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CNN Blames Christians for Obamacare Problems

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Photo Credit: Breitbart CNN has blamed Christians for the problem of Americans without health insurance, calling it “The Obamacare ‘scandal’ you haven’t heard about.” In an article on CNN.com’s Belief Blog, CNN writer John Blake says that, while famous pastors “preach in states where crosses and church steeples dot the skyline,” they do nothing about “the poor who can’t get the health insurance they would receive if they lived elsewhere.”

That refers, in turn, to the decision of twenty-five states not to participate in Obamacare’s expanded Medicaid funding. The states were allowed to opt out following last year’s controversial Supreme Court decision on Obamacare, which upheld the law as a whole but struck down the mandatory state participation in Medicaid expansion, citing the protection provided to state powers under the Tenth Amendment.

Some Republican states took the funding anyway, which provides health insurance subsidies for households with incomes up to 138% of the poverty level. Though the federal government will initially cover almost all of the cost, many Republican governors are wary of potential future costs, and are also worried about the effect on the federal budget itself. Many are also opposed to participating in the Obamacare program on principle.

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ObamaCare Website Glitch Sending Private Information to Wrong People

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Photo Credit: Weekly Standard Americans are methodically dealing with the Kübler-Ross stages of Obama-care grief, with our national healing process moving briskly through roughly one stage per week: (1) denial upon realizing that the website HealthCare.gov didn’t work; (2) anger at the realization that the technical back-end of the exchanges is as dysfunctional as the front-end of the site; (3) shock at the cancellation of plans and increase of premiums; and (4) depression at the prospect of losing access to doctors, too. We’re ready to move on to the fifth stage: acceptance that privacy will also be a casualty of HealthCare.gov.

Justin Hadley was perhaps the first consumer to witness this breach. As was reported by the Heritage Foundation, Hadley is a North Carolina resident who used to buy his insurance from Blue Cross Blue Shield on the individual market. In September, Blue Cross Blue Shield informed him that, thanks to Obamacare, they were canceling his policy. Hadley went to HealthCare.gov and was one of the lucky few able to register with the system. He was rewarded when a letter popped up onscreen. The letter was made out to someone else​—​one Thomas Dougall, of Elgin, South Carolina​—​and it contained Dougall’s contact information and notes on his and his family’s eligibility to buy insurance on the exchanges. When Hadley reached out to Dougall to inform him of the mistake, Dougall was shocked.

He shouldn’t have been. When members of Congress questioned Kathleen Sebelius about privacy concerns last month, the secretary of health and human services protested, “I would tell you we are storing the minimum amount of data, because we think that’s very important. The hub is not a data collector.”

It’s difficult to imagine what Sebelius was thinking. “The hub”​—​meaning the web portal that is HealthCare.gov​—​does not collect medical records to store away on government servers. But it does collect all sorts of data about you, which it keeps attached to your account.

Yet what worries people about the site isn’t that HealthCare.gov is a “data collector”; the concern is that it’s a data sieve.

Read more from this story HERE.

Small Businesses Next In Line to Lose Their Current Health Policies Under ObamaCare. Here’s Why…

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Photo Credit: ReutersPresident Obama’s simple line “If you like your current health plan you can keep it” is haunting him amidst reports that 3.5 million Americans who purchase health plans on their own, in the “individual” market, have lost that coverage as a result of Obamacare.

Very soon, small businesses will be faced with a similar fate.

They will also see their health plans canceled as a result of Obamacare.

Small businesses, with fewer than 50 employees, are not forced to provide coverage under Obamacare.

But when they do, policies sold in the small group market are subject to the same regulations now forcing the termination of millions of health plans sold directly to consumers.

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Health Care Law Allows Hiring Convicted Felons as Obamacare Navigators

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Photo Credit: Graeme Jennings/Washington ExaminerBy Susan Ferrechio

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told a Senate panel Wednesday that there are no safeguards in place that would prevent convicted felons from becoming “navigators” for the new health care law implementation.

“That is possible,” Sebelius told Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who asked her about felons being hired for the job.

Health care navigators are certified counselors hired to help consumers and small businesses with the application process for healthcare.gov, the health insurance exchange website.

Navigators, according to healthcare.gov, are trained to help consumers complete eligibility and enrollment forms, which include sensitive personal information including Social Security and financial information.

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Photo Credit: Evan VucciSebelius: Sorry, but we won’t delay Obamacare

By Tom Howell Jr.

President Obama’s top health official said Wednesday that early Obamacare enrollment numbers will be “very low” but rejected any talk of delaying the reforms, even as Senate Democrats pressured the White House to correct the law’s failures.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius made her second apology on Capitol Hill in the span of one week for the persistent glitches that have made it difficult for people from 36 states to enroll for coverage on HealthCare.gov.

“It’s unacceptable. I am focused on fixing it, and I’m accountable,” Mrs. Sebelius testified before the Senate Finance Committee.

But putting off the Affordable Care Act, she said, “wouldn’t delay people’s cancer or diabetes or Parkinson’s” disease.

“People’s lives depend on this,” she told lawmakers on the Democrat-led panel.

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Obama, Biden Meet with Begich, Other Senate Dems Up For Re-electiion

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A group of 15 Senate Democrats–all up for re-election in a year–met with President Barack Obama Wednesday to get an update on the beleaguered website where Americans are supposed to be able to register for exchanges created under the Affordable Care Act.

The Democrats, along with Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairman Sen. Michael Bennet, met with Obama and Vice President Joe Biden to discuss progress made to HealthCare.gov, a White House official said, adding that security and privacy concerns were also raised during the session.

Democrats on Capitol Hill, many who vocally supported the Affordable Care Act during the lead-up to its passage in 2010, have grown increasing wary of the rollout of Obama’s signature legislation, particularly as technical concerns with the website have prevented Americans whose insurance plans are canceled from enrolling online…

Some of the most vulnerable Democrats up for re-election in 2014 – including Mark Begich of Alaska, Mark Pryor of Arkansas, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Kay Hagan of North Carolina – attended Wednesday’s meeting…

A congressional source with knowledge of a meeting between Obama and the group of Democratic Senators told CNN concerns about the impact of Obamacare on next year’s mid-term elections were a part of the reason for the gathering at the White House. “There would not have been this meeting if you didn’t have this group of Senators up in 2014,” the Democratic staffer with knowledge of the meeting told CNN.

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No White House Petition to Defund or Repeal Obamacare

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Photo Credit: AP Photo/J. Scott ApplewhiteWith so many Americans complaining about Obamacare–the cancellation of individual insurance policies, the dysfunctional enrollment process, and privacy concerns–it is curious that a search of the White House petition website does not produce a single petition urging the defunding, repeal, delay or even repair of the Affordable Care Act.

There is, however, a petition titled, “Defund the House of Representatives,” created on Sept. 20.

The White House promises to respond to petitions that gather 100,000 signatures in 30 days, and presumably a petition focusing on one of the hottest topics of the year would easily rise to that level. But an overwhelming response might also embarrass a White House intent on defending President Obama’s signature legislation.

On Monday morning, Nov. 4, CNSNews.com searched “We the People,” the White House petition website, for the terms “Obamacare,” “Affordable Care Act” and “federal health care law.”

“Obamacare” returned only one petition, posted a year ago, urging the White House to “Include Licensed Naturopathic Physicians as primary care providers in the Federal Healthcare Law.”

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Obamacare Could Increase Number of Food Stamp Recipients

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Photo Credit: AP By Tarini Parti.

Republicans have another reason to hate Obamacare: It could grow the number of people on food stamps.

The Obama administration has ordered a study to determine whether the Affordable Care Act, by increasing the number of people eligible for Medicaid, will also increase the number of people enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program based on how states enroll people.

The outcome of the study could show an increase of 3 percent to 5 percent in food stamp recipients in some states from people who were already eligible for SNAP benefits but had not enrolled in the program — which could translate to millions or even billions more in federal spending, Greg Mills, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute who is conducting the study, told POLITICO.

“So in percentage terms, it’s not going to be very large, but we’re talking about a very large program,” said Mills, who is investigating the effects of the health care law on SNAP on behalf of the Department of Agriculture’s Food Nutrition Service, the agency that monitors food stamps.

“It would have a substantial financial effect.”

Read more from this story HERE.

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ObamaCare price hikes hit ‘red states’ hardest

By Maxim Lott.

Experiencing sticker-shock at the price of insurance on ObamaCare exchanges?

That’s more likely if you live in a “red state” that didn’t vote for Obama, according to price data compiled by the Heritage Foundation. In red states, premiums for 27-year-olds rose an average of 78% on ObamaCare exchanges, whereas in “blue states” that voted for Obama, premiums rose a smaller 50%.

Senate critics of ObamaCare say the difference is one way in which the bill is unfair.

“It’s unfair, outrageous and unacceptable,” Senator John Barrasso, R-Wyo., who is also an orthopedic surgeon, said in a statement to FoxNews.com.

“After discovering that the President broke his promise that Americans can definitely keep their coverage, many red state Americans are now finding out that their rates will soar under ObamaCare. This… proves once again that the President’s health care law picks winners and losers across the country,” he added.

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GOP Can Win by Waiting: Make Democrats Clean Up their Own Mess

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Photo Credit: National Review Democrats are pleading for help, in the face of the implosion of Obamacare. House Republicans confronted with these pleas should listen to those who say: “Don’t do something; just stand there.”

It was Obama and the Democratic Senate who caused the disaster now unfolding. Specifically, Democratic red- or swing-state senators such as Mary Landrieu (La.), Kay Hagan (N.C.), Mark Begich (Alaska), Mark Pryor (Ark.), and even Al Franken (Minn.) provided key votes to adopt the monstrosity without a single ballot to spare. Let them face the music; let them reap the consequences. And let them try to fix what’s utterly unfixable.

If they want to delay the individual mandate, fine: They can go first. If they want to fix the grandfathering rules so that people who want to keep their plans really can do so, fine: They can go first on that, too. Let them figure out the details. Let them try to make it work. The House can always vote to add its assent once the Senate has acted — all while noting, accurately, that even the delay or the grandfathering fix won’t make the whole of Obamacare successful or popular.

But with each fruitless effort to correct the uncorrectable, the vulnerable Senate Democrats effectively will be acknowledging that they were wrong to begin with.

The likelihood is that the Senate won’t act. It’s likely that the White House won’t let it happen. It’s likely that the vulnerable senators won’t even be able to get the more liberal members of the Senate Democratic caucus to go along with them. It’s likely that the Hagans and Pryors will be left to look both wrongheaded for having passed Obamacare and ineffectual for being unable to convince their leaders to try to improve it.

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Press Secretary Jay Carney to ABC News Reporter: “I Give Up” (+video)

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Photo Credit: APFresh questions about whether the White House deceived Americans with claims they could bypass the broken HealthCare.gov website by using the phone or mailing in an application provoked an exasperated response Monday from White House press secretary Jay Carney.

“I give up,” Carney told ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl, accusing the White House reporter of speaking “in tones of dramatic revelation” to inflate a story.

The exchange centered around documents released by House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) on Monday.

Meeting notes from the administration “war room” handling the rollout of ObamaCare showed that consumers who called the ObamaCare hotline or applied for insurance would still have their information eventually entered on the glitchy HealthCare.gov website, which has been plagued by technical problems since its launch on Oct. 1.

“The paper applications allow people to feel like they are moving forward in the process and provides another option; at the end of the day, we are all stuck in the same queue,” one official wrote.

Read more from this story HERE.

Mark Begich’s Lie Costs 5,360 Alaskans Their Insurance

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Premera Blue Cross Blue Shield, Alaska’s Largest Health Insurer, Is Cancelling More Than Half Of Its Individual Policies Due To ObamaCare. “The largest health insurer in Alaska has sent cancellation notices to more than half its individual members in the state because their existing policies do not meet requirements of the new federal health care law. Premera Blue Cross Blue Shield spokeswoman Melanie Coon said Friday that of its more than 9,000 individual members in Alaska, fewer than 3,800 were on “grandfathered” plans. Those are plans that were in existence before March 23, 2010, and have changed very little.” (Becky Bohrer, “Premera Sends Alaskans Health Policy Cancellation Notices, Will Offer New Plans,” Anchorage Daily News, 11/1/13)

5,360 Alaskans Will Lose Their Existing Plans. “Coon said discontinuation notices have gone to about 5,360 other members, who have been told they will be matched to new plans that are closest to what they had before in an effort to keep anyone from losing coverage.” (Becky Bohrer, “Premera Sends Alaskans Health Policy Cancellation Notices, Will Offer New Plans,” Anchorage Daily News, 11/1/13)

BEGICH PROMISED ALASKANS THEY “CAN KEEP” THEIR CURRENT PLANS; BUT REFUSED TO HONOR THAT PROMISE WHEN GIVEN THE CHANCE

On July 27, 2009, As Health Care Reform Was Being Debated, Begich Promised Constituents That “If You’ve Got A Doctor Now, You’ve Got A Medical Professional That You Want, You Get To Keep That.” BEGICH: “If you got a doctor now, you got a medical professional you want, you get to keep that. If you have an insurance program or a health care policy you want of ideas, make sure you keep it. That you can keep who you want. That we keep that patient-doctor relationship very strong.” (Sen. Mark Begich, Remarks At iTownHall, 7/27/09)

After Voting To Pass ObamaCare, Begich Claimed “Alaskans Who Have Health Insurance Now, And Are Happy With It, Can Keep It.” “Alaskans who have health insurance now, and are happy with it, can keep it. While the thousands of Alaskans who do not have health insurance, or have insurance they can’t really afford, will have access to an insurance exchange offering affordable health insurance choices. An estimated 52,000 Alaskans will quality for tax credits to help purchase affordable health coverage.” (Press Release, “Sen. Begich Statement On Passage Of Health Reform Bill,” Sen. Mark Begich, 12/24/09)

Read more from this story HERE.