituent reaches out to an elected California official for assistance in, say, navigating the new regulations and opportunities presented by the Affordable Care Act, one would think that that elected official would inform the constituent about Covered California, and about the assistance available, in the form of a highly-functional web site, with backup service through certified enrollment counselors, certified agents, and county service agencies.
One would think.
Not Congressman Ed Royce though. In the Fullerton Republican’s email of December 5, 2013, he cites horror stories from three people presented as constituents about how the Affordable Care Act has ruined their lives:
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District Update | December 5, 2013
Dear Friends,
In the three weeks since we first asked you to share your healthcare story, we’ve received nearly 200 responses. Lost coverage and sky-high premiums have been the most commonly reported concerns, despite President Obama’s promise that the American people could keep their current healthcare coverage if they liked it.
Below are three of the many stories we’ve heard about the impact the new healthcare law is having on residents in the 39th district.
“I am a small business owner and I provide full insurance for 6 workers. I was notified that our existing policy is no longer valid and that we are forced to the new Obamacare policy which brings with it a 42.8% increase and higher deductibles than the old plan. I can no longer afford to pay for insurance for my 6 full time employees.” – RM, Yorba Linda
“My mother, brother (18), and I (20) share an Anthem Blue Cross PPO plan on the individual market. Our plan was cancelled because of Obamacare, and the replacement’s premium is 30% higher, deductible is higher, and coverage no better. We had a pretty darn good plan before…Obamacare does a few good things, but the bulk of it doesn’t fix the real underlying problems in our health care system, and the structure of the law evidences a clear lack of understanding of how America’s health care system, and even markets, work.” – Chris, Fullerton
“Premiums going from 286.00 per month to 456.00 minimum or higher with worse coverage, fewer office visits allowed, and higher prescription costs.” – Terry, Anaheim
With over one million Californians expected to lose their coverage, the flawed rollout of healthcare.gov is turning out to be only one of many serious issues with the new healthcare legislation. Have you lost your coverage? Facing higher premiums? I want to hear your healthcare story. Click here to tell me about your experience with the new healthcare law.
Sincerely,
Representative Ed Royce
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First question, of course, is whether these are real people or not, and how valid their stories are. Recall Sean Hannity’s recent fact-check faux pas when the three ACA-afflicted couples he presented on his show turned out to be less than meets the eye. All had doctored or highly colored stories to fit Hannity’s meme. [Editor: Click here if you don’t know what John’s talking about. Just do it.]
Second question, why didn’t Rep. Royce help these people, rather than just glory in their misery?
For “RM, in Yorba Linda,” Rep. Royce could have pointed out that the ACA has no effect on businesses with 49 or fewer employees.
For “Terry, in Anaheim,” Rep. Royce could easily have had someone on his staff call the guy and have him come by the office (Brea isn’t that far from Anaheim, after all) or at least put him in touch with one of the levels of assistance from Covered California.
For “Chris in Fullerton,” same remedy as Terry.
Which brings up another really interesting point: instead of referring readers of his email to the Healthcare.gov web site (which was having teething problems at the time, and which is for states that don’t have their own programs—unlike California), Rep. Royce could (and should) have simply referred them to the coveredca.com web page, which IS WORKING JUST FINE.
Spoiler Alerts:
The Affordable Care Act and ObamaCare are different names for the same thing.
Healthcare.gov is not ObamaCare/ACA. It is a software portal that connects with other government databases in agencies like Internal Revenue and Social Security. As such, it is an extremely complicated piece of software engineering.
And: Barack Obama didn’t write the code. It was written by a government contractor, CGI Federal, after extensive competition, and follows the recognized standards set by Carnegie Mellon University’s Software Engineering Institute
But you knew all that already, didn’t you.
The plural of anecdote is not data. If Rep. Royce would like to see a real scientifically sound survey of how Obamacare has affected people in his district, I’ll be glad to design one for him. But his agreeing with that would depend on his being interested in knowing the truth, so I won’t expect anything from him — as usual. Anyone else interested?
Some such stories, by the way, seem like they may involve cutbacks to the Medicare Advantage program, by the way, in which taxpayers subsudized some very nice extra benefits for seniors who could buy into it. I’m not opposed to that in principle, but it’s a lower priority than making sure the as many people as possible have at least minimally serviceable insurance — which, given Obamacare, almost all do. (The exceptions are mostly in states where Governors or legislatures rejected the federal government’s Medicaid subsidies — either because they want Obamacare to fail, or they want their poor people to move elsewhere, or they’re just sadistic bullies or want the sadistic bully vote.)
A PDA letter drop was done on 12/18…during the meeting with Royce’s District Representative we pointed out the fact that Royce cites this nonrelevant website for his constituents…who are all CA residents during our monthly letter drop. His District Representative assured us that we would receive a response. We are not holding our breaths and to be fair are cutting him some “slack” considering it is holiday recess. That being said…if past history is any indicator…we likely WON’T be receiving a reply…..so far after over a year of letter drops we have received zero replies to any questions, concerns or requests.
Maybe “Not Real Helpful” should be his campaign slogan.
“For ‘RM, in Yorba Linda,’ Rep. Royce could have pointed out that the ACA has no effect on businesses with 49 or fewer employees.”
Um, what? Pointing that out is completely irrelevant to the complaint.
For items two and three, one shouldn’t have to go plead one’s case to a government official to navigate the government’s maze to find government cheese. Point taken on being helpful vs. being an obstructionist, but I think you may be missing the point of the three complaints.
Complaint one: It costs more.
Complaint two: It costs more.
Complaint three: It costs more.
Well, for some people, it does indeed cost more. Seems like a fair complaint to me given what was promised.
These folks did just fine in the private market finding a plan that fit their needs and their check book. The government stepped in, confused the hell out of it, and now mandates you open up your personal life to them in order to qualify for the carrot attached to their big stick.
Your pen name reveals your own biases, Mr “Ryan Cantor.” So no surprise that you miss the point completely. By pointing out the truth, Mr MacMurray was showing us that there is cause to suspect that complainant number 1 may well be just another “Joe the Plumber.” You also don’t notice that complainant number 2 was actually pointing out the shortcomings of a market-based (and thus profit-based) health care delivery system, which is what we had before Obamacare and still have under Obamacare.
And if you object to the mandate to buy insurance, I trust you were just as vocal in opposition to it in 1989 when the conservative Heritage Foundation proposed it, and in 1993 when congressional Republicans advocated it.
Gregg, while I disagree with Ryan here, he’s a good guy and that’s his real name. We’re unusual here in mixing conservatives and liberals in our comments section, usually without causing explosions.
Ryan, insurers have been abusing their insureds in increasing earnest for around a decade. The market was NOT working, as policies such as rescission on the basis of dubious pre-existing conditions shows. And if 90% of the people do better under Obamacare and 10% do worse, that still leaves a lot of people to complain to the likes of Rep. Royce — who really is barely worth writing if you disagree with him, as he’s about as a responsive as a coconut in a blood pressure cuff.
It was working for these three folks. Why do they deserve to get thrown under the bus?
You’re not going to try to tell me that it doesn’t actually cost more, are you?
It sure as hell costs less for the many people who would have their contracts rescinded due to supposed pre-existing conditions.
We don’t know whether it was “working” for these three folks, nor whether if it was working it was because they were getting subsidized for the relative luxury of supplementary Medicare Advantage coverage. And for those who can afford it having to pay a reasonable amount of extra tax money is not being thrown under the bus. But if you’d like to talk alternative revenue sources that could cover some of the cost instead, that’s a conversation I’d welcome!
So . . . They say it costs more and your reply is, well, it costs less for others?
Yeah. Not helpful.
That’s part of my answer, Ryan. Is your position that the only acceptable reform is one that would lower costs for some and not raise costs for any others?
If so, then perhaps you support a single-payer system — good for you!
That is not my position.
I’m not the one selling the ACA. Those who are have yet to level this with the American people: Rates are going up for millions to pay for this. We were wrong when we let you believe nothing would change. We still think this is the right way to go, but really we took money out of your pocket without telling you we were doing it and we’re sorry for being big government know it all’s who think you’re stupid.
You understand I’m commenting on one specific part of the piece, right? Not the whole thing.
Ryan, I think you’ve missed the point of the article. Simply put, Rep. Royce could and should have stepped in to help these constituents. If the help involves sitting down with them and helping them navigate the new health care regulations to find their best options, that’s what he should have done.
That’s his job: serve his constituents. And he did not do this.
Note, I conceded that point in my comment above. You’re absolutely right that our reps should help their constituents solve problems rather than using constituent’s problems to solve their own political squabbles.
We’re still left with the point that your suggestions of what could have been offered as help don’t address the constituent’s complaint . . .
But I thought his job was to help big campaign contributors! (Or, more to the point, he thinks so.)
Chris of Fullerton is quoted as claiming that he and his family had their Anthem Blue Cross PPO (Preferred Provider Organization) plan cancelled because of Obamacare, Further, he claims that the new policy’s premium is 30% higher, deductible is higher, and coverage no better. He believes that they had a pretty darn good plan before.
Before we believe that they had a better plan before, more facts must come to light. Because plans existing before the law was signed, 2010, were grandfathered in, the policy was likely purchased after that date. Many “junk health insurance plans” were sold to the gullible public after the law passed. For a full report, read what the Consumer Report website has to say: http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine/2012/03/junk-health-insurance/index.htm
Assuming that their old health plan complied with the new law and was erroneously cancelled, which I doubt, let’s remember that the same law that may require a higher premium protects this family from arbitrary cancellation when they need it most.
sorry i am late with a retort but it is sometimes hard to gets internet service out here amongst the islands (st thomas, st john, st kitt) but we have gotten the satellite repositioned and i have been able to catch up.
and, i have to admit, obama was right. i like my health care plan and i have been able to keep it. i like my doctor and i am able to keep him. the concept is called a consigiere physician, you all should check it out