obamaSCARE

"Repeal this failure before it literally kills women, kills children, kills senior citizens..." - Michele Bachmann, Chair of the Tea Party Caucus in the House of Representatives.

For every dollar spent on explaining the benefits of the Affordable Care Act, a.k.a. "ObamaCare," there are five dollars going into destroying it with mostly false information intended to misinform and raise the passions of partisans. I wanted to write this post so the naysayers can spend more - let's get them up to 7:1.

The recent delay of the employer mandate has been used as fodder for the House to cause more confusion. It is estimated that the employer mandate, which obligates large employers to provide health insurance, affects only one percent of the American workforce. Further, the delay does not prevent those same workers from benefiting from other aspects of ObamaCare. Perhaps more clear is the irony that has unfolded: Republicans who once requested a repeal are now objecting to its delay.

It is easier to discuss the recent developments by providing context to where we were, where we are, and hopefully, where we will be. Let's begin.

Insurance

The idea of insurance is to spread risk among a number of parties. You purchase a contract with a premium, to cover you in the event of a occurrence. That occurrence could be as simple as a cold or as complex as a surgery to combat cancer. The pooled risk, held by the big insurer, pays for the treatment in either case unless the contract did not provide for it. Thus, the insurance contract transfers risk. You will always pay the premium, but you may not face the illness.

For example, you may have seen movies, like "The Rainmaker," in which the insurer was sued for denying an insurance claim because it said it was not provided for under the insurance contract. Great Benefit, the insurance company in The Rainmaker, denied a child's claim for leukemia treatment because it said that "it was an experimental procedure," excluded from the insurance. Great Benefit lost, because they denied every claim regardless of the coverage, and Rudy Baylor, the child's attorney, became a hero. Also, I do not think the jurors liked John Voight too much.

Health Care Costs Increased Much Faster than Other Goods & Services

American health insurance also involves medical providers, i.e. doctors, hospitals, and clinics. When an occurrence happens, like a routine prostate exam, someone needs to provide the professional  services. The insurer has to pay the doctors for helping the patients.

Therefore, the insurer and the providers have to enter into agreements because they have to determine the costs for their medical services. In the United States, the costs for the medical services, prior to Obamacare being passed, was increasing at an alarming rate. Compared to every other industrialized nation, we were by far spending the most. Health care spending increased to 17% of GDP, 50% higher than France, the country that spent the second most.

And despite all of our spending, we ranked 38th in overall health assessments, behind Singapore, Monaco, and Cyprus. 

The uncontrollable rise in costs was caused by a number of factors, but one of the main reasons was that the providers were charging an unusually high amount for their services. A hospital visit in the United States averages at $4,267 per day compared to $1,472 in Australia, the second most expensive. 

Each and every insurer negotiates their prices with providers. With each insurer and provider seeking the best return for their respective stakeholders, the patients end up paying more. Moreover, most hospitals are rewarded when they increase growth and profit, not when they improve the quality of the health care. These incentives are not conducive to affordable care.

More Uninsured

With the increase of health costs, more people could not afford to pay for insurance, because premiums had to keep up with the price of services. This exacerbated the problem because with less people contributing to the risk pool or buying health insurance, the premiums had to increase.

Despite not having insurance, individuals still get sick and they need to get help. The uninsured resorted to Emergency Rooms for typical medical services that they needed. The state and federal governments also had to pay, which means that every taxpayer bore the negative economic consequences. But even more sad was the fact that many people went bankrupt for the simple reason that they did not have health insurance and had to undergo expensive and necessary treatment.

Enter ObamaCare

President Obama entered into office with the rational belief that the status quo was simply unacceptable. Health care costs were rising incredibly fast and it was a drain on the entire economy. ObamaCare was based on a model that worked in Massachusetts, ironically when Mitt Romney was governor.

The main component of the Affordable Care Act is the individual mandate. On January 1, 2014, every citizen must purchase health insurance or face a small penalty. This provides an incentive to enter into the pool of risk shared among other insureds.

ObamaCare also gives help to those in need. I have blogged about income inequality ad nauseum and for good reason, but ObamaCare addresses this problem by giving tax credits to those with low income so that they can purchase health insurance. This is paid for by taxing the very wealthy.

In addition to the credits, ObamaCare has also given individuals more choice. The Health Care Exchanges will be an online marketplace for consumers, which will help them consider their options. These exchanges will act like an Expedia or Travelocity. It is likely that it will significantly help get more young people get insured.

Perhaps more important, and widely unknown, is the fact that insurance companies will now have to give money back to the insureds. Over $1.1 billion was given back in the summer of 2012. Thanks to the new 80/20 rule, insurance companies must spend 80% of premiums on medical care to the insureds. This 20% cap on administrative costs will help put quality of medical care in front of profits.

Placing Politics Before The Common Good

The opponents of ObamaCare will do anything in their power to mislead and attack. The House has attempted to repeal ObamaCare approximately 40 times, without success. Well, I should be more clear... without legislative success. Speaker John Boehner was able to raise over 30 million this year for his GOP. He intends to spend billions of dollars to retain control of his position in 2014.

The bottom line: ObamaCare will help the entire country and millions of Americans because it will help slow the growth of medical costs and increase coverage. In fact, it has already slowed down costs.

The next time you hear criticism about ObamaCare, remember that someone is paying the big bucks to have you hear it.

We've made it pretty clear and I'll make it clear one more time: If the court does not strike down the entire law, the House will move to repeal what's left of it. - See more at: http://www.politicalruminations.com/john-boehner-quotes/#sthash.97XSqWbi.dpuf

We've made it pretty clear and I'll make it clear one more time: If the court does not strike down the entire law, the House will move to repeal what's left of it. - See more at: http://www.politicalruminations.com/john-boehner-quotes/#sthash.97XSqWbi.dpuf

We've made it pretty clear and I'll make it clear one more time: If the court does not strike down the entire law, the House will move to repeal what's left of it. - See more at: http://www.politicalruminations.com/john-boehner-quotes/#sthash.97XSqWbi.dpuf

Blame the "Republicans"

It was an unusually cold morning for Irvine and the grass was dewy. I woke up and walked outside to my patio and I looked at my college, UCI, in the distance. I wondered how many of my fellow students would actually vote that day. I was even more curious as to how many would vote for a Republican. When I walked back into the living room, my roommate, half-dazed, asked curiously, "Did you vote, Chris?" I replied, "Yeah. But, I do not think McCain has a chance..."
 
I use to be a registered Republican. I grew up in a conservative family, went to a conservative high school,  and associated with conservative friends. The funny thing is I never really believed in the values. My mother would always tell me with a smile, "Chrissie, if you want to be the Republican president, you are going to have to stop watching Hardball. And you better throw away those liberal books. I don't think your Republican friends will love those Michael Moore DVDs either." I would always grin and respond that I was just trying to study the other side.

The fact of the matter is that a lot of individuals use to be Republicans. There use to be a time when Republicans could advocate for a limited government without insulting 47% of the country. However, like with all things, time brings change.

The Republican party has changed dramatically. It use to be a party that could govern. It use to be a party that acknowledged that the government could do great things - a catalyst for a healthy, robust, and strong country. President Eisenhower, a Republican, implemented one of the largest government programs that created the interstate highways of today. President Nixon created the government agency that helped pave the way for cleaner air and water. Nixon happened to have also dirtied the image of the presidency, but that was after the fact.

The party has now moved so far to the right that it is unrecognizable from the time of Eisenhower or Nixon. RINOs are aware of this phenomenon.

By the way, "RINO," means "Republican In Name Only," a smear tactic that is used by the purest of Republicans to hold the party line.

Bob Dole, the 1996 Republican presidential candidate and Senate majority leader in the 1990's, lamented this much when he appeared on Fox News. He stated that the Republicans should put a sign on the door that says "closed for repairs." He wants Republicans to come up with a few positive ideas because neither Reagan or himself would feel comfortable in its membership today.

It is not only the Republicans of the past that are self-aware of its path to destruction. The College Republican National Committee came up with its own report, which found that people associate Republicans with "close-mindedness and racism." The report also undermined the core principles of the Republican leadership. The majority of young Republicans want higher taxes on the wealthy and more government spending on education. The report even summed up its economic findings with the sentence, "economic growth and opportunity cannot just be about tax cuts and spending cuts."

Everyone must be writing a report after the Republican party was handily defeated in the 2012 elections. The Republican National Committee came up with an "autopsy report" to help the party move forward onto the 2014 cycle. The subject matter of the self-funded study was that the RNC has to do a better job of reaching out to minorities and eliminating the poor messengers of its ideals. No one should have to hear about a Republican mocking the less fortunate or a Senator calling Hispanics "wetbacks."

Yet, with all of the studies, and with all of the introspection, we can expect more of the same from Republicans. They are the ones responsible for the stasis and dysfunction in Congress; and its okay, we should admit it.

Two widely-recognized independent political scientists have admitted it and they think its pertinent to a rational discussion on how we can get out of the rut. Ornstein and Mann wrote a book, which argued that: "The GOP has become an insurgent outlier in American politics. It is ideologically extreme; scornful of compromise; unmoved by conventional understanding of facts, evidence and science; and dismissive of the legitimacy of its political opposition."

They also included a football analogy. "While the Democrats may have moved from their 40-yard line to their 25, the Republicans have gone from their 40 to somewhere behind their goal post."

The week of June 3, 2013 represented the extreme attitudes of the Republican House of Representatives. The dysfunctional body failed to repeal the Affordable Care Act for the 37th time and it voted to end the DREAM executive order, which allows young immigrants to apply for a deportation deferral. Neither of the House bills had a chance to become law, yet, they voted for it anyway.

One has to wonder whether our country can recover from this partisan divide, which has stopped all reform at every level. I remain cautiously optimistic that our generation can do something about it, but something needs be done now. As other Americans walk onto their patios and look into the horizon, they all ask the same question: what does our future hold and do we have a chance? I think that we do.

The Real Scandal

Last week was not the best week for President Obama. In fact, some have called it "the worst week of his presidency."

With the President mired in three different political stories at once, conservative politicians and pundits saw the opportunity to frame the debate ahead. There was finally a chance to seize public opinion and force Obama out of the White House, or at least keep Democrats from obtaining it in 2016.

Former Governor Mike Huckabee declared that, "the president will not fill out his full term," because of the Benghazi terrorist attack and imaginary "cover-up". The former GOP presidential candidate, Michelle Bachmann also used hyperbolic language when she discussed the possibility of impeachment.

Good ol' politics; it never disappoints. Instead of using the "scandals" to learn how to improve governance, or even how to save lives in the future, our elected officials have decided to put on a circus. One cannot read a story without comparisons to Watergate or Iran-Contra.

All of the partisan politics arising out of the "scandals" did make it a bad week. A bad week for you and I - normal Americans.

Every single day that Congress and the White House fight over Benghazi, AP subpoenas, and IRS policy, we lose. Because there in fact is, a lot that needs to be done.

Did you forget that we have a broken immigration system that needs desperate attention? There are good, church-going, law-abiding individuals who are immigrants, that are ready to pay taxes and contribute to the American story.

Are we too enamored with the talks of controversy that we ignore the fact that our infrastructure is falling apart? The non-partisan American Society of Civil Engineers are ready to build and repair our D+ graded roads, bridges, pipes, and levees.

Is it really important that Benghazi talking points were misstated, or should we focus on making education more affordable? Right now, families are forced to make the decision between retirement and funding a college education.

We should be demanding votes on these important issues, but instead seem to be satisfied with political theater.

I am sure that some will argue that these novel stories are important. The Benghazi attack puts into question how we can better secure our embassies abroad. But as I have stated above, this is not about defense. It is about attacking the President. If you are one of my conservative readers, I am sure that you may have missed the fact that the GOP House cut embassy security prior to the attacks.

Or take the AP subpoenas. I would be willing to bet that the loudest critics do not even know why the Justice Department served the subpoenas in the first place. For the past few years, the Attorney General has been investigating security leaks, which have put our spies in danger overseas. Although I support the question into whether the subpoenas were properly drafted, it is perfectly legal to take such investigatory steps.

And finally the IRS scrutiny of conservative groups that applied for tax-exempt status worries me. I am politically left-of-center but it does not take a genius to know that it could set wrong precedent for the future - liberals could be next. No political group should be targeted because of its beliefs.

The discussion for campaign finance and tax reform would be helpful in the IRS story but it will not happen. The GOP has to find out whether the President knew on May 9th or May 10th that the IRS was acting imprudently, because it will show how Nixonian Obama is.

This was a bad week. But more importantly, if Americans do not pressure our elected officials to do something productive for this great nation, we will have worse weeks ahead. That is the real scandal.

The Big Fight: Austerity v. Stimulus

Americans love a good fight. We are always looking for the next confrontation, the next battle, the next argument.

Just look at our television shows: flip through MTV and you can get reruns of Jersey Shore, where roommates yell at one another and meat-heads punch walls; switch to CNN and you can watch pundits spar with words and spit with indignation. Most of our fictional shows involve lawyers arguing, or doctors fighting over surgeries.

Our political and economical arguments are based on a cultural need to take a stand against something, anything. All of our ideological differences fought over in public, via the different media outlets, now resemble a boxing ring. "In this corner, from the great state of I Think That The Government Is Evil, weighing in on almost every news story, Mr. Stereotypical Conservativvvvvvvvvve. And in the other corner, from the great state of I Am An Elitist Hippy, Mr. Stereotypical Liberaaaaaaaaal."

It is not fun to give an opinion unless everyone knows what "side" you are on, or what "party line" you will take. 

And guess what? Economics is no different. For years, the entire globe has been taking positions on whether austerity or stimulus is the better economic prescription to fight cyclical recessions.

Austerity, a favorite among conservatives, is the belief that governments have a moral and fiscal responsibility to reign in public debt lest confidence in the market is destroyed; it is far more important to balance the fiscal budget than focus on growth. It is also the belief that price stability should be given precedent over unemployment.

Stimulus, or Keynesian demand theory, is the belief that recessions are elongated by a lack of aggregate demand. When consumers, households, and businesses hold back on purchasing at the same time, it causes the economy to contract. A stimulus supporter believes that the government should increase short-term spending to boost aggregate demand.

So, what color shorts are you wearing in the ring? Whose side are you on? If you picked Austerity, you may want to reconsider.

Not only has Austerity not worked in practice, it was just discovered that the Harvard professors who touted austerity made a simple excel error, which completely changed their data and conclusions to support that an increase in public debt correlates with slower growth. Oops.

A graduate student from the University of Massachusetts found that the two professors not only forgot to include a number of developed countries but that they forgot to weigh the average of some important data. The underpinning of their whole austerity argument has now been debunked.

Now, countries have started to ease back on their draconian and arbitrary cuts. José Manuel Barroso, the European Commission President, stated that, "...socially and politically, one policy that is only seen as austerity is, of course, not sustainable." It is about time.

The UK enacted austerity five years ago and growth has slowed down to embarrassing levels. The current projected .07% GDP growth has some policymakers worried. In Spain, there is a depression, due in part to failed austerity policies. The unemployment rate has reached a new high at 27.2%. Spaniards are suffering because officials think that Spain's interest rates could skyrocket if it fails to cut back. The government fiscal decision makers also cite possible inflation problems.

All of this sounds too familiar as deficit hawks in the United States, mostly Republicans, have screamed about government spending. Instead of reaching a compromise by increasing federal revenue, by taxing the very wealthy, deficit hawks have facilitated the implementation of the Sequester cuts. We have already started to see the negative effects. And for what, price stability, lower inflation, and good interest rates?

Unemployment is more devastating and causes more misery than an increase in inflation. Researchers have found that people prefer inflation over unemployment because joblessness is more personal and depresses well-being. Furthermore, small levels of inflation have been a good monetary policy for a myriad of reasons.

Moreover, interest rates have and will continue to be low. There is no immediate danger of investors losing faith in America meeting its debt obligations. Put simply, Austerians and deficit hawks are pushing forward a plan that does not work practically or theoretically.

I like a good fight. I like winning too. That is why I encourage you to get more involved when it comes to pressuring our elected officials to reach a budget compromise. The arbitrary Sequester cuts need to stop before more damage is done. So turn off MTV, CNN, or Grey's Anatomy and let's fight the good fight. It is what Americans do best.

My Law Practice

It was not even a week after I took the bar examination that I wrote my first blog post about attending law school. My first paragraph in that August post ended with a quip - I would be lucky if anyone would read it.

Now look at my blog. It has been viewed by over 1,300 people. Yet, I still must admit that I believe some of my close family and friends are the one's responsible for that number - a rabid mouse click on the website over and over.

Nevertheless, this political and legal blog has given me an outlet to write something other than a petition for writ of habeas corpus. Do not get me wrong; I thoroughly enjoy what I do. I just find that it is therapeutic to write on a topic that does not have a court mandated deadline.

Yes, I write legal documents for a living. And argue; I can't forget that I argue for a living. But when I was thinking of a topic for my 20th blog post, I thought that I would touch upon a more personal subject. Over the course of a few months, I have been practicing law as a solo practitioner in the Los Angeles Valley. I thought that I should share some of my experiences.

Having a small law firm is not just writing and arguing. When you run your own practice, you have to become more than just an attorney. You have to think like a businessman, market like a Mad Man, and socialize like a crazy man. There are a myriad of things that a solo practitioner must do to pay the bills. Let me explain.

It was probably only a couple of days after the bar passage mania that I realized that I would have to come up with a plan. Fortunately for me, and by the blessing of God, I was working with two other attorneys as a law clerk. They believed in me and gave me work to do. With a steady stream of income coming in, I knew that I could open my own practice without having to worry about meeting my obligations. Having an office to work in also helped.

The lure of working for myself was an opportunity that I could not pass up. There is something special about being your own boss. It is also fantastic that I wear my gym shorts and Dodger t-shirt while I work from my home office. The main problem was making sure that I had clients and cases to work on. I began to work on that immediately.

With my associates providing me cases; an office; and advice, I began the process of marketing my practice. I paid for a website, wrote content, and had my beautiful fiance help me with the design. It truly was a remarkable feat when it was finally done, after having worked on it for days. That was just the website...

After creating my social media pages, I began to work on advertising and marketing. Frantic calls were made to the major legal directories that would give me an opportunity to gain more exposure. I forget how many search engine optimizers I talked to in the month of January.

With some of the basics done, I had to focus on the business of running a solo practice. I opened my business account; developed ideas for payment methods; and began the process of documenting my revenue, costs, and profit. Start-up costs were paid with the cases that I had already been working on; and luckily, from cases that I picked up from my own advertising.

Of course a solo practitioner has to "network." The 21st Century word bears new meaning. I began to attend Saturday conferences in downtown Los Angeles; marijuana defense seminars in Tarzana; and medical malpractice luncheons in Beverly Hills. I handed my card to anyone and everyone. I may have accidentally given my card to a mannequin at Versace of Beverly Hills.

It has already been a good ride. I owe a lot to Elizabeth, who has given me constant support and love. I cannot wait to marry her! And just like my blog post in August, I know it is just the beginning. I have already made mistakes and know that I may make more. I just hope that I am lucky enough to stay on the path. If not, I'll always have this blog.

Why Can't We Be Friends?

I do not have too many breaks during the day. But when I do, I try to keep myself informed of current events. Maybe it's not the best way to relax my mind while I draft a post-conviction brief, since, more often than not, I just want to get back to work. It seems the news has been the same for awhile now. Congress is dysfunctional and compromise is a thing of the past.

Social media is not much better. My conservative friends express disdain over how the President is handling things, and my liberal friends express their frustration with the majority opposition in the House of Representatives. We are deeply divided. That much has been represented by our elected officials when they accomplish little in our capital.

All of this partisanship rancor has got me thinking: how did we get here and how do we get out of it.

Believe it or not, there is strong evidence that income inequality has a direct correlation with political polarization. When there is a growing gap between the rich and poor, you can bet that there will be more ideological purists on capital hill. This bitter partisanship also undermines our national security; we have to try to do something about it.

Even with confronted with this evidence, I know that people of different political beliefs will interpret the facts differently and propose clashing policies in confronting our fiscal challenges.

Take for example, the financial news of the past week. One of our stock market indices, the Dow, reached its highest nominal amount ever in its history.

The employment numbers have also been improving. 236,000 jobs were added in February, which helped lower the unemployment rate to its lowest level since December 2008. The United States is creating wealth, but not everyone is sharing in the bliss. All of the positive gains in the economy are going to the wealthiest individuals.

Conservatives will still argue that the Government is too bloated and there needs to be "market-friendly" adjustments in the budget battles ahead. They will take the viewpoint that government dependency, via the national debt,  is the main problem in decreasing the opportunities for low and middle-income people. It would be foolish to raise taxes again so that we can spend more, they will say.

I also know that liberals, and myself, will diametrically oppose these propositions. There can still be more government intervention in a responsible way to curb income inequality. For one, we could raise taxes on the wealthiest individuals and businesses because they can afford it. There are a number of fiscal policies that can be implemented to help everyone, rich and poor.

And now we are back at square one, two political viewpoints, which cannot be bridged.

The political scientists and sociologists may be right. Perhaps we are too different in how we perceive the world and how we think society should be structured. Some psychologists think that our political differences are ingrained in our brains, while others think that the beliefs are formed when our parents raise us in a particular way. It probably is a combination of the two.

No matter the foundation for how we form our beliefs, it does not help that we seek validation from people who share our beliefs, while drowning out opposing viewpoints. A University of Kentucky study showed that people will (1) tend to make a political judgment first, and then attempt to rationalize it. (2) Next, they will search for facts that will support that judgment; and (3) attack anyone's rationale if it challenges their assumptions.

The study stated that both conservatives and liberals engage in these unconscious biases.

Our country faces unprecedented political deadlock that will hurt our economy and our national defense. Income inequality is a real problem and it could be fueling the partisan divide.

Let's do something different when it comes to political dialogue. Let's reach out with less preconceived notions. Maybe our elected officials will do the same and solve our fiscal challenges ahead.

It's time to get back to work; I hope that the next time I read the news something will be different. Maybe compromise will be the way of the future.

The Quest to End the Sequester

The 112th Congress set a record. It is not a record worthy of the Guinness Book, but it is a record that some members of Congress bragged about to their constituents. From 2010 to 2012, the "House and Senate enacted the fewest laws, considered the fewest bills and held the lowest number of formal negotiations between them."

What can one expect when the Senate minority leader declared that his number one priority was to make President Obama a one-term president. Instead of attempting to pass legislation, by compromising on on a number of crucial issues, the Republican senator made it clear that he favored ideological purity more than efficiency.

Despite making history as the least productive Congress ever in United States history, it did have the gusto to pass the Budget Control Act of 2011. The bill, also called the "Sequestration," would frame the topic of conversation months after its creation. It also gave the public a new term to refer to a manufactured political crisis, because we all know that we needed another one.

The Sequestration was an idea passed by Congress and signed by the President to enable a fiscal deal between the Democrats and Republicans. The whole point of the deal was to force mandatory spending cuts across the board, including defense, unless $1.5 trillion of agreed upon savings was realized. Economists agree that the arbitrary cuts would severely damage the economy and possibly cause another recession.

No one in Congress or the White House was supposed to want the sequester to occur. That was the plan. The effects of the sequester would damage both parties to such an extent that it would be irrational not to make a fiscal deal. It was a bad assumption that Congress would act rationally.

Like clockwork, the Republicans started their rhetoric and attacks on President Obama - the go-to liberal boogeyman, in an attempt to gain an advantage in the politics of sequestration talks. Congressman Paul Ryan stated that the sequester was "designed" by the President and that Obama showed an unwillingness to work with the Republican House to find a solution. He said this after having voted for and praising the Budget Control Act.

Speaker John Boehner also contributed to the web rhetoric by coining the Twitter hash-tag, "#Obamaquester." He must have thought the term "Obamacare" went well during the healthcare discussions.

Every single preventable political crisis that occurs has an effect on the entire economy, on ordinary Americans. Individuals from finance, business, and journalism agree that it will reduce the GDP; impede the stock markets; and cause uncertainty. If the sequester were to become a reality - money would be cut for the FBI, border patrol, hurricane relief, public parks, meat and poultry inspectors, and Head Start students. CBS's Bob Schieffer correctly pointed out that the only obstacle for a resolution is "Washington's ineptitude."

Now is the time for the public and average Americans to expect more out of their elected officials. The 113th Congress must do more than their "do-nothing" predecessors. We used to value records that meant something, records that set out individuals on a quest for greatness, not a quest for political upmanship.