As the Obama administration closes in on its self-imposed deadline to fix the troubled online health insurance marketplace, consumer advocates say it is becoming easier for people to sign up for coverage but insurers warn that critical flaws continue to hinder participating health plans.
Administration officials have promised that HealthCare.gov will be working smoothly for most people by Saturday and are citing evidence indicating progress toward that goal. Workers helping people sign up for coverage have noticed that the site has been running better over the past two weeks, with consumers experiencing shorter wait times and fewer crashes.
But the online system is still marred by defects that will create havoc for insurance companies if a significantly larger volume of applicants starts to sign up in coming weeks. Among them are the error-riddled reports that insurers are receiving about who has enrolled, a problem that could be disastrous if not fixed soon.
There is little room for error at this point. People seeking to take advantage of the new coverage that kicks in Jan. 1, or whose health insurance policies are being canceled at the end of the year, have until Dec. 23 to choose a plan and until Dec. 31 to pay their first month’s premium. Some congressional Democrats, uneasy about the messy rollout of the exchange, have expressed a willingness to dismantle parts of the law if problems continue.
“If they get this fixed, it’s a chapter in somebody’s book. If they don’t get this fixed, it’s a chapter in history,” said Michael O. Leavitt (R), a former Utah governor who served as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services during the tumultuous rollout of Medicare Part D, which added prescription drug coverage to Medicare. “They will need to demonstrate fairly soon that there’s improvement, or they will lose the support of their own party.”
On Friday, Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) told Minnesota Public Radio that if the Web site isn’t fixed on time, he would consider delaying the rule requiring most Americans to carry health insurance or face a fine. He joins a growing chorus of Democrats in Congress who have advocated for changes or delays to the law that could weaken it.
Administration officials contend that they are on track. By Saturday, they said, they will have doubled capacity to allow at least 50,000 users at a time without the system malfunctioning. They are also working on a new system that gives people alternate ways to sign up for coverage and get government subsidies, including going directly to insurers’ corporate Web sites.
They are also moving on to the outreach phase, which had taken a back seat as they grappled with the faulty Web site. Next week, the White House will host an insurance-oriented “youth summit” aimed at people ages 18 to 35, an age group whose participation in the health-care law will be critical to its success.
Via: Washington Post
Continue Reading....
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Tuesday, November 26, 2013
Thankful For…Obamacare?: Obama’s Campaign Group Pushing Turkey Table Talking Points For Families
There is virtually nothing that the Left isn't willing to politicize, and that includes holidays. Obama's Organizing for America is trying to make ObamaCare a part of your Thanksgiving celebration. They are encouraging Americans to discuss ObamaCare talking points around the dinner table.
There's no doubt that ObamaCare may be a point of discussion amongst families, but not for the reason Obama propagandists would like. Millions of Americans are facing the prospect of lost coverage, losing their doctors or re-working their budgets to account for the increased price of premiums. Americans may be consuming turkey this Thanksgiving, but they aren't buying OFA's ObamaCare baloney.
Do have any idea where the president is right now? He is out West, in Hollywood and elsewhere, fundraising for Democrats. With all of the troubles he is facing and a new self-imposed ObamaCare deadline looming, it's a bit absurd that this is what the president has time for. Remember last week when he couldn't attend a commemoration for the 150th anniversary for the Gettysburg address? Obama finds time for what is convenient and what he wants to do, but not necessarily for what is always best for the country.
Obama's trip out West is nothing more than an attempt to distract from the real failures of his administration. If you'll notice, he's still trying (and failing) to push immigration reform to the forefront of the conversation. The Hill points out the White House has apparently attempted to pivot – for the fifth time this year – to the economy. It notes that this is a transparent attempt to shift the focus from ObamaCare and the disastrous rollout of the exchanges.
Obama’s call to close Vatican embassy is ‘slap in the face’ to Roman Catholics
The Obama administration, in what’s been called an egregious slap in the face to the Vatican, has moved to shut down the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See — a free-standing facility — and relocate offices onto the grounds of the larger American Embassy in Italy.
The new offices will be in a separate building on the property, Breitbart reported.
And while U.S. officials are touting the relocation as a security measure that’s a cautionary reaction to last year’s attacks on America's facility in Benghazi, several former American envoys are raising the red flag.
It’s a “massive downgrade of U.S.-Vatican ties,” said former U.S. Ambassador James Nicholson in the National Catholic Reporter. “It’s turning this embassy into a stepchild of the embassy to Italy. The Holy See is a pivot point for international affairs and a major listening post for the United States, and … [it’s] an insult to American Catholics and to the Vatican.”
Via: Washington Times
Administration accused of giving unions 'special treatment' with exemption from ObamaCare fee
The Obama administration is being accused of giving labor groups "special treatment under the law" after formally proposing a change that could exempt union health plans from a pesky ObamaCare fee.
Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., who flagged the obscure rule change after it was filed in the Federal Register (see page 70), blasted the exemption as "crony capitalism at its worst."
"Unions are now experiencing the ugly reality of this law, and they want out," he said in a statement.
Indeed, the AFL-CIO has fought against what is known as the "reinsurance fee" in the Affordable Care Act. The temporary fee would kick in next year and is meant to raise $25 billion over three years, to help pay for the cost of people with pre-existing conditions signing up for coverage through the ObamaCare exchanges.
The proposal filed Monday would exempt certain self-insured plans -- those that do not use a third-party administrator for core functions -- for 2015 and 2016.
Republicans charge this is aimed at unions' so-called Taft-Hartley plans, though union officials had downplayed the change and suggested some of their plans wouldn't be eligible anyway.
[VIDEO] Kimmel: President's Visit 'Turned LA Into the Traffic Equivalent of ObamaCare'
As NewsBusters has been reporting for almost two months, the disastrous rollout of Barack Obama's signature piece of legislation has made him the butt of late night jokes.
On ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live Monday, the host repeatedly mocked the President's fundraising trip to California saying, "He basically turned the westside of Los Angeles into the traffic equivalent of the ObamaCare website" (video follows with transcript and commentary):
Via: NewsbustersJIMMY KIMMEL: This is definitely a boost for President Obama who arrived here in Los Angeles today. He's here to congratulate Taylor Swift on her American Music Awards in person. [Laughter and applause]As usual, the President’s motorcade made our normally miserable traffic even worse. He basically turned the westside of Los Angeles into the traffic equivalent of the ObamaCare website. [Laughter and applause]The President is, I guess he's here for the same reason he's usually here: to attend a few Democratic fundraisers and to go to In-N-Out burger without his wife finding out. [Laughter and applause]And I don't know what it is, but It seems like the only time the President comes to LA is for money. He’s like a college student who only comes home to do his laundry and steal leftovers from the fridge.
Continue Reading....
Mark Halperin Trolls Obamacare to Newsmax, Agrees ‘Death Panels’ Are Coming
Time magazine scribe and Obama dick-whisperer Mark Halperin took to the airwaves Monday to troll Obamacare by agreeing with Newsmax TV‘s Steve Malzberg that “death panels” (remember those?) are definitely coming, and that President Obama is a big fat liar. I’m paraphrasing, of course, but if you look a little deeper into Halperin’s puddle-shallow commentary, it sounds more like Mark Halperin supports death panels, not President Obama.
Before you consider Halperin’s commentary, it’s important to remember how the conservative media, followed by the mainstream “villager” media that Halperin represents, have tried to define down Palin’s original “death panel” claim, which was that her specific baby would be forced to “stand in front of Obama’s ‘death panel’ so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their ‘level of productivity in society,’ whether they are worthy of health care.”
There was, of course, no part of that claim that was remotely true, but the media tried its damnedest to give Palin the benefit of the doubt. Maybe she meant payment for end-of-life care counseling, which is also not a “death panel” and is already a thing, yeah, that’s the ticket. Or maybe she was referring to the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB), which the law says “shall not include any recommendation to ration health care, raise revenues or Medicare beneficiary premiums under section 1818, 1818A, or 1839, increase Medicare beneficiary cost sharing (including deductibles, coinsurance, and co-payments), or otherwise restrict benefits or modify eligibility criteria.”
Or maybe she meant transplant committees, which are also already a thing.
California high speed rail boondoggle blocked by judge
SOMEBODY FINALLY GOT IT RIGHT!!!
Continue Reading.....
California's plan to squander potentially hundreds of billions of dollars on a "high speed" rail line that would achieve average speeds no higher than railroads routinely achieved a century ago has hit a serious roadblock. Melody Gutierrez of the San Francisco Chronicle reports:
Via: American ThinkerA Sacramento judge put the brakes on California's plans to build a bullet train after dual rulings Monday blocked the sale of $8 billion in bonds and ordered the rail authority to rewrite it sfunding plans for the huge project.Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Michael Kenny ruled that there was "no evidence in the record" to support theCalifornia High-Speed Rail Authority's request in March to sell the bonds from Proposition 1A, a $10 billion measure approved by voters in 2008 that allowed the bullet train project to move ahead.In a separate but related case, the judge sided with the Kings County Board of Supervisorsand two homeowners who sued the rail agency, saying it had failed to detail how the project will be financed, as legally required, before seeking bond money to begin construction.The judge's rulings leave the future of the $68 billion project in question. The state has been trying to get the first 130-mile segment in the Central Valley built using $3.24 billion in federal funds and $2.61 billion in Prop. 1A bond money. The rail authority has already signed a construction contract to build the first 29 miles of track from Madera to Fresno.The judge rejected opponents' calls for that contract to be rescinded.
Continue Reading.....
Obama’s Traveling Circus now includes hecklers on script
For Barack Obama’s orchestrated public appearances, first came ‘The Faint’. Now it’s ‘The Heckler’.
Video exists proving that no matter how slick Obama’s act, people do not faint dead away just at the sight of ‘The One’.
The Barack Obama Traveling Circus was on full display in San Francisco at the Betty Ann Ong Chinese Recreation Center yesterday. The event, staged to promote his stalled immigration reform—complete with phony hecklers—took place on the same day it was announced that Obama gave Iran his $6-billion blessing to continue building its nuclear weapon.
“These days, President Obama even gets heckled by his supporters,” according to the New York Post.
But before shouting out “Oorah!” you should consider the convenient propaganda provided Obama by these made-to-order ‘hecklers’.
My Obamacare Cancellation - "Seething at a President I helped elect."
We received the letter in the mail a couple months ago. The good people at Regence Bluecross Blueshield were pleased to inform us that due to Obamacare, our current low monthly premium and comically high deductible medical policy would no longer exist come January 1, 2014. Pleased, because a new and better plan would be offered in its place. Old monthly premium: $578 for a family of four (non-smoking, helmet-wearing and paternally snipped). New premium: $1,123. A 94% increase.
Once the sound of boiling blood dissipated, I heard my Republican friends in my head chuckling at the sight of a liberal Democrat hoisted ten stories high on his own petard. How’s the view up there, Obamacare Ollie?
For the past 15 years my wife and I have made our living as freelance writers. (To young readers, I say: Do not do this. Your bliss is marvelous, but its following will need to be supported by a banker, plumber, union machinist or tenured faculty member.) As such, our health insurance is our own concern. Over the years we’ve held on to our coverage by letting our co-pay and deductible rise and our covered procedures fall. You may be aware that the three-tiered state exchange policies are labeled Gold, Silver, and Bronze, reflecting their price and level of coverage. If our policy still existed it would fall into the column of Wood.
But Wood we had—and Wood we liked.
No more. Okay, into the state exchange we go. I voted for it. Fair enough.
Via: New York Observer
Continue Reading....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Popular Posts
-
President Joe Biden is hiding a myriad of information on the more than 75,000 Afghans his administration has brought to the United States ...
-
A pro-amnesty group is forecasting that up to 1.76 million young illegal immigrants would get work permits under President Barack Obama’...
-
Throughout the online battles over Kim Davis, the counterfactual I’m most presented with is along the lines of the following: “You wouldn’...
-
Forcing you to bake a gay wedding cake is just the start. The gay marriage fascists are pretty resourceful when it comes to using the po...
-
Donald Trump’s net favorable rating among Republicans increased significantly over the past two weeks, putting him among the top six Republ...
-
The latest bad news about deteriorating bridges in Missouri makes us even more grateful about the pending construction of a new Missouri R...
-
As Hillary Clinton's campaign seeks to project dominance in a field that could soon include Vice President Joe Biden, her top advisers...
-
Members of the #FYF911 or #FukYoFlag and #BlackLivesMatter movements called for the lynching and hanging of white people and cops. The...
-
While President Obama works to deliver on his longtime promise to close the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba his Defense Secre...
-
Television ads that can be seen on cable news networks promoting petitions to abolish the IRS and defund Obamacare are being used by politi...