WhatFinger

Narratives.

Washington Post: All ObamaCare’s problems are the fault of those rascally Republicans



The story is ostensibly about the refusal of the National Football League to carry ObamaCare's water by treating it like it's the United Way, but you'd never know it as you read through the piece and discover that nothing matters more than the political motivations of mean and nasty Republicans who just refuse to help out in herding Americans into the ObamaCare pen.
Writers Sandhya Somashekhar and Lenny Bernstein return to the theme continually. A few examples, starting with their spin on the NFL's decision to steer clear of the controversy. (Note how the writers use scare quotes to not-so-subtlely tell you their own opinion.):
On Friday, Republican leaders in the Senate issued a stern warning to sports organizations not to partner with the White House on an issue marked by such "divisiveness and persistent unpopularity."

So the NFL was scared off by a "stern warning" by the minority party in the Senate, which claims implausibly in the Post's opinion that ObamaCare is divisive and persistently unpopular. So let's move on to the problems with implementation of the law. Why is that happening? Is it because Democrats severely low-balled the real costs? Is it because they shoved it down the throats of an unwilling nation and are now shocked that people are not beating down the door to sign up? No, sillies:
Republicans so far have not been successful in repealing the law, though they have tried dozens of times. But they have managed to disrupt its implementation, and they are now mounting their own public relations campaign aimed at painting efforts to enroll people in health benefits under the law as politically charged. About two dozen GOP-led states so far have declined the law's expansion of Medicaid, the federal-state health insurance program for the poor. Even more have refused to set up their own online marketplaces for other lower-income people to get federal subsidies to buy private insurance. Republicans in Congress have also rejected efforts to devote more money to the law's implementation. They have blasted Sebelius for soliciting donations on behalf of Enroll America, a large nonprofit organization with ties to the White House that is spearheading much of the ground-level work on enrollment. The controversy has given pause to some potential donors to Enroll America who are wary of wading into a politically charged fight.
Enroll America, by the way, is a group led by socialized medicine champion Ron Pollack, who has been around since the days of HillaryCare and is always one of the Democrats' go-to guys on this issue. His charge is to persuade people to sign up, which you'd think they'd do on their own if there had really been a need for what ObamaCare is delivering. But no matter, as the Post explains, all Pollack's problems are because of that dastardly criticism from Republicans. And lest you finish the story without being informed of the GOP's political motivations . . .
Republicans' dogged resistance to the health-care law makes political sense, he said. He and other Republicans believe that people's health insurance options will shrink and become more expensive as the law reaches full implementation, and that the GOP will be rewarded at the ballot box for having tried at every turn to thwart it. White House allies, however, said that the Republican efforts are aimed at obstructing the law before people can enjoy its benefits. Beginning in January, health insurance companies will be barred from rejecting people with preexisting conditions. Many low- and middle-income Americans will be able to get free or reduced-cost insurance.
So, to wrap up, lovely and wonderful ObamaCare is just waiting to offer you the health insurance of your dreams, but mean and nasty Republicans are preventing the NFL and others from telling you about it, while intimidating people with money from giving it to Ron Pollack so he can sign you up. And it's all so they can pick up seats in the 2014 mid-terms. That's the Post's take on the situation. The fact that ObamaCare is a legislative monstrosity that explodes the nation's tax burden, places massive new requirements on employers, distorts the economics of the health care market (by doubling down on existing distortions), ensures rationining, will cost far more than they told us and was forced upon an unwilling nation on a party-line vote means nothing. If not for Republican intransigence, this thing would be a triumph. Just so you understand.

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Dan Calabrese——

Dan Calabrese’s column is distributed by HermanCain.com, which can be found at HermanCain

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