Video: Personal Story about Obamacare; plus Other Responses to State of the Union

A few thoughts on the president’s State of the Union address (text and video at Politico) earlier this week:

• Within the first few minutes of the speech, he wanted to take credit for cutting the deficit (as well as for other things that have happened very much despite, rather than because of, his best efforts—oil production, anyone?):  “Our deficits — cut by more than half.”  Then, just a few minutes later, he decried “last year’s severe cuts to priorities like education.”  (He also decried “the damage done by last year’s cuts to basic research”.)  As I observed three years ago, he can’t have it both ways.

Video: Meet the Little Sisters of the Poor (Victims of the Obamacare HHS Mandate)

Further to our efforts to reach people with personal stories they can relate to, please enjoy and consider sharing this short video by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cdfn0Wiywk4&list=PL02D02B9A144182DB

Hat tip to Kathryn Jean Lopez, who provides extensive background here.

AMA Supports Obamacare, but Doctors Don’t Support AMA

Good to know:  Matt Rodgers of Well-spent Journey, in “‘Primum non Nocere’ and the Affordable Care Act” at Liberty without Apologies, points out that the American Medical Association’s membership includes only “somewhere in the neighbourhood of 15% of practising US doctors” (not including the “Up to a third” of AMA members who “don’t pay the full $420 annual dues, including medical students and residents”).  (The source is an article from the Canadian Medical Association Journal as reprinted on the Web site of the U. S. government’s National Center for Biotechnology Information.)  This is useful to know when you hear any remaining supporters of Obamacare argue that the AMA supported or supports the law.  It doesn’t mean that American doctors in general support the law.

My Personal Experience: Obamacare Just Made My Job Situation Even Worse

A few weeks ago, I had to take a minimum-wage seasonal job (which, the job market still being what it is, is now my minimum-wage non-seasonal job).  This week, my co-workers and I learned that we’re all going to be cut to part time, to comply with the Affordable Care Act.

The new law will require my employer to provide health insurance for any employees who work more than 29 hours a week.  Employers who can’t afford to pay more money for the same amount of work will instead have to cut employees’ hours.  Our former, mutually beneficial arrangements with our employer will now be against the law.