The Commentariat -- Dec. 22, 2013
Robert Pear of the New York Times: "For most Americans, Monday is the deadline to sign up for health insurance that takes effect on Jan. 1. It was supposed to be a turning point in the troubled history of the new health care law, the moment when the spotlight would shift from the federal government's online marketplace to the insurance companies providing coverage to hundreds of thousands and eventually millions of people. But as the date approaches, a series of decisions by the Obama administration to delay some of the law's most important provisions and to extend some deadlines has caused uncertainty among insurers and confusion among consumers." ...
... CW: Kathleen Geier of the Washington Monthly explains why I didn't bother to read past the blurb, much less link Friday's New York Times front-page story: "I see the New York Times has published yet another article about very privileged people whining about the ACA. In this case, said article features a couple making $100,000 a year who, under the ACA, will be paying $1,000 a month for health care covering themselves and their two sons." ...
... Atrios: "The NYT's perpetual pity party for its affluent readership is genuinely annoying." ...
... CW: In fairness to the Times whiners, it is tougher for a Manhattan couple earning $100K to drop $1I/month on health insurance than it is for a couple in, say, Fort Myers, Florida, where the cost-of-living is lower. ...
... Science Daily: "Using simulated exchanges modeled on the design of the actual exchanges, alarming new research from Columbia Business School suggests that more than 80% of consumers may be unable to make a clear-eyed estimate of their needs and will unknowingly choose a higher cost plan than needed." Thanks to James S. for the link. ...
... Brent Hunsberger of the Oregonian: "Oregon's troubled health insurance exchange began robocalling applicants Friday, warning them that if they don't receive enrollment confirmation by Monday, they should seek coverage elsewhere for Jan. 1.... It's yet another sign that the health insurance exchange's technological breakdowns will prevent some -- perhaps many -- Oregonians from getting subsidized coverage Jan. 1, despite Gov. John Kitzhaber's previous assurances otherwise."
Mark Mazzetti & Robert Worth of the New York Times: A "Dec. 12 [Pentagon drone] strike [on a convoy of trucks carrying a wedding party in Yemen]..., launched from an American base in Djibouti, killed at least a half-dozen innocent people, according to a number of tribal leaders and witnesses, and provoked a storm of outrage in the country. It also illuminated the reality behind the talk surrounding the Obama administration's new drone policy....The murky details surrounding the strike raise questions about how rigorously American officials are applying the standards for lethal strikes that Mr. Obama laid out in a speech on May 23...."
Dana Priest of the Washington Post: "The 50-year-old Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), once considered the best-funded insurgency in the world, is at its smallest and most vulnerable state in decades, due in part to a CIA covert action program that has helped Colombian forces kill at least two dozen rebel leaders, according to interviews with more than 30 former and current U.S. and Colombian officials. The secret assistance, which also includes substantial eavesdropping help from the National Security Agency, is funded through a multibillion-dollar black budget. It is not a part of the public $9 billion package of mostly U.S. military aid called Plan Colombia, which began in 2000."
** Marc Fisher & Craig Timberg of the Washington Post: "This year, in the months since former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden leaked secret documents detailing U.S. surveillance programs, it has become clear that there are not yet widely accepted norms about who may watch whom and when and where tracking is justified. The Post's poll found that Americans' attitudes about surveillance are anything but consistent, whether the sample is the entire nation or a single, conflicted person." ...
... Charlie Savage & David Sanger of the New York Times: "The Obama administration moved late Friday to prevent a federal judge in California from ruling on the constitutionality of warrantless surveillance programs authorized during the Bush administration, telling a court that recent disclosures about National Security Agency spying were not enough to undermine its claim that litigating the case would jeopardize state secrets." ...
... AP: "The director of national intelligence is declassifying more documents that show how the National Security Agency was first authorised to start collecting bulk phone and internet records in the hunt for al-Qaida terrorists. James Clapper explained in a statement Saturday that President George W Bush first authorised the spying as part of the Terrorist Surveillance Program, just after 9/11. Bush's presidential authorisation eventually was replaced by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act -- a law that requires a secret court to OK the spying." The agency's statement is here. ...
... David Cole in the New York Review of Books: "Judge Leon's decision ... shows the inadequacy of the secret, one-sided review that has until now been the NSA program's only oversight. From 2006 to 2013, fifteen different judges on the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court reviewed the program and every one of them deemed it lawful. But they did so in proceedings closed to the public, and in which they heard from no one representing the hundreds of millions of Americans whose privacy is at stake." ...
... Margaret Atwood is afraid of real spies invading virtual reality. Or so she says. Can you be sure that a fiction writer isn't writing fiction just because she implies she isn't? Verisimilitude is her stock in trade, after all. Thanks to contributor Whyte O. for the link.
Ari Rabinowitch of Reuters: "Israeli officials said on Saturday they were not surprised by allegations the United States and Britain had spied on the country's leaders and played down the importance of any information its allies may have gleaned. Leaked documents from former U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden published on Friday showed the NSA and its British counterpart GCHQ had in 2009 targeted an email address listed as belonging to the Israeli prime minister and monitored emails of senior defense officials." ...
... Dan Williams of Reuters (analysis): "By ramping up his demands of any final nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears determined to stem the tide of international diplomacy which has turned against him in recent weeks. Netanyahu was stung by an interim agreement last month for Tehran to curb its nuclear program in return for a limited easing of sanctions, calling it a historic mistake. His reaction has been to call for the dismantling of Iran's nuclear projects, as opposed to their containment, and a halt to its development of ballistic missiles, an issue not addressed in the interim accord signed in Geneva on November 24."
Jed Rakoff in the New York Review of Books: "... the Department of Justice has never taken the position that all the top executives involved in the events leading up to the financial crisis were innocent; rather it has offered one or another excuse for not criminally prosecuting them -- excuses that, on inspection, appear unconvincing.... The government was deeply involved, from beginning to end, in helping create the conditions that could lead to such fraud, and that this would give a prudent prosecutor pause in deciding whether to indict a CEO who might, with some justice, claim that he was only doing what he fairly believed the government wanted him to do." CW: a measured, methodical analysis of the failure to prosecute top financial executives for their actions that caused the 2008 financial crisis.
** Michael Luo & Mike McIntire of the New York Times: "A systematic review ... [by the Times] underscores how easy it is for people with serious mental health problems to have guns. Over the past year in Connecticut..., there were more than 180 instances of gun confiscations from people who appeared to pose a risk of 'imminent personal injury to self or others.' Close to 40 percent of these cases involved serious mental illness. Perhaps most striking, in many of the cases examined across the country, the authorities said they had no choice under the law but to return the guns after an initial seizure for safekeeping."
Humor Break. CW: I can't embed the Humor Break which contributor Barbarossa linked yesterday. Mark Fiore, who created the video, blogs here. In the linked post, he elaborates on the elements that went into the video.
Laurie Goodstein of the New York Times: "The Rev. Frank Schaefer, a Methodist minister, was stripped of his clerical credentials on Thursday for violating church law by presiding at his son's same-sex wedding. The punishment, imposed by the United Methodist Church in Pennsylvania, was requested by the church prosecutor to deter other ministers from blessing same-sex marriages. But far from intimidating others, the trial and defrocking of Mr. Schaefer have galvanized a wave of Methodist ministers to step forward to disobey church prohibitions against marrying and ordaining openly gay people." Via Steve Benen.
Local News
Heidi Brandes of Reuters: "Oklahoma has put a halt to new monuments at its Capitol after groups petitioned to have markers for Satan, a monkey god and a spaghetti monster erected near a large stone tablet inscribed with the Ten Commandments. The Oklahoma Capitol Preservation Commission voted on Thursday to ban new monuments on statehouse grounds until a court battle is settled with the American Civil Liberties Union, which is seeking the removal of the Ten Commandments...." Also via Benen. ...
... Lisa Garza of Reuters: "A panel of experts has rejected concerns by religious conservatives in Texas that a high school biology textbook contained factual errors about evolution and a state board approved the book on Wednesday for use in public schools." Via Benen.
Matthew Hendley of the Phoenix New Times: "The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors this afternoon voted unanimously to approve a $3.75 million settlement for New Times' co-founders, whose false arrests in 2007 were orchestrated by Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin were taken from their homes in the middle of the night and jailed on misdemeanor charges alleging that they violated the secrecy of a grand jury -- which turned out never to have been convened."
Mitch Sneed of the Douglas County (Georgia) Sentinel: Douglas County Sheriff Phil Miller says his office will no longer provide support for A&E projects in the wake of the cable network's suspension of the "Duck Dynasty" patriarch. "A&E has produced more than a half dozen programs with the assistance of the Douglas County Sheriff's Office."
Tom Precious of the Buffalo (New York) News: "Assemblyman Dennis Gabryszak is being accused of sexually harassing three now-former legislative staffers, according to court papers filed Thursday. Gabryszak, D-Cheektowaga, is the subject of three separate complaints by former aides, all in their 20s, who accuse him of making repeated sexually charged comments and suggestions to female staffers and, in the case of one, bringing her to a massage parlor in her first two weeks on the job." ...
... The complaint is here. Jordan Sargent of Gawker recaps of the worst stuff.
News Ledes
New York Times: "After an attack on three United States aircraft attempting to evacuate American citizens from South Sudan, President Obama sent a letter Sunday to top congressional leaders in which he said he might take 'further action' to support United States citizens and interests in the contested region."
New York Times: " After a decade of incarceration that transformed Russia's wealthiest man into its most famous political prisoner, Mikhail B. Khodorkovsky faced journalists in Berlin on Sunday following a head-spinning 36-hour journey to freedom."
AP: "Apple says it has reached a deal to bring the iPhone to China Mobile, the world's biggest phone carrier."
New York Times: " The police in Bangladesh charged the owners of a garment factory and 11 of their employees with culpable homicide in the deaths of 112 workers in a fire last year that came to symbolize the appalling working conditions in the country's dominant textile industry."
AFP: "Swiss banks are scrambling ahead of a December 31 deadline to decide whether to join a US programme aimed at zooming in on lenders that helped Americans dodge taxes. Around 40 of Switzerland's some 300 banks have already said publicly they will take part in a US programme set up to allow Swiss financial institutions to avoid US prosecution in exchange for coming clean and possibly paying steep fines."
AP: "The United Nations Mission in South Sudan says it is relocating all non-critical staff from the capital, Juba, to Uganda amid escalating violence as the country's military battles rebel forces."
AP: " A suburban Denver high school student who was shot in the head by a classmate died Saturday afternoon, hospital officials and her family said. Claire Davis, 17, was in critical condition after being shot at point-blank range at Arapahoe High School on Dec. 13."
AP: "A storm system swept across the central and southern U.S. on Saturday, bringing tornadoes and wind gusts that ripped roofs from barns and hurled trees into power lines, officials said. At least two people were killed."
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Reader Comments (11)
The couple in the article live in NH, where the cost of living is lower than NY. Unfortunately, there's very little completion among insurance companies up there, so the prices will be higher.
On yesterday's comments Cowichan mentioned the article in the NYRB by Garry Wills who reviews Joe Scarborough's new book. "The Right Path: From Ike to Reagan, How Republicans Once Mastered Politics––and Can Again." This piece is a model of critique: Wills reveals the historical fallacies and points out misty Morning Joe's narcissistic tenancies: "This book, then, tells the Republicans how to cure their troubles. Simply go and be like Ike, Ron–––and JOE." Wills takes the three factors that Scarbough leaves out––Race, Religion and Money and precedes to discuss each separately and as he says, the greatest of these is money.
Wills cites something Jill Lepore wrote about our dead locked Congress that I think pretty well sums it up:
"Polarization in Congress maps onto one measure better than any other: economic inequality. The smaller the gap between rich and poor. the more moderate our politicians; the greater the gap, the greater the disagreement between liberals and conservatives; the greater the disagreement between liberals and conservatives, the less Congress is able to get done; the less Congress gets done, the greater the gap between the rich and poor."
After I read this article I discussed parts of it with my husband. His response: "And who has the greatest audience––Joe or Gary Wills?"
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2014/jan/09/can-he-save-gop-itself/
@Barbarossa: That's true, of course. The story features a New Hampshire couple, but it's focus is on people nationwide who will see their premiums rise. Geier's & Atrios's complaints were less about the subjects than the targets of the story: the Times' "affluent readership."
However, it should be noted that the subjects of the story are not exactly "affluent"; they are families & individuals who "just miss qualifying for subsidies." That is, they are middle-middle class. IMHO, they're not whining because they can't buy that Bentley; they're whining because they can't afford that new Chevy they need to get to work.
What irritates me about these stories is that none of them says, even down there in Para. 23, YOUR HEALTH INSURANCE PREMIUMS WERE DEFINITELY GOING TO GO UP ANYWAY, ACA OR NOT.
What some stories do point out -- & what this one implies but doesn't state specifically -- is that the ACA is redistributive, up to a point. (Republicans would like to remind you of this.) If you bought a health insurance policy on the individual market last year, it didn't matter if your income was $1MM/year or $10K/year -- the cost was the same. Next year the $1MM guy will pay full price AND be subject to a surtax, while the $10K guy, at least if he lives in a Medicaid expansion state, probably will get free insurance! Yay! With articles like this one, the Times is highlighting the unhappiness of people whose incomes are more like $100K; they are paying almost as much as the $1MM guy (the only difference is the surcharge).
Marie
Enlightening report from the Commonwealth Fund on the causes of recent health insurance premium increases. It ain't the ACA. But it may be too complicated for MSM to understand (just funning ya).
http://www.commonwealthfund.org/Publications/Issue-Briefs/2013/Dec/Health-Insurance-Rate-Increases.aspx
Dark humor break:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/21/opinion/atwood-virtual-reality-real-spies.html?ref=todayspaper
re... Science Daily: "Using simulated exchanges modeled on the design of the actual exchanges, alarming new research from Columbia Business School suggests that more than 80% of consumers may be unable to make a clear-eyed estimate of their needs and will unknowingly choose a higher cost plan than needed."
Unknowingly?? It is no surprise the “research” comes from a Business School, and computer model. Boy, it steams me.
One never knows when illness may strike or the cost to cure/manage it.
There IS no “average consumer.”
Just someone sick.
My illness started at 17. An Adult lifetime, grateful I could pay the medical premiums, and pay remaining monthly amts on the balance without it hurting my credit rating.
Not possible to do that now.
Facing the same circumstances in today’s environment, I’d take the gas pipe.
May they -The business models, greedy hospitals, drs, plans, etc- all rot.
<getting off soapbox>
Mae finch
Re: Atwood. After reading her trilogy: Oryx and Crake, The Year of the Flood and MaddAddam, I would say she is probably fearless, but has too firm a grasp of the potential consequences of pan-privatization to be very sanguine. As a retired biochemist, I did not have to suspend disbelief for a single paragraph of her bio-dystpoia, and the enabling privatizations she describes are already on the wingnut agenda. Anyone finding her predictions implausible might look back at her first dystopian novel, The Handmaid's Tale, for its spot-on prediction of the Taliban et al.
Dear Mae: Stay on your soap box and keep the gas pipe at bay. Since you've been fighting how many years? and counting you better hold fast and continue the slog––you may, Mae, just see your nemesis's get their just desserts––well, maybe one or two will do.
Intrigued by the New Hampshire couple's insurance rate I went to WebMD and cost a silver plan in Manhattan for a family of 4 with annual earnings of $101,000. I almost spat my dentures across the room! $1,903.00/month!!!! Their income is the equivalent of $70,750 across the border in Seattle or, locally, here in Vancouver. Unbelieveable. Hope the website is wrong, wrong, wrong. Cause that is definitely not affordable. In Vancouver healthcare for a family of 4, regardless of income, after the 2014 rate increase, will be $138.50/month. In tiny Canadian play money dollars.
Re: For context on health insurance cost increases, from Time magazine in 2009, when but for the most demented, insurance costs couldn't possibly have been Obama or the ACA's fault. Could they?
"Today, the average cost of a family health insurance offered by an employer is $13,375. That’s up 131% over the last decade—a period in which inflation rose only 28%. And one estimate says that if costs continue on their current trajectory, premiums will go up another 166% in the decade ahead.
The data was collected by the Kaiser Family Foundation and comes via USA Today:
Since 1999, health insurance premiums for families rose 131%, the report found, far more than the general rate of inflation, which increased 28% over the same period. Overall, health care in the United States is expected to cost $2.6 trillion this year, or 17% of the nation’s economy, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office."
As we know health insurance increases did slow for a number of reasons (most think it was a combination of the crash, the provisions of the ACA and carriers' hesitation to raise rates in the face of all the bad publicity they had been receiving) but, the CW and COpinion have it right; it's the private insurance "market" that is extortionate, not the ACA. But now that the ACA is the law of the land, one could guess that some of the private carriers don't mind it a bit if rate increases make the law look bad...
Wonder if we will all follow the siren call of private ownership until every last one of us is bankrupt.
Marie et al., re. year's end fun. Took the linguistics quiz you linked. After living in MN for 28 years, and before that Iowa City, Brussels, Saint Louis and Chapel Hill, it id'd me as a native of Baton Rouge. So wrong, I grew up in a town 60 miles West of there.