1 in 4 Obamacare enrollments affected by technical bugs

IF THIS WERE AMAZON, THEY WOULD BE OUT OF BUSINESS!!!

After refusing for weeks to detail the extent of back-end problems withhealthcare.gov, the Obama administration on Friday said a technical bug affected approximately 25 percent of enrollments on the federal exchanges in October and November.

Those technical bugs, separate from the troubles consumers had experienced accessing information on the website during the first two months, are posing a significant new problem for those who signed up and are expecting insurance coverage come Jan. 1.

One in four of those applications either did not get transferred to insurers, were transferred in duplicate form, or had major errors in information shared.

Insurers are supposed to receive the 834 Forms from healthcare.gov. The forms, meant to be read by computers, provide insurers with information on enrollees and what plan they have chosen. Without the information, insurers have no way of knowing who has signed up on theObamacare exchanges and what coverage they need.

A spokesman for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on Friday suggested that the only way those who enrolled in October and November can be sure they will be covered in January is by paying their insurance bill and contacting their insurer to confirm their standing.

“I would certainly encourage any consumer that has a question of their insurance choice to contact the insurance company of their choice to get additional information,” CMS spokeswoman Julie Bataille told reporters Friday.

Bataille said CMS, along with the outside firm QSSI, is working furiously to fix the back-end problems, and has succeeded in reducing the number of erroneous 834 Form communications to insurers to 10 percent of all applications.

Via: Washington Examiner

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White House gives wind farms pass on killing endangered eagles

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration said Friday it will allow some companies to kill or injure bald and golden eagles for up to 30 years without penalty, an effort to spur development and investment in green energy while balancing its environmental consequences.

The change, requested by the wind energy industry, will provide legal protection for the lifespan of wind farms and other projects for which companies obtain a permit and make efforts to avoid killing the birds.

An investigation by The Associated Press earlier this year documented the illegal killing of eagles around wind farms, the Obama administration's reluctance to prosecute such cases and its willingness to help keep the scope of the eagle deaths secret. The White House has championed wind power, a pollution-free energy intended to ease global warming, as a cornerstone of President Barack Obama's energy plan.

In other areas, too, such as the government's support for corn-based ethanol to reduce U.S. dependence on gasoline, the White House has allowed the green industry to do not-so-green things. Another AP investigation recently showed that ethanol has proven far more damaging to the environment than politicians promised and much worse than the government admits today.

Via: CBS

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[VIDEO] Obamacare “Strike Team” Member: People Losing Their Plans Is A “Good Thing”

From the newly formed Obamabot special ops team.

Via: Weasel Zippers

Military watchdog to re-open probe of $34M facility built in Afghanistan but never used

The independent auditor who postponed a probe into a $34 million "white elephant" of a military facility the Pentagon built in Afghanistan over objections from top leaders is reopening his investigation.

Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction John Sopko delayed his initial probe last summer, after the Pentagon vowed to investigate why millions were apparently wasted on the hulking headquarters at Camp Leatherneck in southwestern Afghanistan. But Sopko said defense officials have not addressed concerns he initially raised, leaving him no choice but to restart his inquiry.

“Following delivery of my July letter, I was advised that an investigation into the facts and circumstances surrounding construction of the building was ongoing, and upon its completion answers to my questions would be forthcoming,” Sopko wrote Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel and other military heads. “Accordingly, I delayed my investigation of this matter assuming a speedy and fulsome review by your staff.”

But all Sopko said he ever got from the Pentagon was documents regarding an Army probe of the 64,000-square-foot building, which he said "raises additional questions, and has prompted my decision to restart SIGAR’s investigation.”

Via: Fox News

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Obama administration knew of key Obamacare delay in August, emails say

House Republicans released emails Friday that suggest the Obama administration knew as early as August that the small-business exchange tied to Obamacare would not be ready on time.

“Despite this knowledge, the Obama administration waited to finalize the delay until November 27, as Americans across the country were off celebrating Thanksgiving with their loved ones,” the Energy and Commerce Committee said in a press release.

The emails from between July 26 and Aug. 13 suggested the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services knew the federal insurance marketplace, or SHOP, that assists firms of less than 50 workers would not be available until mid-November at best. But they said at the time it would be ready Oct. 1 and did not announce any type of delay until late September.

One email from the lead vendor, CGI Federal, suggested a timeline that started with webinars on Oct. 1 and ended with the SHOP portal going live on Nov. 15.

“Can we sign this with blood?” Henry Chao, the project manager at CMS, wrote back.

Last week, the administration announced a one-year delay of the SHOP feature.

“As the paper trail broadens, we see more and more evidence that the administration was fully aware its signature health care law was not ready for prime time,” Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton, Michigan Repbulican, said. “The documents we are now reviewing tell a much, much different story than what officials testified to Congress.”

Via: Washington Times

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The Minimum Wage and the Rise of the Machines

After you heard President Obama’s call for a hike in the minimum wage, you probably wondered the same thing I did: Was Obama sent from the future by Skynet to prepare humanity for its ultimate dominion by robots?

But just in case the question didn’t occur to you, let me explain. On Tuesday, the day before Obama called for an increase in the minimum wage, the restaurant chain Applebee’s announced that it will install iPad-like tablets at every table. Chili’s already made this move earlier this year. 

With these consoles customers will be able to order their meals and pay their checks without dealing with a waiter or waitress. Both companies insist that they won’t be changing their staffing levels, but if you’ve read any science fiction, you know that’s what the masterminds of every robot takeover say: “We’re here to help. We’re not a threat.”

But the fact is, the tablets are a threat. In 2011, Annie Lowrey wrote about the burgeoning tablet-as-waiter business. She focused on a startup firm called E La Carte, which makes a table tablet called Presto. “Each console goes for $100 per month. If a restaurant serves meals eight hours a day, seven days a week, it works out to 42 cents per hour per table — making the Presto cheaper than even the very cheapest waiter. Moreover, no manager needs to train it, replace it if it quits, or offer it sick days. And it doesn’t forget to take off the cheese, walk off for 20 minutes, or accidentally offend with small talk, either.”

Via: NRO

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Anatomy of shutdown: How collapse of governing led to closing of D.C.'s WW II memorial BY DAVID LIGHTMAN

WASHINGTON — The World War II veterans from Mississippi’s Gulf Coast had been planning their trip to Washington’s World War II memorial since the spring.

On Oct. 1, at 7 a.m., the 91 veterans boarded a US Airways charter at Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport, bound for the nation’s capital.

They flew into a media firestorm.

Their buses pulled up to a memorial surrounded by metal barricades, closed as part of the partial federal-government shutdown. A handful of congressmen and senators awaited them, many accusing President Barack Obama of coldly ordering the memorial closed just to show the human toll of a shutdown driven by Republicans. All of it played out for the TV cameras.

In fact, the decisions that put the memorial at risk of being closed were made at key points months earlier, not just in the week the government shut down. More than a single flash point in a partisan clash, the closing of the war memorial serves as a case study in the collapse of governing in Washington.

Today, little has been resolved. The shutdown ended with a temporary spending pact that will expire soon. Congressional negotiators have until next Friday to craft a federal budget before money runs out again on Jan. 15. Even if they forge an agreement, it probably will be an affirmation of the new reality of lurching from crisis to crisis, not a return to the deliberative process of deciding spending item by item.

Via: McClatchyDC

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Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/12/06/210737/anatomy-of-shutdown-how-collapse.html#storylink=cpy

We Bet You Haven't Heard This About Obamacare

Another push is underway to raise the minimum wage. But what you probably haven’t heard is that Obamacare has already done that.

The plan on the table in Congress would raise the federal minimum wage above $10 an hour (which is higher than all existing state rates). Obamacare’s mandate on employers, however, is already scheduled to raise the hourly cost of hiring a full-time worker past $10 an hour.

>>> See how much Obamacare adds to labor costs in your state

The idea behind a minimum wage is to help low-income workers. But Obamacare’s mandates will hurt the job prospects of these very workers—and raising the federal minimum wage would further limit the number of jobs available.

Combining federal (or state) minimum wage rates, payroll taxes, unemployment insurance taxes, and soon Obamacare’s employer mandate, employing a worker full-time will cost a minimum of $10.30 an hour. The government has made hiring more costly without raising workers’ pay.

Unfortunately, this will make entry-level jobs harder to get. And these jobs are important. For the majority, they are stepping stones to higher pay and higher-skilled positions. As Heritage’s James Sherk and Patrick Tyrrell explain:

Two-thirds of minimum wage workers earn raises within a year. Entry-level jobs pay off in the long run for many workers. But if Congress adds a minimum-wage hike to the Obamacare mandate, many employees will never get that chance.

Of course, companies with 50 or more employees can avoid Obamacare’s mandate by cutting workers’ hours below 30 hours per week. An increasing number of employers announced plans to do exactly that before the Administration delayed the mandate a year. Fewer hours is not a good outcome for workers.

Via: The Foundry

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[VIDEO] Cotton Invites Obama To Visit Arkansan Obamacare Victims

Congressman Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) released a video Friday inviting President Obama to visit those who have been negatively affected in Arkansas.

“This week, President Obama announced a 23-day PR blitz to tout his signature program, Obamacare. I’d like to invite the President to bring his Obamacare roadshow to Arkansas, so he can see firsthand the devastating effects the law is having on Americans who live outside Washington DC.”

Cotton listed a number of demographics that have been hurt by Obamacare in his state: 50,000 families who have lost their insurance plans; workers who have been laid off or had their hours cut; families with higher premiums and deductibles; and seniors who have seen their doctor dropped from Medicare or their insurance network.

“The President can meet with them if had the courage to come to Arkansas,” Cotton said.

Cotton also referenced Sen. Mark Pryor, the Congressman’s Democratic opponent in the state’s Senate race, saying Pryor has called Obamacare good for America and an “amazing success story”. “Obamacare is not working,” Cotton asserted, “and it’s time for the President and Senator Pryor to admit it.”

Pryor and Cotton are currently neck-and-neck in recent polling.

Via: WFB

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Obama dismisses IRS targeting of conservatives: ‘They’ve got a list, and suddenly everybody’s outraged’

President Obama rejected the notion that the IRS’ targeting of Tea Party groups was illegal — or even improper — during his interview with MSNBC’s Chris Matthews on Thursday.

Obama was at American University to sell his flailing healthcare law to the young people upon which the insurance exchanges heavily rely. As promised, Matthews allowed him to make his pitch with no tough questions or pushback.

But the interview became interesting when the Hardball host asked why Americans were growing increasingly skeptical of government. Obama noted that the media never seems interested in government success stories. “When we do things right, they don’t get a lot of attention,” he said.

OBAMA: That’s not — that’s not something that’s reported about. If, on the other hand, you’ve got an office in Cincinnati, in the IRS office that — I think, for bureaucratic reasons, is trying to streamline what is a difficult law to interpret about whether a nonprofit is actually a political organization deserves a tax exempt agency. And they’ve got a list, and suddenly everybody’s outraged.

MATTHEWS: 501(c)(4) is tricky to begin with, how to define it.

OBAMA: To begin with.

The president even appeared annoyed that liberal commentators once dared to challenge him on the point:

OBAMA: And by the way, Chris, I’ll point out that there are some so-called progressives and, you know, perceived to be liberal commentators who during that week were just as outraged at the possibility that these folks, you know, had — had been, you know, at the direction of — the Democratic Party, in some way — discriminated against these folks.

One of those so-called progressives was Obama himself, who in May called the targeting of conservative groups “outrageous” and “something that people are properly concerned about.” (Related: Obama steps up criticism of IRS targeting)

Also in May, the Obama Justice Department pledged to investigate the targeting of conservative groups by the IRS. As of last week, none of the affected groups had been contacted by any federal investigators. (Related: Federal investigators still not contacting conservative groups targeted by IRS)

President Obama later passed blame for his failures onto his cabinet agencies — claiming that “somebody somewhere at this very moment is screwing something up” — and repeated the nauseating platitude that “government’s not somebody else. Government’s us.”

Via: Daily Caller

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Next up: Obamacare worst-case scenario?

Enrollment surge or no enrollment surge, the next Obamacare challenge is a big one: How will the White House make sure all those people with canceled policies get new coverage by Jan. 1?

At the rate the signups are going — even with the speedier, newly functioning Obamacare website — the administration has a vast distance to travel before the estimated 4 to 5 million people with canceled policies get new health coverage.

In fact, health care experts say, it’s not out of the question that the Obama administration could face the worst-case scenario on Jan. 1: the number of uninsured Americans actually goes up.

(Also on POLITICO: White House aims to build on HealthCare.gov’s numbers)

That’s a long shot, and there are plenty of reasons why it might not happen, since there are other ways those people could replace their health coverage, like signing up directly with insurers. Not all of the policies will expire in December. And even if the ranks of the uninsured did increase, it could be such a brief event that no one would ever be able to confirm it.

But even with all the variables, one thing is for certain: the Obama administration has one seriously long road to travel from the signups it has now to the number who will likely need to replace their coverage. That’s a bad place to be, given that the point of the law was to cover more people, not fewer people.

Via: Politico

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Jeremy Scahill: Obama WH Doesn’t Want Journalists, It Wants Fawning ‘State Media’ Like MSNBC

Jeremy Scahill, a national security journalist joining a new independent media venture with Glenn Greenwald, talked about the British parliamentary hearing over the Guardian‘s NSA scoops on Democracy Now! Thursday, and ended up going after the Obama White House’s hostility to adversarial journalism, mixed with their preference for friendly “state media” outlets like MSNBC.

Reacting to the Guardian hearing, Scahill said, “There is a war on journalism right now.” He mockedPresident Obama‘s claims of being the most transparent administration in history, while at the same time cracking down on journalists left and right, “trying to compel journalists to testify against their sources,” and prosecuting more whistleblowers than any other previous administration.

The United States, thankfully, has a First Amendment, but Scahill argued that contrary to what the Constitution says about a free and honest press, the Obama White House, like others before it, acts rather hostile to any critical media outlet.

“It’s the responsibility of journalists and journalism at large to hold them accountable. But this White House, like Bush before, Bushes before, they seem to want only state media. They want everything to look like MSNBC. And that’s not real journalism.”

Whether or not he did it intentionally, Scahill’s comments come on the very day Obama is sitting down for a long, wide-ranging interview with MSNBC’s Chris Matthews. So… yeah.

Via: Mediaite.co

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