By Charles Ornstein/ProPublica

Kaiser Permanente’s decision to cancel the insurance policies of lifelong Democrats Lee Hammack and JoEllen Brothers generated a flood of interest.
The couple, supporters of President Obama, may have to spend twice as much next year for a health insurance plan that has fewer benefits than the plan they have.
Kaiser explained to them, and to me, that their plan didn’t meet the requirements of the Affordable Care Act and therefore had to be canceled.
But how could it be, many readers wondered, that the seemingly inferior plan offered for next year met the requirements of the act while the richer one they currently have does not?

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Posted on November 8, 2013

By Charles Ornstein/ProPublica

San Francisco architect Lee Hammack says he and his wife, JoEllen Brothers, are “cradle Democrats.”
They have donated to the liberal group Organizing for America and worked the phone banks a year ago for President Obama’s re-election.
Since 1995, Hammack and Brothers have received their health coverage from Kaiser Permanente, where Brothers worked until 2009 as a dietician and diabetes educator.
“We’ve both been in very good health all of our lives – exercise, don’t smoke, drink lightly, healthy weight, no health issues, and so on,” Hammack told me.
The couple – Lee, 60, and JoEllen, 59 – have been paying $550 a month for their health coverage – a plan that offers solid coverage, not one of the skimpy plans Obama has criticized.
But recently, Kaiser informed them the plan would be canceled at the end of the year because it did not meet the requirements of the Affordable Care Act. The couple would need to find another one. The cost would be around double what they pay now, but the benefits would be worse.

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Posted on November 7, 2013

Compare and Contrast

At least our mayor doesn’t smoke crack, though sometimes it sure seems like he’s on it.
Rahm: Noted fundraiser.
Rob: Noted funraiser.
Rahm: Closed 50 schools.
Rob: Smoked 50 bowls.
Rahm: Born with silver spoon in his mouth.
Rob: Born with silver spoon on his Bunsen burner.
Rahm: The fix is in.
Rob: Needs a fix.

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Posted on November 6, 2013

By Cora Currier/ProPublica

Nearly six months ago, President Obama promised more transparency and tighter policies around targeted killings.
In a speech, Obama vowed that the U.S. would only use force against a “continuing and imminent threat to the American people.” It would fire only when there was “near-certainty” civilians would not be killed or injured, and when capture was not feasible.
The number of drone strikes has dropped this year, but they’ve continued to make headlines.
On Friday, a U.S. drone killed the head of the Pakistani Taliban. A few days earlier came the first drone strike in Somalia in nearly two years.
How much has changed since the president’s speech?

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Posted on November 6, 2013