No, it's not "Obama's Katrina"

The "anti-Obamacare" machine rolls on.   And it will until the web site gets fixed and larger numbers of people begin getting the benefits promised and rightfully expected.

Stipulated:   (1) that the web site rollout was extremely poorly accomplished;  (2)  Obama should have been more precise when he promised people they could keep their policies.

But consider this re #1:    If the Supreme Court had not overturned the penalty for states not setting up the insurance exchanges, and if the so many (mostly Republican) governors and state legislatures had not then refused to set them up voluntarily -- then there wouldn't have been such a need and such an overwhelming crush to get on the federal exchange, which is only necessary because the states aren't doing it.    The states that have set them up are faring pretty well with their own rollouts, red state Kentucy being among the best.

And consdier this re #2:   Obama did the usual kind of shorthand in public speeches, omitting some qualifying details, when he promised that people who like their insurance plans could keep them.   But all of this furor about his "lying" is just plain political smearing.   The difference is really pretty petty.   The wording of the ACA itself says quite clearly:   plans that were in effect at the time the ACA was passed in 2010 are grandfathered in and people can keep them if they want to.   Any plan acquired after 2010 must meet standards.

But implied in that is that the insurance companies have to continue offering those plans.   Imagine the calls for his impeachment if Obama was asserting the authority to tell the insurance companies that they have to continue to offer those plans.   That would be more than just regulating an industry;  that would amount to nationalizing an industry. 

And consider this:   Republicans have found their political rallying cry in "people's health insurance cancelled."   The pool of people affected starts at 6%, and many of them will get better policies at lower cost.   But beyond that, here's the point:   this number in miniscule compared to the number of people who would lose medical insurance under the alternate proposal from Republicans.    Moreover, look how many people were denied Medicaid by governors refusing the federal help to expand.

The other point is that insurance companies cancel individual policies all the time;  in addition they discontinue policy plans or change them significantly all the time -- so a large number of those policies that were "cancelled" because they didn't meet ACA standards would not qualify for grandfathering anyway because they were not in effect in 2010.   That was not a false promise in the ACA -- it was a detail not included in the president's shorthand talking point.

As to calling this "Obama's Katrina?"   Yes, it could become the turning point where the administration's incompetent performance changes the whole tenor of how it is regarded.   That could be -- we'll have to wait and see.    

But there is a major, major difference.   The furor about the Bush administration's handling of Katrina was its seeming indifference, and people were dying unnecessarily.   That debacle was capped by Bush's complimenting his head of FEMA with "Heck of a job, Brownie !!"    Plus the fact that Bush had originally appointed "Brownie" to head up FEMA despite his total lack of qualifications for such an important position.

The "Katrina" image was also captured in that iconic picture of Bush looking out the plane window at the devastation in Louisiana -- from a great, safe distance.    To be fair, there was the argument that it would have been a distraction in an emergency situation for the president of the U.S. to arrive on the scene.    But there is also the counter-argument that the inspiration and expression of caring would have been worth it.

In contrast, President Obama is working to try to bring much needed relief of suffering for want of medical care to millions of Americans.   And it is the Republicans who seem indifferent to that suffering in trying to deny this health care.

So here's my advice:    let's keep all this in perspective, recognize that Republicans are smelling political blood and that the media are smelling juicy audience bait.   And have a little patience.   Nobody has lost anything yet.   Any changes don't go into effect until January at the earliest, and the ACA has until the end of March to get up and running.

Ralph