[VIDEO] Rep. McDermott (D-Wash): Jesus 'Didn't Charge Food Stamps'

(CNSNews.com) – Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.) said on MSNBC’s “PoliticsNation” Wednesday that when Jesus fed five thousand people with five loaves of bread and two fish, “he didn’t charge food stamps.”

“When Jesus had those five loaves and two fishes, he didn't charge food stamps. He didn't ask anybody how much money they had. He fed them because they were hungry, and that's really where we ought to be,” McDermott said in response to Republican critics of the SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program).

In September, the House approved a plan by Republicans to cut $39 billion in food stamps over the next 10 years. In 2009, there were 33,489,975 people on food stamps. As of Nov. 8, 2013, a total of 47,666,124 people participated in the SNAP program (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program).

“Congressman, what do your Republican congressman say to you when you tell them how much their policies are really hurting real people, real poor people?” Rev. Al Sharpton, host of “PoliticsNation,” asked McDermott.

Via: CNS News

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State rebuts Obama plan to allow old health insurance policies

SEATTLE (AP) - Washington state's insurance commissioner says President Barack Obama's proposal on old insurance policies isn't a good deal for Washington citizens.

Commissioner Mike Kreidler said Thursday he won't allow insurance companies to extend their old policies that didn't meet the requirements of federal health care reform. An estimated 290,000 Washington residents have received notices that their old insurance policies will be canceled.

"Trying to do what the president has proposed would be very disruptive to the insurance market in the sate of Washington so no, we will not be allowing insurance companies to extend these policies," he said. "You'd have to go back and re-rate all of the policies, and the premises for what they originally proposed rates would all change."

Kreidler, a Democrat, says all of them can get better coverage on the new health care exchange. He says at least half of them will qualify for a subsidy to help them pay the premium.

"I have empathy for these people, I certainly feel for them, but at the same time, people really have a chance right now to shop and compare various health plans and make some decisions that best fits themselves and their families in ways that could never do before," Kreidler said. "But if you wind up extending these current plans that are out there, you really disrupt the ability for that to happen."

When asked if he was worried his decision was going to upset those who just heard earlier in the day they could keep their insurance, Kreidler replied that having the new policies that meet minimum coverage requirements will be beneficial to them in case of a major health incident.

Via: Weekly Standard
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McDermott: Obamacare Outrage Part of Plot ‘All Fabricated to Destroy the Safety Net’

A member of the House Progressive Caucus blamed insurance companies for canceled plans and rate hikes as they try to comply with new Obamacare regulations.

Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.) hailed Obamacare as “the furthest that we’ve gotten in developing a social safety net for Americans.”

“We have unemployment insurance. We have Social Security, we have welfare programs of people who don’t have money, and now, we’re going to get a healthcare system for everybody, we’ve had one for senior citizens and for children. And the Republican establishment, the Tea Party people are bound and determined to drive us back. And they are starting with healthcare and they’re trying Social Security and they’re trying on Medicare, they simply do not want Americans to have a safety net of security,” he continued on MSNBC.

“They want them to have always to be anxious so they’ll be glad to work and keep working for minimum wage jobs and they will never have to pay many pension or anything else. That’s the whole goal of this operation. Obamacare is just one piece of it; it’s the most prominent piece of it.”

McDermott charged that “people can’t tell the difference during Fox News and the insurance companies.”

“They’re both telling lies about what’s happening. The president did not take health insurance away from them, said you could keep it if the insurance companies kept the program the same, but the insurance companies want to make more money. So they cancel the policies, raise the prices, give a few whistles and bells, and say this is what we now have. It is all fabricated to destroy the safety net,” he said.

Still, he conceded that “one of the problems here is that the insurance companies have not only had to upgrade the bad policies but they have canceled the good policies they had in the individual market and they left a lot of people in the individual market in worse sort of shape than they were before.”

Via: PJ Media

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A $15 Minimum Wage

Union organizers are counting on it big time in Washington state.

A small suburban Washington city of 27,000 has recently taken center stage in the national debate over living wages. Voters in the City of SeaTac will soon decide on Proposition 1, a ballot initiative to establish perhaps the most draconian employment standards in the nation, complete with a $15 minimum wage requirement.

Labor leaders are thrilled, and it’s not hard to see why: Labor support of Prop 1 appears to be part of a growing trend to promote union organizing through local ballot initiatives.

Though small in terms of geography and population, the City of SeaTac is economically significant because it hosts Sea-Tac International Airport and surrounding travel and hospitality businesses.

Prop 1’s roots go back to 2005, when Alaska Airlines replacedunionized baggage handlers with non-union contractors. Six years later, Unite Here Local 8, the hospitality workers union, spent historic amounts of money to successfully finance three city council elections.

Local unions are now marching in lockstep behind Prop 1. So far, labor unions have provided 95 percent of the campaign resources supporting the initiative — over $1.2 million, according to the statePublic Disclosure Commission. While the labor-backed campaign has decried the influence of “deep-pocketed greedy big corporations,” unions have outspent businesses 2-1, making Big Labor the biggest special interest in SeaTac.

Via: American Spectator

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CONSUMERS WARNED OF MISLEADING INSURANCE WEBSITES

Insurance regulators and an industry trade group warn that this month's rollout of the health insurance marketplaces created by federal law opened the door for bad actors at the same time that it gives brokers and agents a business opportunity.

New Hampshire's insurance commissioner sent a cease-and-desist letter last week to an Arizona company he accused of building a website that could mislead health care coverage shoppers into thinking it was the official New Hampshire marketplace. The site was taken down on Friday.

Regulators in Washington state and Pennsylvania also have told private agents to change websites that seemed likely to convince consumers they were connecting to government-run sites. Connecticut's insurance department warned agents and brokers this summer that it will take action against agents who mislead consumers or design sites to replicate the state-run exchange.

Via: AP

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Grocery Workers Could Strike in Washington State over Loss of Their Health-Care Plans

Obamacare Strikes Again! 30 Thousand Grocery Workers Could Strike In WA State Over Loss Of Their Healthcare Plans

Thirty-thousand workers from four major grocery chains in Washington State could be on the picket line Monday after a disagrement with management over health plans, Fox News reported today.

Safeway, Fred Meyer, QFC, and Albertson’s say they will offer health insurance only to employees working more than 30 hours a week, which is required by Obamacare. Under the current contract, workers are covered if they work at least 16 hours a week, but the companies say that costs have risen because of a new tax on their “Cadillac” medical plans in Obamacare. The United Food and Commercial Workers maintains that the move is simply a cash grab. 

These grocers aren’t the only major businesses that have cut health benefits; Home Depot and Trader Joe’s have recently cut health coverage for part-time workers. 

Via: NRO

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