Another day, another lie from the WH

Another day, another ridiculously unrealistic lie from the White House.

Last Tuesday White House spokesman Jay Carney touted Obamacare's wonders by claiming that "up to 129 million Americans who have a pre-existing condition for which they could have been denied coverage or charged more up to now are protected, because denying them coverage is prohibited beginning in 2014."

Geez, 129 million Americans have a medical condition serious enough to have made them uninsurable?  Gosh, that's 40 percent of the whole country, including kids.  Does that strike you as a reasonable number?

Let's do a little research:  In 2010, Democratic rep. Henry Waxman and the other Democrats then in control of the House Energy and Commerce Committee tried to find out how many people had been turned down for health insurance because of a pre-existing condition.  They asked the nation's four largest for-profit health insurance companies how many people they had denied coverage to in the past two years due to pre-existing conditions.

The answer was:  651,000 people.

Now admittedly that's only the four largest companies, but if insurance is typical of other industries the four biggest probably account for 40 or 50 percent of the market.  So let's say 1.4 million in two years.

That's a long damn way from 129 million.

You'd think at least ONE reporter in that entire room would have had the courage to ask Carney where he got his "129 million Americans" figure, but of course no one did.  Because they know better than to question the administration.

It's absolutely astonishing that government spokespimps lie so brazenly, so often, and not a single reporter has the courage to call 'em on it.  One pictures these so-called "journalists" as the three monkeys in those classic "hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil" poses.

I'm wondering when we'll hear some government pimp say that only two percent of the Rich pay any taxes, or something equally ridiculous.  Or that more Americans are working now than ever before.  Or that welfare fraud is at an all-time low.  Because it gets printed, unchallenged, in the NY Times and WaPo, and is then cited by liberals all over the country as truth.  And a week later 47% of the public believes it.

Attention students:  The reason I teach you how to do quick, accurate math in your head, and how to estimate the reasonableness of answers, is to spot bullshit like Carney's.  Once you can do that, you find they lie outrageously--as in, not even plausibly close--almost every week.  Because in their experience, no one can catch 'em at it.

One more point:  When Obamacare was being debated back in 2010, one of the main arguments for passing it was the provision that insurance companies wouldn't be able to deny coverage for pre-existing conditions.  Cuz that was such a huge problem: 1.4 million or so, per the data collected by Democrat Henry Waxman's committee back in 2010.  *Huge* problem.

So when 5 million Americans have had their health-insurance cancelled because the policies don't cover all the things Obamacare demands that all policies sold after X date must cover, wouldn't you think that problem would be nearly four times worse than the number denied for pre-existing conditions?

Why, not at all!  According to the administration--HHS secretary Kathleen Sebelius--5 million people is an insignificant number. "It's a relatively small number of people in the overall scheme of things," she said last month.

See, citizen, 1.4 million is a huge number--a major problem--while 5 million is "relatively small."  You just don't understand Progressive Math, under which numbers mean whatever we "progressives" say they mean--no more and no less.

But don't worry, citizen.  We can teach you how to understand this wondrous new math.