Obama Administration Plans To Cut Medicare Advantage Reimbursements

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Photo Credit: AP

The Obama administration is planning new cuts to Medicare, a federal regulatory filing reveals, cuts that could mean higher premiums or seniors losing their coverage altogether.

The new cuts come in the form of a planned reduction in the reimbursement rates the government pays to insurance companies that operate Medicare Advantage plans, which are services administered by private for-profit or non-profit providers that offer additional services than can be found in traditional Medicare.

In a Feb. 15 regulatory filing, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced the surprised rate cuts of 2.3 percent – meaning it would pay health care providers 2.3 percent less for providing services to patients.

CMS said it was cutting payments because it foresaw the overall costs of the Medicare Advantage program shrinking by 3.2 percent, despite the fact that health care costs – the driver of all federal health care program costs – are only rising.

Medicare Advantage is like traditional Medicare except that its plans are administered by insurance companies, who are paid a per-enrollee reimbursement fee by the government. If insurance companies can provide care to seniors at less than what the government pays them for it, they make a profit.

Read more from this story HERE.

Pelosi: George Washington Warned Us About Schemers Like Paul Ryan

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You know, men who would dare to balance the federal budget within 10-28 years, who would ravage federal programs with modest slow-downs in their increased spending, who would bend cost curves to the breaking point…like, four degrees or so. Joel Gehrke reports:

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., expressed misgivings about the efficacy of President Obama’s so-called “charm offensive,” saying that House Republicans seem “at war with [their] own government.”

“By and large, the approach the Republicans take is that they are there to shrink the role of government to the point where it really recalls to mind a statement of President Washington who cautioned about a political party at war with its own government,” Pelosi told reporters today in response to a question about the charm offensive.

Now that you’ve heard about the radicalism of Republicans, check out the modest goals of Democrats:

As for Democrats, Pelosi said that “we don’t want any more government than we need, but we respect the public role: public private partnerships, and putting a referee on the field . . . to monitor clean air, clean water, food safety; a cop on the beat for the protection of our neighborhoods.”

Here’s the real radicalism. If you ever need to know how committed Washington Democrats are to maintaining the current levels of spending their attendant increases, please refer to this quote. Just as with sequester, everything useful the federal government does manages to fall in the gap between the Democrats’ outrageously irresponsible budget (or, in years past, Obama speeches about budgets) and Ryan’s attempts at sanity. It is Nancy Pelosi’s belief, explicitly, that anything less than what exists at this very moment would be less “government than we need,” would disrespect the “public role,” and take the referee off the field and cops off the beat.

Read more from this story HERE.

Obama Tells Wealthy Donors His Campaign Club Can Beat Voter Opposition

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Photo Credit: Daily Caller

President Barack Obama hosted his first fundraiser for his Oval Office campaign group on Wednesday evening, and he told his wealthy donors that their checks will help Democratic and Republican politicians vote against the wishes of their own constituents.

“If you have a senator or a congressman in a swing district who is prepared to take a tough vote … on immigration reform, or legislation around background checks for guns, I want to make sure that they feel supported and that they know that there are constituencies of theirs who agree with them, even if they may be getting a lot of pushback in that district,” he declared to the roughly 70 attending donors who are fueling his unprecedented group, dubbed Organizing For Action.

“If we do it well, then I’m confident that we can move strong immigration legislation … we can get common-sense gun safety legislation … we can craft a budget that is responsible,” he declared.

The group’s support — and pressure — could also be aimed at Democratic politicians worried about supporting his agenda, he hinted. Throughout his speech, he deflected growing bipartisan criticism over his group, which is accepting money from wealthy donors — although not from company accounts or from people who have registered as lobbyists.

That criticism has come from Common Cause, Democracy 21, the Washington Post editors, some reporters, and other liberal groups. But the protests have not prompted any Democratic legislators, judges or regulators to set curbs on the president’s meeting with his donors, or on his government decisions, which could help or hurt those donors.

Read more from this story HERE.

Caddell Unloads On ‘Racketeering’ GOP Consultants

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Photo Credit: Breitbart

Pat Caddell, the Fox News Contributor and Democrat pollster who engineered Jimmy Carter’s 1976 Presidential victory, blew the lid off CPAC on Wednesday with a blistering attack on “racketeering” Republican consultants who play wealthy donors like “marks.”
“I blame the donors who allow themselves to be played for marks.

I blame the people in the grassroots for allowing themselves to be played for suckers….It’s time to stop being marks. It’s time to stop being suckers. It’s time for you people to get real,” he told the audience that included two top Republican consultants.

Caddell stole the show as a panelist in the breakout session titled “Should We Shoot All the Consultants Now?” He spoke with a fire and passion that electrified the room. When the session began the large room was half filled, but as word spread of the fireworks going on inside, the audience streamed in. By the end, it was standing room only.

Breitbart News spoke with Caddell prior to his talk, and he promised he would deliver a “brutal critique” of the Republican establishment and its political consulting class. He did not disappoint, pulling no punches with an unyielding evisceration of a small group of Republican consultants, the Romney campaign, the Republican National Committee, and Karl Rove’s Crossroads GPS Super PAC.

“When you have the Chief of Staff of the Republican National Committee and the political director of the Romney campaign, and their two companies get $150 million at the end of the campaign for the ‘fantastic’ get-out-the-vote program…some of this borders on RICO [the 1970 Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act] violations,” Caddell told the crowd. “It’s all self dealing going on. I think it works on the RICO thing. They’re in the business of lining their pockets.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Rick Perry at CPAC: ‘How Can The Last Two Elections Be A Rejection Of Conservatism When We Didn’t Nominate Conservatives?’ (+video)

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During CPAC yesterday, Governor Perry hammered Mitt Romney and John McCain as two candidates who did not reflect the conservative base of the GOP: “The popular media narrative is that this country has shifted away from conservative ideals, as evidenced by the last two presidential elections.

That’s what they think. That’s what say.

That might be true if Republicans had actually nominated conservative candidates in 2008 and 2012.”

Watch video here:

https://youtu.be/C8CTZ-YviaY

Governor Perry also hit Obama:

“This president’s posture, it’d be laughable if he hadn’t taken it one step too far, dangerously releasing criminals onto our streets to make a political point. When you have a federally-sponsored jailbreak, and don’t get confused, that’s exactly what that is, when you’ve had a federally-sponsored jailbreak, you’ve crossed the line from politics of spin to politics as a craven form of cynicism.”

Assault Weapons Ban Clears First Senate Hurdle, But Its Future Faces Tough Odds

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Photo Credit: CBS

A bill banning military-style assault weapons and high-capacity magazine clips has cleared the first hurdle toward congressional passage, gaining approval in the Senate Judiciary Committee even while its broader future is unclear.

The bill, a key component of the Obama administration’s comprehensive legislative and executive package aimed at reducing gun violence in America, passed through the committee despite a heated exchange between Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and freshman Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Tex. It now heads to the full Senate for debate and, potentially, a vote. If successful there, the legislation will make its way to the House of Representatives.

It’s unlikely Democrats will be able to secure a vote in the Senate, however, given the 60-vote threshold needed to prevent a filibuster. The assault weapons ban is controversial even among some Democrats, and no Senate Republicans have expressed any intent to support it.

Read more from this story HERE.

ACLU Files Lawsuit After NC Gov’t Officials Refuse To Stop Praying At Meetings

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Despite a lower court ruling that found prayers at local government meetings in Forsyth County (another community in North Carolina) unconstitutional and the Supreme Court’s subsequent refusal to hear the case, officials in Rowan County aren’t backing down. They, too, have been beginning meetings with invocations — a practice they don’t plan on giving up. As a result, county commissioners become the ACLU’s most recent target of legal action over sectarian prayer at government meetings.

It was last year that the Rowan County Board of Commissioners first defied pressure from the ACLU to cease Christian prayers; the organization called these invocations unconstitutional and has continued to maintain this stance.

At the time, one of the board members (and the county commissioner), Chad Mitchell, defended the prayers said at the opening of each meeting. Apparently, board members are given the chance, via rotation, to give a prayer if they so choose. In the past, some have opted not to be included in the rotation (a choice that the group deems perfectly acceptable).

“The practice of opening with an invocation has been ongoing for many years,” Mitchell explained at the time. ”The earliest book of minutes that we have easy access to is from February of 1971, and the Board of Commissioners at that time was using the same procedure of invocation as we are currently using.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Dianne Feinstein, Ted Cruz Trade Barbs Over Gun Ban (+video)

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The Senate Judiciary Committee has approved a hugely controversial ban on assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition clips, but the measure faces nearly certain defeat on the Senate floor.

The proposal, authored by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), bans 157 different models of assault weapons, as well as magazines containing more than 10 bullets. The vote was 10 to 8, with all Democrats supporting it and all Republicans opposed.

The Senate now faces a floor fight in coming weeks over Democrats’ push to dramatically alter U.S. gun laws for the first time in two decades. While the Feinstein assault weapons ban is unlikely to overcome GOP opposition and get a vote — as well as concerns from red state Democrats up for reelection in 2014 — Democrats and the White House will continue their drive to enact universal background checks on all gun sales.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), a member of the Judiciary Committee, acknowledged that the assault weapons ban will have a hard time overcoming opposition.

“It’s pretty clear the other side is locked in opposition [to assault weapons ban.] — [I] don’t see us getting 60 votes,” Whitehouse said, referring to the necessary bar to pass the Senate.

Watch video here:

Read more from this story HERE.

US Has Effectively Nationalized Home Mortgage Industry

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Photo Credit: 401(K) 2013

The home mortgage sector in the world’s largest economy has been “effectively nationalized,” says George Melloan, former deputy editor of the editorial page for The Wall Street Journal.

Government agencies — primarily Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but also the Federal Housing Administration — insured or purchased more than 90 percent of home mortgages originated in 2012, a $1.3 trillion business, compared with 30 percent in 2006, according to ProPublica data.

Melloan, author of “The Great Money Binge: Spending Our Way to Socialism,” traced the situation back to the end of the last century, citing government and “powerful” lobbies.

“When President [Bill] Clinton forced the banks to begin their subprime mortgage binge in the 1990s, he called it ‘affordable housing’ for people with limited means, a politically appealing idea,” Melloan wrote in an opinion article for The Journal.

“But the real muscle came from well-heeled lobbies — the builders, real estate agents, bankers and construction-worker unions.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Marine With Concealed Carry Permit Stops Man From Beating Woman While Homeowner Shoots, Kills Intruder

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Photo Credit: Robert Richardson

Marine With Concealed Carry Permit Stops Man From Beating Woman

By Henry Rosoff. A Marine Corps veteran was able to stop a man early Tuesday, March 12th from nearly kicking a woman to death. It happened near 102nd and Lincoln, and Wisconsin’s concealed carry law made his efforts possible.

Charlie Blackmore was driving home from work at 4:00 a.m. along Lincoln Avenue when he saw something on the sidewalk. Blackmore didn’t realize it was a woman on the ground being kicked in the head and stomach until he got closer.

That’s when he jumped out of his car and sprung into action. “I said ‘stop’ and he starts coming towards me and that`s when I drew on him. He started getting closer and I said ‘get down on the ground,’” Blackmore said.

Blackmore held his gun on the suspect and called West Allis police. He says several times while waiting for police to arrive, the attacker moved toward him.

“I mean I’ve already made it up in mind that if he came at me I was going to have to take him down and I told him that. I warned him multiple times not to come towards me because he was a big guy and I wasn’t playing around and he didn’t seem like he was playing around,” Blackmore said. Read more from this story HERE.

Albertville Police Identify Man Shot By Homeowner

By Robert Richardson. Investigators do not expect charges to be filed against a homeowner who shot and killed a suspected burglar at his home Tuesday evening.

Officers responded to a call about a gunshot wound on Abbott Road just before 9 p.m., and Assistant Chief Jamie Smith said the homeowner made the call to report the shooting.

“We are in the early stages of the investigation, but right now we’re treating it as a burglary and the homeowner defending his property,” Smith said.

Police have identified the burglary suspect as 41-year-old Jamison Lynn Lacey. His last known address was 202 Asbury Road in Albertville.

Investigators will present their findings to a grand jury but don’t expect an indictment “Your home is your castle, you can only retreat so far as your home,” Smith said. Read more from this story HERE.