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What President Obama's Hilarious Appearance On Between Two Ferns Teaches Us About Obamacare
Submitted by Omid Malekan via OmidMalekan.com,
Present Obama’s viral interview on Zack Galifianakis “Between Two Ferns” was both funny and informative, thus deserving the buzz it generated. To his credit the President has consistently shown an ability to engage his electorate at their own level via their preferred media, a nice change from his predecessors who would complain about the lack of engagement in politics but not do anything about it. Both the content of the interview, and the fact that the President felt it was needed in the first place, can teach us about the current state of Obamacare and the problems it continues to have.
Critics of the interview have focused on the President’s line that young people ”can get coverage all for what it costs you to pay your cell phone bill.” This line, which the President often uses, is hard to substantiate. It contradicts the Obama administration’s own figures that “a 27-year-old with income of $25,000 will be able to get such coverage for $145 a month.” Verizon is generally believed to be the costliest wireless provider, and a single line plan with unlimited voice and texting and 2GB of data costs $75 a month (a figure that generally lines up with national cell phone billing data). If you want to do your own research, the Kaiser Family Foundation has a handy calculator that lets you enter your age, state and income level, and get an estimate for the monthly cost of enrollment. Play around with it and you’ll see the President’s math is hard to justify.
The point here isn’t to nitpick the numbers or get into a semantic argument, but to show one of the key shortcomings of this appearance and the President’s other attempts at getting young people to sign up: if you are promoting something that has shaky credibility, and you use dubious arguments that your target audience will realize might not be true, you end up hurting your cause.
Even more revealing than the content of the interview is the fact that the Administration felt a need for it in the first place. As you have probably heard, Obamacare has not enrolled enough young people. That is why the President has dispatched his wife to promote it on Jimmy Fallon, enrolled celebrities that appeal to young people (including a former member of N’Sync) and made appearances such as ‘Between Two Ferns’. The question nobody asks is why young people haven’t signed up.
Nobody needs to tell young people to buy a cell phone, or to go to college, despite the hefty cost. So why do we need to keep trying to convince them to sign up for Obamacare? The answer, which virtually all of the supporters of the ACA have admitted at one point or another, is because Obamacare is a bad deal for young people. We know that because the system was designed to force young and healthy people, who seldom seek medical treatment, to sign up or face penalties. If something is a good deal, like having an iPhone or getting a college degree, young people spend their money on it voluntarily. You only need a a penalty for not buying something when its a bad deal.
But don’t take my word for it, just look at the arguments made by the law’s proponents. The whole idea of insurance is that a group of people put money into a pool, and those that need it take it out. If a specific group is expected to put in more than they’ll take out, that insurance is a bad deal for them.
Google “Obamacare needs young people” and you’ll see 90 million results, including all sorts of smart people effectively admitting that Obamacare is a bad deal for the young and healthy. You’ll find reports like this one on CNN explaining how Obamacare needs all these young people to put money in then not take any out. You’ll even find Bill Clinton (with Barack Obama at his side) saying “this only works..if young people show up..we gotta have them in the pools.” Even the President himself, during the interview with Galifianakis, says this about young people: ”if they get that health insurance they can really make a big difference.” You buying insurance “making a difference” for someone else means its a bad deal for you, as you are both taking money out of the same pool.
Some argue that young people should sign up anyway, because if something catastrophic happens to them then the insurance will save them lots of money. Again here Obamacare defeats itself. Since the President keeps telling young people that they can still sign up for Obamacare even if they have a pre-existing condition, then they might as well not sign up today while they are still healthy and wait until after something goes wrong.
To summarize the problem in the same lingo that the President and Galifianakis bantered in, lets say you are the kind of person that always takes beers to a party. Lets also say that a bunch of people really want you to go to a specific party, but you find out that the only reason they invited you in the first place is because you bring more beer than you drink, and if you don’t show up the guys that drink lots of beer but don’t bring any won’t have as much fun. Might you then decide not to go to this party, and just stay home and watch Funny or Die videos by your favorite comedian?
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Are the younger generations even smart enough to understand the fraud the medical and pharmaceutical companies are perpetrating on the masses with their barbaric medical practices and cocktails of drugs with unknown long term side effects?
Maybe it's healthier to not eat processed GMO foods and not spray our crops with their poison, they want to make us sick. They make money by treating the symptoms not curing the diseases.
So what the fuck does Obamacare actually do to help us?
More people are killed every year by medical malpractice and prescription drugs than recreational drugs, drunk drivers, guns, serial killers, murders, cops, etc... combined.
We all know the score here.
a) yes americans really are that stupid
b) they deserve the hard and dry assreaming they get for their complacency
They assumed that 40% of 7,000,000 enrollees would be young and healthy. That's 2.8 million. The number is going to be about 20% of 6,000,000. That's 1.2 million. That's less than half of what they needed. That means the costs are going to skyrocket. The only way to hide this is with a huge bailout of the health insurance companies. Certainly the GOP will try to block this, but they seem to have no control over ACA whatsoever.
Re: Certainly the GOP will try to block this
Yeah, just like they tried to block the bank bailouts. Jeeezzz.
I get your point and you may be right. Rubio was trying to limit the risk corridors, but it doesn't look like many were backing him.
I can't see too good. Are they ferns or marijuana plants?
Fuck John McCain - right in the ass. Wait, what were we talking about?
Unconstitutional Obamacare promoted by an illegal Usurper (born British of a British subject father, thus not a natural born Citizen), as "not a tax", shoved down the throats of US Citizens, and declared "Constitutional" as "a tax" by a clearly compromised (Blackmailed)Chief Justice (who never actually swore the Usurper in, in public) and 2 Marxists Dykes appointed by the Usurper (1 of which had argued for its constitutionality as Solicitor General, and should have recused).
What a shit sandwhich.
However it could all be undone if "Conservatives" and "Constitutionalists" would grow a pair and declare the Usurper an illegal inhabitant of the WH, and remove him (See the 25th Amendment, that the POTUS can be removed due to "INABILITY")--i.e mental physical or CONSTITUTIONAL disability--- see the 12th Amendment, and 3 US Code 19.
They must be very busy people, because no signs of any Conservatives yet.
Lots of "Conservatives" tho, but they seem to love Big-Gov.
lose Obama, you get Biden. Lose Biden you get Kerry.
Impeachment is not a serious option.
Fixed it for you:
Lose Biden you get Boehner. Lose Boehner you get Leahy. Lose Leahy, then you get Kerry. At least according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_line_of_successi...
At least the others are eligible.
Oh so an unconstitutional illegal POTUS is OK?
PLEASE get a clue. There is no "United States" or "Constitution", because the executor of the laws is an illegal entity. ALL of the criminals in Congress know this, as it is a power grab. The law is only what evil and stupid men say it is.
And I am not talking about "IMPEACHMENT"--- the President can be "removed" (SEE the 25th Amendment) due to "INABILITY" i.e Constitutional Disability.
you americans are fucked and doomed.
you dont understand society, you just understand individualism. you think competition is better then cooperation. you say "fuck the state" while you get fucked by corporations. you say "fuck bernanke" while you get fucked by too high interest rates on your debt. you say "fuck socialism" while you get fucked by the 0,1% capitalist that own your country. you say "fuck unions" while you get fucked by corporate profits. you say "keynesianism is dead" while get fucked by neo-conservatives.
and then you come to germany and say "what a nice country" and even then you dont get it.
Re: and even then you dont get it
What you don't get is REAL Mericans don't like "those people". And there allot of "those people" in this country.
Unless REAL Mericans get even with "those people" for what they did to this great-n-glorous country, we can't be a society like Germany which doesn't have any of "those people".
When REAL Mericans go to German and say "what a nice country", you never hear the end of the sentence: "what a nice country, it doesn't have any of 'those people'".
We should have left Germany and the rest of Europe to rot after their fucking murderous war. Fucking Europe wants to act all high and mighty like their shit don't stink when they just try to bury deeper than most. Europe is BROKE. Germany is sustaining itself by loaning its customers the money to buy it goods. England is floating on criminal financial businesses, busily robbing whats left of the world. Americans still out work just about every other country on the planet.
Why don't you just go suck on Putins tit for a while. I'm sure he will be happy to see you. Yes, thats right. You don't have a fucking army but you do have a MIC that sells weapons to the highest fucking bidder, don't you. You just stay where you are, and enjoy your fucking socialism.
"you say "fuck the state" while you get fucked by corporations"
wait, those are different things?
We are all fucked, Rudiger.
It's not just a bad deal for young people. There literally isn't many who would even need it.
You put into the legislation that parents may keep their children on their insurance til 26. So if you're unemployed and 26 and under... you are probably on your parents plan and obviously not paying for it.
If you are over 26 an unemployed... you wouldn't have any income and wouldn't pay for it again. Cause you'd be subsidized if you even wanted to bother with it.
If you are over 26 and employed full time, you likely have insurance through your employer which they MUST provide you or be penalized per the legistlation.
So what does that leave?
Bartenders, Waiters, Waitresses, Strippers, anyone else who works hourly, ususally in the service industry who is over 26 but younger than 34 to fall into their coveted demographic.
Realistically... how many 27-34 year olds that work hourly style service jobs will sign up for Obamacare who won't be subsidized and spend the 250$ a month on it?
You expect that small number of potential sign ups to somewhow offset the GIGANTIC costs of all the older very unhealthy subsidized people who haven't been able to address varying health conditions due to costs that are now signing up to go on a health insurance medical testing shopping spree?
REALLY?
The nightmare of the sprialing costs of this are only in infant stages right now. When it is an adult, it will be like Godzilla walking around demolishing our economy.
Best assessment I've read on ZH. Susinct and to the point.
I bet she's a stripper.
They say laughter is the best medicine. So, I must be fully cured of everything for the next 20 years after watching this clip.
Who needs Obamacare?
He fits in well with the weeds!
Now do an episode with Yellen titled, "Between Two Trillion FRNs".
If you're worried about losing your real estate, transfer it to a Revocable Trust for $1. You can get the forms online for $50.
You need a irrovacable trust. A revocable will not protect you.
Obamacare is a bad deal and Obama looks like he is lying when he is lying.
He is a liar. That's what liars do.
Dude's scum.
Thanks guys; I would not give five seconds to that vid.
Makes no difference as Obamacare is being run on the machines, just like markets and the failures occur with flawed data and algorithms that don't want to play together..hmmmm...just like markets except some make money over there if they have the right code.
Obamacare "it's all about those damn killer algorithms"...
http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/02/those-damn-killer-algorithms-keep...
Well PR is not the answer and it helps get attention but it's the machines running Obamacare and PR wants us to buy in.
The fucker lies whenever he gets camera time.
Never heard of "Between Two Ferns" before. What I learned from watching this vid, and many other episodes, is that Zach Galfiniakis is amazing.
As a man I thought O acquitted himself well, and that it was a ballsy move to go on that show. Not sure how the Prez is supposed to convince young healthy people to transfer money to Big Healthcare.
Other ideas? Twerking maybe?
Watch the Justin Beliber one.
New troll out and about?
it should be part of every analysis of obamacare that the aca website is so open that anyone can get your data you type in to obamacare...and they do not have to break any law doing it. the data is accessable without anyone commiting a crime. The web site is that badly designed. THAT is why congress freaked and hired a new company. it is still not fixed. those that know refuse to sign up for that reason alone. no need to offer up another reason not to join. it is like asking for identity theft.
Fuck it
I'm beyond getting angry at these cunts
...let the insanity role, and pass me another beer
And after you're done with that role, you may also want to try letting the insanity roll.
I am 59 years old, no way "young and invincible." My individual health care plan was cancelled, the new plan plan offered doubled in price, double the deductible, no subsidies for me, no thanks.
If I get sick, I'll sign up then.
Although, what I have really done is raise my D3 level to 80 (most Americans D3 level is 18), I do not eat sugar, etc etc. I am taking care of myself.
What a concept.
Good questions by Galiforniwhatever.
Mockery & farce.
Actually, the real problem is that an insurance-based market for healthcare has never made any sense.
Obamacare was designed to fail, and it will.
It was designed to fail in order to garner support for the real solution, which is Single Payor.
People do not need health insurance. They need health care. And we do not need insurance companies as middlemen making billions of dollars and paying their CEOs $14 million a year. We just need health care, that's all. Just like every other civilized country on the planet.