Tuesday 8 October 2013 / Hour 1, Block C: Victor Davis Hanson, Hoover, in re: Silicon Valley on the ACA website: CoverCalifornia, the state site, says that 16,000 household apps are moving through the system; The thousands of phone calls had a 30-minute wait. Cal has highest poverty rate in the nation – one-third of our population. This is ground zero – Silicon Valley created all the historical software – and if it doesn’t work here, with the technology, the blue state, and the impoverished population, where will it work? We have an enormous number of clinics for poor people so there’s no incentive to sign up; I think that people just won’t sign up. We have six or seven million illegal immigrants who won’t care to enter all their information. The real story is daily anecdotal information. One person’s health plan went from $700 too $1,300. Companies are just jacking up rates. Why would young people sign up for this? They’re in great health. One of my children, twenty-something, works part-time in various jobs; can get a catastrophic plan for $150/mo. GOP erred in trying to defund ACA by a resolution – can’t do it. Needed to delay for ne year the individual mandate, wd have got support from Dems, esp Joe Manchin. Also needed to save ammo for the debt ceiling. No one likes the medical device tax or Congressional staff exemptions – GOP damaged itself strategically. People not aware that the medical device tax includes cochlear implants and cardiac pacemakers.
