Daily Meme: If You Like This News Story, You Can Keep It

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  • Yikes. The Affordable Care Act just can't catch a break, can it. Reporters at The Washington Post say that the Healthcare.gov website is unlikely to be fixed by December.
  • Although the Obama administration is still adamant that they can get this done, armed with Red Bull and crossed fingers.
  • Here are all the Plan Bs the White House must be considering, including the dreaded "delay the mandate" last resort.
  • Vulnerable Democrats in the House and Senate are signing on to bills to modify the law so that people can keep the bad insurance plans that have been canceled under the existing legislation.
  • Bill Clinton hasn't helped much on that front.
  • Actually, he's made things much harder.
  • And, to top it all off, the former face of Obamacare has come out to fight back against the cyberbullying she's had to endure. One can only imagine that Healthcare.gov wishes it could do the same.
  • Of course, the problems with Obamacare are worst in the states that failed to set up their own exchanges, citing a need to let the federal government take care of it in the name of shrinking the federal government's influence on states.
  • And the navigators trying to help residents in these states sign up for insurance, they're the GOP's new favorite toy.
  • Meanwhile, many of the states that set up their own exchanges are doing quite well in averting complete political meltdown. Kentucky is a particularly notable example of how, in an ideal world, this program would have worked nationwide. Maryland, on the other hand, is a good reminder that we don't live in that ideal world.
  • On the Medicare end of things, Arkansas proves a good example of how conservative states can expand the low-income insurance program without needing to worry about their hearts growing three sizes too big.

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