Some 12,300 people in North Carolina are in danger of losing their Affordable Care Act health insurance because they have not submitted citizenship or immigration paperwork, according to the Obama administration. This applies to individuals who purchased health insurance through the online marketplace where private insurers, including Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, sold plans to consumers. Those who bought through the ACA marketplace could shop for appreciably similar plans sold by…
Reported by bizjournals 14 hours ago.
12,300 in N.C. could lose Obamacare coverage for lack of citizenship paperwork
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↧
Deadline looms for N.J. immigrants to clear up Obamacare discrepancies
Nearly 10,000 people in New Jersey may lose their subsidized health insurance if they don’t clear up gaps in their immigration or citizenship documentation
Reported by NJ.com 14 hours ago.
↧
About 1,800 Kansans could lose ACA coverage over immigration issues
About 1,800 Kansas residents who enrolled on the Healthcare.gov national exchange to receive health insurance could lose their coverage over immigration issues. The Lawrence Journal-World reports the individuals must provide proof of citizenship or immigration status by early next month to avoid losing coverage. Illegal immigrants are not eligible for tax subsidies that help individuals pay for insurance. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says it has closed out about 450,000 immigration…
Reported by bizjournals 12 hours ago.
↧
6,900 Louisianians must show citizenship records or lose health insurance coverage
About 6,900 of the 101,700 Louisianians who bought health insurance through the Affordable Care Act could lose their coverage unless they provide documents to the federal government proving their citizenship and immigration status. The Obama administration on Wednesday announced that it has...
Reported by nola.com 11 hours ago.
↧
Gold Not A Safe Haven? Tell That to Folk in Ukraine, Gaza, Syria and Iraq
Gold Not A Safe Haven? Tell That to Folk in Ukraine, South America, Middle East and Africa
It is important to remember that while gold and silver prices have been in lockdown and only eked out small gains so far in 2014 despite increasing risk - especially geopolitical - gold has seen very strong gains in many non major currencies.Gold in Ukraine Hryvnia - YTD 2014 (Sharelynx)
This is especially the case in Ukraine where the currency has lost more than half of its value versus gold (see chart above and below). Gold in Ukraine Hrvynia is up 70% since the start of 2014. People who own gold in Ukraine would laugh at you, if you said that gold is not a safe haven.
People in Iraq, Iran, Syria, Gaza and elsewhere in the Middle East would also attest to how gold is a safe haven - both for refugees fleeing with portable wealth that is gold and for those who stay in country but see their currency devalued. As would people in Argentina (see chart below) and throughout many countries in South America and indeed Africa.
Reuters Interview GoldCore On Gold As Safe Haven
Mark O'Byrne, (Goldcore)
Hi Amanda and everybody in the forum
Amanda Cooper (Reuters News)
And it is time to welcome in our first guest of the day! Please welcome Mark O'Byrne, who is research director of GoldCore. Welcome back Mark!
Mark O'Byrne
Thanks for having me back on Amanda
Amanda Cooper
We said we'd talk about gold's role as a safe haven, particularly now when crisis after crisis, be that political, religious or even health related is blowing up. As you probably saw someone on Twitter said "please mention that s not the primary reason to own gold"
Is it still valid to talk about gold being a safe haven?
TWITTER
Follow Reuters Global Markets Forum here
Follow Mark O'Byrne on Twitter here
Follow GoldCore here
Mark O'Byrne
Indeed I did ... lol ... so lets address the Twitter comment first. Geopolitical risk is not the primary reason to own gold. There I said it.
Macroeconomic, systemic and monetary risks are also good reasons to have an allocation to physical gold in a portfolio
Steven S
what is so safe about it? it is not easily used in local commerce - if you are seen flashing it - you just may be mugged and if you store with others it can be rehypothocated ad infinitum
Amanda Cooper
I'll make sure I tweet that All right, in today's world, where the major central banks (some of them at least) are positioning to raise rates and you have the S&P seemingly going from record high to record high with barely more than a single-digit correction between peaks....why should you?
If you could tackle Steven's question first
Mark O'Byrne
Hi Steven, Its safe if it is owned in an allocated and segregated manner in a secure vault in safer jurisdictions in the world - such as CHF
Steven S
and when you need access to do it? the only way to use it is to exchange it for paper…
farmland - you can grow food, oil you can burn - gold well it sits there and you pay to store it
Mark O'Byrne
You pick up the phone or email and can have it delivered to your work or home address in 2 to 4 working days - but that is only in worst case scenarios.
Petri
in 1820 an ounce of gold could buy you a nice tailored suit.... in 2014 an ounce of gold can still buy you a nice tailored suit... it is a store of value, not a return generating investment. At least, that is my understanding
Amanda Cooper
Okay so if we're not talking about unholy hell being unleashed but more a general sense of unease....what would you say was the prime reason for keeping some gold in your portfolio, as opposed to allocating all that cash to bitcoins or the S&P or Greek debt?
Mark O'Byrne
Sorry I shoud qualify it is not absolutely safe - nothing is but significant body of academic research and history shows acts as hedging instrument and safe haven asset. At same time should only be an allocation in a portfolio of some 5% to 20%.
Amanda Cooper
So, back to my question. What's the prime benefit that such an allocation to gold would bring to a portfolio?
Mark O'Byrne
Is all about Diversification and not a Question of 'either or' regarding major assets.
Gold in Argentine Pesos - YTD 2014 (Sharelynx)Greek debt is high risk and not a store of value. Bitcoin is interesting but too soon to see how will develop and whether will act as a store of value. Huge potential as a means of exchange and payment obviously.
Most people already own the S&P if they have diversified investment and pension portfolios with an allocation to equities. Indeed some may be overweight the S&P and equities in general after the huge run up we have seen in most indices. We think S&P and many indices are now significantly overvalued and we are due a significant correction ... and potentially a crash ... with October being the period of risk
Amanda Cooper
Ah I was being slightly facetious with those examples. Can you talk to us a little about what kind of flows/demand youve seen from Goldcore's client base over this year?
On the S&P...thats what I just cant get my head around....no market is a one-way street, ever. Except that one!
Mark O'Byrne
Our general advice would be (and different for different investors depending on age, risk appetite, goals in life) have a diversified portfolio with significant allocations to equities (favouring small cap and emerging markets), and bonds ( AAA rated and short duration) and al allocation to physical gold and indeed silver
Steven S
gold drops quick $3 during this
Mark O'Byrne
Knew you were Amanda but still good food for thought
Amanda Cooper
So...who typically is buying gold at the moment? Do you have a broad profile you can talk to us about?
Mark O'Byrne
Hi Petri, Exactly it is a store of value and a form of financial insurance. It is an asset and not an investment as no yield
Hi Steven, Re your last point. Gold is highly liquid and you can sell it at anytime and buy lots of food, shop or shops, farm or farms, land, companies, stocks etc You have a very Amero - dollar centric view of gold. People in South America, Argentina, Eastern Europe and the Ukraine today and indeed people in Cyprus could tell you the value of gold. Those who owned it have protected and grown their wealth despite various crisesGold in Ukraine Hryvnia - 2 Years (Sharelynx)Amanda Cooper
Who is buying it now though? The euro zone has moved on from those very dark days in 2010/11/12 when its existence was at stake....and the US is recovering enough for the Fed to wind down QEnfinity....
Michael W
For me a main reason to have gold is a) I like the colour of the Krügerands and b) I can store it in a safe place to have access whenever I may need it and without relying on a bank or even worse a government
Amanda Cooper
@Michael - I think with b) you have made @Mark's day
Mark O'Byrne
There is little buying of gold by retail public today as they have flocked to and are piling into stocks and property. JP Morgans or Joe Kennedy's shoe shine boy come to mind and this should give pause for concern.
Buyers of gold recently have primarily been central banks and particularly Russia (story there in itself) and institutions as seen in increase in ETF holdings recently.
Our clients are a mixture of mass affluent and HNW. Last 2 years we have seen rough 50/ 50 break down in buys to sells. From 2003 to 2011 we saw 95% buys. Only buying of coins and bars is from existing bullion owners who are concerned about the global geopolitical and economic situation and they are adding to allocations.
Amanda Cooper
That's very interesting about the buy/sell split and the shift by the retail public.
Russia buying gold..that's a trend that's been in place for a couple of years now. They're one of the biggest holders of gold now. What do you read into that? Does it have any relevance for current events?
Mark O'Byrne
Sentiment is very poor and as bad as we have seen it. This is industry wide - we know from our conversations with senior people in refineries, mints etc. This is actually quite bullish from a contrarian perspective. As we believe that once prices begin to move up again, there will be a significant uptick in buying from the very depressed levels of today.
Amanda Cooper
Well...yes it's not far off the point of reaching the cash cost/oz of a lot of the deeper, older ZA mines at least.
Steven S
I just don't see walking into a shop and trying to use gold of unknown and unproven origin... mastercard, visa, works better now if you had a gold backed credit/debit card ... hmmmm plus wages would ahve to paid in gold...
Michael W
@ Mark the worst sentiment I have ever seen for gold was in 1999 .....
Mark O'Byrne
Hi Michael, Yes is financial insurance against that rainy day. We all own car insurance and health insurance and gold is financial insurance that can be relied upon in difficult financial and economic times
Amanda Cooper
Gosh yes, 1999 was very grim.....until September that year anyway...
Mark O'Byrne
Very NB point re cash cost. Very little downside risk and significant update potential
Michael W
yep
Mark O'Byrne
Re eurozone and U.S. economies ...
Bill W
1999 ashanti
Michael W
yep, the Washington agreement changed it for gold and killed the insane hedging strategy Ashanti had in place
Mark O'Byrne
The Eurozone debt crisis is far from over and will rear its ugly head again alas. Events with ESP in Portugal in recent days are an indication of that. Politicians and bankers have managed to delay the inevitable day of reckoning by piling even more debt onto the backs of already struggling taxpayers. This will compound the problem and we believe make it worse in the long term.
Michael W
hedging being the wrong word for that strategy, gambling describes it more accurate
Jeanine P
GM, just quickly, US July retail sales unchanged, vs consensus of +0.2 pct and June +0.2 pct
Amanda Cooper
Mark youre the second guest we've had in GMF today - one of our Asia guests earlier said the same - that has issued a rather stark warning about the euro zone.
Thanks Jeanine!
Mark O'Byrne
Re the U.S. recovery - it is tentative at best. Even Yellen yesterday said that she was resolved to avoiding raising rates too soon and could lead to a recession
Amanda Cooper
We're about at the end of our time so before we go, perhaps you could leave us with a question to ponder?
Mark O'Byrne
This is not the sign of a recovering economy. The U.S. government is technically insolvent. At the start of the 'credit crisis' seven years ago, U.S. Federal debt was just $8.9 trillion. Today, U.S. federal debt stands at $17.66 trillion - nearly 100% higher and increasing rapidly. This does not include the $70 trillion to $100 trillion in unfunded liabilities for social security, medicare and medicaid.
Mark O'Byrne
Who put the figs into the fig rolls?
Amanda Cooper
Oh.....a riddle wrapped in a conundrum, deep-fried in an enigma!
Mark, you’ve been a fabulous guest. Thank you so much for your time today!
Mark O'Byrne
Been a pleasure. Thanks for all the questions and hope got them all. My typing skills still leave a lot to be desired. Thanks Amanda
Amanda Cooper
Absolutely not! Plus everyone here is so used to my awful typing, yours must have looked positively glowing by comparisong. Thanks again.
See?
Mark O'Byrne
“comparisong” ... yes sounds lilting ... u sing it and I will hum it
END
Owning Allocated and Segregated Bullion Is Vital today > Download The 7 Key Storage Must Haves
Reported by Zero Hedge 11 hours ago.
It is important to remember that while gold and silver prices have been in lockdown and only eked out small gains so far in 2014 despite increasing risk - especially geopolitical - gold has seen very strong gains in many non major currencies.Gold in Ukraine Hryvnia - YTD 2014 (Sharelynx)
This is especially the case in Ukraine where the currency has lost more than half of its value versus gold (see chart above and below). Gold in Ukraine Hrvynia is up 70% since the start of 2014. People who own gold in Ukraine would laugh at you, if you said that gold is not a safe haven.
People in Iraq, Iran, Syria, Gaza and elsewhere in the Middle East would also attest to how gold is a safe haven - both for refugees fleeing with portable wealth that is gold and for those who stay in country but see their currency devalued. As would people in Argentina (see chart below) and throughout many countries in South America and indeed Africa.
Reuters Interview GoldCore On Gold As Safe Haven
Mark O'Byrne, (Goldcore)
Hi Amanda and everybody in the forum
Amanda Cooper (Reuters News)
And it is time to welcome in our first guest of the day! Please welcome Mark O'Byrne, who is research director of GoldCore. Welcome back Mark!
Mark O'Byrne
Thanks for having me back on Amanda
Amanda Cooper
We said we'd talk about gold's role as a safe haven, particularly now when crisis after crisis, be that political, religious or even health related is blowing up. As you probably saw someone on Twitter said "please mention that s not the primary reason to own gold"
Is it still valid to talk about gold being a safe haven?
Follow Reuters Global Markets Forum here
Follow Mark O'Byrne on Twitter here
Follow GoldCore here
Mark O'Byrne
Indeed I did ... lol ... so lets address the Twitter comment first. Geopolitical risk is not the primary reason to own gold. There I said it.
Macroeconomic, systemic and monetary risks are also good reasons to have an allocation to physical gold in a portfolio
Steven S
what is so safe about it? it is not easily used in local commerce - if you are seen flashing it - you just may be mugged and if you store with others it can be rehypothocated ad infinitum
Amanda Cooper
I'll make sure I tweet that All right, in today's world, where the major central banks (some of them at least) are positioning to raise rates and you have the S&P seemingly going from record high to record high with barely more than a single-digit correction between peaks....why should you?
If you could tackle Steven's question first
Mark O'Byrne
Hi Steven, Its safe if it is owned in an allocated and segregated manner in a secure vault in safer jurisdictions in the world - such as CHF
Steven S
and when you need access to do it? the only way to use it is to exchange it for paper…
farmland - you can grow food, oil you can burn - gold well it sits there and you pay to store it
Mark O'Byrne
You pick up the phone or email and can have it delivered to your work or home address in 2 to 4 working days - but that is only in worst case scenarios.
Petri
in 1820 an ounce of gold could buy you a nice tailored suit.... in 2014 an ounce of gold can still buy you a nice tailored suit... it is a store of value, not a return generating investment. At least, that is my understanding
Amanda Cooper
Okay so if we're not talking about unholy hell being unleashed but more a general sense of unease....what would you say was the prime reason for keeping some gold in your portfolio, as opposed to allocating all that cash to bitcoins or the S&P or Greek debt?
Mark O'Byrne
Sorry I shoud qualify it is not absolutely safe - nothing is but significant body of academic research and history shows acts as hedging instrument and safe haven asset. At same time should only be an allocation in a portfolio of some 5% to 20%.
Amanda Cooper
So, back to my question. What's the prime benefit that such an allocation to gold would bring to a portfolio?
Mark O'Byrne
Is all about Diversification and not a Question of 'either or' regarding major assets.
Gold in Argentine Pesos - YTD 2014 (Sharelynx)Greek debt is high risk and not a store of value. Bitcoin is interesting but too soon to see how will develop and whether will act as a store of value. Huge potential as a means of exchange and payment obviously.
Most people already own the S&P if they have diversified investment and pension portfolios with an allocation to equities. Indeed some may be overweight the S&P and equities in general after the huge run up we have seen in most indices. We think S&P and many indices are now significantly overvalued and we are due a significant correction ... and potentially a crash ... with October being the period of risk
Amanda Cooper
Ah I was being slightly facetious with those examples. Can you talk to us a little about what kind of flows/demand youve seen from Goldcore's client base over this year?
On the S&P...thats what I just cant get my head around....no market is a one-way street, ever. Except that one!
Mark O'Byrne
Our general advice would be (and different for different investors depending on age, risk appetite, goals in life) have a diversified portfolio with significant allocations to equities (favouring small cap and emerging markets), and bonds ( AAA rated and short duration) and al allocation to physical gold and indeed silver
Steven S
gold drops quick $3 during this
Mark O'Byrne
Knew you were Amanda but still good food for thought
Amanda Cooper
So...who typically is buying gold at the moment? Do you have a broad profile you can talk to us about?
Mark O'Byrne
Hi Petri, Exactly it is a store of value and a form of financial insurance. It is an asset and not an investment as no yield
Hi Steven, Re your last point. Gold is highly liquid and you can sell it at anytime and buy lots of food, shop or shops, farm or farms, land, companies, stocks etc You have a very Amero - dollar centric view of gold. People in South America, Argentina, Eastern Europe and the Ukraine today and indeed people in Cyprus could tell you the value of gold. Those who owned it have protected and grown their wealth despite various crisesGold in Ukraine Hryvnia - 2 Years (Sharelynx)Amanda Cooper
Who is buying it now though? The euro zone has moved on from those very dark days in 2010/11/12 when its existence was at stake....and the US is recovering enough for the Fed to wind down QEnfinity....
Michael W
For me a main reason to have gold is a) I like the colour of the Krügerands and b) I can store it in a safe place to have access whenever I may need it and without relying on a bank or even worse a government
Amanda Cooper
@Michael - I think with b) you have made @Mark's day
Mark O'Byrne
There is little buying of gold by retail public today as they have flocked to and are piling into stocks and property. JP Morgans or Joe Kennedy's shoe shine boy come to mind and this should give pause for concern.
Buyers of gold recently have primarily been central banks and particularly Russia (story there in itself) and institutions as seen in increase in ETF holdings recently.
Our clients are a mixture of mass affluent and HNW. Last 2 years we have seen rough 50/ 50 break down in buys to sells. From 2003 to 2011 we saw 95% buys. Only buying of coins and bars is from existing bullion owners who are concerned about the global geopolitical and economic situation and they are adding to allocations.
Amanda Cooper
That's very interesting about the buy/sell split and the shift by the retail public.
Russia buying gold..that's a trend that's been in place for a couple of years now. They're one of the biggest holders of gold now. What do you read into that? Does it have any relevance for current events?
Mark O'Byrne
Sentiment is very poor and as bad as we have seen it. This is industry wide - we know from our conversations with senior people in refineries, mints etc. This is actually quite bullish from a contrarian perspective. As we believe that once prices begin to move up again, there will be a significant uptick in buying from the very depressed levels of today.
Amanda Cooper
Well...yes it's not far off the point of reaching the cash cost/oz of a lot of the deeper, older ZA mines at least.
Steven S
I just don't see walking into a shop and trying to use gold of unknown and unproven origin... mastercard, visa, works better now if you had a gold backed credit/debit card ... hmmmm plus wages would ahve to paid in gold...
Michael W
@ Mark the worst sentiment I have ever seen for gold was in 1999 .....
Mark O'Byrne
Hi Michael, Yes is financial insurance against that rainy day. We all own car insurance and health insurance and gold is financial insurance that can be relied upon in difficult financial and economic times
Amanda Cooper
Gosh yes, 1999 was very grim.....until September that year anyway...
Mark O'Byrne
Very NB point re cash cost. Very little downside risk and significant update potential
Michael W
yep
Mark O'Byrne
Re eurozone and U.S. economies ...
Bill W
1999 ashanti
Michael W
yep, the Washington agreement changed it for gold and killed the insane hedging strategy Ashanti had in place
Mark O'Byrne
The Eurozone debt crisis is far from over and will rear its ugly head again alas. Events with ESP in Portugal in recent days are an indication of that. Politicians and bankers have managed to delay the inevitable day of reckoning by piling even more debt onto the backs of already struggling taxpayers. This will compound the problem and we believe make it worse in the long term.
Michael W
hedging being the wrong word for that strategy, gambling describes it more accurate
Jeanine P
GM, just quickly, US July retail sales unchanged, vs consensus of +0.2 pct and June +0.2 pct
Amanda Cooper
Mark youre the second guest we've had in GMF today - one of our Asia guests earlier said the same - that has issued a rather stark warning about the euro zone.
Thanks Jeanine!
Mark O'Byrne
Re the U.S. recovery - it is tentative at best. Even Yellen yesterday said that she was resolved to avoiding raising rates too soon and could lead to a recession
Amanda Cooper
We're about at the end of our time so before we go, perhaps you could leave us with a question to ponder?
Mark O'Byrne
This is not the sign of a recovering economy. The U.S. government is technically insolvent. At the start of the 'credit crisis' seven years ago, U.S. Federal debt was just $8.9 trillion. Today, U.S. federal debt stands at $17.66 trillion - nearly 100% higher and increasing rapidly. This does not include the $70 trillion to $100 trillion in unfunded liabilities for social security, medicare and medicaid.
Mark O'Byrne
Who put the figs into the fig rolls?
Amanda Cooper
Oh.....a riddle wrapped in a conundrum, deep-fried in an enigma!
Mark, you’ve been a fabulous guest. Thank you so much for your time today!
Mark O'Byrne
Been a pleasure. Thanks for all the questions and hope got them all. My typing skills still leave a lot to be desired. Thanks Amanda
Amanda Cooper
Absolutely not! Plus everyone here is so used to my awful typing, yours must have looked positively glowing by comparisong. Thanks again.
See?
Mark O'Byrne
“comparisong” ... yes sounds lilting ... u sing it and I will hum it
END
Owning Allocated and Segregated Bullion Is Vital today > Download The 7 Key Storage Must Haves
Reported by Zero Hedge 11 hours ago.
↧
↧
It's A Jungle Out There: Animals Pop Up In Campaign Ads
WASHINGTON (AP) — It's a jungle out there in political television advertising, what with parrots, chicks, dogs and pigs taking turns in commercials that bite and scratch in a way no nonpartisan pet ever would.
"You can keep it," squawked a parrot in a Club for Growth Action ad that ran earlier in the year in Arkansas. It was meant to ridicule President Barack Obama and Sen. Mark Pryor's now-abandoned claims that state residents could keep their health insurance if they liked it. In Georgia, Democratic Rep. John Barrow unleashed a golden retriever in the first television ad of his campaign for a new term. "Somebody once said if you want a friend in Washington, get a dog," he says.
"Well, I wouldn't wish Washington on a dog," Barrow adds, throwing a tennis ball to be fetched. By the time he has finished touting his own record and criticizing other lawmakers, the dog and ball are back. "She works harder than most of them do," he says, comparing the pet favorably to the men and women he has known in Congress for a decade.
Whether peddling candidates or commercial products, the goal of commercials is to gain as wide and attentive a viewership as possible. Anything that gets a longer look is prized.
"Animals can be a great way to get the viewer to stop skipping through the commercials on their DVR or delay a trip to the fridge during a commercial break," said Ali Lapp, executive director of the House Majority PAC, a group that backs Democrats in House campaigns.
Not only can animals be cute or cuddly, but they often trigger predictable emotions among humans. Pork, tasty when eaten, produces indigestion in the form of government spending.
Nor are animals new to political advertising.
Three decades ago, in his re-election campaign, President Ronald Reagan aired a commercial about a bear, a readily recognizable symbol for the Soviet Union.
"There is a bear in the woods. For some people, the bear is easy to see. Others don't see it at all," the announcer said as a grizzly lumbered across the landscape. The commercial's strong suggestion was that Reagan's Democratic opponent, Walter Mondale, was among those unable to see the danger posed by a rival superpower.
No bears, grizzly or teddy, have wandered from the woods onto television screens yet this campaign season.
But Jodi Ernst won the Republican Senate nomination in Iowa after airing a commercial in which she said she grew up on a farm and can castrate hogs. "So when I get to Washington, I'll know how to cut pork," she says as a pig squeals in the background.
Making sure the point isn't missed, she says of the big spenders, "Let's make 'em squeal," a command the pigs are heard to obey promptly.
Rival Bruce Braley, a Democratic congressman, looked around the political barnyard and figured chicks could handle his rival's pigs.
"When Joni Ernst had a chance to do something in Iowa, we didn't hear a peep," the announcer says as a small, brown-eyed chick appears on screen, chirping at first, then growing more animated as the political accusations escalate.
Fortunately for the Club for Growth, parrots are able to do more than chirp or squeal.
Enter a blue parrot with yellow and green markings that goes by the name of Harley and is intent on mocking Obama and Pryor.
"We will keep this promise. If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor. Period," Obama says in remarks made as he was seeking passage of his health care legislation.
Squawks the parrot: "Keep your doctor."
Obama, again: "If you like the plan you have, you can keep it."
Parrot: "You can keep it."
Pryor says: "What's the bottom line. Are we going to be able to stick with our plan? The answer is yes."
Parrot: "Keep your plan."
"Tell Sen. Pryor to stop parroting President Obama," says the announcer.
___
Online:
John Barrow's dog ad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pcHZ0Gx4K0
Club for Growth Action's parrot ad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LS8P8dfbPzE
Joni Ernst's hog ad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9Y24MFOfFU
Rep. Bruce Braley's chick ad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3lwSSTEvNU
Ronald Reagan's bear ad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpwdcmjBgNA Reported by Huffington Post 11 hours ago.
"You can keep it," squawked a parrot in a Club for Growth Action ad that ran earlier in the year in Arkansas. It was meant to ridicule President Barack Obama and Sen. Mark Pryor's now-abandoned claims that state residents could keep their health insurance if they liked it. In Georgia, Democratic Rep. John Barrow unleashed a golden retriever in the first television ad of his campaign for a new term. "Somebody once said if you want a friend in Washington, get a dog," he says.
"Well, I wouldn't wish Washington on a dog," Barrow adds, throwing a tennis ball to be fetched. By the time he has finished touting his own record and criticizing other lawmakers, the dog and ball are back. "She works harder than most of them do," he says, comparing the pet favorably to the men and women he has known in Congress for a decade.
Whether peddling candidates or commercial products, the goal of commercials is to gain as wide and attentive a viewership as possible. Anything that gets a longer look is prized.
"Animals can be a great way to get the viewer to stop skipping through the commercials on their DVR or delay a trip to the fridge during a commercial break," said Ali Lapp, executive director of the House Majority PAC, a group that backs Democrats in House campaigns.
Not only can animals be cute or cuddly, but they often trigger predictable emotions among humans. Pork, tasty when eaten, produces indigestion in the form of government spending.
Nor are animals new to political advertising.
Three decades ago, in his re-election campaign, President Ronald Reagan aired a commercial about a bear, a readily recognizable symbol for the Soviet Union.
"There is a bear in the woods. For some people, the bear is easy to see. Others don't see it at all," the announcer said as a grizzly lumbered across the landscape. The commercial's strong suggestion was that Reagan's Democratic opponent, Walter Mondale, was among those unable to see the danger posed by a rival superpower.
No bears, grizzly or teddy, have wandered from the woods onto television screens yet this campaign season.
But Jodi Ernst won the Republican Senate nomination in Iowa after airing a commercial in which she said she grew up on a farm and can castrate hogs. "So when I get to Washington, I'll know how to cut pork," she says as a pig squeals in the background.
Making sure the point isn't missed, she says of the big spenders, "Let's make 'em squeal," a command the pigs are heard to obey promptly.
Rival Bruce Braley, a Democratic congressman, looked around the political barnyard and figured chicks could handle his rival's pigs.
"When Joni Ernst had a chance to do something in Iowa, we didn't hear a peep," the announcer says as a small, brown-eyed chick appears on screen, chirping at first, then growing more animated as the political accusations escalate.
Fortunately for the Club for Growth, parrots are able to do more than chirp or squeal.
Enter a blue parrot with yellow and green markings that goes by the name of Harley and is intent on mocking Obama and Pryor.
"We will keep this promise. If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor. Period," Obama says in remarks made as he was seeking passage of his health care legislation.
Squawks the parrot: "Keep your doctor."
Obama, again: "If you like the plan you have, you can keep it."
Parrot: "You can keep it."
Pryor says: "What's the bottom line. Are we going to be able to stick with our plan? The answer is yes."
Parrot: "Keep your plan."
"Tell Sen. Pryor to stop parroting President Obama," says the announcer.
___
Online:
John Barrow's dog ad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pcHZ0Gx4K0
Club for Growth Action's parrot ad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LS8P8dfbPzE
Joni Ernst's hog ad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9Y24MFOfFU
Rep. Bruce Braley's chick ad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3lwSSTEvNU
Ronald Reagan's bear ad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpwdcmjBgNA Reported by Huffington Post 11 hours ago.
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Survey: More employers plan to add high-deductible health plans
Eighty-one percent of employers expect to have a high-deductible health insurance option next year, compared with 72% last ye -More-
Reported by SmartBrief 10 hours ago.
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Massachusetts Chooses hCentive for States Marketplace for Fall 2014 Open Enrollment. FFM Track No Longer Needed.
RESTON, Va., Aug. 14, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --hCentive, the leader in ACA health insurance exchange technology, announced today the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, with support from the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), decided to use hCentive's WebInsure State solution for...
Reported by PR Newswire 10 hours ago.
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Why Obamacare May Have Trouble Signing Up As Many Uninsured Next Year
Obamacare made huge strides in extending health coverage to millions of uninsured people in its first year. Keeping up that momentum could be challenging.
An estimated 54 million Americans are still uninsured. But many of those who haven't yet been helped by the Affordable Care Act might be some of the hardest people to get signed up, according to the people trying to reach them.
"The people the second year are going to be a little bit harder. We got the low-hanging fruit," said Richard Onizuka, the CEO of the Washington Health Benefit Exchange, the insurance marketplace for consumers in Washington state.
More than 10 million previously uninsured people signed up after Obamacare enrollment began last October. That group is considered the most eager for coverage. People with pre-existing conditions, who had been shut out of the market under pre-Obamacare rules and needed health care the most, were now able to get covered. Lower-income families were offered expanded Medicaid and subsidized private insurance.
One big hurdle to future sign-ups is the public's chronically poor understanding of how key parts of Obamacare can help low- and middle-income people afford coverage. These include the availability of Medicaid or subsidies for people who earn up to four times the federal poverty level -- or $46,680 for a single person this year. And public opinion about the law itself is negative.
Certain segments of the population also proved more difficult to reach during the initial sign-up period. Sign-ups of Hispanics lagged behind those of other groups, even though the uninsured rate is higher among Hispanics. People who have less education, live in remote rural areas, are disconnected from community or religious groups, are homeless, don't have Internet access or don't consume news often may not always know that new programs are in place. And smaller numbers of people will find they can't afford even subsidized insurance, or will simply opt to remain uncovered.
And as evidence from California suggests, those who have been without health insurance the longest may turn out to be the most difficult to get signed up. Eighty-two percent of those still uninsured in the Golden State have lacked coverage for at least two years or have never had it, according to a survey by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation in Menlo Park, California.
"There's an expectation that the farther along we go, that it will be the kind of chronically uninsured who end up being the hardest to reach," Pollitz said.
No one expected Obamacare to give everyone health insurance in a single year -- or ever.
The Congressional Budget Office projects the law will reduce the uninsured by 12 million through the end of this year, but that just 7 million will gain coverage in 2015.
And the CBO also expects there still will be 57 million U.S. residents without health insurance a decade from now. That equals 11 percent of the population, including undocumented immigrants who are ineligible for government-supported health benefits. Though it's 26 million fewer uncovered people than there would be absent the ACA, the gap suggests the law can never achieve universal coverage.
Besides undocumented immigrants, there's another category of people left out of the coverage expansion: residents of the 24 states that took advantage of a Supreme Court ruling allowing them to refuse expanding Medicaid eligibility up to 133 percent of poverty, or $15,521 for a single person. The uninsured rate fell in states that expanded Medicaid, but barely moved in those that didn't, a July Gallup poll found. According to the Urban Institute, more than 60 percent of the remaining uninsured live in states that opted against expanding Medicaid.
The results of the first year of the coverage expansion, however, can't be denied. The most official national count of the uninsured, from the census, won't be available until more than a year from now. But numerous polls and analyses make plain that the ACA has made rapid progress in reducing their ranks despite the law's rocky rollout last year.
Obamacare reduced the number of people without health insurance by 10.3 million people in 2014, researchers from the Department of Health and Human Services and the Harvard School of Public Health reported in the New England Journal of Medicine in July. The uninsured rate fell 3.7 percentage points to 13.4 percent between last fall and this March, the lowest rate since 2008, according to Gallup.
Kentucky, which expanded Medicaid and operated a state-run exchange, achieved a big reduction in its uninsured rate, largely through Medicaid. With more than one-quarter of the state's residents now enrolled in that program, finding and signing up more eligible people may not be easy, said Lisa Lee, deputy commissioner of the state's Department for Medicaid Services. "It's almost like looking for a needle in a haystack at this point, but we will continue our aggressive outreach," she said.
In states that resisted Obamacare and didn't expand Medicaid, the path to making major progress on the uninsured is steeper, said Jodi Ray, program director of Florida Covering Kids & Families at the University of South Florida in Tampa.
"There's a huge number of folks," Ray said. "To assume we've captured all the low-hanging fruit would be a gross misstatement in a state like Florida."
An Enroll America survey conducted in April provides some insights into why uninsured people didn't get covered, and what might work to get them enrolled. One key finding is that 61 percent of them want health coverage, compared to 15 percent who don't.
Improving public understanding of the subsidies appears to be crucial to boosting enrollment. More than half of the people who signed up were aware there was financial assistance available, compared to just over one-quarter of those who didn't enroll, the survey shows. Likewise, nearly half of people who didn't try to enroll believed they couldn't afford it, according to the survey.
"There was sometimes a mismatch between perception and reality," said Jenny Sullivan, director of Enroll America's Best Practices Institute. "They didn't necessarily have the knowledge that financial help was available."
Advocates believe they can build on their success with methods that have already proven effective, such as in-person help with applications and spreading the word about financial assistance. Groups plan to expand such efforts to more communities and more people.
"We're going to see continued progress there," Sullivan said of the strategies. "It's really leaning into some of those very same messages that worked well during the first open enrollment period and making sure that we get those to an even broader swath of folks." Reported by Huffington Post 8 hours ago.
An estimated 54 million Americans are still uninsured. But many of those who haven't yet been helped by the Affordable Care Act might be some of the hardest people to get signed up, according to the people trying to reach them.
"The people the second year are going to be a little bit harder. We got the low-hanging fruit," said Richard Onizuka, the CEO of the Washington Health Benefit Exchange, the insurance marketplace for consumers in Washington state.
More than 10 million previously uninsured people signed up after Obamacare enrollment began last October. That group is considered the most eager for coverage. People with pre-existing conditions, who had been shut out of the market under pre-Obamacare rules and needed health care the most, were now able to get covered. Lower-income families were offered expanded Medicaid and subsidized private insurance.
One big hurdle to future sign-ups is the public's chronically poor understanding of how key parts of Obamacare can help low- and middle-income people afford coverage. These include the availability of Medicaid or subsidies for people who earn up to four times the federal poverty level -- or $46,680 for a single person this year. And public opinion about the law itself is negative.
Certain segments of the population also proved more difficult to reach during the initial sign-up period. Sign-ups of Hispanics lagged behind those of other groups, even though the uninsured rate is higher among Hispanics. People who have less education, live in remote rural areas, are disconnected from community or religious groups, are homeless, don't have Internet access or don't consume news often may not always know that new programs are in place. And smaller numbers of people will find they can't afford even subsidized insurance, or will simply opt to remain uncovered.
And as evidence from California suggests, those who have been without health insurance the longest may turn out to be the most difficult to get signed up. Eighty-two percent of those still uninsured in the Golden State have lacked coverage for at least two years or have never had it, according to a survey by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation in Menlo Park, California.
"There's an expectation that the farther along we go, that it will be the kind of chronically uninsured who end up being the hardest to reach," Pollitz said.
No one expected Obamacare to give everyone health insurance in a single year -- or ever.
The Congressional Budget Office projects the law will reduce the uninsured by 12 million through the end of this year, but that just 7 million will gain coverage in 2015.
And the CBO also expects there still will be 57 million U.S. residents without health insurance a decade from now. That equals 11 percent of the population, including undocumented immigrants who are ineligible for government-supported health benefits. Though it's 26 million fewer uncovered people than there would be absent the ACA, the gap suggests the law can never achieve universal coverage.
Besides undocumented immigrants, there's another category of people left out of the coverage expansion: residents of the 24 states that took advantage of a Supreme Court ruling allowing them to refuse expanding Medicaid eligibility up to 133 percent of poverty, or $15,521 for a single person. The uninsured rate fell in states that expanded Medicaid, but barely moved in those that didn't, a July Gallup poll found. According to the Urban Institute, more than 60 percent of the remaining uninsured live in states that opted against expanding Medicaid.
The results of the first year of the coverage expansion, however, can't be denied. The most official national count of the uninsured, from the census, won't be available until more than a year from now. But numerous polls and analyses make plain that the ACA has made rapid progress in reducing their ranks despite the law's rocky rollout last year.
Obamacare reduced the number of people without health insurance by 10.3 million people in 2014, researchers from the Department of Health and Human Services and the Harvard School of Public Health reported in the New England Journal of Medicine in July. The uninsured rate fell 3.7 percentage points to 13.4 percent between last fall and this March, the lowest rate since 2008, according to Gallup.
Kentucky, which expanded Medicaid and operated a state-run exchange, achieved a big reduction in its uninsured rate, largely through Medicaid. With more than one-quarter of the state's residents now enrolled in that program, finding and signing up more eligible people may not be easy, said Lisa Lee, deputy commissioner of the state's Department for Medicaid Services. "It's almost like looking for a needle in a haystack at this point, but we will continue our aggressive outreach," she said.
In states that resisted Obamacare and didn't expand Medicaid, the path to making major progress on the uninsured is steeper, said Jodi Ray, program director of Florida Covering Kids & Families at the University of South Florida in Tampa.
"There's a huge number of folks," Ray said. "To assume we've captured all the low-hanging fruit would be a gross misstatement in a state like Florida."
An Enroll America survey conducted in April provides some insights into why uninsured people didn't get covered, and what might work to get them enrolled. One key finding is that 61 percent of them want health coverage, compared to 15 percent who don't.
Improving public understanding of the subsidies appears to be crucial to boosting enrollment. More than half of the people who signed up were aware there was financial assistance available, compared to just over one-quarter of those who didn't enroll, the survey shows. Likewise, nearly half of people who didn't try to enroll believed they couldn't afford it, according to the survey.
"There was sometimes a mismatch between perception and reality," said Jenny Sullivan, director of Enroll America's Best Practices Institute. "They didn't necessarily have the knowledge that financial help was available."
Advocates believe they can build on their success with methods that have already proven effective, such as in-person help with applications and spreading the word about financial assistance. Groups plan to expand such efforts to more communities and more people.
"We're going to see continued progress there," Sullivan said of the strategies. "It's really leaning into some of those very same messages that worked well during the first open enrollment period and making sure that we get those to an even broader swath of folks." Reported by Huffington Post 8 hours ago.
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Survivor Editing Team Goes on Strike Over Contract Negotiations
The editing team on Survivor is prepared to snuff the torch on the show's upcoming 29th season if contractual demands aren't met. The Motion Picture Editors Guild announced Wednesday via Twitter that the show's editors were going on strike after their request for negotiations on a union contract from CBS fell on deaf ears. The editing team is seeking a contract that includes health insurance and pension benefits similar to those received by employees of Burnett's other reality shows, Shark Tank and The Voice.
Reported by SeattlePI.com 7 hours ago.
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NAHU president says insurance brokers, agents will not disappear under ACA
When the Affordable Care Act became law four years ago, there was talk that individuals and companies would be able to buy health insurance as easily as a plane ticket and that insurance brokers and agents would disappear. It hasn't turned out that way. The law's complexity and the disastrous rollout of the federal health insurance exchange have made brokers more important than ever, the president of the National Association of Health Underwriters said Thursday. "We have an important role in the…
Reported by bizjournals 6 hours ago.
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Prop 45: CA Doubles Down On Obamacare With New 'Health Care Czar'
If you like Obamacare, you’re going to love Proposition 45, the ballot initiative that would give one politician-- liberal Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones--complete authority over health care costs and benefits for individuals and small businesses in California.Worse, the trial lawyers who fund Jones’s campaigns wrote Prop 45 to help them make more money from frivolous lawsuits. When liberal politicians and trial lawyers conspire to change laws to benefit themselves, you can bet that taxpayers will get the short end of the stick.
It’s frightening to think that one liberal politician could literally make health care decisions for you and me. In addition to single-handedly setting rates, Jones would have power over anything affecting rates, including co-pays, deductibles and even which benefits insurance companies cover. Jones, a trial attorney himself who used to work for Janet Reno, has absolutely zero medical background, as far as I can tell. And he’d be making these decisions about my health care without any input from the medical community.
I’m sorry, but Dave Jones making decisions about my health care is beyond even my worst nightmares of the socialist nanny state that California is becoming. Treatment options should be between me and my doctors and nurses--not a Democrat politician and his trial attorney pals trying to make a buck.
As San Diego Union-Tribune columnist Steven Greenhut recently wrote, the “trial-attorney-backed initiative...would allow the insurance commissioner to control health-insurance rates, turning him into the de facto ‘insurance czar.’”
That a politician has written an initiative to become a “czar” underscores how far Democrats are overreaching to expand their power in California. The last thing we need to do in California is give Democrats even more responsibility by creating new “czars” to limit the freedom and liberty of taxpayers.
In a recent legislative hearing, lawmakers rightly questioned Jones about his role as an elected official spending taxpayer resources to promote a ballot initiative. He denies the charge, but his office released an official report on insurance rates that he argued made the case for Prop 45.
Some politicians questioning Jones are fellow Democrats, and liberal organizations are joining business, health care, and taxpayer groups in opposition to Prop 45. Dozens of unions such as SEIU are opposed to the measure, as is the state’s NAACP. There’s something for everyone to hate with Prop 45.
The initiative is written by the same people who wrote 1988’s Proposition 103, which gave the insurance commissioner sole power over car insurance rates. Backed by Ralph Nader, the measure created “intervenor fees” for trial lawyers and consumer advocates to challenge insurance rates. These intervenors have made $11 million off these lawsuits--costs that, of course, are passed on to California drivers.
Prop 45 allows intervenors to charge as much as $675/hour, which has led to has led to officials at leading intervenor Consumer Watchdog to make millions of dollars in salaries in recent years. All of this money for trial lawyers comes straight out of our health care system and is passed on to consumers. Again, trial lawyers win at the expense of taxpayers.
Aside from trial lawyers making millions to anoint “Czar Jones,” Prop 45 is Obamacare on steroids. You see, it was written before Obamacare, but the backers failed to qualify it for the 2012 ballot, so it’s on for November. Problem is, now that Obamacare is being implemented through Covered California, Prop 45 would add duplicative bureaucracy on top of the new health care mandates. It would create a tangled web of new regulations on top of the Obamacare regulations, ultimately with all the additional costs passed along to you and me.
Small businesses would particularly suffer under Prop 45, which would increase insurance costs and kill jobs in what is already among the worst places in the country for small businesses.
And since this is California, we already fund three separate state government agencies to oversee our health insurance. Do we really need another state bureaucracy when we can least afford it, ultimately paid for with higher health insurance premiums?
According to the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO), Prop. 45 could cost millions of dollars or more every year for the bureaucracy of additional government workers and the high salaries and benefits that come with it--without doing anything to control the costs that are driving health insurance premiums.
Obamacare already has burdened our health care system with too many new government mandates, and Prop 45 only makes matters worse. I agree that we need to rein in health care costs, but we also need to rein the one-party dictatorial rule in this state of Democrats, and the special interests that fund their campaigns. Passing a costly initiative to make Dave Jones a “czar” of anything and pouring more money into those special interest coffers is just insane. Reported by Breitbart 3 hours ago.
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Autism lawsuit spurs Oregon regulators to clarify rules for insurance companies
Oregon state regulators plan to notify all health insurance companies of the guidelines under which they must cover behavioral therapy for children with autism, following a federal ruling against Providence Health Plan last week. The Insurance Division of the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services announced today it is drafting a bulletin to clarify insurers’ responsibility to cover Applied Behavior Analysis therapy as a treatment for autism. "Recent court decisions have brought…
Reported by bizjournals 4 hours ago.
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Washington health exchange needs 171 more fixes
Officials at Washington's health exchange said Thursday they're making progress on fixing the computer problems that have kept thousands of people from using their new health insurance.
Reported by Miami Herald 1 hour ago.
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No, Medicaid's Low Payments Don't Drive Up The Cost Of Employer-Based Insurance
By UWE REINHARDT: In her response to my critique of her earlier column on employer- vs. government-sponsored health insurance, Sally Pipes uses an all-timer favored debating tricks: namely, the bridge. Using that tactic, one tries to change the focus of the debate to another, preferred focus. Nice try, but I will not fall for it.
Reported by Forbes.com 22 hours ago.
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Health Exchange progressing on tech fixes, officials say
Some computer problems that have kept people from using their new health insurance have been resolved, Washington officials say.
Reported by Seattle Times 21 hours ago.
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(Explicit) Planned Parenthood’s violent sex advice to minors draws criticism
Minneapolis, Minn., Aug 15, 2014 / 12:00 am (CNA).- An undercover video showing a Planned Parenthood facility giving instruction in dangerous sexual practices to an apparently underage girl shows that the abortion provider should not be receiving taxpayer funds, a critic has said.
A Live Action investigator posing as a fifteen-year-old girl recorded a counselor at a Planned Parenthood in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area who advised her about violent sexual practices.
The counselor told the investigator that “anything within the sexual world is normal as long as it’s consensual,” adding that if a sex partner wants to engage in practices that are “gonna cause you harm or pain, and you’re okay with that,” it is “completely different” than if that partner wants “to try something that you’re not okay with.”
Lila Rose, president of Live Action, told CNA / EWTN News Aug. 13 that “every parent and educator would agree that we should not be telling little girls to whip, or to be whipped or to practice asphyxiation, chaining or choking during sex.”
“The message to our teens should not be ‘go and experiment sexually’,” she said. “The message to our teens should be that sex is something that is very important in how you approach it and it’s not something to … experiment with, be promiscuous with.”
“It has consequences and risks, outside of a faithful, lifelong, and ultimately emotionally intimate relationship.”
The video shows the Planned Parenthood counselor invoked a popular pornographic book series and talked about practices “that border on – um, I wouldn’t say ‘abuse,’ because it’s consensual, but definitely extreme.”
However, the counselor did not advise against the practices.
“If it’s consensual, again, completely normal,” the counselor said, talking about patients coming in with rope burns or markings on private areas due to the use of devices.
Rose said it is “extremely problematic” to counsel underage girls about these practices because, among other reasons, they cannot legally consent.
When speaking to underage girls, Rose said, “you shouldn’t be promoting sexual activity in the first place, but especially such dangerous and violent sexual activity.”
“The promotion of violence during sex to teens is something that everyone can agree is completely unacceptable.”
In July Live Action released videos of investigations at two Denver-area Planned Parenthood affiliates that similarly found staff members promoting violent sexual practices, including sadism and masochism, to underage minors.
One staffer encouraged an investigator she believed to be a teenager to search the internet, watch pornography and go to sex shops for ideas. The staffer advised the young woman to search using her phone to avoid parental oversight.
Planned Parenthood received over $540 million in taxpayer funds in its most recently reported fiscal year, according to Live Action. The federal government has also designated it a “navigator” to assist those seeking information about health insurance exchanges created under the 2010 health care legislation.
Some affiliates are receiving federal Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP) grants for sex education.
“They position themselves not only as the nation’s authority on sexual education, but they are getting taxpayer dollars to do it,” Rose said.
She said Planned Parenthood should “absolutely not” be receiving taxpayer funds.
“They’re the biggest abortion chain in our country. They already kill over 350,000 children a year.”
Rose said that the abortion provider’s actions are “part of a larger agenda which ultimately leads to the culture of death,” including sexual addiction, broken relationships and broken families.
Rose urged parents, educators, taxpayers, legislators and other state authorities to get involved, suggesting that parents and others write to school boards stating that they do not want school districts to have any relationship with Planned Parenthood. Reported by CNA 19 hours ago.
A Live Action investigator posing as a fifteen-year-old girl recorded a counselor at a Planned Parenthood in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area who advised her about violent sexual practices.
The counselor told the investigator that “anything within the sexual world is normal as long as it’s consensual,” adding that if a sex partner wants to engage in practices that are “gonna cause you harm or pain, and you’re okay with that,” it is “completely different” than if that partner wants “to try something that you’re not okay with.”
Lila Rose, president of Live Action, told CNA / EWTN News Aug. 13 that “every parent and educator would agree that we should not be telling little girls to whip, or to be whipped or to practice asphyxiation, chaining or choking during sex.”
“The message to our teens should not be ‘go and experiment sexually’,” she said. “The message to our teens should be that sex is something that is very important in how you approach it and it’s not something to … experiment with, be promiscuous with.”
“It has consequences and risks, outside of a faithful, lifelong, and ultimately emotionally intimate relationship.”
The video shows the Planned Parenthood counselor invoked a popular pornographic book series and talked about practices “that border on – um, I wouldn’t say ‘abuse,’ because it’s consensual, but definitely extreme.”
However, the counselor did not advise against the practices.
“If it’s consensual, again, completely normal,” the counselor said, talking about patients coming in with rope burns or markings on private areas due to the use of devices.
Rose said it is “extremely problematic” to counsel underage girls about these practices because, among other reasons, they cannot legally consent.
When speaking to underage girls, Rose said, “you shouldn’t be promoting sexual activity in the first place, but especially such dangerous and violent sexual activity.”
“The promotion of violence during sex to teens is something that everyone can agree is completely unacceptable.”
In July Live Action released videos of investigations at two Denver-area Planned Parenthood affiliates that similarly found staff members promoting violent sexual practices, including sadism and masochism, to underage minors.
One staffer encouraged an investigator she believed to be a teenager to search the internet, watch pornography and go to sex shops for ideas. The staffer advised the young woman to search using her phone to avoid parental oversight.
Planned Parenthood received over $540 million in taxpayer funds in its most recently reported fiscal year, according to Live Action. The federal government has also designated it a “navigator” to assist those seeking information about health insurance exchanges created under the 2010 health care legislation.
Some affiliates are receiving federal Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP) grants for sex education.
“They position themselves not only as the nation’s authority on sexual education, but they are getting taxpayer dollars to do it,” Rose said.
She said Planned Parenthood should “absolutely not” be receiving taxpayer funds.
“They’re the biggest abortion chain in our country. They already kill over 350,000 children a year.”
Rose said that the abortion provider’s actions are “part of a larger agenda which ultimately leads to the culture of death,” including sexual addiction, broken relationships and broken families.
Rose urged parents, educators, taxpayers, legislators and other state authorities to get involved, suggesting that parents and others write to school boards stating that they do not want school districts to have any relationship with Planned Parenthood. Reported by CNA 19 hours ago.
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American National’s Greg Ostergren Named to Local ‘Men of the Year’ List
Springfield Business Journal list recognizes the professional, philanthropic and civic contributions of men from across southwest Missouri.
Springfield, Mo (PRWEB) August 15, 2014
American National Property And Casualty Company Chief Executive Officer Greg Ostergren will be featured in an August edition of the Springfield Business Journal for his contributions as one of the area’s most influential business leaders. He is one of 20 local professional, philanthropic and civic leaders in the area to be honored in a special “Men of the Year” list in SBJ.
Ostergren is a highly accomplished insurance executive with more than 37 years of industry experience. He is the chairman, president and CEO of American National’s property and casualty companies (Springfield, Mo.); chief executive officer of the multiple line and life career agent division at American National Insurance Company (Galveston, Texas); and chairman of the board of the Farm Family group of insurance companies (Albany, N.Y.). Since his appointment as president and CEO of American National’s property and casualty companies in 1990, the companies have achieved significant premium and earnings growth. His leadership also helped the company attain the highly sought after Missouri Quality Award in 2003.
Locally he is also on the council of executive advisors at the Missouri State University College of Business. In addition, Ostergren is a past member of the board for Guaranty Bank, Springfield, Mo., and a past chairman of the advisory board for the Missouri State University College of Natural and Applied Sciences. He has also served as a board member for the Springfield Public School Foundation and as a board member and treasurer for the United Way of the Ozarks, as well as a number of other professional and civic boards.
Along with his role at American National, Ostergren is a member of the board of governors of the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI); a member of the board of directors of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS); a member of the board of directors of the Property Liability Resource Bureau (PLRB); an honorary board member of the Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT) Foundation; and he is a well-respected speaker, sharing his strategic-thinking and leadership techniques at events across the nation.
“The insurance industry focuses on making a positive difference through the products and services we offer and the volunteer and charitable contributions we make in the community,” said Ostergren. “I’m proud of these efforts at American National and it’s my honor to be recognized as one of many within the organization making an impact locally and beyond.”
In addition to being featured in a special section of SBJ, Ostergren will be honored at a reception to be held at the White River Conference Center in Springfield. SBJ has partnered with the nonprofit Good Samaritan Boys Ranch for the Men of the Year event in an effort to raise money and help provide a safe and caring home for boys who have come from broken or nonexistent homes. The reception will include a silent auction and special donation opportunities.
About American National
American National Insurance Company (American National), headquartered in Galveston, Texas, was founded in 1905 and is licensed in all states except New York. American National and its subsidiaries offer a broad line of products and services, which include life insurance, annuities, health insurance, credit insurance, pension products and property and casualty insurance for personal lines, agribusiness and certain commercial exposures. The family of companies operates in all 50 states.
American National established a dedicated property and casualty division in 1973 with American National Property And Casualty Company, Springfield, MO. This company serves 38 states not including NY. To better serve the unique insurance needs of the agricultural market, American National acquired the Farm Family group of insurance companies based in NY in 2001. For corporate and investor relations information, please visit American National’s website at http://www.anico.com.
### Reported by PRWeb 19 hours ago.
Springfield, Mo (PRWEB) August 15, 2014
American National Property And Casualty Company Chief Executive Officer Greg Ostergren will be featured in an August edition of the Springfield Business Journal for his contributions as one of the area’s most influential business leaders. He is one of 20 local professional, philanthropic and civic leaders in the area to be honored in a special “Men of the Year” list in SBJ.
Ostergren is a highly accomplished insurance executive with more than 37 years of industry experience. He is the chairman, president and CEO of American National’s property and casualty companies (Springfield, Mo.); chief executive officer of the multiple line and life career agent division at American National Insurance Company (Galveston, Texas); and chairman of the board of the Farm Family group of insurance companies (Albany, N.Y.). Since his appointment as president and CEO of American National’s property and casualty companies in 1990, the companies have achieved significant premium and earnings growth. His leadership also helped the company attain the highly sought after Missouri Quality Award in 2003.
Locally he is also on the council of executive advisors at the Missouri State University College of Business. In addition, Ostergren is a past member of the board for Guaranty Bank, Springfield, Mo., and a past chairman of the advisory board for the Missouri State University College of Natural and Applied Sciences. He has also served as a board member for the Springfield Public School Foundation and as a board member and treasurer for the United Way of the Ozarks, as well as a number of other professional and civic boards.
Along with his role at American National, Ostergren is a member of the board of governors of the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI); a member of the board of directors of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS); a member of the board of directors of the Property Liability Resource Bureau (PLRB); an honorary board member of the Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT) Foundation; and he is a well-respected speaker, sharing his strategic-thinking and leadership techniques at events across the nation.
“The insurance industry focuses on making a positive difference through the products and services we offer and the volunteer and charitable contributions we make in the community,” said Ostergren. “I’m proud of these efforts at American National and it’s my honor to be recognized as one of many within the organization making an impact locally and beyond.”
In addition to being featured in a special section of SBJ, Ostergren will be honored at a reception to be held at the White River Conference Center in Springfield. SBJ has partnered with the nonprofit Good Samaritan Boys Ranch for the Men of the Year event in an effort to raise money and help provide a safe and caring home for boys who have come from broken or nonexistent homes. The reception will include a silent auction and special donation opportunities.
About American National
American National Insurance Company (American National), headquartered in Galveston, Texas, was founded in 1905 and is licensed in all states except New York. American National and its subsidiaries offer a broad line of products and services, which include life insurance, annuities, health insurance, credit insurance, pension products and property and casualty insurance for personal lines, agribusiness and certain commercial exposures. The family of companies operates in all 50 states.
American National established a dedicated property and casualty division in 1973 with American National Property And Casualty Company, Springfield, MO. This company serves 38 states not including NY. To better serve the unique insurance needs of the agricultural market, American National acquired the Farm Family group of insurance companies based in NY in 2001. For corporate and investor relations information, please visit American National’s website at http://www.anico.com.
### Reported by PRWeb 19 hours ago.
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400,000 must reapply for health coverage
The state is launching a major effort to reach out to almost 400,000 Massachusetts residents who must reply for health insurance because they were enrolled in temporary plans after the state's health care marketplace website crashed last year.
Reported by Miami Herald 15 hours ago.
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Colorado health-insurance exchange names interim CEO
Connect for Health Colorado, the state's online marketplace for individual health policies, has named Gary Drews its interim CEO. Drews was chief financial officer of the Colorado Health Foundation for seven years. He has been CEO of TheWorldWeWant. The health exchange has been seeking a new CEO since Patty Fontneau left this month to join health insurer Cigna as president of its private exchange business.
Reported by bizjournals 12 hours ago.
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