The Affordable Care Act

[4-2-7]

White House involved in soliciting money for pro-ObamaCare group, watchdog says

The White House allegedly was involved in seeking financial support for a pro-ObamaCare group, according to a new report issued in response to Republican concerns about the administration's fundraising efforts.

Until now, outgoing Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius was the only official known to have solicited financial support for Enroll America, a nonprofit that promoted enrollment for the Affordable Care Act. But a Government Accountability Office report released Monday detailed not only the secretary's involvement but that of a White House adviser.

According to the report, though HHS officials said they were "not aware" of any federal government officials outside the agency soliciting funds for Enroll America, a representative of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation told GAO "about a discussion" in 2012 between one of their staffers and the "Deputy Assistant to the President for Health Policy."

Though not named in the report, this would have been Jeanne Lambrew. The GAO said they were told the official nudged the foundation to give a "significant" contribution.

The report said: "According to RWJF, this official estimated that Enroll America or other similar national enrollment organizations would likely need about $30 million to finance a national outreach effort. RWJF told us that the official also indicated a hope that RWJF would provide a significant financial contribution to support such efforts, but did not make a specific funding request on behalf of Enroll America or any other outside entity."

The White House apparently pushed back on this account, telling the GAO that the adviser did not give the foundation a specific estimate of how much money they needed.

"They further stated that a reference to financial support like that suggested by RWJF was possible, but in connection with broad strategic discussions
related to national outreach efforts that included discussions of both financial and nonfinancial support for such efforts," the report said.

Republicans have long questioned these solicitations, voicing concern that they got around congressional limits on spending for the health law and might have breached ethical guidelines. The GAO did not issue a legal opinion or any recommendations in its report.

The report detailed Sebelius' involvement, saying she reached out to the CEOs of five organizations to "solicit support" for Enroll America. One of them was the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which made a $3 million grant and a $10 million grant after the call with Sebelius. The foundation, though, reported that the decision to award the money was "not made in response to the Secretary's call."

H&R Block was also solicited for funds, though did not end up making a contribution.

Further, Sebelius reached out to three groups that HHS regulates -- Kaiser, Ascension Health and Johnson & Johnson. However, she reportedly did not seek financial support from them. Rather, she sought "nonfinancial support such as technical assistance."

Kaiser and Ascension Health gave money to Enroll America anyway.

According to the GAO, Sebelius sought guidance from the agency's Office of the General Counsel, which apparently said HHS officials could seek support for outside groups.

Asked about the GAO report, HHS reiterated that the solicitations were above board.

"As we have said, including in communications to Congress as early as June of last year, according to the Public Health Service Act, the Secretary is authorized to support (and encourage others to support) programs and private non-profit entities working in programs related to health information and health promotion, preventive health services, and education in the appropriate use of health care," spokeswoman Erin Shields Britt said.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014...watchdog-says/

[bobabode]

Not worth the keystrokes...

[4-2-7]

Corrupt as Chicago: Judicial Watch Sues HHS for Obamacare Navigator Records

Katie Pavlich | Apr 22, 2014
Government watchdog Judicial Watch announced a lawsuit Tuesday morning against the Department of Health and Human Services after officials failed to comply with a November 8, 2013 Freedom of Information Act Request about Obamacare navigators. The suit was filed on March 27, 2014, but was publicly revealed today.

According to Health and Human Services 50,000 people have been hired as navigators to help Americans enroll in Obamacare through federal or state exchanges. Since navigators were hired, HHS has failed to provide a concrete record of what processes navigators must go through before being qualified to handle sensitive information of potential Obamacare enrollees. Judicial Watch is suing for information about navigator qualifications, background checks and records about the navigator program. From the November FOIA:

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepa...cords-n1827493

[4-2-7]

Calif. tax preparers paid bounty for every Obamacare sign-up

Tax-preparing companies are getting paid by an Obamacare exchange to enroll people in Obamacare plans, The Daily Caller has learned.

At least 79 tax service providers, including offices of major companies like Liberty Tax Service and Jackson Hewitt Tax Service, are listed as certified Obamacare enrollment entities in the state of California, according to state exchange records.

California’s Obamacare exchange, Covered California, pays enrollment entities for signing people up for Obamacare.

“Certified Enrollment Entities are paid a flat-fee of $58 per successful application and $25 per successful annual renewal,” according to California Health Benefit Advisers. ”The Enrollment Entities compensate the individual Enrollment Counselors.”



Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2014/04/21/ta...#ixzz2zfL7iUCB

[barbara]

Originally Posted by Ike Bana

I don't think I'm expressing what I want to say very well so, one last time with different phrasing...

I expect Republican politicians, teabag morons, conservatives and right-wingnut mutts all across the fruited plain to oppose a single payer government sponsored health care system. That won't change.

So I believe the reason we don't have that system is because there are too many alleged Democrats and liberals who don't want to give up their employment based BCBC/UHC/HUMANA/etc.,etc., cozy health care coverage and don't give a shit any more than the cons and Republicans for how many of their fellow citizens are going bankrupt or dying every year for lack of insurance coverage. If every progressive, liberal, and self-avowed Democrat had made it clear to their Senators and House Reps that they strongly support a single payer system we would be a lot closer to having it...we might have already achieved it.

It's the left's fault.

Ike, sorry I'm so late in getting a chance to respond to your comment above. While I don't place 'blame' in the left, I do see that many on the left contributed to the resistance of a single payer system.

In some respects, I don't separate the pro health care reformers from the anti health care reformers so much by political party as by those who have had extensive interaction with our health care system and understand all to well where and why it is broken from those who have had minimal interaction with the health care system and are clueless.

[Ike Bana]

Originally Posted by barbara

Ike, sorry I'm so late in getting a chance to respond to your comment above. While I don't place 'blame' in the left, I do see that many on the left contributed to the resistance of a single payer system.

In some respects, I don't separate the pro health care reformers from the anti health care reformers so much by political party as by those who have had extensive interaction with our health care system and understand all to well where and why it is broken from those who have had minimal interaction with the health care system and are clueless.

Hey...don't apologize for how much time it took to respond. I think you're the only one who responded at all. So I'm much obliged.

Anyway...I'm in a rut, I know, but I always end up blaming the people. I suspect the majority of Americans are not happy with their government. When polled, somewhere in the neighborhood of 90% of us say we're all for throwing out every member of the US House and starting all over again. The the 2nd poll question, "...what about your representative.." and 72% of us say something like "...oh no, not my Congressman...my Congressman's great."

If we don't have a decent health care system it's because not enough of us want to give up our cozy employer provided BCBS health insurance coverage. And it's tough shit for those who don't have any coverage, tough shit for those who were driven into bankruptcy by medical debt, and tough shit for those who died for the lack of decent care.

[4-2-7]

Faith in ObamaCare, or government, is misplaced

One of the reasons our political structure has become dysfunctional no matter which party is in power is that too many of us are living in the moment. The closest we get to history is the instant replay.

It is as if there is nothing the past can teach us; no wisdom that might be culled from those who have gone before. We buy guidebooks, or go online for information about countries or cities we plan to visit, trusting those who have been there to tell us the best places to stay, see and eat. When it comes to more momentous things, like health care, too many people believe government does best, regardless of historical and even contemporary evidence to the contrary.

The well-known quote "That government is best which governs least," often attributed to Henry David Thoreau, has been supplanted in our day by the notion that government is my keeper, I shall not want.

All of the promises about health care "reform" are proving dubious at best. The move from insurance exchanges to single payer to the eventual takeover of the health care industry will happen incrementally, but inevitably, unless Republicans win back control of government and have the courage to repeal and replace ObamaCare with something better.
What should awaken apathetic Americans is a story in last week's The New York Times headlined, "Cost of Treatment May Influence Doctors." The story said some of the country's largest medical groups are now suggesting that physicians consider cost when treating patients. The Times says a subtle shift is taking place within medicine as "doctors are starting to redefine their roles, from being concerned exclusively about individual patients to exerting influence on how health care dollars are spent."

In other words, are you "worth" being treated for cancer or other illnesses that can cost a lot of money? When government pressures health care providers to accept a utilitarian view of human life, it is a short step to government deciding whose life is worth living and whose is not.

When the dollar becomes almighty, the Almighty who creates life takes a backseat.

Promises that the misnamed Affordable Care Act would reduce costs are already being proved wrong. Health care spending is surging, according to another New York Times story. President Obama promised it would decline. We heard similar promises 50 years ago when Medicare was introduced. Politicians then promised costs would never exceed a certain level, which they did in very short order.

Critics of ObamaCare say one of its objectives is to put insurance companies out of business. The UnitedHealth Group is one of the nation's largest. It recently reported lower earnings and said the health care law is partially responsible.

The "sound of inevitability," to quote from the film "The Matrix," can be heard across the Atlantic. The National Health Service (NHS) continues to sputter as its experiment in socialized medicine produces horror stories that could be replicated in the United States if government is ever allowed to control not only insurance, but treatment.

A UK Daily Mail story tells of a great-grandmother who died in agony at Manchester Royal Infirmary. She suffered from a perforated bowel and while she screamed in pain for help she was told a nearby doctor, who was playing on a computer, "wasn't on duty." Stories of neglect, long waits for treatment, insensitivity toward patients and unusual numbers of deaths in some UK hospitals are no longer exceptions, but are increasingly common.

Why do so many have faith in government when government has a track record of failure and incompetence in the many tasks it undertakes? How can government be expected to miraculously acquire competence when it comes to health care?

Real faith is based on something substantive, not false hope. Government is a false god that history proves can't deliver on most of its promises.


Cal Thomas is America's most widely syndicated op-ed columnist. He joined Fox News Channel in 1997 as a political contributor.
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2014/...-is-misplaced/

[bobabode]

Originally Posted by Pio1980

Feeding the Jesus Weasels has all but cost the country family planning. Thnx for that, assholes.

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk

True that.

[icenine]

Originally Posted by Ike Bana

Hey...don't apologize for how much time it took to respond. I think you're the only one who responded at all. So I'm much obliged.

Anyway...I'm in a rut, I know, but I always end up blaming the people. I suspect the majority of Americans are not happy with their government. When polled, somewhere in the neighborhood of 90% of us say we're all for throwing out every member of the US House and starting all over again. The the 2nd poll question, "...what about your representative.." and 72% of us say something like "...oh no, not my Congressman...my Congressman's great."

If we don't have a decent health care system it's because not enough of us want to give up our cozy employer provided BCBS health insurance coverage. And it's tough shit for those who don't have any coverage, tough shit for those who were driven into bankruptcy by medical debt, and tough shit for those who died for the lack of decent care.

A few years ago we had a student X-ray tech (Active Duty sailor with complete health coverage of course) complain about Obamacare. I told her hey these people deserve it....you have it don't you? Well she said oh I am in the military I sacrificed for it etc,

No clue that uninsured Americans were paying her health care. The stock answer I have heard to that point is "oh the poor do not pay tax." Which is bullshit. If you are single or married and do not own a home you easily end up paying federal taxes.

[Pio1980]

Another Cal Thomas FOS op ed example of false equivalence.
You bet you can trust self supervised private enterprise over accountable representative services. For example things were just fine before the pure food and drug act.

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