October 1, 2013

‘The Health Insurance Marketplace Is Open!’

The Grand Opening of ObamaCare.

Despite last night’s government shutdown, the ObamaCare exchanges at Healthcare.gov had their Grand Opening today. Well, some of the exchanges are open – several states ran into “glitches” that need fixing. But not to worry: Barack Obama says, “In the first week, first month, first three months, I would suspect that there will be glitches.” That’s putting it mildly.

Today is the day that individuals can begin signing up for health insurance through these exchanges. Individuals have until Dec. 15 to obtain coverage beginning by Jan. 1 or face a tax fine – $95 or 1% of annual income, whichever is higher. The fine increases every year. (Recall that Chief Justice John Roberts was only able to find the law “constitutional” by rewriting it, calling the fine a tax that was permissible congressional power. Predictably, Democrats still haven’t adopted that word.)

As this major aspect of the “Affordable” Care Act launches, The Wall Street Journal outlines one of the law’s fundamental problems:

> The larger story is that ObamaCare is gradually splitting U.S. health care into a two-tier system. One tier will be insurance that depends on direct government subsidies and controls – Medicaid, Medicare and the Medicaid Plus of ObamaCare’s exchanges. This care will be constrained over time by how much the public is willing to be taxed.

> The other tier will be the 156 million Americans who now have private coverage through their jobs, though ObamaCare is changing that too. One consequence has been a boom in part-time employment to avoid the law’s penalties, especially in low-wage and seasonal industries, and larger and more stable employers are also re-evaluating traditional worker benefits.

Indeed, Obama’s oft-repeated promise that if you like your health plan or your doctor you can keep them is already going by the wayside.

As ObamaCare takes hold, we maintain that every American of every political stripe who has any issue with health care, whether a hangnail or heart transplant, a delay in a doctor’s office or in critical care for a loved one, will tie blame for their discontent like a noose around the necks of Obama and his Democrats, who were solely responsible for forcing this abomination upon the American people.

Who We Are

The Patriot Post is a highly acclaimed weekday digest of news analysis, policy and opinion written from the heartland — as opposed to the MSM’s ubiquitous Beltway echo chambers — for grassroots leaders nationwide. More

What We Offer

On the Web

We provide solid conservative perspective on the most important issues, including analysis, opinion columns, headline summaries, memes, cartoons and much more.

Via Email

Choose our full-length Digest or our quick-reading Snapshot for a summary of important news. We also offer Cartoons & Memes on Monday and Alexander’s column on Wednesday.

Our Mission

The Patriot Post is steadfast in our mission to extend the endowment of Liberty to the next generation by advocating for individual rights and responsibilities, supporting the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and promoting free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values. We are a rock-solid conservative touchstone for the expanding ranks of grassroots Americans Patriots from all walks of life. Our mission and operation budgets are not financed by any political or special interest groups, and to protect our editorial integrity, we accept no advertising. We are sustained solely by you. Please support The Patriot Fund today!


The Patriot Post and Patriot Foundation Trust, in keeping with our Military Mission of Service to our uniformed service members and veterans, are proud to support and promote the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, both the Honoring the Sacrifice and Warrior Freedom Service Dogs aiding wounded veterans, the National Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, the Folds of Honor outreach, and Officer Christian Fellowship, the Air University Foundation, and Naval War College Foundation, and the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. "Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for his friends." (John 15:13)

★ PUBLIUS ★

“Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!” —George Washington

Please join us in prayer for our nation — that righteous leaders would rise and prevail and we would be united as Americans. Pray also for the protection of our Military Patriots, Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Please lift up your Patriot team and our mission to support and defend our Republic's Founding Principle of Liberty, that the fires of freedom would be ignited in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.

The Patriot Post is protected speech, as enumerated in the First Amendment and enforced by the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, in accordance with the endowed and unalienable Rights of All Mankind.

Copyright © 2024 The Patriot Post. All Rights Reserved.

The Patriot Post does not support Internet Explorer. We recommend installing the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome.