476,000 ObamaCare applications filed out of estimated 19 million that visited HealthCare.gov

WASHINGTON –  Administration officials say about 476,000 health insurance applications have been filed through federal and state exchanges, the most detailed measure yet of the problem-plagued rollout of President Barack Obama's signature legislation.
However, the officials continue to refuse to say how many people have actually enrolled in the insurance markets. Without enrollment figures, it's unclear whether the program is on track to reach the 7 million people projecting by the Congressional Budget Office to gain coverage during the six-month sign-up period.
Obama's advisers say the president has been frustrated by the flawed rollout. During one of his daily health care briefings last week, he told advisers assembled in the Oval Office that the administration had to own up to the fact that there were no excuses for not having the website ready to operate as promised.
The president is expected to address the problems on Monday during a health care event at the White House. Cabinet members and other top administration officials will also be traveling around the country in the coming weeks to encourage sign-ups in areas with the highest population of uninsured people.
The first three weeks of sign-ups have been marred by a cascade of computer problems, which the administration says it is working around the clock to correct. The rough rollout has been a glaring embarrassment for Obama, who invested significant time and political capital in getting the law passed during his first term.
The officials said technology experts from inside and outside the government are set to work on the glitches, though they did not say how many workers were being added.
Officials did say staffing has been increased at call centers by about 50 percent. As problems persist on the federally run website, the administration is encouraging more people to sign up for insurance over the phone.
The officials did not want to be cited by name and would not discuss the health insurance rollout unless they were granted anonymity.
Despite the widespread problems, the Obama administration has yet to fully explain what went wrong with the online system consumers were supposed to use to sign up for coverage.
Initially, administration officials blamed a high volume of interest for the frozen screens that many people encountered. Since then, the administration has also acknowledged unspecified problems with software and some elements of the system's design.
Interest in the insurance markets appears to continue to be high. Officials said about 19 million people had visited HealthCare.gov as of Friday night.
People seeking insurance must fill out applications before selecting specific plans. The applications include personal information, including income figures that are used to calculate any subsidies the applicant may qualify for.
More than one person can be included on an application.
Of the 476,000 applications that have been started, just over half have been from the 36 states where the federal government is taking the lead in running the markets. (Nanny States) The rest of the applications have come from the 14 states running their own markets, along with Washington, D.C.
The White House says it plans to release the first enrollment totals from both the federal and state-run markets in mid-November.
An internal memo obtained by The Associated Press showed that the administration projected nearly a half-million people would enroll for the insurance markets during the first month.
Officials say they expect enrollments to be heavier toward the end of the six-month sign-up window.
In an ironic twist, the problems with the rollout were overshadowed by Republican efforts to get changes to the health care law in exchange for funding the government. That effort failed and the government reopened last week with the health care law intact.
Stung by that defeat, some Republicans are now calling for the resignation of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. The White House says it has complete confidence in her.
House Republicans have scheduled a hearing next week to look into the rollout problems. White House allies say they're confident the problems are being addressed.
"There's no question the marketplace website needs some improvement," said Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., one of the architects of the law. "The administration needs to fix the computer bugs and I'm confident that they're working around the clock to fix the problems."

Back To Work

Chinese Rating Agency Cuts US Sovereign Credit Rating

Bailey Comment: It just shows you what America has sunk to when a frigging communist country like china can downgrade our credit rating. Everyone in America should be ashamed of themselves especially our government,  I know I am.  Read the article below

A Chinese ratings agency cut its credit rating for U.S. sovereign debt by one notch to A-minus from A on Thursday, saying a deal struck by Congress to raise the government's borrowing ceiling failed to solve the cause of its debt problem.

Dagong Global Credit Rating said that the temporary fix of the debt issue would not defuse the fundamental conundrum of the U.S. fiscal deficit or improve repayment ability in the long-term, but could trigger defaults at any time in the future.

"The deal means only an escape from a debt default for the time being, but hasn't changed the fact that the growth of government borrowing has largely outpaced overall economic growth and fiscal revenues," China's biggest home-grown ratings agency said in a statement.

Editor’s Note: Obama’s Budget Takes Aim at Retired Americans

The U.S. Congress on Wednesday approved an 11th-hour deal to end a partial government shutdown and pull the world's biggest economy back from the brink of a historic debt default that could have threatened financial calamity.

Dagong said the increase in the debt ceiling, for the fifth time since President Obama took office in 2009, provided further proof of the U.S. government's inability to make improvements to fiscal fundamentals that were needed to enhance its debt servicing capability.

It said it held a negative outlook for the United States, noting that the Federal Reserve continued to inject dollars into the market through quantitative easing policies, eroding the value of the outstanding debt and hurting creditors' interests.

The downgrade put the United States several notches below Dagong's top rating and on par with Brazil, Israel and Panama, among others.

Dagong's ratings are barely watched outside of China, and major international credit agencies classify most countries very differently from the Chinese agency.

Dagong estimated that the U.S.'s foreign creditors could have suffered an estimated loss of $628.5 billion between 2008 and 2012 due to a weakening of the U.S. dollar.

China, sitting on the largest stockpile of foreign exchange reserves in the world, is the biggest holder of U.S. treasuries.

Dagong's views do not necessarily represent the Chinese government's stance, however, its analysis often runs in tandem with remarks from government officials.

China's Vice Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao had earlier urged the U.S. government to take "concrete steps" to resolve the fiscal cliff issue and meet its responsibility to uphold stability of international financial markets.

A commentary on the official Xinhua news agency on Thursday took the two main U.S. political parties to task for "brinkmanship".

"The saga in Washington is teaching America's creditors a lesson: U.S. politicians are ready to fight each other at the expense of debt-holders' interests and U.S. Treasury bonds may no longer be safe investment," the commentary said.

The commentary does not reflect official policy but is an insight into views held at the top levels.

Fitch Ratings said on Tuesday it had placed a negative outlook over its AAA rating for the United States due to the political brinkmanship. Moody's Investors Service rates the United States at Aaa, while Standard & Poor's rates it at AA-plus.

Read Latest Breaking News from Newsmax.com http://www.newsmax.com/Markets/China-Rating-Agency-Credit-Rating-United-States/2013/10/17/id/531546?ns_mail_uid=5689450&ns_mail_job=1542308_10182013&promo_code=1538F-1#ixzz2iD4yLfKL
Urgent: Should Obamacare Be Repealed? Vote Here Now!

Design a product that doesn't work, force everyone to buy it!

Furloughed government workers could be paid twice in Oregon

 Bailey Comment: The government is just a great big money pit! A small example is the article below.


Some federal workers who were furloughed in Oregon could be getting paid twice, with a state official confirming to Fox News that those workers who received state unemployment benefits during the partial government shutdown will not have to re-pay the money.
The spokesman for WorkSource Oregon Employment Department said the workers received at most a week’s worth of unemployment benefits. The spokesman said he did not know how many workers received the benefits.
He confirmed that furloughed federal workers in the state do not have to re-pay the state unemployment benefits.
The employees will receive double pay because the budget bill approved by Congress provides that all furloughed government workers will receive back pay for the days they did not work under the partial government shutdown.
Richard Hobble of the National Association of State Workforce Agencies told Fox News Oct. 11 that if federal employees receive double payment, the states should require them to re-pay the unemployment benefits once they received back pay.
“The states will be expected to collect back from the claimants who received those benefits when in fact they were compensated for those weeks,” he said.
During the partial shutdown, a third of the new unemployment claims filed in New Mexico came from federal workers. It was not clear if they would also be paid twice under the budget agreement provision if their claims were approved.
Washington D.C. and Maryland also both paid millions in unemployment benefits to about 24,000 furloughed workers during the budget crisis.

Vote breakdown: How lawmakers voted on the budget deal

SENATORS:
Voting yes were 52 Democrats, 27 Republicans and 2 independents.
Voting no were 0 Democrats and 18 Republicans.


HOUSE MEMBERS:
Voting yes were 198 Democrats and 87 Republicans. Voting no were 0 Democrats and 144 Republicans.

Todd Starnes: American taxpayers betrayed by chicken-hearted RINOs

American taxpayers have once again been trampled by establishment Republicans – a thundering herd of chicken-hearted Republicans in Name Only (RINOs) galloping to the Left.
The debt ceiling deal struck between Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is a victory for President Obama and Democrats.
ObamaCare is still the law of the land. The government is still spending money it does not have. And thousands of government workers just got a two-week vacation courtesy of the taxpayers.
I’m sure we will hear establishment apologists calling the events of recent days a compromise. But seeing how the president refused to compromise, it’s more likely the Grand Old Party was the only one bending.
Establishment Republicans always talk about doing the right thing for the nation, no matter the price. But when push comes to shove, they always throw in the towel. And Wednesday, McConnell and his band of merry moderates heaved their towels in an epic demonstration of lily-livered cowardice.
But you’ve got to hand it to Sen. Ted Cruz for standing his ground. He held the line and ultimately paid the price. His good name was smeared by Democrats as well as McConnell’s band – most notably Sens. John McCain, Lindsey Graham and Bob Corker.
This band of bullies brushed aside Ronald Reagan’s 11th commandment – the one about not speaking ill of any fellow Republican. If only the moderates debated Democrats with the same ferocity reserved for conservatives.
“The nastier they get, the more it demonstrates how scared they are of the American people holding every elected official accountable,” Cruz told me in a telephone call Wednesday afternoon. “It’s not surprising the Washington establishment pushes back. We knew when we took on the Washington establishment that it would fight back.”
Sen. Cruz told me Wednesday was not a good day for America.
“Today’s deal is a classic example of the Washington establishment turning a blind eye to the American people,” he said.  “It does nothing for all of the young people coming out of college right now who can’t find jobs because of ObamaCare. It does nothing for all the single parents forced into part time work who can’t feed their kids on 29 hours a week.”
The gentleman from Texas had nothing but praise for the House of Representatives. He said they held the line. They stood strong for the American people. The Senate is another matter.
“The outcome of this fight would have been very, very different if only Senate Republicans had made the decision to stand and fight alongside House Republicans,” he said. “That didn’t happen. That was the critical piece.”
Rush Limbaugh told his millions of listeners that the GOP has been hoodwinked.
“I have never seen a major political party simply occupy placeholders, as the Republican Party is doing,” he said on his national radio program.
“There hasn't been any opposition, not any serious opposition.  There may have been votes against this or that, votes against ObamaCare. There may have been votes against the stimulus, but in terms of a package of policies, a package of principled beliefs, of opposition expressed daily by party leaders against what's happening in this country, there hasn't been.
Wednesday’s  epic surrender was much like King Arthur in “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” hollering, “Run away, run away.”
I can imagine the minstrel strumming a lyre in the middle of the Rotunda, warbling, “Brave McConnell ran away. When Obama reared his liberal head, he bravely turned his tail and fled. Yes, Brave Sir McConnell turned about and valiantly, he chickened out.”
Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin took lawmakers from both political parties to task on her Facebook page.
“When life gives you lemons, at this point make margaritas,” she wrote in an essay titled, “Thanks a Lot for Caving, Politicians."
“Caving on debt could drive one to drink.”
South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham still appears to be distressed that conservative lawmakers would actually follow through on their campaign promises and represent the interests of the people.
“This has been a very bad two weeks for the Republican brand,” he said.
What about the American brand, sir? Is anybody in Washington concerned about that?

Budget Cartoon