States Struggle to Draw Interest in Obamacare Health Plans

Obamacare’s rollout has become a punch line for late-night comedians, Saturday Night Live, and the Country Music Awards, which all noted that only six people enrolled in the federal health exchange’s website on its first day.

But the federal exchange isn’t the only part of the health law that’s suffering. Several states and the District of Columbia don’t even break double digits within the first month. Some examples:

• Delaware is off to a slow start with only four state residents enrolling in Obamacare health plans. Four community groups in the state received $4 million in federal tax money to promote the exchange.
• North Carolina has managed to get one enrollee, but officials admit that the person has not paid—suggesting a “payment re-direct option” on the government servers isn’t working. The state is also confronting a “scammer,” who was trying to obtain personal information using an insurer’s name.
• Oregon has yet to enroll anyone on its exchange website, which still doesn’t work. The state hired 400 temporary workers to process paper applications.
• The District of Columbia enrolled only five people in its insurance exchange

Even Maryland’s health exchange, considered a model for state exchanges, has had a slow and troubled start. One example is Maryland resident Brian Shaffer, one of millions of Americans who lost his current coverage because it didn’t comply with Obamacare. He was denied several times from buying new insurance on the state exchange because the state wouldn’t verify his citizenship.

According to WJLA ABC7, Shaffer—who has researched his U.S. family history back to the Mayflower—faxed his driver’s license and birth certificate twice but the state said it needed more proof.

“I believe it’s just sheer stupidity,” he told WJLA.

Via: The Foundry

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Networks Favor Romney '47%' 13-1 Over Obama 'Redistribution'

In a clear sign of where their heart lies, the Big Three TV networks, by a whopping 13 to 1 margin, devoted much more coverage to Mitt Romney's month's old "47 percent" secret video than to President Obama's 14-year-old but just discovered wealth "redistribution" audio.

Over the three days this week that they hit the media, network morning shows and evening news devoted one hour, 28 minutes, 23 seconds to the Romney tape over 42 stories and just six minutes, 28 seconds over eight stories to the Obama clip.

And even if the timeline is shortened to the Tuesday night release of the Obama audio, the ratio is 10-1, according to an analysis provided to Secrets from conservative media watchdog Media Research Center.

And their analysis doesn't include Thursday night's NBC Saturday Night Live Weekend Update hit on the 47 percent tape or print coverage of the comments that NBC News anchor Brian Williams suggested was a "game changer" in the election still stuck at 47 percent to 47 percent according to Gallup.

"The double-standard within just one week of the news cycle is staggering. A surreptitiously taken video of Mitt Romney published by leftist magazine Mother Jones outpaced coverage of an Obama tape at a public event by a 10 to 1 ratio. It has to be asked if the scenarios were reversed and it was a hidden camera video of Obama published by the conservative National Review would the liberal media have reacted as excitedly?" asked MRC.

MRC collected some of the media's characterization of the Romney video that suggested it would doom his campaign:

"The media's furor over the Romney tape began on Monday night, September 17, when NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams teased viewers about Romney comments that he promised will 'raise eyebrows when heard.' By Tuesday morning the Big Three journalists were in full attack mode against Romney. ABC's Amy Robach, on Good Morning America, exclaimed: 'New bombshell rocking the Mitt Romney campaign.' ABC's George Stephanopoulos wondered where Romney's comments would 'register on the Richter Scale?' Later that evening, on ABC's World News, anchor Diane Sawyer joined her colleague in the tectonic imagery as she told viewers of the 'political earthquake that occurred on a seismic day' for the campaign."

Via: The Washington Examiner

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