Day: October 24, 2013

Categories
ObamaCare Politics

Report: 700,000 Applications Already Submitted For ObamaCare

About 700,000 applications have been submitted for U.S. healthcare coverage being offered through new exchanges created by President Barack Obama’s healthcare law, a U.S. official said on Thursday.

The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released the number during an update for journalists about the healthcare marketplace, which has had a rocky rollout since enrollment in the new plans began on Oct 1.

The U.S. government is operating the healthcare.gov website, which has been plagued by technical problems since the outset and is the portal for 36 states; the remaining states are operating their own online marketplaces. The nearly 700,000 applications are the total from both the state- and federally-run exchanges, Julie Bataille, a CMS spokeswoman, said on the media call.

Applications for at least 390,000 people have been completed through the state-run exchanges, according to a Reuters tally of state reports.

Completed applications mean that the applicants received a determination about whether they are eligible for tax credits or the Medicaid program for low-income Americans. Applicants have not necessarily chosen a plan.

While some states have released numbers for people who have enrolled in plans, Bataille said she did not have that figure, but that CMS would release it monthly.

The Congressional Budget Office estimated earlier this year that 7 million people would buy the new private plans offered by state exchanges for coverage next year.

 

Categories
Politics

Two Koch Brothers Operations Fined in California

Two groups that are part of a conservative political network maintained by billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch have agreed to a record $1 million civil settlement with the California Fair Political Practices Commission, the largest campaign fine in state history.

The Center to Protect Patient Rights and Americans for Responsible Leadership, two Arizona-based groups that have funneled money to various arms of the Koch operation, will pay the fine for their role in financing ballot initiative campaigns in California in 2012.

The groups sent $11 million to campaigns opposing Proposition 30, which raised the California sales tax and income tax; and supporting Proposition 32, which would have limited political contributions by way of payroll deductions. Proposition 30, which had backing from Gov. Jerry Brown (D), passed. Proposition 32, which took aim at labor unions’ political power, failed.

The FPPC and California Attorney General Kamala Harris (D) filed suit against Americans for Responsible Leadership over the source of the contributions. ARL said the money had come from Americans for Job Security, another Koch brothers operation, and CPPR; ARL then passed the money on to the Small Business Action Committee, a California-based independent expenditure committee.

An investigation found another $4 million contribution from CPPR to another California-based committee. Neither contribution was properly reported, and under state law, the receiving committees will have to turn that cash — more than $15 million in all — over to the California general fund.

“This is a nationwide issue. These groups exploit loopholes in state law to undermine the clear purpose of the law,” Ann Ravel, the chairwoman of the FPPC and an incoming member of the Federal Election Commission, said at a Thursday press conference. “They hid the names of the true donors.”

Categories
Politics

Named: Pete Sessions Told Obama – “I cannot even stand to look at you.”

Pete Sessions

It is being widely reported that Republican Congressman Pete Sessions was behind yet another blatant remark disrespecting the President of the United States.

According to reports, Sessions made the statement during a meeting at the White House when President Obama was trying to find an end to the GOP government shutdown. The statement, disclosed first by Democratic Congressman Dick Durbin, claims that the Republican congressman told the president, “I cannot even stand to look at you.”

From Durbin’s Facebook page:

“Many Republicans searching for something to say in defense of the disastrous shutdown strategy will say President Obama just doesn’t try hard enough to communicate with Republicans. But in a “negotiation” meeting with the president, one GOP House Leader told the president: “I cannot even stand to look at you.” What are the chances of an honest conversation with someone who has just said something so disrespectful?”

Of course, Sessions is denying the story. And the White House is claiming that it never happened. Asked to clarify the events of the meeting, White House spokesman Jay Carney said;

“I looked into this and spoke with somebody who was in that meeting and it did not happen.”

Who to believe? I’ll believe Mr Durbin, not because he’s a Democrat, but because the congressman is known and respected among his peers as a no nonsense kind of guy. Also because Mr Durbin’s recollection is supported by others familiar with the meeting.

Senator Harry Reid not only corroborated Durbin’s story, he went one step further, pointing fingers and naming names.

According to the Huffington Post, Reid told the caucus about the incident on Tuesday and named Sessions. Reid also told the caucus that he was “sorry” to have to tell them about it… but gave Obama credit for his “dignified” response to Sessions. Reid reportedly told the caucus that Obama responded to Sessions by saying he understood that they disagreed on many issues and he respected their differences.

Just another example of the disrespect this particular president is getting from the Republicans.  And, according to Harry Reid, Mr. Obama still maintains his respect for his haters.

Categories
Blame Republicans Politics

Howard Dean – Republicans Should Take Some Blame for Blotchy Obamacare Site

Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean (D) contended Thursday that Republicans deserve some of the blame for the Affordable Care Act’s bumpy rollout.

The former Democratic National Committee chair and 2004 presidential aspirant told the panel on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that Republicans “delayed” the law considerably, which he said has contributed to the problematic launch. Dean also said that the 36 states that did not set up their own health exchanges should have been divied up into four or five different regions, to avoid relying on one single source. 

“I think it’s a problem, I think the fundamental mistake that was made — well, first of all, in fairness you gotta blame the Republicans for some of this because they delayed everything they possibly could, threw as many monkey wrenches into the process as they could, and there’s some success here,” Dean said.

“But the truth is, what the Obama administration should have done is divide the 36 states that are on the federal exchange up into four or five regions, do it the way the government does health care. And then put each of these regions out to bid, so you don’t have one single contractor who, if they screw up, screws up the whole system, which is what’s happened.”

He added that the Obama administration was forced to set up a single federal marketplace “because the Republican governors refused to accept exchanges.

“The states with exchanges are doing pretty well,” he said. “There’s some glitches. They’re not big. A lot of people are gonna be able to get their insurance in the 14 states that have their own exchanges.”

Co-host Willie Geist asked Dean if he was really blaming the GOP for the glitches that have troubled the federal exchange website, HealthCare.gov.

“Well, not directly, but they did slow the process down considerably and that time does make a difference in the website,” Dean said. “I think the fundamental flaw was not having multiple districts and multiple bidders and multiple contractors working on this because then what you could have done if one contractor screwed up, as this one clearly has, you could actually just use a different exchange in a different region.”

Categories
Politics

George Zimmerman Gets Away Again

George Zimmerman won’t face criminal charges in connection with a dispute last month with his estranged wife and a dispute over some items missing from his in-laws’ home.

Officer Zach Hudson said Wednesday that investigators had concluded the domestic dispute didn’t rise to criminal charges.

Shellie Zimmerman told police that her husband had made threatening remarks toward her about having a gun about a week after she filed for divorce.

She also said her estranged husband had punched her father in the nose and smashed her iPad in the Sept. 9 incident at a Lake Mary, Florida, home owned by Shellie Zimmerman’s parents.

Her parents had later accused George Zimmerman of taking a flat-screen television worth $2,800, leather theater seats worth $3,000, a king-sized bed and some other items from the home he and Shellie Zimmerman had rented while he stood trial for second-degree murder and manslaughter.

Investigators did not file charges in that case, either.

Categories
occupy wall street Politics

Disgraced Pepper Spraying Cop gets $38,000 Award

The former University of California, Davis police officer who made national headlines in 2011 after he pepper-sprayed Occupy protesters has reached a worker’s compensation settlement worth nearly $40,000.

A judge on October 16 approved the $38,000 settlement between John Pike and the University of California.

The 40-year-old former officer said he suffered depression and anxiety after death threats were sent to him and his family over the November 18, 2011, incident.

University spokesman Andy Fell said the case was resolved in accordance with state laws.

Video of then-campus Lt Pike dousing peaceful protesters seated on the ground with pepper spray went viral online.

His address and other personal information were posted online afterward by the hacking group Anonymous, and he received scores of death threats.

Pike was fired in July 2012 after eight months of paid administrative leave.

The images of Pike unleashing an orange chemical cloud on the heads of students became a rallying symbol for the Occupy Wall Street movement

Categories
Politics

Americans Need Jobs. Meanwhile, Republicans Are Investigating The Obamacare Website

Emboldened by the intense public criticism surrounding the rollout of the online insurance exchange, Republicans in Congress are refocusing their efforts from denying funds for the health care law to investigating it, the New York Times is reporting.

In changing tactics, Republicans hope to tamp down the continuing public criticism of their previously fruitless attack on the Affordable Care Act, one that led to a 16-day government shutdown, by focusing on the problems with the law that they say they have warned the nation about, unheeded, for three years.

“I think the biggest part of Congress’s job is to provide proper oversight of the executive branch of government,” Speaker John A. Boehner said Wednesday at a news conference. “And when it comes to Obamacare, clearly there is an awful lot that needs to be held accountable.”

Beginning Thursday, the House will hold the first of a series of hearings across multiple committees to examine the problems with the troubled Web site, as well as the law’s exemption and waiver components, and the problems that some consumers are having accessing their doctors through the program.

The Energy and Commerce Committee will hold the first hearings, including one with Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of health and human services, next week. The Ways and Means and oversight committees are expected to follow.

“What we’re trying to figure out,” said Representative Fred Upton, Republican of Michigan and chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, “is how did all this taxpayer money get wasted and what is their remedy?”

What I’m trying to figure out is, who is going to investigate the Republican Government Shutdown, and the $25 billion loss to the American taxpayers. That’s what I wanna know.

Categories
Politics twitter White House

White House Pulls Undercover Stunt to Find Twitter Leaker

Inside the National Security Council, most officials aren’t allowed to use or even look at Twitter, the popular social-networking service.

But that didn’t stop some of President Obama’s top advisers from trying to identify the person responsible for @natsecwonk, an anonymous Twitter account that published a steady stream of personal and sometimes offensive attacks on White House and State Department officials.

Three weeks ago, the group hatched a plan to trick the suspected NSC staffer into revealing himself. They would intentionally plant inaccurate, but harmless, information with him to see if it would pop up as a 140-character tweet, according to a U.S. official with knowledge of the effort.

It is not clear whether the sting led directly to the unmasking last week of Jofi Joseph, 40, who was identified as the creative force behind @natsecwonk and was fired from his position on the administration’s Iran negotiations team. But the lengths to which White House officials went to find Joseph reveal how much of an embarrassment his Twitter feed had become inside the West Wing and across the street at the stately Eisenhower Executive Office Building, where Joseph worked alongside his NSC colleagues while secretly skewering them online.

“It was like they were hunting for bin Laden in a cave and he was right in the belly of the beast all along ,” said a former NSC official who worked with Joseph, marveling that he was able to keep his identity secret for over two years.

“We talked about it from time to time in the hallways, ‘Did you see what @natsecwonk posted?’ ” said this former official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal operations. “He probably heard people walking around saying things about the account.”

Joseph said in a statement Wednesday that “I deeply regret violating the trust and confidence placed in me.”

“What started out as an intended parody account of DC culture developed over time into a series of inappropriate and mean-spirited comments,” the statement continued. “I bear complete responsibility for this affair and I sincerely apologize to everyone I insulted.”

White House press secretary Jay Carney confirmed Wednesday that Joseph no longer worked for the administration, but he declined to discuss specifics.

Exit mobile version