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Allsup Celebrates 275,000 Successful Customers Receiving Social Security Disability Insurance Benefits

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National disability organization continues advocacy, innovation with new dual purpose tool for SSDI benefits and return-to-work support – empower by Allsup®

Belleville, Illinois (PRWEB) November 17, 2016

Allsup announced today it has reached a historic milestone in helping 275,000 customers with disabilities to successfully navigate the complex and lengthy Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) process.

“For more than 32 years, Allsup has been driven to help our customers with disabilities access the Social Security disability benefits they earned while working and understand their alternatives when a severe disability forces them to leave work,” said Jim Allsup, chairman, founder and CEO.

More than three decades of commitment to the needs of those with disabilities allowed Allsup to expand its services—from coordinating health insurance benefits to assisting those who wish to return to work. Allsup has always been at the forefront of developing web and mobile tools to support its customers.

With empower by Allsup®, people with disabilities can assess their likely eligibility for SSDI benefits in about 15 minutes online. They also can get started with their online application with Allsup as their representative, benefiting from more than 32 years of SSDI expertise, user-friendly videos, and live customer service and support. empower by Allsup is accessible by desktop, laptop, tablet or mobile devices. Customers also can learn the importance of considering returning to work if they medically recover.

Reasons To Choose SSDI Representation
Allsup frequently answers questions about SSDI representation and outlines the following advantages for people with severe disabilities.· Eligibility determination: With empower by Allsup, individuals can find out in minutes their likelihood of being eligible for Social Security disability benefits. The Social Security Administration’s requirements are stringent and include regulations regarding work history and insured status. Learn more at Allsup.com.
· Expert SSDI assistance: Allsup disability experts know and understand Social Security’s regulatory policies for the SSDI program. They can help inexperienced Social Security disability applicants avoid innocent mistakes with their initial application that might lead to a denial. This includes important features in empower by Allsup to help accurately complete their initial application.
· Advocacy: Filing an SSDI application with empower by Allsup provides claimants with convenient, online SSDI advocacy on their side. Customers receive representation and expertise that is focused on helping them to receive their benefits. This is not the same service offered through the government’s online forms.
· Hearing-level support: Customers who appeal their denial can receive SSDI representation for their hearing, assistance in preparing for the hearing, and someone to help present their claim for disability insurance benefits before an administrative law judge.
· Success: People who choose Allsup to file their SSDI application have a 50 percent higher success rate with their initial claim. An important advantage of seeking representation with an application is improved likelihood of receiving benefits at the beginning. Individuals who receive approval at the application can avoid the hearing, where the national wait time now averages 545 days, or 18 months.

To qualify for SSDI benefits, individuals must have paid FICA payroll taxes, usually worked five of the last 10 years, and have a severe work-disrupting injury or illness that is expected to last at least a year, or is terminal. Applicants also must be under full retirement age (65-67).

Find more information about SSDI eligibility and filing an SSDI application on Allsup.com.

ABOUT ALLSUP
Allsup and its subsidiaries provide nationwide Social Security disability, veterans disability appeal, return to work, exchange plan and Medicare services for individuals, their employers and insurance carriers. Allsup professionals deliver specialized services supporting people with disabilities and seniors so they may lead lives that are as financially secure and as healthy as possible. Founded in 1984, the company is based in Belleville, Illinois, near St. Louis. Visit Allsup.com.

# # # Reported by PRWeb 19 hours ago.

Area employers await 'Trumpcare;' intense debate comes first

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Piggly Wiggly store owner Jeff Tate fully supports President-elect Donald Trump’s plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act. “I would like to see a repeal and have the mandates and penalties go away,” says Tate. Tate, who owns a grocery in Watertown, is an example of a smaller employer who has spent what he considers a burdensome amount of time and money figuring out how to comply with Obamacare regulations and then making adjustments in his employee health insurance plan. He has 22 full-time… Reported by bizjournals 15 hours ago.

UC student protest over tuition disrupts regents meeting

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University of California students protesting tuition increases disrupted a UC Board of Regents meeting on Thursday and were threatened with arrest after they began chanting and refused to leave the meeting room. Tuition and fees for the 2016 school year averaged $13,500 across the UC system, but combined with expenses like books, room and board, and health insurance, the average cost for off-campus students is $30,300, and a survey conducted last year found that 40% of students lacked consistent access to healthy meals. Things were more congenial inside the meeting, where UC Student Association President Ralph Washington Jr. addressed the regents using metaphors from his chosen field of study, entomology, to make the case that UC must provide a safe environment for students, particularly given the current political climate. [...] tensions between students and regents began to rise when UC Chief Financial Officer Nathan Brostrom said tuition hikes can help low-income students by bringing in dollars that can then be directed to financial aid. Reiss called a recess and police declared the protest an unlawful assembly, offering students five minutes to clear the room. If this election cycle has taught us anything, it’s that the folks that are going to be impacted the most by decisionmaking processes are often not in the room when those decisions are being made, she continued. At Wednesday’s meeting, workers and union organizers ended the open comment period with chants of “Pay us enough to eat!” A study released by Occidental College in October found that 7 in 10 UC employees struggle to put enough food on the table. On Thursday, the board acted on one contentious issue by approving a motion that extends their rules regarding sexual harrassment to regents not only in their capacity as regents, but also in their unrelated business and private lives. Reported by SFGate 15 hours ago.

5 big-picture tips to consider as you enter open enrollment season

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With the holidays on the horizon and winter nearly upon us, it is also the time when employees make their health insurance coverage selections for the coming year. For employers, this period can be one of the most critical times of the year, both from a business and an employee engagement perspective. Looking purely at hard costs, healthcare spending can be one of the largest single expenses for a business, next to payroll. Ensuring employees are educated on the best options for their needs and… Reported by bizjournals 8 hours ago.

New Co-op Manufacturing Employee Health Benefits Initiative Launched by CAMPS Health Trust

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Manufacturing employers in WA State now have a new way to purchase over 25 custom employee benefits plans. New enrollees can save 10-15% over current health insurance premiums.

Washington State (PRWEB) November 18, 2016

CAMPS Health Trust is pleased to announce a new way to purchase employee benefits for the manufacturing community. The Center for Advanced Manufacturing Puget Sound - CAMPS and Capital Benefit Services of Bellevue, WA have teamed up to provide Washington manufacturing employers with employee benefits by leveraging the buying power of the manufacturing community .

The CAMPS Health Trust is an association health plan focusing exclusively on serving the manufacturers in Washington State. This local service also allows manufacturing employers to leverage dedicated customer service for you and your employees.

The CAMPS Health Trust will be sponsored by the Northwest’s premier insurance carriers:

● Regence BlueShield
● Group Health
● Asuris Northwest Health
● Delta Dental of Washington
● LifeMap
● First Choice Health

Association health plans offer companies of all sizes the unique opportunity to save on their health insurance premiums by leveraging the size of all members collectively for the best possible health insurance rates.
Sign up now at ​http://www.campshealthtrust.com or contact us to speak with a manufacturing insurance expert at Capital Benefits Services.

About

Capital Benefit Services has 30 years of managing some of the largest association health plans in the Pacific Northwest. In addition EPK Benefits is the dedicated third party administrator providing excellence in customer service to all participating members.

Contact

Will Compton

wcompton(at)capitalbenefitservices.com

Tel: 425-641-8093

15375 SE 30th Place - Suite 380
Bellevue, WA 98007 Reported by PRWeb 3 hours ago.

Entrepreneurs: Don't take away our Obamacare

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These entrepreneurs depend on Obamacare for health insurance. They fear President-elect Trump will repeal it and leave them without coverage. Reported by CNNMoney 1 hour ago.

While this employer awaits 'Trumpcare;' intense debate comes first

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Piggly Wiggly store owner Jeff Tate fully supports President-elect Donald Trump’s plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act. “I would like to see a repeal and have the mandates and penalties go away,” says Tate. Tate, who owns a grocery in Watertown, is an example of a smaller employer who has spent what he considers a burdensome amount of time and money figuring out how to comply with Obamacare regulations and then making adjustments in his employee health insurance plan. He has 22 full-time… Reported by bizjournals 1 hour ago.

Priority Health introduces new plan that will offer significant savings for Southwest Michigan residents

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Priority Health introduces new plan that will offer significant savings for Southwest Michigan residents GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Priority Health is unveiling a new narrow network health insurance option for Southwest Michigan giving individuals an option to reduce their health care costs while receiving high quality care within the Bronson Healthcare system. The Priority Health plan called Bronson Healthcare Partners will be offered to individuals in Kalamazoo County and areas of Calhoun and Van Buren counties. The advantage of this new plan is that it provides consumers access to hi Reported by Business Wire 20 minutes ago.

Over 350 Campuses Join in the Healthy Campus Challenge

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November 1 marked the beginning of open enrollment, when people can obtain health care coverage for 2017 through the Health Insurance Marketplaces established by the Affordable Care Act. The Marketplaces allow individuals to shop for and compare plans to find one that’s right for them, and most HealthCare.gov consumers can find a plan for $75 or less per month, less than the cost of a cell phone bill. Already, we have seen strong interest: Over a million people selected plans through HealthCare.gov in the first 12 days of open enrollment. 

But HealthCare.gov is not the only place we have seen a great deal of interest. Recently, we launched the White House Healthy Campus Challenge, an effort to engage college and university campuses, and in particular community college campuses, across the country in enrollment efforts to help get more students and young people enrolled. Promoting higher education and making it more affordable, from community colleges to four-year institutions, has been a central focus of the Obama Administration and our economic agenda.  Having good, affordable coverage while getting an education can help provide Americans peace of mind and make sure that education doesn’t get unnecessarily sidetracked by a health problem. 

Campuses submitted an application to participate in the Challenge, and committed to fulfilling a specific set of open enrollment outreach actions.  These include hosting in-person enrollment activities on campus, sending e-mails around deadlines to students, staff, faculty, alumni, and community neighbors reminding them of the opportunity to enroll, and using public social media platforms to highlight the open enrollment period. 

*The response was remarkable: Over 350 campuses had representatives submit applications to participate. *

These campuses are in 49 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. They are in big cities and small towns. They are four-year institutions and community colleges, schools with tens of thousands of students and schools with just a few hundred students. And they have all committed to making their campus, and their community, healthier by getting individuals enrolled in coverage before open enrollment ends on January 31, 2017. 

In the coming weeks, the below campuses have agreed to take the lead in their communities, and we couldn’t be more excited to work with them in their efforts. I hope every American will join us in leading within their own community, encouraging friends and neighbors to join the 20 million people who have gained access to quality and affordable care in the last 6 years. 

Drawing from the example of the below campuses, spread the word on social media using #GetCovered, e-mail your friends and family, or host an event in your community. Remember, the deadline for coverage starting January 1, 2017 is December 15, so now is the time to let people know about the affordable options available to them on the Marketplaces. Together, we can help millions more realize the promise and peace of mind that comes with having quality, affordable health insurance. 

* Healthy Campus Challenge Participants*

A-B Tech Community College
Academy College
Adelphi University
Alabama A&M University
Alamo Colleges
Alaska  Career College
Albright College
Alcorn State University
Allan Hancock College
Allen County Community College
Alverno College
American Baptist College
Argosy University
Arizona Summit Law School
Arkansas Baptist College
Arkansas State University Mid-South
Arkansas Tech University
Art Institute of Atlanta
Ashland University
Athens State University
Atlanta Institute of Music and Media
Augsburg College
Bacone College
Bakersfield College
Bastyr University
Baton Rouge Community College
Bay Area Medical Academy
Bay State College
Belmont University
Bennett College
Bethune-Cookman University
Blackhawk Technical College
Blessing-Rieman College of Nursing and Health Sciences
Bloomsburg University 
Bluefield State College 
Bluegrass Community and Technical College
Bowie State University
Brightwood College, North Hollywood
Bristol Community College
Brookhaven College
Broward College
Bunker Hill Community College
Butte-Glenn Community College 
Cabrillo College
Cabrini University
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
California State University Channe Islands
California State University Fullerton
California State University, Los Angeles 
California State University, Northridge
Camden County College
Cankdeska Cikana Community College
Cape Cod Community College
Capital University
Capitol School of Hairstyling and Esthetics
Capitol Technology University
Carl Albert State College
Carroll Community College
Cecil College
Central Arizona College 
Central Penn College
Cerritos College
Charlotte School of Law
Chatham University
City College of San Francisco
City Univeristy of New York School of Law
Clarion University
Clark Atlanta University
Clark State Community College
Clinton College
Coahoma Community College
Colby-Sawyer College
Coleman University
College of St. Scholastica
College of the Siskiyous
CollegeAmerica
Columbia Basin College
Columbia Gorge Community College
Columbia University Teachers College 
Columbus State Community College
Community College of Beaver County
Community College of Denver
Community College of Philadelphia
Concord University
Concordia University
Converse College
Corinth Academy of Cosmetology
Cosumnes River College
Cottey College
Cowley County Community College
Creighton University
Cuesta College
Cuyamaca College
Dabney S. Lancaster Community College
Dallas County Community College
Davidson County Community College
Delgado Community College
Delta College
DePaul University
Durham Technical Community College
Edgewood College
Edison State Community College
Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine
El Camino Compton College
El Centro College
Everest College
Evergreen Valley College
Five Towns College
Florida International University 
Florida Memorial University
Florida National University
Fond Du Lac Tribal & Community College
Fort Peck Community College
Fortis College
Fullerton College
Gallaudet University
George Mason University
Georgetown University
Georgia Piedmont Technical College
Germanna Community College
Glendale Community College
Goucher College
Governors State University
Grayson College
Grossmont Community College
Guilford College
Guttman Community College
Hacienda La Puente Unified School District-Adult Education
Harcum College
Harold Washington College
Harris- Stowe State University
Hawaii Community College
Hennepin Technical College
Howard University
Humboldt State University
Huston-Tillotson University
Indiana University, Bloomington
Indiana University, South Bend 
InfoTech Career College
Irvine Valley College
Ivy Tech Community College, Southwest and Wabash Valley Regions
J.F. Drake State Community and Technical College
Jarvis Christian College
Jefferson College
Jefferson State Community College
JFK Muhlenberg School of Nursing
Kean University
Kettering College
Keweenaw Bay Ojibwa Community College
Keystone College
Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa Community College
LaGuardia Community College
Lake Area Technical Institute
Lake Erie College
Lane College
Lane Community College
Laramie County Community College
Las Positas College
Lawrence Technological University
Lawson State Community College
Lenoir Rhyne University
Lincoln University
Lincoln University of Missouri
Little Big Horn College
Livingstone College
Lone Star College
Long Beach City College
Los Angeles Mission College
Los Angeles Pierce College
Los Angeles Southwest College
Los Angeles Trade Technical College
Los Medanos College
Louisiana Delta Community College, Jonesboro
Louisiana State University, Shreveport
Louisiana Technical College, Mansfield
Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary
Lourdes University
MacCormac College
Madonna University
Malcolm X College
Manor College
Mansfield University of Pennsylvania
Marygrove College
Maryville College
Mercy College
MGH Institute of Health Professions
Miami Dade College
Michigan State University
Middlesex Community College
Millersville University
Mills College
Milwaukee Area Technical College
Minot State University
Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, Perkinston
Missouri State University
Mohawk Valley Community College
Monroe Community College
Montana State University Billings
Moorpark College
Morthland College
Mount Wachusett Community College
Mountain View College
Murray State University
Napa Valley College
Nash Community College
National American University
Naugatuck Valley Community College
New Jersey City University
New Jersey Institute of Technology
New York Film Academy
New York Law School
NHTI, Concord's Community College
Nicholls State University
North Iowa Area Community College
North Lake College
Northampton Community College
Northeastern Junior College
Northeastern State University
Northern Virginia Community College
Northpoint Bible College
Northwest Louisiana Technical College
Northwestern State University
Norwalk Community College
Notre Dame De Namur University
Ohio Dominican University
Ohio Northern University
Olympic College
Orange Coast College
Oxnard College
Pacific Lutheran University
Palomar College
Pasadena City College
Paul Mitchell The School Esani
Penn State Abington
Pennsylvania College of Technology
Pennsylvania Highlands Community College
Pensacola State College 
Perimeter College, Decatur
Perry Technical Institute
Pierpont Community & Technical College
Prairie View A&M University
Prince George's Community College
Princeton University
Quinebaug Valley Community College
Ranger College
RCBH College of Health Careers 
Rhode Island College
Richland College
Rider University
River Parishes Community COllege
Riverside College of Health Careers
Rogue Community College
Rose State College
Rust College
Rutgers University 
Sacramento City College
Saddleback College
Salish Kootenai College
San Diego City College
San Diego Mesa College
San Joaquin Delta College
Santa Fe Community College
Santa Monica College
Santa Rosa Junior College
School for International Training
Shaw University 
Sitting Bull College
South Louisiana Community College 
South Puget Sound Community College
Southern California University of Health Sciences
Southern Maine Community College
Southern Methodist University (SMU)
Southwestern College
Spartan College of Aeronatuics and Technology
Spencerian College
St. Catherine University
St. Charles Community College
St. Cloud State University
St. Norbert College
Stanbridge College
Stony Brook University
Sullivan University
Summit Salon Academy
SUNY Empire State College
Susquehanna University
Tarleton State University
Tennessee College of Applied Technology, Harriman
Tennessee College of Applied Technology, Whiteville
Texas A&M University, Commerce
Texas A&M University, San Antonio
Texas College
Texas Health and Science University
Texas Southern University
The Art Institute of San Antonio
The College of Health Care Professions
The College of New Jersey
The Commonwealth Medical College
The University of Arizona
The University of New Orleans
The University of Southern Maine
The University of Southern Mississippi
Transylvania University
Trevecca Nazarene University
Trocaire College
Tusculum College
Umpqua Community College
Union County College
Union Theological Seminary
United Tribes Technical College
Universidad Central del Caribe
University at Buffalo
University of Baltimore
University of Central Missouri
University of Central Oklahoma
University of Cincinnati
University of Delaware
University of Hawaii, Hilo
University of Houston
University of Idaho
University of Illinois at Chicago
University of La Verne
University of Louisiana at Lafayette
University of Maine
University of Maryland Baltimore County
University of Memphis
University of Michigan
University of Nebraska
University of New Mexico
University of Northern Iowa
University of Rio Grande
University of San Francisco
University of South Carolina, Sumter
University of South Florida
University of St. Thomas
University of the Southwest
University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
University of Wisconsin, River Falls
Upper Iowa University
Valdosta State University
Valley College of Medical Careers
Vaughn College
Virginia College, Jackson
Virginia Commonwealth University
Wade College
Wake Tech Community College
Walla Walla University
Washington Adventist University
Washington State University Spokane
Weber State University
Wellesley College
Wenatchee Valley College
Westchester Community College
Western Michigan University
Western Oregon University 
Western Washington University 
Westminster College (PA)
Westminster College (UT)
Wilberforce University
Wilbur Wright College
William Rainey Harper College
Woodland Community College
Xavier University of Louisiana
Yuba College Reported by The White House 23 hours ago.

Donald Trump's Top Advisor Has A Potential $2.7 Billion Obamacare Conflict Of Interest

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There’s nothing odd about the founders of a health insurance company writing policy proposals after an election where the winner campaigned relentlessly on ending Obamacare.

And Wednesday morning, Mario Schlosser and Josh Kushner, the founders of Oscar, a healthcare startup that sells insurance on the state exchanges Obamacare created, did just that. They say they want more competition in the insurance industry, and they think allowing individuals to buy healthcare plans with pre-tax dollars would make that happen. Oscar’s founders also expressed openness to ideas Republicans have floated in the past.

What’s interesting in this case is that Kushner is the brother of Jared Kushner, who is married to Ivanka Trump, the eldest daughter of President-elect Donald Trump. Jared Kushner is also serving on the executive committee of the presidential transition, and could potentially take a senior job in the White House. Venture capitalist and Facebook board member Peter Thiel, who also sits on the executive committee of the presidential transition, is also an investor in Oscar.

A spokeswoman for Josh Kushner and Oscar declined to comment beyond his blog post. Spokespeople for Thiel and the Trump transition did not return requests for comment.

Anti-nepotism laws bar Kushner from taking a paid job in the White House, though he is exploring getting around that rule by taking an unpaid role advising his father-in-law, The New York Times reports.  

On the campaign trail, Trump railed against Obamacare and promised to replace it with something better ― though he never said what his alternative was exactly. He told The Wall Street Journal last week that he may try the virtually impossible task of keeping popular parts of the law, like allowing children to stay on their parents’ plans into their 20s and barring insurance companies from denying coverage due to pre-existing conditions, while still reducing costs. But in all likelihood, any changes a Trump administration and a Republican-controlled Congress make would be far more favorable to insurance companies.

That would create the potential for a conflict of interest ― or in the very least, the appearance of one ―  if Oscar were a run-of-the-mill health insurance company. But the potential is amplified due to the fact that Oscar was started for the express purpose of making money on the state exchanges for individual insurance.

Oscar sells insurance through its website and app directly to individuals who aren’t covered by employer insurance or a government program. Individuals who aren’t covered are required to buy insurance or pay a penalty under what is called the individual mandate. The federal government partially subsidizes the plans that Oscar sells. Precisely how big that subsidy depends on the type of plan and how much money the person buying it makes.

Federal conflict of interest rules say executive branch employees can’t make decisions that affect their family’s finances. That means that even if Jared Kushner accepted a job in the White House, which he has not yet, his brother Josh’s business falls outside the scope of the conflict of interest laws for federal employees. However, “there might be some question of whether it is appropriate to weigh in on decisions that have an enormous impact on [his] brother’s assets,”  said Richard Painter, a University of Minnesota law professor who was the chief ethics lawyer under President George W. Bush. 


[Oscar] lost $45 million in just the past three months, and a total of more than $230 million in the past 21 months.

Painter, who endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, said he would put Oscar “fairly low down the alleged conflicts of interest in the incoming Trump administration.” But the conflict is emblematic, he said, of “how the private sector responded to Obamacare.” If Obamacare is repealed, a Trump administration is “going to be hurting a lot of people who invested in the system the way it is now... People they know and people they don’t know who depend on government being predictable.”

Oscar “may be a conflict that helps to temper their decision-making,” Painter said.

Whether the Trump administration’s decisions could put Oscar on a stable financial path is unclear. The company lost $45 million in just the past three months, and a total of more than $230 million in the past 21 months.

Like other insurance companies, Oscar’s founders thought that the new individual marketplaces that Obamacare created would be a large and profitable. While some insurers have profitably sold insurance on the exchanges, Oscar has been unable to. Oscar has spent heavily on cute ads ― it’s hard not to see them if you ride the New York City subway ― but most people opt for established brands like Blue Cross and Blue Shield or Cigna.

Oscar is also different from the massive insurance companies in that it doesn’t have a diversified revenue stream like corporate plans or government healthcare programs. That means that while companies like Aetna can choose to either absorb losses in the individual plan market or simply pull out and focus its business elsewhere (Aetna choose the latter in August). Oscar has to date raised a reported $400 million in venture capital because Oscar is losing money on Obamacare, and Obamacare is Oscar’s entire business.

Indeed, the core bet of Oscar ― that a startup with a slick app could outsmart the entire insurance industry ― is belied by who has managed to be successful selling plans on the exchanges: companies with a track record of selling plans to individual buyers. That’s experience you don’t get coding apps.

But only Oscar has an intimate connection to a top adviser to President-elect Trump.

-- 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.

Q&A: Straight Talk From Maine on Why Trump Won

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AP Photo/Michael C. York

State Senator-elect at the Maine Democratic Convention in Bangor, Maine. 

On Election Day, Maine voters approved five ballot questions that legalized recreational marijuana, authorized a multi-million transportation bond bill, slapped a flat tax on earners making more than $200,000, changed election rules allow voters to rank state and federal candidates, and raised the minimum wage. A gun background checks question failed—no surprise in a state with little gun violence and a strong hunting culture.

For Maine Democrats, these five referendum victories were the only real bright spots in an election that left them stunned by defeat. It wasn’t supposed to be this way. In 2008 and 2012, Maine went solid blue for Barack Obama. This year, except for a few towns along the Canadian border, Donald Trump captured rural northern and inland Maine, while Hillary Clinton prevailed in the state’s urbanized southern, coastal regions. Under Maine’s apportionment rules for its four electoral votes, Trump got one electoral vote and Clinton, three.

Trump spent quite a bit of time campaigning in Maine. His anti-trade, anti-elites message pumped up people in the poorest and whitest state in the Northeast. He got a warm welcome from his political kindred spirit, GOP Governor Paul LePage, whose own tenure in office foreshadows what Americans can expect from Trump’s domestic agenda.

Not everyone in Maine was shell-shocked by Trump’s triumph. State Senator-elect Troy Jackson, a straight-talking Democrat from the town of Allagash, deep in the northern Maine woods near the Canadian border, understood the roots of Trump’s appeal, especially among rural, working-class whites. Jackson, who backed Bernie Sanders in the primary, told The American Prospect earlier this year that Trump channeled Americans’ frustration and anger with the economic status quo into his working-class champion persona—a feat that Hillary Clinton could not pull off. “People say, well I don’t want to be with [Trump] but he’s fighting,” Jackson said during a May interview. “They want somebody to fight for them.”

A logger by trade, Jackson served in the Maine Legislature for more than a decade before losing a 2014 Democratic primary for Maine’s 2nd Congressional District seat. A workers rights advocate and a LePage critic, Jackson barely made it back into the state legislature this year, winning his Senate seat by only three percentage points over his Republican rival. The Democrats maintained control of the Maine House of Representatives, but the Republicans remained on top in the Senate, thwarting the Democrats’ chances of reclaiming the legislature and minimizing more assaults on public services by the erratic LePage.

This week, Jackson was elected Senate Minority Leader in the state legislature, and the Prospect circled back to the outspoken Maine Democrat to ask him how a LePage clone like Donald Trump ended up as President of the United States. This interview has been condensed and edited.

*Gabrielle Gurley: How do progressive Democrats respond to the era of Donald Trump?*

*Troy Jackson:* I hate being in the minority. But I understand that it’s even more important when you are because you’re last the resort. It’s certainly no time to put your head down and hope that nothing bad happens.

Donald Trump understood that so many people feel like they are losing what they have in life because of bad trade deals and things like that. I flat-out don’t believe that he will do anything to help in that regard. But he made it a huge issue. He was very adamant that he was going to change those trade deals. Hillary Clinton was back and forth. No one knew if TPP was the gold standard trade deal or if it wasn’t the gold standard. That type of wishy-washy behavior is what many everyday citizens can’t stand.

*Were you shocked by the outcome as many Democrats are?*

No, I wasn’t. I definitely saw it in my area, and saw it in other parts of the state. Trump either bamboozled people into thinking that he was definitely the one for them. Or, even knowing going in that he had never done anything to help a working-class person, people were just so mad and fed up with the whole thing, that they just said “screw it. I am voting cause because I am pissed off and can make a protest vote.”

I thought that nationally there was a chance for Secretary Clinton. But having dealt with people in Washington state on a lot of issues and talked with people in Michigan and Ohio about trade deals, it didn’t shock me at all that they felt the same way Maine did. People were having a real, real hard time supporting Clinton. When you get to the point that you can’t just muster a lot of things to get excited about, a person like Trump can sneak in there.

*How do you respond to people who argue that Trump voters must be racist?*

First off, regardless of this election, there is still racism. That’s not saying anything that people don’t know. I was shocked by the racism I saw with the first Obama election: I didn’t really think it was that prevalent. But I absolutely don’t believe that everyone who voted for Trump was a racist. I definitely think there were some. But it comes down to the track record. Secretary Clinton has done some unbelievable things for this country. But her track record—that type of Wall Street bullshit that she was just so wrapped up in that people were just like “I can’t do it.”

Trump voters just completely threw caution to the wind. While I supported her, I understand the completely the feeling that they have on issues: prescription drugs—you can buy them in Canada for so much less money for the very same drugs, but you couldn’t get them here; health insurance continues to be out of reach for people; then there’s student debt. Voters think I know what it is with her and even though everything tells me that this guy isn’t going to help me either, I’ve got to try something different. Honest to God, I understand that damn well. That’s why I was with Bernie Sanders.

*Was there one particular moment that you realized that Hillary Clinton was in serious trouble?*

For me, it was the WikiLeaks stuff, the DNC stuff. I really, really thought it was going to kill her. I knew damn well that they would just keep dropping it every so often leading up to the election and keep that wound wide open. Many of my Bernie cohorts just continued to say, “Why in the hell am I voting for her?” Obviously, the FBI bullshit was probably a big factor, too. But there was never any way for Bernie people to completely get over what happened with the DNC because they kept it right there front and center all the time. That was huge.

I read that 90,000 people in Michigan left the presidential race open and voted for every Democrat down the ticket. It’s possible the same thing happened here in Maine with a bunch of Jill Steins thrown in and maybe Gary Johnsons or maybe just blank, that wouldn’t shock me at all. I knew that they weren’t going to vote for Trump, but they weren’t voting for her either.

*How did Trump appeal to rural voters—he went to Maine five times—in a way that the Democrats have failed to do generally speaking?*

He came to Maine, he came to Bangor and then to Portland multiple times. That’s part of the problem, too, with the Democratic Party: Why do you go somewhere in Maine just because it’s easy to land an airplane? I’m five hours north of Bangor, so coming to Bangor that don’t mean shit to me. Trump did the same thing.

What he did do was talk about trade. Trade is how I got elected 14 years ago. It’s a constant thing here. Right now, I have person after person that’s getting laid off in the logging industry, while they’re watching Canadians come in and cut the wood and haul it back to Canada on their trucks. You can’t do anything about it because no one in the damn federal government’s got the balls to fix the issue. Trump is talking to people right at the moment that are seeing their paper mills get shut down or paper machines being shut down, and truckers being laid off.

Here in Maine, I passed a “Buy America” bill three years ago. The governor vetoed it and the Democratic Party never jumped on board. How can you make America great again if you won’t even buy American-made products? They are completely missing the boat on stuff like that.

I knew exactly what Trump was doing: He was inciting that fear and anger in people who had either lost their jobs, or were in danger of losing their jobs, or watched their neighbors lose theirs. He certainly didn’t walk the walk on it, but he did talk the talk.

*Trump has stirred up far right-wing hate speech and crimes across the country. What has that meant in Maine?*

What the far-right has done so well is that they have convinced people that when they are struggling don’t ever look up at where the problem actually is, keep your eyes down on those less fortunate. It’s not the guy who gets $40 million in some type of government program that didn’t do shit to produce any jobs. It is not the people on Wall Street that completely screw up the economy that we had to bail out. It’s those bums down there who are getting $500, $600 dollars a month on TANF. Get rid of them and your life is going to be better.

I’ve knocked on doors in Lewiston and talked to people going on foolish crazy about the Somalis. They are foreign to me also. But when I was in Lewiston, they were the people I saw working like crazy. No doubt about it, the anger and hatred is being misplaced. We have a big Roman Catholic, French Catholic population. You grow up being told to help your neighbor. And then you run into this type of mentality. It wasn’t that many years ago that the French were the persecuted ones here in Maine. Now it’s really sad to see some of these French people, not even the majority of them, have forgotten where they used to be.

There’s also issues with reproductive rights. Being Catholic, I’ve had a hard time, not with contraception, but with abortion. I struggled with that. But I took a tour of a Planned Parenthood facility in Portland earlier this summer to get a better understanding. I don’t have a big ego, so I try to figure it out. I was just really shocked at all services they provide there that have nothing at all to do with abortion. I was always good on funding for Planned Parenthood. Women should have a right to have abortions. But there was so much more that I didn’t even understand. These attacks on reproductive rights are going to be catastrophic for a lot of people.

*Did Trump help down-ballot Maine Republicans?*

I definitely think so, not only on trade, but on gun background checks. [Former New York City mayor Michael] Bloomberg came to Maine to campaign for gun background checks. We all know that we are a cheap date in Maine: You can get on television here for next to nothing and get yourself a referendum for very little money. There are huge issues in this country with gun violence, but it hasn’t been like that to a great extent in Maine. That caused a lot of problems for me. I was opposed to Question 3 because I don’t like outside people coming to Maine and using their money to influence people. And I don’t think we have a problem in Maine with background checks that other places do. But if I hadn’t been opposed to that, I wouldn’t have won my election.

*How did you win?*

That area of the state is getting more conservative: They painted me as a Portland liberal and they said I wasn’t one of them in Aroostook County anymore. The only reason why I was able to stay above the fray is the fact is that I have been very outspoken. I understand very well that people like myself don’t have Wall Street lobbyists, they don’t have high-falutin’ lawyers that are all around state capitals everywhere and in D.C. Going up against the governor whenever I disagree with him, I believe that’s what people elect me for. That’s the only thing that pulled me across the line.

*You know Governor LePage well: What is the key to working with him over the next two years?*

I said consistently throughout my campaign that I’d like to put our petty differences behind us. He’s been there for six years and he’s never wanted to take advice from anyone, Republican or Democrat. But I am hoping there’s a change. It’s just too important; we have been spinning our wheels for way too long here in Maine.

*How will Maine respond to likely new federal cutbacks now that Donald Trump has a Republican Congress? There are many federal programs that Maine depends on from health care to heating assistance programs like the Low Income Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP).*

About LIHEAP, I haven’t even been sworn in yet, and I have a number of constituents just this week talking to me about the problems that they are having with getting heating assistance here in Maine. You are only talking one tank of oil with LIHEAP, that’s it. People go through a tank a month up here. So that’s a problem.

Up until now the federal government has said to the governor, well, you can’t do this or that. They have given in on some things, but they pushed back on a lot of things. I’m sure that Trump is going to put somebody in Health and Human Services that is going to be much more in line with what he and LePage probably believe. You wouldn’t believe how many Republican business owners here who have actually said that they were happy with Obamacare. That’s a problem. Who knows what’s going to happen now? In Maine, we are just along for the ride.

We lost our opportunity to pick up the majority in the Senate. While it hurts that doesn’t even matter to me now. The only thing that I know damn well is that Donald Trump played a game. I said that from the beginning the difference between Trump and LePage was I thought Trump was saying things he believed he had to say, as opposed to LePage. who actually believes them. I am concerned about so many things now that it is not even funny. Reported by The American Prospect 23 hours ago.

HUFFPOST HILL - Economically Anxious Foam Blob Likely Lost Manufacturing Job

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*Like what you read below? Sign up for HUFFPOST HILL and get a cheeky dose of political news every evening!* 

Donald Trump is assembling an administration that is, more or less, the Traveling Wilburys of  men who roll up their windows in black neighborhoods. Truly, not since New York City flirted with seceding from the Union in 1861 has a Big Apple businessman shown so much support for a white guy from Alabama with a name like Jefferson Beauregard Sessions. And Chris Van Hollen agreed to serve as DSCC chair, easing the concerns of Democratic leadership who had exhausted all other options save the lady who carries that Jesus mannequin around the Capitol grounds. This is HUFFPOST HILL for Friday, November 18th, 2016:

*LOL, NATIONAL HEALING *- For what it’s worth, the Mitt Romney-for-State choice will ultimately come off all the more better because of all of this. Julie Hirschfeld Davis: “Mr. Trump selected *Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama*, who has made cracking down on undocumented immigrants a signature issue, to be his attorney general, while installing *Michael T. Flynn*, a retired lieutenant general who believes Islamist militancy poses an existential threat, as his national security adviser. And as director of the C.I.A., Mr. Trump selected Representative *Mike Pompeo* of Kansas, who harshly criticized Hillary Clinton during the House investigation of the 2012 attack on the United States diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya. The flurry of decisions indicated that Mr. Trump was gaining some control over a transition operation that has been marked during its first week by chaos and infighting, and moving quickly to put his stamp on an administration-in-waiting that will break starkly with President Obama’s.” [NYT]

*Concern about Alabama’s Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III’s record on race: *“Civil rights groups are condemning President-elect Donald Trump’s selection of Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) as United States Attorney General. At issue are Sessions’ history of racist comments and hard-line anti-immigration stance. The Senate rejected then-President Ronald Reagan’s nomination of Sessions as a federal judge in 1986 after colleagues testified about racially offensive comments Sessions made as a U.S. Attorney in Alabama.” [HuffPost’s Daniel Marans]

*TRUMP SETTLES TRUMP UNIVERSITY CASE *- So now we know he has at least $25 million to spare ― that’s a start. Rosalind S. Helderman: “President-elect Donald Trump, who has repeatedly bragged he never settles lawsuits despite a long history of doing so, *has agreed to a $25 million settlement to end the fraud cases pending against his defunct real estate seminar program, Trump University, according to New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.* Schneiderman said in a Friday statement that the settlement includes a $1 million penalty paid to New York state for violating the state’s education laws by calling the program a ‘university’ despite offering no degrees or traditional education. Schneiderman said his office had sued Trump for ‘swindling thousands of innocent Americans out of millions of dollars’ and that the settlement had come despite resistance from Trump. ‘Today, that all changes. Today’s $25 million settlement agreement is a stunning reversal by Donald Trump and a major victory for the over 6,000 victims of his fraudulent university,’ he said.” [WaPo]

*From February*: @realDonaldTrump: Trump University has a 98% approval rating. I could have settled but won’t out of principle!

*And October 2014: *@realDonaldTrump: just had a great victory against lightweight A.G. Eric Schneiderman. Most of his case re Trump U. was thrown out or gutted. Little remains

*THE SCENE FROM TRUMP TOWER* - Via John Stanton’s pool report (these things are informal so excuse uneven capitalizations): “Naked cowboy came over and sang a song about trump [sic] that included lyrics about blue lives mattering and trump putting thugs in jail. Also about how bad Obamacare is. And how trump tower is the greatest place on earth. He then picked up a tourist, cradled her in his arms, and kissed her. There’s not acid strong enough for this to be a hallucination, I assure you. Perhaps coincidentally, while naked cowboy was doing his thing, a motorcade left through the garage. No official word on if it is trump, pence, or someone altogether different. Fox News is reporting it is trump.”

*Like HuffPost Hill? Then order Eliot’s new book*, The Beltway Bible: A Totally Serious A-Z Guide To Our No-Good, Corrupt, Incompetent, Terrible, Depressing, and Sometimes Hilarious Government

Does somebody keep forwarding you this newsletter? Get your own copy. It’s free! Sign up here. Send tips/stories/photos/events/fundraisers/job movement/juicy miscellanea to huffposthill@huffingtonpost.com. Follow us on Twitter - @HuffPostHill

*HERE’S YOUR LATEST TRUMP ADMINISTRATION CONFLICT OF INTEREST - *Ben Walsh: “There’s nothing odd about the founders of a health insurance company writing policy proposals after an election where the winner campaigned relentlessly on ending Obamacare. And Wednesday morning, Mario Schlosser and Josh Kushner, the founders of Oscar, a health care startup that sells insurance on the state exchange sObamacare created, did just that. They say they want more competition in the insurance industry, and they think allowing individuals to buy health care plans with pre-tax dollars would make that happen. Oscar’s founders also expressed openness to ideas Republicans have floated in the past. What’s interesting in this case is that Kushner is the brother of Jared Kushner, who is married to Ivanka Trump, the eldest daughter of President-elect Donald Trump.” [HuffPost]

@MalikObama: What does cuck mean?

*VAN HOLLEN GIVEN WASHINGTON’S CRAPPIEST JOB -* Well, after whoever is made Donald Trump’s body man and thus charged with keeping him off Twitter. Lindsey McPherson, Bridget Bowman and Niels Lesniewski: “*Senator-elect Chris Van Hollen of Maryland will chair the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee for the 2018 cycle, incoming Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer announced Friday*. “Chris Van Hollen was our first choice for DSCC chairman because of his talents, his work ethic, and his experience,” Schumer said in a statement.... ‘Tough’ is one word to describe what Senate Democrats face in 2018. The party will have 23 seats to defend, as well as two seats held by independents that caucus with them. By comparison, Republicans only have to defend eight seats. Ten of the states where Democrats will be up for re-election went to Donald Trump in the Nov. 8 presidential election.” [Roll Call]

 *BANNON SPEAKS! - *Michael Wolff: “’Darkness is good,’ says Bannon, who amid the suits surrounding him at Trump Tower, looks like a graduate student in his T-shirt, open button-down and tatty blue blazer — albeit a 62-year-old graduate student. ‘*Dick Cheney. Darth Vader. Satan. That’s power.* It only helps us when they’ — I believe by ‘they’ he means liberals and the media, already promoting calls for his ouster — ‘get it wrong. When they’re blind to who we are and what we’re doing.’ … He absolutely — mockingly — rejects the idea that this is a racial line. *‘I’m not a white nationalist, I’m a nationalist. I’m an economic nationalist,’* he tells me. ‘The globalists gutted the American working class and created a middle class in Asia. The issue now is about Americans looking to not get f—ed over. If we deliver’ — by ‘we’ he means the Trump White House — *‘we’ll get 60 percent of the white vote, and 40 percent of the black and Hispanic vote and we’ll govern for 50 years.* That’s what the Democrats missed. They were talking to these people with companies with a $9 billion market cap employing nine people. It’s not reality. They lost sight of what the world is about.’” [Hollywood Reporter]

*BANNON JOINED THE EGG-IEST FACEBOOK GROUP IMAGINABLE *- If Steve Bannon had his own Great Gazoo, it’d be Boss Godfrey. David Corn and AJ Vicens: “*Bannon joined a conservative Facebook group that has featured racist and extreme material.* This material includes posts urging a military coup against President Barack Obama, featuring an image of the president dressed as an SS officer, celebrating the Confederate flag, highlighting a photoshopped picture of Obama with watermelons, praising a police officer who called Obama a ‘F*cking Nigger,’ and calling for Obama to be ‘executed as a traitor.’ This Facebook group is for an outfit called Vigilant Patriots, which claims its goals are defending and upholding the Constitution and preserving ‘our history and culture.’ As of Friday morning, it listed nearly 3,600 members, including Stephen Bannon, who apparently joined the group seven years ago.” [Mother Jones]

*CORDRAY MULLING GUBERNATORIAL BID - *Does Rich Cordray want to CFPB the main man in Ohio? Henry J. Gomez: “[A]llies of the former Ohio attorney general are increasing their activity on his behalf with one goal in mind: Making him the Democratic frontrunner for governor in 2018. The latest sign came Friday with the launch of @RichCordrayOH on Twitter. ‘Hello Ohio!’ reads the social media account’s first message. Cordray himself must refrain from partisan politics because of his federal job running the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. *But one Democratic source confirmed that the new Twitter account is the work of his supporters.* And State Rep. David Leland of the Columbus area, told cleveland.com Friday that he ‘would be happy to help’ a Cordray campaign.… The future of Cordray’s consumer-finance watchdog agency and his role with it is unclear after last week’s election of Republican Donald Trump as president. “ [Cleveland.com]

*‘ONE MORE TIME, FOR OLD TIME’S SAKE,’ OBAMA TELLS ENVIRONMENT *- *mournful handshake* Chris D’Angelo: “*[T]he Department of the Interior announced on Friday its intent to ban oil drilling in the U.S. section of the Arctic Ocean for the next five years, citing environmental risks*. The plan blocks the sale of new offshore oil and gas leases in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas, north of Alaska, between 2017 and 2022. ‘The plan focuses lease sales in the best places ― those with the highest resource potential, lowest conflict, and established infrastructure ― and removes regions that are simply not right to lease,’ Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell said in a statement. ‘Given the unique and challenging Arctic environment and industry’s declining interest in the area, forgoing lease sales in the Arctic is the right path forward.’” [HuffPost]

*BECAUSE YOU’VE READ THIS FAR *- Here’s a dog excelling at the mannequin challenge.

*COMFORT FOOD*

- Cyclist wearing GoPro races his dog down a mountain.

- Gorgeous destinations you can’t (or are advised strongly against) visit because of politics.

- The best nicknames given to world leaders.

*TWITTERAMA*

@joshgreenman: Saul Alinsky references Satan: proof of devilish, un-American intent

Stephen Bannon references Satan: colorful use of language

@aterkel: SAD DEMS: Trump used to be more liberal. Maybe he will be now ―

[Jeff Sessions nominated]

SAD DEMS: Nooooo

@JesseLehrich: TRUMP ADMIN:

Mike Pence

Steve Bannon

Reince Priebus

Jeff Sessions

Mike Flynn

Mike Pompeo

Mike Huckabee

―> Mikes: 4

― >Women/Minorities: 0

@NickGreene: HELLO AND WELCOME TO CONGRESSPHONE
IF YOU KNOW THE NAME OF THE BIGOT WHOSE APPOINTMENT YOU WOULD LIKE TO CONDEMN, PRESS 1

Got something to add? Send tips/quotes/stories/photos/events/fundraisers/job movement/juicy miscellanea to Eliot Nelson (eliot@huffingtonpost.com) or Arthur Delaney (arthur@huffingtonpost.com).

-- 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 16 hours ago.

On The Razor's Edge

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On The Razor's Edge Submitted by Eric Peters via EricPetersAutos.com,

It is good that Hillary lost – obviously.

*But it may prove to be the worst thing that could have happened.*

Depending on what Trump does as president.

*If he governs as a Republican, it is time to pack bags. Because the clock is ticking. We will have – at best – four years before something far worse than Hillary returns, with a vengeance.*

Bernie Sanders, for instance. Or Michelle Obama.

Or – probably – something far worse than either.

*If Trump screws it up, the blowback will be epic.* An outright socialist will be the next president. Or perhaps something even more outright. Remember: *We got Obama (and Obamacare) both of which had been inconceivable before George W. Bush because of the disaster that was George W. Bush.* He did to the Republican brand what the diesel “cheating” debacle has done to VW.

Without him, Obama would have been impossible.

*In the same way, Bernie (or Michelle or much worse) will be made inevitable by a failed Trump presidency.*

Even those who supported Trump will be hardpressed to do so four years hence if he proves to be another Republican. Keep in mind the 90-plus percent approval enjoyed (briefly) by our “war president” and Great Decider. And what happened later. A war does distract the boobs for a time – makes it easier to pick their pockets and take away their freedoms in the name of protecting them. Wave the flag, talk about how “great” America is.

But they eventually notice that their pockets are empty and that they have become more like feudal serfs than citizens of a free republic.

*Hillary lost not because Trump was a great candidate. She lost because she was transparently the tool of the War and Wall Street interests that own the country. She could not enthuse her own side.* Trump won as the backlash candidate; a vote for him was a vote against the system – which Hillary embodied.

Not a vote for him.

Even Bill acknowledges this.

If Trump proves to be what Hillary certainly would have been – it’s over. And this time, it’ll be for good. There will not be another chance. The Free Shit Army will have its day. And a long night will descend.

*So, what must Trump do to prevent this?*

*He must not govern like a Republican.*

*Which means, no Mittens Romney-ish “repeal and replace” Obamacare. He must repeal it. Stomp it into the earth until it no longer twitches.*

Above all, the mandate has got to go. If the federal government has the power to force people to buy health insurance, then it has the right to force people to buy life and gun insurance, too (if they are even allowed to buy guns at all). And if our “health” is now a public concern, then nothing about our lives will ever be private again. What we eat, how much we weigh, whether we exercise, how we recreate … these and more will be matters of public policy.

Enforceable at gunpoint.

It is not an exaggeration at all to state that Obamacare is a greater threat to whatever liberty remains to us than the income tax. Because Obamacare encompasses everything and is inescapable.

*Trump must end it.*

*He could and should immediately fire the current EPA and NHTSA administrators* – and replace them with reasonable people who understand that cost is an object and that it is not the proper business of the federal government to decree “safety” to free people.

If people want air bags, let them buy them.

But no more forcing them to.

*Let the market – not federal bureaucrats – determine the balance between “safety” and fuel economy.*

*No more subsidizing crony capitalists like Elon Musk. *Let electric cars compete (and succeed or fail) on their merits.

No more regulations – and fines – based on conjecture. If a company (car or otherwise) does something that causes demonstrable harm to real people, be all means hold them accountable. They should make amends. But if they haven’t caused any harm to anyone except the Federal Register and the wounded egos of power-tripping EPA and NHTSA Ayatollahs… ?

*Say the words, Donald.*

*You’re fired! *

*Please.* Reported by Zero Hedge 14 hours ago.

BenefitScape Applauds IRS Notice Providing a 30-Day Extension for Furnishing Form 1095 and Extending Transition Relief for Employers for Good Faith ACA Compliance Efforts

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Notice 2016-70 (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-16-70.pdf) specifically extends the due date for furnishing to individuals the 2016 Form 1095-B, Health Coverage, and the 2016 Form 1095-C, Employer-Provided Health Insurance Offer and Coverage, from January 31, 2017, to March 2, 2017.

Natick, MA (PRWEB) November 18, 2016

Year-end 2016 has been shaping up to be a very busy time for employee benefit plan management; in particular conforming to the requirement to send the form 1095 to their employees by January 31, 2017. This deadline was especially challenging because it coincided with form 1099 and W2 processing schedules. Adding another tax form at year end could be the straw that broke the camel’s back. A 30-day extension, while short, moves the printing and distribution to a more opportune time.

BenefitScape has an extremely fast and efficient process to make even the narrowest of deadlines possible for our clients. Before the form 1095 reports can be distributed, there is quite a bit of data management, IRS code calculation, and health plan coverage information to be developed. The software is specifically designed to make the Reporting and Compliance effort error-free and complete while adhering to a strict deadline.

“BenefitScape will continue to hold to our original distribution schedule for those clients that wish to meet the original deadline,” notes Mike Downey, Executive Vice President of BenefitScape. “We will do this for several reasons; we wish to maintain the momentum established and avoid the questions that come from employees who may be filing their personal tax returns and wish to refer to these forms. In all cases if a client needs the extra time we are pleased to assist them.”

More importantly, this notice also extends good-faith transition relief from section 6721 and 6722 penalties to the 2016 information reporting requirements under sections 6055 and 6056. “ACA reporting is still a new concept for many employers and it will be the first year that many systems are producing all of the required reports and XML data to file with the IRS,” says Kim Phillips, Vice President of Customer Experience. “There are several new requirements this year and employers having more time for testing and quality control will be appreciated. The Good Faith Transition Relief worked well last year and the extension will be a welcome addition to employers with an already overloaded year-end benefit management schedule.”

For tax year 2015 reporting the IRS signaled that they recognized the complexity of the regulations and as long as employers acted in good faith and made legitimate efforts to fulfill the requirements they could potentially be absolved from certain penalty liability. Extending this relief to tax year 2016 will be used to most employers and practitioners. Read more here.

This relief applied only to furnishing and filing incorrect or incomplete information reported on a statement or return, and not to a failure to timely furnish or file a statement or return. In addition, the section 6721 and 6722 penalties may be waived if a failure to timely furnish or file a statement or return is due to reasonable cause. This requires the reporting entity to demonstrate that it acted in a responsible manner, and that the failure was due to significant mitigating factors or events beyond the reporting entity’s control.

While Notice 2016-70 is still relatively new, and contains many provisions that need to be studied, it should come as welcome relief to anyone who was concerned about the complexity and strict deadlines imposed on ACA reporting.

In addition, filers of forms 1094-B, 1095-B, 1094-C, and 1095-C may receive an automatic 30-day extension of time to file such forms with the Service by submitting Form 8809, Application for Extension of Time to File Information Returns, on or before the due date for filing those forms. Treas. Reg. § 1.6081-1; Temp. Treas. Reg. § 1.6081-8T. Under certain hardship conditions, filers who submit Form 8809 before the automatic 30-day extension period expires and explain in detail why the additional time is needed may also receive an additional 30-day extension of time to file Forms 1094-B, 1095-B, 1094- C, and 1095-C with the Service.

About BenefitScape:

BenefitScape is a full service Affordable Care Act (ACA) compliance company providing the best choice in services and software to assist clients by bringing knowledge, insight, and expertise to ACA reporting. BenefitScape has developed IRSAIR http://www.irsair.com to provide a solution for those HCM, HRMS and Payroll providers that have developed ACA-specific modules and have XML files to print or send to the IRS.

BenefitScape's mission is to create an experience for its clients so they can communicate to their employees, employees’ families and communities the commitment they have to providing affordable and adequate health care coverage; while at the same time providing the support and assistance required for compliance with all federal regulations, including the creation and distribution of form 1095 and the transmission of the reports required by the IRS.

BenefitScape does ACA Compliance only. This is our only focus. The team at BenefitScape has a long and excellent track record of working in employee benefits and we use our experience to ensure 100% ACA Compliance for our clients. Visit us at http://www.BenefitScape.com Reported by PRWeb 13 hours ago.

Ready for Medicare? Not Until You Read This

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Once you're on the government's health insurance plan, your health care costs will be subsidized, but you can still expect to pay a substantial amount on your own. Reported by Motley Fool 3 hours ago.

How Trump Could Devastate Obamacare By Barely Lifting A Finger

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WASHINGTON ― President-elect Donald Trump could blow a giant hole in Obamacare on his first day in office without even waiting for the Republican-led Congress to repeal the Affordable Care Act. The question is: Does he want to?

As president, Trump will have the authority to immediately cut off a form of financial assistance provided to the lowest-income enrollees in health plans sold on the Obamacare health insurance exchanges. House Republicans sued President Barack Obama’s administration, alleging it is illegally providing these subsidies without congressional approval. A federal court agreed with the GOP earlier this year in a decision the Obama administration appealed.

At issue are what’s known as “cost-sharing reductions,” which are subsidies the federal government pays health insurance companies to shrink, sometimes dramatically, out-of-pocket costs like deductibles and copayments for health insurance exchange enrollees at the lowest end of the income scale. These are separate from the tax credits low- and middle-income households can receive to reduce their monthly premium costs.

Trump could simply accept the House Republican argument and order federal agencies to halt these cost-sharing payments to health insurers, or he could instruct the Justice Department to drop its appeal and accept the court ruling that the payments are illegal. And he could do that right away, leaving enrollees and health insurance companies with virtually no recourse.

This maneuver, which influential conservatives already are calling on Trump to make, would enable the new Republican president to strike a major blow against the Affordable Care Act, a law Republicans have pledged to undo since Obama signed it in 2010.

Republicans in Congress already are planning on a vote to gut the law, perhaps as soon as January, but executive action by Trump would achieve a partial victory against Obamacare instantaneously.

“The law will enable a President Trump either to cut the cost-sharing payments off or to continue them if he’d like to. He’s got the discretion to keep them in place or to terminate them,” said Nicholas Bagley, a professor at the University of Michigan Law School who has written extensively about the case, known as House vs. Burwell.

These subsidies are available to people earning between the federal poverty level and 250 percent of that amount, or a range of $11,880 to $29,700 a year for a single person.

During this year’s health insurance sign-up period, about 57 percent of enrollees, or approximately 7 million people, received this assistance. For the poorest beneficiaries ― those with incomes under $17,820 ― this means having no deductible instead of having to pay thousands upfront before benefits kick in.

Trump’s transition team didn’t respond to an email requesting comment. In an email to The Huffington Post, AshLee Strong, a spokeswoman for House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), said only, “We are in contact with the Trump transition team as we consider the House’s options.”

But dealing this damage to Obamacare would come at a cost, and perhaps one higher than Trump and congressional Republicans are willing to pay, even as they prepare to scrap the Affordable Care Act.


Chaos would ensue.
Larry Levitt, Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation
Eliminating these cost-sharing subsidies would wreak havoc on the health insurance market, costing companies an estimated $5 billion a year, and that may give Trump and House Republicans pause.

Under the Affordable Care Act, health insurance companies are required to reduce cost-sharing for eligible low-income people ― even if the federal government never makes the companies financially whole.

“Insurers are still required by law to lower deductibles and copays for low-income enrollees. But insurers would no longer get payments from the federal government to offset the higher costs,” said Larry Levitt, senior vice president of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. “It’s safe to say that chaos would ensue.”

But health insurance companies are legally allowed to stop providing coverage through the exchanges if the cost-sharing payments end, which would result in their customers losing their insurance plans.

“I think they run for the exits,” Levitt said.

The damage wouldn’t be limited to only those low-income enrollees. Health insurance companies would be faced with a choice of losing money in an already fragile market or abandoning it. That would extend the effects of cutting off those payments beyond the beneficiaries of these subsidies to other Obamacare enrollees, whose insurance plans would suddenly cease to exist.* *

Consumers whose insurers exit the market would then need to scramble to find new coverage ― if they could. Depending on the scale of the disruption, there may not be insurers still willing to offer policies on the exchanges, because they all would be subject to the financial losses caused by the lost subsidy payments.

Whatever congressional Republicans and the Trump administration may devise as a health reform platform to succeed Obamacare ― if they ever actually do ― would rely on private health insurance companies. Disruption to today’s insurance market by eliminating the cost-sharing payments could cause financial harm to those companies and make them wary of participating in any future health care reform.

And that’s not to mention any public outcry that may occur if millions of consumers suddenly find themselves uninsured through no fault of their own.

Beyond taking executive action or ending the federal government’s appeal of the court’s ruling in favor of House Republicans, Trump has other options at his disposal, said Bagley, who agrees with the GOP that the Obama administration is breaking the law by making the payments to insurers.

To avoid the near-term consequences of ending the cost-sharing payments, Trump could ask House Republicans to drop the lawsuit while they write new health care legislation or even to appropriate the dollars needed, which would answer their legal complaint that Obama is spending unappropriated money.

Beyond whatever Trump may want to achieve on health care, however, there’s another very big reason why he may not want to go along with the House Republican effort to end the cost-sharing payments, Bagley said: protecting the authority of the executive branch.


The right remedy may instead be to delay the day of reckoning to enable the political process to work.
Nicholas Bagley, University of Michigan Law School
Trump also could still contest the lawsuit, even if he agrees the payments aren’t legal, by continuing Obama’s argument that Congress doesn’t have legal standing to sue over them.

“It’s not clear why the Trump administration would make a political priority of enabling the House of Representatives to bring lawsuits against the executive branch,” Bagley said.

“The executive branch institutionally is committed to a view that Congress exists to pass statutes; Congress’ role is not to litigate over the meaning of statutes, that that’s an impermissible role for Congress to be in. And across administrations, that view has been stable,” he said.

At a minimum, this approach would buy Trump and Congress time to develop their health care agenda and avoid the shock to the market that cutting off the cost-sharing payments would create, Bagley said. That’s true whether Trump decides against taking unilateral action or if he picks up Obama’s fight against the House Republicans’ lawsuit and loses the appeal.

“The right remedy may not be stopping them on day one. The right remedy may instead be to delay the day of reckoning to enable the political process to work,” Bagley said.

-- 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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