The temperature here in slower Maryland increased abruptly overnight from nearly freezing to 45 F, which is so warm by comparison with recent weather, that it felt nearly tropical when I went out to fetch paper. Contributing to the feeling was the fog and mist. Looks like it's going to be another gloomy day here, with rain off and on. Oh well.
Now about that Obamacare Schadenfreude. Leading the news has to be the Obama administrations decision to terminate their contract with CGI, the Canadian Company in charge of developing the federal website a month before their contract would have expired:
The Obama administration has terminated its contract with CGI Federal, the main company responsible for the glitch-ridden federal website HealthCare.gov that administers Obamacare, officially known as the Affordable Care Act, and replaced it with Accenture PLC, the Washington Post reported Friday.The action, of course, contradicts the administrations claims that improvements to the website were coming along well.
Federal officials determined that CGI had not effectively fixed the computer system behind the HealthCare.gov website and decided to sign a 12-month contract worth $90 million, probably next week, with Accenture, which is based in Ireland but has operational headquarters in Chicago, according to the newspaper's report. Accenture is the large consulting firm that built California’s new health insurance system, but it has not worked extensively for the federal government before.
CGI’s contract was set to run out at the end of February. Federal officials had the option to renew the contract for another year or not renewing it.
CGI has been linked to Michelle Obama through a Senior executive at CGI, Toni Townes-Whitley, who was a Princeton classmate, and fellow member of the Organization of Black Unity (OBU) and the Third World Center (TWC), so this may cause a bit of trouble in the Obama household. However, there are some interesting facts about the newest selection too, Accenture. Back in 2009, Accenture left their "home" in the Bahamas for Ireland, to avoid US taxes:
Accenture Ltd. acn +0.30% is seeking to become the latest company to switch tax-haven locales.One wonders about the vetting of the companies being selected to run the federal website...
On Tuesday, the consulting and outsourcing firm said its board of directors had unanimously approved switching the company's place of incorporation from Bermuda to Ireland.
The move comes amid a crackdown on tax havens by the Obama administration and congressional Democrats, who are targeting companies with substantial U.S. operations that are incorporated in tax havens like Bermuda to lower their overall tax burden.
Meanwhile, from Humana, news that the feared "Death Spiral" has started the first turn around the drain:
Humana says mix of Obamacare enrollment worse than expected
Health insurer Humana Inc said on Thursday that it projected its enrollment mix in private plans through the exchanges created by President Barack Obama's healthcare law will be, "more adverse than previously expected."And Blue Cross Blue Shield fired a shot across the Republican's bow by warning that revoking the "risk corridors", the provision of Obamacare that will bail out the insurance companies in the event of massive losses due to the Obamacare, could lead to the dreaded
Humana attributed the enrollment trend to regulatory changes allowing people to remain in previously existing plans not sold on the exchanges. Obama proposed allowing insurers to keep selling plans that did not comply with the Affordable Care Act after political fallout that he was not keeping his promise that people can keep insurance plans if they like them.
BuzzFeed obtained a memo and talking points from the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association’s CEO Scott Serota that sound alarm bells over momentum for repeal of the health care law’s “risk corridors” — the program that would provide insurance companies with additional funds to cover losses should not enough healthy people enroll in health care plans.Patterico catches the Los Angeles Times in the act of trying to switch the blame for the Obamacare mess from the Administration to the Insurance Companies: L.A. Times Helps Perpetuate Obama Fraud That The Current Health Care Chaos Is the Fault of Insurers
“We are becoming increasingly concerned about momentum that is quickly building among some leading conservatives for elimination of the risk corridor and reinsurance programs,” Serota wrote.
...
In attached talking points, seemingly directed at Republican lawmakers opposed to risk corridors and reinsurance, BCBSA is asking members to argue that eliminating the risk corridors will lead to the eventual downfall of Obamacare and lead to a single-payer system: “It jeopardizes the entire private health insurance market and will ultimately lead to a single-payer system. Furthermore, it will close the door to pro-competitive health care reform alternatives.”
Let the demonization of the insurance companies begin!But, yes, the insurance companies are responsible for a lot of the problems; who do you think supplied most of the text that the democratic Congressional interns and staff cut and paste into
Obamacare’s biggest problem isn’t the troubled HealthCare.gov website anymore.
Consumers are easing up on criticism of government exchanges and turning their frustration and fury toward some of the nation’s biggest health insurers. All too often, new policyholders say, the companies can’t confirm coverage, won’t answer basic questions, and haven’t issued identification numbers needed to fill prescriptions or get medical care.
Day after day, people say, they contact insurance company call centers waiting hours at a time with no response. Meantime, insurers have already taken many customers’ payments for coverage intended to take effect Jan. 1.
Stupid insurance companies! There’s no way this backlog could have been caused by the utter incompetence of the Obama administration in failing to ready the Web site and forcing last-minute changes on insurance companies due to the administration’s own mismanagement. Right?
Oh, and stop calling it Obamacare!
How about Pelosicare?
The Obama administration is apparently getting tired of Obamacare Schadenfreude in the news, and is seeking to soften the news:
Transparency: Obama Opposes Weekly Reports on ObamaCare
Barack Obama, accountable to no one.I watched the debate and vote on the second bill on C-Span yesterday, to require the administration to inform Obamacare consumers if their personal data was breached in a timely manner. It passed the house handily, with a few republican defections, and a large number of democrats defecting from the administrations hard line against consumers. Of course, it stands no chance in the democratically controlled Senate:
The Obama administration said Thursday it opposes legislation that would require weekly reports on the implementation of ObamaCare, as well as legislation requiring officials to tell people if their personal data has been compromised.
But while the White House said it opposes both bills, neither of its two statements said Obama would veto either measure if they were presented for his signature into law. The House is expected to pass both bills on Friday.
In the first of two separate Statements of Administration Policy, the White House said it opposes weekly reporting requirements on both enrollments and the operation of the HealthCare.gov website because it would require “unfunded, unprecedented, and unnecessary reporting requirements” on the health insurance exchanges.
Dozens of House Democrats broke ranks with President Obama on Friday to support legislation that would require people to be notified of security breaches under ObamaCare.
The House passed the Health Exchange Security and Transparency Act, H.R. 3811, in a 291-122 vote. Sixty-seven Democrats voted for the bill, ignoring arguments from party leaders that the bill was a "messaging" vote meant to discourage people from signing up for insurance.
The one-sentence bill says that no later than two business days after any security breach on an ObamaCare site is discovered, "the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall provide notice of such breach to each individual." Republicans said that under current law, the government is not required to notify people if their information is put at risk.
"It may shock some people to learn that there is no legal requirement that the Department of Health and Human Services notify an individual if his or her personal information is breached or improperly accessed through the Affordable Care Act's exchanges," said Rep. Joe Pitts (R-Pa.).
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