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    Republicans are still gunning for Obamacare -- and Georgia's GOP governor has a new scheme to help the party destroy it

    Sarah Okeson, DCReport @ RawStory
    November 10, 2020

    Thanks for your support!

    This article was paid for by reader donations to Raw Story Investigates.

    Brian Kemp and Donald Trump (Photo via White House)

    This article was paid for by Raw Story subscribers. Not a subscriber? Try us and go ad-free for $1. Prefer to give a one-time tip? Click here.

    Sarah Okeson, DCReport @ RawStory

    Team Trump hasn’t been able to kill off Obamacare yet, even with stacking our nation’s courts, so at least one Republican governor will make it more difficult for people to buy health insurance.


    Brian Kemp, Georgia’s Republican governor who bungled his state’s response to the pandemic, has received federal approval to cut off access in 2023 to HealthCare.gov, the easy-to-use online marketplace where citizens can buy insurance under the Affordable Care Act, and replace it with a private enrollment system.

    As a result, about 60,000 people in the state are likely to lose health insurance.

    The scheme, which will affect people shopping for insurance in the fall 2022 enrollment period, was approved by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), which, despite widespread opposition, is encouraging other states to follow suit.

    “I am a doctor, and I hear about my patients’ struggles to get good health insurance coverage every day,” an Atlanta physician wrote the CMS. “. . .changing the way that Georgians enroll in health care will add even more barriers and make it harder for people to enroll.”

    HHS Secretary Alex Azar and David Kautter, an assistant Treasurer secretary, encouraged states to apply for federal waivers for some of the requirements of the Affordable Care Act. Kautter, who looked the other way while his former employer Ernst & Young set up an illegal tax-shelter scheme, helped rewrite the rules for waivers so states could promote plans that don’t have some of the consumer protections required under the Affordable Care Act.

    Kemp’s plan could play a role in which party ends up with a majority in the U.S. Senate as Georgia residents vote in the run-off elections in January.

    High Numbers Without Insurance

    Georgia, which has the third-highest rate of people without health insurance in our nation, used that waiver program to cut off access to HealthCare.Gov. When people use the web site, they have to say what state they live in to buy insurance, and people can only buy insurance through the site if they live in one of the states that use it. Thirteen other states have state-based marketplaces, but Georgia will be relying on private industry.

    “Approval of the state’s waiver will usher in a groundswell of healthcare innovation that will deliver lower costs, better care, and more choice to Georgians in the individual market,” said Seema Verma, the administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

    Critics have said the Georgia plan is illegal because the Affordable Care Act requires state waivers to not result in people losing coverage. The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments Tuesday in a case brought by Republican state officials trying to destroy the Affordable Care Act.

    Campaign Contributions

    Kemp received $272,600 from the insurance industry in his 2018 campaign for governor.

    Georgia claims it will be able to increase the number of people covered by insurance by 25,000 “through improved customer service, outreach, and education provided by the private market.”In the 2020 plan year, at least 16 insurers and web brokers sold on federal marketplace in Georgia.

    Other states that changed how insurance was sold online for the Affordable Care Act had big drops. Kentucky’s marketplace enrollment fell 13% when it changed to the federal marketplace in 2017 compared to a 4% decline nationally. Nevada’s enrollment fell 7% for the 2020 plan year after it switched to a state-based marketplace, compared to flat enrollment nationally.

    Similar declines in Georgia could mean 25,000 to 46,000 fewer people in marketplace enrollment. Many Georgians could also lose Medicaid coverage which they enroll in through HealthCare.gov. In 2020, at least 38,000 Georgians enrolled in Medicaid through the federal marketplace.

    Kemp’s insurance initiative helps insurers who have a financial incentive to sell inadequate policies.

    Short-term plans often pay higher commissions, up to 10 times as much as plans that follow the rules of the Affordable Care Act.  One of the most popular short-term plans in Atlanta offered no coverage of prescription drugs, mental health services or maternity care.

    This article was paid for by Raw Story subscribers. Not a subscriber? Try us and go ad-free for $1. Prefer to give a one-time tip? Click here.

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    Survey: Should Donald Trump be prosecuted after he leaves office?

    Biden allows Dr. Fauci to finally speak the truth about the science of COVID-19

    Agence France-Presse
    January 21, 2021

    In his first White House briefing as President Joe Biden's top advisor on Covid-19, Anthony Fauci said it was "liberating" that he could focus on science without fear of repercussion now that Donald Trump had left office.

    The top infectious disease scientist was briefing reporters Thursday on the state of the US outbreak that has claimed more than 408,000 lives.

    Asked to compare his experience under the previous administration to the new one, the 80-year-old responded a little coyly at first, saying he wasn't sure he could "extrapolate" based on first impressions.

    "But one of the things that was very clear as recently as about 15 minutes ago, when I was with the president, is that one of the things that we're going to do is to be completely transparent, open and honest.

    "If things go wrong, not point fingers but to correct them and to make everything we do be based on science and evidence."

    Toward the end of Thursday's briefing, Fauci was asked by another reporter to expand on his "jokes" about the differences in the management styles between the two leaders.

    "I was very serious about it, I wasn't joking," he said, laughing.

    "Obviously I don't want to be going back over history, but it was very clear that there were things that were said, be it regarding things like hydroxychloroquine and other things like that -- that really was uncomfortable because they were not based on scientific fact."

    He added he took no pleasure in having to contradict the president and that "it was really something that you didn't feel that you could actually say something, and there wouldn't be any repercussions about it."

    "The idea that you can get up here and talk about what you know. What the evidence, what the science is, and know that's it -- let the science speak -- it is somewhat of a liberating feeling."

    Fauci's honest takes on America's failures to get to grips with its epidemic brought him into conflict with Trump, who repeatedly declared premature victory over the virus, equivocated on mask use and lockdowns, and pushed unfounded miracle cures.

    Trump eventually banished the respected scientist from the White House and took to attacking him on Twitter.

    WATCH: Daily Show mocks QAnon Congresswoman for the ‘GOP Unity and Healing Act of 2021’

    Sarah K. Burris
    January 21, 2021

    "The Daily Show" strikes again. New QAnon Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene was ridiculed by the Trevor Noah show on Twitter Thursday after she filed impeachment charges against President Joe Biden citing a conspiracy theory.

    Greene, relied on an internet belief that as vice president, Biden blackmailed Ukraine, saying that if they didn't fire their corrupt prosecutor that they wouldn't get much needed international aid. The policy wasn't Biden's idea or even his decision, it was an issue that the global community faced and a stance by the administration. Biden was the enforcer.

    Greene, who's never served in elected office was ridiculed online for embarrassing herself and the GOP. The Daily Show noted that the impeachment must be part of the Republican Party's attempt at unity and healing.

    Ah this must be the GOP Unity and Healing Act of 2021 https://t.co/eGtE81O45E
    — The Daily Show (@The Daily Show)1611263764.0

    Women would live with both Trump and Epstein — at the same time: report

    Sarah K. Burris
    January 21, 2021

    An excerpt from American Kompromat by Craig Unger, out Jan. 26, details the "epic bromance" between President Donald Trump and accused pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, Vanity Fair reported.

    Describing how Trump became friends of Epstein through his girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell, the story explains that Epstein and Trump would frequently share young women.

    "Trump was often the center of Maxwell's attention, and women who entered Trump's orbit sometimes ended up being associated with both Trump and Epstein, spending part of their time living in a Trump Tower condo and part in Florida, at Mar-a-Lago or one of Epstein's homes."

    The book also quoted a September 2016 deposition that Epstein was forced to give. He was asked if he ever socialized with Trump in the presence of girls under the age of 18. Epstein took the Fifth.

    "Trump Model Management allegedly indulged in many of the dubious practices that MC2 did, such as violating immigration laws and illegally employing young foreign girls," the book says. "Three former Trump models, all noncitizens of the U.S., told Mother Jones in 2016 that Trump Model Management profited by using foreign models who came to the United States on tourist visas that did not allow them to work here. And two of the former models said that Trump's agency suggested they lie on customs forms about where they planned to live. All of which meant they were perpetually scared of getting caught and pretty much at the mercy of the agency."

    The book notes that it's ironic given Trump's immigration stance. To be fair, Epstein and Trump's relationship being ignored by his voters is also ironic given the conspiracy theories his supporters perpetuate about Democrats and underage sex crimes. Perhaps if Epstein operated in the basement of a pizza parlor.

    Epstein even claimed to have introduced Trump to Melania, who ultimately became the first lady. Neither has confirmed or denied the relationship.

    The men had a falling out when Epstein tried to buy a mansion in Palm Beach and Trump decided that he wanted it. Trump outbid Epstein over and over, ultimately paying $125 million for the property. He never even stayed in it and later sold it at a loss to Russian oligarch Dmitry Rybolovlev for a reported $96 million in 2008.

    Read the excerpt of the book at Vanity Fair and it will be on sale Jan. 26.

     
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