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ACA repeal will be a priority, but will still take time

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After staying up late watching the presidential election results roll in, Scott Behrens spent Wednesday morning fielding phone calls from clients asking about the election's impact on the Affordable Care Act. Behrens is a vice president and ERISA compliance attorney for Lockton Benefit Group in Kansas City. He helps the Lockton Cos. Inc. unit's customers to comply with the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), health care reform, cafeteria plans, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability… Reported by bizjournals 13 hours ago.

People are panicking about the fate of America's largest reproductive healthcare provider

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People are panicking about the fate of America's largest reproductive healthcare provider To the surprise of many, Donald Trump became America's president-elect early Wednesday morning.

Now, many women are worried they will lose access to health services like birth control, breast and cervical-cancer screenings, support after sexual assault, and abortion.

Planned Parenthood is the largest reproductive healthcare nonprofit in the US, and some fear Trump's presidency will put it at risk of imminent closure. On Wednesday afternoon, Planned Parenthood started trending on Twitter with over 70,000 tweets.



I'm going to lose my health insurance, then planned parenthood will close, then I will be a doctor without access to healthcare #nastywomen

— Jaelle Bacon (@Gutterphenomena) November 9, 2016


 



Top 3 answers in order:

1. Repeal and replace Obamacare
2. Replace Scalia with another originalist
3. Defund Planned Parenthood

— Eric Teetsel (@EricTeetsel) November 9, 2016


Many referenced its homepage, which features an exterior photo of a Planned Parenthood location. "These doors stay open," it reads.

Cecile Richards, President of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, assures the public that it's true.

"Every morning, Planned Parenthood health center staff across the country wake up and open their doors, as they have this morning, to care for anyone who needs them, regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation, gender, income, or country of origin," she said in a press release. "They will do so today, they will do so tomorrow, they will do so every day as they have for 100 years."

But many people on Twitter are worried nonetheless. And the fear that Planned Parenthood could lose at least part of its funding is justified.

As Mother Jones noted, Trump has vowed to block access to abortion facilities, except in cases of rape, incest, or when the mother's health is at risk. In September, he pledged to appoint anti-abortion Supreme Court justices, defund Planned Parenthood, and pass the 20-week abortion ban that stalled in the Senate last year. 

These movements would effectively turn over Roe vs. Wade — the monumental 1973 Supreme Court decision that made abortion legal. Plus, if Trump succeeds in overturning the Affordable Care Act, as he has promised to do, millions of women could also lose access to affordable birth control. 

Of course, abortion services make up a small portion of the work Planned Parenthood does — the organization also offers routine mammograms, education about and treatment for STDs, checkups for expectant mothers, sexual health services for men, and support for victims of sexual assault.

Because of that, many people, including comedian and TV host Samantha Bee, are donating to the nonprofit today and encouraging others to do the same.



So yeah... Today might be a good day to donate to Planned Parenthood, the ACLU & any number of other suddenly VERY important organizations.

— Wilson Bethel (@WilsonBethel) November 9, 2016


 



Nasty Women raised almost $130,000 for Planned Parenthood so far! You've got one week left to prove you're nasty. https://t.co/jdlEvXlcM5 pic.twitter.com/vZXvNEjIJR

— Full Frontal (@FullFrontalSamB) November 8, 2016


 



I donated to Planned Parenthood. You can too https://t.co/LfBnzXG5ty

— Michelle Wolf (@michelleisawolf) November 9, 2016


 Planned Parenthood maintains that it will never go down without a fight.

"Planned Parenthood has been here for 100 years, and one thing is clear: We will never back down and we will never stop fighting to ensure that Planned Parenthood patients have access to the care they need, people who come from communities that need our continued support in this new reality – immigrants, people of color, the LGBTQ community, people of faith, and more," Richards said. "Health care should not be political." 

*SEE ALSO: Here's where Trump stands on abortion and other women's health issues*

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Hillary Clinton had a powerful message for young women after losing to Trump Reported by Business Insider 12 hours ago.

Trump faces hurdles, complications in repealing Obamacare

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How likely is Donald Trump to succeed in delivering his pledge to repeal Obamacare? Despite Republicans controlling the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives, Trump’s ability to eliminate the law — including some of its popular elements — could prove difficult and controversial, according to Milwaukee-area health insurance industry experts. They predict the more likely path for Trump’s attack on the Affordable Care Act will be modifying rather than repealing the law. “It’s almost… Reported by bizjournals 12 hours ago.

Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan Say Obamacare Repeal Is A High Priority

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The two most powerful Republicans in Congress on Wednesday reiterated their determination to repeal Obamacare ― and said they look forward to finally passing a bill now that a fellow Republican, Donald Trump, is about to become president.

In a pair of celebratory but relatively muted press conferences, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) each cited repeal of the president’s signature health care law as a major priority for the next legislative session.

In the Senate press conference, a reporter asked McConnell directly whether he intended to move on the Affordable Care Act “right away.”

McConnell didn’t answer with a yes or a no, but he said: “It is a pretty high item on the agenda. I would be shocked if we did not move forward to keep our commitment to the American people.”

Ryan expressed similar sentiments at his press conference, saying that the “health care law is not popular.”

The statements are not at all surprising. House Republicans have passed bills to repeal the law more than 50 times, and in January, the Senate finally passed a version of a repeal bill as well.

Of course, Republican leaders have also promised to replace the law with an alternative health care scheme. So has Trump. But they have never agreed on the specifics of a replacement scheme ― instead endorsing policy outlines with modest levels of detail, at most.

Experts who have looked at these alternatives and inferred the details have determined that GOP plans would typically result in far fewer people with insurance, less financial protection for people with insurance, or some combination of the two ― reversing Obamacare’s historic progress toward expanding coverage, in part or in whole.  

For example, one recent analysis, published by the Commonwealth Fund and written by scholars at the RAND Corporation, estimated that a fully fleshed-out version of Trump’s reform outline would result in between 16 million and 25 million people losing health insurance.

To be clear, a “repeal-and-replace” course of action, whatever form it took, would likely also benefit some people and groups.

Young people in good health would likely end up with access to cheaper coverage, since insurers would not be under the same restrictions to provide coverage to everybody at relatively uniform prices.

Taxes on the wealthy and on various parts of the health care sector, which the law uses to finance its expansion of health insurance, would come down.

But with Obamacare about to enter its fourth year of full operation, any substantial changes would cause major disruption, perhaps enough to give Republicans pause ― if not because of the human cost, then because of the potential for a political backlash.

Trump’s intentions are a wild card here. He attacked Obamacare regularly on the campaign trail and emphasized the possibility of repeal during the final weeks, following news of steep premium increases for the law’s regulated insurance policies in many parts of the country.

But Trump also vowed to replace the law with a program that would provide “great health care at a fraction of the health care cost.” It’s not clear how he’d react if Congress were to seriously take up an alternative, forcing him to confront the very real trade-offs that repeal-and-replace would entail.

Another unanswered question is how Republicans would handle repeal in the Senate, where they have a majority but not the 60 votes they would need to break a potential Democratic filibuster. In January, the Senate used a special legislative process called “reconciliation,” which is reserved for certain budget-related items and can pass with a simple majority. 

But the rules of reconciliation limit what a repeal-and-replace bill could include. When asked about the possibility of using reconciliation, McConnell would not say whether he intends to try it again, or whether he’d pursue repeal-and-replace through regular order — assuming Republicans don’t decide to change Senate rules altogether, so that filibusters are no longer possible.

Michael McAuliff contributed reporting.

-- 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.

Angry White Men Triumphant

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For the past eight years, America has had an African-American president. Faced with the prospect of a white woman succeeding him, America instead just elected an angry white man as president. Call it the triumph of angry white men everywhere. Millions of Americans are about to find out what it's like to be led by the equivalent of the drunk uncle at the Thanksgiving table who refuses to follow the rules of politeness and political correctness. Was it a backlash against our first black president? Or rampant misogyny towards Hillary Clinton? Or just free-floating rage against a changing culture that is becoming more tolerant and multicultural by the year? It's impossible to accurately say, really. The only thing that can be said for certain is that angry white men are now dominant.

Of course, even saying so is oversimplifying things. There were plenty of angry white women who voted for Trump yesterday, as well. The demographics of the 2016 election will be carefully studied for years to come, as political elites and the media search for the reason why they were all so utterly wrong, before the fact. I certainly include myself in that group, as I in no way saw last night coming ahead of time. I thought Hillary Clinton might have a tougher time than predicted, but would emerge victorious with a few states like North Carolina and Pennsylvania shoring up the numbers she needed to win the Electoral College. Like many others, I believed that right up until state after state began to be called for Trump, beginning with Florida. A "silent majority" actually did exist, and they turned out to the polls in numbers which overwhelmed all of Clinton's careful preparations and all of the pollsters' predictions. It was stunning to see, and it still hasn't really sunk in completely, if truth be known.

Republicans will now have a free hand to reshape the country to their liking. If Senate Democrats even try to fight hard against this tide, Senate Republicans might just do away with the filibuster altogether so they will have complete control of all branches of government. They will almost certainly do so for Trump's Supreme Court nomination, and they may very well get rid of the legislative filibuster as well. At this point, nothing seems impossible.

Republicans are now in the position of the barking dog which caught the car it was chasing -- and then didn't know what to do with it. They will have no excuse now for why they can't pass the wildest fantasies of their base into law. Obamacare will be repealed, to be replaced with not much of anything. Gigantic tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy will (obviously) pass rather quickly. The safety net may be shredded or privatized. Who knows, maybe they'll even try to make gay marriage illegal once again. Perhaps the minimum wage will be lowered, or even abolished altogether. The entire Republican agenda is now on the table, and it doesn't really look like anything's going to stop them from passing whatever their little hearts desire.

Trump may go along with the Republican agenda, or he may not. It's really tough to even predict. He's been rather malleable on all kinds of policy ideas during the campaign, and gives the impression that he doesn't really care about any particular ideology. So a Republican Congress may be able to talk him into all sorts of things.

Or maybe not. Trump doesn't really strike me as playing the part of puppet very well, because his ego won't allow him to play second fiddle to anyone. On the issues he does appear to care about, he'll likely refuse to back down. This means that wall will get built, most likely. Millions may get deported as well. Bombs may rain down on ISIS indiscriminately. A trade war with the world may take place, as Trump convinces Congress to slap all sorts of tariffs on foreign goods. Some of what he said on the campaign trail may have been mere bluster, but on the biggest issues he's likely to attempt to follow through. How much of a match his agenda will be with Paul Ryan's agenda remains to be seen.

America under Trump's leadership may soon become a very dark and reactionary place. Will his close advisors be able to rein in Trump's natural vindictiveness? Or will he use the levers of power to get back at his perceived enemies? Nobody knows, at this point.

It'd be comforting to at least hold the belief that this was all some sort of darkness before a new dawn. Will Democrats emerge stronger in the end? Well, they've got a lot of wilderness ahead before that happens, that's the only thing that is sure. Both political parties were ripped apart by the 2016 election, and what gets reconstituted on either side remains to be seen. There are a lot of Bernie Bros saying "I told you so!" this morning, to put this another way. Will the Democrats realize that they've all but forgotten how to make average voters' lives better, and redouble populist efforts to address the concerns of the working class? Or will they attempt to lurch to the center and wind up being Republican-lite? That battle has yet to be fought, and the outcome is far from certain.

I can spin a rosy scenario for the future, but I'm not sure how much I believe it, at this point. California's Proposition 187 is the model for Democrats looking for a silver lining, today. Prop 187 was a virulently anti-immigrant ballot initiative with some of the worst scaremongering on the airwaves behind it. It passed, back in 1994, and the Republican governor who championed it also got re-elected. But Pete Wilson's triumph has turned California solid blue as a direct result. Republicans are now almost irrelevant in the state's politics. The backlash against the ugliness of the Prop 187 campaign convinced a whole lot of Latinos that the Republican Party did not want them at all. They are all now Democrats, and are a big reason why California is so solidly blue.

Will there be a national parallel? People who remember that Prop 187 flipped California to Democratic control for a generation often forget that it passed at the time. We all remember the backlash, but forget that it didn't happen immediately. If President Trump follows through on his promise of mass deportations, Latinos nationwide may start voting Democratic at the same rate as African-Americans. For decades to come. If the Democratic Party manages a comeback in two years (or four, or eight...), this will likely be the driving force behind such a resurgence. Angry white men in California won the battle, but they lost the larger demographic war. If that takes place nationally, the electorate is going to look very different in the next few elections, although not in every state.

Before that happens, though, we're going to have to get through the angry white men era first. Trump's economic promises to his base will be the hardest for him to keep, though. There simply is no magic wand to wave to bring all those manufacturing jobs back to the Rust Belt and beyond. If Trump slaps tariffs on lots of other countries, it could lead to a major recession -- meaning even more economic devastation for all those Midwestern small towns. Repealing Obamacare is going to mean millions will, once again, have no health insurance at all. That's also going to hit rural America hard. When another round of huge tax breaks for the wealthy fails (once again) to cause all those manufacturing jobs to reappear, Trump's own supporters may get pretty disgruntled with him. The Republican Party will have absolutely no excuse why all those rainbows and ponies they had promised everyone failed to materialize. If they hold total control of the government, it's going to be pretty hard to blame the other party if the economy goes south.

Angry Trump voters are triumphant now. They scored a huge upset victory, and they're all (with good reason) patting themselves on the back right now. But that honeymoon is going to wear off at some point. How long it will take and what will happen next is anyone's guess. Right now, though, the angry white men are going to have their day in the sun, whether the rest of us like it or not.

 

Chris Weigant blogs at:

Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant

 

-- 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.

Why We Must Unite And Move On

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Based on what I have read on social media (and what I have personally been feeling since last night), there are a lot of people who are hurting today. Hurting because their dream didn't come true, their candidate didn't win, and they are worried about what Trump being president will mean for all our futures. I get it. The last 18 months has been horrific. Cruel, racist, sexist things have been said by Trump (Hillary's behavior was also far from perfect!), and it's left a very bad taste in our mouths. My hope is that Trump said many of those things for shock-value and to drum up attention. Well, he got attention, and he got votes, and now he will be president. And that means we now need to unite as one people to support him and help him to turn things around in our country.

I wanted a woman to be president. Really badly. Not because I thought Hillary was the best candidate, but to me she seemed the better one. It was also a straight feminist play. I was "with her" so that my little girls could see a woman sitting in the Oval Office, and grow up knowing they could truly do anything. (I felt the same way about seeing the first African-American in the Oval Office.) But here is what I realized recently - that message about "doing anything" doesn't come from seeing a female president, it comes from parents who build their children up, hold them accountable, and instill in them the belief that they can do anything. When my girls whimpered that they were sad that Trump was president because he said really bad words and wasn't nice to women, I told them that all people make mistakes and now that Trump has been elected, I hope that he will do better. He will clean up his act and be fair, consistent, and kind - just like Daddy and I try to be with them in our home. I reminded them that there is always a winner and a loser in elections, and feeling disappointed that a woman didn't win was okay. I also reminded them that we still have never had a female president, and since women are so amazingly incredible, we have to continue to work really hard to make that happen. And then we talked a little bit about how we need really smart boys and girls to study hard and step forward to become politicians in the future. I told them, they are our future.

They are the future and we need to help them see the value in our political system, and in voting. They and we are America. We are a democracy, and because of that we have to accept what happened. It is no time to flee. It is not a time to mope. It is a time to say, "What can I do to help our country get back to great?" This morning as I lay in bed staring at the ceiling I thought about the desperately poor Americans living in banged up cities, unemployed and hopeless. And I prayed that Trump makes good on what he promised and makes their lives better. I live in Greenwich, CT and am very privileged to have health insurance, a great school for my kids to attend, and food on the table. I'd like all Americans to have a roof over their head, a good education, health care and hope. That is why I am asking our president, "Please make good on your words. Make America better. Shrink the national debt. Make better health care for all. Take care of all of us, no matter our religion, sex, sexual persuasion, or heritage. I am watching you and I plan on holding you accountable. You are now the leader of one of the most powerful countries in the world. It's a big job and I pray you are up for the challenge."

Hope. Unite. Don't give up. And make it better. We can all do these things.

-- 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 9 hours ago.

Quote Selection Insurance Services, Inc. to Host the 2017 Meet and Greet with Covered California in Huntington Beach, CA Saturday, November, 12th: Complimentary Tacos!

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The Huntington Beach Covered California Store Front run by Quote Selection Insurance Services, Inc. will be hosting 1 of 27 bus stops made by the Covered California bus tour to help create community awareness for the Health Insurance Open Enrollment Period. Free tacos will be given out (while supplies last) from 2:30 P.M. to 4 P.M.

Huntington Beach, Calif. (PRWEB) November 10, 2016

• Meet Covered California Executive Director, Peter Lee, and Deputy Director, Kirk Whelan at 3:30 P.M.· Free Tacos from 2:30 P.M. to 4 P.M. (while supplies last)
· Confidential enrollment and renewal assistance will be available from 9 A.M. to 5 P.M.
· Address: 16532 Beach Blvd., Huntington Beach, CA. Phone: (800) 650-0922

The Huntington Beach Covered California Store Front run by Quote Selection Insurance Services, Inc. will host a meet and greet with Covered California to help create community awareness for the Health Insurance Open Enrollment Period. Free tacos will be given out (while supplies last) from 2:30 P.M. to 4 P.M. Covered California Certified Insurance Agents will be available for free enrollment and renewal assistance from 9 A.M. to 5 P.M.

The tour will cover 1,400 miles and share “what’s new” in the 2017 enrollment year. “Many people we help are surprised to find their plan benefits may have improved and the rate increase they thought they were getting turns into a rate reduction when they shop their new options for 2017,” says George Balteria, CEO Quote Selection Insurance Services, Inc. “Often times consumers simply need in-person assistance to help them make sense of their healthcare. Our Certified Insurance Agents are available to do so with no charge to the consumer.”

The Health Insurance Open Enrollment Period runs from November 1, 2016 to January 31, 017. Sign up or renew by December 15, 2016 for an effective date of January 1, 2017. Enrollment and renewal assistance is provided in-person or over the phone at (800) 650-0922. For locations or to set an appointment, visit http://www.enrollmentca.com.

About Quote Selection Insurance Services, Inc.     

Quote Selection Insurance Services, Inc. is a consumer centered insurance agency that delivers expert advice to individuals, families and small businesses who are in need of insurance. They are a proud supporter of Covered California’s Agent Store Front Program. For more information, visit http://www.quoteselection.com. Reported by PRWeb 2 hours ago.

Chubb Makes New Appointments in Singapore

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SINGAPORE, Nov. 10, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Chubb announced today the appointment of several new executives for its business in Singapore.

*Mr. Koh Wei Lee* has been appointed as Division Head of Accident & Health (A&H) and Personal & Business Insurance (PBI).

Mr. Koh joins Chubb with more than 16 years of experience in the insurance industry. Prior to joining Chubb, he was most recently the Chief Marketing Officer in Gibraltar BSN Life Berhad (a subsidiary of Prudential Financial Inc). His past experience includes careers at several leading general and life insurers like Great Eastern Life Assurance and AIG. A proven leader with deep distribution expertise, Mr. Koh spent the last 6 years in Hong Kong and Malaysia in a variety of roles covering regional product management, business development and product marketing.

In his new role, Mr. Koh will have responsibility for leading and directing the business development, general management and overall growth of the A&H and PBI division in Singapore.

*Mr. Kevin Xiong* has been appointed as the new Head of Agency.

Mr. Xiong joins Chubb with over 9 years of experience in agency management as well as business development. His past experience includes careers at AIA and AXA managing significant agency distribution forces.

In his appointment, Mr. Xiong will be responsible for implementing various strategies to expand and drive business opportunities for the agency distribution channel.

*Ms. Risa Wong* has been appointed as the Head of Travel, A&H and PBI.

Ms. Wong is a seasoned professional in the tourism and travel insurance industry. She has over 20 years of experience in advertising, sales and marketing across the South-east Asian and Indian markets.

In her new role, Ms. Wong will be responsible for the growth and profitability of the Leisure Travel portfolio. Her main areas of focus will include driving business development, the diversification of distribution channels, partnership management as well as the enhancement of products and services to ensure maximum satisfaction for partners, agents and customers.

Mr. Koh and Mr. Xiong will report to Adam Clifford, Country President for Chubb in Singapore while Ms. Wong will report to Mr. Koh.

According to Mr. Clifford, "I'm delighted to announce the addition of Wei Lee, Kevin and Risa to the team in Singapore. We have aggressive plans ahead to expand as we seize the product and distribution opportunities across all our business lines. We have attracted some of the best talent in the market who have the experience, energy and passion to take up the challenge of driving our growth".

*About Chubb*

Chubb is the world's largest publicly traded property and casualty insurer. With operations in 54 countries, Chubb provides commercial and personal property and casualty insurance, personal accident and supplemental health insurance, reinsurance and life insurance to a diverse group of clients. As an underwriting company, we assess, assume and manage risk with insight and discipline. We service and pay our claims fairly and promptly. The company is also defined by its extensive product and service offerings, broad distribution capabilities, exceptional financial strength and local operations globally. Parent company Chubb Limited is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: CB) and is a component of the S&P 500 index. Chubb maintains executive offices in Zurich, New York, London and other locations, and employs approximately 31,000 people worldwide.

Chubb Insurance Singapore Limited, via acquisitions by its predecessor companies, has been present in Singapore since 1948. Chubb in Singapore provides risk management and underwriting expertise for all major classes of general insurance, including Property & Casualty, Marine, Liability, Financial Lines and Group Personal Accident insurance. As one of the leading providers of Accident & Health insurance through direct marketing, the company partners with financial institutions and other companies to tailor individual policies for their clients and employees. In addition, it offers a suite of customised Personal & Specialty insurance solutions to meet the needs of consumers.Over the years, Chubb in Singapore has established strong client relationships by offering responsive service, developing innovative products and providing market leadership built on financial strength. The company has been assigned a financial strength rating of AA-/Negative and the highest ASEAN credit rating of axAAA by Standard & Poor's. It has also been awarded the Singapore Quality Class STAR (SQC STAR) and Singapore Service Class (S-Class) certification for achieving all-round business excellence and high levels of service respectively by SPRING Singapore, the national standards and accreditation body.More information can be found at www.chubb.com/sg.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160124/325256LOGO Reported by PR Newswire Asia 1 hour ago.

State Farm Agent Janna Misek Helping Homeowners Chase Away Storm Chasers

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Janna Misek, of State Farm, lists the top three tips on how to avoid contractors that try to scam homeowners who are victims of storm damage.

Oswego, IL (PRWEB) November 10, 2016

“Storm chasers” are an unreliable breed of contractor that try to make fast money by preying on homeowners whose homes have been damaged by severe storms. “In some cases, these ‘storm chasers’ will damage your home themselves, then attempt to get you to pay them to repair it,” said State Farm Agent Janna Misek. “Some of them move from state to state following storms, and will even take your money and leave without doing any work.”

In order to help homeowners not fall victim to these “storm chasers,” Misek shares the following three tips:

No. 1: Beware of unannounced visits by contractors. “Legitimate repairmen and contractors do not go door-to-door attempting to solicit business,” stressed Misek. “A storm chaser will usually offer to start work immediately in exchange for a cash deposit up front. If your home has been damaged by a storm, only hire a contractor who is bonded, insured and licensed, and verify that they are and check their website.”

No. 2: Do not allow anyone to “inspect” a home unsupervised. “This gives storm chasers the opportunity to damage your home themselves, in hopes of being hired to ‘fix’ it,” said Misek.

No. 3: Always wait for the insurance adjuster. “Never agree to any repairs until an insurance adjuster has seen your damage,” concluded Misek. “A storm chaser might ‘find’ damage that doesn’t exist. Also beware of ‘contractors’ who say they can help file insurance claims; if they’re offering to pay your deductible, it’s definitely fishy.”

About Janna Misek, State Farm
Janna Misek offers Auto, Home and Property, Life and Health Insurance, as well as banking products, annuities and mutual funds. For more information, please call (630) 554-1540, or visit http://www.statefarm.com/agent/US/IL/Oswego/Janna-Misek-0FMR32T8000.

About the NALA™
The NALA offers small and medium-sized businesses effective ways to reach customers through new media. As a single-agency source, the NALA helps businesses flourish in their local community. The NALA’s mission is to promote a business’ relevant and newsworthy events and achievements, both online and through traditional media. For media inquiries, please call 805.650.6121, ext. 361. Reported by PRWeb 1 hour ago.

Affordable Care Act: imploding and beyond repair

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Originally Published by The Hill, Oct, 21, 2016
http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/healthcare/301988-affordable-care-act-imploding-and-beyond-repair

Our experience with the first six and a half years of the Affordable Care Act already tells us whether it will work.

Despite the law's goals of containing costs and making health care affordable, it's proven to be too expensive to be sustainable, overly complex and bureaucratic, and a gift to the private health insurance industry and other corporate stakeholders in the medical-industrial complex.

To be fair, the ACA has brought some kind of coverage to about 20 million Americans, in good part through the expansion of Medicaid in 32 states (including D.C.) and the subsidized exchanges. But its negative results far outweigh its gains, as shown by these data points:
· We still have 29 million uninsured Americans (compared to 48 million at the start), plus tens of millions underinsured.· Insurance plan deductibles and co-pays have sharply increased, deterring people from seeking necessary care. A brand new market is opening up, "gap insurance," to cover what is not covered in today's market - insurance for those who have insurance.· Narrowed networks under the ACA have forced many millions of patients to change their desired physicians and hospitals.· The ACA has accelerated a national trend of corporate consolidation of insurers and hospitals, with growing market and political power.· The ACA's regulation of health insurers has been lax, leaving insurers many ways to game the system (e.g. by overstating the health risks of their enrollees) in their self-interest.· Expanding hospital systems, facing less competition, are free to charge much higher prices, by up 40 percent to 50 percent.· Pharmaceutical drug prices have been sharply increasing, often shockingly so. A one-year course of cancer drugs often exceeds200,000, forcing many patients to choose between bankruptcy and treatment.· The costs of insurance and health care now exceed25,000 for a family of four covered by an average employer-sponsored PPO plan.· Overpayments to privatized Medicaid plans are endemic in more than 30 states, often involving unnecessary and duplicative payments.· The ACA's accountable care organizations have failed to contain costs and improve quality of care.· Most of the nonprofit co-ops established under the ACA have failed.· Sign-ups for ACA coverage on the exchanges have fallen far short of expectations - just 11 million this year compared to 24 million forecasted, with many people unable to afford even subsidized coverage.· Premium increases of 50 percent or more for 2017 are being reported in a number of states, including Minnesota, while many insurers are exiting their markets.· Given this dysfunctional reality under the ACA, it's remarkable that neither major political party has a plan to truly fix the situation.
If elected, Hillary Clinton proposes to bring on the public option (which can't possibly succeed against the overwhelming market share of a subsidized insurance industry), increase subsidies, add new tax credits for deductibles and co-payments, and lower the age for Medicare eligibility to age 55. These tweaks would not reverse the huge private bureaucracy bent on increasing profits in markets subsidized by taxpayers.

Given the opportunity, Republicans would repeal the ACA with no credible plan for replacement - relying on such long-discredited approaches as consumer-directed health care, health savings accounts, high risk pools, selling insurance across state lines, and giving states more leeway with block grants.

We should have learned by now that segmented risk pools designed for profits by private health insurers will never provide universal access to affordable health care in this country.
Virtually all advanced countries around the world learned this long ago with one or another form of universal health insurance.

Multiple studies have demonstrated that in the U.S. we could save about $500 billion a year by enacting a nonprofit single-payer national health program that streamlines administration. Those savings would be sufficient to guarantee everyone high-quality care, with no cost sharing, on a sustainable basis. The system could also negotiate lower drug prices.

Studies over the past two decades have shown 3 of 5 Americans supporting an improved version of Medicare for all. Support for single payer is also growing among doctors and other health care professionals. Yet the Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act, H.R. 676 (Rep. John Conyers' bill), with 62 co-sponsors, sits neglected in a House committee.

Until we recognize that the largest possible risk pool is required to implement universal coverage in the public interest, and that the private health insurance industry is on a death march, we cannot make necessary health care available to all Americans.

Can't we get to real health care reform on a nonpartisan, win-win basis?

John Geyman, M.D. is the author of The Human Face of ObamaCare: Promises vs. Reality and What Comes Next and How Obamacare is Unsustainable: Why We Need a Single-Payer Solution For All Americans

visit: http://www.johngeymanmd.org

-- 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 22 hours ago.

What Older Voters Expect From Donald Trump

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*SPECIAL FROM* Next AvenuePart of the ELECTION 2016 SPECIAL REPORT
Congratulations, president-elect Trump. You surprised the pollsters and the media and made history. Soon, you’ll have the opportunity to try to turn your campaign promises into reality. “To be really historic, we’ve got to do a great job,” you said in your victory speech last night. Here are three issues that older voters expect to see you act on and will be disappointed if you don’t:

*1. Improving retirement security *That means shoring up Social Security. According to estimates, the Social Security Trust Fund will only be able to pay 77 percent of retirement benefits starting in 2035 unless reforms are made.

American voters were pleased to hear you say that “We’re going to save your Social Security without killing it like so many people want to do” and that you “will do everything within my power not to touch Social Security, to leave it the way it is.”

But let’s get real: Some reforms will be necessary to get Social Security back on firm footing.

You never said how you’d address Social Security’s solvency, other than to preside over a strong economy and to get rid of “deficits, waste, fraud and abuse.”

You never said during the campaign how you’d address its solvency, other than to preside over a strong economy that would bring in more tax revenue and to get rid of government “deficits, waste, fraud and abuse.” But it’s unlikely that those moves alone, assuming they happened, would be enough.

You said you wouldn’t raise the Social Security payroll “tax cap” (the ceiling on earnings subject to FICA taxes, scheduled to rise to $126,000 in 2017), cut benefits or raise the retirement age.

But you did leave the door open to something, telling AARP that “as our demography changes, a prudent administration would begin to examine what changes might be necessary for future generations.”

House Speaker Paul Ryan, your strange bedfellow now, favors privatizing Social Security and, in the past, has called for severe Social Security cuts. You told a radio station during the campaign that Ryan “wants to knock out Social Security, knock it down, way down” and that Republicans “want to cut it very substantially, and I’m not going to do that.”

But what are you going to do? Once you take office, let us know what those changes that might be necessary for future generations might be. Then, please work with both parties in Congress to come up with a fair and equitable Social Security solvency solution.

*2. Improving health care affordability *You told us that you’d repeal Obamacare on the first day of your administration and call a special session of Congress to replace it, partly due to rising premiums, deductibles and co-pays. It’s true that, in some ways, the Affordable Care Act has become the Unaffordable Care Act.

But you didn’t get into specifics about what your Obamacare replacement would be, other than to allow the sale of health insurance across state lines (a proposal that some critics believe could lead to less-than-ideal policies). Older voters would like you to fill in the blanks about Trumpcare soon.

Like Hillary Clinton, you said you favored allowing the importation of less-expensive prescription drugs from foreign countries. That sounds good, but critics say there’s no way to guarantee that the drugs aren’t counterfeit or contaminated, as my Next Avenue colleague Emily Gurnon has written.

Also like Clinton, you called for letting Medicare negotiate prescription drug prices to help reduce pharmaceutical costs for Americans 65 and older. The next step is to work with Congress to turn that campaign promise into reality.

*3. Assisting family caregivers *You offered two proposals that family caregivers in their 50s and 60s would like to see you make good on.

One was a tax deduction of up to $5,000 per year for “elder care costs necessary to keep a family member working outside the home.” The costs could include home care or adult day care for elderly dependents when those expenses are needed to keep family members in the workforce.

On your website, you described this proposal as one targeted to women: “The ability to set aside funds for elder care is critically important because taking time off from working to care for elderly family members reduces a woman’s financial readiness for retirement, and can increase a woman’s risk of living in poverty in old age.”

You also proposed letting Americans open Dependent Care Savings Accounts of up to $2,000 a year, so they “can plan for future expenses relating to child and elder care.” Annual contributions and earnings on the account wouldn’t be taxed and the savings account funds could be used for “adult day care, in-home or long-term care services.”

The 510-day campaign is behind you. Now, the real work begins.

Also from Next Avenue:

Why Some Grown Kids Cut Off Their Parents

8 Things Not To Say To Your Aging Parents

10 Must-Have Smartphone Apps For Boomers

-- 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 22 hours ago.

What happens to Obamacare? 5 questions about Trump’s plans

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What happens to Obamacare now that the incoming president has campaigned hard for its demise? President elect Donald Trump ran on a “replace and repeal” platform for the Affordable Care Act, which mandated all Americans buy health insurance and provided government subsidies to help 20 mi... Reported by Raw Story 21 hours ago.

Sickening

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0
This is a sickening time in America, and around the world.

I'm trying to process feelings of shock and horror at the election results.

But I take some solace in knowing this: No matter what it feels like right now, our country will survive. Our institutions and values are too deeply rooted to be upended by a single election.

But there's no question, something truly terrible has happened. We are facing some very troubling times ahead and will have to confront massive challenges.

It's going to take quite a while to sort out what happened in the election, to assess what the impact will be on the country. But l wanted to share some immediate reflections on the election, and some guesses about what things look like ahead.
· Rejectionist Election. The Trump vote represented a rejection of establishment politics, a rejection of insider deal-making and fury over the working of an unjust economy. It may seem upside down to say that Trump was the vehicle to express those sentiments, but he plainly did stand for a radical rejection of business as usual and a contempt for elite-driven politics.
· Clinton's Miscalculation. The Clinton campaign made a decision to run as not-Trump, rather than on her surprisingly progressive agenda. In retrospect, at least, that clearly was an error. One consequence of the campaign's decision about how to run the race was that, while run well from a technical competence point of view, it was utterly devoid of passion, inspiration and grassroots energy. In a populist moment, that proved a fatal flaw.
· Voter Suppression. It wasn't just Clinton's failure to generate enthusiasm that depressed turnout. It was an explicit part of the Trump campaign and, more importantly, was the product of a decade's worth of Republican efforts to limit ballot access for people of color and students. We may never know the exact impact of voter suppression efforts, but in a very close election, it was very likely decisive.
· Money Still Matters. As a candidate, Trump was in a class by himself. He was able to garner unprecedented free media attention and he disdained normal fundraising strategies. So, the presidential election results cannot be described as the triumph of Big Money donors, even if Trump is likely to serve their interests. However -- and in spite of Trump not playing the regular big-money game -- this was the most expensive election in history. Outside spending had a decisive role in U.S. Senate elections, dwarfing candidate spending in closely contested races, and taking control from the candidates. More than160 million was spent on the Pennsylvania Senate race alone (118 million by outside groups), more than120 million in tiny New Hampshire (90 million by outside groups).
· A Proto-Fascist Movement. Donald Trump generated massive enthusiasm for his campaign, in no small part by generating a proto-fascist movement built around vicious anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim and anti-Latino sentiments, and drawing on deep wells of racism and sexism. We have to address this head on, because history demonstrates how such sentiments can spin out of control and lead to the most horrific results.
What should we expect and do in the days, weeks and months ahead?

ZERO POLICY COHERENCE

There's huge uncertainty about what policies a Trump administration will pursue. Trump proposed contradictory policy measures, barely sketching out details even of his top-line proposals. But above all, he just didn't demonstrate interest at all in policy. So, there's just no way really to predict what we should expect in the way we could with a more traditional candidate.

OPPORTUNITIES

We have to convert widespread populist sentiment into real progressive-populist policy. With a Trump administration, there may be some opportunities to do this in particular cases -- trade, drug pricing, domestic infrastructure investment and money-in-politics.

BLOCKING THE CORPORATE AGENDA

But the overwhelming bulk of the Trump agenda, to the extent it is discernible, aims to free corporations to engage in reckless activity and mass predation without any restraint -- to rip off consumers, pollute the environment, threaten the planet with catastrophic climate change, strip health insurance coverage from those who can't pay, restart the Wall Street schemes that led to the Great Recession. And the Republican leadership in Congress may be establishment, but it favors an extremist corporate agenda that, if anything, goes further than Trump has proposed.

And to this agenda, it's crystal clear what we must do: Resist it with everything we've got. That means suing to block unconstitutional maneuvers. It means demanding that the Democratic minority in the Senate use its power to block the corporate extremist agenda. It means calling out that agenda for what it is. And it means speaking up and defending the rights of immigrants and any other group that Trump may target.

Above all, it means mobilizing like never before and taking to the streets to demonstrate our people power, our refusal to defer to corporate hegemony or to permit the spread of fascist sentiment, and our insistence on the progressive agenda that has overwhelming support from the American people.

What we can't permit is for a protest vote -- and a call for a populist uprising against establishment politics and narrow elite control of the economy -- to be co-opted into a victory for the very corporate establishment and political elites against which the revolt is directed.

LOVE AND SOLIDARITY

For all the hard fighting that is going to come in the years ahead, we must assert the central importance of love and solidarity, kindness and decency to who we are as a country and a people.

These are the times that try men's (and women's) souls, wrote Tom Paine. As Paine instructed, it's our duty not to shrink from service to the country, but to stand by it.

Robert Weissman is president of Public Citizen, a grassroots advocacy organization that for 45 years has been devoted to defending democracy and fighting corporate power.

-- 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 20 hours ago.

Here's How We Can Face The Massive Challenges Ahead

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0
This is a sickening time in America, and around the world.

I'm trying to process feelings of shock and horror at the election results.

But I take some solace in knowing this: No matter what it feels like right now, our country will survive. Our institutions and values are too deeply rooted to be upended by a single election.

But there's no question, something truly terrible has happened. We are facing some very troubling times ahead and will have to confront massive challenges.

It's going to take quite a while to sort out what happened in the election, to assess what the impact will be on the country. But l wanted to share some immediate reflections on the election, and some guesses about what things look like ahead.
· *Rejectionist Election. *The Trump vote represented a rejection of establishment politics, a rejection of insider deal-making and fury over the working of an unjust economy. It may seem upside down to say that Trump was the vehicle to express those sentiments, but he plainly did stand for a radical rejection of business as usual and a contempt for elite-driven politics.
· *Clinton's Miscalculation.* The Clinton campaign made a decision to run as not-Trump, rather than on her surprisingly progressive agenda. In retrospect, at least, that clearly was an error. One consequence of the campaign's decision about how to run the race was that, while run well from a technical competence point of view, it was utterly devoid of passion, inspiration and grassroots energy. In a populist moment, that proved a fatal flaw.
· *Voter Suppression. *It wasn't just Clinton's failure to generate enthusiasm that depressed turnout. It was an explicit part of the Trump campaign and, more importantly, was the product of a decade's worth of Republican efforts to limit ballot access for people of color and students. We may never know the exact impact of voter suppression efforts, but in a very close election, it was very likely decisive.
· *Money Still Matters.* As a candidate, Trump was in a class by himself. He was able to garner unprecedented free media attention and he disdained normal fundraising strategies. So, the presidential election results cannot be described as the triumph of Big Money donors, even if Trump is likely to serve their interests. However -- and in spite of Trump not playing the regular big-money game -- this was the most expensive election in history. Outside spending had a decisive role in U.S. Senate elections, dwarfing candidate spending in closely contested races, and taking control from the candidates. More than160 million was spent on the Pennsylvania Senate race alone (118 million by outside groups), more than120 million in tiny New Hampshire (90 million by outside groups).
· *A Proto-Fascist Movement.* Donald Trump generated massive enthusiasm for his campaign, in no small part by generating a proto-fascist movement built around vicious anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim and anti-Latino sentiments, and drawing on deep wells of racism and sexism. We have to address this head on, because history demonstrates how such sentiments can spin out of control and lead to the most horrific results.
What should we expect and do in the days, weeks and months ahead?

*ZERO POLICY COHERENCE
*
There's huge uncertainty about what policies a Trump administration will pursue. Trump proposed contradictory policy measures, barely sketching out details even of his top-line proposals. But above all, he just didn't demonstrate interest at all in policy. So, there's just no way really to predict what we should expect in the way we could with a more traditional candidate.

*OPPORTUNITIES
*
We have to convert widespread populist sentiment into real progressive-populist policy. With a Trump administration, there may be some opportunities to do this in particular cases -- trade, drug pricing, domestic infrastructure investment and money-in-politics.

*BLOCKING THE CORPORATE AGENDA
*
But the overwhelming bulk of the Trump agenda, to the extent it is discernible, aims to free corporations to engage in reckless activity and mass predation without any restraint -- to rip off consumers, pollute the environment, threaten the planet with catastrophic climate change, strip health insurance coverage from those who can't pay, restart the Wall Street schemes that led to the Great Recession. And the Republican leadership in Congress may be establishment, but it favors an extremist corporate agenda that, if anything, goes further than Trump has proposed.

And to this agenda, it's crystal clear what we must do: Resist it with everything we've got. That means suing to block unconstitutional maneuvers. It means demanding that the Democratic minority in the Senate use its power to block the corporate extremist agenda. It means calling out that agenda for what it is. And it means speaking up and defending the rights of immigrants and any other group that Trump may target.

Above all, it means mobilizing like never before and taking to the streets to demonstrate our people power, our refusal to defer to corporate hegemony or to permit the spread of fascist sentiment, and our insistence on the progressive agenda that has overwhelming support from the American people.

What we can't permit is for a protest vote -- and a call for a populist uprising against establishment politics and narrow elite control of the economy -- to be co-opted into a victory for the very corporate establishment and political elites against which the revolt is directed.

*LOVE AND SOLIDARITY
*
For all the hard fighting that is going to come in the years ahead, we must assert the central importance of love and solidarity, kindness and decency to who we are as a country and a people.

These are the times that try men's (and women's) souls, wrote Tom Paine. As Paine instructed, it's our duty not to shrink from service to the country, but to stand by it.

Robert Weissman is president of Public Citizen, a grassroots advocacy organization that for 45 years has been devoted to defending democracy and fighting corporate power.

-- 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 18 hours ago.

Dear Bernie-or-Busters: Congratulations, You Won!

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Los Angeles: Goodyear Satire Company--

Dear Bernie-or-Busters:

Bravo! Your principled refusal to vote for Hillary Clinton has worked exactly as planned!

Hillary has lost! The DNC has been brought to its knees! And the Libertarian Party and the Green Party will get public campaign funds in 2020, almost!

But importantly you dashed Hillary's crash through that glass ceiling and that alone was worth it! We don't want a female president who voted for a war. And she lied about her emails so it's her fault she lost.

You rebel, you have succeeded beyond your wildest dreams. That's sexy.

And the rest of us? We wound up with arguably the worst president in the history of the United States! And you deserve the thanks of a grateful nation.

So, Bernie-or-Busters, here's a toast to you and your spirit of independence!
Here's to you, you rebel.Why, you're almost as principled as one of those high-minded anti-vaxxers who don't get childhood shots for their kids. That way, everybody else has to inoculate their kids or else they get sick. But so what? You don't have kids and adults don't get diseases, right? Herd immunity FTW.

It only hurts a little bit that we find out Russia was in touch with the Trump campaign during the election. But that's not as bad as the alternative, eh what?

Oh wait. What's this headline?

Trump Picks Top Climate Skeptic to Lead EPA Transition

Who cares? Global Warming is a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese! I know that because President-Elect Trump said so. Forget about all those climate scientists and the rising seas and the hotter drier summers and the parts of the planet that will be uninhabitable in just 20 years. They're making this up to keep their cushy university jobs. We had climate like this eons ago and we came through it just fine, after a few extinction level events. Besides...

Trump win boosts coal, hits renewable stocks

So thanks to your foresight, we will have new coal jobs and birds won't get killed by clean solar power plants.

And forget about all these species that are dying off.
2500 African Dholes remain.

They're Losers!

But You, my Friend, are a Winner!

I like a species that doesn't go extinct.

Oh, wait. Here's another headline!

Trump and the GOP can absolutely repeal Obamacare -- and 22 million people would lose health insurance

Woo hoo! Who cares? You're covered under your parents' plan until you're 26 years old. Those 22 million people can get insurance the old fashioned way: by going to the emergency rooms when they're sick. The hospitals will take care of them for free, right? They don't need pre-natal care or vitamins if they're pregnant or birth control pills if they're not. It's just their bad luck if they have preexisting conditions. You're a healthy 22 year old - you don't have diabetes or, oh wait.

When Obamacare goes away you'll get thrown off your parents' health insurance. No worry.

If you live in Minnesota, under Trump you can buy cheap insurance across state lines from an Alabama insurance broker. I'm sure they'll have participating doctors in Hibbing and your coverage will never be subject to price increases. I'm positive. Besides, you won't need free mental health consultations because you've shown how smart you are by voting against Hillary! Let's remember our successes instead of dwelling on... another headline.

Mike Pence's successor as Indiana Governor is another anti-LGBT Republican

Goodbye gay rights! Goodbye same sex marriage. It'll happen nationally with Trump and his anti-LGBT hatchet-man Pence, and then state by state with Indiana and North Carolina leading the way.

We won't have to worry about the pesky Supreme Court anymore, either, to protect gay rights or the right to an abortion or for that matter, the right to privacy or the right to birth control. You're not gay, you're not gonna have a same sex marriage and you're not gonna marry your dog. Ha Ha! So it doesn't matter.

And if your girlfriend needs an abortion but has to do some jail time, well, you'll know where she is that whole weekend, right?

Am I right?

No, you're right, that's who is right. You stood up to The Man, my dear Bernie or Buster! And the non voters, too. And the third party voters. You all took one for the team. Thank YOU.

And you didn't even fall for it when Bernie told you to vote for Hillary, no siree Bob! YOU ARE THE MAN!

So sleep well tonight. You did your ego a service tonight. You showed the world that you're a person of your word and nothing, Nothing, NOTHING can move you off course.

You're right and you're righteous!

Don't worry about a free press, or free speech, or the Department of Education, or the United Nations, or NATO or The Wall or college tuition or OSHA job-safety regulations or a federal minimum wage.

We. Don't. Need. Any. Of. It.

Schoolyard taunts and deportation fears haunt U.S. minorities after Trump victory

Don't worry about tomorrow, either, because you're not a Mexican, or a Syrian refugee, or a Muslim, or a Jew, or a black or a native American. Donald Trump will take care of all of those "others".

He said so last night.

I'm sorry if I sound bitter, but I'm a patriot, just like you. In fact, there's lots of people like me, and I'm trying to explain from a more enlightened point of view because they're hurting. Some of them, like me, remember Al Gore's "loss" in 2000. And we came back from that, right? It only cost us a few trillion dollars and a few wars and how many deaths? Some people thought Ralph Nader had something to do with it, but I'm not so..... Oh, wait. Another headline.

Omarosa: Trump already has an enemies list

Don't worry,my friend. You're not on it.

Probably.
More Satire by Goodyear Satire Co.

Supreme Court Confirms 20-Year Prison Sentence For Ex-VP Dick Cheney

Donald Trump Accidentally Bans Himself From America

Trump Bombshell: 'Hillary Was Born In Kenya. I Have Proof.'

photo credits:

Cover photo: Sanders presidential campaign kickoff, May 2015 Bernie Sanders By Jake Bucci via Wikimedia Commons

Cocktail by Canelelight 1 By Mike Gifford (m.gifford) via Wikimedia Commons

Endangered African Dhole By Julie Langford via Wikimedia Commons

-- 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 19 hours ago.

Aetna CEO expects some ACA benefits to stay: Dealbook conference

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NEW YORK (Reuters) - Aetna Inc Chief Executive Officer Mark Bertolini said he expected some benefits of President Barack Obama's national healthcare reform law will stick under President-elect Donald Trump, like allowing young adults to stay on their family's health insurance. Reported by Reuters 17 hours ago.

Disability Rights Advocates Are Terrified Of A Donald Trump White House

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WASHINGTON ― People with disabilities and their family members are deeply afraid of what a Donald Trump presidency has in store for them ― and they are already gearing up to resist harmful policy changes.

First and foremost, advocates worry that Trump’s professed desire to weaken the country’s safety net could jeopardize the lives of vulnerable Americans. They’re also concerned that federal agencies’ roles in policing discrimination and driving reforms of law enforcement practices will change.

Although it is impossible to know how Trump will govern, his campaign platform, the Republican Party’s priorities and his bullying personality ― embodied by his campaign-trail mockery of a reporter with the joint condition arthrogryposis ― are not reassuring, according to disability rights activists.

“It’s a disaster,” said Ari Ne’eman, president of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, which is run entirely by people on the autism spectrum. “Obviously, with somebody like Trump, you never really know what he is going to do, but assuming we can take him at his word on his stated policy positions, there is tremendous, tremendous risk for people with disabilities.”

The Trump campaign did not respond to The Huffington Post’s request for comment on disability rights advocates’ concerns. Below are some of the things they’re worried about.

*Repealing Obamacare*
Trump has repeatedly promised to repeal the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as “Obamacare.” Thanks to Republican control of both houses of Congress, he will get a chance to do just that.

Eliminating the signature reform could negatively affect people with disabilities in at least two major ways. It would presumably undo regulations that preclude insurance companies from refusing to cover people with pre-existing conditions ― a description that fits many people with a physical, psychological or developmental disabilities.

Republicans might scramble to retain that provision of Obamacare due to its popularity, but its financial viability would be severely limited without other clauses, like the individual mandate that balances out high coverage costs for sicker people with the lower costs for new, healthier insurance customers.

“If you could do the popular parts without the unpopular parts, people would already have done it,” said Harold Pollack, a professor at the University of Chicago who specializes in disability and health care policies.  

As a result, Pollack estimated, whatever protections manage to survive Trump would likely be as porous and inadequate as what existed before Obamacare. 


Assuming we can take him at his word on his stated policy positions, there is tremendous, tremendous risk for people with disabilities.
Ari Ne'eman, Autistic Self Advocacy Network
Rolling back the health care law’s expansion of Medicaid would also hit Americans with disabilities especially hard. Some 10 million Americans insured by Medicaid are people with disabilities, comprising 15 percent of all enrollees. And critically, Medicaid pays for most disability services, like home health aides ― not just traditional health care.

The Center on Budget & Policy Priorities, a liberal think tank, estimated that the Republican-led House Budget Committee’s 2015 budget repealing Medicaid expansion would strip at least 14 million Americans of their health insurance.

Trump’s proposals to replace Obamacare are a mix of recycled conservative ideas that come nowhere near adequately substituting the coverage provided by the law’s expansion of Medicaid. One of Trump’s main recommendations ― allowing everyone to deduct health care premiums from their taxes ― would not help low-income people with disabilities who need Medicaid, since their tax burdens are typically much lower than their insurance costs.

*Block-Granting Medicaid* 

Trump’s campaign platform calls for turning Medicaid into a “block grant” ― or flat annual funding amount ― for states to insure poor residents with looser requirements for determining who is eligible and the services they provide. Currently, Medicaid functions as a flexible needs-based insurance program designed to provide health care coverage to as many impoverished people as necessary.

It is unclear how Trump would structure his block-granting plan, but virtually all existing proposals for doing so would dramatically reduce present funding levels, resulting in far lower coverage rates. The Urban Institute projected that a 2012 Republican House Budget Committee block-granting plan would, over a 10-year period, prompt states to insure 14.3 million to 20.5 million fewer people than they would have under current law.


I’m sure he’ll say it is ‘the best Medicaid cut, a beautiful Medicaid cut,' no doubt.
Harold Pollack, University of Chicago
Taken together, the losses in coverage from block-granting and repealing Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion ― to say nothing of the effect of disbanding the Obamacare exchange and eliminating the subsidies for its participants ― could easily cause 30 million Americans to lose health insurance, a significant number of whom are people with disabilities. 

“I’m sure he’ll say it is ‘the best Medicaid cut, a beautiful Medicaid cut,’ no doubt,” Pollack said. “But there is a real possibility he will cut services to vulnerable populations, and there are many Republicans in Congress who want to do that.”

For Americans with disabilities who rely on Medicaid, finding coverage elsewhere is often not an option.

“I have many friends who depend on Medicaid for home care. Their lives are at risk if we block-grant Medicaid,” Ne’eman, of the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network, said.

Reducing ADA Enforcement And Police AccountabilityThe president conducts a significant amount of disability policy through control of various regulatory agencies. The Department of Justice’s civil rights division, for example, pursues complaints against employers, businesses and other institutions for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act, the 1990 law barring discrimination against Americans with disabilities.

The next administration could cut back on the civil rights division’s resources or change its priorities, says Allison Wohl, executive director of the Association of People Supporting Employment First, a disability rights group.

“If that is whittled down, it will undermine ADA enforcement ability,” Wohl said.

And Wohl is skeptical Trump’s political appointees to agencies like the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and Department of Labor would be committed to ensuring access to benefits and suitable workplace accommodations for people with disabilities.


The DOJ’s pursuit of police accountability is a disability rights issue as well.

A Trump DOJ could also stall or reverse progress on police accountability ― to the detriment of people with disabilities ― says David Perry, a leading writer on disability issues whose son has Down syndrome.

As many as half of all people killed by police are disabled, according to Perry’s original research for the Ruderman Family Foundation ― including Eric Garner, who suffered from asthma and heart disease, he points out.

“His last words are ‘I can’t breathe.’ That is a statement to a government employee that he requires reasonable accommodation, which they are required to provide under the Americans with Disabilities Act,” Perry said.

That means the DOJ’s pursuit of police accountability is a disability rights issue as well.

“DOJ is working with police departments on consent decrees to reform policing,” he said. “I am not convinced that [Rudy] Giuliani’s Department of Justice [would continue] those efforts.”

Likewise, Perry wonders whether Trump’s Department of Education will take a stern line with states that fail to honor their obligations to accommodate students with disabilities in their public schools.

“Budget-strapped states are already cutting back on special education and pushing back on eligibility, including Texas and Connecticut. We need a Department of Education to control this and stop this,” Perry said.

*The Best-Case Scenario*Protecting people with disabilities from discrimination has traditionally been a bipartisan cause in Congress. Members of both parties voted to enact the ADA under Republican President George H.W. Bush, and they united again in 2014 to pass legislation incentivizing greater workplace training and employment opportunities for people with disabilities.

Wohl, of the Association of People Supporting Employment First, is confident that congressional Republicans will continue to support these kinds of measures going forward.

“There are a number of Republicans in the House with children and grandchildren with disabilities,” Wohl said, citing Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), Gregg Harper (R-Miss.), Pete Sessions (R-Texas) and Pat Tiberi (R-Ohio). “They have been real champions of our work.” 

Continuing traditionally bipartisan workplace integration initiatives would be a “best-case scenario,” Perry said, but one that would likely fail to assist the people with disabilities “most at risk for violence and trauma,” including people who are poor, live in marginalized communities of color or identify as LGBTQ and disabled, according to Perry. 

One way or another, President-elect Trump has a long way to go to regain the trust of disability rights advocates, Perry said.

Trump not only mocked New York Times reporter Serge Kovaleski on the campaign trail last November ― he also falsely claimed that vaccines cause autism two months prior to that. And he has faced at least eight lawsuits for failing to provide reasonable accommodations for people with disabilities in his real estate properties.

“Trump is the most ableist president in modern history,” Perry concluded. “He takes any kind of physical or mental difference that he perceives or imagines as a weakness and uses it as a tool for dominance.”

-- 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 17 hours ago.

Obamacare sign-ups spiked the day after Trump was elected

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Obamacare sign-ups spiked the day after Trump was elected People surged into the Affordable Care Act marketplaces the day after Donald Trump was elected to be President of the United States.

According to a tweet from Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell, more than 100,000 people signed up for plans through the ACA, better known as Obamacare, exchanges on Wednesday.

Currently the exchanges are going through their open enrollment period in which Americans that do not have health insurance from their employer or a government program such as Medicare can get access to private plans.

This comes the day after Trump, a vehement opponent of the law, was elected and the Republican leaders of Congress said ACA repeal was high on the list of priorities next year.

More than 13.8 million are expected to sign up for plans through the exchanges this open enrollment period. President-elect Trump has not laid out his full plan on how to cover these people in the event of a repeal of the ACA.



Best day yet this Open Enrollment. Nov 9: Over 100K plan selections on https://t.co/VvaQqwzQu6. Consumers shopping & enrolling. #GetCovered

— Sylvia Burwell (@SecBurwell) November 10, 2016


*SEE ALSO: Obamacare is close to death after Trump's election*

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NOW WATCH: LIZ ANN SONDERS: The most unsettling outcome for the markets would be a surprise Trump win Reported by Business Insider 16 hours ago.

Optima Health Achieves 4 Out of 5 Rating for Commercial Health Plan

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NCQA awards 4 out of 5 rating to Optima Health for commercial health plan in Virginia. Optima Health the only company in VA’s top three serving Hampton Roads and Central VA. NCQA recognized as national leader in healthcare performance measurement.

Virginia Beach, VA (PRWEB) November 10, 2016

Out of 17 commercial health plans in Virginia, Optima Health Plan rated among the top three in the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) Private Health Insurance Plan Ratings 2016-2017, with an overall rating of 4 out of 5. This is the second year in a row Optima Health has rated among Virginia’s top three, since NCQA initiated its current rating methodology in 2015. Optima Health is the only company in Virginia’s top three that serves the Hampton Roads and Central Virginia markets.

Based on clinical quality, member satisfaction and NCQA Accreditation Survey results, the NCQA Health Insurance Plan Ratings are listed for Private (commercial), Medicare and Medicaid health insurance plans. NCQA rates more than 1,000 health plans to compile the report. The organization is widely recognized as the national leader in healthcare performance measurement.

“Our high NCQA ratings affirm the tremendous dedication of Optima Health in providing innovative prevention and treatment services to improve the health of our members,” said Michael Dudley, CEO of Optima Health. “We are working hard every day to provide greater value for our members, through clinical partnerships, enhanced wellness programs and exceptional customer service.”

Optima Health received a rating of 4 out of 5 for both Women’s Reproductive Health and Cancer Screening in the Prevention subcategory. The company also achieved scores of 4 out of 5 in the Treatment subcategory for asthma control; eye exams and glucose control for members with diabetes; providing beta blockers for heart-attack patients; and ensuring first-line psychosocial care for youth on antipsychotic medications.

The Optima Health model of managed care features a clinically integrated network approach, to raise the bar of performance for effective member care and health outcomes. “A great example of how our partnerships are helping to improve the health of our members, and therefore our NCQA ratings, is our colorectal cancer screening program, where we use at home testing to screen members,” said Dr. Sam Basta, Senior Medical Director, Clinical Integration at Optima Health. “When using home testing, we were able to improve our screening rates for colon cancer by 10%, translating to early detection and ultimately, saved lives.”

The Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS®) (1) 5.0 survey, one of the measures used to determine NCQA ratings, also revealed a score of 4 out of 5 in the subcategory of Customer Satisfaction for Optima Health claims processing. Scores from the CAHPS, along with the Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS®) (2) and NCQA Accreditation standards provide the basis for NCQA Health Insurance Plan Ratings.

For 18 consecutive years, Optima Health has received NCQA Accreditation for its commercial HMO/POS health plans, as well as for its Medicaid HMO product. Since 2015, the company has achieved accreditation for its Marketplace HMO plans. (3)

NCQA Ratings and Accreditation measurements provide evidence-based information for consumers and employers in identifying well-managed, high quality health care organizations.

About the National Committee for Quality Assurance
National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) is a private, non-profit organization dedicated to improving health care quality. NCQA accredits and certifies a wide range of health care organizations and recognizes clinicians in key clinical areas. NCQA's HEDIS® is the most widely used performance measurement tool in health care. NCQA's Web site (http://www.ncqa.org) contains information to help consumers, employers and others make more informed health care choices.

About Optima Health Optima Health, based in Virginia, provides health insurance coverage to approximately 450,000 members. With 30 years of experience in the health insurance arena, Optima Health offers a suite of commercial products including consumer-directed, employee-owned and employer-sponsored plans, individual health plans, employee assistance programs and plans serving Medicare and Medicaid enrollees. Our provider network features 26,000 providers including specialists, primary care physicians and hospitals across Virginia. Optima Health offers programs to support members with chronic illnesses, customized wellness programs and integrated clinical and behavioral health services, as well as pharmacy management – all to help our members improve their health. Our goal is to provide better health, be easy to use and offer services that are a great value. To learn more about Optima Health, visit http://www.optimahealth.com. (4)

(1) CAHPS is a registered trademark of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
(2) HEDIS is a registered trademark of the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA).
(3) NCQA Accreditation Letters, 1998-2016.
(4) The membership figure includes total membership in all group and individual insured products, Medicare Managed Care Plans, Medicaid and Famis Plans, and self-funded health plans issued or administered by Optima Health. Total Medical Membership based on Membership History Report, June 2016. Includes members from all Optima Health Licenses, products, Medicare and Medicaid products. Optima Health is the trade name of Optima Health Plan, Optima Health Insurance Company, and Sentara Health Plans, Inc. Optima PPO plans, and Medicare Managed Care Plans are underwritten or administered by Optima Health Insurance Company. Optima Vantage HMO plans, Medicaid, and Famis products are underwritten or administered by Optima Health Plan. Sentara Health Plans provides administrative services to self-funded plans but does not underwrite benefits. Employee Assistance Programs (EAP) are administered by Optima Behavioral Health Services, Inc. Wellness programs are administered by Sentara Health Plans. Source for provider network is Optima Health, Provider Status Report, February 2016. Reported by PRWeb 16 hours ago.

Oregon insurance regulators propose legislative measures to stabilize market

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The Oregon Department of Consumer & Business Services is developing a package of legislative proposals with the goal of stabilizing the state’s volatile health insurance market, creating more uniform pricing and ensuring that consumers have more choice. The department is gathering feedback in anticipation of introducing the bills during the upcoming legislative session in February. The genesis was the complex dynamics resulting from the Affordable Care Act, which led to more Oregonians gaining… Reported by bizjournals 15 hours ago.
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