Notice how the Rethugs/Libers are using NSA as a fear mongering tool against Obamacare?

[pnwmom]

(And no, for the Obamacare skeptics here, single-payer won't solve that problem.)

My elderly mother knows just enough about going online to make her dangerous! She called today to ask me about a report she'd heard about this, and it turned out to be from Newsmax. Then I checked it out and found this from Faux news:

(If you're tempted to believe this report, then check out the 4th paragraph below. Why should you trust anything else it says?)

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/08/07/obamacare-data-worries-mount/

"We don't have a domestic spying program."
-- President Obama in an interview on "The Tonight Show."

With the countdown on for the rollout of President Obama's new health-insurance entitlement program, worries are growing over the security of what may the largest trove of personal data ever amassed about American citizens.

The inspector general for the Department of Health and Human Services has been issuing increasingly alarming warnings about a lack of testing of the agency's Obamacare "data hub," that swirling vortex of information about the health, income, insurance status and personal data about those enrolled in the president's plan.

The final test for the security system of this hacker's El Dorado is set for Sept. 30, one day before the system is set to go live.

SNIP

History is full of examples of this and other governments abusing the power to collect and retain information about its citizens. But we needn't reach back to yesteryear. This very administration is in trouble for the targeting of the president's political adversaries by the IRS and for snatching reporter records to squelch unflattering leaks.

SNIP

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/08/07/obamacare-data-worries-mount/#ixzz2bJQ40fNP

[RC]

1. Care to elucidate?

[pnwmom]

7. I've added a link above. n/t

[Mojorabbit]

2. No I have not seen anything like this. Is there a link? nt

[ForgoTheConsequence]

3. Its not the NSA that scares me.

Its the fact that my premiums went up by almost 100% in the last year. Forgive me if I'm a little skeptical when I can't afford to go to the doctor.

[pnwmom]

11. This past year's premiums were not raised because of Obamacare. The exchanges don't go forward

till next year. Why not go to your state exchange and see what your premium, after accounting for any subsidy, would actually be?

[ForgoTheConsequence]

14. Health insurance =/= healthcare.

...



Just a few days ago I was told Obamacare was responsible for falling rates in certain states. Can't have it both ways.

[pnwmom]

18. The rate declines I've seen have been projected for next year. Although, come to think of it,

if a company had to pay a rebate because they were charging too much for administration, it's possible they lowered their rates this year.

[onyourleft]

4. No, I haven't...

...seen this. What's a Liber?

[pnwmom]

9. Libertarian. n/t

[Warren Stupidity]

29. Does anyone who thinks the 4th amendment means exactly what it says qualify

as one of these "libers"?

[pnwmom]

31. Anyone who thinks they know exactly what the 4th amendment means in every situation

is overly confident.

[Warren Stupidity]

32. It is one of the clearest amendments.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

There is little there that is subject to interpretation, especially when it comes to what is a constitutional warrant.

[geek tragedy]

5. No, I haven't seen that nt

[Octafish]

6. No.

Link?

[pnwmom]

8. I've added a Faux news link to the OP. n/t

[Octafish]

12. Thanks!

So, Chris Stirewalt of Fox News is talking about it. That's Roger Ailes' outfit, Nixon's right hand man who went on to bigger and better things with Ronald Reagan and George Herbert Walker Bush, before meeting up with fellow fascist Rupert Murdoch. You know they have an agenda.

[leftstreet]

10. Obamacare is scary enough without this

Forcing people to hand their money over to FOR-PROFIT insurance companies
No public option
Allowing states to opt-out of medicaid expansion
No controls over rates

[pnwmom]

16. What do you mean about no controls over rates?

There are at least three controls on the premiums people will pay:

1. States can approve or disapprove of rate hike requests
2. Insurers will no longer be able to spend whatever they want on administration and marketing -- between 80 and 85% of premiums will have to be spent on actual patient care, or the balance will have to be refunded to the customers.
3. Families with incomes up to 90K will get credits that will lower their payments

[leftstreet]

19. LOL those aren't controls. Nice try though

1. States can approve or disapprove of rate hike requests

So? If they can approve, that's not a control

2. Insurers will no longer be able to spend whatever they want on administration and marketing -- between 80 and 85% of premiums will have to be spent on actual patient care, or the balance will have to be refunded to the customers.

So what? Insurers must spend 80-85% on 'actual patient care.' So if you hand them an exorbitant premium they'll stay within the guidelines to avoid reimbursement. FFS the industry WROTE this legislation. Again, not a control

3. Families with incomes up to 90K will get credits that will lower their payments

If I subsidize your premium, it is NOT A CONTROL ON PREMIUMS

[pnwmom]

20. The insurers already have had to give rebates. This isn't in question.

And some states have already exercised their authority to limit rate hikes.

Yes, there is more work to be done on costs, but the same problem exists with single payer. Medicare is having a major problem with cost containment.

[leftstreet]

21. ...and you were doing so well

but the same problem exists with single payer

I bet there were DUers at the turn of the century arguing car emission standards by claiming 'Yeah but horses poop!!11'




Thanks for admitting this though:

Yes, there is more work to be done on costs

Yes, indeed. Just giving states the power to control them won't work. Nor will large scale subsidizing without rate controls

[pnwmom]

22. Why won't allowing states to control rates allow them to control rates? n/t

[leftstreet]

25. The same way it will allow them not to control rates

Hello?

[pnwmom]

26. If you're worried about this you need to work at the state level

to make sure your state is taking advantage of the increased control they have been given.

[RC]

23. Don't forget "Obama Care" was hatched in a Right-wing think tank, The Heritage Center.

Then fined tuned by none other than Mitt Romney in Massachusetts.
Without any "Public Option", how is this really a good thing, just because it is a little better for some people, than what we had. You are still paying money to a parasitic middleman, standing between you and your health care.

[leftstreet]

24. Shhh...we're supposed to forget that

I can clearly hear Primary Candidate Obama scoring a big one off the Hillary campaign by denouncing the mandate

Ugh

[burnodo]

13. Liber and onions?

sourcing Fox News again, eh?

[nadinbrzezinski]

15. So let me get this straight

We should can all concerns because FOX NOOZ MIGHT USE IT!

I gotta give it to you, that is a new (old really) talking point

[pnwmom]

17. No, I'm not saying that at all. But leave it to you to twist what I'm saying. n/t

[Mojorabbit]

27. If this is true and If they have left it to the last minute that is a concern

People's most personal information will be in online health records. My husband has quite a few patients who are worried about it.
I hope that this is all tight and in place way before the deadline. Since it is FOX though I will wait for another more credible link.

[pnwmom]

28. I think it would be negligent if they didn't do a final check immediately

before the system was put into use. Don't you?

Here's some recent info from Kaiser:

http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Stories/2013/August/01/health-on-the-hill-080113-data-hub-and-health-law.aspx

SNIP

JENNIFER HABERKORN: The hub -- Marilyn Tavenner kind of described it as a router that you probably have to hook up your Internet at home. This is where all the information is going to circulate in the exchanges. When you sign up to try to get a subsidy, your information will go through this data hub and be checked with the IRS. It will go to the Social Security Administration. All this information is going to go through there. If you can imagine, I mean, my Internet router at home doesn't always work, and if this data hub is going to have the information of millions of people cycling through it -- it's pretty complicated.

So a lot of the questions Tavenner got today was about whether that's going to work and whether testing on it has already started. The testing is underway. She said the testing so far has gone well and when issues have popped up, those have been repaired quickly.

MARY AGNES CAREY: At my hearing over at Ways and Means, another CMS official -- Gary Cohen -- also got a lot of questions about the data hub. Daniel Werfel, from the IRS [was also there]. Both officials are very involved in the implementation of the ACA and were asked repeatedly about the data hub: Will it be ready? And Gary Cohen promised to share with the committee the results of the testing. And I believe that wraps up this month, is that correct?

JENNIFER HABERKORN: It sounds like the testing is going to continue through the end of the year, particularly with the payments. That's kind of the last piece of it. Because payments don't start until January first. Even though people can sign up in October, they won't be paying until January. So I think they're going to be testing right until January. And I have to imagine that the testing is going to continue even once everything is started.

SNIP

[Mojorabbit]

30. Yes. It should be totally tested inside and out

We are more worried about security of the health info but it will need to run very smoothly when it starts up or it will be a big mess. Ihope they have it down tight. nt