Austin's Lamar Smith Town Hall Feb 25

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Sunday February 19, 2017 · 9:27 AM PST

2017/02/19 · 09:27

Austin, get involved! Come on out to Lamar Smith’s town hall meeting next Saturday Feb 25.

The Austin constituents of Texas's 21st Congressional District have formally invited our represntative, Lamar Smith, to meet with us for a town hall during the February legislative break. Please come and voice questions you have as his constituents.

Info Here

The Scoot Inn 5:00 PM

1308 E 4th Street Austin, TX 78702

Get Ready Constitution Party The GOP may be coming

GOPanic

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Monday March 21, 2016 · 9:33 AM PDT

2016/03/21 · 09:33

The GOP is well on their way to nominating Donald J Trump as their candidate and their mindless majority is marching straight toward an historic electoral college thumping. With Trump on the ticket Democrat’s so-called blue wall of 242 virtually guaranteed electoral votes is likely to expand beyond the 270 needed to win in November. With such an unpopular candidate at the top of the ticket the rest of the GOP has got to be looking for an alternative. Not one that they think will have a chance to retake the White House, just one to provide political cover to down-ballet Republicans desperate to not go down with the Trump ship. Their best bet, using all the irony they can muster, is to hijack another party’s ballet access and run someone more palatable. Libertarians have ballet access but they also have actual positions, many of which are incompatible with the GOPs obstructionist platform, and most people have heard of the Libertarian Party. The Constitution Party has no such issues. They already have access to the ballot in most states, no one has ever heard of them and even the name sounds vaguely obstructionist.

It’s unlikely that such a ticket would have any real affect on the Presidential race but if they can convince someone popular like Nicky Haley (or maybe Condoleeza Rice) to get on board it could provide some much needed cover to down ballet Republicans. They'll be able to throw their support behind someone without fear of it damaging their own chance at reelection. It may also be the end of the GOP as a national party and the shifting of many republicans to a new brand. Why Donald Trump Will (almost certainly) Not be Elected

Getting my ninja-gun-toting license!

GOPanic

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Sunday May 25, 2014 · 11:06 AM PDT

2014/05/25 · 11:06

Woohoo! I just signed up for my first ever concealed handgun class! I'm so excited... Wait... Let me explain... I have no plans to own or carry a gun. I just want to see for myself what is more difficult to do in Texas: get a license to scuba dive, get a license to ride a motorcycle or get a license to carry a loaded and concealed handgun.

I've done the first two but not the third. And while all are potentially dangerous, only one expressly designed to be dangerous to other people. What could possibly go wrong?

GOPanic

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday October 21, 2013 · 9:36 AM PDT

2013/10/21 · 09:36

You may have noticed that healthcare.gov got an update today. In addition to making it easier to apply by phone and in other ways while they keep working on the bigger problems with the website, they made one very important but little noticed change. There is now a big "See Plans Now" button that just shows you what is available to you. No need to sign up for an account, verify your identity or anything. Just answer a few questions, give them your location and you'll see the cost and a brief description of every plan available to you.

How many people do you think have been wading through (and bogging down) the system just to take a look at whats out there but don't really plan on changing their insurance? A lot I bet. Now they can satisfy their curiosity without even giving an email address and if they do decide to apply, and aren't trying to qualify for subsidies, you can head straight to the website of whichever company you like the looks of and skip healthcare.gov all together - at least until they get it working.

The President can't say "go to the insurer's websites" because that would be send a terrible message (and give the GOP another hammer to swing with) but that's the real message here. The ACA is not a website. And they made a mistake by putting so much emphasis on it.

Don't qualify for subsidies? You can skip heathcare.gov all together!

GOPanic

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Friday October 18, 2013 · 2:07 PM PDT

2013/10/18 · 14:07

The insurance exchanges and .gov website that are at the center of the affordable care act have gotten a lot of bad press lately. Much of it deserved given how glitchy it still is after nearly 3 weeks. But there is a nice big workaround that hardly anyone is talking about: going straight to the insurers.

The heathcare.gov website has been billed as the kayak.com for health insurance and I'm sure it will get there. But for many people who are purchasing insurance without subsidies, the site doesn't do anything that you can't easily do on your own. Once you know which insurers are offering plans in your state, which you can find here you are free to do all the comparison shopping you want. All of the insurer's websites I visited were very clear and easy to use. The enrollment process is essentially the same as healthcare.gov (same questions in the same order) but they dont have to be everything for everyone so it's more streamlined (and much less glitchy). The policies offered are identical.

Perhaps putting so much emphasis on the website wasn't a great move. The real healthcare reform is not by making another kayak. The real reform is changing the rules that the insurers have to follow and expanding the risk pool with the individual mandate. I've enrolled my family in a great plan that we never would have been able get previously and the website had nothing to do with it!

Signed up! Can't wait for my first death panel!

GOPanic

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday October 16, 2013 · 11:25 AM PDT

2013/10/16 · 11:25

I've been researching all of our new health insurance options here Texas (or the death of America / end of western civilization depending on your point of view) over the last couple of weeks. My family is currently covered through a COBRA plan that will expire in January and costs about $1100/mo. That is what it cost them while she worked there and what it costs us to keep it. It's a basic plan with a $3000 deductible that pays 70% with no dental or vision. Now, for $15 LESS per month we can buy a "platinum" plan on the exact same network from the exact same insurer with $0 deductible/80% with dental and vision. It also has lower copays for office visits and prescriptions. If we want a plan that has about the same type of coverage we have now it will be about $350 LESS per month than we currently pay. There are no subsidies involved.

Now that we have access to 76 different plans from 8 insurers, it's bewildering how anyone could defend the old, unregulated system. My wife's former employer and their employees would all be better off if they would drop their group coverage and give them that money to shop on the exchange. They would end up with either much better or much less expensive coverage. It won't take long for small businesses and their employees to realize this and when they do much of the media is likely to report it as THOUSANDS OF SMALL BUSINESSES DROPPING COVERAGE BECAUSE OF OBAMACARE. Ignoring the fact that dropping their coverage (and giving their employees the money) is the best thing that they could do for themselves, their employees and our healthcare industry as a whole.

So I say - drop the group coverage and bring on the death panels!

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Austin's Lamar Smith Town Hall Feb 25

Get Ready Constitution Party The GOP may be coming

Getting my ninja-gun-toting license!

Heathcare.gov now shows rates without creating an account!

Don't qualify for subsidies? You can skip heathcare.gov all together!

Signed up! Can't wait for my first death panel!