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.
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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.