Obama addresses successes, shortcomings for 2013

Correction: We hate to admit it, but in the heat of live-blogging President Barack Obama’s year-end news conference, we misquoted him as saying he "screwed the duck” with the Obamacare rollout. What he actually said was: “We screwed it up.” And in this case, so did we. We regret the error, and we thank our audience for the feedback.

[Updated at 3:16 p.m. ET] Obama hailed what he said was the first rollback in Iran's nuclear capabilities in a decade. Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons has long posed a challenge to U.S. national security, and the U.S. now has a structure under which Iran can "get right with the international community in a verifiable fashion" and prove that any peaceful nuclear program will not be weaponized and that it won't threaten the U.S. and its allies in the region, including Israel.

If Iran reverts to its old ways, Obama said he would put more pressure on Iran, but that isn't necessary right now. Existing sanctions remain in place, costing Iran billions of dollars each month in oil sales, along with banking sanctions, he said. There is no need to leave a club hanging over Iran's head, Obama said, because there's no doubt among Iranians that Congress will pass more sanctions if necessary.

[Updated at 3:10 p.m. ET] Asked about the implications of nominating Sen. Max Baucus as ambassador to China when Baucus offered the best hope of overturning the tax code, Obama called for "swift confirmation" of Baucus as ambassador and said that if Democrats and Republicans are "serious about tax reform, then it's not going to depend on one guy."

[Updated at 3:04 p.m. ET] Despite the negative publicity surrounding his health care initiative, 2 million people or more have signed up, Obama said, saying the program is "working."

"The demand is there, and as I've said before, the product is good," he said.

[Updated at 3:00 p.m. ET] Obama declined to comment specifically about Edward Snowden, saying he would let the courts and attorney general comment on his case, but he said that Snowden's leaks have "done unnecessary damage to U.S. intelligence capabilities and U.S. diplomacy."

He further said the United States is a country that "abides by the rule of law, that cares deeply about privacy, that cares about civil liberties, that cares about our Constitution," where countries with less concern for civil liberties have been able to sit on the sideline and cast aspersions as a result of the leaks.

However, he called the debate that was sparked by the Snowden incident an "important" one.

[Updated at 2:55 p.m. ET] Asked what his New Year's resolution would be, Obama responded, "To be nicer to the White House press corps," earning some laughter and light applause.

[Updated at 2:54 p.m. ET] Obama cites "comprehensive immigration reform" as an example where there's largely bipartisan support on an issue. He expressed hope that despite a "few disagreements," Congress could pass reform that would boost the economy and allow the country to attract more high-skilled workers.

[Updated at 2:50 p.m. ET] Asked to name his worst mistake of the year, Obama said, "since I'm in charge, obviously we screwed it up" on the health care roll-out. Despite meeting every three weeks with officials to ensure that consumers had a pleasant experience with the roll-out, "the fact is it didn't happen in the first month, in the first six weeks, in a way that was at all acceptable."

[Updated at 2:46 p.m. ET] While insisting that the NSA has committed no abuses in performing its surveillance duties, "there may be another way of skinning the cat" to alleviate Americans' concerns, Obama says.

[Updated at 2:42 p.m. ET] "This is only going to work if the American people have confidence and trust," Obama says of the NSA surveillance program, while conceding that American trust in the process has "diminished."

[Updated at 2:36 p.m. ET] Obama says there is a review of NSA surveillance under way to determine if current programs balance the need to keep the country secure while "taking seriously the rule of law and our concerns about privacy and civil liberties."

As for the controversial collection of metadata, Obama says there have been no alleged instances of the NSA acting inappropriately in the use of the data. The president says he has confidence that the NSA is "not engaging in domestic surveillance or snooping around."

[Updated at 2:31 p.m. ET] Asked if 2013 was the worst year of his presidency, Obama chuckled and said that despite Congress failing to act on his legislative initiatives, there have been many successes. Among those are an increase in wireless capacities in classrooms, a manufacturing hub in Youngstown, Ohio, that will "build on the renaissance we're seeing in manufacturing" and the fact that the U.S. is "producing more oil and natural gas in this country than we're importing."

[Updated at 2:26 p.m. ET] Obama says providing more opportunities for the middle-class and those hoping to join the middle class will be a top priority for 2014, and he'd like to see the country add more jobs, especially those with "wages and benefits that allow families to build a little bit of financial security."

"I think 2014 needs to be a year of action," he says

[Updated at 2:24 p.m. ET] As businesses are positioned to add new jobs amid more growth, Obama predicts 2014 will be "a breakthrough year for America," but much remains to be done, Obama says.

[Updated at 2:21 p.m. ET] So far in 2013, the United States added 2 million jobs as unemployment has fallen to the lowest point in five years, Obama says.

[Updated at 2:19 p.m. ET] Obama's year-end news conference has begun.

[Original story posted at 1:57 p.m. ET] President Barack Obama's year-end news conference is expected to begin at 2 p.m. ET.

[Updated at 2:31 p.m. ET] Asked if 2013 was the worst year of his presidency, Obama chuckled and said that despite Congress failing to act on his legislative initiatives, there have been many successes. Among those are an increase in wireless capacities in classrooms, a manufacturing hub in Youngstown, Ohio, that will "build on the renaissance we're seeing in manufacturing" and the fact that the U.S. is "producing more oil and natural gas in this country than we're importing."

Yesterday, we had a more official announcement from the administration: Anyone who has had their policies cancelled will be exempt from the individual mandate next year. The administration is also allowing those people to buy catastrophic plans, even if they’re over 30.

What to make of these two statements? On the one hand, the administration is trying to minimize the number of people who have been affected by cancellations, and on the other hand, it is unveiling a fix to the problem of cancellations. And these are not minor changes.

As Seth Chandler points out, Healthcare.gov doesn’t even let you see catastrophic plans if you’re more than 30 years old. Is now the time to be making technical changes to the website?

As Avik Roy points out, catastrophic plans aren’t that much cheaper than the so-called bronze plans. They’re also not eligible for subsidies. This is unlikely to be much help to folks who lost insurance; all it does is introduce some much-unneeded complexity to Healthcare.gov.

As Aaron Carroll points out, insurers calculated their premiums for this year on the expectation that the relatively healthy folks who were already buying insurance would be buying policies on the exchange. The insurers are not happy about this latest change, and Carroll predicts that they will ask the administration to push more money to them through the “risk corridors.” I think he’s right.

As Ezra Klein points out, this seriously undermines the political viability of the individual mandate: “But this puts the administration on some very difficult-to-defend ground. Normally, the individual mandate applies to anyone who can purchase qualifying insurance for less than 8 percent of their income. Either that threshold is right or it’s wrong. But it’s hard to argue that it’s right for the currently uninsured but wrong for people whose plans were canceled … Put more simply, Republicans will immediately begin calling for the uninsured to get this same exemption. What will the Obama administration say in response? Why are people whose plans were canceled more deserving of help than people who couldn’t afford a plan in the first place?”

Arnold Kling put it more pithily: “Obama Repeals Obamacare.”

I’d ask this: What do you do for an encore? Will the administration force these folks to buy insurance next year? Or will they keep allowing special exceptions rather than take the political heat for changing health insurance that people liked?

 Easy E wrote:
Can someone explain the hate for "Pajama Boy" cause I really don't get it.

“If it’s so much more expensive than what we anticipated and if the coverage is not as good as what we had, you’ve got a complete meltdown at that time,” the West Virginia Democrat said in an interview that aired Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “This transitional year gives you a chance to adjust the product for the market.”

As a key enrollment deadline hits Monday, many people without health insurance have been sizing up policies on the new government health care marketplace and making what seems like a logical choice: They're picking the cheapest one.

Increasingly, experts in health insurance are becoming concerned that many of these first-time buyers will be in for a shock when they get medical care next year and discover they're on the hook for most of the initial cost.

The prospect of sticker shock after Jan. 1, when those who sign up for policies now can begin getting coverage, is seen as a looming problem for a new national system that has been plagued by trouble since the new marketplaces went online in the states in October.
FILE - In this Dec. 3, 2013 file photo, actor Adrienne Matzen poses in Chicago's theater district. Matzen, 29, who has been mostly uninsured since she...
M. Spencer Green / AP
Actor Adrienne Matzen poses in Chicago's theater district. Matzen, 29, who has been mostly uninsured since she turned 21, is now looking for a low monthly premium insurance plan on the federal website. High deductibles for health plans may contribute to sticker shock when people start paying medical bills in 2014, if they have elected to pay for insurance under the Affordable Care Act.

For those without insurance — about 15 percent of the population — "the lesson is it's important to understand the total cost of ownership of a plan," said Matt Eyles, a vice president of Avalere Health, a market analysis firm. "You just don't want to look only at the premium."

Counselors who have been helping people choose policies say many are focused only on the upfront cost, not what the insurance companies agree to pay.

"I am so deeply clueless about all of this," acknowledged one new buyer, Adrienne Matzen, 29, an actor in Chicago who's mostly been without insurance since she turned 21. Though she needs regular care for asthma and a thyroid condition, she says she's looking for a low monthly premium because she makes less than $20,000 a year.

Hospitals are worried that those who rack up uncovered medical bills next year won't be able to pay them, perpetuating one of the problems the new health care system is supposed to solve.

The new federal and state health insurance exchanges offer policies ranked as bronze, silver, gold and platinum. The bronze options have the lowest monthly premiums but high deductibles — the amount the policyholder must pay before the insurer picks up any of the cost of medical care.

On average, a bronze plan's deductible is more than $4,300, according to an analysis of marketplace plans in 19 states by Avalere Health. A consumer who upgrades to a silver plan could reduce the deductible to about $2,500. A top-of-the-line platinum plan has the lowest average deductible: $167.

Comprehensive data on premiums isn't available, but in one example, a 30-year-old in Chicago would pay an average of $222 per month for a bronze plan, $279 for a silver or $338 for a platinum.

The complexities of insurance are eye-glazing even for those who have it. Only 14 percent of American adults with insurance understand deductibles, according to one recent study.

The danger of a wrong snap judgment is great for those under financial pressure — especially those with modest incomes who make too much to qualify for the government subsidies available under the new health care system. Subsidies aren't available for individuals making more than $45,960.

Most of the uninsured make less than that, but many still pick the cheapest plans.

"Price rules," said John Foley, a Legal Aid counselor in Palm Beach, Fla., who has been helping people enroll.

Some applicants see the catch.

"The real big surprise was how much out-of-pocket would be required for our family," said David Winebrenner, 46, a financial adviser in Lebanon, Ky., whose deductible topped $12,000 for a family of six for a silver plan he was considering. The monthly premium: $1,400.

While the health law makes many preventive services free — such as vaccines, blood pressure screening and mammograms — most medical care is paid out of pocket until the deductible level is reached. Some of the new plans offer limited coverage for certain services before a patient has met the annual deductible. These services can include primary care, some prescription drugs and routine care for common chronic conditions such as high blood pressure and diabetes.

It's unclear how many plans provide this feature, and it may not be easy for consumers to tell.

Lynn Quincy of Consumers Union, a public policy group, suggests that consumers narrow their options to five plans, then go to each insurer's website to read the benefits summary. It spells out who pays what for two common situations: having a baby and managing Type 2 diabetes.

To be sure, the new health law did away with the whopping deductibles in plans previously offered to people without employer-provided coverage. Out-of-pocket costs are now capped at $6,350 for individuals and $12,700 for a family.

But some people who have been paying their own medical bills, or leaving them unpaid at the hospital, seem surprised that health insurance doesn't cover more of the costs.

"They previously had no insurance coverage at all and so they might not be happy," said Cynthia Rahming, an enrollment counselor in Houston.

Fearing the sticker shock, Loyola University Health System in Chicago is offering payment plans to spread the out-of-pocket costs.

Some who had private insurance policies that were canceled may find that keeping the same deductibles may mean higher premiums.

In California, Diane Agnone complained in an online post on her state's health marketplace. "How is this affordable? I am a healthy 62-year-old single woman and these new premiums will cost me over $200 more per month than my existing plan."

The new insurance system requires policies to cover more services than some consumers had chosen to buy in the past.

"It's all a matter of having a budget and it only goes so far," said Agnone, an executive with a nonprofit charity based in Fairfield, which is about halfway between San Francisco and Sacramento. "There is no winning in this."

___

Associated Press writers Michael Blood in Los Angeles, Ramit Plushnick-Masti in Houston, Kelli Kennedy in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Roger Alford in Frankfort, Ky., contributed to this report.

© 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

 Seaward wrote:

Also, Democrat Joe Manchin's proposing a one year rollback on enforcement of the individual mandate.

“If it’s so much more expensive than what we anticipated and if the coverage is not as good as what we had, you’ve got a complete meltdown at that time,” the West Virginia Democrat said in an interview that aired Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “This transitional year gives you a chance to adjust the product for the market.”

Hey, worse coverage that's way more expensive than the older, better coverage was is the goal, dude. You can't get people to subsidize others if they're not throwing more and more money into the black hole. See: Social Security.

...
Only 35% of those questioned in the poll say they support the health care law, a 5-point drop in less than a month. Sixty-two percent say they oppose the law, up four points from November.
Nearly all of the newfound opposition is coming from women.

“Opposition to Obamacare rose six points among women, from 54% in November to 60% now, while opinion of the new law remained virtually unchanged among men,” CNN Polling Director Keating Holland said.
...
Here’s a better measure of what people think about the Affordable Care Act: 63% of respondents think that it’s going to make their health care cost more, compared to only 28% who think it will stay the same — and only 7% who think it’s going to make it more affordable. The last time CNN polled on that question was September 2009, when a majority thought it would make no difference or help it cost less (51%) as compared to 47% who thought it would make it more expensive. As the price tag becomes clear, so does the opposition based on its reality.

It’s the last day to sign up for health insurance on the federal exchange if you want coverage that starts Jan. 1, but government techies have built in a little wiggle room.

People have until midnight tonight to get started. But just to be safe, the administration has sneaked in an extra 24-hour buffer, the Washington Post first reported, giving people until midnight Tuesday night to get enrolled if they start the process by midnight Monday.

"Anticipating high demand and the fact that consumers may be enrolling from multiple time zones, we have taken steps to make sure that those who select a plan through tomorrow will get coverage for Jan 1," Julie Bataille, a spokesperson for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which runs the site, told NBC news.

It's something like lining up for election day, the administration says — if you are standing in line when the polls close, you get to come in and vote.

"Those who want 1/1 coverage should try to sign up today. With record demand, those who try for 1/1 will have a fail-safe to finish tmrrw," the administration tweeted from the HealthCare.gov Twitter account.

Some people may need the grace period . So far, Monday was a record day for signups, the administration said. "Thousands visiting and enrolling now. Queuing deployed to help keep site smooth for users," it said in a separate tweet. The electronic queue sends people a message asking them to wait and offering to email them when it's their turn.

Experience shows many Americans will wait until the last possible minute to buy health insurance. There’s nothing like a deadline to focus the mind. And in this case, experience also shows that people who waited may have fared better than people who tried to sign up early, although really last-minute users may have to line up.

President Obama said on Friday that a million people had signed up so far on the state and federal health insurance exchanges. He said more than 500,000 signed up on the federal website alone in the first three weeks of December.

More than a million people visited HealthCare.gov over the weekend, the Health and Human Services Department says, and 200,000 people called call centers, which have beefed-up staffing to handle the last-minute rush.

President Obama got signed up over the weekend, a White House official said, although he doesn’t need health insurance personally. As Commander-in-Chief, any president has a personal physician and he and his family get full care at the White House Medical Unit and the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. Because Obama was on vacation and because his information is more confidential than most citizens', a staffer signed him up in person on the Washington, D.C. exchange, the White House says.

Signing up for health insurance is a multi-step process. The White House and Health and Human Services Department are also scrambling to make sure that people take the last step and pay their first premium so the insurance actually begins.

It's not been easy for people using the federal website and some of the state sites. The Obama administration says the federal site is finally working well, but it’s not entirely clear if the so-called back end is working as it’s supposed to, transmitting the correct information to insurance companies.

Some people who started signing up early say they've suffered the most. Ricky Bridges, a 42-year-old government contractor in Monroe, La., started trying almost as soon as the federal exchange opened in October. "There were a bunch of glitches early on. They couldn’t verify my identity online," Bridges told NBC News. Bridges was still working out the kinks weeks later but finally got a high-deductible bronze plan for himself and his wife this month. He may upgrade to a silver plan next year.

Because of people like Bridges, the White House has laid some heavy pressure on insurers to provide coverage retroactively to Jan. 1 for people who have been trying but unable to get that final signup done. Different states have extended deadlines to different points, many as late as Jan. 10.

Last week, the White House added another exemption to the list of people who can get away without buying any health insurance next year without getting an extra tax: people who had been buying their own, private plans, whose plans are cancelled and who feel they cannot afford the premiums on one of the exchanges.

Some of the state websites say they are signing people up at a brisk pace as the deadline approaches. New York says 134,622 people got through the process as of a week ago, and it’s letting people pay their first premiums as late as Jan. 10. California’s website, Covered California, says 20,506 people enrolled on a single day last week, Dec. 18.

Government statistics show that more than 45 million Americans have no health insurance, and many lack basic preventive care as a result. Study after study shows people without a basic source of care wait until they are sick to seek help, and that’s when medical attention gets pricey. Taxpayers often end up footing the bill, or other patients do when hospitals raise their rates to cover the charity and emergency care they must provide.

The 2010 Affordable Care Act seeks to get more people covered, either on the exchanges or through expanded Medicaid, something about half the states are providing. It also forces insurers to provide more coverage than they may have been, including full mental health care, vaccinations, cancer screenings, maternity care and birth control.

In return, the insurance industry demanded the so-called individual mandate, the requirement that everyone get health insurance. This way, insurers can spread the costs and relieve some of their extra expenses by getting premiums from healthy people who don’t demand much care.

Monday, Dec. 23, isn’t the drop-dead date to get covered for 2014. People have until March 31 to sign up and get credit for having 2014 coverage. And anyone with health insurance already has no need to worry. About 85 percent of Americans are covered, either by an employer, Medicare, Medicaid or their own private insurance.

One person who won’t be signing up Monday is Luke Thomas, a 26-year-old literary agent in New York. Thomas took a tour of his state’s exchange but opted for employer-sponsored coverage instead.

“I decided the best option was to sign up for insurance via my fiancé's company, as her domestic partner,” Thomas said Monday. “It's a higher premium than the silver level ACA options I was looking at but the coverage is far superior.”

Thomas is one of the “Young Invincibles” coveted by insurance companies and says he’s been taking care —driving carefully, for instance — since he lost coverage on his parents’ plan when he turned 26 in November. His enrollment won’t count in the final tally of who got signed up by Jan. 1 on the state and federal exchanges, but he’s one more body the insurance companies, and the administration, are counting on.

 Dreadclaw69 wrote:
Good thing that we have a bill signed into law that can be amended unilaterally...

 whembly wrote:
CNN polls, smolls...
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/12/23/cnn-poll-heath-care-law-support-drops-to-all-time-low/

...
Only 35% of those questioned in the poll say they support the health care law, a 5-point drop in less than a month. Sixty-two percent say they oppose the law, up four points from November.
Nearly all of the newfound opposition is coming from women.

“Opposition to Obamacare rose six points among women, from 54% in November to 60% now, while opinion of the new law remained virtually unchanged among men,” CNN Polling Director Keating Holland said.
...
Here’s a better measure of what people think about the Affordable Care Act: 63% of respondents think that it’s going to make their health care cost more, compared to only 28% who think it will stay the same — and only 7% who think it’s going to make it more affordable. The last time CNN polled on that question was September 2009, when a majority thought it would make no difference or help it cost less (51%) as compared to 47% who thought it would make it more expensive. As the price tag becomes clear, so does the opposition based on its reality.

Brutal...

Relapse wrote:


You notice the more a turd this bill is revealed to be, the less it is being refered to as Obamacare by Obama's crew and the news agencies?

Washington (CNN) – Support for the country's new health care law has dropped to a record low, according to a new national poll.

And a CNN/ORC International survey released Monday also indicates that most Americans predict that the Affordable Care Act will actually result in higher prices for their own medical care.

CNN/ORC International survey full results

Only 35% of those questioned in the poll say they support the health care law, a 5-point drop in less than a month. Sixty-two percent say they oppose the law, up four points from November.

Nearly all of the newfound opposition is coming from women.

"Opposition to Obamacare rose six points among women, from 54% in November to 60% now, while opinion of the new law remained virtually unchanged among men," CNN Polling Director Keating Holland said. "That's bad news for an administration that is reaching out to moms across the country in an effort to make Obamacare a success."

According to the survey, 43% say they oppose the health care law because it is too liberal, with 15% saying they give the measure a thumbs down because it is not liberal enough. That means half the public either favors Obamacare, or opposes it because it's not liberal enough, down four points from last month.

Sixty-three percent say they believe the new law will increase the amount of money they personally pay for medical care, which may not be a good sign for a law known as the "Affordable Care Act."

The survey also indicates that 42% say they will be personally worse off under Obamacare, with 16% saying the law will help them, and four in 10 saying it will have no effect on them.

Just over six in 10 say they believe they will be able to receive care from the same doctors that they now use, with 35% saying they will not be able to see the same doctors.

The Affordable Care Act, which is the signature domestic achievement for President Barack Obama, was passed along party lines in 2010, when Democrats controlled both houses of Congress. Since that passage, Republicans have fought to either repeal, defund, or severely restrict the law. A push by congressional conservatives to defund the law was the catalyst for October's 16-day long partial federal government shutdown, the first in nearly two decades.

The roll out of the law was extremely flawed, from the rocky startup of HealthCare.gov in October to the controversy over millions of Americans being told they would lose their current insurance plans because they didn't meet standards mandated by the new health care law.

Despite all the problems, the President said things are starting to improve, adding that more than 500,000 Americans enrolled in the Affordable Care Act through HealthCare.gov during the first three weeks of December.

"So all told, millions of Americans, despite problems with the website, are now poised to be covered by quality affordable health care," he said at a news conference.

The poll was conducted for CNN by ORC International December 16-19, with 1,035 adults nationwide questioned by telephone. The survey's overall sampling error is plus or minus three percentage points.

 Spacemanvic wrote:
The ObahMuh bots seem to have grown quiet from extolling the virtues of this administrations power grab, wonder why?

 Dreadclaw69 wrote:

 Spacemanvic wrote:
The ObahMuh bots seem to have grown quiet from extolling the virtues of this administrations power grab, wonder why?

Maybe some have realised that you cannot in fact polish a turd.

 djones520 wrote:

 Dreadclaw69 wrote:

 Spacemanvic wrote:
The ObahMuh bots seem to have grown quiet from extolling the virtues of this administrations power grab, wonder why?

Maybe some have realised that you cannot in fact polish a turd.

President Obama -- not exactly leading by example -- was finally signed up for Obamacare in a symbolic move showing support for his own law. But, Fox News' Ed Henry reported Monday, the healthcare.gov system couldn't verify his identity, so his staff had to sign him up in person.

The reason, Henry said, is that Obama's personal information is not in particular government data bases.

"So healthcare.gov could not actually verify his identity, oddly enough," Henry said.

So Obama himself did not sign up for healthcare. Instead, an official told Politico that his staff went to the D.C. exchange in person to sign him up.

“Like some Americans, the complicated nature of the president’s case required an in-person sign-up,” the official said. “As you’d expect, the president’s personal information is not readily available in the variety of government databases HealthCare.gov uses to verify identities.”

"Granted, he waited until the very last second to do it despite pleading with people for months not to wait," a post at the conservative blog Hot Air said. "And sure, okay, his special status allowed him to bypass the website and delegate to his subordinates the aggravation of enrollment, unlike the millions of poor saps who had to be patient and keep trying during the Great 404 Meltdown of 2013."

Nevertheless, Obama will now be paying hundreds of dollars per month for a plan he'll quite likely never use just like millions of others. And, Hot Air observed, Obama also purchased a plan that appeals to many others -- a "bronze" plan that is cheaper but carries such a high deductible one might as well not have insurance.

According to the White House, Obama's plan will cost less than $400 per month, and does not cover the First Lady or his children.

"The president's wife and daughters, who already have health care, did not enroll," NPR said.

Of course, Obama will still get his health care from the military, since he is the Commander-in-Chief, so the move was symbolic in nature and had no real meaning.

President Obama got signed up over the weekend, a White House official said, although he doesn’t need health insurance personally. As Commander-in-Chief, any president has a personal physician and he and his family get full care at the White House Medical Unit and the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. Because Obama was on vacation and because his information is more confidential than most citizens', a staffer signed him up in person on the Washington, D.C. exchange, the White House says.

For hard-hitting conservative commentary, please visit Joe's blog, the Conservative Firing Line. You can also find Joe's articles at Right News Now, Tea Party Tribune, Liberty Unyielding and PolitiCollision.

 Co'tor Shas wrote:
Just look at the authors blurb.

For hard-hitting conservative commentary, please visit Joe's blog, the Conservative Firing Line. You can also find Joe's articles at Right News Now, Tea Party Tribune, Liberty Unyielding and PolitiCollision.

Isn't this "news" supposed to be unbiased?

 Spacemanvic wrote:
The ObahMuh bots seem to have grown quiet from extolling the virtues of this administrations power grab, wonder why?

 Breotan wrote:

 Co'tor Shas wrote:
Just look at the authors blurb.

For hard-hitting conservative commentary, please visit Joe's blog, the Conservative Firing Line. You can also find Joe's articles at Right News Now, Tea Party Tribune, Liberty Unyielding and PolitiCollision.

Isn't this "news" supposed to be unbiased?

Nope. Just fair.

 Spacemanvic wrote:
The ObahMuh bots seem to have grown quiet from extolling the virtues of this administrations power grab, wonder why?

 Co'tor Shas wrote:
Just look at the authors blurb.

For hard-hitting conservative commentary, please visit Joe's blog, the Conservative Firing Line. You can also find Joe's articles at Right News Now, Tea Party Tribune, Liberty Unyielding and PolitiCollision.

Isn't this "news" supposed to be unbiased?

 dogma wrote:

 Spacemanvic wrote:
The ObahMuh bots seem to have grown quiet from extolling the virtues of this administrations power grab, wonder why?

"ObahMuh"?

You're not even trying anymore.

 Easy E wrote:

 Spacemanvic wrote:
The ObahMuh bots seem to have grown quiet from extolling the virtues of this administrations power grab, wonder why?

Because there isn't much to say about it in this thread. We've covered all the same old ground again and again.

(CNN) -- More than 1.1 million people enrolled in health care coverage through the federal marketplace between October 1 and December 24, the government announced Sunday.

The vast majority of them -- 975,000 -- enrolled in December, Marilyn Tavenner, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said in a blog post.

She called it "a welcome surge in enrollment" due in part to improvements in the notoriously glitch-plagued website healthcare.gov.

It's unclear how many people who visited the site were unable to use it -- a problem shared by millions across the country. On Monday, December 23 alone, the site saw nearly 2 million page views and the call center received more than 250,000 calls, officials said.

The 1.1 million enrollments does not include individuals who signed up for insurance through the state-run marketplaces. Fourteen states and the District of Columbia operate their own exchanges.
Several states also reported a surge in enrollment. California, for example, saw 77,000 people pick a plan in the last days before the deadline.

It also does not include a flood of new enrollees for Medicaid. As of November 30, more than 800,000 were found eligible for the insurance program for the poor.

Individuals who missed last week's deadline for coverage that begins January 1 can still sign up for coverage starting February 1. That deadline is January 15 and open enrollment ends March 31.

The Obama administration's goal is to have 7 million people enroll through both the federal and state exchanges by the end of March.