HHS Issues New Funds For ObamaCare Enrollment Efforts

The Obama administration announced new funding Thursday for efforts to help the uninsured find coverage through ObamaCare.

The Health and Human Services (HHS) Department will spend $150 million on enrollment assistance through community health centers, which serve an estimated 21 million patients annually.

The funding comes as Democrats are expressing concerns about implementation of the landmark law. Polls show that few people understand it, or how they might benefit. 

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said that outreach through community health centers will "help consumers understand their options."

"Health centers have extensive experience providing eligibility assistance to patients, are providing care in communities across the nation, and are well-positioned to support enrollment efforts," Sebelius said.

The Obama administration and outside groups are planning efforts to educate consumers about healthcare reform starting this summer.

HHS is also funding tens of thousands of "navigators" — people who will help consumers shop for insurance in the newly created exchanges.

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Trump says he would fund canceled White House tours

Real estate mogul Donald Trump said Monday that ending White House tours because of sequestration cuts made the country look "awfully pathetic," and that he would be open to funding the tours out of his own pocket.

“Well I guess it’s political. They want to hurt the people. They want to do something to make their point," Trump said of the White House's decision to cancel the tours, adding that the decision was "just really ridiculous."

"It does make us look awfully bad and awfully pathetic,” Trump continued.

The reality television show host made the comments on "Fox and Friends," and was asked about a tweet from former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), who suggested that Trump should offer to fund the tours.

"I think it’s so nice of Newt to suggest that," Trump said. "I don’t know anything about it, I'm hearing about it for the first time. I like Newt a lot. I didn’t hear this, but it sounds reasonable to me. Why not?”

NBC News reported last week that the canceled White House tours save the Secret Service around $74,000 a week, and would save around $2 million by the end of the fiscal year. Some 37 Secret Service officers are employed to staff the tours.

Multiple conservative commentators have offered to donate money to keep the tours going, but White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Friday that it was likely impossible to set up a way, under the sequester, for outside individuals to fund the operation.

"My guess is that it's not," Earnest said. "And the reason for that is the sequester mandates across-the-board, non-strategic, indiscriminate cuts to the budget. It allows very little, if any, flexibility for those who are administering the budget. And it means agency heads are put in a very difficult position of choosing between two bad options."

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Why Bee Venom Could Be The Secret Weapon We Need To Combat The HIV Epidemic

Scientists believe they may have discovered an unlikely weapon in the fight against the global HIV/AIDS epidemic: bee venom.

According to researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, bee venom contains a powerful toxin called “melittin” that can effectively kill the HIV virus while leaving the surrounding cells unharmed. Now that they’ve isolated the toxin, they’re using it to develop a vaginal gel to prevent the spread of HIV — a new tool that will hopefully help stop the transmission of the virus in places with high rates of infection:

“Our hope is that in places where HIV is running rampant, people could use this gel as a preventive measure to stop the initial infection,” says Joshua L. Hood, MD, PhD, a research instructor in medicine. [...]

According to Hood, an advantage of this approach is that the nanoparticle attacks an essential part of the virus’ structure. In contrast, most anti-HIV drugs inhibit the virus’s ability to replicate. But this anti-replication strategy does nothing to stop initial infection, and some strains of the virus have found ways around these drugs and reproduce anyway.

“We are attacking an inherent physical property of HIV,” Hood says. “Theoretically, there isn’t any way for the virus to adapt to that. The virus has to have a protective coat, a double-layered membrane that covers the virus.”

Beyond prevention in the form of a vaginal gel, Hood also sees potential for using nanoparticles with melittin as therapy for existing HIV infections, especially those that are drug-resistant. The nanoparticles could be injected intravenously and, in theory, would be able to clear HIV from the blood stream.

Researchers haven’t yet explored all of melittin’s potential to be used for contraceptive purposes, but Hood pointed out that the gel could likely be adapted to target sperm as well as HIV — essentially creating a spermicide that could protect against both pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. But as of now, the gel is safe for both sperm and vaginal cells, and may be particularly useful for HIV-positive individuals who want to safely conceive.

And, since melittin could also help combat viruses other than HIV, bee venom could have broader implications for public health efforts. Melittin may be able to similarly destroy the hepatitis B and C viruses.

Bee venom’s important toxin is just the latest unexpected breakthrough in HIV treatment and prevention efforts. Last week, scientists reported that they may have “functionally cured” a two-year-old child of her HIV infection by aggressively treating her infection from the time of her birth. Unfortunately, the automatic cuts that recently began taking effect as a result of the sequestration may hamper future HIV research, as scientists will now have fewer resources to invest in research projects focused on unlocking the keys to treating the epidemic.

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About That Updated Application...

Bob's post yesterday got me excited. Finally the government is going to simplify things and make my life easier to sign up for health insurance. So I anxiously waited for the document to be released this morning and as soon as it hit I saw this story on Yahoo. According to the story there are only 12 pages for the family to complete. Wahoo!!!

The original was 26 pages and included pages for six family members to enroll. With five in my family I was looking at having to complete 22 to 24 pages. I had to see it to believe it so I pulled it off the CCIIO website.

It was a 12 page application...that allowed for TWO people to enroll. What about my three kids? How do I add them to the application? Reading into the detail a little further on the bottom of page two was the kicker. It says:

"If you have more than 2 people in your family, you'll need to make a copy of the pages and attach them."

Let's recap. The original 26 page application was designed to enroll six family members. It is now extinct and has been replaced by a new and simplified 12 page application for two people. For me to add all three children (each additional family member requires two pages) increases the new simplified app to 18 pages.

Saving 8 pieces of paper might excite Al Gore, but for most people it's still going to be a long process.

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Sen. McConnell touts support of Rand Paul filibuster in campaign email

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) touted his support for Sen. Rand Paul's (R-Ky.) filibuster last week of John Brennan's nomination for CIA director in a new campaign email on Monday.

"Thirteen hours on the Senate floor with no breaks. Thirteen hours of pushing back against an out of control Obama Administration who often refuses to work with or even acknowledge Congress," McConnell, who is up for reelection in 2014, said in the email, sent out to supporters. "Thirteen hours of capturing a nation's attention to both an important issue and an important new voice for our party."

On Wednesday Paul filibustered Brennan's nomination in order to pressure the Obama administration to answer questions about its drone policy. The filibuster lasted more than 12 hours and a number of Republican senators joined Paul. McConnell eventually came to the floor to praise Paul's effort to push the Obama administration to answer his questions.

"Rand stood in their way last week and I was thrilled to join him. But I stand in their way all too often for their tastes. So in addition to standing with Rand, I hope you'll help Team Mitch today," McConnell continues in the fundraising email.

President Obama and his congressional allies are "out" for Paul, McConnell added.

"You and I know that I am their number one target this year. They want me to pay for standing up to them. They want to control the agenda and the power in Congress," McConnell said.

McConnell said Obama has put a "target" on his back and is likely to start planning to push Paul out of the Senate as well.

"President Obama has put a huge target on my back and will no doubt soon start eyeing Rand as well," McConnell concludes in the email.

Among Democrats, actress Ashley Judd has signaled strong interest in challenging McConnell. Tea Partyer Matt Bevin is also considering a challenge to McConnell.

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Behind Every GOP Governor Cooperating With Obamacare Is An Industry Lobby Profiting From Obamacare

Another GOP governor has pledged to go ahead with Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion, and once again, industry was standing right there with him. AP reports on West Virginia:

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — West Virginia will expand Medicaid as called for by the federal health care overhaul, through a plan unveiled Thursday by Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin that would extend coverage to an estimated 91,500 uninsured low-income residents….

U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., joined Tomblin for Thursday’s announcement at Charleston’s St. Francis Hospital along with chief executives of several hospital systems. Expanding Medicaid is expected to help the state’s hospitals, which face a scheduled in federal reimbursement payments, by providing coverage to thousands of residents now treated at hospitals without compensation as charity care. The financial analysis cites studies estimating the annual savings to hospitals at $20 million to $30 million.

The same thing is happening in Ohio and Missouri. In Idaho, the GOP governor and legislature decided to build an Obamacare exchange thanks to industry pressure.

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Awash In Record Profits, Corporations Shift Even More To Offshore Tax Havens

Even as American corporations are raking in record profits, the largest among them are shifting larger amounts of money away from the United States and into offshore tax havens that allow them to pad their bottom lines even more, according to multiple analyses of legal filings made since the beginning of 2013.

The Wall Street Journal found that the 60 largest companies moved $166 billion offshore in 2012, shielding 40 percent of their earnings from American taxes and costing the U.S. billions in lost revenue:

The amount of money at stake is significant, particularly when the U.S. budget deficit is high on the political agenda. Just 19 of the 60 companies in the Journal’s survey disclose the tax hit they could face if they brought the money back to their U.S. parent. Those companies say they might have to pay $98 billion in additional tax—more than the $85 billion in automatic-spending cuts triggered this month after the White House and Congress couldn’t agree on an alternative.

A similar analysis from Bloomberg found that 83 of the largest American companies moved $183 billion overseas in 2012, bringing the total offshore to $1.46 trillion for those 83 companies alone. Most of the companies, like Apple, Microsoft, and Yahoo, have set up subsidiaries in low-tax countries like Bermuda, Ireland, and the Cayman Islands specifically to receive tax benefits. That has ramifications for states, which lost $42 billion in revenue to corporate tax dodging in the last three years alone, and taxpayers and small businesses, who often have to pick up the tab.

And while the debate over corporate tax reform has flared again in Washington, the favorite reform of Republicans and corporate lobbying groups would only exacerbate the problem, making it easier for corporations to push even more money overseas at the expense of revenue and investment that could be made in the United States.

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