Monday Headlines for ObamaCare Implementation

Unromantic  as  Monday morning.

Charlotte Bronte (18i6-1855), Jane Eyre

This is my Monday morning report.   Today is Monday, October 7,  the seventh day after health exchanges opened, and the tenth day before  the decision on raising the debt limit, on October 17.    Republicans are asking President  Obama to negotiate on ObamaCare , which Obama says is non-negotiable.  

Monday  is the start of week and the media cycle,    Monday is a day for the Blues,  hence Blue Monday.  Monday is a day to recover from  weekend excesses.   Monday is the day to look forward to Monday Night  Football and for your favorite TV shows  “Dancing with the Stars” or “Antique Roadshow," and to Friday.

For me, Monday  is also the day to review the headlines to see how  ObamaCare fared over the weekend.

Here are a few of those headlines.

·         “Health Exchanges Grapple with Software, Server Issues,”   Nothing like a little grappling to set the tone for the week.

·         “State Web Sites Stumbling with First Steps, “  in Horse Racing, this is known as “stumbling out of the gate.”

·         “Consumers See Big Variations in Costs and Networks, “  If you’re going to have variations,  make them “Big.”   It confuses people and makes the debates more spirited.

·         “State Medicaid Programs Pose Problems for Federal Insurance Marketplaces.”  Again, the States and the Feds cannot agree on who is  in charge.

·         “Enrollment Fights in Texas, California Could Heavily Impact Law.”    The health exchanges themselves seem to be impacted,  if I may use a clinical term.

·         “With Marketplace Open, Outreach Efforts Swing into Full Gear,”   Speaking  of “Full Gear,” watch for” full gear”fights between  Obama-appointed and –trained  “Navigators” and  health care brokers and agents, who say they  more qualified for  the task of explaining health exchanges.

·         “Obama Asks Americans to Give Exchanges and ObamaCare Time to Work, “   “Time to work” and  “workability” are closely related issues and are often  far apart in the minds of fans and critics of ObamaCare.

·         “Boehner: No Change sin Shutdown: No Debt Vote Without Health Law Concessions,”   Boehner’s  three main “concessions” seem to be: delaying individual mandate for  one  year, repealing medical device tax, and  removing  exemption of Congress and its staffs.   Obama:  no deal, my law is immutable and indisputable.

·         “Shutdown Spurs Relitigation of Obamacare,”  President Obama  reserves the  right to relitigate his law, which he has done  9 times already –illegally if one adheres to the Constitution.   Otherwise it’s handoff for anyone outside the regime.

Tweet:  October 7, 2013,  Monday headlines  indicate no changes  in position of  political parties over government shutdown.