Even Democrats are starting to plead with the White House to acknowledge the obvious - that they can't just keep going forward with a full head of steam as if nothing is wrong. But they're either in deep denial or they're so fearful of the political hit that would come with any admission of a problem, they won't hear of it.
Kathleen Sebelius was back before Congress today, and she's just as impatient as ever with the suggestion that maybe the way they're doing this isn't working. The New York Times:
With many people unable to obtain coverage through the website, lawmakers of both parties have suggested extending the open enrollment period or delaying the financial penalties for people who go without insurance.
Ms. Sebelius said that she and her colleagues had identified “a couple of hundred functional fixes” that must be made to the website, HealthCare.gov. But she turned aside calls for a delay in major provisions of the law.
“Delaying the Affordable Care Act would not delay people’s cancer or diabetes or Parkinson’s disease,” Ms. Sebelius said. “It would not delay the need for mental health services or cholesterol screenings or prenatal care. Delaying the Affordable Care Act doesn’t delay the foreclosure notices for families forced into bankruptcy by unpayable medical bills.”
“For millions of Americans, delay is not an option,” Ms. Sebelius said. “People’s lives depend on this.”
Maybe she should tell that to Edie Littlefield Sudby. Honestly, Sebelius's pretense is almost to the point of hilarity. OK, fine, it's a disaster but we have to do it anyway to save the sick.
Um. No. As Mrs. Sudby demonstrates only too well, it's not helping the sick. It's screwing the sick. It's taking away perfectly good coverage they were happy with and attempting to herd them into a system that would stick them with overpriced government-controlled policies if they could even get the system to work, which no one can.
It's like Captain Smith insisting he needs to hit the iceberg with more speed or else the Titanic will be late getting to New York. Do they really not see how bad this has gotten? Or do they think that if they pretend it's not as bad as it obviously is, the rest of us won't know it?
Don't worry. All is well!
