Month: September 2013

Kaiser Family Foundation study good news for ‘ObamaCare’

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The good news about the insurance exchange rates continues in advance of the marketplace insurance exchanges coming online on October 1. The rates have consistently been below the rates initially projected, and are even a better deal when the tax subsidy is factored in.  

Think Progress reports, Major New Study On Obamacare Premiums Should End The ‘Rate Shock’ Hysteria Once And For All:

The most comprehensive study
on Obamacare to date finds that Americans’ insurance premiums under the
health law will be “lower than expected.” Many Americans will pay even
less than the top-line rates after factoring in government subsidies for
their health coverage, with some paying nothing at all for crucial
medical coverage.

The Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) looked at individual policy prices
in the 17 states, plus the District of Columbia, that have released
comprehensive numbers for their Obamacare insurance marketplaces. Since
premiums under the law will vary based on factors such as age and
geographic location, KFF chose to examine how much the second-least
expensive “Silver” mid-level plan and the least-expensive bare-bones
“Bronze” level plan would cost for 25-year-old, 40-year-old, and
60-year-old Americans in those 17 states’ largest cities. The report
includes both the top-line prices for those demographics, as well as
what their costs would be after factoring in government subsidies based
on varying income levels.

Same-sex couples to receive veterans benefits

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

A ruling by a federal court judge in California last week has convinced the U.S. Department of Justice to no longer enforce the sections of U.S. Code Title 38 that prohibit same-sex couples from receiving veterans benefits. DOJ Won’t Enforce Law Banning Same-Sex Couples From Receiving Veterans Benefits:

EqualThe Department of Justice announced Wednesday
that it would no longer enforce the sections of U.S. Code Title 38 that
prohibit same-sex couples from receiving veterans benefits. The law
exists separately from the Defense of Marriage Act and was thus
continuing to block veterans from accessing benefits for their partners,
although a federal court overturned the law last week.

In a letter sent to House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and first obtained by the Washington Blade,
Attorney General Eric Holder explained that even though “Decisions by
the Executive not to enforce federal laws are appropriately rare,” the
DOMA ruling and subsequent decision last week provide ample
justification for no longer enforcing this restriction. This is
especially true, he pointed out, since the House Republicans are no
longer defending Title 38 through the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group
(BLAG):

In light of these developments, continued enforcement of
the Title 38 provisions pending further judicial review is unwarranted.
The decision of the Supreme Court in Windsor reinforces the
Executive’s conclusion that the Title 38 provisions are
unconstitutional, and another Article III court now has so determined.
Moreover, as I explained in my earlier letter, one of the primary
interests underlying the earlier decision to continue enforcement of the
Title 38 provisions was to allow representatives of Congress to present
a defense of those provisions to the judicial branch. BLAG’s decision
to withdraw from the Title 38 litigation in light of Windsor,
and therefore to cease its defense of the provisions at issue, means
that continued enforcement would no longer serve that interest. In
the meantime, continued enforcement would likely have a tangible
adverse effect on the families of veterans and, in some circumstances,
active-duty service members and reservists, with respect to survival,
health care, home loan, and other benefits.

How the model pension initiative (Prop. 201) is faring in California

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Yesterday I posted about Tucson and Cincinnati confront the same model pension initiative (Prop. 201): "[T]he ballot language was written by Maurice Thompson of the 1851 Center for Constitutional Law based on measures recently passed in San Diego and San Jose, Calif."

The Los Angeles Times reported in June 2012, 2 big cities OK cuts to worker pension costs:

Landslide victories on ballot measures to cut pension costs in two major
California cities emboldened reform advocates, who said they expect a
flurry of copycat initiatives. . .

In San Jose, nearly 70% of voters Tuesday approved a plan that gives
workers the choice between increasing their pension contribution to 13%
of their pay, currently 5% to 11%, or switching to a lower-cost plan
with reduced benefits. It also steeply cuts benefits for new hires and
tightens rules for disability retirements.

In San Diego, where pension cuts already have been implemented, voters
opted to eliminate pensions for new workers. By a 66% to 34% margin,
voters Tuesday endorsed Proposition B, which provides newly hired city
employees with a 401(k) program, but preserves traditional pensions for
new police officers.

* * *

Local pension measures have enjoyed resounding success at the ballot.
Before Tuesday's vote, 18 measures to alter a pension system had passed,
and only two had failed, both in San Francisco. On average, those
measures passed with 62.7% of the vote, according to the California
Foundation for Fiscal Responsibility, a pension-reform advocacy group.

Shameless self promotion

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by David Safier As of today's issue, I'll be writing a more-or-less-monthly column in the Tucson Weekly on education. Today's column: Tom Horne and John Huppenthal's war with TUSD continues, to the detriment of Tucson students. The basic premise: it's time for Huppenthal to simply let TUSD be TUSD and go about the important business … Read more

The Secretary of Explaining Stuff explains ‘ObamaCare’

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Former president Bill Clinton made the economic case for implementing and improving the Affordable Care Act on Wednesday morning at the Clinton Presidential
Library in Little Rock, Arkansas. Clinton’s Simple Case For Obamacare: ‘It’s Better Than The Current System’:

Clinton-obamacareThe White House asked the man who was dubbed “The Secretary of
Explaining Stuff” after last year’s Democratic convention to explain the
law, in an attempt to combat the massive campaign by Republicans to
misinform voters and sabotage President Obama’s signature legislative accomplishment.

“I have agreed to give this talk today because I am still amazed at
how much misunderstanding there is about the current system of health
care, how it works, how it compares with what other people in other
countries pay for health care and what kind of results they get and what
changes are actually occurring now and are going to occur in the
future,” he said.

Clinton was speaking in front of a small audience of doctors and
health care professionals, but his audience was clearly the media and
thousands watching the livestream of the speech online.

[C-Span video replay Pres. Clinton Defends Health Care Law.] h/t photo