Flashback: Sebelius Called For A ‘Single Payer System Eventually’

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid isn’t the only high-profile Democrat who has suggested the United States will eventually transition to a single payer health care system.

The Nevada lawmaker generated headlines Friday for predicting that President Obama’s health-care law is the first step to phasing out insurance-based health care.

In 2007, while governor of Kansas, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius stated flatly in a speech at Harvard: “I’m all for a single payer system eventually.”

What’s not clear is how Sebelius actually thinks about the issue today. As she transitioned from governor to leader of the agency that oversees the country’s health-care laws, Sebelius has argued the opposite.

Asked during a congressional hearing in June if she supports a single payer system, Sebelius responded: “No sir. I supported the concept that you build the gap in coverage based on private insurers.”

During the health care debate in 2009, Sebelius argued Obamacare was not a “trojan horse.”

“This is not a trick,” Sebelius said then. “This is not single-payer.”

Via: Daily Caller

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Hill aides can quietly stay off health exchanges

Obamacare is, once again, turning Capitol Hill upside down.

Congressional offices this week have been forced into a frenzied, late-hour scramble to decide which of their staffers will be pushed onto the District of Columbia’s health insurance exchanges and which will be able to keep their current health insurance plans.

Under rules created in the wake of Obamacare’s implementation, House and Senate personal office staffers — dubbed “official office” aides by the House administrative office — are supposed to get their health insurance through D.C.’s health insurance exchange. Committee and leadership staffers — labeled “official staff” — are allowed to keep their current health insurance plan, which is administered by the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program.

(Also on POLITICO: Republican senators put aides on exchanges)

But like many things on Capitol Hill, there’s a wrinkle: Members of the House and Senate may quietly allow their aides to stay off the exchange, and keep their current plan.

“It seems too cute,” said Rep. Jeff Denham (R-Calif.) of the news. Denham is putting all his staff on the exchanges.

In what members of both parties said was a surprise, guidance on Tuesday from the chief administrative officer of the House said lawmakers could privately designate personal office aides as not “official,” meaning they do not have to go on the exchange and could keep their current plan. Similarly, House lawmakers can decide that their committee and leadership staffers need to go on D.C.’s exchanges.

Via: Politico

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FACT CHECK: SEBELIUS MISSTATES LAW ON SIGNUP START

  

Misstating the health care law she is responsible for administering, Kathleen Sebelius has asserted that the law required health insurance sign-ups to start Oct. 1, whether the system was ready or not. In fact, the decision when to launch the sign-up website was hers.

The troubled debut of the government's health insurance enrollment website has raised questions about whether its start date should have been delayed to allow testing and repairs before it went live. Asked last week whether that might have been the wiser course, Sebelius, the health and human services secretary, said that wasn't possible because the law required an Oct. 1 launch.

In a visit to a community health center in Austin, Texas, on Friday, Sebelius acknowledged more testing would have been preferable. "In an ideal world there would have been a lot more testing, but we did not have the luxury of that and the law said the go-time was Oct. 1," she said.

But the law imposed no legal requirement to open the website Oct 1. The law says only that the enrollment period shall be "as determined by the secretary." The launch date was set not in the law, but in regulations her department had issued. Agencies routinely allow themselves flexibility on self-imposed deadlines.

Via: Breitbart

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First Lady Michelle Obama To Give Keynote Address At Disney’s ‘Veterans Institute’ Workshop On November 14

Complimentary ‘Veterans Institute’ program is designed to encourage and support hiring of military veterans Disney will share expertise from its ‘Heroes Work Here’ initiative with other companies to help them build their own veteran-hiring programs

Burbank, Calif. and Lake Buena Vista, Fla. – First Lady Michelle Obama will give the keynote address at Disney’s first-ever Veterans Institute workshop on November 14, 2013 at Walt Disney World Resort. Building on its successful Heroes Work Here initiative to hire, train and support military veterans, Disney is hosting the free Veterans Institute workshop to inspire other companies to employ servicemen and women transitioning to the private sector.

The First Lady has made supporting military families and U.S. troops a top priority. In 2011 Mrs. Obama and Dr. Jill Biden launched Joining Forces, an initiative dedicated to connecting servicemen and women, veterans, and military spouses with the resources they need to find jobs at home. Through this initiative, Mrs. Obama and Dr. Biden have met with military families, learned about their successes and challenges, and have connected them with businesses and non-profit organizations as they look for work in the private sector. Joining Forces highlights the workforce potential of veterans and military spouses, expands employment and career development opportunities for veterans and military spouses, and helps employers create military family-friendly workplaces.

“We applaud First Lady Michelle Obama’s efforts to raise awareness of the strengths and unique needs of veterans and their families, and we are honored to have her join Disney’s first-ever ‘Veterans Institute,’ a program designed to showcase the value of veterans, share best hiring practices, and encourage greater employment opportunities for military men and women transitioning into civilian life,” said Robert A. Iger, Chairman and CEO, The Walt Disney Company.

Via: Web Wire

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A face to Detroit's bankruptcy: Paralyzed firefighter to lose health benefits

The federal government has money problems. 

So, imagine the federal government telling wounded warriors coming back from overseas that they'll no longer take care of them, and instead, those veterans will get $200 a month for healthcare and a pair of broom sticks to walk around on. 

Outrageous right? 

Well that's what Detroit's wounded warriors, those who wore the badge and honorably served the community, are going to get if the bankruptcy stands as is. 

Here's one of those warriors, firefighter Brendan Milewski, in his own words. 

"August 13, 2010 - Friday the 13th - I was only at work for a couple minutes, never even stepped foot in the firehouse, taking my gear out of the car. We've got to run down to Jefferson and Drexel. We were working on the scene for ten, fifteen minutes and, without warning, a building collapsed on us.

"I was hit with a chunk of limestone the size of a parking lot, and that basically exploded my seventh thoracic vertebra. Now I'm left to live the rest of my life as a T6 Paraplegic.

"It's a complete loss of identity for me, to be in this position now and not amongst my peers, and seen as weak and feeble and handicapped and disabled. I hate all these words. I hate that they describe me. 

"I always understood that death was a legitimate possibility; I've seen enough of my friends die. I can't say Walter Harris' name enough. I never considered being injured to the point where I wasn't going to be who I was before, and having to live with the consequences. One would only assume that you make these kind of sacrifices at work, performing your job, that you'd be taken care of.

"I got a letter saying that my healthcare, through the city of Detroit, was going to be terminated as of January 1, 2014, and that, if I don't have another plan purchased by December 15th of this year, that I'll have a gap in coverage. And they're offering a $200 a month stipend to supplement the cost of purchasing my own health insurance.

Via: My Fox Detroit

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OFA Raising Money Off the Obamacare Website Failure

President Obama’s political arm, Organizing for Action, is using the uproar over the failed Obamacare website to raise money.

In a message to its vast email list, OFA notes the “debate” over Obamacare and alludes to criticism to the website, asking recipients to take a brief “Obamacare survey.”

The missive states:

In the midst of all of the debate around Obamacare, it’s easy to lose sight of what the law really does — and how millions of Americans are already seeing the benefits.

That’s why we want to hear directly from you about your health care experience.

This is super easy, and should only take a minute or two. Answer our short Obamacare survey today.

No matter what you hear from the talking heads, health care reform is much more than just a website.

A link takes the email recipient to the poll, a thoroughly unscientific five questions such as “How well would you say you understand Obamacare?” and “Do you currently have health insurance?” Once the poll is submitted – whether the questions are completed or not – the recipient is taken to what appears to be the real business at hand: a new page with a solicitation for $15-$1,000 or some “other amount.”

Via: White House Dossier

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Sebelius On Broken Obamacare Exchange: “The Website Has Never Crashed”…

Yes, she say it “never crashed.”

Oh, and Kathleen, the website is crashed at this very moment.

Update: Video added.

Via: Weasel Zippers

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Ted Cruz: Obama Has 'Absolutely Been Abusing His Power'

Jorge Ramos interviewed Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) for an October 28 episode of "AMERICA with Jorge Ramos." Here's an excerpt:

Jorge Ramos: I was listening to a speech by your father Rafael last July in Salt Lake City and he made a comparison between- of course he was born in Cuba.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX): Right.

Ramos: He made a comparison between Fidel Castro the dictator and President Obama. Do you agree with it?

Cruz: Well, I will say that it is an incredible blessing to be the child of an immigrant. To be the child of someone like my father who fled oppression and came here with nothing. And one of the real benefits of that is you appreciate how precious and fragile is the freedom we have here. My father has seen what happens when-

Ramos: And it is a terrible dictatorship in Cuba. But is it fair to compare it with the United States? I mean is President Barack Obama a dictator from your point of view?

Cruz: Well the point he made- look obviously there are enormous differences between President Obama and Fidel Castro.

Ramos: -we have freedom of the press, we have democracy, political parties-

Cruz: Absolutely, but his point was he was focusing on a statement President Obama made at the State of the Union where if he said if Congress doesn't act to enact his agenda that he will do it anyway on his own. And one of the things I am very concerned about is the explosion of power in the federal government. We've got the NSA seizing our cell phone records, our emails, and we have seen this president expand presidential power in a way that is contrary to the Constitution.

Via: Fusion

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[CARTOON] Darth Obama

Via: California Political Review

Sebelius apologizes for ObamaCare site failures during Hill hearing

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius personally apologized Wednesday for the failures of the ObamaCare website, saying during a Capitol Hill hearing that the American people "deserve better." 

"Access to HealthCare.gov has been a miserably frustrating experience for way too many Americans," Sebelius said, vowing to fix the problems. 

To the American people, she said, "You deserve better. I apologize. I'm accountable to you for fixing these problems." 

She later said: "Hold me accountable for the debacle. I'm responsible." 

The secretary faced of her biggest critics Wednesday as she testified for the first time on the troubled ObamaCare rollout -- amid mounting calls for her resignation. 

"The news seems to get worse by the day," Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said at the start of the hearing before his committee.   

Not only was the secretary facing questions about the glitch-ridden exchange website, but the administration as a whole is being challenged as consumers on the individual market receive a wave of cancellation notices. 

Via Fox News

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ICE'S CRANE: EXECS LOBBYING FOR AMNESTY 'STAND TO MAKE A FORTUNE' OFF LEGISLATION

In response to high-pressure lobbying from special interests like left-wing billionaire George Soros and a group of corporate executives pushing House GOP members for amnesty, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) National Council president Chris Crane warned members of the House that those lobbying for immigration reform just want to make money off the legislation.

“Numerous news reports have announced that a large group of CEO’s, special interests and groups opposing immigration enforcement plan to increase lobbying efforts on House members starting this week,” Crane, who represents 7,000 immigration agents and support staff, wrote in a letter to House members on Monday. “This lobbyist pressure campaign is designed to get House members to either support legislation similar to the Schumer-Rubio bill [the "Gang of Eight" bill] or to pass individual bills that will be combined with Gang of Eight legislation into a comprehensive bill in a conference committee." 

"Many of the groups stand to make a fortune from the immigration provisions they are seeking," he explained. "Indeed, the 1,200 page Senate plan lined the pockets of many of the same groups now lobbying House members.”

Even though the Senate bill’s principal Republican sponsor, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), has since abandoned it and effectively un-endorsed the legislation by saying he is opposed to efforts to save the bill in a conference committee, several special interests are pushing for the House to pass a group of piecemeal bills to get to a conference committee. 

Via: Breitbart

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Obama's healthcare promises return to haunt him

WASHINGTON — As the pitchman for his landmark healthcare law, President Obama promised to make buying insurance as easy as buying a plane ticket online or a "TV onAmazon." It would be simple, he said.

If there were problems, the president predicted, they would be "glitches."

And he said, "If you like the plan you have, you can keep it."

Such claims have come back to haunt the president and his allies less than a month into the launch of the online insurance marketplaces at the heart of his healthcare legislation. With the federal website hobbled by bad design and thousands of policyholders receiving cancellation notices, Obama's promises are not being met — prompting charges of deception from some Republicans and concessions from some allies that elements of the law were oversold.

The fallout is only the latest chapter in this White House's three-year struggle to sell the public on the Affordable Care Act, which could come to define the president's legacy. Since signing it into law, the president has variously defended it, promoted it, simplified it and hyped it. But polling shows he has never fully sold, nor educated, the public on the vast new government healthcare program.

Publicly, the White House continued Tuesday to defend the president's pre-launch salesmanship.

"The purpose here wasn't to do anything beyond encourage people to make themselves aware of the options available to them," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said.

Behind closed doors, some officials who worked on the rollout say they wish they'd left themselves a little wiggle room. They could have done more to play up ways to sign up other than through the website, such as the call centers, said one official, requesting anonymity to discuss the planning process.

After taking heat from allies for not finding a crisp way to explain the complex law, the White House tried to boil it down to its simplest elements, the official said, and some nuance was inevitably lost.

Via: LA Times

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Health agency chief refuses to disclose ObamaCare enrollment numbers

The head of the agency responsible for overseeing the troubled HealthCare.gov repeatedly refused to disclose how many people have enrolled in ObamaCare -- during a hearing where she did not deny that officials have that information. 

Marilyn Tavenner, head of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, testified Tuesday before the House Ways and Means Committee. At the top of the hearing, she apologized for the failures of the main ObamaCare website and vowed to fix them. 

But, raising more questions about the administration's transparency on the project, she declined to cite enrollment numbers. She did not claim, as Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius recently did, that officials simply do not have those numbers -- rather, she said a "decision" was made to release them in mid-November. 

"We made the decision that we were not releasing the numbers until mid-November," she said. 

Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., asked again whether she had any idea what the numbers are. 

Her answer was the same. 

"I'll take that as you don't want to answer the question," Nunes said. 

Via: Fox News

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[AUDIO] Mark Levin: We should wrap Obamacare around the necks of the Democrat Party and pull it tight!

Mark Levin said on his show tonight that we should wrap Obamacare around the necks of the Democrat Party and pull it tight:

Via: The Right Scoop

The Daily Bulletin - October 29, 2013 - Coal and Oil Report

TODAY’S TAKEAWAY: COAL STATES RALLY AGAINST THE EPA

The push-back from coal states will come today as coal miners descend on Washington for a“Count on Coal” rally at the Capital. Thousands are expected to participate. Meanwhile, coal state representatives – including a few Democrats – are sending letters to President Obama and EPA officials calling the new regulations “job killers.” There’s a bit of dissent elsewhere as well. Elias Hinckley, writing on The Energy Collective, points out that investing in power plants is a long-term project and the uncertain environment endangers the coal industry. Peter Glaser, an energy and environment attorney in Washington, writing in The Hill, points out that the EPA may be getting a little ahead of the technology by making everyithing but carbon capture-and-storage illegal.  And the Minot Daily News says EPA may be doing more harm than good.  Meanwhile, EPA officials embarked on a victory lap around the country this week, visiting 11 major cities to get feedback on its new campaign – but carefully avoiding coal country in the process.

GOOD THINGS COMING IN NORTH DAKOTA?

The revelation that flaring of gas in the Bakken has moved the United States back up in the top ranks of gas wasters has been a recent embarrassment. But William Tucker, on Fuel Freedom, finds that good things may be in the works. A lawsuit filed last week by property owners claiming that they are losing royalties may prove a spur to getting the oil drillers to act. Moreover, there appears to be new technology coming down the line. “Gas Technologies, a Michigan company, has just developed a conversion device that sits on the back of a trailer and can be hauled from well to well. ‘We have a patented process that reduces capital costs up to 70%,’ said CEO Walter Breidenstein. ‘If we’re using free flare gas, we can reduce the cost of producing methanol another 40-5%.’ Other companies are working on similar technologies for converting natural gas to methanol on-site. . . . Of course, Walter Breidenstein will probably find that flared gas will not be offered for free. Those Bakken property owners still want their royalties. But the North Dakota lawsuit proves a spur for on-site methanol conversion and great opportunity to highlight the role methanol could play in our transportation economy.”You know what they say, every crisis presents an opportunity.

Via: Real Clear Energy

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Digging into Detroit's bankruptcy filing

Detroit has once again been in the headlines as the city and its creditors battle in court over whether the city is eligible to receive bankruptcy protection.

Municipal bankruptcy, like just about everything else that contains the word "municipal" or has anything to do with lawyers, is complicated. We checked in with Detroit lawyer Nathan Resnick, a municipal bankruptcy expert, and with his help we'll try to explain what an ongoing court hearing means, and where Detroit stands in its efforts to turn around its finances.

Didn't Detroit already file for bankruptcy? What's the purpose of the hearing?

Detroit did file for bankruptcy protection on July 18, a process that automatically protects the city against any impending action from creditors. But that doesn't mean it definitely gets to remain in bankruptcy.

Judge Steven Rhodes is hearing arguments about whether the city was, in fact, insolvent when it filed for bankruptcy, and whether it negotiated in good faith with its creditors.

Detroit seems pretty broke — $18 billion in debt. Why would anyone argue it shouldn't be able to file for bankruptcy?

Creditors, which include public employee unions and pension funds, say that the city did not try to negotiate with them before filing for bankruptcy.

They say that Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder appointed an emergency manager, Kevyn Orr, to take over city governance with the idea that Orr would force the city into bankruptcy rather than figure out a way to pay creditors. They've been asking the judge to look into who else [the Republican governor] considered for the emergency manager position before settling on Orr, who represented Chrysler in its 2009 bankruptcy, to prove that Snyder just wanted someone who knew a lot about bankruptcy.

Via: LA Times

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DHS Approves Over 80% of DREAMers Who Apply for Legal Status

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has approved over 80 percent of young illegal immigrants who have applied for its Deferred Action program, an administrative version of the DREAM Act.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said they have granted legal status to 474,000 of the 580,000 illegal aliens who have applied.

“Last June, DHS announced the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals process, allowing young people who meet the guidelines to seek a two year provisional legal status to remain in the United States,” wrote Maria Odom, the ombudsman for USCIS, on Oct. 24.

“Our office played a key role in this effort by assisting with individual cases, sharing stakeholder feedback with USCIS and suggesting improvements to the application process,” she said.

“Already, more than 580,000 individuals have requested deferred action, and after a thorough review of each of those cases, including a background check, more than 474,000 requests have been approved, allowing these young people to continue to contribute to the country they call home.”

The figures provided show that the agency has approved 81.72 percent of the applications they have received.

Odom said the high approval rate is not enough, and illegal immigrants need a “permanent fix.”

Via: WFB

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Your share of the national debt is now $1.1 million -

Each U.S. taxpayer now has a federal-debt liability of $1.1 million, and rising.

Remember that when President Obama boasts that the federal deficit—the shortfall between annual revenues and spending—is declining. Of course, the primary reason for the decline is the sequester, which was his idea but now adamantly opposes.

The public tends to focus on the total national debt, which just passed the $17 trillion mark—up from $10.6 trillion when President Obama took office. But that figure pales in comparison to the federal government’s long term unfunded liabilities—money the government is obligated to pay over and above the revenues it is estimated to receive.

According to the U.S. Debt Clock, total long term unfunded liabilities are at $126 trillion, a $1.1 million liability for each U.S. taxpayer.

The main driver of that astronomical number is two of our major entitlement programs: Social Security and Medicare.

The Debt Clock says Social Security is looking at $16.6 trillion in unfunded liabilities, while Medicare faces $87.6 trillion. And Medicare’s prescription drug benefit, which passed in 2003, adds another $22 trillion.

The Debt Clock’s Medicare unfunded liability is twice the current government projection—$43 trillion—because Democrats used Obamacare to try and deceive the public. Prior to passage the government’s estimate was similar to the Debt Clock’s.

That difference is because Obamacare requires the Medicare trustees, who annually report on the program’s financial condition, to assume that Medicare will significantly cut reimbursements to doctors and hospitals in the future.

Via: Rare

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