Feds ask Blue Cross Blue Shield not to release exchange numbers

FARGO – The Obama administration asked North Dakota’s largest health insurer not to publicize how many people have signed up for health insurance through a new online exchange, a company official says.

During a Monday forum in Fargo for people interested in signing up for coverage via the exchange, James Nichol of Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota told the crowd his company received the request from the federal government earlier Monday. Nichol is a consumer sales manager for the company.

Still, a spokeswoman from Blue Cross Blue Shield says about 14 North Dakotans have signed up for coverage since the federal exchange went live Oct. 1. That brings total statewide enrollment to 20 – less than one a day.

Spokeswoman Andrea Dinneen said Tuesday that while Blue Cross generally does not release its internal sales numbers, it has in this case because the problematic rollout of the federal health care exchange is a “unique situation.”

Dinneen said she didn’t have any information about the directive that Nichol referenced Monday night.

An official from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, one of the main the federal agencies handling the federal marketplace, would not directly address questions about the request made of Blue Cross Blue Shield, including whether other insurers were also asked to keep quiet about enrollment.

Representatives from the two other North Dakota companies offering coverage on the federal exchange – Medica and Sanford Health – said they had not received similar directions.

Via: InForum

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North Dakota's other big money-making opportunity

A handful of counties in North Dakota are churning out more oil and gas than the entire state of Alaska. Welcome to the Bakken, the jewel of The Rough Rider State.

But a look beyond the drillers working the state's Bakken field reveals many players who see another opportunity: building North Dakota's infrastructure.

In May, environmental nonprofit group Ceres released a report that drillers in the Bakken are flaring—or burning off—more than $100 million in natural gas a month. That's nearly one-third of all the gas drilled in the region, and it's a figure that has tripled in the past three years. The practice is so prolific that NASA says astronauts can see the region's flares from space.

(Read more: Good news: Gas prices are falling)

The problem? While drilling in the Bakken has increased the nation's supply of natural gas, the buildout of the pipelines that transport it has not been able to keep up. Drillers with a glut of gas are left with two options: release their excess supply into the atmosphere untreated or burn it off. They typically choose the latter.

It's not an option that the drillers like. Burning product is essentially burning money. Last week, North Dakota's mineral rights holders launched a series of class action lawsuits against the state's biggest drillers over the lost revenue.

Some pipeline builders have sensed an opportunity. Earlier this month, Energy Transfer Equity agreed to buy PVR Partners for $3.8 billion, while Crestwood Midstream announced a $750 million deal to buy privately held Arrow Midstream Holdings. Crestwood will become one of the biggest processors in the Bakken after the deal. 

Via: CNBC

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Ryan: Sebelius' Refusal to Testify Raises Questions

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius' refusal to testify on Obamacare before the House Budget Committee is "raising serious questions" about the administration's "commitment to transparency and accountability," committee Chairman Paul Ryan says. 

The Wisconsin Republican, who has called on Sebelius to resign, planned to send a letter to Sebelius Wednesday asking for her cooperation. But it won't be his first written request to the secretary, reports Politico, which obtained a copy of his latest letter on Tuesday. 

Ryan said he plans to release several letters dating back to Aug. 15 that will show a pattern of Sebelius refusing to testify before his committee on the progress of implementing the healthcare reform law.

“Your continued silence on these important inquiries after refusing to testify raises serious questions about the administration’s commitment to transparency and accountability," Ryan tells Sebelius in his latest letter.

In the Aug. 15 letter, he asked her to appear before his committee on Sept. 11, but her staff said she was unavailable, reports Fox News. 

A week later, on Aug. 22, Ryan asked her for an organizational chart of Obamacare implementation efforts, offices involved, number of full-time employees working on it, and all relevant spending items. 

Via: Newsmax

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Emails: White House, State Department coordinated with journalist on national security leaks

White House and State Department officials cooperated extensively on background with a New York Times journalist during the period that he broke confidential national security information in a series of leaks that prompted outrage from lawmakers, according to unearthed 2011 and 2012 emails.

The nonprofit organization Freedom Watch, which obtained the internal State Department emails through a Freedom of Information Act request, believes that the Obama administration carried out the leaks to bolster a tough image for itself on Iran.

Then-Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs Michael Hammer and other State Department employees arranged background interviews between New York Times chief Washington correspondent David Sanger and State Department officials between December 2011 and March 2012 for Sanger’s 2012 book “Confront and Conceal: Obama’s Secret Wars and Surprising Use of American Power.”

Sanger’s book included leaks of confidential national security information, including details of the computer worm Stuxnet that was used in a cyberattack against Iran. Sanger linked the worm to a U.S.-Israeli intelligence operation called “Operation Olympic Games” in a June 2012 New York Times article.

White House officials, including then-National Security Advisor Tom Donilon, began cooperating with Sanger before December 12, 2011.

“Yes, WH is cooperating, he has spent time with Donilon, others. They know he is looking to meet up with HRC and support,” Hammer wrote to his colleague Phillippe Reines in a December 12, 2011 email with the subject line “RE: Sanger.”

“Madam President, over the past few months there has been a disturbing stream of articles in the media and common among them, they cite elite, classified, or highly sensitive information in what appears to be a broader effort by the administration to paint a portrait of the President of the United States as a strong leader onnational security issues–information for which there is no legitimate reason whatsoever to believe should be in the public domain,” Sen. John McCain said, according to June 5, 2012 transcripts of the Senate record.

“What price did the administration apparently pay to proliferate such a Presidential persona-highly valued in an election year? Access. Access to senior administration officials who appear to have served as anonymous sources divulging extremely sensitive military and intelligence information and operations,” McCain said. “With the leaks that these articles were based on, our enemies now know much more than they did the day before they came out about important aspects of our Nation’s unconventional offensive capabilities and how we use them.”

Via: The Daily Caller

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[VIDEO] Waxman Claims Private Sector Responsible for Obamacare Glitches

BY: Washington Free Beacon Staff
October 22, 2013 3:08 pm

Rep. Henry Waxman (D., Calif.) blamed the private contractors retained by HHS to build and administer healthcare.gov for the website’s extensive glitches Tuesday on MSNBC.

Waxman said Secretary of Health & Human Services Kathleen Sebelius was not aware of all of the “technicalities” pertaining to the Obamacare website and thus should not be held responsible for its failure.

“She’s done a terrific job,” Waxman said, “I have a great deal of confidence in her.”

The private sector, according to Waxman, failed to live up to their contractual obligations “even with all of the money they got.”

The California congressman suggested that if “anyone’s head should roll, it should be the contractors who didn’t live up to their contractual responsibilities”:

KIRSTEN WELKER: Congressman, just very quickly, yes or no, should Secretary Sebelius keep her job?

HENRY WAXMAN: Absolutely. There’s no reason for her not to continue on as secretary. She’s done a terrific job. I have a great deal of confidence in her. She doesn’t know about all technicalities. That was contracted out to the private sector, the private sector with all the money they got couldn’t get it. If anybody’s head should roll, it should be the contractors who didn’t live up to their contractual responsibilities.

However, Waxman failed to mention that HHS selected CGI Federal to produce healthcare.gov and is fully responsible for ensuring the competency of their contractors.

Waxman’s inept attempt to deflect blame from Sebelius comes amid increasing calls for the HHS secretary to resign:

Full interview:

Via: WFB

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Stop enforcing border laws, say progressives

The federal government should stop deporting illegal immigrants, and should instead create a pan-American zone where Latinos can freely migrate into the United States, says Arturo Carmona, the director of Presente.org, a grassroots Latino organization.

Polls show that Americans are in favor of letting the 11 million illegal immigrants stay, so there’s no point in deporting them, he told The Daily Caller.

Besides, the deportations are an insult to all Latinos, he suggested. “It makes no rational sense to treat a population with such indignity,” said Carmona, a longtime community activist who was picked in January 2012 to head the organization, which claims 250,000 members.

Carmona’s group doesn’t distinguish between the 11 million illegal immigrants and the 30 million legal immigrants in the country.

“Millions of immigrants [are] suffering under the boot of terrible and failed immigration policies of the past five years … [which has led to] the destruction of families of immigrants” because of deportations, said an Oct. 18 statement from Carmona’s group.

Carmona’s group is extreme, but it has the same worldview as the more prominent progressives based in Washington D.C., said Mark Krikorian, the director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which wants to reduce the current annual inflow of 1 million people.

“I wish [Presente.org was covered] more in the media because they’re pretty hard core… they’re more of a loose cannon and are willing to say what the [D.C.-based] progressives want, without couching it in comfortable fluff,” he told TheDC.

“I don’t think the [progressives] disagree with [Carmona] in any way,” he said.

Via: Daily Caller
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Obama using Obamacare meltdown to raise cash

President Barack Obama is using the disastrous crash of his Obamacare website to extract cash and volunteer hours from his supporters.

“By now, you’ve probably heard that the website has not worked as smoothly as it was supposed to,” Obama told his supporters in an email sent out late Tuesday.

“That’s why I need your help,” he said, in a video pitch that links to an online fundraiser.

“The other side has already spent a whopping $400 million in anti-Obamacare TV ads,” says the language on the fundraiser site. “We don’t have to beat that, but we need to have the resources to fight back. Make a donation to support OFA today.”

The video illustrates Obama’s eagerness and ability to convert even the most awkward policy setbacks into high-profile political campaigns that can help his progressive coalition. The money may be used to support Obamacare, but it likely will also be used to help Obama wage his next election campaign — the 2014 midterm election.

In the video, Obama also offers his supporters a psychological reward for joining “Team Obamacare.”

“I’m asking you to be part of Team Obamacare… I’m asking you to help tell you friends, families, coworkers, classmates, neighbors and anyone else what the Affordable Care Act can mean for them,” he said.

“Remember, nobody ever expected this would be easy — change never is… [but] I’m absolutely confident that we will finish the job of making health care in the country not just a privilege for a fortunate few, but a right for all Americans to enjoy,” he insisted.

Via: Daily Caller

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[CARTOON] NSA Email Snooping

Via: California Political Review

'Despicable, Demeaning, Disgusting': Lt. Col. Allen West Slams Rep. Alan Grayson Over KKK/Tea Party Comparison

Former Congressman Allen B. West, R-Fla., appeared on Tuesday's Kelly File to discuss the controversial use of Ku Klux Klan imagery by Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Fla.

Grayson used the image of a burning cross to represent the "T" in Tea Party, and has continued to stand by his message.

West called on President Barack Obama, NAACP president Benjamin Todd Jealous and other leaders to condemn Grayson's actions:

Via: The Kelly Files

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Rasmussen Poll: McAuliffe 50, Cuccinelli 33

Terry McAuliffe has a 17-point lead over Ken Cuccinelli in the Virginia governor's race, according to a new poll from Rasmussen. McAuliffe, the Democrat, enjoys his largest lead yet in the race with 50 percent of the vote, while Republican Cuccinelli has 33 percent. The Libertarian candidate, Robert Sarvis, has eight percent support.

KATE WELLINGHAM/GAGE SKIDMORE

The Rasmussen survey of 1,000 likely Virginia voters is the latest to show a significant lead for McAuliffe and comes after the end of the federal government shutdown. The McAuliffe campaign has run ads in Northern Virginia, the populous area of the state surrounding the nation's capital and home to thousands of federal workers, linking Cuccinelli to Republicans like Ted Cruz who helped bring about the shutdown. And at an event in Northern Virginia Monday afternoon, Cuccinelli didn't answer how he would have voted on the legislative deal that ended the stalemate if he were in Congress.

"I don't know whether I would have voted for it," he said.

The Virginia state elections are in two weeks.

Via: Weekly Standard

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Online Insurance Brokers Stymied Selling Obamacare Policies

Consumers aren't the only ones frustrated by problems with the online health insurance exchanges being run by the feds.

Private companies that sell health insurance on the Internet are also in a bind. Websites like eHealthInsurance.com that were planning to start selling new, subsidized Obamacare policies on Oct. 1 still can't offer them to customers.

Call operators answer phones on the first day of Obamacare at an eHealthInsurance Services Inc. call center in Sacramento, California, U.S., on Tuesday, Oct. 1 2013. (Photo by Ken James/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

First off, the online brokers got a late start. They didn't get permission to sell exchange plans until late July. And the companies say they got plan information data too late to test it sufficiently. The Obama administration declined to comment on the nature of the problems that have the online brokers stuck.

eHealthInsurance.com has been selling health coverage online since 1999. Then, the Affordable Care Act passed and the federal government said it was going to open online insurance shopping sites. Gary Lauer, CEO of eHealth, the company behind the site, fought long and hard for the right for private firms like his to compete. The government finally relented.

But at this point, many consumers still can't shop for these plans on commercial sites, and Lauer says he has no firm date for when they'll be able to.

"I hope in the next few weeks, and I've been saying that for the past couple of weeks," Lauer says. "We're somewhat dependent on this federal exchange working in a stable fashion."

Via: Kaiser Health News

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