Defying the ACA

After the house passed a bill that essentially legally does what King Numbnutts did in a press conference, the king’s lapdogs at the Ft. Wayne Journal Gazette ran this headline;  “House OKs sale of  plans that defy law”

Defy the law?  Hmm, that’s not right.  So I sent the JG a primmer on how things are supposed to work.

Re: Saturday Nov 16, 2013 headline “House OKs sale of plans that defy health law.”

First, how on Earth does a bill passed in one house of congress that repeals or redefines existing law “defy” that law?  To quote Schoolhouse Rock, it’s “just a bill.”  The JG should know, the house bill “defies” nothing until passed through the senate and signed into law by the president.    Even then, it doesn’t “defy” the old law.  It simply becomes the law.

Next, the only one to defy the ACA law is the president.  The president did this first when he and his HHS issued more than a thousand waivers from the onerous effects of the president’s signature law as pay back to their political cronies.   The president “defied” the law again when, for purely political reasons, he unilaterally delayed the employer mandate required by law.  The president “defied” the law a third time when he single-handedly declared that congress, their staffers, the White House and their staffers would receive a 75% stipend for healthcare irrespective of what the law requires.  On Thursday last, the president “defied” the law again when he recommended that insurance companies ignore the law with regard to “grandfathered” policies.

Last, what happened to the JG’s praise for bipartisanship?  39 Democrats voted for the Upton bill.  That makes it the most bipartisan piece of legislation to come out of either house concerning the national embarrassment that is Obamacare.  Did the JG consider the accurate headline:  House OKs short-term bipartisan fix to ACA?

Aside:  Wake up!  The blatant editorializing in a front page headline leaves one to wonder if it was a purposeful act or if the JG just doesn’t know the meaning of the words it uses or worse yet doesn’t know how our republican form of government is supposed to work.  My guess is that it’s a bit of all three.