A Kentucky ObamaCare reprieve drying up

For three more days, Kentuckians who don't want or need ObamaCare in 2014 but do need to buy health insurance still have an option Governor Steve Beshear doesn't want you knowing about.

You can still buy 2013, non-ObamaCare coverage at 2013 premiums for the next year through this weekend. After that, the option goes away.

The only place I have seen this is on www.ehealthinsurance.com. So if you know you aren't having a baby in 2014, aren't going in to drug rehabilitation or aren't otherwise an excessive premium-paying masochist, you might want to check it out.

Robert Stivers falling hard for ObamaCare

Kentucky Senate President Robert Stivers, an embarrassingly moderate Republican, is trying to quietly soften up members of his caucus so they might cave in to Gov. Steve Beshear on ObamaCare early in 2014. Fortunately, his plan is not going well.

Beshear needs the Senate to go along with his 2013 interim reorganization executive order creating Kynect, the Kentucky state-run ObamaCare exchange. If they don't, the executive order will expire and take the exchange and the funding mechanism for the exchange with it. When federal money runs out at the end of 2014, the federal government will be forced to take over paying for the exchange.

Beshear has talked Stivers into trying to bail him out of this mess before it explodes in the open, but almost no Senate Republicans are taking the bait. Stivers is selling a left-wing talking point that the state can run the exchange on a 1% tax on insurance premiums -- which is not true -- while a federal exchange could cost as much as 3.5%. There are two points he is trying to gloss over here -- first, ObamaCare participation is so low in Kentucky -- due to outrageously high premiums -- that Kentuckians as a whole will certainly be better off joining the three dozen other states opting out of the exchange and facing no drain on our state budget to prop up the Obama/Beshear pipedream than they will be if Stivers has his way. Second, if an Oklahoma lawsuit to be heard in federal court early next year is successful in forcing the letter of the ObamaCare law to be followed and ObamaCare penalties to be disallowed in states on the federal exchange, victimization of Kentuckians by this horrible law will be mostly eliminated when we shut down Kynect.

The vast majority of Americans are unified in defeating ObamaCare and for very good reasons. If you are represented by a Republican in the Kentucky state Senate, please call him or her and urge standing strong against Beshear and Stivers in their ObamaCare mischief. 

Were 280,000 Kentuckians abducted by aliens?

The initial group of Kentucky citizens forced off their health insurance by ObamaCare have less than two weeks left to sign up on Kynect to avoid a lapse in coverage on January 1.

 

Where the hell are they?

 

"Kentucky's media is missing the story of the unaffordability of the "Affordable Care Act" in addition to missing the story about Gov. Beshear illegally and ill-advisedly throwing us into the worst part of this mess," said tea party activist David Adams. "If all these people are herded up and put into ObamaCare, I wonder how many will wind up on Medicaid and it makes a big difference financially whether its old Medicaid or new Medicaid. Shut down Kynect and drop the Medicaid expansion nonsense and we are a big step away from the worst of this disaster." 

 

The 2014 General Assembly must address not only Beshear's unconstitutional Medicaid administration expenditures that start January 1, it must also find significant funds for Medicaid in the next budget and fund Kynect in addition to ratifying Beshear's executive order creating it. Legislators are less likely to do these things than they are to be picked up by the next spaceship passing by our planet.

Good morning, Al Cross!

Courier Journal political columnist Al Cross has been a rather energetic supporter of ObamaCare in Kentucky and somewhat resistant to seriously exploring evidence strongly suggesting his enthusiasm may have been misplaced. In a weekend blog post, however, Al shows signs of gaining a wider perspective:

As for Kentucky specifically, "Although a Kynect spokeswoman said the exchange has dealt with only 'minor issues' since it started sending enrollment files to insurers a month ago, she didn’t indicate whether those issues had resulted in flawed forms or if they’d been resolved."

Tony Felts, a Kentucky spokesman for Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, told Politico that it's too early to say if the problems have been solved: "In general, the situation is the same for the state-run exchanges as it is for the federally facilitated exchanges."

Over the next couple of weeks, these problems and others with the Kynect debacle will become even harder to ignore. Hold on tight for a very bumpy ride.

Beshear upstages Obama with new health law lie

We already know that you can't keep your health insurance for much longer as ObamaCare rolls in. We. Already. Know. That.

Everyone capable of passing the fog-a-mirror test understands President Obama was lying when he said "if you like your plan, you can keep your plan." So it was noteworthy that Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear went to Washington D.C. yesterday to buck up congressional Democrats and tell them the tide will turn politically when eighty percent of Americans realize the "Affordable Care Act" does not affect them.

What planet are these people on?

ObamaCare is decimating health care providers and health insurance consumers as we speak. One-year delays (illegally implemented, I might add) have served to temporarily distract a lot of people who will no longer be distracted in just a matter of months.

Beshear's only hope is that mainstream media tolerance for being used like a bunch of two dollar hookers remains firmly in place long enough for some kind of point of no return to be reached. Fortunately, there really isn't one.

Jack Conway must not want to be Governor

Kentucky's Attorney General Jack Conway appears to have tossed away his chance to get the Democratic nomination for Governor in 2015 in a court filing on same-sex marriage.

Conway, a defendant in Kentucky Equality Federation et al v. Commonwealth, an ongoing case in Franklin Circuit Court, claimed plaintiffs Lindsey Bain and Daniel Rogers, a married same-sex couple, don't have standing to challenge our state definition of marriage and that their claim does not qualify as an "injury in fact" and it is not ripe for adjudication.

In a joint filing dated September 30, Conway and Governor Steve Beshear said they "deny that Plaintiffs are entitled to the requested relief or any other relief whatsoever." That won't go over well.

Public comment period on Medicaid expansion ends today

Just sent the following message regarding Kentucky's proposed Medicaid expansion to the Office of Legal Services in Frankfort as part of the public comment period for this huge waste of public money:

Expanding Medicaid as this proposed regulation attempts to do is a terrible idea with very negative fiscal implications for the Commonwealth. Statute requires administrative review of this action and same cannot legally be completed in time for a meaningful and legally required review process to be completed before the January 1 effective date. We lack funding in the current budget to pay the Medicaid administration costs immediately created by this regulation and the likelihood the legislature, which has not been consulted on this matter previously, will agree to fund more of the same in the next biennium is nonexistent.

 

This whole exercise has been a waste of time in contemplation of a waste of unavailable resources. We must end it now.

 

Thank you,

 

David Adams

121 Nave Place

Nicholasville KY 40356

859-537-5372

You may do the same today until the close of business by emailing Tricia Orme at tricia.orme@ky.gov. Reference 907 KAR 20:100.

Kentucky's ObamaCare constitutional crisis

Anthem knew Obama lied "almost immediately" in 2010

The best video clip of the ObamaCare "if you like it, you can keep it" scandal hearing today in Frankfort will be of an Anthem official admitting that Obama's "you can keep it" lie was identified as such back in 2010.

KET's video of today's Banking and Insurance hearing should be available in the morning.

Democratic members of the committee appear mostly ready to run as fast as possible from ObamaCare in the upcoming legislative session. We still await Kentucky Supreme Court action on Gov. Steve Beshear's illegal attempt to implement ObamaCare without legislative approval.

Another ObamaCare showdown in Frankfort

Tuesday morning in Frankfort government officials will hold a public hearing on the "if you like it, you can keep it" scandal. The Interim Joint Committee on Banking and Insurance will hear from officials at Humana and Anthem as well as Kentucky Department of Insurance Commissioner Sharon Clark.

The meeting will take place at 10 am in Room 149 in the Capitol Annex.

The Kentucky Department of Insurance claims its mission is to "promote sound, competitive insurance markets; protect the public through effective enforcement and regulation; and empower the public through outreach and education." Their utter failure on each of these points leads one to the inescapable conclusion that the department of insurance is corrupt or incompetent or both.

Hope to see you there.

An easy to fix part of broken Frankfort

If you liked how the Common Core science standards were voted down in committee in September but allowed to dumb down Kentucky public schools anyway, you probably like that the same thing happened yesterday when regulations for state ObamaCare exchange operations were also waved on through despite another overwhelming rejection by state legislators.

If Obama were working up a slogan for this kind of government, he might say "If you like having a voice in state government, you can keep it." Worse it's perfectly legal given how the statutes have been constructed.

Legislators should get to work giving teeth to the KRS 13A administrative review process so this sort of thing doesn't happen again. It would be quite simple to stop legislators from leaving meetings to bust up quorums and to prevent governors from ignoring the will of the people's representatives when they oppose him in this process. Anyone with a little courage willing to give it a shot?

Anyone?

Only 4,749 lifeboat seats in Kentucky

Two weeks ago, the Kentucky Department of Insurance admitted that 280,000 citizens would lose their health insurance to ObamaCare and last week Obama/Beshear said they might get a one-year break on that. Today, the Department said all but a few thousand people will have to go down with the ship.

Spokeswoman Ronda Sloan said in response to all the backlash to Obama/Beshear's dishonesty about market disruption caused by the "Affordable Care Act," that a "change would impact 2,656 policyholders (4,749 total covered lives)."

Only 275,000 more Kentucky victims (so far) need at least a temporary escape from this mess.

Angry yet?

Beshear caught in ObamaCare trap

Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear now has a choice to look like an idiot or a Scrooge. Health insurer Humana has quietly jumped at Beshear's offer to protect Kentuckians from crazy unaffordable health insurance in 2014, filing a rate increase request with the state for less than 8% -- one-tenth its approved request under ObamaCare mandates.

So right before Christmas, Beshear's Department of Insurance can either cave in on his ruinous, politically charged support for ObamaCare and grant the request or tell the hundreds of thousands of Kentuckians displaced by ObamaCare to eat cake.

If he grants the consumer-friendly Humana policy request, those rates will be lower than rates on the exchange even with the greatest federal subsidies, effectively killing the Kentucky ObamaCare exchange. If he refuses, public support for the ObamaCare fiasco -- and for Beshear -- will fall even faster.

We can't hold our breath waiting for the media to report this. Please support the effort to get word about this out to the people of Kentucky by clicking here and donating what you can.

Constitutional crisis in Kentucky won't go away

The Kentucky Supreme Court has neglected to expedite review of two ObamaCare lawsuits in December, dragging into 2014 a constitutional crisis that will not just go away.

 

"There is no way the General Assembly will ratify Gov. Beshear's second executive order creating the ObamaCare exchange, just like they didn't ratify the first expired one which set off this crisis," said David Adams, plaintiff in both suits. "They won't fund the exchange in the budget session starting in January, which means the exchange goes away at the end of 2014 anyway. Governor Beshear will start illegally funding the Medicaid expansion in January 2014, probably leading to a new lawsuit. Only the Kentucky Supreme Court can restore the rule of law in our Commonwealth. Failure to act is not acceptable."

Obamacrats fundraise on You-Can-Keep-it-Gate

As if we needed more evidence Washington D.C. is descending into full-blown idiocracy, the Democratic National Committee sent out an email Friday evening raising money to keep pushing ObamaCare down our throats.

"But you know what else would help get more people enrolled," asked Mo Elleithee, Communications Director for DNC. "If Republicans would stop their concerted effort to block the law at every turn. If more Republican governors would set up state exchanges or expand Medicaid. If Republican lawmakers would stop holding ridiculous hearings to score political points, and help folks figure out how to fix the problems."

Holding hearings and filing lawsuits would not be scoring "political points" if ObamaCare promoters weren't breaking laws and making healthcare worse and more expensive.

"Because under the Affordable Care Act, being a woman is no longer a preexisting condition," Mo said, spinning the fact ObamaCare forces men to obtain maternity coverage for themselves in the name of fairness.

"Republicans, though, have never really been interested in that," Mo continues. "They don't want Obamacare to work. They are actually afraid of it working. Why? Because they know once people begin to enjoy the benefits that come with a better and more affordable health care system, they won't want to give them up."

Yeah. That is what we're afraid of.

Text of Kentucky Common Core lawsuit

COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY
FRANKLIN CIRCUIT COURT
DIVISION ___
CIVIL ACTION NO. 13-CI-______

David Adams        PLAINTIFF,

v.     COMPLAINT

COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY,     DEFENDANTS
OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR, Steven L. Beshear,
OFFICE OF THE SENATE PRESIDENT, Robert Stivers,
KENTUCKY BOARD OF EDUCATION,
Roger L. Marcum

COUNCIL ON POSTSECONDARY EDUCATION, Robert L. King

EDUCATION PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS BOARD, Cassandra Webb

Serve: Governor Steven L. Beshear
Office of the Governor
700 Capitol Avenue, Suite 100
Frankfort, KY 40601

Serve: Senate President Robert Stivers
Office of the Senate President
702 Capitol Ave
Annex Room 236
Frankfort KY 40601

Serve: Roger L. Marcum
Kentucky Board of Education
Office of the Commissioner of Education

500 Mero Street, 1st Floor CPT
Frankfort, KY 40601

Serve: Robert L. King

Council on Postsecondary Education
1024 Capital Center Drive, Suite 320
Frankfort, KY 40601

Serve: Cassandra Webb

Lawrence County Board of Education
50 Bulldog Lane
Louisa, KY 41230

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Plaintiff, David Adams, for his Complaint against Defendants, the Commonwealth of Kentucky, acting through the Office of the Governor (“Governor”), and Governor Steve Beshear, in his official capacity as Governor of the Commonwealth, Senate President Robert Stivers, in his official capacity as President of the Senate, Roger L. Marcum, in his official capacity as Chairman of the Kentucky Board of Education, Robert L. King, in his official capacity as President of the Council on Postsecondary Education and Cassandra Webb, in her official capacity as chairwoman of the Education Professional Standards Board respectfully states as follows:

I. NATURE OF ACTION

 1.  This is a civil action for declaratory and injunctive relief relating to Defendants' acceptance of Common Core State Standards. Plaintiff seeks injunctive relief in the form of a court order reversing Defendants' illegal acceptance of Common Core State Standards and forbidding any continued action relating to same until such time as specific legislative approval is granted.

 2.  Time is of the essence in resolving this issue because substantial public resources have been and are currently being devoted to implementation of Common Core despite a clear constitutional mandate intended to provide for an efficient system of common schools. Continued delay in limiting the state officials’ activities in this matter to within the scope of Kentucky law and the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Kentucky sets a terrible precedent for ignoring constitutional  limits on executive and legislative branch authority to protect Kentuckians’ rights to seek and pursue their safety and happiness as explicitly guaranteed by the Kentucky Constitution.

 3.  The judicial branch of the Commonwealth of Kentucky is the only remaining venue for redress available to Plaintiff.

 4.  As a result of the actions of Defendants, Plaintiff respectfully seeks a temporary and permanent injunction against Defendants' continued implementation of Common Core until such time as the General Assembly provides appropriate legislation to restore constitutionally mandated efficiency to the Commonwealth's system of common schools.

II.  THE PARTIES

 5.  David Adams is a taxpayer and citizen of the Commonwealth of Kentucky and parent of two students in Jessamine County Schools.

 6. Governor Steve Beshear is sued in his official capacity as Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

 7. Senate President Robert Stivers is sued in his official capacity as Senate President of the Commonwealth of Kentucky and a member of the Executive Branch of government pursuant to Section 85 of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

 8. Roger L. Marcum is sued in his official capacity as Chairman of the Kentucky Board of Education.

 9. Robert L. King is sued in his official capacity as President of the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education.

10. Cassandra Webb is sued in her official capacity as Chairwoman of the Education Professional Standards Board.

III. JURISDICTION

 11. Jurisdiction is proper pursuant to KRS 418.040 and Kentucky Constitution Section 112 (5).

IV. FACTUAL ALLEGATIONS AND BACKGROUND

 A. Common Core State Standards

 12. On February 10, 2010, Defendants announced acceptance of Common Core State Standards despite the fact the standards had not yet been written. Subsequent obligations of the Commonwealth related to Common Core could not be known then and still cannot in order to reasonably determine the efficacy for their implementation. 

  13. The Constitution of the Commonwealth, in Section 183, places responsibility for providing an efficient system of common schools upon the legislature. The Kentucky Supreme Court clarified this to mean "common schools shall be monitored by the General Assembly to assure they are operated without waste, duplication, mismanagement or political influence." Rose v. Council for Better Education, Inc. (Ky. 1989) 790 S.W.2d 186. By failing to intervene when Defendants obligated Kentuckians to unspecified mandates, duties, responsibilities and costs related to Common Core, the General Assembly violated Section 183.  

V. CLAIMS FOR RELIEF

 14. Plaintiff seeks declaratory relief pursuant to KRS 418.040. Plaintiff seeks a judicial determination of the rights and duties of the parties with regard to an actual controversy arising out of Defendants' acceptance of Common Core State Standards without sufficient knowledge or understanding of the costs of such action in violation of state law.

 15. David Adams seeks injunctive relief relating to Defendants' illegal acceptance and implementation of Common Core State Standards, namely reversal of such acceptance and implementation until such time as the General Assembly grants approval of same by appropriate legislation. 

VI. PRAYER FOR RELIEF

 WHEREFORE, Plaintiff prays for relief as follows:
 1. Plaintiff requests the court enter a judgment declaring the legislature erred in failing to prevent acceptance and implementation of Common Core State Standards by Defendants and that such acceptance must be rescinded and that such implementation must cease and be reversed until such time as the General Assembly makes a determination by appropriate legislation specifically regarding efficiency in the Commonwealth's system of common schools pertaining to standards, curriculum, best practices and testing.

       Respectfully submitted,

       David Adams
       121 Nave Place
       Nicholasville, KY 40356
       859-537-5372
       Plaintiff

 

    CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

This certifies the forgoing was served this 12th day of  November, 2013 via U.S. Mail upon:

Serve: Governor Steven L. Beshear
Office of the Governor
700 Capitol Avenue, Suite 100
Frankfort, KY 40601

Serve: Senate President Robert Stivers
Office of the Senate President
702 Capitol Ave
Annex Room 236
Frankfort KY 40601

Serve: Roger L. Marcum
Kentucky Board of Education
Office of the Commissioner of Education

500 Mero Street, 1st Floor CPT
Frankfort, KY 40601

Serve: Robert L. King

Council on Postsecondary Education
1024 Capital Center Drive, Suite 320
Frankfort, KY 40601

Serve: Cassandra Webb

Lawrence County Board of Education
50 Bulldog Lane
Louisa, KY 41230

       _________________________________
      
       David Adams

Dear Virginia, Terry McAuliffe can't be Santa Claus

Left-wing pundits are all atwitter at the idea the Governor-elect of Virginia can swoop in and make another ObamaCare state by unilaterally forcing them into the Medicaid Expansion. He can't, and that might have an impact on Kentucky.

Expanding Medicaid in Virginia can't legally happen without full legislative approval, which is extremely unlikely to happen with a solid Republican majority in the House and an evenly divided Senate. But Terry McAuliffe could follow the lead of Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear and attempt to implement it illegally, daring anyone to challenge him.

The immediate legal issue for McAuliffe if he tries this would expose a second big ObamaCare lie. While everyone knows you can't keep insurance you like, few realize the promise that federal benevolence will absorb 100% of Medicaid costs for the first three years of ObamaCare depends on a rather imprecise definition of "100%."

In other words, McAuliffe would need -- as Beshear has already quietly admitted to -- gobs of money right away, without legislative approval, to pay increased state Medicaid administration costs necessitated by the massive expansion of Medicaid under ObamaCare.

Ken Cuccinelli famously filed a lawsuit against ObamaCare on the day it was passed. He should get going on this one, too. Kentucky's legal challenge is soon to be heard by the state's Supreme Court.  

Tell Beshear to reverse Humana $65,430 truth tax

Governor Steve Beshear should apologize to Humana customers and return to them the $65,430 fine extracted in September when the company advised policyholders on delaying negative impacts of the federal health law. Beshear's chief insurance thug Sharon Clark said at the time Humana was misleading people by telling them ObamaCare rates would be much higher in 2014.

"Beshear could get away with calling the truth a lie in September in this instance, but he can't now," said David Adams, plaintiff in two lawsuits fighting illegal implementation of ObamaCare in Kentucky. "The money for that fine hurts Humana customers and should be returned to this Kentucky company right away. Beshear's criminal activity must stop."

Is Kentucky ready for Damon Thayer?

Talking head speculation about ObamaCare cheerleader Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear being appointed to replace Kathleen Sebelius as Secretary of Health and Human Services brings up the possibility of an unprecedented shake up in Frankfort.

If Beshear goes to Washington D.C., per Section 84 of the Kentucky Constitution, Lieutenant Governor Jerry Abramson would finish up his term and then go away. He has said he will not run for Governor in 2015.

And under Section 85, Senate President Robert Stivers would ascend to the office of Lieutenant Governor for the remainder of Abramson's term, likely ending his political career.

The leadership vacuum this creates in the executive branch is far less interesting than what would happen then in the Kentucky state Senate. If Senate Majority Floor Leader Damon Thayer was then elected by his fellow Senators to the office of Senate President, he would have the opportunity to transform the state refusing to enact a budget that doesn't fix some of Kentucky's biggest problems like real pension reform, wildly excessive accumulation of debt and by putting to rest any potential lingering doubts about illegal attempts to fund ObamaCare.

Step away from Medicaid mirage, Gov. Beshear

While President Obama begins to get grief because the media is catching on to some of his fact-challenged health reform claims, Gov. Beshear grits his teeth hoping they won't notice his.

Specifically, Beshear has claimed repeatedly the state will incur no costs for Medicaid expansion for ObamaCare's first three years. Meanwhile, national media types are figuring out Medicaid will crush state budgets in the 26 states dumb enough to opt in to the Medicaid expansion.

Even that analysis is inaccurately rosy because it ignores the immediate new Medicaid costs to states under ObamaCare. Privately insured people with low incomes are forced into Medicaid immediately under ObamaCare and states don't get an enhanced federal match for costs of treating those people. States must absorb 100% of new Medicaid administration costs immediately under ObamaCare. In Kentucky, those costs will be over $40 million in calendar year 2014 and get higher after that.

KRS 205.520(3) requires that the Medicaid expansion be implemented only after legal administrative review as defined by KRS 13A. Because there is no legal mechanism for getting out of the Medicaid expansion once we go in, any review process we start now can't be legitimate. State law requires that a public hearing must be held on the expansion of Medicaid and KRS 13A.270(11) specifically requires that such a hearing must "guarantee each person who wishes to offer comment a fair and reasonable opportunity to do so." But there is nothing "fair and reasonable" about a process that can only have one outcome. To allow such a thing is to ignore Section 2 of the Kentucky Constitution and its unambiguous prohibition of absolute and arbitrary government. Had Gov. Beshear initiated this process on May 9 when he had his "Medicaid expansion" press conference, this process could have been initiated and completed legitimately and lawfully. Now, it can't. Gov. Beshear has a lot invested now in his bizarre claims of victory with ObamaCare, but Kentuckians have far more at stake in seeing that his ill-gotten powers be removed from him before he can do any more harm.