NRSC - Democratic Candidates Running From ObamaCare

From "Extremely Problematic" to "Train Wreck" - Democrats on Defense

Washington, D.C. - Last night during the South Carolina 1st Congressional District debate, Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch joined the chorus of Democrats who are running for office and running from ObamaCare.

As BuzzFeed notes Colbert Busch “was troubled by [ObamaCare's] cost and the burden it could put on employers”: "Obamacare is extremely problematic, it is expensive, it is a $500 billion cost than we originally anticipated, it's cutting into Medicare benefits and it's having companies lay off their employees because they are worried about the cost of it. That is extremely problematic, it needs an enormous fix," she said during a debate Monday night.

Colbert Busch's concerns echo fellow Democrats' disdain for the health care overhaul including Democrat Senator Max Baucus, the architect of ObamaCare, who recently called it a "train wreck" as well as Democrat Senator Jay Rockefeller who said the Affordable Care Act is "beyond comprehension."

Democratic pollster Mark Mellman reinforced the internal uneasiness among Democrats over ObamaCare: “We already know that, left to its own devices, this doesn’t end up in a good place,” said Mark Mellman, a Democratic pollster. “Anyone who thinks this issue is done is fooling themselves.”

"Few issues are as personal and as tangible as health care," said NRSC Communications Director Brad Dayspring. "As costs continue to increase,  ObamaCare's taxes, mandates, and red tape will shock millions of Americans as the painful parts of the law are implemented over the next year. President Obama can rest easy after 2012, but  voters will remember that every incumbent Senate Democrat has their fingerprints all over this train wreck.  They're not alone. Members of Congress interested in being promoted to the Senate like Bruce Braley and Gary Peters have a $1 Trillion weight holding them down, and that's ObamaCare."

ObamaCare has gone from being an “abstract” discussion to a real life pain for families and businesses which has Democrats who supported this costly agenda like Bruce Braley, Mark Pryor, Mark Begich, Kay Hagan, Mary Landrieu, Jeanne Shaheen, John Barrow, Mark Udall, Gary Peters, Al Franken, Mark Warner, Tom Udall, Dick Durbin and Jeff Merkley in a tailspin. Vulnerable Democrats will be forced to face voters just as ObamaCare's tax hikes, mandates, fees, penalties, and red tape bureaucracy take shape over the next eight months.

Governor Hassan Moves Forward to Protect State Control of Health Benefit Marketplace

Office of New Hampshire Governor Maggie Hassan

Sends Letter to Federal Department of Health and Human Services Declaring Intent to Pursue Partnership Exchange

CONCORD – To best serve the health of New Hampshire’s individuals, families and businesses, Governor Maggie Hassan today sent a letter to the Federal Department of Health and Human Services declaring the state’s intent to pursue a federal-state partnership health benefit exchange, which would allow New Hampshire to maintain the most control possible at the state level and maximize federal health care dollars.

Each state is required under the federal Affordable Care Act to have a health benefit exchange: a virtual marketplace where individuals and small businesses can compare qualified health plans, find out if they are eligible for tax credits or health benefit programs, ask questions about coverage, and enroll in a qualified health plan that meets their needs. While states may establish their own exchanges, a 2010 New Hampshire law prevents action to build an exchange, forcing the state to either allow the federal government to create our exchange or to pursue a partnership exchange.

“I do not believe it is in the best interest of our people to allow the federal government to impose a one-size-fits-all exchange on New Hampshire,” said Governor Hassan. “Because of action taken by the last legislature, pursuing a partnership health benefit marketplace is the best option we have left to maintain control at the state level of health insurance coverage offered to our citizens and businesses. As the process moves forward, I will work with the federal government and in collaboration with the state legislature, to ensure that New Hampshire maintains flexibility and is protected financially. But we must make sure that we are maximizing the tools and resources available to help more New Hampshire families and businesses access quality, affordable health coverage.”

Without pursuing a partnership exchange, New Hampshire would be handing over to the federal government traditional state regulatory authority over insurance. This could include the authority to approve health insurance policies and rates, appeal rights, network adequacy, handling consumer complaints, and determining the relative roles of navigators and producers.

States interested in pursuing a federal-state partnership health benefit exchange are required to submit a letter of intent to the Federal Government by February 15.

The full text of the Governor’s letter to HHS Secretary Sebelius can be found below:

The Honorable Kathleen G. Sebelius

Secretary, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

c/o CMS Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight

200 Independence Avenue, S.W., Suite 739H

Washington, DC 20201

Dear Secretary Sebelius:

Under guidance issued by your office, states wishing to enter into a Partnership Exchange must submit a declaration letter signed by their governor stating that intention no later than February 15, 2013.  As Governor of New Hampshire, I ask that you accept this declaration of intent to participate in a State Partnership Exchange for both Plan Management and Consumer Assistance.  New Hampshire Insurance Commissioner Roger A. Sevigny will be the primary point of contact regarding our application. Nicholas A. Toumpas, the Commissioner of the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services, will be the point of contact on issues of Medicaid and CHIP eligibility determination and coordination.

New Hampshire’s legislature has set forth its goals for the Exchange, including: (1) promoting preservation of the private, commercial delivery of health coverage through carriers and producers to the greatest degree possible; (2) minimizing overhead and administrative expenses of the exchange; (3) promoting competition and consumer choice; and (4) preserving to the greatest extent possible the state's insurance regulatory authority and the state's flexibility in determining Medicaid eligibility standards, and program design and operation. Consistent with these objectives, the Legislature specifically created a Joint Health Care Reform Oversight Committee and directed the New Hampshire Insurance Department (NHID) and the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services (NHDHHS) to take action necessary to maintain the regulatory functions that they have traditionally performed. 

A Partnership Exchange is essential to preserving New Hampshire’s traditional regulatory authority over insurance carriers and producers, as well as its Medicaid program.  A Plan Management Partnership would allow New Hampshire to maintain its status as the primary regulator with respect to insurance products sold in New Hampshire on the Federally-facilitated exchange, including: producer and insurer licensing, form and rate approval, network adequacy, internal grievance standards, external review, and unfair trade practices. A Consumer Assistance partnership would involve both NHID and NHDHHS, and would have as its central component the regulation of Navigators that have been selected and funded through the Federally-facilitated Exchange.

Through NH RSA 420-N, the New Hampshire Legislature has directed both commissioners to exercise authority to regulate the operation of Navigators, as Navigators’ activities affect each commissioner’s respective sphere of responsibility. A Consumer Assistance partnership would also enable the state to develop its own consumer assistance model and in-person assistance program in a manner that would supplement, not supplant, existing insurance delivery and Medicaid application assistance systems in the state, as well as to clarify the role of insurance producers with respect to consumer assistance. A Consumer Assistance Partnership would enable New Hampshire to adhere to the legislative directive to preserve the existing health insurance delivery systems and minimize interference with insurance markets.

This letter of intent is provided with the understanding that the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) governing the expectations, roles and responsibilities of the State of New Hampshire in a Partnership Exchange will not impose a cost on the state’s general fund or create new state programs. All partnership activities through the end of 2014, the critical time period for adoption of ACA-specific regulatory checklists, initial plan approval, and outreach and enrollment, would be funded by section 1311 Establishment Grant funds. Once this critical time period is over, the ongoing state regulation of Quality Health Plans (QHPs), QHP issuers, and Navigators would continue as part of the Insurance Department’s traditional regulatory activities. We further understand that a central tenet of the partnership concept is that partner states are not obligated to expend any funds beyond those awarded through federal grants, and that the partnership may be terminated without further obligation, beyond accounting for proper use of any grant funds that have been awarded. Finally, we understand that any product or service deployed in this state under any MOU will be subject to the regulatory authority of the State of New Hampshire.

This letter of intent is provided subject to any subsequent consent that may be required under state law with regard to implementation of the Partnership Exchange; including consent to any MOU between these agencies and CMS by the Joint Health Care Reform Oversight Committee established pursuant to NH RSA 420-N.

New Hampshire Governor Lynch indicated in December 2012 that New Hampshire was potentially interested in administering the reinsurance program for the state. The state has now determined that it will not operate the reinsurance program.

                                                                        With every good wish,

                                                            Margaret Wood Hassan

                                                                        Governor

ALG's Daily Grind: Landowner engages in clean water act; receives EPA fine

July 31, 2012

Landowner engages in clean water act; receives EPA fine

Dexter Lutter made environmental improvements on his farm, taking steps to clean up the water supply and better preserve the soil, but the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers fined him $20,000 for his efforts.

Cartoon: Plan is Working

Is Obama's "stimulus" working?

Will a black September lead to QE3?
If the already-easy monetary policies of the Fed, Bank of Japan, Bank of England, and others cannot revive this economy — in short if credit is still not expanding after more than tripling the monetary base after four years — there is little reason to believe that further easing ala QE3 will do anything to help.

Fund: Britain's NHS—No Fun and Games

"Most Brits who can afford private health insurance buy that instead."

Carol Shea-Porter - “Replace” and “Retire” who?

New Hampshire-  Today, Naomi Andrews, Campaign Manager for former Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter, released the following statement:

“Congressman Frank Guinta knows what a disaster he and his fellow tea partiers have created in Congress, so he has been trying to run as an outsider. But partnering with the National Republican Congressional Committee on a fundraising site for him that says Republicans must “replace” and "retire" Carol Shea-Porter, when he actually is the incumbent, is a new low. Frank Guinta, who has spent almost his whole career on the government payroll, needs to accept responsibility for what he has done.”

Background

* replaceobamacaredems.com

RLCNH TO HOST OBAMACARE RESISTANCE PANEL NEXT THURSDAY

Panel Will Discuss N.H.'s Best Options to Continue Fight to Repeal or Amend Obamacare

In a continuing effort to lead the conservative opposition to President Obama's health insurance overreach, the Republican Liberty Caucus of New Hampshire will host a forum next week to identify which actions the next N.H. Legislature should take to continue the fight to repeal or amend Obamacare.

“In 2011 and 2012, the RLCNH was at the forefront of promoting successful legislation resisting Obamacare and nullifying its effects on New Hampshire's citizens,” said Carolyn McKinney, chairman of the Republican Liberty Caucus of New Hampshire. “We hope to again lead the effort in the next session to make sure New Hampshire continues to resist the law and also sends a strong message to Congress that this is a law that must be repealed or amended, and that's what this forum is about.”

The forum, “Resisting Obamacare: State and Federal Responses to an Unjust Law,” will be held at 6 p.m., July 19, 2012, in the Humanities Room of the Library at Thomas More College of Liberal Arts in Merrimack, N.H. To clarify, the forum, which is co-sponsored with Cornerstone Policy Research, First Principles, and FRCAction, is taking place next Thursday—not tomorrow.

Panelists for the Thomas More College event on Thursday, July 19, are N.H. House Speaker William O'Brien, who will discuss the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision and its implications for New Hampshire; N.H. Rep. Andrew J. Manuse, also executive secretary of the RLCNH, who will discuss New Hampshire's nullification efforts in the current session and what needs to be done to keep up the opposition effort in the next biennium; and Connie Mackey, president of FRCAction PAC, who will discuss the next steps that need to be taken at the federal level to repeal or amend Obamacare.

William Fahey, president of Thomas More College, will give an introductory speech that will likely touch on President Obama's effort to force churches or church-owned organizations to violate their own religious tenets.

In the 2011-2012 session, the Legislature passed and the RLCNH supported HB 1297, a bill to prohibit the creation of a state health insurance exchange and hinder the federal government's ability to implement the law in New Hampshire; SB 148, a bill that nullifies the individual mandate; and HB 601, a bill that creates an oversight committee to control the activities of state department officials as they interact with federal agents on Obamacare's implementation.

In the 2013-2014 session, the RLCNH is recommending bills to clarify that SB 148 also applies to the court's new interpretation that the mandate is a tax; to reject any expansion of the state's Medicaid program; to resist implementation of a partnership health insurance exchange with the federal government and block any funding for it; and to eliminate health insurance mandates or at least make it legal for insurance companies to offer a mandate-free insurance package.

Earlier this week, RLCNH Chairman Carolyn McKinney published an op-ed outlining why Obamacare will be a state and federal election issue.

“The Legislature should continue to pursue free market ideas for health insurance that resist modern trends toward government regulation or control,” McKinney said in the op-ed. “One such transitional idea is a law that allows insurance companies to sell policies without all of the state or federal insurance coverage mandates, so long as they also sell policies that include all of the mandates. Hopefully, more free market ideas, such as eliminating all mandates so the free market can set the cost of true insurance at its market rate and let consumers decide what they want, will come later. Such choice in the market, despite any penalties for defying federal law, will attract companies and consumers who will pave the way for less expensive and more effective health coverage in the future.”

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About The Republican Liberty Caucus of New Hampshire
The Republican Liberty Caucus of New Hampshire, a state chapter of the national Republican Liberty Caucus, was launched in December 2004 to promote the ideals of limited government, individual liberty, personal responsibility, free enterprise and adherence to the N.H. and U.S. Constitutions among Republican Party officials and throughout the state by identifying and supporting candidates sympathetic with the organization’s ideals, and by supporting, through public education and outreach, initiatives in the N.H. Legislature that further these ideals. For more information about the RLCNH, please visit www.rlcnh.org.