user: Input: On its one-year anniversary, ObamaCare gets an ‘F’
This Wednesday will mark one year since enrollment in ObamaCare began. What began with the disastrous rollout of healthcare.gov has ended with the health law’s supporters claiming victory.

It is true that some of the worst predictions have not yet come true. Yet. But in the last year we’ve also seen plenty of bad news for consumers, providers, employers and taxpayers.

Earlier this month, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services director Marilyn Tavenner testified that roughly 7.3 million people signed up for insurance through the exchanges. That’s down from early estimates of 8.1 million, because nearly 800,000 of those who initially enrolled have stopped or never paid their premiums. A bigger question is how many enrollees were previously insured and were just changing plans. Overall, the best estimates suggest that roughly 8 million people gained insurance under ObamaCare, but roughly half of those were enrolled in Medicaid (outside of the exchanges), which isn’t really health-care reform so much as adding people to government welfare. And it still leaves 41 million American adults uninsured. We spent billions to move the needle a tick.

Despite the president’s assurances to the contrary, roughly 6 million Americans were kicked off their insurance because their plans failed to offer a lengthy-enough maternity stay, didn’t provide sufficient drug and alcohol rehabilitation benefits or otherwise fell short of the insurance that federal bureaucrats thought that they should have. This includes more than 100,000 New Yorkers. Nearly all eventually found other insurance, but a new study from the National Center for Public Policy Research found that, on average, ObamaCare plans were worse than the plans they replaced, in terms of both providers covered and cost-sharing. A new wave of cancellations is about to begin as well. Those New Yorkers who managed to renew their noncompliant plans prior to the effective start date for ObamaCare last year should start receiving cancellation notices any day now. Some people may not even be able to keep the plans that replaced the plans they couldn’t keep the first time. In several states, insurers have dropped plans that they offered on the exchanges or even withdrawn from the market altogether. And if that was not bad enough, Americans with employer-based insurance may find out their insurance has to be changed starting next year.

If judged against President Obama’s promise that health-care reform would save us all at least $2,500 through lower premiums, ObamaCare deserves an F. But premium increases have been less bad than expected, especially in states like New York that already had highly regulated insurance markets. Last year, New Yorkers in the individual market saw a reduction in their premiums, but only because the individual market was already in such terrible shape. In states where the individual market was not already dysfunctional, there were significant premium increases. This year, New Yorkers can expect premium increases averaging roughly 6% for individual plans and almost 7% for small business.

This summer the Congressional Budget Office announced that it had given up trying to score the cost of ObamaCare, given the frequency with which the administration was making unilateral changes to the law. Overall, some costs are lower because so many states have chosen not to expand Medicaid. On the other hand, roughly 85% of those enrolled through exchanges are receiving subsidies, higher than predicted. Overall, the best estimates suggest the law will cost $2.63 trillion over the next 10 years. That will be paid for by $1.38 trillion in new taxes and at least $1.25 trillion in additional debt.

Recently released surveys from Federal Reserve Banks in New York, Philadelphia and Atlanta confirmed that businesses are cutting employment and shifting workers to part-time positions because of ObamaCare. According to the New York Fed, 21% of manufacturers and 17% of service companies have reduced the size of their workforce because of the law. In addition, roughly 20% of both manufacturers and service companies said that they have shifted workers from full to part-time jobs. The New York survey also indicated that roughly a third of businesses were raising prices to offset some of the law’s costs.

About the best thing that can be said about ObamaCare’s first year is that it wasn’t quite as bad as some critics predicted. But it isn’t even close to what we were promised — and nowhere near a passing grade.
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It's about: This Wednesday will mark one year since enrollment in ObamaCare began. What began with the disastrous rollout of healthcare.gov has ended with the health law’s supporters claiming victory. It is tr...


Q: Lean In, Buddy Boy

Book Proposal and Marketing Plan

I. Why Lean Back (And Relax!)?

More than a book, “Lean Back (and Relax!)” is a manifesto (“MAN”-ifesto) intended to reduce gender inequality by encouraging men to step aside and let the ladies do more of the work. “Lean Back” aims to help gals, finally, bring home more bacon, while guys, finally, learn to “Lean Back (and Relax!).”

Soon to be known as “the male Sheryl Sandberg,” Guy Maxx is a former associate district manager for the mid-Atlantic region whose position was eliminated following a workplace sexual harassment suit even though he only meant it as a compliment. Rather than conforming to outmoded models of male ambition and salary earning, he chose to “Lean Back (and Relax!).” Like Miss Sandberg, he expects to rise through the ranks of Facebook, where he already has 23 friends and has been tagged in a photo. This is his first book proposal and marketing plan.

III. About the Author’s Wife

A former homemaker married to a former associate district manager for the mid-Atlantic region, the Author’s Wife boasts her own 9-to-5 (a.m.) career that she effortlessly balances with vacuuming, dishwashing, cooking, trips to Target, coaching our son’s football team and other tasks. With a C-cup and a sensual, bow-shaped mouth, she has achieved what every woman is capable of — but only when their men learn to “Lean Back (and Relax!).” Please see attached Author’s Wife photo.

Chapter One: Lean Back at Home.

“Lean Back” reveals the subtle ways men sabotage themselves and their marriages by doing home-improvement projects. Every time we fix a leaky faucet or hang a shelf in her laundry room, what we really say to our female is: “I don’t think you are capable of doing this.” Solution: “Lean Back (And Relax!).” Soon your gal will happily be replacing the attic insulation and, better still, thanking you for letting her find the special feeling of pride and self-worth that come with a job well done. Chapter One includes 10 suggested “Do It Herself” (D.I.H.) projects.

Chapter Two: Lean Back at Work

As Miss Sandberg points out, working girls often act self-effacing and subordinate so they do not appear threatening to men. “Lean Back” offers businessmen concrete ideas about how to be (a) less threatening and (b) more empowering. Example:

If your secretary or Gal Friday says: “I’m sorry, but I cannot possibly scan every page of that census report by 10 o’clock.”

You should say: “Of course you can, honey!”

Chapter Three: Lean Back in Bed

Here I will include fully illustrated, anatomically accurate diagrams, which will allow women to overcome their concerns of appearing too aggressive.

Plans include Sheryl Sandberg sorority-style “Lean-In Circles,” at which men can help other men “Lean Back (and Relax!)” These Lean Back Boys Club meetings will be conducted during business hours at off-site cigar bars, golf courses and Hooters. A separate franchise, the Lean Back “Good Old Boys” Club, will be composed exclusively of Fortune 500 C.E.O.’s, 96 percent of whom are men. Acting as mentors, these leaders will forge a powerful pipeline, ensuring a future in which women will finally get to work twice as hard as men, and men will finally get to “Lean Back (and Relax!).”

Dan Zevin is the author of âDan Gets a Minivanâ and âThe Day I Turned Uncool.â

A:

assistant: Men, step aside and let the ladies do more of the work.