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OBAMACARE: Problems and Dangers - Update

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  • OBAMACARE: Problems and Dangers - Update

    ‘TELEPHONIC SIGNATURE’? As of Jan. 1, Obamacare Forces States to Accept Applications ‘Signed’ by Voice

    The push to massively expand public programs creates yet another security disaster.

    PJ Media

    David Steinberg
    1/13/2014

    Excerpt:

    The Obama administration’s interest in creating a streamlined application process for Medicaid, CHIP, and subsidized health insurance via the state Obamacare exchanges has come at the expense of effective security and fraud prevention.

    As of January 1, 2014, this easing of requirements now includes the mandate that states accept applications completed entirely via telephone. Rather than require such applications be later accompanied by the electronic or mailed transmission of a signed document, HHS instead requires states to accept a spoken assent on a telephone call as the equivalent of an actual signature.

    Says J. Christian Adams, PJ Media legal editor and former DOJ attorney:
    Perjury prosecutions are impaired by telephone signups. Signing on a dotted line has been the core means of assent for hundreds of years, and even computerized signatures have a means of verifying that the person signing is real.

    This is the administration inviting fraud.

    The Affordable Care Act, as passed, does not mandate the acceptance of “telephonic signature.” The relevant passage — Section 1413(b)(1)(a) — only requires that applications “may be filed online, in-person, by mail, or by telephone.” Relevant regulations issued by HHS did not initially mandate telephonic signature, either. See 42 CFR 435.907, which only required “a written application from the applicant, an authorized representative, or, if the applicant is incompetent or incapacitated, someone acting responsibly for the applicant.”

    However, on March 23, 2012, Section 435.907 was revised. This revised section went into effect on January 1, 2014. It included the new part (f):
    (f) The agency must require that all initial applications are signed under penalty of perjury. Electronic, including telephonically recorded, signatures and handwritten signatures transmitted via any other electronic transmission must be accepted.

    The comment-and-response process which resulted in the new part (f) is available here. Note that the comments include scant discussion regarding any expressed need or desire for the mandated acceptance of telephonic signatures. Part (f) simply appears later in the document, and is now in effect.

    On August 9, 2013, the Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services issued a document titled “Medicaid and CHIP FAQs: Telephonic Applications.” This document included the following passage:
    2. Voice Signatures: All applications must be signed (under penalty of perjury) in order to complete an eligibility determination. In the case of telephonic applications, states must have a process in place to assist individuals in applying by phone and be able to accept telephonically recorded signatures at the time of application submission. If applicable, states can maintain their current practices of audio recording and accepting voice signatures as required for identity proofing.

    With this document, CMS offered guidance to the states regarding enactment. But CMS left unaddressed both the motivations behind the issuance of this regulation, and how telephonic signature can provide any level of security or fraud prevention.

    Why the interest in forcing states to mandate acceptance of telephonic signatures?

    Perhaps the answer lies with Enroll America, the Obamacare enrollment organization that was exposed late last year by James O’Keefe for violations of its non-profit status.

    Enroll America received its non-profit status as an organization existing to assist applicants for Obamacare plans, Medicaid, and CHIP, but the organization’s ties with the politically biased Organizing for Action and Battleground Texas have placed the group’s purpose in question.

    .........................................

    View the complete article at:

    http://pjmedia.com/blog/applications-signed-by-voice/
    B. Steadman

  • #2
    Obama Brings in Enron Fraud Partner to Fix ObamaCare Website

    FrontPage Magazine

    Daniel Greenfield
    1/12/2014

    Excerpt:

    You might be wondering, “How could ObamaCare possibly get any worse?”

    Good question. After giving a $600 million no-bid contract to an incompetent Canadian company with a terrible track record whose top executive was a pal of Michelle Obama, they’ve decided to get serious and go with a company with a perfect track record.

    Accenture.

    That sounds safely bland. Like a brand of detergent. Or a website that sells imported French pants. Accenture could be anything at all.
    Accenture is a multinational management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company. Incorporated headquarters are in Dublin, Republic of Ireland while operations headquarters are in Chicago, Illinois.

    A Chicago company with an Irish address to dodge taxes. That’s regrettable, but not too surprising. But did this Accenture place happen to have another name? A more familiar name.
    Accenture began as the business and technology consulting division of accounting firm Arthur Andersen. On January 1, 2001 Andersen Consulting adopted its current name, “Accenture”.

    Arthur Andersen? Wait that sounds oddly familiar.
    The U.S. Justice Department today announced the indictment of embattled accounting firm Arthur Andersen on one count of obstruction of justice relating to the collapse of former energy giant Enron Corp.

    The obstruction charge is based on claims that Andersen employees shredded important documents about Enron’s finances, even though they knew the Securities and Exchange Commission was formally looking into Enron. The Justice Department also alleges Andersen employees deleted relevant computer files.

    Andersen served as Enron’s sole auditor throughout the energy giant’s sixteen years, also performing internal audits and consulting services.

    Andersen has recently been involved in several other major auditing scandals. Last year, the SEC fined the firm $7 million for ‘improper professional conduct’, including overstating client Waste Management’s earnings by $1.4 billion. It was the first successful case against an auditor in over 20 years. In May 2001, Anderson also paid $110 million to Sunbeam shareholders to settle lawsuits stemming from its inflated earnings statements.

    Andersen and Enron both had deep ties to the Democratic Party and Accenture spends a lot of money on lobbying. The top recipient for Accenture donations is an obscure Chicago politician named Barack Obama.
    “The Washington Post reported on Friday that Accenture will get a year-long contract worth about $90 million for the ObamaCare website.”

    View the complete article at:

    http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/dgr...acare-website/
    B. Steadman

    Comment


    • #3
      Obama's Single Payer System

      Obama's Single Payer System

      Tea Party Nation

      Marcia Wood
      1/13/2014

      Excerpt:

      Obamacare will remain on the front burner for 2014 – it has definitely been one of the culprits that have stalled our economy. Businesses have worked lean and mean since 2010 because of the many unknowns that have accompanied the “Obamacare” law.

      Now in 2014, Obamacare is destructing and destroying the economy; (1) Putting additional financial burdens on families, (2) The reason businesses are laying off or placing full time employees on part-time employment, (3) The Medical field faces dire problems due to the cost, the affordability and the elimination of many physicians, surgeons, clinics not included in the ACA plans.

      So the real question is this – why is the Obama Administration and Democrats defending a healthcare law that is doomed to die on the vine? There is one reason and one reason only – Obama knew ACA would fail, but in order to turn our healthcare into a one payer system he had to place Americans in a position where they had to depend on the Government for their healthcare.

      Democrats want a one payer system and are delighted that Obama’s strategy is working. Many of us who were insured have were put in a position that we had to participate in the Obamacare law in order to protect our children and families. Obamacare was the only choice left – we’d lost our insurers, our specialists, our hospitals, clinics and our healthcare choices.

      Read a portion of Obama’s weekly address – wrap you mind around a few absolute untruths that is a large part of Obama’s DNA. Many people refer to him as the greatest orator of our times – but to me it’s apparent that he is the greatest deceiver of all times. Anyway here’s his opening statement in his weekly address.

      Read the full transcript of the president's address:
      "Hi, everybody. Yesterday, we learned that in 2013, our businesses created 2.2 million new jobs – including 87,000 last month. Our unemployment rate is the lowest it has been since October 2008. And across our broader economy, there are signs of progress. Our manufacturing and housing sectors are rebounding. Our energy, technology, and auto sectors are booming. Thanks in part to the reforms in the Affordable Care Act, health care costs now eat up less of our economy – over the past four years, costs have grown at the slowest rate on record. And since I took office, we’ve cut our deficits by more than half.

      Let’s dissect this statement the 2.2 million new jobs he’s blabbering about are mainly seasonal or part-time which reflects back to the fact that millions of Americans no longer looking for jobs and most of these part time jobs don’t pay any benefits.

      As far as the ACA eating up less of our economy this isn’t true, in fact it’s a down right lie. The ACA will cause chaos in 2014 plunging us deeper into an already vicious recession, more lay - offs, more part time employees, fewer jobs and tremendous debt...

      Review his last sentence, is this person from the same planet as we are or is he an alien from the Middle East – it’s takes more than guts to say, “Since I took office, we’ve cut our deficits by more than half.” Our National Deficit alone has topped 17 trillion and growing at a rate of 2.6 billion daily as of September 2012.

      Here’s the problem in a nutshell if Obamacare isn’t repealed immediately, we the people will soon be indebted to “Big Government” to take care of our healthcare. They will pick and choose who will get covered, where they will receive medical care along with a yearly increase to the already high deductibles and co-payments.

      Think I’m just blowing smoke – go back to this video and review Obama’s remarks about our healthcare. http://www.breitbart.com/InstaBlog/2...ck-Obama-s-Cam...

      The strategy was pretty darn easy for Obama – with Pelosi’s help they passed a healthcare law that no one understood or had read in its entirety. Republicans should hang their head in shame over this scandal!

      Lois Lerner could care less if the ACA website works or not – they’ve already succeeded in the first step which is to strip all Americans of their insurers, doctors, specialists, hospitals, clinics etc…

      .........................................

      View the complete post at:

      http://www.teapartynation.com/profil...msg_share_post
      B. Steadman

      Comment


      • #4
        Bailing Out Health Insurers and Helping Obamacare

        The Weekly Standard

        Jeffrey H. Anderson
        1/13/2014

        Excerpt:

        Robert Laszewski—a prominent consultant to health insurance companies—recently wrote in a remarkably candid blog post that, while Obamacare is almost certain to cause insurance costs to skyrocket even higher than it already has, “insurers won’t be losing a lot of sleep over it.” How can this be? Because insurance companies won’t bear the cost of their own losses—at least not more than about a quarter of them. The other three-quarters will be borne by American taxpayers.

        For some reason, President Obama hasn’t talked about this particular feature of his signature legislation. Indeed, it’s bad enough that Obamacare is projected by the Congressional Budget Office to funnel $1,071,000,000,000.00 (that’s $1.071 trillion) over the next decade (2014 to 2023) from American taxpayers, through Washington, to health insurance companies. It’s even worse that Obamacare is trying to coerce Americans into buying those same insurers’ product (although there are escape routes). It’s almost unbelievable that it will also subsidize those same insurers’ losses.

        But that’s exactly what it will do—unless Republicans take action. As Laszewski explains, Obamacare contains a “Reinsurance Program that caps big claim costs for insurers (individual plans only).” He writes that “in 2014, 80% of individual costs between $45,000 and $250,000 are paid by the government [read: by taxpayers], for example.”

        In other words, insurance purchased through Obamacare’s government-run exchanges isn’t even full-fledged private insurance; rather, it’s a sort of private-public hybrid. Private insurance companies pay for costs below $45,000, then taxpayers generously pick up the tab—a tab that their president hasn’t ever bothered to tell them he has opened up on their behalf—for four-fifths of the next $200,000-plus worth of costs. In this way, and so many others, Obamacare takes a major step toward the government monopoly over American medicine (“single payer”) that liberals drool about in their sleep.

        Laszewski adds, “The reinsurance program has done and will continue to do what it was intended to do; help attract and keep more carriers in Obamacare than might have otherwise come.” Thus, Obamacare is being aided by having taxpayers subsidize big insurance companies’ business expenses. (Who could ever have guessed that big government and big business might be natural allies?)

        But, amazingly, it doesn’t stop there. Laszewski writes that Obamacare also contains a “Risk Corridor Program that limits overall losses for insurers.” So insurers not only don’t have to pay out all of their costs; they also don’t have to swallow all of their losses.

        Laszewski explains that if an insurance company expects its costs in a given year to be X, and those costs end up being more than X plus 2 percent, taxpayers will come to that insurance company’s rescue—thanks to Obamacare. In fact, once an insurance company covers that initial 2 percent in unexpected costs, taxpayers will cover at least 80 percent of any additional costs the insurer accrues.

        Laszewski provides a couple of examples to help illustrate taxpayers’ unwitting generosity toward these “participating health plans” (plans sold through Obamacare’s government-run exchanges):

        “If the health plan has costs at 110% of the medical cost target [the costs that the insurer expects to accrue], it will be responsible for only 102.4% of the target (a 2.4% shortfall)—only about a quarter of its losses.

        “If the health plan’s medical costs come in at 120% of the expected claim cost target level, the health plan will only be responsible for 104.4% of the target (a 4.4% shortfall)—again only about a quarter of its losses.”

        It’s actually only about a fifth in this example, as taxpayers would cover 78 percent of the losses, with the insurer covering just 22 percent.

        .................................................. .

        View the complete article at:

        http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/...e_774167.html#
        B. Steadman

        Comment


        • #5
          REPEAL , rescind , reject , remove obummer and the " Unaffordable Frankenstein Act .

          Comment

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