*Issa laughs* Oh these guys are just making up things as they go along! The American people are tired of Obamacare and I've found enough people already to make the case that it's just not working!
In case any of you didn't catch The Ed Show MSNBC program last Friday, it had quite a vicious attack on Darrell Issa and what's really behind his agenda on attacking Healthcare.gov and Obamacare.
Joining Ed Schultz was Rep. Alan Grayson and knowing Grayson's blunt personality, this is certainly something to watch:
http://www.rawstory.com/...
Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) and MSNBC host Ed Schultz teed off on Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) on Friday for what they referred to as a “traveling circus” supposedly focusing on the problems with the Affordable Care Act while ignoring people who are benefitting from it.
“The Republicans have been crisis junkies now for months, if not years,” Grayson told Schultz. “They lurch from one crisis to the next to the next, whether it’s the government shutdown, or whether it’s the debt ceiling or anything else. Now they’re smear junkies, that’s all they ever do.”
On Friday, Issa, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, convened the first of four planned “field hearings” to discuss the act. The Charlotte Observer reported that about 200 people attended the hearing in Gastonia, North Carolina, along with some protesters who chanted, “These sham hearings waste our money.”
Going further on what Ed Schultz and Alan Grayson discuss, there have been notable pro-Affordable Healthcare Act folks whose voices were not heard at Darrell Issa's ACA Hearing in Gastonia, NC.
For example, a flaw in the hearing was that this was not a public forum and the ACA Hearing Committee's chief clerk pointed this out. However, this didn't silence critics:
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/...
Before testimony began, the committee’s chief clerk, Linda Good, instructed the audience not to disrupt the hearing because it was “not a public forum.” But Jennifer Moody, a member of the Lincoln County Democratic Women, stood to object. “This is a taxpayer-funded and a one-sided hearing that does not represent your employer. This is a sham.”
She left the meeting to join the outside demonstrators organized by Progress North Carolina, a group that supports the health overhaul. Holding signs that said “Health care for everyone” and “Fix it, don’t just attack it,” the demonstrators included several who said they had asked to testify but were not invited.
In addition, the House Oversight & Government Reform Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings pointed out this valid piece of information that Families USA reports on the real benefits of the Affordable Healthcare Act which Darrell Issa fails to even mention:
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/...
In his written statement, Democrat Cummings said the title of Friday’s hearing – “Obamacare Implementation: Sticker Shock of Increased Premiums for Healthcare Coverage”– gives a false impression that Americans will face exorbitant prices for health insurance in the individual market.
But he cited a new report by Families USA, which found nearly three-quarters of Americans in the individual market are eligible for financial assistance under the law.
Families USA also has reported that the number of people at risk of not keeping their current individual health insurance and who also will not be income-eligible for financial help to buy a new plan is less than 1 percent of the non-elderly population.
You can find the report here:
http://www.familiesusa.org/...
Some important findings from the Families USA report on the ACA:
http://www.familiesusa.org/...
Better value for your health care dollars: A guarantee that at least 80 percent of a consumer’s insurance premium is used by the insurance company for actual health care, not “administrative” services.
Before the ACA, almost 30 percent of individual market premium dollars went to administrative costs, according to the Congressional Budget Office.13
But under the ACA, at least 80 percent of premiums must now pay for health care. If a plan falls short of that standard, it must refund the difference to consumers. This requirement, which began in 2011, has already reduced premiums by an average of 7.5 percent for consumers in the individual market.14
Essential services.
In today’s individual market, 34 percent of consumers are not covered for substance abuse treatment, 18 percent lack any coverage of mental health care, and 9 percent have no prescription drug coverage.15 Before the ACA, in more than half of state capital cities, not a single plan available online covered maternity care, leaving many pregnant women who lacked access to job-based coverage to pay for their own care.16 All of these services are now guaranteed under the ACA.
Fairer pricing.
In most states, premiums in the individual market vary dramatically based on a person’s age and health status. Women often have higher premiums as well. For individual plans that do not cover maternity care, 25-year-old women can be charged up to 86 percent more than men of the same age. Female non-smokers are typically charged more than men of the same age who smoke.17 Once the health law’s new consumer protections are in effect, many enrollees who were disadvantaged by these practices should be able to find more affordable coverage, even if their incomes are too high to receive premium tax credit subsidies.
So with all the benefits being explained here about the ACA, would this do anything to persuade Congressman Issa to put away his thirst for campaign contributions and GOP fundraising & party building?
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/...
Issa, a leading critic of the Obama administration, acknowledged that some people were unhappy about not being chosen to testify before the committee. But he invited them to send written comments to the committee.
Despite the disastrous rollout of the Healthcare.gov website and the recent cancellation of individual insurance policies that failed to meet the law’s benefit requirements, Issa said: “This issue is the law of the land… (but) we need to do better.”
Answer: You guessed it, no.
How fitting for Darrell Issa, the man behind the pointless Benghazi, IRS, National Parks Service and Census Bureau hearings, to say that he "acknowledges" certain people were unhappy about not being chosen to testify but invited them to send written comments to committee.
Seriously. Do you think Issa would even bother to read or care about what the pro-Obamacare supporters write as far as the ACA Hearing? He won't budge unless it means a drop in his campaign contributions. Want confirmation? Just look at Issa's Twitter feed, which includes his stupid Friday Kitty picture postings:
As usual, if you want to vent about Darrell Issa and his continued witch hunts and crusades, start channeling your frustrations and help his Democratic challenger, Dave Peiser.
For more information on Darrell Issa's Democratic challenger, Dave Peiser, and voter registration statistics numbers of CA-49, links are below:
Dave Peiser for Congress: http://www.peiserforcongress.com/
Donate:
ActBlue: https://secure.actblue.com/...
Nationbuilder: https://peiserforcongress.nationbuilder.com/...
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/...
Twitter: https://twitter.com/...
Information: info@peiserforcongress.com
Here's the voter registration as of February 2013 by the actual CA-49 Congressional District, which combines parts of San Diego and Orange County. Note the number of Decline-to-State/Independents:
http://www.sos.ca.gov/...
Orange County:
Democrats: 22,239
Republicans: 44,833
Decline-to-State/Independent: 19,077
San Diego County:
Democrats: 84,282
Republicans: 107,221
Decline-to-State/Independent: 70,938
Total:
Democrats: 106,521
Republicans: 152,054
Decline-to-State/Independent: 90,015
Here's the recent polling per PPP showing Darrell Issa vulnerable thanks to the government shutdown:
http://s3.moveon.org/...
Disapproval: 49%
Approval: 43%
If you live in or near California's 49th Congressional District and want a reason to start voter registration drives or take part in them, note that San Diego County Democratic Party has a calendar that keeps track of all activity going on, whether local Democratic club meetings or voter registration drive events:
http://www.sddemocrats.org/...
Start firing up the base in CA-49!