Joe Sonka vs. McConnell on Kynect; both wrong

U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell continues to draw attention for trying to split the baby on ObamaCare/Kynect and LEO writer Joe Sonka is driving the bus for the other side. Both sides need work.

McConnell said: "If ObamaCare is repealed, Kentucky should decide for itself whether to keep Kynect or set up a different marketplace."

Kentucky has already decided. Gov. Steve Beshear attempted to create the ObamaCare exchange in Kentucky with a 2012 executive order. The 2013 General Assembly did not ratify the executive order, causing it to expire per KRS 12.028. Rather than follow the law at that point, Beshear wrote another executive order creating the exchange in violation of KRS 12.028(5). A bill was actually filed in the 2014 General Assembly to ratify the second, out-of-order executive order (HB 505), but that bill failed to even get a hearing in a committee chaired by the bill's sponsor, Rep. Tom Burch.

Then the legislature voted almost unanimously in HB 235, the budget bill, to defund the exchange, declaring Beshear is "prohibited from expending any General Fund resources on any expenditure directly or indirectly associated with the Health Benefit Exchange."

Two lawsuits are well underway to clarify Gov. Beshear's illegal actions. Both cases (13-SC-000652 and 13-SC-000667) are currently in front of the Kentucky Supreme Court.

Sonka, for what it's worth, had a clever retort: "McConnell saying that Kynect can survive the repeal of ObamaCare is like saying that the Oklahoma City Thunder can trade Kevin Durant, but keep his jump shot."

But this cute analogy misses the point as well. But for the last desperate illegal moves of a rogue governor, Kynect already does not exist. The jump shot is already gone, as is the power forward. The only reason this issue hasn't been fully put to rest is that the Kentucky Supreme Court has been sitting on it for seven months.

Instead of embarrassing themselves with further misstatements on the issue of Kentucky ObamaCare, both the McConnell and Grimes camps should urge the Court to get off the dime so we can get started on the real work of cleaning up Beshear's mess. 

Our nonexistent "sustainability plan"

The Obama administration wants Rhode Island to demonstrate they have the ability to maintain their state-run ObamaCare exchange after federal funds run out at the end of 2014. That should be interesting because there is a bipartisan effort to shut down the exchange there just as their Obamacrats are begging for even more money.

Kentucky should be forced to do such a sustainability plan because not only was our exchange created without legislative approval which -- by state law -- it must have to exist, no funding mechanism has been created and the legislature just refused for any other state funds to be used to run it.

Seriously, ObamaCare fans everywhere should notify the White House about the mess Gov. Steve Beshear is making in Kentucky. The story I read about the request of Rhode Island came after media reports of that state's ObamaCare problems. Kentucky's media isn't covering this, so the President may not know.

Why Mitch McConnell should support me

Sen. Mitch McConnell made national news today suggesting he doesn't want to dismantle Kentucky's state run ObamaCare exchange. It really doesn't have to be this hard.

From the Associated Press:

Asked if a repeal of the health care law would mean Kynect should be disbanded, McConnell said: "I think that's unconnected to my comments about the overall question."

Ouch. This is especially terrible because McConnell's Democratic opponent just raked herself over the coals on the flip side of the same question. A much better answer would have been simply "Yes."

Government did not invent health insurance and has not "provided" health insurance to 413,000 Kentuckians. Government involvement has served only to make health insurance less affordable and less efficient. Plus, Gov. Beshear has illegally created the Kentucky Health Benefit Exchange, has failed to gain legislative ratification (twice) of his executive order establishing the exchange and the legislature just last month voted almost unanimously not to provide state funds for ongoing exchange activities when they become necessary after December 31, 2014.

Sen. McConnell's Senate office is on this blog site every day. He has to know all this stuff. Getting on board with my two Kentucky Supreme Court cases (13-SC-000652 and 13-SC-000667) is a total no-brainer and could go a long way in preventing future silly gaffes as the media attempts to make the fall campaign about 413,000 "beneficiaries."

Will Beshear's pride cost Kentucky an ObamaCare "freebie?"

Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear has claimed, falsely, that all ObamaCare expenses for the next two years are covered by the federal government. Federal law states very clearly that no federal funds can be used for ObamaCare exchange operations after December 31, 2014.

A funny thing has happened: a Rhode Island official claims that state asked for and will receive federal funding in 2015 for their state-run exchange. If that's true ("Christine Ferguson, director of HealthSource RI, said federal officials have agreed to let the state use federal dollars through the end of calendar year 2015 — one year longer than planned.") and Rhode Island has gotten some kind of special dispensation in violation of federal law, Kentucky should pursue the same thing.

Four states that signed up to run their own exchanges have recently defaulted to the federal exchange already, of the original fourteen who took Obama's bait. Rhode Island is likely to do the same despite their special law-breaking situation because their state Obamacrats are still looking for more state money to spend and the likelihood that they will get it is going down by the day.

Beshear's situation is further complicated by the fact that once he starts admitting to having lied about funding, he may be forced to admit that he doesn't have legal authority for ObamaCare and no state funding source. Given his track record, expect Beshear to continue to just muddle along illegally and expensively, hoping against hope he can continue to ignore reality for a little while.

The Associated Press is wildly inaccurate

Democratic Senate candidate Alison Grimes refused yesterday to say whether she would have voted for ObamaCare.

Twice.

Associated Press reporter Adam Beam did well to ask this important question and Mrs. Grimes did as expected in showing she can't handle very obvious questions.

But Mr. Beam couldn't just leave the story there. He had to include some bizarrely inappropriate and inaccurate editorializing in his "news" story. He wrote:

"The law Republicans call "Obamacare" presents a delicate issue for Grimes, who won the Democratic Senate primary on Tuesday. Kynect, Kentucky's state-run health insurance exchange made possible by the law, is wildly popular. More than 400,000 people have either signed up for an expanded Medicaid program or purchased private insurance plans with the help of government subsidies. But Obamacare remains unpopular in the state, mostly because President Barack Obama himself is unpopular here."

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2014/05/21/5838150/ky-democrat-mum-on-question-of.html#storylink=cpy

Beam "wildly popular" characterization was probably inspired by a strange MSNBC article from March that was actually quite damning in its detailed description of Kentucky ObamaCare despite also calling the scheme "wildly successful." Labeling ObamaCare's unpopularity "mostly" a function of Obama's unpopularity is another well-worn left-wing media talking point ignoring the reality of the law's increased costs and other anti-consumer results.

Adam Beam knows better than to do this. Here's hoping he puts more of an effort going forward into journalism and less into providing repackaged propaganda. 

This post needs 1 million likes

My name is David Adams and I live in Nicholasville, Kentucky. I watched Governor Steve Beshear over the last two years claim authority he does not have to sign Kentucky up for the optional parts of ObamaCare and then proceed illegally to commit our state to a path we cannot afford.

I filed two lawsuits that are currently awaiting Kentucky Supreme Court action. They are 13-SC-000-652 and 13-SC-000667. I need both attention to this issue and money to fund the effort. Let's start with attention, always the easier of the two.

I need 1 million Facebook "likes" on this post to get it in front of enough people to spur action. The legislature decisively defunded everything "directly or indirectly related to the Kentucky Health Benefit Exchange" last month. In Kentucky, that includes the Medicaid expansion under ObamaCare and cancels our obligation to finance Obama's "health" reform bureaucracy for him in the Bluegrass State.

Four concurrent federal lawsuits stand to cancel taxpayer obligations related to ObamaCare exchanges in states that refuse to set up their own exchanges. As the legislature is the people's voice, Kentucky has refused to set up an exchange. Our Constitution and statutes clearly prohibit the governor from ignoring our voices on this. Other states whose officials have tried to set up ObamaCare exchanges are starting to figure out they are simply caught in a trap and that now is the time to get out. If we stand up now and join our voices, Kentucky will join them. If we don't an unprecedented standard of lawlessness will be established here, from which there will be no winners.

Please help by simply passing this post along more than once.

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.