Kentucky can't pay Deloitte for ObamaCare

Deloitte Consulting got kudos yesterday in the Washington Times for running state ObamaCare websites in four states -- Rhode Island, Kentucky, Washington and Connecticut.

Interestingly, the Providence (Rhode Island) Journal urged its state government to drop Deloitte and the whole idea of a state run exchange today and default into the federal exchange because the state simply can't afford to continue the charade of funding Obama's health bureaucracy for him. And the Providence Journal is hardly a right wing rag, having endorsed Obama twice.

The evidence is overwhelming that Rhode Island doesn't have the money to play with. It's even more so for Kentucky. Rhode Island's legislature is trying to defund its exchange, though it may be struggle to get that past its governor. In Kentucky, we have already done that.

Gov. Beshear has written a check he can't cash. It's past time for him to admit his mistake so we can start cleaning up the mess.

Sen. Walter Blevins went to Alabama

State Senator Walter Blevins (D-Morehead) went on Alabama Public Radio to talk up ObamaCare in Kentucky, but he appears to have left his state Constitution at home:

“I’m glad our governor has that right to do those things. We have a divided government right now, the Republicans control the Senate, the Democrats the House. The governor went ahead on his own and did an executive order, didn’t need the legislature, we weren’t in session at the time. There has been some talk about trying to defund it by the Republicans but they don’t have the votes in the House so it’s kind of at a standstill.”

The only thing Blevins got right is that the legislature was out of session when Beshear filed his executive order creating the Kentucky Health Benefit Exchange. Governors in Kentucky have the ability to issue temporary reorganization executive orders when the legislature is not in session, but that doesn't mean Beshear "didn't need the legislature."

In fact, KRS 12.028 makes clear that the opposite is true. Failure of the legislature to ratify the terms of such an executive order means that its provisions "shall be terminated" ninety days after the session ends. The "talk" about defunding not only broke out its "standstill" with 89 yes votes in the House, it passed the Senate 37-1, with Blevins voting for it.

Sen. Blevins is not up for re-election this year, but he should be made to explain his distortion of this issue in 2016.

Frank Simon endorses Matt Bevin; cites incumbent's bad votes, dishonest campaigning

Every election, Dr. Frank Simon's Freedoms Heritage Forum sends out tens of thousands of voter guides statewide with substantial impact. Just got mine in the mail today with its endorsement of Matt Bevin for U.S. Senate at the top.

The best part is the footnote pointing out several bad McConnell votes funding ObamaCare, giving Obama a blank check on debt increases, voting federal funds for abortions and voting to allow the federal government to obtain gun records. The same footnote also points out in bright red lettering that "McConnell's accusations about Bevin's record are questionable."

Very nicely understated, Dr. Simon. Well done.

Evolution of a fake Kentucky ObamaCare data point

Two months ago, Gov. Steve Beshear starting telling an unquestioning media that seventy five percent of ObamaCare sign-ups in the state did not previously have health coverage. This statistic was not credible then as a hard number, nor was it credible last month when it morphed into an estimate. Taking another step back, Beshear now characterizes this iffy data point as a "survey" result:

The Christian Science Monitor reports today "Surveys of enrollees show that 75 percent had no health insurance prior to kynect. And more than half of those signed up are under age 35 -- far above the national average for this crucial age bracket."

This is ridiculous. At the beginning of ObamaCare, Kentucky was one of only two states that was going to ask every enrollee to certify previous insured status. They never did it. When pressed, Beshear made up the seventy five percent statistic -- apparently thinking it sounded good. The fact that he has backed off this claim so quickly with apparently no one but this blog calling it into question and no one in the media seeming to notice should be a constant source of embarrassment to anyone who still considers what they peddle to be "news."

And the part about young people signing up for ObamaCare in Kentucky is total garbage too. They are counting Medicaid enrollees and children, not young adult "invincibles" buying health insurance, which is the meaningful statistic to give an indication of the death spiral already underway in American health insurance.

Study: Kentucky ranks last in economic health

Kentucky has the worst state economy in the country, according to a new report by global capital management firm Conning.

The report cites Kentucky's dramatically underfunded public pensions, overspending and debt among others as key factors dragging the Commonwealth to the bottom of their list.

This is, of course, news to anyone who depends on the mainstream media for information. Kentucky's latest fiscal year deficit, for example, was more than $573 million despite claims from Gov. Steve Beshear repeated unquestioningly in the media as a $71 million surplus.

Obamacrat wannabe goes down swinging

Frankfort reporter Ronnie Ellis' audition for a press secretary job in the Beshear administration took an odd turn yesterday with another skewed report of another bogus administrative regulation vote on the ObamaCare Medicaid expansion.

Ellis wrote: "Courts have ruled Gov. Steve Beshear had the authority to expand Medicaid under legislation previously enacted by the General Assembly because it allowed the state to access more federal funds for the federal-state partnership that covers medical costs of the poor and disabled."

While one court has ruled this way, Ellis incorrectly makes the term plural, suggesting a falsehood. Further, when Franklin Circuit Judge Philip Shepherd ruled on this question last fall, his opinion included the following: "The General Assembly has the power to enact legislation to override these regulations, or to withdraw the authority to promulgate the administrative regulations. But this authority requires the enactment of a bill."

We have just such a bill. The General Assembly last month enacted HB 235, the budget bill, which stated in part: "Therefore, no provision within this Act shall be deemed, adjudged or constructed as being a recognition, finding or admission or admission of the General Assembly's approval of the operation of the ACA in Kentucky." It goes on to say: "The Governor is expressly prohibited from expending any General Fund resources on any expenditure directly or indirectly associated with the Kentucky Health Benefit Exchange."

Any questions?

Media witlessly portrays ObamaCare poll

A new Marist poll shows ObamaCare is very unpopular in Kentucky. It also shows the Kentucky Health Benefit Exchange, branded as "Kynect" with taxpayer dollars, is widely unknown but even less popular.

So how does the Courier Journal describe the poll's findings? Like this:

"Kentuckians like health care law, labels depending"

That's the headline. If you click on it, you get a brief article calling Kentucky ObamaCare a "major success" without attribution and invoking Shakespeare to suggest that under a different name, the federal takeover of healthcare is well-liked.

Given the Kentucky media's wall-to-wall cheerleading for all things "ObamaCare," "Kynect," "BeshearCare" or whatever, popularity for federal health reform is nowhere evident. The poll had 57 percent unfavorable for ObamaCare and 33 percent favorable for ObamaCare. The other ten percent lacked the information to have an opinion. The poll had 29 percent with a positive view of "Kynect" and 22 percent with a negative view of "Kynect." A staggering 49 percent lacked the information to have an opinion.

Only the Courier Journal -- and, seriously, only in the ObamaCare era -- would say this means Kentuckians actually like the Affordable Care Act. The only way we lose to these people is if we are just too tired to deserve to live in freedom.

TV commercial script for Matt Bevin

{Open with full screen Bevin logo}

Voiceover: "I'm Matt Bevin and I approve this message."

{Matt on screen head and shoulders}

"When conservatives in Washington D.C. tried to defund ObamaCare last fall, {picture of McConnell on screen touching Obama and laughing} my opponent stood against them.

"McConnell said the conservative strategy wouldn't work and {graphic showing nay votes to Vote #206 Sept 27, 2013, highlighting Rand Paul's name and "nay" vote} then played along with Democrats to make sure it didn't. A few conservatives held strong. 

Something similar just happened in Frankfort, Kentucky. But here, Republican leaders stuck to their guns to defund ObamaCare and Democrats gave in. {Matt on screen head and shoulders} McConnell and the Democrats don't want to talk about conservative victories. When conservatives stick together, we win. I'm Matt Bevin and I appreciate your vote May 20. 

ObamaCare fans want to ignore calendar

The latest pro-ObamaCare talking point attempts to refute a recent U.S. House Republican report finding that some two-thirds of private health plan purchasers under the Affordable Care Act had managed to make even their first month of premium payment. Insurance company executives came to the rescue yesterday, claiming that it is more like eighty percent.

The executives were quick to point out that their numbers are still preliminary and that no one really knows even now a hard number on this.

Nevertheless, left-wing talking heads are trying today to make this into the latest anti-ObamaCare "lie." But one thing I have not seen pointed out in any of the conversation about this controversy is that while we are talking about people making their first premium payment, the current month is May.

While some people signed up in April and even March and may have mailed in premium payments not yet received, the vast majority of sign-ups came much earlier -- the started last October -- and we aren't talking about people who have made all their payments. Just the first one.

Obamacrats have moved administratively to significantly delay how quickly insurers can cancel policies for non-payment, even making it easy for people to order a policy, use it for coverage and never pay -- while the insurer must give them one month for free. It will be interesting to learn how many people take that money and run.

ObamaCare-quitting states get a bonus

Oregon and Massachusetts made news recently by deciding to quit trying to set up state-run exchanges under the Affordable Care Act, saving themselves substantial sums of money. A report on CNBC suggests others may be close behind, but it doesn't really say why. That reason is big news.

The Affordable Care Act encouraged states to set up their own exchanges by promising and then delivering substantial federal grants to fund state efforts through December 31, 2014, but made no provision for clawing back that cash from states who took it and then failed to perform.

In our first two examples of taking the money and running, Oregon received $304 million in federal grants and Massachusetts got $180 million. Both stood to be on the hook for tens of millions a year each in additional annual costs to keep their program running perpetually.

Or they could just quit and let the federal government take on the responsibility, the work and the cost. Nearly three dozen states refused initially to take the bait and avoided the entire charade by never attempting to set up their own exchanges. In two states, Kentucky and Rhode Island, Obama-supporting governors tried to create state-run exchanges at their first opportunity by issuing executive orders. Both could soon wind up following Oregon and Massachusetts for fiscal reasons, with efforts underway in each state. In Rhode Island, a bipartisan bill (HB 7817) has been filed in the legislature to defund the exchange, with sponsors citing the same tens of millions of dollars in annual costs as being beyond the state's means. In Kentucky, an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote last month defunded their exchange and in HB 235 pointed out Gov. Steve Beshear failed to gain required legislative approval for his executive order under state statute KRS 12.028. Beshear says he will continue to run the "Kentucky Health Benefit Exchange" in violation of state law and without necessary funding until he is forced to stop. Two lawsuits have been filed against him in the state (13-SC-000652 and 13-SC-000667) and currently await state Supreme Court action.

Full disclosure: I filed the two lawsuits against Kentucky's Governor for illegally attempting to force Kentucky into ObamaCare.

Kentucky's $253 million ObamaCare good news

One thing I noticed in reading the Affordable Care Act legislation is there is no provision for clawing back federal funds when a state's ObamaCare exchange exchange fails. This fact helped Oregon and Massachusetts decide to drop their exchanges and it will help Kentucky.

Kentucky received $253 million in federal funds to set up an ObamaCare exchange. Beshear failed to gain legislative approval for the exchange and the 2014 budget bill defunded it.

A bipartisan bill in Rhode Island would defund their state exchange and accept the federal government's offer to pick up the tab.

"This bill is not an effort to protest the enactment of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in Rhode Island, or to interfere in its operation. It is about a $40 million a year expense we cannot afford. Rhode Islanders can take advantage of the ACA without the state spending $40 million a year," said State Representative Patricia Morgan, prime sponsor of the bill."

Another state official I spoke to said concern about being forced to reimburse the federal government for grant funds received by the state was the only thing holding their effort back. They need not worry. Obama doesn't want the public relations nightmare of going after states that tried to help him with his unworkable law but failed.

Kentucky defunded its ObamaCare efforts last month. Gov. Beshear remains in denial about the fate of his "legacy" item, but there is now really no legitimate reason to keep hanging on.

Give it up, Governor.

Kentucky drops in behind Oregon, Massachusetts

In recent days, ObamaCare exchanges in Oregon and Massachusetts have bitten the dust. Kentucky should be next.

The media in Kentucky and those who have flown in from New York and Washington D.C. to report on ObamaCare here have done a terrible job reporting on the incompetence of those running the Kentucky Health Benefit Exchange, but that's beside the point now.

With the end of the Kentucky General Assembly session for 2014 and its refusal to give ObamaCare either the required legal authority to continue to exist or any of the funds necessary to operate in the coming biennium, the only thing delaying the official failure of Kentucky ObamaCare is continued disregard for state law by Gov. Beshear and continued misfeasance by the media.

Two lawsuits have been filed and await imminent action by the Kentucky Supreme Court. They are 13-SC-000652 and 13-SC-000667.

Derby shame: Beshear treats Obama like a lawn jockey

The Obama administration sent Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear more than a quarter billion dollars to set up the first phase of federal health reform in the Bluegrass State. Beshear, who came into office backed by casino gambling supporters and personally guaranteeing he would change state law to allow expanded gambling at horse tracks, has failed the White House even more spectacularly. The President knows this, obviously, but is too embarrassed by other failures in his plans to make a public example of Beshear. Yet.

There are a lot more elements of the Affordable Care Act teed up to go disastrously wrong for the President (see Halbig v. Sebelius, see any future verified details about how many ObamaCare policies are paid for, sold to sick people, sold to previously insured people, etc.)  and Beshear stands to get dumped on hard in the increasingly likely collapse. In applying for the more than $252 million in federal funds to set up the Kentucky Health Benefit Exchange, Beshear had to certify the legal authority by which he created the new agency. He personally guaranteed that he had done so on the federal grant application papers by referencing the temporary reorganization executive order he filed. He did not disclose that KRS 12.028 requires him to get legislative approval to make it legal. He never got that approval.

This matter is currently awaiting action from the Kentucky Supreme Court (see 13-SC-000667).

When Beshear was sued for his role in the ObamaCare Medicaid expansion, he first claimed that he was being sued too early because he had not yet initiated the regulatory process under KRS 13A. After that claimed was rejected by the Court and too late to complete the process legally, Beshear initiated administrative acceptance of the Medicaid expansion. See 13-SC-000652

Kentucky will host visitors from all over the world this weekend and they will be regaled with stories about how a Democratic governor served his Democratic president in a state represented federally by Republicans. Don't believe it. Beshear has violated the law and his oath of office and has betrayed everyone in sight.

Enjoy the horse races.

Kentucky Obamacrats melt under slightest media scrutiny

The Hill newspaper looked at seven states with competitive Senate races and tried to do a flyover analysis of each state's ObamaCare experience to estimate what role the federal law might have in November elections.

For all of Gov. Steve Beshear's talk of "indisputable success" here, the state has actually fared very poorly in terms of meeting its federal goal for insurance policy sales with an actual premium attached. When asked about this, some Kentucky Obamacrat fell apart:dfdlf

Kentucky came in last with 37 percent based on an enrollment goal of 220,000, raising questions about how stable its premiums will be next year. 

An administration official called the conclusion unfair, arguing the target represented a combination of projected exchange and Medicaid enrollments. 

A spokeswoman for the Kentucky exchange did not immediately respond to a request for clarification. 

So when asked about the state's dismal failure to even come close to a goal which would demonstrate the slightest chance of sustainability, the official Frankfort response was a vague and very obvious lie followed by hiding out waiting for the reporter to go away. Silly Kentucky Obamacrat, that garbage only works with Kentucky reporters.

Mitch McConnell pledges to support Matt Bevin

This is perfect.

In hotly contested statewide primaries, the Republican Party of Kentucky has made a tradition of inviting the combatants to pledge to attend a post-election unity rally.

In the 2003 gubernatorial campaign, the move helped solidify support behind Ernie Fletcher. In 2010, a skeptical tea party contingent with Rand Paul met a shocked and dismayed establishment cohorts Trey Grayson and Mitch McConnell to start that successful fall campaign.

As the polls continue to narrow in his favor, Matt Bevin has every reason to continue hedging on whether or not he will attend if the voters choose McConnell. In fact, on Monday or Tuesday Matt should put out a press release demanding full retractions and apologies from McConnell for each and every false personal attack McConnell has launched against Matt as a condition to further discussions.

Here's my thinking on this: McConnell has already announced his support for Matt as the Republican nominee if the election does not go his way. McConnell should have to explain his own horrific behavior during that campaign and seek to make amends now or explain why he thinks someone as untrustworthy as the cartoonishly corrupt image he has spent millions of dollars trying to create would deserve general election support simply in the name of party loyalty.

Very few people outside the very insular established moderate professional politician circles view party loyalty as sacrosanct as does McConnell. Mitch could be made to sweat on this point a lot in the coming days and Matt should make him do it.

Paducah Sun unmasks Beshear as blind Obamacrat

A Paducah Sun editorial today hearkens back to a discussion their board had with Gov. Steve Beshear before ObamaCare became law.

"Gov. Beshear, back at a time when he was candidate Beshear, told our editorial board he had "no idea where we would get the money" for Medicaid expansion if the Affordable Care Act was passed. He still doesn't."

That's a great point. The editorial unwittingly also perpetuates false information in claiming that Kentucky has no financial obligation for the Medicaid expansion until 2017. This is utterly false as we are even now spending state money administering expanded Medicaid without legislative approval. Fortunately for all of us, Kentucky's legislature defunded the optional parts of ObamaCare -- which includes the ObamaCare exchange and Medicaid expansion -- just last month.

Beshear's combination of ignorance and arrogance belongs in Washington D.C., not Kentucky. Thanks again to state Senate Majority Floor Leader Damon Thayer for breaking the silence over Kentucky's struggle to rein in our out of control state government executive.

Damon Thayer: we prevailed on KY ObamaCare

President Barack Obama lavished Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear with praise three months ago, calling him "a man possessed" for Beshear's zeal in pushing provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in his conservative, southern state. But that may be about to change.

Kentucky's legislature just defunded state implementation of federal health reform, derisively nicknamed "ObamaCare" by opponents in a struggle serving as the focal point for most if not all political observers ahead of midterm elections.

"Apparently Democrats can read polls that show how unpopular ObamaCare is with voters," said state Senate Majority Floor Leader Damon Thayer, a Republican from the north-central part of the Bluegrass State.

The budget bill prohibiting use of state funds for the ACA passed both chambers of the legislature by wide margins, 89-11 in the Democratic House and 37-1 in the Republican Senate. Beshear's opportunity to line-item veto any part of the budget expired without him taking action on this. The two-year state budget now says the following: "The Governor is expressly prohibited from expending any General Fund resources on any expenditure directly or indirectly associated with the Health Benefit Exchange." The Affordable Care Act prohibits the use of federal funds for state run exchanges after January 1, 2015.

Democratic House Speaker Greg Stumbo is defiant, though he hasn't explained his position other than to say he wanted to avoid a lengthy debate. He told WFPL radio in Louisville simply, "We didn't feel like that this language would be egregious to the governor in moving forward."

Two lawsuits have been filed in state court to clarify the controversy and await Supreme Court hearings. Majority Floor Leader Thayer pointed out that legislative approval of Beshear's federal health reform advocacy was never granted as state law requires in KRS 12.028.

"Senate Republicans felt strongly that no state dollars should be appropriated to fund ObamaCare. Its implementation has never been approved by the General Assembly and has been unilaterally implemented via executive order by Governor Beshear," Thayer said. "We took a strong stand on this in the budget process and, fortunately, we prevailed on behalf of Kentucky taxpayers."

Governor Beshear has made no public comments about this new development.

They still think ObamaCare is free

The U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee reported today that only 2.45 million people in the federal ObamaCare exchanges out of 8 million claimed by Obama have paid even one month of insurance  premium.

“In a sad reversal away from its vows of transparency, the Obama administration, from inside the Oval Office on down, has gone to extraordinary lengths to keep basic details of the health law from the public. Tired of receiving incomplete pictures of enrollment in the health care law, we went right to the source and found that the administration’s recent declarations of success may be unfounded,” commented full committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI). “We need a complete picture of how this law is working. We will continue to strive for transparency and hold the administration accountable for this law’s shortcomings and broken promises.”  

Lexington Herald Leader House candidate questionnaire

This afternoon, the Lexington Herald Leader issued state House candidate questions for a pre-primary voter guide to be printed on May 18, 2014. Each question must be answered in 45 or fewer words. Here they are, with my answers.

1.  Should the Kentucky Constitution be changed to allow casino gambling?

Kentucky shouldn't prohibit gambling, but must forbid  governments owning, managing or regulating, selling or giving licenses or taxing any business engaged in gambling differently than other businesses. Government officials must not project future revenues from gambling or spend revenues on non-debt items.

2.  Should the Kentucky Constitution be changed to automatically restore voting rights to most felons who have completed their sentences and terms of probation?

Yes, but only in conjunction with stronger voter identification requirements.
.

3.  Do you support or oppose Gov. Steve Beshear’s decision to expand Medicaid eligibility in Kentucky under the federal Affordable Care Act?

Oppose. The legislature did not approve the expansion of Medicaid under ObamaCare and has prohibited necessary state funds from being spent on the expansion.

4.  Should the state provide $80 million to help pay for a proposed redesign of Rupp Arena and an attached convention center?

No, it should be funded privately.

5.  Do you support or oppose a statewide ban on smoking in public places and places of employment?

No, property owners are capable of implementing smoking bans should they choose to do so. Protecting that choice is the proper role of government.

6.  Do you support or oppose a statewide prohibition of discrimination based on sexual orientation?

No, sexual orientation is a private matter. Individuals and businesses should not be subjected to further government interference regarding sexual orientation.

7.  Do you support or oppose a proposal that would require a doctor to present the results of an ultrasound to a pregnant woman prior to an abortion?

Beshear administration policies now provide funding for elective abortions in violation of state law, which means taxpayers could be required to fund these ultrasounds. I support clarifying legislation first and then requiring a doctor to present the results of an ultrasound before performing an abortion.

Oregon ObamaCare collapse presages Kentucky's

The Oregon Business Report is considering what will happen in their state after the federal government takes over their ObamaCare exchange. Very interesting, as they point out, that the whole thing may fall apart because of a federal lawsuit in which a ruling is expected any day now.

Kentucky's General Assembly defunded Kentucky's exchange earlier this month. While Gov. Beshear is still in denial about what this means for Kentucky's exchange, what is happening in Oregon bears close watching as this will soon be our fate too.

Is Mitch McConnell taxed too much?

A silly left-wing blog post from Friday points out evidence that Sen. Mitch McConnell's re-election campaign is paying for one of his staffers' health insurance premiums for Kentucky ObamaCare's public option KYHC.

You can read the post here.

A couple of things about the $170.43 monthly premium: one, that's a lot of money for what is almost certainly a young person and it's significantly more than similar coverage would have cost in 2013. And two, no such premium exists on the approved rate charts of the Kentucky Health Cooperative.

That means this ObamaCare plan for a McConnell campaign employee is either subsidized by federal taxpayers or the premium includes a tax Gov. Beshear didn't get authority to levy, or both.

What we need to know to figure this out is the age, home zip code, smoking status and chosen plan of the covered employee.

Sen. McConnell?

What's their phone number, Mitch?

Mitch McConnell came out of hiding this past week, but probably wishes he hadn't. The national media is all atwitter because Sen. McConnell said creating jobs isn't his job, but that's not the embarrassing part of his statement.

Government destroys jobs. The closest thing to creating jobs government can do is to get out of the way. That should have been very easy to say. But alas, it was not to be.

Asked what he would do to bring jobs to Lee County, McConnell said "That's not my job. It is the primary responsibility of the state Commerce Cabinet."

The Democratic response and that of the media has been focused on the "that's not my job" part of the quote. McConnell even responded to that, saying "It's up to all of us -- at the federal, state and local levels."

No, again. Waiting around for government at any level to create jobs is not something a person who understands economics would ever say.

But the really funny part -- what makes this an embarrassing gaffe -- is that Kentucky hasn't had a Commerce Cabinet for many years. Telling jobless Kentuckians to get off his back and call a nonexistent government agency in Frankfort is something Mitch's opponents should waste no time hitting him on.

Rand Paul should help Matt Bevin on cockfighting "issue"

It wasn't that long ago Rand Paul got raked over the coals nationally for explaining that there are limits to federal jurisdiction. Rand's episode related to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and is so similar to the current dust up over Matt Bevin and cockfighting that Rand is the perfect person to come to Matt's aid now.

National media figures are having a field day because Matt spoke about states rights at a Corbin rally organized for the purpose of promoting the legalization of cockfighting.

The whole ordeal has as its genesis a successful effort by Sen. Mitch McConnell to make attending a cockfighting event a federal crime. The only fact that matters is that the U.S. Constitution does not grant Congress jurisdiction over such an activity. Rand Paul understands the truth and he also remembers well how McConnell left him to twist in the wind when left-wing talking heads were calling him a liar and a racist.

McConnell does not recognize limits on federal jurisdiction. That's why he is so blatantly incapable of discussing problems with ObamaCare beyond focus grouped talking points. Matt has made his race against McConnell close by himself. Rand can and should come in now to give Liberty another powerful voice in Washington D.C.

 

Kentucky ObamaCare scandal hits Louisville television

I will be a guest on WHAS11 Saturday morning at 9:30 am ET talking with Joe Arnold on his program "The Powers That Be."

Joe asked me to come on to talk about the Kentucky General Assembly's defunding of ObamaCare and about the U.S. Senate race.

The station is not sure yet whether the program will be live-streamed, but there will be a link sometime this weekend.

The ObamaCare poll question Kentucky didn't get

I haven't seen cross-tab data on a new Kentucky ObamaCare poll out this afternoon, but find the most interesting question is the one they didn't ask.

According to the New York Times/Kaiser Family Foundation poll, 59% of Kentuckians disapprove of Obama's handling of health care, 55% disapprove of the Affordable Care Act, 41% want the law repealed, and 53% think the Kentucky Health Benefit Exchange is working well.

With literally hundreds of mainstream news stories working to skew public perception in favor of Kentucky ObamaCare, those last two points can't surprise anyone. I wonder, though, how the response might have been different with more balanced reporting in Kentucky followed by questions like: "Gov. Beshear ignored has ignored state law and is spending Kentuckians' money illegally on the Affordable Care Act. Do you approve or disapprove of this?" or "The Kentucky General Assembly refused to provide Gov. Beshear access to hundreds of millions of dollars in state funds for the Affordable Care Act that will be needed to carry out the federal law's optional provisions. Do you approve or disapprove?"

Giving ObamaCare billions of dollars in free media over several years is the only part of this mess that has been wildly successful.

Beshear says 1 in 3 ObamaCare premiums unpaid

In a press release not yet posted to Gov. Steve Beshear's web site, he says only 68% of ObamaCare insurance enrollees on the Kentucky exchange have paid their first monthly premium.

Beshear's track record of dishonesty in talking about ObamaCare is firmly established, but even if this statistic is taken at face value it is an extraordinary admission of failure.

Beshear claims 82,795 Kentuckians have signed up for health insurance since last October 1. Initially, enrollees had until January 10 to make premium payments to avoid cancellation. That was later changed to allow subsidized enrollees to fall into arrears by up to six months before being cancelled and to allow unsubsidized enrollees thirty days.

So now Beshear claims 26,495 haven't paid anything yet. Subsidized enrollees with a January 1 effective date on their policies got letters over the last week threatening loss over coverage if they do not become current on premiums by June 30. Late-paying unsubsidized enrollees were given thirty days from the date of their letter to become current.

Any way you look at it, a very significant chunk of ObamaCare enrollees are not paying premiums. Beshear yesterday said with a straight face that he didn't know how many people signed up with Humana, Anthem and Kentucky Health Cooperative using paper applications. He should be asked for multiple breakdowns of late payers to give a clearer picture of the status of ObamaCare in Kentucky.

Merry-go-round politics in Frankfort today

Gov. Steve Beshear is holding a press conference today at the State Capitol at 1pm at which he is expected to parade some ObamaCare "winners" in front of the cameras.

This is an example of the worst of politics. It's a merry-go-round in which the politicians pick your pocket and hand your wallet to the next person, hoping the merry-go-round keeps spinning up more quiet victims and enough loud beneficiaries.

The 2014 Kentucky General Assembly refused to ratify creation of an ObamaCare "exchange," a necessary step to expenditure of state funds which, by the plain language of the "Affordable Care Act" must be spent after federal funds run out January 1, 2015. The Medicaid Expansion in Kentucky was initiated too late under KRS 13A to become a legal obligation of Kentucky taxpayers. And the General Assembly's budget specifically prohibited spending state funds on the exchange or for making the Medicaid expansion permanent.

The legislature gave us all we need to win our two lawsuits to stop ObamaCare in Kentucky and Beshear failed to veto the ObamaCare-killing language when he had the chance. The federal government must now take over control of the exchange (which they can't do) and the Medicaid expansion in Kentucky must be reversed.

Kentucky state debt now highest ever

Kentucky's state government appropriation-supported debt reached an all-time high in a newly released report from Frankfort.

The debt level as of December 31, 2013 was just short of nine billion dollars an increase over the prior twelve months of more than $255 million. The official count is $8,934,679,928 as reported in Appendix B of the Semi-Annual Report of the Kentucky Asset/Liability Commission.

The report is filed by law every six months. I'm not aware of any newspaper article ever being written on the subject of Kentucky's mounting debt found in this report. The debt level in this report in the month Gov. Steve Beshear came into office was $6,123,678,909.

Kentucky's pension debt is not included in any of these figures.

Kinsey Hasstedt's mistake on Kentucky abortion law

The Guttmacher Institute's Kinsey Hasstedt researched problems in the states regarding coverage issues for abortion in ObamaCare health insurance policies. There are apparently a lot of them. Interestingly, she missed one.

Ms. Hasstedt must not have looked closely enough at states with statutes forbidding abortion coverage. Kentucky is such a state, but our ObamaCare plans cover abortion anyway.

If you know Kinsey Hasstedt, publicly funded family planning program public policy associate at the Guttmacher Institute, please show her this link.

First hint of KY ObamaCare cancellations slips out

Internal documents received from within the Kentucky Health Benefits Exchange reveal thousands of policyholders of the state's public option ObamaCare insurer did not pay their March premium and face cancellation of their health insurance.

Information on any of the other companies' cancellations or for the public option's cancellations in other months have never been made available.

The Beshear administration has been extraordinarily tight-lipped about consumer defaults in the exchange plans and did not willingly provide this information. Nearly five thousand letters went out in recent days to policyholders of the Kentucky Health Cooperative, the cheapest plans in the state thanks to having received enormous federal subsidies.

Policyholders who do not get taxpayer subsidies for the purchase of health insurance have a thirty day grace period to catch up on missed March payments. Again, officials have refused to divulge cancellation figures. Policyholders who get taxpayer subsidies for health insurance get ninety days. Interestingly, non-subsidized policyholders who do not catch up payments lose coverage effective the last day through with they were paid up. But subsidized policyholders who do not catch up appear to get one month free coverage, with cancellation back-dated only two months.

You know who will wind up picking up the tab for any losses attributable to that little loophole, right?

Beshear ObamaCare wiped out by General Assembly

The 2014 Kentucky General Assembly ended last night at midnight, but not before crushing Gov. Beshear's attempt to force Kentucky into ObamaCare.

The only bill filed in the last two years seeking to make Beshear's executive order creating the ObamaCare exchange didn't even get a hearing in the legislature's biggest ObamaCare cheerleader's own committee. Then the budget bill including language forbidding expenditure of state funds on the exchange passed almost unanimously.

The Medicaid expansion part of ObamaCare is spending unappropriated state dollars now. The budget just passed forbids that to continue.

The General Assembly is not a police force and it wouldn't be a good one now even if it were. They could impeach Beshear and remove him, but the House Democrats won't do that, so it won't happen this year. The brain dead Frankfort media won't even report on the controversy, owing to some really bizarre fear of Beshear -- can you imagine? -- and willful ignorance of the law.

The way our court cases are structured, several Kentucky judges are going to have to be willing to rule that Kentucky is a dictatorship and Beshear is king in order for the law not to be followed in this instance. We will win this.

ObamaCare is about one thing right now

There are several good reasons not to like ObamaCare -- higher premiums, higher taxes, wasted tax dollars, worsening of health care quality, and (apparently) lots of faked data to prop the whole mess up at least in the early going -- but only one that turns left-wing apologists into mumbling tubs of goo.

The next time you get in a discussion with an ObamaCare supporter, you can chase any of the above issues around in circles for a while before the return fire gets nasty. But in order to be called a racist right off the bat, spend a little time studying up on the illegality of the implementation of the Affordable Care Act.

A great place to start is with the federal lawsuit Halbig v. Sebelius. This one is over the issue of federal subsidies being doled out through state-run exchanges but not through federally run exchanges as the ACA clearly mandates. The idea originally for Obamacrats was to attempt to force states to create their own exchanges or face unsubsidized premiums for their ObamaCare victims. After nearly three dozen states opted out anyway, the IRS attempted to illegally change the law to subsidize premiums in opting out states. This case is making its way to the U. S. Supreme Court. Keeping the discussion on this front is not only more productive than walking directly into the avalanche of pro-ObamaCare spin, it's a lot more fun at least until the 2015 ObamaCare premiums come out in about two months.

Irony falling from Frankfort sky

Due to the cold, snowy April weather, a state government observation of "Earth Day" for global warming hysterics has been moved inside to the Capitol Rotunda today.

The email announcement didn't say this, but I'm guessing they will leave the lights on inside as well as the heat, while lobbying for others to turn their lights and heat off to keep from destroying the planet with capitalism.

Senate GOP should boycott Beshear special session

Beshear and the Frankfort House Democrats want to force a special legislative session in order to impose one last Democrat-heavy road plan on the people of Kentucky. Senate Republicans have no reason to play along.

The road plan can wait until January when the new House Republican majority can help clarify for Gov. Beshear the limits on his political nonsense. Beshear has grossly overplayed his hand as a champion for big government and has helped inspire Republicans in sufficient numbers to make his last year in office a miserable one. Big steps in the right direction are within reach. Senate Republicans, just say no.

Shock: another Democrat thinks you're stupid

Congressman Andy Barr's opponent Elisabeth Jensen has the left-wing Twitterati buzzing with a radio ad in which she attempts to gin up confusion over the name of Kentucky's version of ObamaCare.

This all goes back to a story from last year's Kentucky State Fair in which a random Kentuckian supposedly expressed interest in "Kynect" by saying that it sounded a lot better than ObamaCare.

In all likelihood that fabled event never happened, but meanwhile it has been repeated so many times around the world it is now taken as gospel. Count the media and left-wing activists as too excited to care as the rest of us look to restore the rule of law.

Start orderly dismantling of Kentucky ObamaCare

Gov. Steve Beshear had ten days to veto the General Assembly's agreement to defund ObamaCare in Kentucky and start a huge fight for today and tomorrow, but he didn't do it. Now, he must accept reality and start taking down the Kentucky Health Benefit Exchange.

At the top of page Page 124 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act it states "No federal funds for continued operations ... In establishing an Exchange under this section, the state shall ensure that such Exchange is self-sustaining beginning on January 1, 2015, including allowing the Exchange to charge assessments or user fees to participating health insurance issuers, or to otherwise generate funding, to support its operations."

The 2014 Kentucky General Assembly refused to ensure that our Exchange will be self-sustaining on January 1, 2015, refused to authorize assessments or user fees and refused to allow spending of any funding generated otherwise. In fact, the budget just passed almost unanimously by both chambers states "The Governor is expressly prohibited from expending any General Fund resources on any expenditure directly or indirectly associated with the Health Benefit Exchange."

It's all over except for further illegal activity by Gov. Beshear. The budget language very much bolsters our case against Beshear for illegally setting up the Exchange. Keep an eye on 2013-SC-000667. Shut it down now, Governor.

Kentucky media chooses Beshear over reality

The Kentucky legislature has repeatedly refused to give Gov. Steve Beshear permission to put us into ObamaCare. He can't put us into ObamaCare without legislative approval.

Adam Beam of the Associated Press Frankfort bureau was the only reporter to even mention the fact that, last night, Beshear decided not to fight the legislature's refusal to fund ObamaCare. None of the others even mentioned it.

One reporter even argued with me when I called to ask if he would report the fact, claiming falsely that Beshear doesn't need state money for the exchange or the Medicaid expansion in the next two years. Federal funds for the exchange will run out very early in 2015 and Kentucky is spending state dollars for the Medicaid expansion right now.

Beshear hopes to continue ignoring state law, the Constitution and very explicit budget language passed into state law as our cases to stop him head to the Kentucky Supreme Court. That's one heck of a story for them to try to ignore.

VICTORY! ObamaCare defunding language survives

Gov. Steve Beshear just released his budget vetoes and the legislature's ObamaCare defunding language is not among them.

It's a huge win. The legislature did their part to get Kentucky out of ObamaCare and Beshear chickened out of the fight. He will continue on illegally, of course -- old habits die hard -- but our two cases for the Kentucky Supreme Court now have existing law and existing budget language to back them up.

Heading into the home stretch. Thanks so much for all your support so far.

ObamaCare requires transparency, Beshear refuses

Section 1311 of the Affordable Care Act requires states to post all of their expenses to the internet, Gov. Steve Beshear has failed to comply with the law.

From the ACA:

"An exchange shall publish the average costs of licensing, regulatory fees, and any other payments required by the Exchange, and the administrative costs of such Exchange, on an Internet website to educate consumers on such costs. Such information shall also include monies lost to waste, fraud, and abuse."

Where is that information, Governor?

Not the same as three votes for ObamaCare...

Kentucky law requires Governor Steve Beshear to get approval from both the legislature and the judiciary to keep Kentucky stuck in ObamaCare. He prefers his good friends Rosita and Abby from Sesame Street. He has until Tuesday April 15 to get legislative approval.

Can 400,000 ObamaCare enrollees be wrong?

I wish I had a nickel for every time some Obamacrat told me the only thing that matters about Beshear and the Affordable Care Act is that so many people have gotten signed up now that there is no way to go back. In fact, I'm even getting it from some squishy Republicans now.

They are missing one key point.

Gov. Beshear did not get legislative approval to opt us into ObamaCare. State law requires him to do so. It doesn't matter even a little bit that there are now supposedly 400,000 Kentuckians signed up into this mess. The law states that a temporary reorganization executive order expires 90 days after the legislative session ends and the executive order unratified. That happened at the end of the 2013 General Assembly.

That's why I sued Beshear then. The fact that he responded by simply re-issuing the executive order help him at all when this one expires. If we simply ignore the rule of law because Beshear goes on national television and gets kudos from the President, what is to stop a Republican governor from administratively creating private school vouchers and then claiming it would be inhumane to make all those kids go back to public schools.

And yes, I would support that policy but could not support getting it done illegally. Maybe that's just a difference between Obamacrats and the rest of us.

ObamaCare will NOT help with your car insurance

Pro-ObamaCare media types desperate to declare victory on "health care" and move on to socializing something else are milking a very iffy talking point speculating incorrectly that the Affordable Care Act could reduce the cost of car insurance. The claim doesn't hold up to any kind of scrutiny.

In fact, if you read much past the headline of these ridiculous stories you will see they are really just throwing up a meaningless headline to get attention.

In fact, the question we should be asking is does ObamaCare make it illegal for an automobile insurance policy's personal injury protection (PIP) to cover a Medicaid recipient? How about if you have a high-deductible plan or a narrow network that doesn't give you the medical services you need? Technically, these are a couple of ways of lowering costs for insurers, but that could lead to some nasty surprises for consumers.

Republicans must shut down Kentucky LEC

Frankfort House Democrats' abuse of power has gone too far once again, but what's different this time is Republicans are very strongly positioned to make them pay for it.

The last time a Frankfort Democrat's sexual exploits gained public attention -- Paul Patton in 2002 -- Republicans temporarily took the governor's mansion. Now, a Democrat House member's serial sexual harassment and Democrats' successful whitewash of it stands to be a catalyst for a unprecedented and long-standing Republican wave capable of washing away lots of Frankfort mud.

Republican House candidates should campaign on shutting down the Legislative Ethics Commission, a stupid bureaucratic cover-up vehicle for protecting unethical behavior. Further, KRS 418.075(4) should be amended to clarify that illegal actions performed by legislators are no longer worthy of special treatment under Kentucky's illegitimate treatment of the concept of legislative immunity.

Tale of two more ObamaCare glitches

Left-wing "New Republic" has an article talking about U.S. House Republican leaders sneaking through a small ObamaCare fix for small businesses and suggesting they could be setting the stage for undermining the best federal lawsuits remaining to unwind the "Affordable Care Act."

The sneaky move repealed a piece of ObamaCare hurting small businesses and made the coalition for repeal just a little less populated and energetic. The writer of the article suggests this should inspire hope on the left that Speaker John Boehner and friends might change the law again to allow the IRS to zap taxpayers in states refusing to set up and pay for their own ObamaCare exchanges.

From the article:

"Right now, the ACA faces a remote but real threat thanks to a drafting error in the law, which, taken out of context, suggests that residents in states without their own exchanges (i.e. Healthcare.gov states) are not entitled to insurance subsidies. It's difficult to imagine the Supreme Court creating this kind of chaos over decontextualized sloppy language when the statute read in its entirety is unambiguous. But Congress could moot the legal challenge in a single afternoon. A technical corrections bill would eliminate a real source of anxiety for insurers, providers, consumers, and even politicians from Healthcare.gov states. And the logic against passing such a bill just became much weaker." 

First, the language referred to in the article was clear, intentional and in context. The intention in the ACA was to incentivize states to set up their own exchanges by prohibiting subsidies in states without state-run exchanges. When nearly three dozen states figured out this was a great way to undermine the law and hasten its demise, the IRS grabbed Obama's pen and cell phone and pretended the provision away. Four federal lawsuits seeking to clarify Obama's understanding of his own law for him are on the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The plain language of the law rightly carries significant legal weight. The left responds with its last hope, an emotional appeal: "It's difficult to imagine the Supreme Court creating this kind of chaos over decontextualized sloppy language..."

No, it isn't. First, the language in question was intentional. Second, blaming the Supreme Court for "creating chaos" by requiring Obama to follow his own law sounds a lot like something Gov. Steve Beshear might say.

In fact, Beshear is depending on exactly that same sentiment in hopes that no one will stop him from continuing to violate state law requiring legislative approval of ObamaCare because so many people (according to him) are having so much fun since he started.

Setting both of these ObamaCare glitches straight accomplishes much more than wrecking one bad law. It will ensure that the rule of law still exists in the United States and in Kentucky.

KY Democrat ObamaCare lunar module burning up on re-entry

Last October I predicted in the Louisville Courier Journal that Kentucky Democrats might soon turn on each other over ObamaCare, but I didn't predict this.

I'm not so troubled by Democrat and media alternate reality attempts to create myth about the "wildly successful" ObamaCare. Politicians have been spinning massive failure to look like success since before King George bragged about his high approval rating in the Colonies and told everyone in England that all the dead redcoat soldiers were merely unfortunate victims of training exercise mishaps. As I explained in the newspaper, the bigger issue is Gov. Beshear's blatant disregard of state law requiring him to include the legislature in the decision to sign the state up for ObamaCare or not.

But it was a surprise just now to see the latest Democrat-on-Democrat sword fight that includes, hilariously, charges of racism. (Click here to read it.)

Frankfort Democrats have already gone on record aborting an effort to defund Kentucky ObamaCare before flipping around and voting to defund it. In five days they will likely be faced with an override opportunity for Beshear's veto of their defunding language, which will be interesting to watch. Would have been much easier and less politically costly if they had just agreed that the governor must follow state law.

Herald Leader reporter clarifies ObamaCare bias

A Lexington Herald Leader political reporter went on a left-wing podcast published today and destroyed any semblance of objectivity he might have had on ObamaCare.

"The opposition to (ObamaCare) --and I feel this is the case pretty much around the country -- is not for people who don't have health insurance," said reporter Sam Youngman here. "Signing up half of Kentucky's 640,000 uninsured population in the first enrollment period is pretty impressive."

Several problems jump out for Mr. Youngman's claims of objectivity after this brief quote. It is an objective fact that at least a large portion of those who gained ObamaCare coverage did so only after becoming uninsured because of ObamaCare. And understanding negative consequences of policy is indisputably more a function of an awareness of economics than of whether or not one has health insurance. Destruction of the health insurance market under ObamaCare manifests itself in higher premiums and deductibles, very limited coverage options, expensive but unusable coverage mandates and narrow provider networks and is not fixed by income-based subsidies. In fact, in every market where subsidies are used they expose failed policy, rather than fix it. Any way you slice it, defining opposition to ObamaCare as consisting of people with health insurance requires a naked bias that contradicts any pretense to journalistic balance.

The estimate of Kentucky's uninsured population from the Beshear administration is an outdated guess. Decades of experience with government guesses of uninsured populations suggest at least some -- and probably a lot of -- inflation. By any measure, the largest recent contributor to any expansion in the uninsured population is ObamaCare itself. Less recently, steadily increasing government activity has actually created much of the problem. A federal mandate, an aggressive state and federal marketing campaign and expensive federal subsidies rolled out with the absurd goal of fixing largely government created problems requires very low levels of cynicism or even curiosity for someone who is supposed to dig up information for a living to find "pretty impressive."

And let alone the fact that the state has been forced into the worst of this nonsense by a governor who had to ignore state law to do it, falsify court documents in attempting to keep it and is even now scrambling around for cash to keep the illegal enterprise afloat.

All this time I thought Sam Youngman avoided writing the other side of the ObamaCare story because his editors wouldn't let him, but it appears he is a true believer.

Left-wing Medicaid promotion double standard

MoveOn.org just now won a motion in federal court in favor of keeping up a billboard attacking Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal for refusing the ObamaCare expansion. The media is having a field day.

In Kentucky, we caught Gov. Beshear faking court documents last July trying to force Kentucky into the same mess. Crickets...

There is a lot of fight left in the Kentucky ObamaCare story and the more you look, the more surprising it is Beshear thought he could get away with it all. He has the Kentucky media in his pocket, but if you share this story and encourage your friends to do the same, we will win in the court of public opinion before we win in the court of law.

Would Andy Beshear prosecute his dad over ObamaCare?

Gov. Steve Beshear's son wants a government job. Andy Beshear is a candidate for Kentucky Attorney General in 2015. Kentucky's top Obamacrat has a government job she testified in court was created by a gubernatorial executive order on July 19, 2013. If the General Assembly does not ratify that executive order in the next 8 1/2 days, Carrie Banahan loses her state government job.

There can be little question Gov. Beshear will not voluntarily yield to Kentucky law when it stops him from giving taxpayer money to his political friends. Jack Conway has already refused to intervene in this issue and can't be counted on to act against Beshear's illegal actions. Does anyone seriously believe Beshear's son would?

I see two Kentucky Democrats proving themselves unworthy of election in 2015 over their positions on ObamaCare. How about you?

KY Obamacrats covering wrong flanks

There are three issues the Kentucky Health Benefit Exchange (ObamaCare) people must overcome in the next nine days and they are focusing on only two.

Before the 2014 General Assembly shuts down at midnight on April 15, unfinished business for Gov. Steve Beshear's exchange includes finding a funding (tax) source to finance some $40 million or more in annual expenses, gaining legislative approval to continue to exist as a state-run exchange and obtaining legislative approval to spend state money for continuing operations after federal money runs out early in 2015. Predictably, Beshear and friends are focused only on finding a pot of money in the bloated Cabinet for Health and Family Services (CHFS) in Frankfort.

They appear to have settled on a consolidation of agencies involved in services for the aged to shake free enough money to keep the ridiculous ObamaCare salaries flowing. This must be done because the legislature has not granted the governor authority to create a new tax to fund the exchange. While Kentucky's Constitution prohibits spending unappropriated funds, some ambiguity in state law and in the mission of CHFS may give the Obamacrats confidence they can slip some tens of millions of dollars in spending past their local court of law and lessen the need for a new tax.

But the impending death of House Bill 505 starts the undoing of ObamaCare in Kentucky. That bill would have ratified Gov. Beshear's 2013 executive order creating the exchange and a tax to fund it. The executive order will then expire on July 15, requiring the organization of CHFS to return to the form it was in prior to the 2013 executive order, which replaced -- illegally -- an expiring 2012 executive order creating the exchange without a funding mechanism. Failure to ratify that one puts us back to the time before any effort was made to create a state-run exchange.

Four federal lawsuits converging on the U.S. Supreme Court would eliminate the Internal Revenue Service's ability to tax citizens for ObamaCare in states without state-run exchanges, in keeping with the plain language of the "Affordable Care Act." In short, Kentucky is very nearly out of ObamaCare.

Don't let them fool you: this fight is far from over.  

It's okay when Democrat profiteers bleed us dry

The Associated Press Frankfort Bureau ran a story today in the Louisville Courier Journal about Kentucky's largest ObamaCare profiteer, Kentucky Health Cooperative (KYHC) CEO Janie Miller, without mentioning she was responsible for setting up much of the state's ObamaCare scheme as a Beshear Cabinet official.

Miller left her position as Secretary of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services in February of 2012 and almost immediately resurfaced with KYHC and a federal "loan" of almost $60 million to start a public option health plan here.

Kentucky's other health insurers, Anthem and Humana, lag badly in sales to KYHC and may not even be able to stay in the market much longer. The cooperative's customer service is notoriously bad as is their treatment of providers. Giving them accolades for signing up lots of people on the strength of their massively subsidized premiums and allowing current Beshearocrat, Executive Director of Kentucky Health Benefit Exchange Carrie Banahan to provide the only commentary in the story -- she said premiums are lower because KYHC is a nonprofit and that the provider network is "more robust" -- is a pathetic excuse for journalism.

Media coverage of ObamaCare in Kentucky demonstrates relentlessly a total disregard for balance and honesty.

Harry Reid invites Hitler comparison

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid took to the Senate floor yesterday to help repeat a lie often enough that people would believe it.

"ObamaCare has reduced the uninsured population in Kentucky by forty percent," Reid said.

Of course this factoid must be true because it has been picked up by all the left-wing blogs and the Lexington Herald Leader and the Courier Journal, right? Not so fast.

Statistics on people without health insurance have always been questionable in that they are based on extrapolations of survey results and often just distortion of facts to make help make the case for ever-increasing government involvement. A clear-eyed analysis demonstrates most of the problem is instead a result of that increased government role.

The much-repeated statistic about 640,000 uninsured in Kentucky should then be taken with a grain of salt. Further, we already know data on prior insurance status of Kentucky ObamaCare enrollees has been corrupted by a computer glitch as well as a very suspicious claim by state Obamacrats that people who signed up for Medicaid and exchange insurance were 25% previously insured and 25% previously insured, respectively.

Is the concept of the skeptical journalist really that dead?

Beshear sees gullible people

Governor Steve Beshear told MSNBC this week he signed Kentucky up for the ObamaCare exchange because "everybody" wanted him to.

"Everybody felt like we should run our own exchange, so that was an easy decision," Beshear said in a televised interview.

Since "everybody" made that decision in 2012, Beshear's temporary executive order creating the exchange expired because no one in the legislature was willing to ratify it, he was sued for illegally creating the exchange (which case awaits Supreme Court action) and continuing his efforts despite having absolutely no legislative support or required approval in 2013, he then simply issued another executive order creating the exchange in violation of KRS 12.028(5) which not only failed to gain legislative approval but was met with budget language approved by overwhelming majorities in both chambers pointing out his failure and refusing to provide any of the necessary taxation or spending authority to continue operating the exchange when federal seed money runs out in a few months.

Any questions?

Which day will Kynect run out of money?

Kentucky ObamaCare officials have no idea where their money will come from when $253 million in federal grants funds run out sometime early in 2015. The Kentucky General Assembly has refused to provide funding for continuing operations of the Kentucky Health Benefit Exchange and the federal "Affordable Care Act" requires states opting to create their own exchange to pay their own way after initial federal money is exhausted.

Governor Steve Beshear attempted to create KHBE in the summer of 2012 with a temporary executive order under KRS 12.028 which the legislature was never asked to ratify, violating the statute. When Beshear's 2012 executive order expired in the summer of 2013, he issued another order under the same statute creating the exchange anew, which also violated the statute.

A lone House Democrat filed a bill in February to ratify the second, illegitimate executive order, exposing the incompetence behind Kentucky ObamaCare. And both chambers of the legislature just this week voted to disallow any state spending for the scheme.

And even if Beshear vetoes the defunding language, there is no authority to fund the exchange or even for it to continue to exist at all. Beshear needs to admit his failure so we can begin an orderly unwinding of Kentucky ObamaCare. Until then, he should start estimating for all of us how much time is left for this charade.

Kerri Richardson ate lunch

I sent an email to Gov. Steve Beshear's press secretary Kerri Richardson on her government email an hour ago asking the following:

Kerri,

When will Gov. Beshear release statistics on how many kynect enrollees have had their policies cancelled due to nonpayment of premium? Have any policies been cancelled due to nonpayment of premium or other reasons?

Thanks,

David

I copied a member of the Frankfort press corps on the email, which is a tactic that worked better when shame still existed on the first or second floors of the Capitol building. Still, I'm eagerly awaiting an answer or for others to ask the questions. Beshear's ObamaCare numbers have no meaning without some of this context.

Pro-ObamaCare arguments grow weaker, more shrill

The Economist has a new article promoting ObamaCare in Kentucky. It starts with a rehashing of Yahoo's assessment that it is "wildly successful," but just as the article builds to an exciting conclusion to the question of why all this government activism is so unpopular here, it instead reverts to the old claim that you just want poor people to die.

And this is significant because if they had anything better now would definitely be the time to use it.

From the article:
"Can't afford," here, is a euphemism. If, as Mr Benvenuti says, Kentucky "can't pay for" a 10% contribution towards Medicaid for its poorer citizens, it is because he believes the state's wealthier taxpayers don't want to pay for it. To warn of "creating dependency" is to pretend that there is some other way to make it possible for poor people to get decent health-insurance coverage. But there is no other way, as America's health-insurance system has proven. (emphasis added) Obamacare has given people who fundamentally don't want to have to pay for universal health insurance a word on which to focus their disgust. They need not acknowledge that they would simply prefer for many people to go without healthcare. (emphasis added)

As we have attempted to keep the focus on Governor Steve Beshear's illegal actions to force Kentucky into ObamaCare, we have clarified the issue well enough that no one in Frankfort had the nerve to seriously try to make his actions legal. They now have little choice but to pretend that healthcare in America has never worked. The truth is that government bureaucratic involvement has driven costs into the stratosphere just as technological advances and a competitive marketplace could have lowered them.  And government bureaucrats have no effective tools to lower costs now except rationing services or getting out of the way. And they really don't want to get out of the way, lest everyone realize we don't need them at all.

So they accuse us of wanting to deny poor people health care just as their preferred approach creates denial of services to more people regardless of their economic status. That's socialized equality we should all know enough to continue resisting forever.

Time to count up faked KY ObamaCare policies

At the end of 2013, Kentucky Health Benefit Exchange Executive Director Carrie Banahan said ObamaCare policies not paid for by January 10 would be cancelled on that day. As enrollment numbers continued to lag, she moved that date to March 31.

You know what day it is today, right?

Exchange officials have been pretending all was well with policies marked "pending" on their system and counted in their press releases, when they knew nothing was behind those numbers. They must come clean very soon.

The strategy has been to delay, deny and deflect all the bad news until Kentucky's Obamacrats could get their hooks in so deep ObamaCare couldn't be unwound. In this, they have failed. Only a handful of legislators in either state chamber voted yesterday against the budget agreement defunding ObamaCare here and not a single one of them mentioned it as a reason for their vote. In fact, the only mentions of ObamaCare in floor speeches all day was that defunding it was a reason to vote for the budget.

The game is up, Governor. Come clean and let's start cleaning up your mess today.

Now let's DISMANTLE ObamaCare in Kentucky

Kentucky's brain dead media doesn't want you to think about what Gov. Steve Beshear is thinking about this morning. If he vetoes budget language passed almost unanimously out of both chambers of the legislature yesterday, he could soon find himself with a Republican House and Senate in Frankfort.

Actually, he probably is going to get that anyway. Vulnerable House Democrats clinging to a slim majority already tried and failed to fight off ObamaCare defunding once. Facing an override of a pro-ObamaCare veto is not a position Beshear wants to force on what's left of his friends.

And the truth is it would all be for naught anyway. Whatever flimsy legal underpinning ObamaCare implementation had in Kentucky is now completely gone. So what's next?

The federal government has until January 1 to take over control of the Kentucky ObamaCare "exchange" and however many Kentuckians have been given Medicaid cards under false pretenses by Beshear and his crazed Cabinet for Health and Family Services need to be told the truth. And then we need to turn Frankfort's culture of corruption surrounding Beshear and his short time in the spotlight as an ObamaCare darling into an HHS waiver allowing health insurers to sell policies people want and can afford. That simply means dropping all government coverage mandates and letting the market decide how people and their doctors manage their business relationships and their transactions. Kentucky has a unique problem with a bunch of people given promises an out of control governor and president can't keep. We deserve a unique solution. Now.

Further delay in starting this process only hurts Kentuckians.

Statement on Kentucky ObamaCare defunding

The Kentucky General Assembly today almost unanimously voted to defund ObamaCare in the Commonwealth as it mandated that no general fund dollars can be spent on the Medicaid expansion or health benefit exchange in the next biennium.

"I really appreciated the widespread agreement among Kentucky's representatives that state funds should not be spent on ObamaCare," said David Adams, an ardent opponent of the federal health reform who is suing to stop state implementation of it. "The Kentucky Supreme Court does not now need to stop the waste of funds, but they do need to speak to Gov. Beshear's illegal attempt to force us into ObamaCare without proper approval. Protecting the process is their job and it's time to do it."

"The General Assembly never ratified Beshear's executive order creating the exchange and the emergency administrative regulation was filed too late to create the Medicaid expansion so the issue is very simple," Adams said.

Fear not Beshear's ObamaCare defunding veto pen

The 2014 Kentucky General Assembly is sending a budget bill to Gov. Steve Beshear with language forbidding expenditure of state funds on ObamaCare, which Beshear is expected to veto.

It doesn't matter if he does or not, though, because no ratification of Beshear's executive order creating the ObamaCare "exchange" took place, nor was it possible to repair the legal problems with Beshear's unilateral acceptance of the Medicaid expansion.

Defunding ObamaCare in Kentucky by the General Assembly makes clear the legislature's repudiation of the federal takeover of health care. For symbolism, we have that even if the governor strikes it out. If the House fails to override, Republicans have that failure to use to replace Democrats as the majority in that body.

And even if Democrats do vote to override, we have their treachery on the first House vote to defund to beat them with. In any event, the next step is to go before the Kentucky Supreme Court with our twin legal challenges to ObamaCare to set right again constitutional limits of the governor's power.

Kentucky ObamaCare public option covers abortions

Kentucky's health insurance cooperative, the "public option" created by ObamaCare with a massive federal subsidy, covers abortions in violation of state law.

KRS 304.5-160 plainly forbids insurers from covering "elective abortions," which it defines as an abortion performed for any reason other than to preserve the life of the mother carrying the baby.

On page 17 of the individual health contract provided by the Kentucky Health Cooperative Inc. It clearly defines coverages to include "therapeutic abortion," which it defines as one recommended by a doctor and clarifies that "A therapeutic abortion is one performed to save the life or health of the mother."

The phrase "or the health of" constitutes an illegal expansion of coverage limitations on abortion in Kentucky. This expansion could mean anything. Someone wishing an abortion could merely state anxiety affecting her health because of her unplanned pregnancy and get an abortion doctor to sign of, saying that the abortion is necessary for her health.

The Kentucky Department of Insurance under Gov. Steve Beshear went crazy when I first discovered their pro-abortion game a year and a half ago. Please call your legislator and also the Kentucky Department of Insurance Commissioner Sharon Clark at 502-564-3630 and demand that they follow the law and forbid insurance coverage of abortions in Kentucky.

Left-wing media figure decimates KY Obamacrats

Perry Bacon is a Louisville-born national journalist who makes no bones about his support for Obama and all things ObamaCare. He spoke with me at length while he was writing a story (link here) in which he describes ObamaCare in Kentucky as "wildly successful" and finds continued resistance hard to understand.

In the story, Bacon unwittingly gives up why ObamaCare must be taken down in Kentucky. He writes:

"Beshear over the last two years has stunned Republicans and even Democrats here with his forceful advocacy of the ACA. He unilaterally decided to create a health care exchange and expand Medicaid, (emphasis added) ignoring complaints from Republicans in the state's Legislature who either opposed those moves outright or wanted to reach some sort of compromise."

And he continues:

"Beshear, to the consternation of Kentucky conservatives, has not only implemented the law without any input from them, (emphasis added) but spent the last several months on something of a victory tour, penning an op-ed in The New York Times telling Obamacare opponents to "get over it," making regular appearances on MSNBC touting Kentucky’s success and sitting in first lady Michelle Obama's box when Obama singled him out for praise at the State of the Union address."

And this might be the best part as well as most timely now that the focus of so much attention is on the state budget:

"Beshear is looking for ways to fund the state’s health-insurance exchange (emphasis added) without using taxpayer dollars, a move that would make it harder for state Republicans to argue that implementing the ACA is draining state resources. "

So here is one of the biggest media fans of ObamaCare in the country writing a glowing article about Beshear not taking any lip from Republicans or allowing nasty little things like the Constitution get in his way contradicting Beshear's obviously false claim that he has already worked out ObamaCare exchange funding and that it doesn't take state dollars. Thank you, Perry Bacon.

Kentucky budget deal defunds ObamaCare

Kentucky Democrat budget negotiators had to choose between Gov. Steve Beshear's obvious lie that state dollars weren't necessary for ObamaCare and the language in the "Affordable Care Act" that anyone who has looked has already seen. This morning, they chose reality and joined Republicans, taxpayers and anyone who might need medical assistance in the future in denying Beshear the ability to waste Kentucky taxpayer money on the ObamaCare scheme.

Unpopularity of both the unworkable ObamaCare mess and Beshear's illegal implementation of it created significant Democrat nervousness in recent weeks and a very tepid defense of those tactics in budget negotiations.

House Democrats seeking re-election must now be ready to override a Beshear veto or spend the rest of the year and beyond trying in vain to defend the indefensible. Our two legal challenges to Beshear's illegal actions will benefit from a final budget that defunds, but will not be hurt if that process somehow fails.