By Charles Ornstein/ProPublica

You aren’t alone if you’re confused about the deadline to sign up for coverage on the health insurance marketplaces. The deadline is – and has been – in flux.

When the process began in October, consumers using HealthCare.gov, the federal marketplace for 36 states, had until Dec. 15 to pick a plan if they wanted coverage that begins Jan. 1. But because of the well-publicized glitches with the website, federal officials last month extended that deadline until Dec. 23.

Then, last week, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services sought to delay another key deadline, the date by which consumers have to pay their first month’s premium. As it stood, payments had to be received before coverage began (so, by Dec. 31), but HHS asked insurers to be flexible.

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Posted on December 20, 2013

By Leamington Books

A song for jailed American journalist Barrett Brown, to the tune of “Hurricane” by Bob Dylan. Please help Barrett’s legal defense if you are able. In doing so you will be positively affecting the outcome of an important case. #RightToLink

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Posted on December 19, 2013

By The ACLU

You better watch out,
You better not Skype,
You better log out,
Yeah, you better not type,
The NSA is coming to town.

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Posted on December 18, 2013

By Ed Hammer

Last Sunday was a day full of irony. NBC Chicago reported that U.S. Congressman Bobby Rush invited George Ryan, a convicted felon and dishonored Illinois governor, to speak at a service at Rush’s church honoring the recently deceased international hero of human rights, Nelson Mandela. Both Ryan and Mandela spent time in prison. Mandela spent 27 years locked up for seeking justice for the citizens of South Africa. Ryan spent five years in a federal facility for obstructing justice, but that is not the irony I am thinking of.

Yes, Ryan has paid his debt, and in the spirit of Mandela, one should be forgiving to those who have caused one harm, but this is Illinois. It is not unusual for our convicted politicians to rise to a level of celebrity while others continue business as usual.

Take, for instance, Ryan’s newfound friend. Last week the Sun-Times reported that he sponsored a million-dollar grant for a technology project in the Englewood neighborhood. The project never got off the ground and now the money is unaccounted for. Doesn’t Rush have some duty to to assure that the money is or was responsibly spent? To me, what is ironic is that Rush invited a convicted felon known for abusing taxpayer money to speak at Rush’s church so soon after the Sun-Times report.

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Posted on December 17, 2013

By Steve Rhodes

Updated on 12/16 as indicated.

“In 2000, in the midst of a bruising but ultimately successful Democratic primary campaign against then-state Sen. Barack Obama, U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) launched a nonprofit with a stated mission of reviving the violence-plagued Englewood neighborhood,” the Better Government Association reports.

“Called the Rebirth of Englewood Community Development Corp., the group soon found a generous benefactor in the telecommunications industry: SBC – now called AT&T – donated $1 million toward the creation of a “technology center” that would provide advanced computer training to residents and serve as a small-business incubator in a community with few other entrepreneurial opportunities.

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Posted on December 13, 2013

By Charles Ornstein/ProPublica

When HealthCare.gov and some state-run insurance marketplaces ran into trouble with their websites in October and November, they urged consumers to submit paper applications. Now, it’s time to process all that paper. And with the deadline to enroll in health plans less than two weeks away, there’s growing concern that some of these applications won’t be processed in time.

The Associated Press reported last week that federal officials are now advising navigators – groups paid to assist consumers with enrollment – not to use paper applications anymore, if they can help it.

“We received guidance from the feds recommending that folks apply online as opposed to paper,” said Mike Claffey, spokesman for the Illinois Department of Insurance.

After a conference call earlier this week with federal health officials, Illinois health officials sent a memo Thursday to their roughly 1,600 navigators saying there is no way to complete enrollment through a paper application. The memo, which Claffey said was based on guidance from federal officials, said paper applications should be used only if other means aren’t available.

Federal health officials also discussed the issue during a conference call Wednesday with navigators and certified counselors in several states.

“They’ve said do not use paper applications because they won’t be able to process them anywhere near in time,” said John Foley, attorney and certified counselor for Legal Aid Society of Palm Beach County, who was on the call.

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Posted on December 13, 2013

By Charles Ornstein/ProPublica

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced Thursday that nearly 365,000 Americans had signed up for private health insurance under Obamacare. The vast majority came from 14 states running their own insurance exchanges, while 137,000 came by way of HealthCare.gov, the much-faulted federal Web site that handles enrollment for the remaining states.

But amid the rush to enroll as many people as possible by the Dec. 23 deadline, there’s a huge caveat that isn’t getting much public attention: For coverage to take effect on Jan. 1, enrollees must pay their first month’s premium on time. (The deadline varies somewhat by state and by insurer.)

That’s slow going, according to consultants and some insurers, raising the prospect that actual enrollment will be far lower than the figures HHS is releasing.

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Posted on December 12, 2013

By Cora Currier/ProPublica

As ProPublica reported this fall, the Obama administration is rolling back limits on some U.S. arms exports. Experts are concerned that the changes could result in military parts flowing more freely to the world’s conflict zones, and that arms sanctions against Iran and other countries will be harder to enforce.
Now, some in Congress are seeking to add back some oversight mechanisms lost in the overhaul – over opposition from the administration.

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Posted on December 10, 2013

Plus: Royko On Mandela

Sun-Times editorial, July 18, 1986:

A top White House official this week told a reporter that President Reagan is unlikely to agree to economic sanctions as a weapon against South Africa’s apartheid policies because, among other things, the women of America might have to “give up their jewelry.”
It’s time.
It’s time for the president and his administration to exercise the moral leadership of the highest office of the nation that is supposed to embody the ideals found in the Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights.
It’s time for the president and his administration not only to start saying the right things but doing the right things.
We have been strong supporters of Reagan’s policies toward South Africa, in the belief that constructive engagement would be the most peaceful, fair and effective way leading to the abolition of the hated apartheid policies.
We shared the White House’s stated concern that heavy-handed economic sanctions would most injure those whom we should be saving from the horrors of apartheid – the blacks of South Africa.
This latest blunder by a White House aide only makes us wonder: How well does this administration understand the frustration of an entire nation of people? How well does it understand the frustration of people of good will in our own nation who are trying to push stronger policies to end apartheid? What are the administration’s own motives and intentions?

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Posted on December 6, 2013

By David Morris

Schools have a lot to learn from business about how to improve performance, declared Bill Gates in an Op-Ed in the Wall Street Journal in 2011. He pointed to his own company as a worthy model for public schools.
“At Microsoft, we believed in giving our employees the best chance to succeed, and then we insisted on success,” Gates said. “We measured excellence, rewarded those who achieved it and were candid with those who did not.”
Adopting the Microsoft model means public schools grading teachers, rewarding the best and being “candid,” that is, firing those who are deemed ineffective. “If you do that,” Gates promised Oprah Winfrey, “then we go from being basically at the bottom of the rich countries [in education performance] to being back at the top.”

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Posted on December 5, 2013