This Is Not A Referendum!

Do as the MSM and White House are doing, and say to yourself over and over "the election results in Virginia and New Jersey are not a referendum on Barack Obama or the Democrats". Just keep saying it, at some point you'll believe it, they do.

The truth is Barack Obama & Company spent a lot of time in New Jersey trying to save John Corzine from his record. Tim Kaine, the head of the DNC is the outgoing governor of Virginia, and the GOP took his seat, and a few others in the state. The NY Times and Washington Post will undoubtedly repeat the party line that these aren't referendums on the Democrats, they are.

The party line is that the "Obama coalition" didn't show up to vote in those elections. The young, and people of color chose to stay home, even though Obama showed up five times in New Jersey to beg to come out and vote and make a difference. That is somewhat of a referendum on President Obama's staying power. He's not as new and cool as he was last year.

Add to that fact that the ballots were pretty much stuffed with white guys who are career politicians, and you have a recipe for not getting out the youth vote, or the minority vote. This is something that the Democrats will have to keep in mind for the 2010 mid-term elections.

New York's 23rd Congressional District did go to the Democrats. I'm not sure that is a true indicator of anything though, since the "GOP" candidate dropped out Saturday and endorsed the Democratic candidate, leaving Doug Hoffman of the Conservative Party out on his own. The State GOP can blame themselves for that loss, though. They put up a candidate as a Republican who's farther left than many Democrats, and wonder why she didn't poll well and couldn't raise money.

Another interesting tidbit, Maine it was thought, would be one of the first states to pass a Gay Marriage ballot referendum, and instead it wend down. This didn't surprise me. Maine has an independent streak as a state, but generally runs a little bit to the right. They elect moderate republicans to the Senate all the time. So the idea that this didn't fly up there shouldn't be a surprise to anyone, except the folks that thought the 2008 elections mean the entire country shifted to the left.

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Good Reading on Insurance Reform

The Wall Street Journal does what most local papers and other national media outlet's haven't been concerning President Obama's newest phrase "Health Insurance Reform"; they point out the facts, in two different editorials.

The first "The Truth About Health Insurance" points out something I did a few days ago, the reforms wanted by the administration won't save you money, they'll just drive your insurer out of business and cost you MORE!

They point out that New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts all have both guaranteed issue insurance laws (you have to sell a policy to anyone, even with pre-existing conditions) and Community Based Ratings (can't use a pre-existing condition to set premiums). Not surprisingly, those are the three most expensive states to by individual health insurance in. In fact, rates are two to three times higher than the rest of the country.

Evidently "fairness" only works one way in those states. It's more fair to require no wait insurance for the folks who get sick and need it now. Unfortunately the rest of the insured end up paying for them to be covered.

The second piece you should read is by John Mackey, CEO and co-founder of Whole Foods. They've reformed their insurance program, and save both the company and employees money. "The Whole Foods Alternative to ObamaCare" lays out how they've done it, and why even their Canadian and British employees, with goverment provided health care want into the system.

The biggest reform they enacted? They turned employees into true consumers of health care. They actually shop around for services and treatments instead of just going to whatever doctor or clinic someone recommends.

They use a high deductible ($2500) policy paid for by the company and a Health Savings Acount, with another $1800 from company. The HSA rolls over each year, so if it's not spent, they don't lose the cash, and can save for a catastrophic event.

What they've found is the employees don't use the HSA money up every year to cover the deductibles, they instead do spend out of pocket for smaller expenses, and end up shopping and saving themselves money.

Mackey has some other great ideas on how to actually bend the curve down, as the President would like to do, but the CBO has pointed out, ObamaCare won't. Check out his ideas.

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