Water Cooler Open Thread 05/04/17; First Obamacare Complete Collapse; The High Cost Of Renewables; Man Eats 60 Yr Old Field Rations;

Maybe We Should Have Waited

It looks like by 2018 Iowa would have had no insurers on the Obamacare exchanges rendering the much touted program pointless.

The latest evidence of Obamacare’s implosion comes from its stunning collapse in the state of Iowa in just a matter of a few weeks.  Early last month, 2 of Iowa’s 3 remaining healthcare providers, Aetna and Wellmark, announced they would not participate in the state’s exchange in 2018.  Per Bloomberg:

Those decisions left the overwhelming majority of Iowans with just one insurance option for 2018, Medica.  That is, until today when Medica also announced that, “due to instability in the market,” they too would likely have to pull out of Iowa in 2018.  Per the Des Moines Register:

Medica’s exit is expected to leave roughly 70,000 Iowans without a single option to purchase a personal health insurance policy in 2018, even if they wanted to.  Unless a replacement carrier is found, the change also means moderate-income Iowans in most counties will not be able to use Affordable Care Act subsidies to help pay premiums for private insurance.

— Zero Hedge

If Iowa were a blue state, it might just be a good idea to let them deal with this. Iowa however doesn’t deserve a Democrat crafted disaster, nor do the other states that didn’t vote for Obama and his idiocy. It’s something to remember when thinking about the healthcare debate. We have to work towards real reform but punishing people on our side wont help us get there.

Just How Much Do Those Renewables Cost ?

Turns out the subsidies for green energy in the EU, are running roughly double to triple the cost of the actual energy from conventional sources.

This report shows the unit support levels (direct cost per MWh of supported electricity) by the main renewable technologies in 2014 and 2015. There are wide differences across technologies and across countries. For 2015, the weighted average support ranged from a minimum of 16,20 €/MWh (in Norway) to 183,82 €/MWh (in the Czech Republic), with a weighted average across 26 countries of 110,22 €/MWh. This is largely unchanged from the weighted average cost for 2014

Council Of European Energy Regulators CEER Status Review On RES Support Schemes 2017

That average subsidy is anywhere from triple the low  wholesale cost in Germany (Euro 40/MWH) to double the wholesale costs in more expensive countries. To put that in perspective the average retail cost of electricity in the us is $120/MWH so the wholesale subsidy in the EU is more than the retail cost in U.S.

The EU is welcome to go as crazy as they like, but renewable subsidies in the U.S. are nothing but wealth redistribution to tree huggers.

DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME OR ANYWHERE ELSE

This is one of the most unbelievable and astonishing things I have ever seen or even dared believe existed. Apparently there is a subculture of people that actually enjoy eating not just Army field rations, but old field rations.

Without further ado video of a man consuming a 5 man field ration from 1957

His channel also has him eating hard tack from the 1860s. I suppose if your a preper it must be reassuring to know your preserved supplies can actually last.

Quote of the Day

“Money is good for nothing unless you know the value of it by experience.”
— P. T. Barnum

Drink up That’s it for the Watercooler today. As always it’s an open thread

The post Water Cooler Open Thread 05/04/17; First Obamacare Complete Collapse; The High Cost Of Renewables; Man Eats 60 Yr Old Field Rations; appeared first on RedState.