 by Dr. Jeffrey Lant. Author's program note. On one notable occasion when my distant cousin Harold Macmillan was British Prime Minister (1957-1963) of the empire on which the sun was rapidly setting, he was stopped by a reporter on his way to Question Time in the House of Commons, an event every PM cordially detests as infra dig, an affront to their astonishing grandeur and majesty. "Sir," the clueless journalist asked. "What's the most difficult part of your job?" At this, the notoriously irascible Macmillan blew up and spat out this memorable response, "Events, man, events!" Meaning, life is what happens when you're making other plans, one of my mother's favorite insights. And so... while President Obama had expected these days to be sunning himself in the unconditional plaudits attending the October 1 roll-out of his signature health care law, he was instead being pilloried for the unexampled screw-up dished out by his own fair hand and his "gang that couldn't shoot straight", for whom inefficiency and mismanagement would be compliments. Instead, the launch was beyond embarrassment. It was awkward... a mess... rushed... incomplete... botched... amateur... flubbed... bumbled... just 248 people getting through and signing up the first 2 days; the highest of high comedy, all rolled up together. Quite simply the kind of dog's dinner no place in the world does as well as the Great Republic, past mistress of goofs of every kind and description. It's no wonder in "God we trust." We need all the help we can get, and I as Co-Founder and CEO of a successful high tech company since 1994, worldprofit.com, aim to help, too. Facing the music. As with all my articles, I have selected the most apropos of ditties for this one, namely the1961 classic "Goodbye Cruel World", words and music by Gloria Shayne, memorably warbled by that adolescent heart-throb James Darren. You'll find it in any search engine. Go now and turn up the volume on this story of unrequited love and obstructed hormones. "Oh, goodbye cruel world, I'm off to join the circus..." "Oh, oh, oh, step right up and take a look at a fool/ He's got a heart as stubborn as a mule/ C'mon everybody, he's good for a laugh/ And no one could tell his heart is broken in half." Now you're ready for... The facts. What was done. What wasn't done. Who's to blame. What must be done. In health care reform, B. Obama was handed a no-lose issue. Why am I so adamant on this point? Easy. Health care, or rather the lack of it, turned me into a bona fide revolutionary. It happened this way. I decided to move from the miseries of New England weather, specifically of the frigid seaside Massachusetts variety, and move to the heart of Dixie, namely Hillsborough, North Carolina. I was serious, too, to the extent of buying ten of the most achingly beautiful acres ever subdivided in Orange County. I hired myself an elegant architect with expansive ideas and even more expansive fees. I got a banker who lauded my classic designs, "the best I've seen in this county," and I applied to Kaiser Permanente, the state's largest insurer, to duplicate my Bay State policy which I loved and relied upon. However, when their letter arrived it blasted all my hopes and dreams. My application had been declined. Why? Because I had the temerity and unmitigated gall to have diabetes, like millions of folks do. And thus I was, to my complete incredulity and utter disbelief, uninsurable. I was angry, I was stymied, I was aghast. I was concerned and vulnerable... and from that telling moment, shared by so many millions, I was politicized, a health care and coverage revolutionary, a zealot, a man possessed. It was one of the most important incidents in a life of incidents... as perfect an illustration as you could find that God works in mysterious ways. Remember: no lose! Confronting this malignant situation, with millions either without insurance at all, inadequate insurance, or where insurance could so easily be terminated or lost with dire, even fatal consequences, Obama could easily position himself as the White Knight for universal health insurance, the man who saved his anxious and burdened countrymen, the man who saved the very soul of the nation. After all, his GOP opponents were nutters of the Tea Party fringe. Every responsible citizen, Republican or not, knew that the magic moment of the political process had arrived, where leader of destiny and issue of the greatest consequence to the greatest number were joined, 'til death do us part, damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead. It is because of such hard-earned, glorious moments as this we are reassured God still blesses America from sea to shining sea. For his opponents offered nothing better, just mindless opposition without substance, sanity, sensitivity or surcease to an issue which every other important nation on Spaceship Earth had already solved to the furthest extent of its economic resources and where the continuing failure to act was nothing less than wanton, glaring, irresponsible and indefensible. Obama was thus perfectly positioned on the high road whilst Republicans insisted on taking the low, their every move outmoded, selfish, antiquated, poisonous to the body politic and the essence that makes us Americans and reflects our very best. On this basis so-called ObamaCare moved ahead, each battle necessary, each battle hard fought, each draining, exhausting, stressful, but each a victory to be proud of. The President's health care law with its insurance mandate, subsidies for low-income people, and online marketplace (all modeled on a Massachusetts program) won narrow approval in Congress in 2010, survived a Supreme Court challenge, and failed in 2012 to become the fatal political weapon that would transfer the White House to the righteous right. It was brutal, demanding, draining, since its opponents, masters of insinuation, invective, and insolent misrepresentation, knew no bounds of any kind or money they would spend. And all that, of course, made victory the sweeter. Then the problem no one anticipated... just the way Nemesis likes it... Imagine the scene just the other day, October 1, 2013, launch day for the Great Republic's greatest program in health care and insurance. The president is there; Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius arrives, while assorted worthies tumble over themselves to watch history being made, eager to brag about what they did to achieve this moment of humanity and true national security. The computer is readied... the president hits the start button into the great and healthier future. And then... all hell breaks lose! For the only thing that worked was the incredible message on screen at HealthCare.gov, the glaring message that presaged an avalanche of finger pointing and recriminations, extraordinary even by Washington's vituperative standards. "Health Insurance Marketplace: Please wait. We have a lot of visitors on our site right now and we're working to make your experience here better. Please wait here until we send you to the login page. Thanks for your patience". Or, the alternative message, stark, pointed, hopeless, "The System is down at the moment... Please try again later." And so this fiasco has grown apace, a quagmire of incompetence, confusion and incomprehension for all the people waiting, waiting, still waiting for attention... and for all the rest of us stirred to righteous rage at how the great strength of our nation has been so mishandled and applied. Well might Secretary Sebelius, point person for the president on this historic endeavor, speak of "this debacle" It was a debacle her own stupendous ineptitude connived to make worse. See for yourself. 1) Despite its importance to all, no overall director was ever appointed for the precise and orderly transaction of essential business and computer procedures. 2) No person was ever made responsible for end-to-end testing of the system, its forms, ordering process, etc. 3) The main contractor on the project, CGI Federal, a unit of the CGI group, warned the Obama administration of assorted problems with the system. This occurred on or before September 6, a good three weeks before scheduled launch date. Appearing before congressional hearings on the matter, Sebelius denied knowing of such "problems". If she knew and didn't advise the president, she's negligent; if she didn't, she's incompetent. Take your pick. There's more, much more. About the tens of thousands of citizens whose health insurance was cancelled by the system, setting off alarums across the nation. About the accessibility of private financial records, easy pickings for hackers. About the fact that organizers, including the president, could have rescheduled (or at least recommended rescheduling) the launch until the system was completely and thoroughly tested, to the confidence of all. About the foolishness of trying to bring 35,000,000 folks into the health care system (give or take a million more or less) all at once, when a phased in approach made so much more sense. And, of course, about the knucklehead who said the system was ready when it most assuredly was not, thereby triggering this entire, appalling, chaotic situation, so humiliating for the Great Republic and its hapless president. Is any of this important? As the Austrians say, "It's serious... but not important," and I most assuredly agree. Despite everything from the rabid opposition of far too many Republicans to the infuriating, abashing, inept commencement, ObamaCare is here to stay Is it perfect? No. Does it need major tweaks (not least to the ordering and administrative processes)? Yes. But these are details, details... for even the avoidable ineptitude of its creators cannot now stop this program and the health care which will benefit so many. Thus, the Right Honorable Barrack, despite his lack of involvement and oversight of his marquee program, will not have to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue in a clown costume, singing the song made famous by James Darren, "Well, the joke's on me, I'm off to join the circus/ Oh, Mr. Barnum, save a place for me." After all, the real circus isn't Barnum's. It's the one being run from the Oval Office... whoever the president may be... and we all know it. |
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