Wyden may even be more out to lunch than Merkley.

[MarAzul]

I put the same questions to him as I did Merkley, especially the one about the tax on self-insured employers which insure their retirees and dependents producing revenue and why did you think it would produce revenue?

He failed to even attempt and answer too, but wtf is this about Cover Oregon??? Last I heard
that failed to cover a single person, not one! Isn't this what the State is suing the contractor over?



Dear Mr. MarAzul:

Thank you for contacting me about your health insurance coverage. I appreciate hearing from you on this very important and personal issue, and I apologize for the delay in my response.

As a result of the Affordable Care Act, folks enrolling in health care coverage today are able to enjoy the most robust consumer protections in our country’s history. Insurers are no longer able to deny individuals health care coverage or kick them off their plan because they get sick. Lifetime and arbitrary annual limits have also been eliminated. Because of the Affordable Care Act fewer Americans will be forced to make the choice between further treatment and bankruptcy.

While these changes have improved the overall quality of health care plans available to Oregonians, there are individuals and families whose health insurance policies were not continued in 2014 because they did not meet the minimum coverage requirements now in place. I know that for many of those folks it has been difficult to find and enroll in a new health plan. In order to make sure that you find the plan that best fits your needs I recommend using Cover Oregon as a resource to find information on available plans. While individuals are not able to enroll through the Cover Oregon website, the website does provide valuable information about available tax credits and other various health care plans offered on the marketplace.

Open enrollment for 2014 coverage is over and the next open enrollment period will begin on November 15, 2014, however, you may still have options to get health coverage. If you qualify for a Special Enrollment Period you can still buy coverage through the Marketplace. Below is a list of resources you can use to help you navigate the process;

To compare plans offered on the Cover Oregon exchange, please visit: https://www.coveroregon.com/individual/browse/medical

I want you to know that as Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee I am committed to building on the progress made by the Affordable Care Act and putting in place common sense reforms to bring down the cost of health care for all Oregonians. Thank you again for taking the time to share your experience with me. If I may be of further assistance to you in this or any other matter, please do not hesitate to contact me.


Dammit Senator, my healthcare costs were zero before you fucked it up. Now I don't know what the hell I have.

 

[barfo]

Dear Mr. MarAzul,
tl;dr

Sincerely,
Every politician you write to.


barfo

 

[PapaG]

Dear Mr. MarAzul,
tl;dr

Sincerely,
Every politician you write to.


barfo

The most truthful thing you've written here, ever.

 

[The_Lillard_King]

Cover Oregon could be Kitzhaber downfall.

 

[PapaG]

Cover Oregon could be Kitzhaber downfall.

It's Oracle's fault, even though Oracle successfully implemented web exchanges for other states. Larry Ellison hates Oregon!!

 

[Denny Crane]

Dear Mr. MarAzul,
tl;dr

Sincerely,
Every politician you write to.


barfo

Have you ever seen a short winded politician?

Next!

 

[barfo]

Have you ever seen a short winded politician?

Next!

You may have misunderstood my message...

barfo

 

[Denny Crane]

You may have misunderstood my message...

barfo

MarAzul's post was 2 small paragraphs followed by a bunch of hot air from the politician.

 

[barfo]

MarAzul's post was 2 small paragraphs followed by a bunch of hot air from the politician.

I wasn't talking about his post.

barfo

 

[Denny Crane]

I wasn't talking about his post.

barfo

Mindlessly rambling I see.

 

[PapaG]

Mindlessly rambling I see.

This surprises you?

 

[barfo]

Mindlessly rambling I see.

Sorry you can't follow. I'll draw you a diagram in the morning.

barfo

 

[Eastoff]

He failed to even attempt and answer too, but wtf is this about Cover Oregon??? Last I heard
that failed to cover a single person, not one! Isn't this what the State is suing the contractor over?

You heard wrong. The WEBSITE failed, but they received thousands of hand written applications.

 

[Eastoff]

MarAzul's post was 2 small paragraphs followed by a bunch of hot air from the politician.

We don't see the letter that MarAzul wrote the senator. But Barfo is implying the Senator doesn't care what MarAzul wrote, and is just giving him a vague response. Barfo is mocking the senator.

 

[Denny Crane]

We don't see the letter that MarAzul wrote the senator. But Barfo is implying the Senator doesn't care what MarAzul wrote, and is just giving him a vague response. Barfo is mocking the senator.

Merkley should be mocked.

 

[barfo]

Here's the way I see it. MarAzul gets out his typewriter and fires off a long, incoherent, inconsistent message to a politician. Some pimply-faced intern in the mailroom receives it, scans it just long enough to see a keyword like 'healthcare','insurance', or 'Obamacare'. He then puts it in the 'healthcare' pile, and another intern mails everyone in that pile a boilerplate letter that was written by a recent college graduate now working as a junior staffer.

The senator himself might get a summary like 'we got 500 letters this month, 300 of them were about bengazi, 100 were about healthcare, and 100 were death threats', and he probably doesn't bother to read the summary. Otherwise, the senator is unaware of either MarAzul's letter or the response 'he' sent.

barfo

 

[Denny Crane]

Merkley works for MarAzul.

He wrote him and got back a steaming pile of you-know-what in response.

 

[barfo]

Merkley works for MarAzul.

He wrote him and got back a steaming pile of you-know-what in response.

I'm gonna guess here that the steaming piles went in both directions.
And Merkley works for what, 3 million of us? It's a waste of MY tax dollars to have him (or rather his staff) spend time on MarAzul's rants.

barfo

 

[Natebishop3]

Merkley no longer works for me. I sent him a pink slip.

 

[barfo]

Merkley no longer works for me. I sent him a pink slip.

Did you include pink panties?

barfo

 

[Natebishop3]

Did you include pink panties?

barfo

I sent him some tighty whiteys that were left in the washer with a red t-shirt. Does that count?

 

[Denny Crane]

I'm gonna guess here that the steaming piles went in both directions.
And Merkley works for what, 3 million of us? It's a waste of MY tax dollars to have him (or rather his staff) spend time on MarAzul's rants.

barfo

I'm going to guess MA's letter is a concerned citizen contacting his representative.

It's a waste of tax dollars when he "does his job." It is literally $trillions cheaper to have him answer letters .

 

[MarAzul]

The original text sent to Wyden, Merkley and DeFazio for those interested.
None of the three return a any response at all to the questions asked. I sort of expect
an attempt at a cogent response.


Senator,

The justification for the Affordable Care Act places a lot of blame on insurance companies the reasons people do not have coverage.

Why are Insurance companies the scape goat?

43% of Americans (61% of non Medicare) get their health insurance from an employer that is self insured.

About 15% are on Medicaid.

Nearly 14% are on Medicare.

Almost 4% are in military health care.

About 9% buy private health care insurance.

Around 10% are uninsured citizens.

About 5% are uninsured aliens.

Many of the self insured plans are administered by an insurance company but the employer has the final say on major decisions.

It seems correcting what insurance companies do or don't do can't be the whole problem since they actually cover a minor percentage of the population.

Why tax the employers for the health insurance they provide? Why put the existing coverage in jeopardy with this tax?

Do you expect this tax to produce revenue? Why do you expect this tax to produce revenue?

Regards,
MarAzul

 

[barfo]

The original text sent to Wyden, Merkley and DeFazio for those interested.
None of the three return a any response at all to the questions asked. I sort of expect
an attempt at a cogent response.

Why would you expect that? Don't you realize there are thousands of MarAzul's out there writing angry missives to their congresspeople? Do you really support an expansion of government so that each of them can get a personalized response to their grievances? If that did happen, would you then write an angry letter to your representatives complaining about that waste of taxpayer money?

barfo

 

[Denny Crane]

Why would you expect that? Don't you realize there are thousands of MarAzul's out there writing angry missives to their congresspeople? Do you really support an expansion of government so that each of them can get a personalized response to their grievances? If that did happen, would you then write an angry letter to your representatives complaining about that waste of taxpayer money?

barfo

Surely if we spend more money on government, everyone will be so happy they won't write angry missives to their congresspeople. Right?

 

[SlyPokerDog]

I like Wyden, I think he does the people of New York a great service as their third senator.

 

[SlyPokerDog]

I like Wyden, I think he does the people of New York a great service as their third senator.

Since no one has brought it up, Wyden is married to the owner of the Strand Bookstore in NY. http://www.strandbooks.com/ They have twin boys and the kids go to school in NY. Wife and kids primary residence is in NY. Not sure about the last couple of years but in years past he spent more time in NY then he did in Oregon.

That said he does seem to work harder in DC than most other politicians and he has been the most vocal about the NSA bullshit.

 

[MarAzul]

I like Wyden, I think he does the people of New York a great service as their third senator.

You are a kind and generous man Sly, I never found a damn thing to like about Wyden, I see in his write up he has a blurb about Wayne Morse being his mentor. I heard him say this stuff once and my thoughts are Bull Crap, he is not Wayne Morse.

I liked Wayne Morse, even the Republican turned Democrat Wayne Morse. The guy was alway against bull shit no matter which party he was in.

This little copy from wikipedia give a bit of the style of Mr Morse. Wyden has none of it.
"Wayne Lyman Morse (October 20, 1900 – July 22, 1974) was a politician and attorney from Oregon, United States, known for his proclivity for opposing his parties' leadership, and specifically for his opposition to the Vietnam War on constitutional grounds.

Born in Madison, Wisconsin, and educated at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Minnesota Law School, Morse moved to Oregon in 1930 and began teaching at the University of Oregon School of Law. During World War II he was elected to the United States Senate as a Republican; he became an Independent after Dwight D. Eisenhower's election to the presidency in 1952. While an independent, he set a record for performing the second longest one-person filibuster in the history of the Senate. Morse joined the Democratic Party in 1955, and was reelected twice while a member of that party.

Morse made a brief run for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination in 1960. A few years later, Morse was one of only two senators who opposed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which authorized the president to take military action in Vietnam without a declaration of war. He continued to speak out against the war in the ensuing years, and lost his 1968 bid for reelection to Bob Packwood, who criticized his strong opposition to the war. Morse made two more bids for reelection to the Senate before his death in 1974."

I never received a bull crap answer, like I get from these current incumbents, from Wayne Morse or Mark Hatfield. But then I knew Hatfield, he took my secretary with him to Washington when he was elected to the Senate. Damn Guy!!