Businesses now have more time to comply with IRS reporting requirements for employer-provided health insurance coverage. The IRS recently extended the deadline for employers to distribute forms 1094-C and 1095-C to March 31 and moved the filing deadline to June 30. Those forms detail employer-provided health insurance coverage offerings and are part of the reporting requirements under the federal health care reform law. Applicable large employers — those with 50 or more full-time employees —…
Reported by bizjournals 1 day ago.
IRS extends ACA reporting deadline
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Why Employers' Incentives For Weight Loss Fall Flat With Workers
An offer of savings on health insurance failed to motivate people to lose a modest amount of weight at a Philadelphia hospital system.
Reported by NPR 1 day ago.
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The Healthcare Confusion Act
They should have called Obamacare the Healthcare Confusion Act. The real scandal of healthcare reform is not whether it has raised or lowered costs, or if it's a government takeover of health insurance. The failure of Obamacare is that when you buy a health insurance policy you have no idea what you're buying, whether it covers you for what you will need, or how much it's really going to cost.
Choosing a healthcare policy makes you wish for the simplicity of deciding between a half-dozen cellphone data plans and gambling on what will happen if you go over your maximum. "Plus $20/month/smartphone purchased on device payment." -- "Two bonus gigs a month for each phone!"
Now near the end of the "open enrollment" period for healthcare, I have been doing what millions of Americans have had to endure. I've just slogged through the fine print of 21 insurance plans offered by a New York regional insurer. They range from "Platinum 1 Embedded to "Bronze 2 Embedded," with a few stops in between to consider "Silv. 3 HDHP Agg/Emb" and "HQNet BRZE Embedded."
I ruled out Platinum level plans because platinum anything, including wedding rings, just seems excessive. I nosed around in the Silver department.
Silver 1 Embedded costs $13,797 a year for two people, but it has a deductible of $1,500 for each, so you are really out nearly $17,000 if you actually use your insurance. "Silv. 3 HDHP Agg/Emb" costs a little less, but it's $500 if you go to the hospital.
"Embedded" doesn't mean you are a reporter travelling with an infantry unit. It means each of us has to meet an individual deductible. Down there in the agate it says that "aggregate" means that either my wife or I can burn off the entire deductible for the both of us. "The deductible and/or OOPM must be met by any one or any combination of members before the plan will make payments."
"OOPM," by the way, is "Out of Pocket Minimum."
For every choice you make for something that looks good, some other part of the plan is going to be bad. As an old newspaper editor I once knew used to say, "What you gain on the bananas, you lose on the coconuts." Choose "Gold 4" and your deductible is zero, but your ultimate "out of pocket" jumps to $12,700. Go for a higher deductible and your "out of pocket" goes down. But one way or the other, it's probably going to cost you the same if you actually need your insurance.
My wife and I ran through the numbers for specialist visits, hospital care, emergency, and prescription co-payments. "Name Brand Only" or "Integrated w/Medical $5/$15/$25* (*Member Amount After Deductible is Met.) We had to learn a whole new language.
We wandered out of the Silver Department and into the Gold were we somewhat arbitrarily decided on "Gold 1 Embedded." (Emergency Room Visit $300)
The healthcare plans devised by Congress and the insurance companies require Americans to calculate the incalculable and throw their marbles into a roulette wheel of possible healthcare needs for the coming year. Every plan is carefully constructed to arrive at the same financial result for both the customer and the insurance company. If you use your "Bronze" plan it will end up costing as much as "Platinum." The only way "affordable" healthcare is really affordable is to buy the cheapest possible plan and never need a doctor.
The one thing Obamacare doesn't offer is a health insurance policy that just pays the bills when you need it. I think Congress should hire some of those people from the phone companies to reduce 21 plans I can't understand to just six plans I can't understand. "Free stool analysis for each new family member!"
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website. Reported by Huffington Post 1 day ago.
Choosing a healthcare policy makes you wish for the simplicity of deciding between a half-dozen cellphone data plans and gambling on what will happen if you go over your maximum. "Plus $20/month/smartphone purchased on device payment." -- "Two bonus gigs a month for each phone!"
Now near the end of the "open enrollment" period for healthcare, I have been doing what millions of Americans have had to endure. I've just slogged through the fine print of 21 insurance plans offered by a New York regional insurer. They range from "Platinum 1 Embedded to "Bronze 2 Embedded," with a few stops in between to consider "Silv. 3 HDHP Agg/Emb" and "HQNet BRZE Embedded."
I ruled out Platinum level plans because platinum anything, including wedding rings, just seems excessive. I nosed around in the Silver department.
Silver 1 Embedded costs $13,797 a year for two people, but it has a deductible of $1,500 for each, so you are really out nearly $17,000 if you actually use your insurance. "Silv. 3 HDHP Agg/Emb" costs a little less, but it's $500 if you go to the hospital.
"Embedded" doesn't mean you are a reporter travelling with an infantry unit. It means each of us has to meet an individual deductible. Down there in the agate it says that "aggregate" means that either my wife or I can burn off the entire deductible for the both of us. "The deductible and/or OOPM must be met by any one or any combination of members before the plan will make payments."
"OOPM," by the way, is "Out of Pocket Minimum."
For every choice you make for something that looks good, some other part of the plan is going to be bad. As an old newspaper editor I once knew used to say, "What you gain on the bananas, you lose on the coconuts." Choose "Gold 4" and your deductible is zero, but your ultimate "out of pocket" jumps to $12,700. Go for a higher deductible and your "out of pocket" goes down. But one way or the other, it's probably going to cost you the same if you actually need your insurance.
My wife and I ran through the numbers for specialist visits, hospital care, emergency, and prescription co-payments. "Name Brand Only" or "Integrated w/Medical $5/$15/$25* (*Member Amount After Deductible is Met.) We had to learn a whole new language.
We wandered out of the Silver Department and into the Gold were we somewhat arbitrarily decided on "Gold 1 Embedded." (Emergency Room Visit $300)
The healthcare plans devised by Congress and the insurance companies require Americans to calculate the incalculable and throw their marbles into a roulette wheel of possible healthcare needs for the coming year. Every plan is carefully constructed to arrive at the same financial result for both the customer and the insurance company. If you use your "Bronze" plan it will end up costing as much as "Platinum." The only way "affordable" healthcare is really affordable is to buy the cheapest possible plan and never need a doctor.
The one thing Obamacare doesn't offer is a health insurance policy that just pays the bills when you need it. I think Congress should hire some of those people from the phone companies to reduce 21 plans I can't understand to just six plans I can't understand. "Free stool analysis for each new family member!"
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website. Reported by Huffington Post 1 day ago.
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New Tax Laws for 2016: What You Need to Know
Tax day for 2016 is approaching, and there are a few changes to expect in 2016 regarding tax law that you should be aware of when preparing your taxes. Here is what you need to know to ensure you're heading into this year prepared.
*Affordable Care Act Penalties:* People without health insurance in 2016 will be hit with higher penalties. The maximum penalty will be the premium cost for the national average of the Bronze Plan listed on the federal health exchange, or $2,085. To avoid this penalty, you need to either be covered under a plan or obtain a plan in the first two months of 2016.
*Deductions, Exemptions and Tax Breaks:* In 2016, the personal exemption is estimated to be $4,050, which is $50 more than in 2015. However, for high-income earners, this deduction no longer exists. At the same time, the standard deduction has increased a bit for the head of the household.
Tax brackets that help you understand which class of taxpayer you belong to -- and how much you owe -- are pegged to inflation. For 2016, brackets are expected to increase by approximately 0.4 percent.
*Health Savings Account Changes:* If you have a Health Savings Account (HSA) and you have a family, then you can contribute an additional $100 this year for a max of $6,750. However, for individuals, nothing changes and your contribution amount will remain at $3,350.
*Tax Day Changes:* In 2016, April 15th tax due date falls on a Friday, which is also a federal holiday. This means the deadline is extended to April 18th. This means you have three more days to get to the post office, or if you are filing online through sites like TurboTax or H&R Block, you have until 11:59 p.m. on April 18th.
*
Earned Income Credit Goes Up:* The maximum tax credit you can earn under the Earned Income Credit is going up, but not by much. If you have three children that qualify, your maximum credit will increase by $27 to $6,269. With two children, you earn $24 more with a maximum at $5,572. One-child families can earn a maximum of $3,373, which is $14 more than in 2015. If you don't have children, you can only earn an extra $3, which will land you $506.
*
Tax Cuts That Are Sticking Around:* In addition, certain tax breaks that were expected to expire are going to be made permanent tax breaks. For example, the Educator Expense Deduction allows teachers to deduct $250 for classroom supplies that were never reimbursed. The IRA charitable transfer clause allows those who are age 70 and half or older to transfer $100,000 from their IRA to a charity tax-free.
Ultimately, tax bills are still moving through Congress, so keep your eyes peeled for additional changes to expect regarding new tax laws for 2016.
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website. Reported by Huffington Post 1 day ago.
*Affordable Care Act Penalties:* People without health insurance in 2016 will be hit with higher penalties. The maximum penalty will be the premium cost for the national average of the Bronze Plan listed on the federal health exchange, or $2,085. To avoid this penalty, you need to either be covered under a plan or obtain a plan in the first two months of 2016.
*Deductions, Exemptions and Tax Breaks:* In 2016, the personal exemption is estimated to be $4,050, which is $50 more than in 2015. However, for high-income earners, this deduction no longer exists. At the same time, the standard deduction has increased a bit for the head of the household.
Tax brackets that help you understand which class of taxpayer you belong to -- and how much you owe -- are pegged to inflation. For 2016, brackets are expected to increase by approximately 0.4 percent.
*Health Savings Account Changes:* If you have a Health Savings Account (HSA) and you have a family, then you can contribute an additional $100 this year for a max of $6,750. However, for individuals, nothing changes and your contribution amount will remain at $3,350.
*Tax Day Changes:* In 2016, April 15th tax due date falls on a Friday, which is also a federal holiday. This means the deadline is extended to April 18th. This means you have three more days to get to the post office, or if you are filing online through sites like TurboTax or H&R Block, you have until 11:59 p.m. on April 18th.
*
Earned Income Credit Goes Up:* The maximum tax credit you can earn under the Earned Income Credit is going up, but not by much. If you have three children that qualify, your maximum credit will increase by $27 to $6,269. With two children, you earn $24 more with a maximum at $5,572. One-child families can earn a maximum of $3,373, which is $14 more than in 2015. If you don't have children, you can only earn an extra $3, which will land you $506.
*
Tax Cuts That Are Sticking Around:* In addition, certain tax breaks that were expected to expire are going to be made permanent tax breaks. For example, the Educator Expense Deduction allows teachers to deduct $250 for classroom supplies that were never reimbursed. The IRA charitable transfer clause allows those who are age 70 and half or older to transfer $100,000 from their IRA to a charity tax-free.
Ultimately, tax bills are still moving through Congress, so keep your eyes peeled for additional changes to expect regarding new tax laws for 2016.
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website. Reported by Huffington Post 1 day ago.
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Families win another favorable ruling in autism case against Providence
A U.S. District Judge said the claims of five families who sued Providence Health Plan over denial of coverage of autism therapy can move forward. U.S. District Judge Michael H. Simon previously ruled that Providence cannot deny coverage of a type of autism therapy known as Applied Behavioral Analysis. A followup ruling this week allowed the families' claims for further relief to move forward. The parties had returned to Simon’s courtroom last fall, arguing over what the health insurance owes…
Reported by bizjournals 1 day ago.
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Tax filing issues could jeopardize health law aid for many
About 1.4 million households that got financial help for health insurance under President Barack Obama's law failed to properly account for it on their tax returns last year, putting their subsidies at risk if they...
Reported by WTHR 1 day ago.
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Tax Filing Issues Could Jeopardize Health Law Aid for Many
1.4M households with financial help for health insurance got tripped up on taxes last year
Reported by ABCNews.com 1 day ago.
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Tax error complicates financial help for some with Obamacare
WASHINGTON (AP) — About 1.4 million households that got financial help for health insurance under President Barack Obama's law failed to properly account for it on their tax returns last year, putting their subsidies at risk if they want to keep coverage. [...] it's a potential complication as the Obama administration strives to increase enrollment for 2016 in the face of rising premiums and skeptical consumers. The law provides tax credits to help people pay premiums for private insurance. By funneling financial assistance through the income tax system, Democrats were able to call the overhaul the largest middle-class tax cut for health care in history. Without financial assistance, health insurance premiums are unaffordable for many low- and moderate-income people. Friday night, a Treasury spokeswoman said that for this year, the IRS will only flag people who do not file a return at all to have their tax credits turned off. "The IRS numbers do not translate to current marketplace consumers," said Lori Lodes, communications director for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which runs HealthCare.gov.
Reported by SeattlePI.com 19 hours ago.
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Health Insurance Innovations: A Play Beyond The 'Open Enrollment'
Reported by SeekingAlpha 14 hours ago.
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Senator Mark Warner talks to us about Uber, the future of work, and 'Capitalism 2.0'
Capitalism has been very good to U.S. Senator Mark Warner.As a VC and early investor in wireless technology, he helped start the company that became Nextel, invested in hundreds of other startups, and has an estimated net worth over $200 million.
But the Democrat from Virginia is worried about the state of capitalism today.
"I worry that capitalism is not working for broader and broader swaths of Americans, particularly low and moderate [income] and non-knowledge-based workers," he told Business Insider in an interview this week at the Consumer Electronics Show.
Warner was at CES to speak on a panel about global innovation and the tech economy, and to talk at a reception about one of his big areas of interest of the last year: Bringing more stability to the growing number of workers in the "on-demand" economy, like Uber and Lyft drivers or Handy home cleaners.
Where do these workers get health insurance? What do they do if they get hurt and can't work?
Warner said that the 20th century social contract, where employers offered benefits like health insurance in exchange for a promise of full-time job commitment from the employee, is breaking apart as the economy changes. And some of the old classes of benefits no longer make sense for a workforce that values flexibility.
"For example, one of the big concerns in the debate has been unemployment insurance. Unemployment insurance if you're an on-demand worker isn't really relevant. On the other hand, income insurance might be relevant. If you're an Uber driver or Lyft driver in Boston and a hurricane comes and you can't work for two weeks, that's not your fault."
This isn't just a thin slice of Americans he's worrying about. According to a recent survey of 3,000 people, an estimated 45 million Americans have earned money in the "on demand" economy, whether as a worker or through renting their home out through a service like AirBnb.
That's 22% of the adult population, a number that surprised Warner when he read it. (The survey was designed in part by the Aspen Institute's Future of Work Initiative, which Warner co-chairs with former Indiana governor Mitch Daniels, a Republican.)
"I was wondering at first if that included selling something on eBay," Warner said, "but it didn't. If you take it up to that classification it was up to 70%."
He's not necessarily calling for new government programs or regulations as the solution, but rather envisions a mixture of public and private programs.
"I do think there needs to be some joint contributions of platforms, companies, and employees," he told us. "If you were an actor or you were a carpenter — the on-demand economy's been around a long time — you had an hour bank that you paid into that was not managed by the government, it was managed by a third party. In that case it was a union. So could that be re-envisioned for the 21st century."He also says that the big on-demand companies have started to come around to the idea that some minimum standards for employee security will probably have to be set, and they'd rather participate than have rules forced on them.
"When I first started meeting the CEOs, a lot of them were like, 'Why are you guys even looking at us? You should just let us be, we're just independent contractors, we're just connecting people, we're not doing anything.' They realize that gig is up."Warner isn't so concerned about whether on-demand workers should be classified as regular employees or contractors — known as "W2" versus "1099" employees for the income tax form they fill out.
For instance, some fast-food workers are classified as W2 employees, but are only allowed to work 29 hours a week so their employers don't have to offer them health benefits under the rules of Obamacare. So they get stuck in a situation where they always have to be on call and can't take a second job, but then get sent home early if the company's scheduling software estimates lower than normal demand because of something like incoming bad weather. "That's the worst end of the stick."
More broadly, he thinks the balance of power between labor and capital has changed, but that government policy hasn't reflected that change. In the 20th century, labor was abundant and capital was scarce. Now that's been flipped on its head, especially when it comes to skilled labor. Policymakers need to take that into account in terms of the tax code, immigration reform, and a lot of other areas.
He also said that if Silicon Valley wants Washington D.C. to understand technology better, they need to engage with government rather than trying to ignore it. "I challenge my friends in the Valley all the time — you can curse the darkness, or you can light a candle. So come on, help us out."
*SEE ALSO: Lyft is smoking Uber at CES*
Join the conversation about this story »
NOW WATCH: The insanely successful life of Uber billionaire Travis Kalanick Reported by Business Insider 13 hours ago.
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Emotions Impact Your Work -- So Why Don't Companies Take Mental Health Seriously?
This story is part of our monthlong “Work Well” initiative, which focuses on thriving in the workplace. You can find more stories from this project here.
One somewhat unfortunate reality of living in the United States is that health care is inexorably tied up with employment, for better or for worse.
On the plus side, employers generally provide health insurance at a subsidized rate and may have other programs to encourage better physical health in the workplace.
But there's more to health than physical well-being, and companies often fall short on the mental health front.
Mental health in the workplace is neglected and rarely, if ever, addressed, says Dr. Jeffrey Lieberman, the chair of the psychiatry department at Columbia Medical School. When companies do address it, he says, "it’s addressed in kind of a touchy-feely, motherhood-and-apple-pie kind of way." Essentially, we don't take mental health as seriously as we take our physical well being.
To some extent, corporations are beginning to realize that employees' emotions affect their productivity. Many companies, including The Huffington Post, offer opportunities for their workers to participate in yoga and meditation. Others provide full fitness centers or wellness counseling.
But those are mostly environmental changes. As a society, we have a hard time getting serious about the clinical side of mental health because there is still a stigma attached to it.
"What doesn’t get addressed [by companies] is the more medical side of mental health," according to Lieberman. There's little support at work for employees who struggle with mental illness or are just more susceptible to it.
It's hard to pin down the exact number of people living with a mental illness, but estimates range from 10 to 30 percent of U.S. adults. This is a large enough portion of the population to assume that most workplaces have some employees who need mental health support.
Yet "it’s the third rail of HR; nobody wants to go there," says Lieberman.
There's not much government support, either. Worker's compensation claims, for example, allow employees to get monetary support when they're injured on the job. But every state has specific policies, and not all states cover mental health issues -- even very serious ones, like if someone witnesses a traumatic event at work and then develops post-traumatic stress disorder.
This becomes even more important for professionals who have intensely stressful jobs -- like firefighters, policemen or doctors. But the support just isn't there.
"Many of our first responders are dealing with addiction and post-traumatic stress or some other form of mental health issues, " says Peggy Sweeney, who started her own organization, the Sweeney Alliance, to help counsel first responders and their families. "Unfortunately, many departments don’t offer any type of help to these people."
New York City firefighter Mike Ayello told HuffPost that he loves his job and can't imagine doing anything else. But he also described using a range of coping mechanisms to get through his work. "Every time you get called it’s for an emergency. At the end of the day, you just have to kind of shut yourself off a bit," he said.
Ayello said counseling is available for his department, but it's not very popular. He says he just tries not to "take anything home" with him.
The Huffington Post’s “Work Well” series is also part of our "What's Working" solutions-oriented journalism initiative.
*Also on HuffPost:*
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website. Reported by Huffington Post 12 hours ago.
One somewhat unfortunate reality of living in the United States is that health care is inexorably tied up with employment, for better or for worse.
On the plus side, employers generally provide health insurance at a subsidized rate and may have other programs to encourage better physical health in the workplace.
But there's more to health than physical well-being, and companies often fall short on the mental health front.
Mental health in the workplace is neglected and rarely, if ever, addressed, says Dr. Jeffrey Lieberman, the chair of the psychiatry department at Columbia Medical School. When companies do address it, he says, "it’s addressed in kind of a touchy-feely, motherhood-and-apple-pie kind of way." Essentially, we don't take mental health as seriously as we take our physical well being.
To some extent, corporations are beginning to realize that employees' emotions affect their productivity. Many companies, including The Huffington Post, offer opportunities for their workers to participate in yoga and meditation. Others provide full fitness centers or wellness counseling.
But those are mostly environmental changes. As a society, we have a hard time getting serious about the clinical side of mental health because there is still a stigma attached to it.
"What doesn’t get addressed [by companies] is the more medical side of mental health," according to Lieberman. There's little support at work for employees who struggle with mental illness or are just more susceptible to it.
It's hard to pin down the exact number of people living with a mental illness, but estimates range from 10 to 30 percent of U.S. adults. This is a large enough portion of the population to assume that most workplaces have some employees who need mental health support.
Yet "it’s the third rail of HR; nobody wants to go there," says Lieberman.
There's not much government support, either. Worker's compensation claims, for example, allow employees to get monetary support when they're injured on the job. But every state has specific policies, and not all states cover mental health issues -- even very serious ones, like if someone witnesses a traumatic event at work and then develops post-traumatic stress disorder.
This becomes even more important for professionals who have intensely stressful jobs -- like firefighters, policemen or doctors. But the support just isn't there.
"Many of our first responders are dealing with addiction and post-traumatic stress or some other form of mental health issues, " says Peggy Sweeney, who started her own organization, the Sweeney Alliance, to help counsel first responders and their families. "Unfortunately, many departments don’t offer any type of help to these people."
New York City firefighter Mike Ayello told HuffPost that he loves his job and can't imagine doing anything else. But he also described using a range of coping mechanisms to get through his work. "Every time you get called it’s for an emergency. At the end of the day, you just have to kind of shut yourself off a bit," he said.
Ayello said counseling is available for his department, but it's not very popular. He says he just tries not to "take anything home" with him.
The Huffington Post’s “Work Well” series is also part of our "What's Working" solutions-oriented journalism initiative.
*Also on HuffPost:*
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website. Reported by Huffington Post 12 hours ago.
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Here's Who The Obamas Invited To The State Of The Union Address
The White House on Sunday announced the guests who will be joining Michelle Obama in the first lady's box as President Barack Obama delivers his final State of the Union address to Congress.
Among the lucky few are a businessman who helps low-income residents afford solar panels, an opioid reform advocate from West Virginia, a famed plaintiff in last year's landmark marriage equality case, a once-homeless veteran from Las Vegas, a Syrian refugee and the woman Obama credits with coining the "Fired up! Ready to go!" chant popularized by both of his campaigns for the presidency.
Read the full list below, via the White House:
*A Vacant Seat for the Victims of Gun Violence*
Last week, the President took a series of commonsense steps to help reduce gun violence in America and make our communities safer.
We leave one seat empty in the First Lady’s State of the Union Guest Box for the victims of gun violence who no longer have a voice – because they need the rest of us to speak for them. To tell their stories. To honor their memory. To support the Americans whose lives have been forever changed by the terrible ripple effect of gun violence – survivors who’ve had to learn to live with a disability, or without the love of their life. To remind every single one of our representatives that it’s their responsibility to do something about this.
*Sue Ellen Allen (Scottsdale, AZ)*
*Criminal Justice Reform*
Sue Ellen Allen knows the difficulties that formerly incarcerated individuals face after prison – both as the co-founder of a nonprofit helping inmates reenter society and as a former inmate starting over after her release in 2009. Her organization, Gina’s Team, supports women in Arizona prisons and upon release, gives them the resources they need and teaches them how give back to the community. Named for her cellmate in prison who died in incarceration, Sue Ellen started Gina’s Team with Gina’s parents in an effort to provide women a path out of prison, back into the community and out of additional trouble with the law. She wrote the President to thank him for the launch of a new pilot program that enables incarcerated Americans to receive Pell Grants and to encourage a national dialog that includes women in prison reform. Sue Ellen is proud to be accompanied to Washington by Gina’s mother, Diane, whose daughter gave her a renewed purpose in life.
*Gloria Balenski (Schaumburg, IL)*
*Letter Writer*
Like many American families during the Great Recession, Gloria and Norb Balenski faced real economic struggles: Gloria lost her job after 34 years at a major electronics company, the money they invested for their son’s college dried up in the free-falling stock market, and Norb’s job at Chevrolet was threatened when the auto industry cratered. But the actions the President took when he came into office to pull us away from the brink of depression and to secure quality, affordable health care for millions of Americans, helped safeguard Norb’s job and his health insurance. And just in time as he suffered a major heart attack in 2012, racking up $400,000 in medical bills. Gloria and Norb wrote the President a letter last year thanking him for the economic priorities he pursued at a time of turmoil, which Gloria credits with helping her family to bounce back. Today, Gloria is retired, her husband has recovered, and her son recently married, has a job and purchased a new home.
*Jennifer Bragdon (Austin, TX)*
*Community College Student*
Jennifer Bragdon’s story showcases how community colleges can adapt to the needs of students. Jennifer, 42, and her husband, George, work full time to pay for bills and provide childcare for their one-year-old daughter, and Jennifer’s other responsibilities restrict her to one class at a time. Even though she won’t graduate for a few more years, she plans to complete her degree and become a middle school teacher. She enrolled in a new developmental math course at Austin Community College (ACC) after being out of a traditional classroom for more than 20 years, and has now successfully completed her college algebra requirements. In March, Dr. Biden met Jennifer at ACC and learned about the campus’ high-tech learning lab that provides more than 600 computer stations for individualized learning and small group sessions, highlighting the ways community colleges are providing flexibility and support for students to stay on track to earn their degrees. Jennifer works as a massage therapist and lives in Austin, Texas with her family.
*Edith Childs (Greenwood, SC)*
*Greenwood County Councilmember*
When then-Senator Obama visited a June 2007 campaign stop in Greenwood, South Carolina, a small group of 38 supporters captured the enthusiasm and drive that defined the election. And Edith Childs, a Greenwood County Councilmember, summed up the passion with a simple chant: “Fired up! Ready to go!” When she noticed Senator Obama’s surprise at a fairly small gathering, she sought to energize the crowd calling out, “Fired up!” to which they replied “Fired up!” “Ready to go!” she countered. This call and response captivated larger and larger crowds, and became widely recognized as the unofficial slogan of the 2008 and 2012 campaigns. In December 2009, President Obama invited Edith to the White House for the first holiday celebration hosted by the Obamas in recognition of her ability to distill the enthusiasm that helped carry him to the White House. Edith lives in Greenwood with her husband, Charles. They have three children and six grandchildren.
*Cynthia “Cindy” K. Dias (Las Vegas, NV)*
*Veteran, Veterans Homelessness Advocate*
Cynthia “Cindy” K. Dias is a Navy veteran who served during the Vietnam War in a hospital ship as a registered nurse. She managed care for wounded soldiers, and worked alongside the Chaplin as the designated official to provide notification and care for families of wounded and deceased officers. After her service, she worked as a registered nurse in Florida and Louisiana and eventually moved to Las Vegas, where she was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress and lost her job before eventually also losing her home. She found a place to live at Veterans Village, a non-profit working with the city of Las Vegas to provide resources for homeless veterans. She now volunteers with Veterans Village, and she works to care and advocate for veterans in the city. In November 2015, Las Vegas announced it had housed every homeless veteran as part of the Administration’s Mayors Challenge to End Veteran Homelessness. This challenge was launched in 2014 by First Lady Michelle Obama as part the First Lady and Dr. Biden’s Joining Forces initiative.
*Mark Davis (Washington, D.C.)*
*Small Business Owner*
A former basketball player in Washington, D.C., Mark Davis was inspired by the President’s focus on climate change to do something to protect the planet and help his community. Mark took classes, got certified, and started a small business that trains low-income individuals to install solar panels and prepares community members for local green tech jobs. Mark’s company, WDC Solar, is growing, profitable, and giving back. Since 2012, WDC has installed more than 125 solar systems in D.C. at no cost to homeowners with good credit through tax credits and private funds. One of Mark’s proudest moments was working with D.C. Sustainable Energy Utility to start a low-income program that has provided funding to install panels on more than 300 homes. And once the panels are installed, the extra power results in a profit every month – money going back into the community he’s working to transform. In 2016 he plans to implement similar programs in New York, Pennsylvania and Georgia.
*Cary Dixon (Huntington, WV)*
*Mother, Opioid Reform Advocate*
In October, Cary Dixon joined the President at a community forum in Charleston, West Virginia, on the opioid epidemic and spoke candidly about the struggles of having an adult child with a substance use disorder. Prescription drug abuse and heroin use have taken a heartbreaking toll on too many Americans and their families, while straining law enforcement and treatment programs. The President believes that resources should be put toward preventing substance use disorders from developing and getting effective treatment to those who need it. As many families have learned, substance use disorders do not discriminate and Cary has turned her experience into action, speaking up for those who are often too stigmatized to say anything. “For too long, we've been silent,” she told the panel. “And I think that is holding us back. We need to open our voices so that people don't feel ashamed. This is a disease. It is a sickness.”
*Lydia Doza (Klamath Falls, OR // Anchorage, AK)*
*College Student, STEM Advocate*
Originally from Anchorage, Lydia Doza’s upbringing in three Alaskan tribes – Inupiaq, Tsimshian, and Haida – as well as her grandmother Joanne’s influence taught her the value of an education and the importance of mentorship. She discovered her passion for engineering early on through her high school robotics team, and, through her involvement with the Administration’s Generation Indigenous initiative to support Native American youth, she’s engaging with rural youth in disciplines across the STEM fields to apply their skills and education. Lydia, 24, is currently pursuing a degree in software engineering technology at Oregon Tech, where she’s also an event organizer for Engineering Ambassadors, which focuses on outreach to kids as young as three years old through high school to encourage a career in engineering. After obtaining her bachelor’s degree, Lydia hopes to work full time as a software engineer while continuing her involvement in the community to promote the importance of STEM and higher education. Lydia ultimately hopes to pursue a master’s degree in data science and encourage more women to go into STEM. Lydia’s mother, Maria Graham, and two brothers, Dorien and Leland, live in Wasilla, Alaska.
*Refaai Hamo (Troy, MI)*
*Syrian Refugee*
Growing up in Syria, Refaai Hamo lived what seemed to be the kind of life associated with the American Dream – the son of a farmer and housewife, he worked construction at night to pay his way through college on his way to a PhD, married his college sweetheart and built a family together. This life and happiness changed forever when a Syrian government anti-personnel missile tore through the complex Refaai designed and where his family lived; in total seven of his family members died, including his wife and one daughter. After the bombing, he fled to Turkey but couldn’t make a living without a residence permit and was diagnosed with stomach cancer in a country where he couldn’t seek treatment without insurance or health benefits. After two years in Turkey, he received refugee status to move to Troy, Michigan. Refaai’s story was featured on the website Humans of New York, where he received an outpouring of support and sympathy – including from the President. The President wrote in response to his story, “Welcome to your new home. You’re part of what makes America great.” Refaai arrived in Detroit with his three daughters and son on December 18, and like other families displaced from their homeland, they hope to find a new one in America.
*Lisa Jaster (Houston, TX)*
*Major, U.S. Army Reserve, Ranger School Graduate*
Major Lisa Jaster became the first female Army Reserve officer to graduate from the Ranger School, the elite leadership course of the Army. The 37-year-old engineer and mother of two is only the third woman to graduate from Ranger School, which began including female soldiers last year following an Administration directive to lift the ban on women in combat. Lisa graduated from the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York in 2000. She was on active duty for seven years and deployed in support of both Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom before leaving active duty in 2007 to work at Shell Oil Co. In 2012, Lisa returned to service, joining the U.S. Army Reserve, and took a leave of absence from Shell last April to pursue Ranger School. She is married to a Marine with whom she has two children, aged seven and three.
*Mayor Mark Luttrell (Shelby County, TN)*
*Shelby County Mayor*
Throughout his career in public service, Republican Mayor Mark Luttrell has built partnerships with local, state and federal agencies, and his unique background has focused him on criminal justice reform. As mayor of Shelby County, Tennessee, he helped create specialty courts for drug, mental health, and veterans’ cases to provide resources for effective rehabilitation instead of ineffectual incarceration. The county also put in place measures to reduce recidivism by streamlining and pooling resources to better provide formerly incarcerated individuals with the tools they need to re-enter society. Afterward, he was appointed as Director of Corrections for Shelby County, Tennessee and served there until he was elected Sheriff in 2002 and subsequently as Mayor in 2010. Mayor Lutrell and his wife, Pat, have three children and six grandchildren.
*Gov. Dannel P. Malloy (Hartford, CT)*
*Connecticut Governor*
Currently in his second term as Governor of Connecticut, Dannel P. Malloy has pursued many of the progressive priorities that the President laid out to make America stronger. From his criminal justice reforms, including a “Second Chance Society” initiative that emphasizes successfully reintegrating individuals with nonviolent offenses into society, to common-sense gun safety laws following the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary, Gov. Malloy has balanced important social reforms with strong economic priorities: Connecticut led America as the first state in the country to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 and pass legislation guaranteeing paid sick leave. Gov. Malloy also oversaw the successful implementation of the Affordable Care Act, driving down the state’s uninsured rate to historic lows and delivered the best job growth since the 1990s. Gov. Malloy and his wife, Cathy, have three sons, Dannel, Ben and Sam.
*Braeden Mannering (Bear, DE)*
*Let’s Move!*
After attending the White House Kids’ “State Dinner” as part of Let’s Move! and hearing the President and First Lady’s challenge for kids to make a difference in their own communities, Braeden Mannering, 12, was inspired to act. Braeden started his own nonprofit, Brae’s Brown Bags (3B), which provides healthy food to homeless and low-income individuals in his community. His mission is also to raise awareness about the problems of food insecurity and poverty, and to empower and inspire youth across the nation to become part of the solution. To date, Braeden has activated more than 2,600 volunteers, provided more than 4,500 “brown bags” of healthy food, and raised more than $52,000 for hunger relief. He co-hosted the first “hunger conference” in Delaware to include youth, and he continues to spread his mission in Delaware and other states, speaking at schools, conferences, and legislative sessions. Braeden is in sixth grade at Gauger-Cobbs Middle School and lives in Bear, Delaware with his mother Christy, stepfather Brian, brother Finnegan and sister Amelia. Braeden’s father, Michael, his fiancée Jennifer and their son Michael live in Middletown, Delaware.
*Satya Nadella (Bellevue, WA)*
*Microsoft CEO*
Satya Nadella is Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft, a position he’s held since February 2014 at the company he joined in 1992. Microsoft has been a leader in expanding access to computer science in K-12 classrooms, and in Teach.org, a private public partnership to increase awareness of and support for the teaching profession. In September, the company announced a new $75 million effort to expand computer science education, including opportunities for engineers from Microsoft and other companies with teachers to team-teach computer science. In October 2015, under Satya’s leadership, Microsoft increased its paid leave benefits by eight weeks and now includes 20 weeks of paid leave for new mothers and 12 weeks for non-birth parents. Originally from Hyderabad, India, Satya received a master’s in computer science and a master’s in business administration from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee and University of Chicago, respectively. Satya and his wife, Anupuma, have three children.*Jim Obergefell (Cincinnati, OH)*
*Activist*
Jim Obergefell was the named plaintiff in the landmark marriage equality case Obergefell v. Hodges, which ruled same-sex couples nationwide have the Constitutional right to marry. In 2013, Jim married his partner of 20 years, John, who was dying of ALS. Their marriage – performed in Maryland – wasn’t recognized in their home state of Ohio, setting off a legal proceeding over whether the marriage should be recognized under Ohio law and listed on John’s death certificate. While they won the initial legal battle, Ohio appealed, and their case eventually made its way to the Supreme Court, which declared marriage equality the law of the land. Jim considers himself an accidental activist, one who became entwined in a political statement larger than himself – a statement of equality and dignity that Americans have been fighting for since this nation’s founding – and he now remains committed to ensuring the civil rights for all Americans.
*Chief Kathleen O’Toole (Seattle, WA)*
*Police Chief, Community Policing *
Since 2014, Chief Kathleen O’Toole has led the Seattle Police Department in developing its approach to community policing, and her focus on improving officer morale, implementing new policies and optimizing department resources has received national attention. Under her leadership, the department tested a six-month pilot program for body-worn police cameras focused on public transparency, and the Department of Justice awarded the department a $600,000 grant to expand the program. Last year, the Seattle Police Department presented its policies at the White House Police Data Initiative as part of its renewed emphasis on accountability and transparency. Prior to Kathleen’s role as Chief, she served as Chief Inspector of the Gardia Síochána Inspectorate in Ireland, responsible for developing best practices of the Irish police service and rose the ranks of Massachusetts law enforcement, finishing as the first female Boston police commissioner in 2004. Chief O’Toole is married to a retired police detective, Dan O’Toole, and they have a daughter, Meghan.
*Ryan Reyes (San Bernardino, CA)*
*Activist*
Ryan Reyes’s partner Larry “Daniel” Kaufman was one of the 14 victims of the December 2 terrorist attack at Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, California. Daniel was a job trainer for adults with developmental disabilities at the Coffee N More shop, and he was on his lunch break at the time of the attack. He is credited with saving the lives of four people when he warned others, urging them to safety, before being shot and killed in the attack. Since Daniel’s death, Ryan, 32, has been vocal about the need for tolerance of all and rejection of the radicalized. “I speak for both Daniel and myself when I say that this attack should NOT encourage people to treat Muslims any differently than they would anyone else,” he wrote to media in the aftermath of the attack. “The twisted actions and beliefs of a few should not be used to view the majority.”
*Ronna Rice (Greeley, CO)*
*Small Business Owner*
A family-operated company since 1924 across five generations, Rice’s Lucky Clover Honey specializes in American raw and unfiltered honey for export globally. As CEO, Ronna Rice leads the business. The company has expanded across the U.S. and around the world, most recently in Japan, South Korea and China, allowing the company to grow domestically and hire more employees. Rice’s Lucky Clover Honey has export sales per year of about $500,000, and the 15 jobs in the company are supported by those exports. The company is based in Greeley, Colorado, and Ronna runs the company with her husband Jim, their three children, their son-in-law and a family friend.
*Cedric Rowland (Chicago, IL)*
*ACA Navigator*
Cedric Rowland is the lead navigator for Near North Health Service Corporation in Chicago. Working with people to find the best plans available at a price they can afford, Affordable Care Act navigators help people across the country take advantage of the benefits of the Affordable Care Act, and are part of the success of the law. Since November 1, 2015, nearly 11.3 million consumers – more than 3 million of them new customers – have signed up for health care in this open enrollment alone. Our uninsured rate is at the lowest rate on record, coverage is affordable, and we’re seeing a historic slowdown in the growth of health care costs. Cedric’s role in this progress can be seen in the story of Stephanie Lucas. Stephanie has diabetes and no longer qualified for Medicaid, but with Cedric’s help she transitioned to a Marketplace plan that met her needs and let her keep her doctor at a price she could afford – $62 a month after tax credits. Stephanie will watch the State of the Union from the White House. She thanks Cedric, and navigators like him, for helping Americans enroll in quality, affordable health care under the Affordable Care Act. Cedric is a new father of a baby girl.
*Naveed Shah (Springfield, VA)*
*U.S. Army Veteran*
Naveed Shah, originally from Saudi Arabia, grew up in the Washington, D.C. suburb of Springfield, Virginia after immigrating to the United States with his Pakistani parents. Like many immigrants who arrive here as children, Naveed noted that his birth country felt foreign while America is home. The terrorist attack on September 11, 2001 marked the ultimate distortion of Naveed’s faith – something he set out to combat, enlisting in the U.S. Army in 2006. He served our country for four years and deployed to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Naveed returned to his hometown in 2010 for college and to work with veterans groups assisting in the transition between military and civilian life. When not volunteering, Naveed works as a real estate agent in Virginia and lives with his fiancé, Ashley, and 7-year-old son, Yusuf.
*Earl Smith (Austin, TX)*
*Veteran*
Earl Smith first met then-Senator Barack Obama in February 2008 on the campaign trail at the Austin Hyatt Regency where he worked as the director of security. Encountering him in an elevator, Earl gave the Senator a military patch he had worn serving with an artillery brigade in Vietnam that sustained 10,041 casualties and received 13 Medals of Honor. Smith had held onto his patch for 40 years – from Vietnam, to his 1977 pardon after three years in prison for a wrongful conviction, to global work in the hospitality industry – before parting with it in the elevator that day. Then-Senator Obama carried the patch in his pocket for the rest of the campaign, but Earl had no idea of the impact his story had on the President until he heard it directly from him in the Oval Office in 2013. The patch will be archived in the Obama Library – a reminder of the people who made up the movement that led the President to the White House. Earl and his wife of nearly 35 years, Claudia, have two children.
*Spencer Stone (Sacramento, CA)*
*Staff Sergeant, U.S. Air Force*
While on a Paris-bound train with his childhood friends Anthony Sadler and U.S. Army Specialist Alek Skarlatos, Spencer Stone made headlines worldwide in August when the three Americans prevented a potentially catastrophic act of terrorism. Spencer, his two friends and a fourth British passenger subdued a gunman armed with a box cutter, a pistol, a can of lighter fluid, and an assault rifle with 300 rounds of ammunition as he tried to open fire aboard the crowded train. While restraining the suspect who repeatedly slashed with the box cutter, Spencer incurred injury to his neck and hand, nearly losing his finger, and upon return to the United States received a Purple Heart, the Airman's Medal, and a promotion to Staff Sergeant. The President invited the three friends to the White House where he thanked them in person for saving so many lives and for representing the U.S. with heroism and humility. The 23-year-old EMT hopes to continue his work in medicine and lives in Sacramento, California.
*Oscar Vazquez (Fort Worth, TX)*
*Veteran, DREAMer, STEM leader*
Like many DREAMers, Oscar came to the United States as a child in search of a better life. From age 12 when he moved from Mexico to Phoenix, Arizona, Oscar excelled in the classroom. He excelled as a STEM student at Carl Hayden High School and led an unlikely and inspiring story of a group of under-resourced Hispanic high school students who took on an MIT team in an underwater robotics competition and won. That opportunity led to a college education in the STEM field, earning a B.S.E. in mechanical engineering from Arizona State University in May 2009. But without legal status, he couldn’t secure a job to provide for his new wife and newborn child. He returned to Mexico to apply for a visa, and with help from Sen. Dick Durbin, who spoke from the Senate Floor about Oscar’s case, he was granted a green card in August 2010. Six months later, Oscar enlisted in the Army to serve the country he loves and calls home. Oscar served one tour in Afghanistan and is now a proud U.S. citizen. He now works for Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railways as a business analyst in a web app development team, and is a passionate advocate on behalf on expanding STEM opportunities for Latino and other under-represented youth.
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website. Reported by Huffington Post 10 hours ago.
Among the lucky few are a businessman who helps low-income residents afford solar panels, an opioid reform advocate from West Virginia, a famed plaintiff in last year's landmark marriage equality case, a once-homeless veteran from Las Vegas, a Syrian refugee and the woman Obama credits with coining the "Fired up! Ready to go!" chant popularized by both of his campaigns for the presidency.
Read the full list below, via the White House:
*A Vacant Seat for the Victims of Gun Violence*
Last week, the President took a series of commonsense steps to help reduce gun violence in America and make our communities safer.
We leave one seat empty in the First Lady’s State of the Union Guest Box for the victims of gun violence who no longer have a voice – because they need the rest of us to speak for them. To tell their stories. To honor their memory. To support the Americans whose lives have been forever changed by the terrible ripple effect of gun violence – survivors who’ve had to learn to live with a disability, or without the love of their life. To remind every single one of our representatives that it’s their responsibility to do something about this.
*Sue Ellen Allen (Scottsdale, AZ)*
*Criminal Justice Reform*
Sue Ellen Allen knows the difficulties that formerly incarcerated individuals face after prison – both as the co-founder of a nonprofit helping inmates reenter society and as a former inmate starting over after her release in 2009. Her organization, Gina’s Team, supports women in Arizona prisons and upon release, gives them the resources they need and teaches them how give back to the community. Named for her cellmate in prison who died in incarceration, Sue Ellen started Gina’s Team with Gina’s parents in an effort to provide women a path out of prison, back into the community and out of additional trouble with the law. She wrote the President to thank him for the launch of a new pilot program that enables incarcerated Americans to receive Pell Grants and to encourage a national dialog that includes women in prison reform. Sue Ellen is proud to be accompanied to Washington by Gina’s mother, Diane, whose daughter gave her a renewed purpose in life.
*Gloria Balenski (Schaumburg, IL)*
*Letter Writer*
Like many American families during the Great Recession, Gloria and Norb Balenski faced real economic struggles: Gloria lost her job after 34 years at a major electronics company, the money they invested for their son’s college dried up in the free-falling stock market, and Norb’s job at Chevrolet was threatened when the auto industry cratered. But the actions the President took when he came into office to pull us away from the brink of depression and to secure quality, affordable health care for millions of Americans, helped safeguard Norb’s job and his health insurance. And just in time as he suffered a major heart attack in 2012, racking up $400,000 in medical bills. Gloria and Norb wrote the President a letter last year thanking him for the economic priorities he pursued at a time of turmoil, which Gloria credits with helping her family to bounce back. Today, Gloria is retired, her husband has recovered, and her son recently married, has a job and purchased a new home.
*Jennifer Bragdon (Austin, TX)*
*Community College Student*
Jennifer Bragdon’s story showcases how community colleges can adapt to the needs of students. Jennifer, 42, and her husband, George, work full time to pay for bills and provide childcare for their one-year-old daughter, and Jennifer’s other responsibilities restrict her to one class at a time. Even though she won’t graduate for a few more years, she plans to complete her degree and become a middle school teacher. She enrolled in a new developmental math course at Austin Community College (ACC) after being out of a traditional classroom for more than 20 years, and has now successfully completed her college algebra requirements. In March, Dr. Biden met Jennifer at ACC and learned about the campus’ high-tech learning lab that provides more than 600 computer stations for individualized learning and small group sessions, highlighting the ways community colleges are providing flexibility and support for students to stay on track to earn their degrees. Jennifer works as a massage therapist and lives in Austin, Texas with her family.
*Edith Childs (Greenwood, SC)*
*Greenwood County Councilmember*
When then-Senator Obama visited a June 2007 campaign stop in Greenwood, South Carolina, a small group of 38 supporters captured the enthusiasm and drive that defined the election. And Edith Childs, a Greenwood County Councilmember, summed up the passion with a simple chant: “Fired up! Ready to go!” When she noticed Senator Obama’s surprise at a fairly small gathering, she sought to energize the crowd calling out, “Fired up!” to which they replied “Fired up!” “Ready to go!” she countered. This call and response captivated larger and larger crowds, and became widely recognized as the unofficial slogan of the 2008 and 2012 campaigns. In December 2009, President Obama invited Edith to the White House for the first holiday celebration hosted by the Obamas in recognition of her ability to distill the enthusiasm that helped carry him to the White House. Edith lives in Greenwood with her husband, Charles. They have three children and six grandchildren.
*Cynthia “Cindy” K. Dias (Las Vegas, NV)*
*Veteran, Veterans Homelessness Advocate*
Cynthia “Cindy” K. Dias is a Navy veteran who served during the Vietnam War in a hospital ship as a registered nurse. She managed care for wounded soldiers, and worked alongside the Chaplin as the designated official to provide notification and care for families of wounded and deceased officers. After her service, she worked as a registered nurse in Florida and Louisiana and eventually moved to Las Vegas, where she was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress and lost her job before eventually also losing her home. She found a place to live at Veterans Village, a non-profit working with the city of Las Vegas to provide resources for homeless veterans. She now volunteers with Veterans Village, and she works to care and advocate for veterans in the city. In November 2015, Las Vegas announced it had housed every homeless veteran as part of the Administration’s Mayors Challenge to End Veteran Homelessness. This challenge was launched in 2014 by First Lady Michelle Obama as part the First Lady and Dr. Biden’s Joining Forces initiative.
*Mark Davis (Washington, D.C.)*
*Small Business Owner*
A former basketball player in Washington, D.C., Mark Davis was inspired by the President’s focus on climate change to do something to protect the planet and help his community. Mark took classes, got certified, and started a small business that trains low-income individuals to install solar panels and prepares community members for local green tech jobs. Mark’s company, WDC Solar, is growing, profitable, and giving back. Since 2012, WDC has installed more than 125 solar systems in D.C. at no cost to homeowners with good credit through tax credits and private funds. One of Mark’s proudest moments was working with D.C. Sustainable Energy Utility to start a low-income program that has provided funding to install panels on more than 300 homes. And once the panels are installed, the extra power results in a profit every month – money going back into the community he’s working to transform. In 2016 he plans to implement similar programs in New York, Pennsylvania and Georgia.
*Cary Dixon (Huntington, WV)*
*Mother, Opioid Reform Advocate*
In October, Cary Dixon joined the President at a community forum in Charleston, West Virginia, on the opioid epidemic and spoke candidly about the struggles of having an adult child with a substance use disorder. Prescription drug abuse and heroin use have taken a heartbreaking toll on too many Americans and their families, while straining law enforcement and treatment programs. The President believes that resources should be put toward preventing substance use disorders from developing and getting effective treatment to those who need it. As many families have learned, substance use disorders do not discriminate and Cary has turned her experience into action, speaking up for those who are often too stigmatized to say anything. “For too long, we've been silent,” she told the panel. “And I think that is holding us back. We need to open our voices so that people don't feel ashamed. This is a disease. It is a sickness.”
*Lydia Doza (Klamath Falls, OR // Anchorage, AK)*
*College Student, STEM Advocate*
Originally from Anchorage, Lydia Doza’s upbringing in three Alaskan tribes – Inupiaq, Tsimshian, and Haida – as well as her grandmother Joanne’s influence taught her the value of an education and the importance of mentorship. She discovered her passion for engineering early on through her high school robotics team, and, through her involvement with the Administration’s Generation Indigenous initiative to support Native American youth, she’s engaging with rural youth in disciplines across the STEM fields to apply their skills and education. Lydia, 24, is currently pursuing a degree in software engineering technology at Oregon Tech, where she’s also an event organizer for Engineering Ambassadors, which focuses on outreach to kids as young as three years old through high school to encourage a career in engineering. After obtaining her bachelor’s degree, Lydia hopes to work full time as a software engineer while continuing her involvement in the community to promote the importance of STEM and higher education. Lydia ultimately hopes to pursue a master’s degree in data science and encourage more women to go into STEM. Lydia’s mother, Maria Graham, and two brothers, Dorien and Leland, live in Wasilla, Alaska.
*Refaai Hamo (Troy, MI)*
*Syrian Refugee*
Growing up in Syria, Refaai Hamo lived what seemed to be the kind of life associated with the American Dream – the son of a farmer and housewife, he worked construction at night to pay his way through college on his way to a PhD, married his college sweetheart and built a family together. This life and happiness changed forever when a Syrian government anti-personnel missile tore through the complex Refaai designed and where his family lived; in total seven of his family members died, including his wife and one daughter. After the bombing, he fled to Turkey but couldn’t make a living without a residence permit and was diagnosed with stomach cancer in a country where he couldn’t seek treatment without insurance or health benefits. After two years in Turkey, he received refugee status to move to Troy, Michigan. Refaai’s story was featured on the website Humans of New York, where he received an outpouring of support and sympathy – including from the President. The President wrote in response to his story, “Welcome to your new home. You’re part of what makes America great.” Refaai arrived in Detroit with his three daughters and son on December 18, and like other families displaced from their homeland, they hope to find a new one in America.
*Lisa Jaster (Houston, TX)*
*Major, U.S. Army Reserve, Ranger School Graduate*
Major Lisa Jaster became the first female Army Reserve officer to graduate from the Ranger School, the elite leadership course of the Army. The 37-year-old engineer and mother of two is only the third woman to graduate from Ranger School, which began including female soldiers last year following an Administration directive to lift the ban on women in combat. Lisa graduated from the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York in 2000. She was on active duty for seven years and deployed in support of both Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom before leaving active duty in 2007 to work at Shell Oil Co. In 2012, Lisa returned to service, joining the U.S. Army Reserve, and took a leave of absence from Shell last April to pursue Ranger School. She is married to a Marine with whom she has two children, aged seven and three.
*Mayor Mark Luttrell (Shelby County, TN)*
*Shelby County Mayor*
Throughout his career in public service, Republican Mayor Mark Luttrell has built partnerships with local, state and federal agencies, and his unique background has focused him on criminal justice reform. As mayor of Shelby County, Tennessee, he helped create specialty courts for drug, mental health, and veterans’ cases to provide resources for effective rehabilitation instead of ineffectual incarceration. The county also put in place measures to reduce recidivism by streamlining and pooling resources to better provide formerly incarcerated individuals with the tools they need to re-enter society. Afterward, he was appointed as Director of Corrections for Shelby County, Tennessee and served there until he was elected Sheriff in 2002 and subsequently as Mayor in 2010. Mayor Lutrell and his wife, Pat, have three children and six grandchildren.
*Gov. Dannel P. Malloy (Hartford, CT)*
*Connecticut Governor*
Currently in his second term as Governor of Connecticut, Dannel P. Malloy has pursued many of the progressive priorities that the President laid out to make America stronger. From his criminal justice reforms, including a “Second Chance Society” initiative that emphasizes successfully reintegrating individuals with nonviolent offenses into society, to common-sense gun safety laws following the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary, Gov. Malloy has balanced important social reforms with strong economic priorities: Connecticut led America as the first state in the country to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 and pass legislation guaranteeing paid sick leave. Gov. Malloy also oversaw the successful implementation of the Affordable Care Act, driving down the state’s uninsured rate to historic lows and delivered the best job growth since the 1990s. Gov. Malloy and his wife, Cathy, have three sons, Dannel, Ben and Sam.
*Braeden Mannering (Bear, DE)*
*Let’s Move!*
After attending the White House Kids’ “State Dinner” as part of Let’s Move! and hearing the President and First Lady’s challenge for kids to make a difference in their own communities, Braeden Mannering, 12, was inspired to act. Braeden started his own nonprofit, Brae’s Brown Bags (3B), which provides healthy food to homeless and low-income individuals in his community. His mission is also to raise awareness about the problems of food insecurity and poverty, and to empower and inspire youth across the nation to become part of the solution. To date, Braeden has activated more than 2,600 volunteers, provided more than 4,500 “brown bags” of healthy food, and raised more than $52,000 for hunger relief. He co-hosted the first “hunger conference” in Delaware to include youth, and he continues to spread his mission in Delaware and other states, speaking at schools, conferences, and legislative sessions. Braeden is in sixth grade at Gauger-Cobbs Middle School and lives in Bear, Delaware with his mother Christy, stepfather Brian, brother Finnegan and sister Amelia. Braeden’s father, Michael, his fiancée Jennifer and their son Michael live in Middletown, Delaware.
*Satya Nadella (Bellevue, WA)*
*Microsoft CEO*
Satya Nadella is Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft, a position he’s held since February 2014 at the company he joined in 1992. Microsoft has been a leader in expanding access to computer science in K-12 classrooms, and in Teach.org, a private public partnership to increase awareness of and support for the teaching profession. In September, the company announced a new $75 million effort to expand computer science education, including opportunities for engineers from Microsoft and other companies with teachers to team-teach computer science. In October 2015, under Satya’s leadership, Microsoft increased its paid leave benefits by eight weeks and now includes 20 weeks of paid leave for new mothers and 12 weeks for non-birth parents. Originally from Hyderabad, India, Satya received a master’s in computer science and a master’s in business administration from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee and University of Chicago, respectively. Satya and his wife, Anupuma, have three children.*Jim Obergefell (Cincinnati, OH)*
*Activist*
Jim Obergefell was the named plaintiff in the landmark marriage equality case Obergefell v. Hodges, which ruled same-sex couples nationwide have the Constitutional right to marry. In 2013, Jim married his partner of 20 years, John, who was dying of ALS. Their marriage – performed in Maryland – wasn’t recognized in their home state of Ohio, setting off a legal proceeding over whether the marriage should be recognized under Ohio law and listed on John’s death certificate. While they won the initial legal battle, Ohio appealed, and their case eventually made its way to the Supreme Court, which declared marriage equality the law of the land. Jim considers himself an accidental activist, one who became entwined in a political statement larger than himself – a statement of equality and dignity that Americans have been fighting for since this nation’s founding – and he now remains committed to ensuring the civil rights for all Americans.
*Chief Kathleen O’Toole (Seattle, WA)*
*Police Chief, Community Policing *
Since 2014, Chief Kathleen O’Toole has led the Seattle Police Department in developing its approach to community policing, and her focus on improving officer morale, implementing new policies and optimizing department resources has received national attention. Under her leadership, the department tested a six-month pilot program for body-worn police cameras focused on public transparency, and the Department of Justice awarded the department a $600,000 grant to expand the program. Last year, the Seattle Police Department presented its policies at the White House Police Data Initiative as part of its renewed emphasis on accountability and transparency. Prior to Kathleen’s role as Chief, she served as Chief Inspector of the Gardia Síochána Inspectorate in Ireland, responsible for developing best practices of the Irish police service and rose the ranks of Massachusetts law enforcement, finishing as the first female Boston police commissioner in 2004. Chief O’Toole is married to a retired police detective, Dan O’Toole, and they have a daughter, Meghan.
*Ryan Reyes (San Bernardino, CA)*
*Activist*
Ryan Reyes’s partner Larry “Daniel” Kaufman was one of the 14 victims of the December 2 terrorist attack at Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, California. Daniel was a job trainer for adults with developmental disabilities at the Coffee N More shop, and he was on his lunch break at the time of the attack. He is credited with saving the lives of four people when he warned others, urging them to safety, before being shot and killed in the attack. Since Daniel’s death, Ryan, 32, has been vocal about the need for tolerance of all and rejection of the radicalized. “I speak for both Daniel and myself when I say that this attack should NOT encourage people to treat Muslims any differently than they would anyone else,” he wrote to media in the aftermath of the attack. “The twisted actions and beliefs of a few should not be used to view the majority.”
*Ronna Rice (Greeley, CO)*
*Small Business Owner*
A family-operated company since 1924 across five generations, Rice’s Lucky Clover Honey specializes in American raw and unfiltered honey for export globally. As CEO, Ronna Rice leads the business. The company has expanded across the U.S. and around the world, most recently in Japan, South Korea and China, allowing the company to grow domestically and hire more employees. Rice’s Lucky Clover Honey has export sales per year of about $500,000, and the 15 jobs in the company are supported by those exports. The company is based in Greeley, Colorado, and Ronna runs the company with her husband Jim, their three children, their son-in-law and a family friend.
*Cedric Rowland (Chicago, IL)*
*ACA Navigator*
Cedric Rowland is the lead navigator for Near North Health Service Corporation in Chicago. Working with people to find the best plans available at a price they can afford, Affordable Care Act navigators help people across the country take advantage of the benefits of the Affordable Care Act, and are part of the success of the law. Since November 1, 2015, nearly 11.3 million consumers – more than 3 million of them new customers – have signed up for health care in this open enrollment alone. Our uninsured rate is at the lowest rate on record, coverage is affordable, and we’re seeing a historic slowdown in the growth of health care costs. Cedric’s role in this progress can be seen in the story of Stephanie Lucas. Stephanie has diabetes and no longer qualified for Medicaid, but with Cedric’s help she transitioned to a Marketplace plan that met her needs and let her keep her doctor at a price she could afford – $62 a month after tax credits. Stephanie will watch the State of the Union from the White House. She thanks Cedric, and navigators like him, for helping Americans enroll in quality, affordable health care under the Affordable Care Act. Cedric is a new father of a baby girl.
*Naveed Shah (Springfield, VA)*
*U.S. Army Veteran*
Naveed Shah, originally from Saudi Arabia, grew up in the Washington, D.C. suburb of Springfield, Virginia after immigrating to the United States with his Pakistani parents. Like many immigrants who arrive here as children, Naveed noted that his birth country felt foreign while America is home. The terrorist attack on September 11, 2001 marked the ultimate distortion of Naveed’s faith – something he set out to combat, enlisting in the U.S. Army in 2006. He served our country for four years and deployed to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Naveed returned to his hometown in 2010 for college and to work with veterans groups assisting in the transition between military and civilian life. When not volunteering, Naveed works as a real estate agent in Virginia and lives with his fiancé, Ashley, and 7-year-old son, Yusuf.
*Earl Smith (Austin, TX)*
*Veteran*
Earl Smith first met then-Senator Barack Obama in February 2008 on the campaign trail at the Austin Hyatt Regency where he worked as the director of security. Encountering him in an elevator, Earl gave the Senator a military patch he had worn serving with an artillery brigade in Vietnam that sustained 10,041 casualties and received 13 Medals of Honor. Smith had held onto his patch for 40 years – from Vietnam, to his 1977 pardon after three years in prison for a wrongful conviction, to global work in the hospitality industry – before parting with it in the elevator that day. Then-Senator Obama carried the patch in his pocket for the rest of the campaign, but Earl had no idea of the impact his story had on the President until he heard it directly from him in the Oval Office in 2013. The patch will be archived in the Obama Library – a reminder of the people who made up the movement that led the President to the White House. Earl and his wife of nearly 35 years, Claudia, have two children.
*Spencer Stone (Sacramento, CA)*
*Staff Sergeant, U.S. Air Force*
While on a Paris-bound train with his childhood friends Anthony Sadler and U.S. Army Specialist Alek Skarlatos, Spencer Stone made headlines worldwide in August when the three Americans prevented a potentially catastrophic act of terrorism. Spencer, his two friends and a fourth British passenger subdued a gunman armed with a box cutter, a pistol, a can of lighter fluid, and an assault rifle with 300 rounds of ammunition as he tried to open fire aboard the crowded train. While restraining the suspect who repeatedly slashed with the box cutter, Spencer incurred injury to his neck and hand, nearly losing his finger, and upon return to the United States received a Purple Heart, the Airman's Medal, and a promotion to Staff Sergeant. The President invited the three friends to the White House where he thanked them in person for saving so many lives and for representing the U.S. with heroism and humility. The 23-year-old EMT hopes to continue his work in medicine and lives in Sacramento, California.
*Oscar Vazquez (Fort Worth, TX)*
*Veteran, DREAMer, STEM leader*
Like many DREAMers, Oscar came to the United States as a child in search of a better life. From age 12 when he moved from Mexico to Phoenix, Arizona, Oscar excelled in the classroom. He excelled as a STEM student at Carl Hayden High School and led an unlikely and inspiring story of a group of under-resourced Hispanic high school students who took on an MIT team in an underwater robotics competition and won. That opportunity led to a college education in the STEM field, earning a B.S.E. in mechanical engineering from Arizona State University in May 2009. But without legal status, he couldn’t secure a job to provide for his new wife and newborn child. He returned to Mexico to apply for a visa, and with help from Sen. Dick Durbin, who spoke from the Senate Floor about Oscar’s case, he was granted a green card in August 2010. Six months later, Oscar enlisted in the Army to serve the country he loves and calls home. Oscar served one tour in Afghanistan and is now a proud U.S. citizen. He now works for Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railways as a business analyst in a web app development team, and is a passionate advocate on behalf on expanding STEM opportunities for Latino and other under-represented youth.
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website. Reported by Huffington Post 10 hours ago.
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Shared Sacrifice? 1 In 3 Americans Slash Staples Spending To 'Afford' Obamacare
Health insurers are in panic mode as the Obama administration, ever eager maximize coverage optics for Obamacare, has, as The NY Times reports, allowed large numbers of people to sign up for insurance after the deadlines in the last two years, *destabilizing insurance markets and driving up premiums.* This surge in costs, from unintended consequences, has left 1 in 5 Americans with health insurance is having problems paying medical bills; and, as a new poll finds, more than one in three Americans, or *35 percent, said they were unable to pay for basic necessities such as food, heat, and housing because of medical bill problems*...*Among people with health insurance, one in five (20%) working-age Americans report having problems paying medical bills in the past year* that often cause serious financial challenges and changes in employment and lifestyle, finds a comprehensive new Kaiser Family Foundation/New York Times survey. As expected, the situation is even worse among people who are uninsured: half (53%) face problems with medical bills, bringing the overall total to 26 percent.
*While insurance can protect people from problem medical bills, the survey suggests that those with employer coverage or other insurance suffer similar consequences as the uninsured once such problems occur. *Among those facing problems with medical bills, almost identical shares of the insured (44%) and uninsured (45%) say the bills had a major impact on their families.
*People with insurance who face problem medical bills also report a wide range of consequences and sacrifices during the past year as a result,* including delaying vacations or major household purchases (77%), spending less on food, clothing and basic household items (75%), using up most or all their savings (63%), taking an extra job or working more hours (42%), increasing their credit card debt (38%), borrowing money from family or friends (37%), changing their living situation (14%), and seeking the aid of a charity (11%). These shares generally are as large as or larger than the shares among uninsured people with problem medical bills.
*Overall, 62 percent of those who had medical bill problems say the bills were incurred by someone who had health coverage at the time (most often through an employer). Of those who were insured when the bills were incurred, three-quarters (75%) say that the amount they had to pay for their insurance copays, deductibles, or coinsurance was more than they could afford.*
*And it is not about to get better any time soon*, as The NY Times reports, it appears the liberal-leaning establishment will never learn the real "unintended consequences" of [DEL: tinkering :DEL] central-planning...
*The administration has created more than 30 “special enrollment” categories and sent emails to millions of Americans last year urging them to see if they might be able to sign up after the annual open enrollment deadline.* But, insurers and state officials said, the federal government did little to verify whether late arrivals were eligible.
*That has allowed people to wait until they become ill or need medical services to sign up, driving up costs broadly, insurers have told federal health officials.*
*“Individuals enrolled through special enrollment periods are utilizing up to 55 percent more services than their open enrollment counterparts” who sign up in the regular period*, the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, whose local member companies operate in every state, told the administration.
Of course, Enroll America, a nonprofit group with close ties to the Obama administration, said the* government “should not tighten eligibility or verification standards in ways that could place an undue burden on consumers.”*
Because - "it's fair..." - though The Iron Lady had it right... Reported by Zero Hedge 3 hours ago.
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Frum-Alter Consensus: Cruz Now Favored, But Would Lose Worse Than Trump in November
*LISTEN HERE:*By Mark GreenTrump has surprised all by maintaining his lead. But Frum and Alter agree that: A) the Republican Party will splinter if he's chosen, and B) Cruz is too ideologically rigid for general election. So GOP has to pick its poison. Also: Not hard to explain Dem schadenfreude over whether Cruz is a natural born Canadian.
*On Trump-Cruz. *Trump's been a daily machine gun successfully shooting at GOP, Democratic, racial targets, we concur. So why has he stayed so high among Republicans?Economic fear, racial fear, both?
"They interact," answers David, author of a major piece on Trump in this month's Atlantic. "He owes his rise to three things: a slowdown in economic growth so there's less to go around; the aging of boomers who are now getting less than they expected; and ethnic diversity" leading to acrimony. Alter: "There are obviously some racists among his supporters, though not all," as he reminds us how "experienced Trump is after 30 years in the cut-throat world of media politics." (Host: Matthews in 2020?)
Unlike the Host who sees parallels between Dean-Kerry in '04, Frum and Alter don't think Trump supporters will peel off close to the Iowa Caucuses. Ok, who then is the likeliest nominee -- Trump, Cruz, Rubio, other? Each say Cruz even though they agree he's so radical right that he can't easily pivot in the general election... and probably doesn't much want to.
Frum stays calm but admits to "paralyzing, excruciating choice" if it's Trump-Clinton while adding that the selection of The Donald would lead to the break-up of the GOP because of "a real crisis of unity between donors/congressional leaders and the party base." Also, Frum has been arguing that no Republican can win the presidency if he promises to strip health insurance from 20 million, which Trump has not committed to do but Cruz (and Rubio) have.
As for Trump's birther-inneundo against Cruz, we ask our Canadian correspondent whether this tack works: David concludes, and Jonathan agrees, that as John McCain and Lawrence Tribe have said, it's not settled law. Jonathan mischievously suggests that Trump may be the only one with "standing" to sue to settle the matter. Irony would get a workout if "five unelected people" were then to judge his candidacy, a phrase Supreme Court clerk and litigator Cruz used to disparage The High Court after the gay marriage decision.
*
*On Barack blasting with both barrels: *In nearly unprecedented fashion, the President tears up over gun deaths, condemns "NRA lies" and holds a CNN town hall meeting that includes critics. Host asks Alter, who's familiar with Obama personally from Chicago and professionally as the author of two best-sellers on him -- is this the guy you know? "He was speaking from his heart," says Jonathan, recalling how profoundly Obama was affected when he visited Newtown and was in a room with kids stacked up in makeshift coffins.
Frum supports Obama on this issue but thinks his genuine assault is misplaced. "It just plays into NRA hands when he attacks them." Instead, he should convince people where they live by stressing how even competent gun owners endure suicides and child shootings because of guns at home. "He has to convince people that they're putting their child at risk. If you're worried about security, get a dog! Two dogs!"
Though concluding that no major gun safety laws can soon be enacted, Jonathan lauds Obama for his passionate persistence. "He thinks long-term and is trying to change public sentiment and to create more single-issue gun-safety voters. That could work in the future only if Democrats hold the White House, Senate and House, after the Census in 2022.
*
On Saudi Arabia and Iran. * Frum and Alter agree that the execution of a leading Shia cleric in Saudi Arabia, sacking of the Saudi embassy in Iran and then break in relations is an ominous development for U.S. interests in the region. Alter: "This big power rivalry complicates our war against ISIS" and probably blows up any hope of any Syrian accord in the current Vienna talks. Frum: "The American top strategic goal has been a détente with Iran" which is undermined when Iran attempts to be the Shia protector in the region.
*
On Mayor Rahm Emanuel. *Jonathan assumes he'll survive the current outrage over the scandal of a police shooting and suppression of a tape during the last mayoral campaign. "He has strong strategic ties with the Chicago and Springfield establishments and will only leave if Illinois passes a law allowing recall elections. That's going nowhere but the recent disclosure that his counsel slowed down a prosecution and tape release could change that."
David is shy about weighing in on such a Democratic local matter but then compares Rahm Emanuel to Tony Blair since both were talented pols "who were never much personally liked by their parties."
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website. Reported by Huffington Post 2 hours ago.
*On Trump-Cruz. *Trump's been a daily machine gun successfully shooting at GOP, Democratic, racial targets, we concur. So why has he stayed so high among Republicans?Economic fear, racial fear, both?
"They interact," answers David, author of a major piece on Trump in this month's Atlantic. "He owes his rise to three things: a slowdown in economic growth so there's less to go around; the aging of boomers who are now getting less than they expected; and ethnic diversity" leading to acrimony. Alter: "There are obviously some racists among his supporters, though not all," as he reminds us how "experienced Trump is after 30 years in the cut-throat world of media politics." (Host: Matthews in 2020?)
Unlike the Host who sees parallels between Dean-Kerry in '04, Frum and Alter don't think Trump supporters will peel off close to the Iowa Caucuses. Ok, who then is the likeliest nominee -- Trump, Cruz, Rubio, other? Each say Cruz even though they agree he's so radical right that he can't easily pivot in the general election... and probably doesn't much want to.
Frum stays calm but admits to "paralyzing, excruciating choice" if it's Trump-Clinton while adding that the selection of The Donald would lead to the break-up of the GOP because of "a real crisis of unity between donors/congressional leaders and the party base." Also, Frum has been arguing that no Republican can win the presidency if he promises to strip health insurance from 20 million, which Trump has not committed to do but Cruz (and Rubio) have.
As for Trump's birther-inneundo against Cruz, we ask our Canadian correspondent whether this tack works: David concludes, and Jonathan agrees, that as John McCain and Lawrence Tribe have said, it's not settled law. Jonathan mischievously suggests that Trump may be the only one with "standing" to sue to settle the matter. Irony would get a workout if "five unelected people" were then to judge his candidacy, a phrase Supreme Court clerk and litigator Cruz used to disparage The High Court after the gay marriage decision.
*
*On Barack blasting with both barrels: *In nearly unprecedented fashion, the President tears up over gun deaths, condemns "NRA lies" and holds a CNN town hall meeting that includes critics. Host asks Alter, who's familiar with Obama personally from Chicago and professionally as the author of two best-sellers on him -- is this the guy you know? "He was speaking from his heart," says Jonathan, recalling how profoundly Obama was affected when he visited Newtown and was in a room with kids stacked up in makeshift coffins.
Frum supports Obama on this issue but thinks his genuine assault is misplaced. "It just plays into NRA hands when he attacks them." Instead, he should convince people where they live by stressing how even competent gun owners endure suicides and child shootings because of guns at home. "He has to convince people that they're putting their child at risk. If you're worried about security, get a dog! Two dogs!"
Though concluding that no major gun safety laws can soon be enacted, Jonathan lauds Obama for his passionate persistence. "He thinks long-term and is trying to change public sentiment and to create more single-issue gun-safety voters. That could work in the future only if Democrats hold the White House, Senate and House, after the Census in 2022.
*
On Saudi Arabia and Iran. * Frum and Alter agree that the execution of a leading Shia cleric in Saudi Arabia, sacking of the Saudi embassy in Iran and then break in relations is an ominous development for U.S. interests in the region. Alter: "This big power rivalry complicates our war against ISIS" and probably blows up any hope of any Syrian accord in the current Vienna talks. Frum: "The American top strategic goal has been a détente with Iran" which is undermined when Iran attempts to be the Shia protector in the region.
*
On Mayor Rahm Emanuel. *Jonathan assumes he'll survive the current outrage over the scandal of a police shooting and suppression of a tape during the last mayoral campaign. "He has strong strategic ties with the Chicago and Springfield establishments and will only leave if Illinois passes a law allowing recall elections. That's going nowhere but the recent disclosure that his counsel slowed down a prosecution and tape release could change that."
David is shy about weighing in on such a Democratic local matter but then compares Rahm Emanuel to Tony Blair since both were talented pols "who were never much personally liked by their parties."
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website. Reported by Huffington Post 2 hours ago.
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Sanarus Technologies Appoints Roy Little As Chief Financial Officer
New CFO brings wealth of experience in executive leadership, finance, product development and operations.
Pleasanton, CA (PRWEB) January 11, 2016
Sanarus Technologies, a leading developer of minimally invasive medical devices for treating breast disease, today announced the appointment of Roy Little as chief financial officer. Mr. Little is a senior executive with more than forty years experience providing financial leadership and driving growth for established and startup organizations.
“Roy’s expertise goes beyond his financial acumen,” said BJ Hardman, Chairman and CEO of Sanarus Technologies. “He’s a strategic thinker whose leadership and experience will help drive continued growth.”
Mr. Little began his career at Cigna Corporation in Philadelphia, a global health insurance service company. Most recently, he was president and CEO of Insurance Educational Association (IEA), where he oversaw strategy, finance and business operations, successfully leading the company through the 2008-2011 economic downturn.
“It’s an exciting time to join the Sanarus team,” said Mr. Little. “The cryoablation market is poised for continued momentum and I’m looking forward to maximizing the potential for growth. We’re on track to outpace the industry by continuing to develop innovative, minimally invasive treatment solutions that elevate the standard of care.”
Mr. Little has held various executive and board positions with Argonaut Group, Pinkerton’s, Fireman’s Fund Insurance and ePolicy Solutions. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University and a master of business administration from Southern Illinois University.
Sanarus Technologies revolutionized the treatment of early stage breast disease and fibroadenomas with the development of the Visica 2™ Treatment System. The patented, FDA-cleared system uses extreme cold (cryo) to destroy tissue (ablation). The Visica 2 Treatment System kills the tumor by freezing it with liquid nitrogen and damaging the adjacent blood supply that fuels tumor growth.
Cryoablation offers benefits over surgery because the procedure is done under local anesthesia, no breast tissue is removed and the shape of the breast is maintained. Breast surgeons and interventional radiologists nationwide are using this advanced technology for the treatment of breast tumors as an alternative to surgical lumpectomy.
About Sanarus Technologies
In 2001, the Visica®Treatment System was the first system available for cryoablation of fibroadenomas. Since then, our systems have been used to successfully treat thousands of patients. The System is FDA-cleared for the ablation of cancerous or malignant tissue and benign tumors. Since 2007, the Visica 2 Treatment System has been used to treat cancer in hundreds of cryoablation-assisted surgeries and dozens of cryoablation-only procedures in clinical trials. At Sanarus, we pride ourselves in developing innovative solutions for the nonsurgical treatment of breast tumors. We are a woman-owned business, headquartered in Pleasanton, CA and all of our products are manufactured in the USA. Find out more at http://www.sanarus.com. Reported by PRWeb 17 hours ago.
Pleasanton, CA (PRWEB) January 11, 2016
Sanarus Technologies, a leading developer of minimally invasive medical devices for treating breast disease, today announced the appointment of Roy Little as chief financial officer. Mr. Little is a senior executive with more than forty years experience providing financial leadership and driving growth for established and startup organizations.
“Roy’s expertise goes beyond his financial acumen,” said BJ Hardman, Chairman and CEO of Sanarus Technologies. “He’s a strategic thinker whose leadership and experience will help drive continued growth.”
Mr. Little began his career at Cigna Corporation in Philadelphia, a global health insurance service company. Most recently, he was president and CEO of Insurance Educational Association (IEA), where he oversaw strategy, finance and business operations, successfully leading the company through the 2008-2011 economic downturn.
“It’s an exciting time to join the Sanarus team,” said Mr. Little. “The cryoablation market is poised for continued momentum and I’m looking forward to maximizing the potential for growth. We’re on track to outpace the industry by continuing to develop innovative, minimally invasive treatment solutions that elevate the standard of care.”
Mr. Little has held various executive and board positions with Argonaut Group, Pinkerton’s, Fireman’s Fund Insurance and ePolicy Solutions. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University and a master of business administration from Southern Illinois University.
Sanarus Technologies revolutionized the treatment of early stage breast disease and fibroadenomas with the development of the Visica 2™ Treatment System. The patented, FDA-cleared system uses extreme cold (cryo) to destroy tissue (ablation). The Visica 2 Treatment System kills the tumor by freezing it with liquid nitrogen and damaging the adjacent blood supply that fuels tumor growth.
Cryoablation offers benefits over surgery because the procedure is done under local anesthesia, no breast tissue is removed and the shape of the breast is maintained. Breast surgeons and interventional radiologists nationwide are using this advanced technology for the treatment of breast tumors as an alternative to surgical lumpectomy.
About Sanarus Technologies
In 2001, the Visica®Treatment System was the first system available for cryoablation of fibroadenomas. Since then, our systems have been used to successfully treat thousands of patients. The System is FDA-cleared for the ablation of cancerous or malignant tissue and benign tumors. Since 2007, the Visica 2 Treatment System has been used to treat cancer in hundreds of cryoablation-assisted surgeries and dozens of cryoablation-only procedures in clinical trials. At Sanarus, we pride ourselves in developing innovative solutions for the nonsurgical treatment of breast tumors. We are a woman-owned business, headquartered in Pleasanton, CA and all of our products are manufactured in the USA. Find out more at http://www.sanarus.com. Reported by PRWeb 17 hours ago.
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California regulators are urged to scrutinize health insurance mega-mergers
California is becoming a battleground state in the fight over health insurance mega-mergers.
Consumer advocates are putting pressure on regulators in California and a dozen other key states to scrutinize the deals amid concerns that consumers will be left with fewer choices and higher costs.
There's... Reported by L.A. Times 17 hours ago.
Consumer advocates are putting pressure on regulators in California and a dozen other key states to scrutinize the deals amid concerns that consumers will be left with fewer choices and higher costs.
There's... Reported by L.A. Times 17 hours ago.
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GOP Vows Sickness and Ill-Health
The grandest and most majestic first act of 2016 by the Republican majority in Congress was to take a meat clever and sever 17 million Americans from their Affordable Care Act health insurance.
No chemo for you, cancer patients, the GOP declared. No plaster or slings for you, bone fracture victims, they sneered.
Precious few of the 17 million Americans whose health the GOP imperiled with this hard-hearted deed heard any panicked news about it, however. This made Republicans very, very sad because last week’s measure was the first in their 50 attempts to gut the Affordable Care Act to actually pass both the U.S. House and Senate. All of their other failed attempts had died in Congress. But this one, this one special bill, died Friday at the tip of President Obama’s veto pen. Still, it’s just as dead as the others. The bad, old insurance days won’t return.
In those bad, old, pre-Affordable Care Act days, health insurance was not working. Remember insurance companies throwing people off their plans when they got sick? Recall insurance companies denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions like diabetes and acne? There was that Medicare prescription plan donut hole that cost senior citizens thousands of dollars every year. And more and more employers were ditching health coverage for workers.
Americans wanted it all fixed. The Affordable Care Act took a giant leap toward accomplishing that. Okay, it’s not perfect. It doesn’t cover everyone. But 17.6 million more Americans got insurance because of it. Young adults to age 26 can stay on their parents’ plans. The cost of drugs for seniors stuck in the donut hole declined, and the coverage gap disappears altogether in 2020. Insurance companies can’t dump the sick or deny them coverage.
It’s a different world. It’s one where tens of millions of Americans feel safer and more secure. They’ve got health insurance now. Or they know that if they lose their job, and along with it their employment-based insurance, they’ll be able now to buy coverage.
This world, though, makes Republicans squirm. They hate it when the government of the people, by the people does more for the people. To them, it’s bad enough that the people have gotten together and decided government should provide public schools for all children. Republicans believe private schools exclusively for those who can afford them would be just fine. Republicans believe those private security forces hired to guard gated communities could supplant public police departments, and places that couldn’t afford private forces would get no protection. They’d be happy with toll roads owned and operated by private corporations instead of freeways built by tax dollars.
Similarly, they’ve repeatedly proposed privatizing Medicare, the highly efficient, extremely popular, government-operated health insurance for the elderly. They opposed the national health insurance plan FDR proposed in 1939. And in the decades since then, they’ve killed every attempt by Democratic administrations, including President Bill Clinton’s, to provide some sort of national health plan. Many influential Republican leaders condemned Medicare, the national health plan serving only the elderly, when it passed in 1965. Those opponents included Barry Goldwater, Ronald Reagan, Bob Dole and George H.W. Bush.
Republicans don’t care that Americans love Medicare and desperately want the reassurance of access to health insurance during the decades before they turn 65. Republicans don’t care that citizens of every other major first-world nation provide this benefit to each other. Germany started doing it in 1883.
Republicans don’t believe citizens should provide services to each other through their government. And the GOP’s sworn mission is to destroy as many as they can.
In addition to cancelling insurance for 17 million Americans, the doomed Republican measure would have eliminated all federal funding – $450 million – for Planned Parenthood clinics across the country, the places that millions of poor women rely on for basic reproductive needs including annual exams and family planning. No federal funding pays for abortions.
The GOP contended that it made up for that loss by providing $235 million for community health centers. That’s just about half of the Planned Parenthood funding. So apparently the GOP thought it was just fine to deny care to half of the women Planned Parenthood serves.
Republicans made no plans to deal with the loss of the Affordable Care Act, however. They’re claiming that they’d replace the act someday over the rainbow when they re-elect GOP majorities in both the U.S. House and Senate as well as elect a GOP President, after which they would actually be able to repeal the law.
There’s not any sort of replacement proposal now, however. None. GOP Speaker of the House Paul Ryan admits it. He claims Republicans will start talking about that soon. “Just wait,” he instructed when asked about plans.
Republicans have been trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act for five years. But they’ve made absolutely no effort to patch the massive gaping hole that would leave behind. They don’t want to.
They don’t believe in communities coming together to care for their members, whether that’s by providing public transit or access to health insurance.
They believe that Americans who get cancer in the richest country in the world and don’t have health insurance are on their own.
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website. Reported by Huffington Post 15 hours ago.
No chemo for you, cancer patients, the GOP declared. No plaster or slings for you, bone fracture victims, they sneered.
Precious few of the 17 million Americans whose health the GOP imperiled with this hard-hearted deed heard any panicked news about it, however. This made Republicans very, very sad because last week’s measure was the first in their 50 attempts to gut the Affordable Care Act to actually pass both the U.S. House and Senate. All of their other failed attempts had died in Congress. But this one, this one special bill, died Friday at the tip of President Obama’s veto pen. Still, it’s just as dead as the others. The bad, old insurance days won’t return.
In those bad, old, pre-Affordable Care Act days, health insurance was not working. Remember insurance companies throwing people off their plans when they got sick? Recall insurance companies denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions like diabetes and acne? There was that Medicare prescription plan donut hole that cost senior citizens thousands of dollars every year. And more and more employers were ditching health coverage for workers.
Americans wanted it all fixed. The Affordable Care Act took a giant leap toward accomplishing that. Okay, it’s not perfect. It doesn’t cover everyone. But 17.6 million more Americans got insurance because of it. Young adults to age 26 can stay on their parents’ plans. The cost of drugs for seniors stuck in the donut hole declined, and the coverage gap disappears altogether in 2020. Insurance companies can’t dump the sick or deny them coverage.
It’s a different world. It’s one where tens of millions of Americans feel safer and more secure. They’ve got health insurance now. Or they know that if they lose their job, and along with it their employment-based insurance, they’ll be able now to buy coverage.
This world, though, makes Republicans squirm. They hate it when the government of the people, by the people does more for the people. To them, it’s bad enough that the people have gotten together and decided government should provide public schools for all children. Republicans believe private schools exclusively for those who can afford them would be just fine. Republicans believe those private security forces hired to guard gated communities could supplant public police departments, and places that couldn’t afford private forces would get no protection. They’d be happy with toll roads owned and operated by private corporations instead of freeways built by tax dollars.
Similarly, they’ve repeatedly proposed privatizing Medicare, the highly efficient, extremely popular, government-operated health insurance for the elderly. They opposed the national health insurance plan FDR proposed in 1939. And in the decades since then, they’ve killed every attempt by Democratic administrations, including President Bill Clinton’s, to provide some sort of national health plan. Many influential Republican leaders condemned Medicare, the national health plan serving only the elderly, when it passed in 1965. Those opponents included Barry Goldwater, Ronald Reagan, Bob Dole and George H.W. Bush.
Republicans don’t care that Americans love Medicare and desperately want the reassurance of access to health insurance during the decades before they turn 65. Republicans don’t care that citizens of every other major first-world nation provide this benefit to each other. Germany started doing it in 1883.
Republicans don’t believe citizens should provide services to each other through their government. And the GOP’s sworn mission is to destroy as many as they can.
In addition to cancelling insurance for 17 million Americans, the doomed Republican measure would have eliminated all federal funding – $450 million – for Planned Parenthood clinics across the country, the places that millions of poor women rely on for basic reproductive needs including annual exams and family planning. No federal funding pays for abortions.
The GOP contended that it made up for that loss by providing $235 million for community health centers. That’s just about half of the Planned Parenthood funding. So apparently the GOP thought it was just fine to deny care to half of the women Planned Parenthood serves.
Republicans made no plans to deal with the loss of the Affordable Care Act, however. They’re claiming that they’d replace the act someday over the rainbow when they re-elect GOP majorities in both the U.S. House and Senate as well as elect a GOP President, after which they would actually be able to repeal the law.
There’s not any sort of replacement proposal now, however. None. GOP Speaker of the House Paul Ryan admits it. He claims Republicans will start talking about that soon. “Just wait,” he instructed when asked about plans.
Republicans have been trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act for five years. But they’ve made absolutely no effort to patch the massive gaping hole that would leave behind. They don’t want to.
They don’t believe in communities coming together to care for their members, whether that’s by providing public transit or access to health insurance.
They believe that Americans who get cancer in the richest country in the world and don’t have health insurance are on their own.
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website. Reported by Huffington Post 15 hours ago.
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NASCO Selects Edifecs’ Health Insurance Exchange Solution to Streamline and Support Exchange Business for Blue Cross and Blue Shield Plans
BELLEVUE, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Edifecs, a global health information technology solutions company, today announced a new partnership with National Account Service Company LLC (NASCO) to support Blue Cross and Blue Shield (BCBS) plans’ growing membership in the health insurance exchange (HIX) marketplace. BCBS plans will benefit from a health insurance exchange solution that provides enrollment, membership and billing capabilities through the combination of NASCO’s technology and Edifecs’ dire
Reported by Business Wire 15 hours ago.
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Danbury Woman Battling Cancer Loses Job, Health Insurance 5 Months Before Retirement
Patch Danbury, CT -- Danbury resident and cancer fighter was told of her job loss with the Town of North Salem via email just five months before early retirement
Reported by Patch 14 hours ago.
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SquareTwo Financial Announces Fresh View Solutions Named Top 10 Best Places to Work in Collections for Mid-Sized Companies
SquareTwo Financial’s collections agency honored for its polices, practices, benefits and work environment
Denver, CO. (PRWEB) January 11, 2016
Fresh View Solutions, the collections agency of SquareTwo Financial, a leader in the $100 billion asset recovery and management industry, has been named one of the top 10 Best Places to Work in Collections for mid-sized companies (50-149 employees) by insideARM.
“It is an honor to rank among the top 10 in our size category for the Best Places to Work in Collections awards program,” said Paul A. Larkins, president and CEO of SquareTwo Financial. “Our employees are the heart of our company, and our policies, practices and philosophies are designed to provide them with an excellent work environment.”
Employees of Fresh View Solutions are provided with personal time off, two floating holidays, health insurance with 100% coverage, 401(k) plan, employee wellness programs, on-site fitness center, on-site health screenings, free RTD EcoPass, employee assistance programs, career certificates reimbursement, elder care services, short-and long-term disability, free parking, and domestic partner/spousal equivalent benefits.
“Fresh View Solutions employees work every day to provide our customers with the best possible customer service and the highest standards of compliance,” said Dan Martella, vice president, call center operations, Fresh View Solutions. “This recognition as one of the top 10 best workplaces among midsized companies is evidence of our supportive policies and positive workplace setting.”
Now it its eighth year, Best Places to Work in Collections identifies, recognizes and honors the best places of employment in the collections industry. As a whole, the industry benefits the nation’s economy and its workforce by recovering more than $55 billion owed to businesses and providing more than 230,000 jobs. The industry’s employees pay nearly $2 billion in local, state, and federal taxes, contribute over $130 million to charities, and spend over 2 million hours volunteering their time annually (source: ACA International/Ernst & Young 2014 Impact study).
Companies from across the U.S. entered the two-part survey process to determine the Best Places to Work in Collections. The first part consisted of evaluating each nominated company's workplace policies, practices, philosophy, systems and demographics. The second part consisted of an employee survey to measure the employee experience. Read more about the award rankings [here.
About SquareTwo Financial
SquareTwo Financial is a leader in the $100 billion asset recovery and management industry. Since 1994, the company and its subsidiaries have helped more than two million individuals and businesses resolve their outstanding financial obligations. SquareTwo Financial’s collection agency, Fresh View Solutions, works with consumers to repay their financial obligations. The company’s Fresh View Funding debt ownership team works with banks and other issuers of credit to purchase unpaid debt. SquareTwo Financial is based in Denver, Colorado. Visit http://www.squaretwofinancial.com for more information. Reported by PRWeb 12 hours ago.
Denver, CO. (PRWEB) January 11, 2016
Fresh View Solutions, the collections agency of SquareTwo Financial, a leader in the $100 billion asset recovery and management industry, has been named one of the top 10 Best Places to Work in Collections for mid-sized companies (50-149 employees) by insideARM.
“It is an honor to rank among the top 10 in our size category for the Best Places to Work in Collections awards program,” said Paul A. Larkins, president and CEO of SquareTwo Financial. “Our employees are the heart of our company, and our policies, practices and philosophies are designed to provide them with an excellent work environment.”
Employees of Fresh View Solutions are provided with personal time off, two floating holidays, health insurance with 100% coverage, 401(k) plan, employee wellness programs, on-site fitness center, on-site health screenings, free RTD EcoPass, employee assistance programs, career certificates reimbursement, elder care services, short-and long-term disability, free parking, and domestic partner/spousal equivalent benefits.
“Fresh View Solutions employees work every day to provide our customers with the best possible customer service and the highest standards of compliance,” said Dan Martella, vice president, call center operations, Fresh View Solutions. “This recognition as one of the top 10 best workplaces among midsized companies is evidence of our supportive policies and positive workplace setting.”
Now it its eighth year, Best Places to Work in Collections identifies, recognizes and honors the best places of employment in the collections industry. As a whole, the industry benefits the nation’s economy and its workforce by recovering more than $55 billion owed to businesses and providing more than 230,000 jobs. The industry’s employees pay nearly $2 billion in local, state, and federal taxes, contribute over $130 million to charities, and spend over 2 million hours volunteering their time annually (source: ACA International/Ernst & Young 2014 Impact study).
Companies from across the U.S. entered the two-part survey process to determine the Best Places to Work in Collections. The first part consisted of evaluating each nominated company's workplace policies, practices, philosophy, systems and demographics. The second part consisted of an employee survey to measure the employee experience. Read more about the award rankings [here.
About SquareTwo Financial
SquareTwo Financial is a leader in the $100 billion asset recovery and management industry. Since 1994, the company and its subsidiaries have helped more than two million individuals and businesses resolve their outstanding financial obligations. SquareTwo Financial’s collection agency, Fresh View Solutions, works with consumers to repay their financial obligations. The company’s Fresh View Funding debt ownership team works with banks and other issuers of credit to purchase unpaid debt. SquareTwo Financial is based in Denver, Colorado. Visit http://www.squaretwofinancial.com for more information. Reported by PRWeb 12 hours ago.
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