House Republicans Elect New Leadership | Obamacare Trainwreck Continues with Reports fro Iowa, Michigan, D.C.

Today in Washington, D.C. - June 20, 2014:
The Senate is not in session today and will reconvene on Monday at 2 PM. On Monday at 5:30, the Senate will vote on cloture on the nominations of four district judges: three for Florida, and one for Vermont.

Last night, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) pulled an appropriations bill from the Senate floor after Reid and Democrats once again refused to allow an open and free amendment process.

Also yesterday the Senate voted 54-38 to confirm Gustavo Aguilar to be an Assistant Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. In addition, Brian A. Nichols and Christine E. Wormuth were confirmed to be, respectively, Ambassador to Peru and Under Secretary of Defense for Policy by voice vote.

The House reconvened today at 9 AM. The House will continue its debate and amendment process on H.R. 4870 — "Making appropriations for the Department of Defense for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2015, and for other purposes." In stark contract to the leadership of Sen. Harry Reid in the U.S. Senate, House Speaker Boehner allows debates and votes on bills considered in the House of Representatives. At 12:32 Pm the House passed 340-73 HR 4870.

The House adjourned at 1:14 PM. The House is scheduled to reconvene at 12:00 PM on Monday June 23, 2014.

Yesterday, House Republicans elected new leadership.  The Washington Times reports, "House Republicans chose Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California to be their new majority leader Thursday and elected Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana to succeed him as majority whip, giving conservatives a staunch advocate on the GOP leadership team. Both men were elected handily, with each winning on the first ballot ..." Scalise has been the chair of the conservative Republican Study Committee and his election to Majority Whip easily defeating two other Republicans Rep. Peter J. Roskam (IL), a chief deputy whip, and Rep. Marlin A. Stutzman (IN) signaled conservative Republicans that their voices are making a difference.

Though there are many important issues dominating the news this week, the failures of Obamacare roll on under the radar.

The Des Moines Register reports today, “The state's largest provider of health insurance wants to raise premium rates for about 250,000 policyholders in Iowa and 82,000 in South Dakota. Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield told the Register today that it is seeking to raise rates next year in Iowa by less than 5.9 percent for a vast majority of its individual and small business insurance policies. Of the 253,000 Iowans affected, 92 percent would see a rate increase of less than 5.9 percent, according to numbers provided by Wellmark. . . . For the remaining 7.5 percent – those who have post-Affordable Care Act plans for individuals under 65 – Wellmark is asking for a rate increase between 11 percent and 14.5 percent. . . . Post-ACA means consumers purchased the policies after the health care law went into effect, meaning they are not grandfathered in and must abide by the ACA's new regulations. . . . Wellmark also said today that it will not join the government's health care exchange, marking the second year in a row it has declined to go on the exchange. The insurer said it decided not to go on the exchange in 2015 due in part to challenges the system has faced, such as its rocky rollout that started in October.”

The DMR notes, Wellmark’s “request to raise rates in 2015 comes less than a week after two other providers -- CoOportunity Health and Coventry Health Care – said they are also seeking rate increases. CoOportunity is seeking to raise premiums by 14.3 percent and Coventry is seeking an average rate increase of 8.7 percent across the carriers' various plans.” The paper pointed out earlier this week that those two companies “are the two main Iowa carriers selling insurance on the government's new online marketplace, which is a key part of the Affordable Care Act.”

Meanwhile, WXMI in Grand Rapids, Michigan, reports Hospice of Holland has announced that it is no longer accepting patients and will shortly be forced to shut down, thanks in part to Obamacare. An anchor summarizes, “The executive director says that decision was made to offset the financial losses partly because of the Affordable Care Act.” The executive director explained to reporter Jessica McMaster, “The biggest issue under the Affordable Care Act is…that we’re going to see cuts in reimbursement- it’s going to be at least 12 percent. We projected out what those cuts are going to do to the organization long term and we realized that in a short period of time, we’re going to be pulling money from our savings in order to keep the house open.” “With this information before them, the board of directors voted to shut down Hospice House,” McMaster adds.

And even in Washington, DC, according to The Washington Post, “Consumers who signed up for private health insurance through the District’s new insurance marketplace are experiencing lengthy delays in getting coverage, in some cases two to three months long, because of problems processing their applications, according to residents and enrollment personnel. In some cases, delays are forcing people without insurance to postpone doctor and dental visits. . . . Mark Andersen, his wife, Tulin Ozdeger, and their two children enrolled in a CareFirst medical plan and another company’s dental plan in mid-March, well before the April 30 deadline. They expected to receive notice of coverage from CareFirst and an invoice for the first month’s premium. Instead, the family received clearly erroneous communications by mail and e-mail from D.C. Health Link, the District’s health insurance exchange. One said the 9-month-old daughter was not eligible for health coverage because she was incarcerated. Another asked that they provide documents to prove their Native American heritage, even though no such claims were made in their application. For weeks, D.C. Health Link told Andersen and Ozdeger that the application had been sent to CareFirst. CareFirst said it didn’t have it. They turned to their council member’s office for help. Finally, on May 29, they received word that their application had made it to the insurer. . . . Ozdeger said she and her husband never found out what caused the delays. ‘I can’t imagine what it must be like for other people’ who are also waiting for coverage, she said. ‘How in the world are they ever going to get their insurance?’ The family is still without dental coverage. But Ozdeger, 41, said she can’t postpone a trip to the dentist any longer because she needs to have a filling replaced.”

The Post writes, “Insurers suggest the problems are occurring at the exchange. . . . The enrollment records generated by online health insurance exchanges have been a major concern to insurers since last year. . . . In the District, information does not seem to be reaching the insurer in some instances, or it is being transmitted with flawed data. Robert Laszewski, a health industry consultant, said he doesn’t know what the specific problems are in the District. But applications that take longer than three weeks for insurers to process indicate that something is wrong. When more than one insurer is experiencing delays, ‘that suggests the problem is with the exchange’s ability to get enrollment data to the insurers.’”

Obamacare is a mess. It needs to be repealed so this country can start over with some real reforms to health care instead of the boondoggle of Washington regulations and broken promises that is Democrats’ unpopular law.

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