ObamaCare’s Arrogance, Corruption and Abuse is Just Beginning

Photo Credit: Fox NewsBy Peter Morici.

It took paramount arrogance for President Obama and congressional Democrats to believe they could write an Affordable Care Act that would replace free markets across a health care sector as large as the economy of France.

Among the results include five million Americans with private insurance who are getting cancellation letters for policies the president promised they could keep. As Obama claims, some had “substandard” coverage, but many had perfectly good policies.

Stories are surfacing of cancer patients — now facing the loss of insurance policies that paid out hundreds of thousands of dollars in life-saving treatments — who cannot access the government run exchange. Or, if they are successful, their premiums are now dramatically higher, and they can no longer access the clinics and doctors that kept them alive.

Businesses around the country are replacing full-time employees with part-time hires to avoid paying rising, burdensome premiums for qualifying workers.

Others are simply dropping coverage altogether and electing to pay fines when those apply in 2014.

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No grounds for claim that ObamaCare lowers healthcare costs

By Charles Blahous.

Public support for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has plummeted now that the oft-repeated claim that “If you like your health care plan, you can keep it” is widely understood to be untrue. Despite previous assurances, millions of Americans are now grappling with ACA-triggered cancellations of their health insurance policies. Faced with public anger, ACA supporters are now turning to another argument to promote the law: that the ACA is already working to hold down health care cost growth. Unfortunately, some of these claims are just as groundless as the ones that misled so many Americans to believe they would be able to keep their previous coverage.

One particularly egregious example is White House advisor David Cutler’s op-ed published November 8 in the Washington Post, entitled, “The health care law’s success story: slowing down medical costs.” This piece contains the following paragraph:

“Before he was criticized for his statements about insurance continuity, President Obama was lambasted for his forecasts of cost savings. In 2007, Obama asserted that his health-care reform plan would save $2,500 per family relative to the trends at the time. The criticism was harsh; I know because I helped the then-senator make this forecast. Yet events have shown him to be right. Between early 2009 and now, the Office of the Actuaries at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has lowered its forecast of medical spending in 2016 by 1 percentage point of GDP. In dollar terms, this is $2,500 for a family of four.”

To see why this is wrong, it is useful to break down this paragraph’s thesis into its component parts. Specifically, it claims that:

The President’s previous assertions that his “health-care reform plan” would “save $2,500 per family” have been “shown” “to be right,” and that;

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Telling the Truth About ObamaCare Can Get You Fired

Are you afraid of the Obama White House? If you challenge the president’s beloved health care plan, maybe you should be. Consider the fate of William White, the Washington, D.C. Insurance Commissioner, who voiced skepticism about President Obama’s hastily assembled “fix” for the millions losing their insurance policies.

A day after suggesting that the new demands on insurers could destabilize the marketplace and lead to even higher premiums, White was canned.

Telling the truth about ObamaCare is risky.

Remember the manhandling of Congressional Budget Office head Douglas Elmendorf? When the supposedly neutral bean counters undertook the first analysis of ObamaCare ’s fiscal impact, their preliminary findings threatened to undermine the happy talk flowing from the White House. Elmendorf was summoned to a parlay with the president, who doubtless explained how the budget gurus might amend their analysis, as a patriotic duty…

Any surprise that the cost estimates from the CBO have made generous assumption — underestimating the number of Americans to receive subsidies and who will be added to Medicaid roles? I will guarantee that as this bill takes hold, costs will exceed those projected by the CBO.

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California Bar Taking On City Hall Over Sign Supporting Veterans

Photo Credit: Fox News A California bar owner is asking veterans to rally behind him after claiming that the city of Huntington Beach is ordering him to remove a sign on his roof that salutes those who served.

The city says it’s all a big mistake — that the issue really is about permits, not wording. But the bar’s co-owner, in turn, claims the city is not being truthful and says there’s “something fishy” about the whole situation.

The center of the dispute, an illuminated sign on the roof of Johnny’s Saloon, proclaims, “THANK a VETERAN for your FREEDOM” and is popular among the bar’s clientele–a lot of former soldiers.

But an anonymous person reportedly complained to the city and the bar owners now say the city is forcing them to take it down.

According to local reports, the owners of Johnny’s, John Marovic and Johnny Kresimir, say they received a letter in the mail this week from the city ,stating that they were required to remove the sign within two days or face nearly $1,000 in fines.

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TSA Spent $900 Million on Behavior Detection Officers Who Detected 0 Terrorists

Photo Credit: APThe Transportation Security Administration (TSA) spent approximately $900 million over the last 5 years for behavior detection officers to identify high-risk passengers but, so far, according to the General Accountability Office (GAO), only 0.59% of the passengers flagged were arrested and among those not one was charged with terrorism – zero.

In 2003, the TSA started testing its Screening of Passengers by Observation Technique (SPOT) program, which was then fully deployed in 2007. About 3,000 behavior detection officers (BDO) “had been deployed to 176 of the more than 450 TSA-regulated airports in the United States” by fiscal year 2012 (Oct. 1, 2011 – Sept. 30, 2012), according to the GAO.

Those BDO officers are trained to “identify passenger behaviors indicative of stress, fear, or deception and refer passengers” and their baggage for additional screening, reported the GAO in its Nov. 8, 2013 report, Aviation Security: TSA Should Limit Future Funding for Behavior Detection Activities.

Since 2007, the TSA has spent approximately $900 million on the SPOT program, said the GAO.

During the SPOT screening, the TSA’s behavior detection officers are supposed to look for and identify “high-risk passengers based on behavioral indicators that indicate mal-intent,” said the GAO. The BDOs can refer the passengers to a law enforcement officer (LEO) for further investigation. From there, if warranted, a passenger (or passengers) can be arrested.

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Retired Generals Establish Commission to Look Into Obama Administration’s Actions

Photo Credit: WND After one of them called for the “forced resignations” of President Obama and congressional leaders in response to multiple grievances, including the alleged political purge of hundreds of senior military officers, two retired U.S. generals are creating a citizens’ commission to scrutinize Obama administration actions on national security and economic issues.

“America’s Provisional Leadership Council” will look at major concerns, as outlined by Army Gen. Paul E. Vallely and Air Force Brig. Gen. Charles Jones, in an eight-point paper titled “The Americans Project.”

Vallely told WND he sees The Americans Project as a “citizens’ commission” of prominent Americans to provide advice to legislative and executive branches of government.

America’s leaders, he said, will be “held to high standards of performance to solve the nation’s problems of governing. We will scrutinize and provide guidance to federally elected officials on behalf of the citizens.”

The Americans Project, Vallely added, is a “movement, not a new party necessarily. We want candidates to run as Americans first before being a Democrat, Republican or Independent.”

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Obama’s Overhaul of Spy Programs So Far Cloaked in More Secrecy

Photo Credit: TISH WELLS — McClatchyPresident Barack Obama has faced withering criticism around the globe for his secret spying programs. How has he responded? With more secrecy.

Obama has been gradually tweaking his vast government surveillance policies. But he is not disclosing those changes to the public. Has he stopped spying on friendly world leaders? He won’t say. Has he stopped eavesdropping on the United Nations, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund? He won’t say.

Even the report by the group Obama created to review and recommend changes to his surveillance programs has been kept secret.

Critics note that this comes after he famously promised the most open administration in history.

“They seem to have reverted to a much more traditional model of secrecy except when it’s politically advantageous,” said Steven Aftergood, who directs the Federation of American Scientists Project on Government Secrecy, and is an expert on – and prominent critic of – government secrecy. “That’s normal but not consistent with their pledge.”

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Gallup Poll: 69 Percent Of Americans Satisfied With Personal Health Care Plan

A majority of Americans are happy with their current healthcare plan.

A new Gallup poll finds that 69 percent of Americans rate their personal coverage as excellent or good, but only 32 percent say the same about health care coverage in the country.

“Americans’ ratings of their own healthcare coverage have remained remarkably steady over the past decade — and always much higher than their ratings of the nation’s coverage,” the poll states.

Fifty-nine percent of those polled said they are generally satisfied with what they pay for their own health care coverage, while only 24 percent are satisfied with the cost of health insurance more generally across the U.S.

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House GOP Leader Sets a Record with Third Birth While Serving in Congress

A member of the House Republican leadership has set a new record, giving birth to a third child while serving in Congress.

Aides to Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, who is the communications director for the House Republican Conference, gave birth to Brynn Catherinem, who weighed in at 7 lbs 6 oz., at 6:19 a.m. Sunday.

“McMorris Rodgers is the first to give birth three times while serving in Congress,” an aide said on Monday.

The lawmaker, who represents Washington state’s Fifth Congressional District, is also mom to Cole, born in 2007, and Grace, born in 2010.

“She looks forward to continuing her duties as House Republican Conference Chair and running again for re-election next year,” the aide said.

McMorris Rodgers posted a photo of her and the baby on Instagram.

“Nothing compares to the miracle of bringing a new life into the world,” McMorris Rodgers wrote on the social site. “She’s beautiful and seems to be taking it all in stride. Our hearts are full.”

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Presidential Nominations are Still No Slam Dunks

Photo Credit: John Shinkle/POLITICOSenate Democrats will return to a new Washington next month — one in which Republicans can’t rely on the filibuster to block President Barack Obama’s nominations.

But don’t expect Obama’s picks to sail smoothly through the chamber.

Democrats must still find a modicum of compromise with the GOP if they want to swiftly approve Obama’s team. That’s because the filibuster remains in place as a delay tactic, requiring the Senate to burn hours of floor time unless the two parties can agree to speed up procedural votes.

It’s an important calculation for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who hopes to push through six key Obama nominations in December. Given the time constraints of a December work period, which will last just a few days, he’s going to need help from the GOP to yield time and allow votes to happen more quickly.

A single Republican can easily reject a deal to quickly process nominations. If GOP senators decide to follow that strategy, several of Obama’s nominees could be in limbo until early next year.

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Report: No Motive Determined in Newtown Shooting

Photo Credit: Fox News The prosecutor who led the investigation into the Newtown school shooting said it did not determine a motive for the attack that killed 20 children and six women.

State’s Attorney Stephen Sedensky III said there is also no clear indication why he chose Sandy Hook Elementary School as the target for his rampage other than the fact that it was close to his home.

He said the gunman, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, had significant mental health issues that affected his ability to live a normal life and interact with others but did not affect his mental state for the crimes. Lanza was obsessed with the 1999 Columbine High School attack, according to a summary report by Sedensky that was released Monday.

He said police went into the school within minutes of the first shots being fired and that along with the actions of teachers inside saved many children’s lives.

“Why did the shooter murder twenty-seven people, including twenty children?” Unfortunately, that question may never be answered conclusively, despite the collection of extensive background information on the shooter through a multitude of interviews and other sources,” investigators said in a long-awaited report released Monday.

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