Obama: Feds will take over INS from States 4 obamacare

[revelarts]

"If the President does it then it's Not illegal"


n a move that reminiscent of the tyrannical actions of Abraham Lincoln that led to the War of Northern Aggression, Barack Obama says that he will not wait on states to enforce Obamacare. Instead his administration has announced its intent is to completely disregard the state’s Tenth Amendment rights to nullification of the Obamacare law, via their passed legislation and state constitutions. In fact, his administration has said that in states where they refuse to comply with federal healthcare mandates that agents from the Department of Health and Human Services will assume absolute control over the state’s health insurance industry. Politico reports, (http://beforeitsnews.com/r2/?url=http://www.politico.com/story/2013/03/feds-must-enforce-aca-reforms-in-four-states-89041.html)

Insurance regulation is a huge responsibility that’s been closely guarded by the states. That’s why the Obama administration and those closely watching the rollout of Obamacare believe that even states that have sworn off the law’s coverage expansions will still enforce its new measures — including new benefit mandates, cost-sharing guidelines and rules on how insurers rate customers — to retain control over their health insurance markets.
But the feds will be overseeing the health care law in Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas and Wyoming after those states told HHS they couldn’t or wouldn’t implement the new rules.
“We are enforcing because Oklahoma notified … that it has not enacted legislation to enforce or that it is otherwise not enforcing the Affordable Care Act market reform provisions,” Gary Cohen, director of the federal Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight, wrote to the Oklahoma Insurance Department on Friday. Officials in Missouri, Texas and Wyoming received similar letters, an agency spokeswoman said.
The enforcement letters come a little more than a month after a Commonwealth Fund report found just 11 states and Washington had started to adjust state laws to prepare for seven major ACA insurance reforms taking effect in 2014.
In a statement by Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner John Doak he said, “It is unfortunate that health insurers are being forced into a system of dual regulation by the overreaching Obama administration. My position on this has never wavered, and I welcome every opportunity to try to overturn Obamacare.”
In a letter sent to Cohen, it was clearly stated (http://beforeitsnews.com/r2/?url=http://newsok.com/oklahoma-state-insurance-commissioner-balks-at-enforcement-of-affordable-care-act/article/3766362) that the Oklahoma Insurance Department does not have the authority to enforce federal law.
“The Oklahoma Insurance Department regulates the health insurance policies sold in the state and responds to consumer questions and complaints. Our consumer assistance team receives over 30,000 phone calls and our website receives over 1,000,000 visits each year,” the letter said.
“We will continue to serve these consumers by adhering to our duties under the State Constitution and Statutes. The consumers are the ones who are going to bear the costs of these unnecessary federal regulatory burdens.”
The Tulsa World reports (http://beforeitsnews.com/r2/?url=http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=504&articleid=20130321_504_0_Federa107118&allcom=1#3379802&r=9895):

Meanwhile, health insurance companies doing business in Oklahoma are receiving letters from Cohen telling them that enforcement of the law’s requirements will be handled by the federal agency. A state health insurance trade group said the additional level of regulation is troubling.
“The Oklahoma Association of Health Plans’ members are very concerned about the impact dual regulations will have on administrative expenses and premiums paid by our consumers,” said Executive Director Laura Brookins.
Essentially, health coverage that will be sold through a federally run health insurance exchange starting next year will be regulated by the federal government, but coverage outside the exchange — sold by the same companies — will face different rules, forms and officials.
“Unfortunately for everyone, this dual oversight process will result in increased costs for all Oklahoma health plans,” Brookins said.
Doaks warns that this additional level of regulation, or duplicate regulatory scheme will result in increased costs to the consumer. “Oklahomans should be alarmed,” he said.
Deputy insurance Commissioner Mike Rhoads says the two regulatory structures will simply make things needlessly confusing. “Since statehood we’ve been doing this and frankly we’re the … experts in the regulatory matters,” Rhoads said. (http://beforeitsnews.com/r2/?url=http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=504&articleid=20130321_504_0_Federa107118&allcom=1) “I’m not going to say that they can’t do it, but they damned sure can’t do it as efficiently as we can.”
Joe Wolverton at The New American writes (http://beforeitsnews.com/r2/?url=http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/constitution/item/14892-obama-admin-ignores-nullification-federal-agents-will-enforce-obamacare),

When it was informed that Oklahoma would not — in fact, legally could not — comply with ObamaCare mandates, HHS was not deterred, proposing instead the establishment of a “collaborative enforcement arrangement.” This deal would permit the feds to force ObamaCare on Oklahomans while allowing the Oklahoma Insurance Department (OID) to ostensibly keep its hands clean.
As if that weren’t insulting enough, included in the cache of documents provided to The New American was the letter mentioned above that was sent to Oklahoma insurance companies from HHS informing them that since Oklahoma cannot or will not enforce the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare), this responsibility has been assumed by CMS.
Furthermore, as part of its oversight, CMS demands in the letter that insurance companies “submit all group and individual health insurance policy forms, certificates, riders, endorsements, and amendments, as well as any other requested material pertinent to the market reforms of the Affordable Care Act to CMS for review.”
Then, lest insurance companies in Oklahoma doubt who’s in charge of healthcare in the Sooner State, the letter declares that “a filing with the Oklahoma Insurance Department does not constitute a filing with CMS for these purposes.”
In other words, the Obama administration could care less about the boundaries of the Constitution, the Tenth Amendment or anything else regarding the law. They believe they are above the law and will seek to force unlawful laws upon a law abiding people. This is a tyrannical Federal government that is seeking to usurp state constitutions and the will of the people in those states, including nullification legislation that has passed through state legislatures.

[Kathianne]

"If the President does it then it's Not illegal" Clarify the following regarding what Lincoln did, if logical I'll read more:
In a move that reminiscent of the tyrannical actions of Abraham Lincoln that led to the War of Northern Aggression...

[fj1200]

"If the President does it then it's Not illegal"


In other words, the Obama administration could care less about the boundaries of the Constitution, the Tenth Amendment or anything else regarding the law. They believe they are above the law and will seek to force unlawful laws upon a law abiding people. This is a tyrannical Federal government that is seeking to usurp state constitutions and the will of the people in those states, including nullification legislation that has passed through state legislatures.

Isn't that a Supremacy Clause issue?

[revelarts]

Clarify the following regarding what Lincoln did, if logical I'll read more:

you know what kath i did not even read that..
sheesh,

your right that is a ridiculous statement. I went right to the quotes and skiped most of the commetary when i read the article. and just copy the whole bit.

i need to re-read that part.

best i can say is take the meat ands leave the bones,
1 source Politico is pretty left wing so...
but let me read this thing agian.

[revelarts]

Isn't that a Supremacy Clause issue?

NO. because the Feds have no authority to regulate insuracne. it's not in the constitution.

[revelarts]

Clarify the following regarding what Lincoln did, if logical I'll read more:

Ok you read the ONE bad line in the whole thing Kath. sadly it's the 1st one.
It's sad when deluded Confederate apologist are right on anything but in this case nothing else in this article is offensive except what OBAMA is doing.

[Kathianne]

Ok you read the ONE bad line in the whole thing Kath. sadly it's the 1st one. It's sad when deluded Confederate apologist are right on anything but in this case nothing else in this article is offensive except what OBAMA is doing. 1st line sets the message, in this case the first line was the prerequisite of what followed. I didn't read the following, since the stem was malformed. Give me a clean argument, we'll take it from there. Lincoln did many things wrong, but none before the South fired upon Ft. Sumptet, other than having been elected without the Southern votes.

[fj1200]

NO. because the Feds have no authority to regulate insuracne. it's not in the constitution.

Umm rev? You might want to sit down for this but... that boat dun sailed.

[revelarts]

1st line sets the message, in this case the first line was the prerequisite of what followed. I didn't read the following, since the stem was malformed. Give me a clean argument, we'll take it from there. Lincoln did many things wrong, but none before the South fired upon Ft. Sumptet, other than having been elected without the Southern votes.
We are on the same page over Lincoln, we agree.


BUT you are wrong about what follows, what follows is sound the 1st line is NOT a prerquisite.
the original soure is a LEFT WING ONLINE newsource.
imagine NEWSMAX quoting MSNBC. the same confederate apologist are probably gun rights supporters as well, does that mean they are wrong on that too? the issue stands on its own merits not whether achice bunker does or does not have some dumm reason to be on the the right side of an issue.
Just check the POLITICO article and make you own judgment.

don't throw out the baby with the bath water.

If I disregarded everything that people said on this board because of some of things that they've said I'd have most people on ignore. And probably just leave.

[revelarts]

Umm rev? You might want to sit down for this but... that boat dun sailed.

So FJ, when is the point where we say enough, turn the ship around and head back home?

the ship has sailed on Abortion as well it's still murder. the ship has sailed on a lot of stuff that wrong. giving the FEds the pass ..again and saying well they did it before is not law, it's not constitutional. Sure it's precedence, but slavery had precedence ... had already sailed. There are times when you say Enough. and do not give the feds the benny of the doubt.

[fj1200]

So FJ, when is the point where we say enough, turn the ship around and head back home?

I wish we had said enough many moon ago but the constitutional ship has sailed. The best hope is for legislative change IMO.

[NightTrain]

"If the President does it then it's Not illegal"

n a move that reminiscent of the tyrannical actions of Abraham Lincoln that led to the War of Northern Aggression,


I'll be honest, Rev, I'm with Kathy... anyone that leads off with a statement like that clearly has no issues with outrageous distortions. I wouldn't trust anything this author has to say.

I immediately thought it was a satirical piece after reading the first sentence! Are you sure this isn't from Al Jazeera?

[revelarts]

Feds will need to enforce ACA reforms in 4 states
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/03/feds-must-enforce-aca-reforms-in-four-states-89041.html#ixzz2OqBMqjvK



By JASON MILLMAN (http://www.politico.com/reporters/JasonMillman.html) | 3/19/13 4:43 AM EDT
At least four states won’t enforce new sweeping insurance market reforms rolling out next year with the health law — leaving federal health officials in Washington to pick up the slack, yet another wrinkle in Obamacare implementation.
Insurance regulation is a huge responsibility that’s been closely guarded by the states. That’s why the Obama administration and those closely watching the rollout of Obamacare believe that even states that have sworn off the law’s coverage expansions will still enforce its new measures — including new benefit mandates, cost-sharing guidelines and rules on how insurers rate customers — to retain control over their health insurance markets.



But the feds will be overseeing the health care law in Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas and Wyoming after those states told HHS they couldn’t or wouldn’t implement the new rules.
“We are enforcing because Oklahoma notified … that it has not enacted legislation to enforce or that it is otherwise not enforcing the Affordable Care Act market reform provisions,” Gary Cohen, director of the federal Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight, wrote to the Oklahoma Insurance Department on Friday. Officials in Missouri, Texas and Wyoming received similar letters, an agency spokeswoman said.
The enforcement letters come a little more than a month after a Commonwealth Fund report found just 11 states and Washington had started to adjust state laws to prepare for seven major ACA insurance reforms taking effect in 2014.
The Department of Health and Human Services, however, has downplayed the issue. It says many state insurance commissioners have broad authority to enforce federal laws — even if their states haven’t given them explicit direction on new ACA requirements.
Teresa Miller, who oversees implementation of the ACA’s insurance reforms for CCIIO, last week said the feds have been in talks with states that won’t enforce the law.
“[CCIIO] has been working to collaborate with those states and really leverage state processes and resources to accomplish CMS’s direct enforcement,” said Miller, a former Oregon insurance commissioner, on a conference call hosted by the Commonwealth Fund.
John Doak, the insurance commissioner of Oklahoma — a deeply red state that’s still challenging Obamacare in federal court — told HHS in a letter that he didn’t have the legal authority to enforce federal law. And Doak took the chance to remind federal officials of how unpopular the law is in his state.
“In 2010, State Question 756 received overwhelming support by voters of an amendment to the Oklahoma Constitution prohibiting laws which compel individuals, employers and providers to participate in health care systems,” Doak reminded HHS.



Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/03/feds-must-enforce-aca-reforms-in-four-states-89041.html#ixzz2OqCW4Ckw

its a Right wing news source, i was mistaken former washington post people.

[revelarts]

http://newsok.com/oklahoma-state-insurance-commissioner-balks-at-enforcement-of-affordable-care-act/article/3766362


from the Oklahomaian, Oklahomas "most trusted news source"


Oklahoma state insurance commissioner balks at enforcement of Affordable Care Act “I welcome every opportunity to try to overturn Obamacare,” Oklahoma state Insurance Commissioner John Doak said Friday.
By Brianna Bailey (http://newsok.com/more/Brianna%20Bailey) | Published: March 16, 2013 http://s3.amazonaws.com/content.newsok.com/newsok/images/comment_icon.gif

The Oklahoma Insurance Department, which regulates health insurance policies in the state, will not participate in a federal effort to enforce the Affordable Care Act, the agency said Friday.
Advertisement



“It is unfortunate that health insurers are being forced into a system of dual regulation by the overreaching Obama administration,” Insurance Commissioner John Doak said in a statement. “My position on this has never wavered, and I welcome every opportunity to try to overturn Obamacare.”
Doak made his position known Friday in a letter to the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services tasked with overseeing the implementation of state-run health care exchanges that are part of the new health care law.
Oklahoma is one of 11 states that has indicated it will not operate its own health care exchange nor partner with the federal government to set up an exchange.
The letter, sent to Gary Cohen, director of the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight, states that the Oklahoma Insurance Department does not have the authority to enforce federal law.
“The Oklahoma Insurance Department regulates the health insurance policies sold in the state and responds to consumer questions and complaints. Our consumer assistance team receives over 30,000 phone calls and our website receives over 1,000,000 visits each year,” the letter said.
“We will continue to serve these consumers by adhering to our duties under the State Constitution and Statutes. The consumers are the ones who are going to bear the costs of these unnecessary federal regulatory burdens.”

[revelarts]

FROM 'THE NEW AMERICAN'

http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/constitution/item/14892-obama-admin-ignores-nullification-federal-agents-will-enforce-obamacare (http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/constitution/item/14892-obama-admin-ignores-nullification-federal-agents-will-enforce-obamacare)


Obama Admin. Ignores Nullification: Federal Agents Will Enforce ObamaCare


President Obama will not wait on states to enforce ObamaCare. The Obama administration has announced its intent to disregard state laws and state constitutional amendments prohibiting the enforcement of ObamaCare. Federal agents from the Department of Health and Human Services will assume absolute control over states’ health insurance industry and regulation in states that refuse to comply with the federal healthcare mandates.
In an exclusive telephone interview with The New American, Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner John Doak reported that the his office has received a letter from Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight (CCIIO) Deputy Administrator and Director Gary Cohen informing him that the federal government will impose ObamaCare regulations on insurance companies in Oklahoma. The CCIIO is part of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
According to a story in Politico (http://www.politico.com/story/2013/03/feds-must-enforce-aca-reforms-in-four-states-89041.html), Doak’s colleagues in Missouri, Wyoming, and Texas have received these notifications, as well.
In a press release issue by his office after receiving Cohen’s letter, Doak writes that the “Oklahoma Insurance Department will not be participating in a collaborative effort with the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight (CCIIO) to enforce the Affordable Care Act (ACA).”
Doak’s statement continues:
The Oklahoma Insurance Department regulates the health insurance policies sold in the state and responds to consumer questions and complaints. Our consumer assistance team receives over 30,000 phone calls and our website receives over 1,000,000 visits each year. We will continue to serve these consumers by adhering to our duties under the State Constitution and Statutes. The consumers are the ones who are going to bear the costs of these unnecessary federal regulatory burdens.
In addition to adding new fees to health insurance products that will increase prices both inside and outside the exchange, the ACA requires plans to add expensive and often unnecessary coverage benefits. These costs will impact young adults most severely due to the law’s requirement that older Americans pay no more than three times the premium of young adults. A survey of insurers by the American Action Forum found that average premiums for young, healthy adults may triple going into 2014.
“This is yet another example of continued overreach of the federal government on states’ rights,” Doak told The New American, when asked about the conflict. “This is the first shot over the bow of states” which have chosen not to enforce ObamaCare’s myriad mandates, he added.
Apart from the assault on state sovereignty, the CMS announcement will be financially devastating, as well.
Tulsa World reports (http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=504&articleid=20130321_504_0_Federa107118&allcom=1#3379802&r=9895) that “health insurance companies doing business in Oklahoma are receiving letters from Cohen telling them that enforcement of the law’s requirements will be handled by the federal agency.”
The way the system will work, apparently, is that any health insurance plan purchased through an ObamaCare healthcare exchange will be regulated and managed by a federal official (known in the language of ObamaCare as a “navigator”). Plans sold through other companies, however, will continue to be under the purview of Doak and his office.
Insurance companies that provide plans through the ObamaCare exchange and outside of the government program will be subject to two radically different regulatory schemes: one created and enforced by Washington, D.C., and one administered out of Oklahoma City.
Doak warns that this duplicate regulatory scheme — state and federal — will result in increased costs for the consumer.
“Oklahomans should be alarmed,” he said.
If Oklahomans are ultimately subjected to the deprivations of ObamaCare, it will be at the hand of federal agents, as Doak says there is no enacting legislation empowering his office to enforce federal law in Oklahoma.
This situation will undoubtedly result in what Doak calls “lawsuits in many forms and fashions.” He says his department will look to Oklahoma state Attorney General Scott Pruitt to defend the Oklahoma constitution against challenges filed by the federal government.
The Obama administration has been trying for some time now to ignore the will of the people of Oklahoma and the Oklahoma constitution’s prohibition against enforcement of ObamaCare.
For example, documents provided to The New American include a letter from the federal Department of Health and Human Services inquiring as to why Oklahoma had yet to make the requisite steps toward implementing ObamaCare.
When it was informed that Oklahoma would not — in fact, legally could not — comply with ObamaCare mandates, HHS was not deterred, proposing instead the establishment of a “collaborative enforcement arrangement.” This deal would permit the feds to force ObamaCare on Oklahomans while allowing the Oklahoma Insurance Department (OID) to ostensibly keep its hands clean.
As if that weren’t insulting enough, included in the cache of documents provided to The New American was the letter mentioned above that was sent to Oklahoma insurance companies from HHS informing them that since Oklahoma cannot or will not enforce the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare), this responsibility has been assumed by CMS.
Furthermore, as part of its oversight, CMS demands in the letter that insurance companies “submit all group and individual health insurance policy forms, certificates, riders, endorsements, and amendments, as well as any other requested material pertinent to the market reforms of the Affordable Care Act to CMS for review.”
Then, lest insurance companies in Oklahoma doubt who’s in charge of healthcare in the Sooner State, the letter declares that “a filing with the Oklahoma Insurance Department does not constitute a filing with CMS for these purposes.”
These letters reveal that is nothing more or less than an end run by the Obama administration around the sovereignty of Oklahoma (and presumably other states) and usurpation of power in defiance of the state constitution, the will of the people, and the laws passed by their elected representatives in the state legislature.
Doak promises to continue faithfully and fearlessly carrying out his duty to enforce the laws of Oklahoma, even if that means taking on the behemoth that is the federal ObamaCare bureaucracy.
“We must continue to fight for what’s right,” Doak said.
Joe A. Wolverton, II, J.D. is a correspondent for The New American and travels frequently nationwide speaking on topics of nullification, the NDAA, and the surveillance state. He can be reached at jwolverton@thenewamerican.com.

[revelarts]

TULSAWORLD.com


http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=504&articleid=20130321_504_0_Federa107118&allcom=1#3379802&r=9895
Oklahoma on notice: Feds to enforce 'Obamacare' insurance rules in state Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner John Doak " style="border-width:0px;max-width:660px; max-height:400px;margin:5px 5px 0px 0px;"> (http://www.tulsaworld.com/articleimages/2013/20130321_doakmug3333333321.jpg)
Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner John Doak



The move is meant to ensure that Oklahoma complies with Affordable Care Act rules.

By WAYNE GREENE World Senior Writer (http://www.tulsaworld.com/site/authors.aspx?a=WAYNE-GREENE-WORLD-SENIOR-WRITER)
Published: 3/21/2013 10:06 AM
Last Modified: 3/21/2013 3:23 PM

Federal officials have announced an unprecedented second level of health insurance regulation in Oklahoma and three other states to make sure the details of “Obamacare” are enforced.



The move is inefficient, expensive for consumers and a breech of the principles of federalism, Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner John Doak said.

“Any time you add additional regulatory burden on any industry, the end costs to consumers is going to go up,” Doak said in a telephone interview.

Deputy Insurance Commissioner Mike Rhoads added that having two regulatory structures on health insurance companies will be needlessly confusing.

“Since statehood we’ve been doing this and frankly we’re the ... experts in the regulatory matters,” Rhoads said. “I’m not going to say that they can’t do it, but they damned sure can’t do it as efficiently as we can.”

Federal law does not require states to enforce the requirements under the Affordable Care Act, but it does require the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to enforce the law’s protection if a state does not, CMS Deputy Administrator Gary Cohen told Doak in the March 15 letter.

Politico reports that officials in Missouri, Texas and Wyoming have received similar letters.

Meanwhile, health insurance companies doing business in Oklahoma are receiving letters from Cohen telling them that enforcement of the law’s requirements will be handled by the federal agency. A state health insurance trade group said the additional level of regulation is troubling.

“The Oklahoma Association of Health Plans’ members are very concerned about the impact dual regulations will have on administrative expenses and premiums paid by our consumers,” said Executive Director Laura Brookins.

Essentially, health coverage that will be sold through a federally run health insurance exchange starting next year will be regulated by the federal government, but coverage outside the exchange — sold by the same companies — will face different rules, forms and officials.

“Unfortunately for everyone, this dual oversight process will result in increased costs for all Oklahoma health plans,” Brookins said.



By WAYNE GREENE World Senior Writer (http://www.tulsaworld.com/site/authors.aspx?a=WAYNE-GREENE-WORLD-SENIOR-WRITER)

[revelarts]

can anyone here tell me where any of the above articles mention Lincoln? the writer in the 1st post is an idiot. don't let his delusion cloud the issue for you.
think for yourself don't let people blind you by BS they slather on real issues.
just wash it off , be alert for it and move on.