This and That...

[Warph]

'Starving' UConn Player Has 'Unlimited Access' Dining Opportunity

(He didn't signup for food stamps?  He shouldn't have a problem after tonights big win against Kentucky)

Via The Daily News
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2599364/UConn-point-guard-Shabazz-Napier-wants-student-athlete-unions-saying-schools-make-money-selling-jersey-afford-food.html


University of Connecticut basketball guard Shabazz Napier says sometimes there's "hungry nights that we don't have enough money to get food."

But all students have "unlimited access" to resident dining units that offer "all-you-care-to-eat."

"We are definitely best to get a scholarship to our universities, but at the end of the day, that doesn't cover everything. We do have hungry nights that we don't have enough money to get food and sometimes money is needed," Napier told Fox Sports while discussing the National Labor Relations Board ruling that athletes from Northwestern can unionize.

Napier said he understands why some athletes need a union. "Like I said, there are hungry nights that I go to bed and I am starving. So something can change, something should change."

According to the UConn Student-Athlete Handbook, unlimited access to dining halls is available for students with a meal plan, even for those who live-off campus.

Dennis Pierce, director of Food Services at UConn, tells CNSNews.com that any student-athlete would have the option of choosing from a series of dining services (unlimited, value and custom), but all offer unlimited access during operating hours.

The dining services website for the university notes that "all residence dining units are all-you-care-to-eat facilities."

Pierce says dining services are often altered to accommodate the schedule of athletic teams, "I'd like to say we feed them something special that helps them win, but that's not the case."

[Warph]

Obuma backs down on cuts to Medicare

By Jonathan Easley - April 07, 2014

The Obama administration on Monday canceled planned cuts to Medicare Advantage amid a drumbeat of election-year opposition from Democrats.

The cuts would have reduced the benefits that seniors receive from insurance plans in the program, which offers an alternative to traditional Medicare.

The reversal came as a relief to many Democrats, who feared the cuts would create a backlash among seniors in the midterm elections.


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"In many parts of the country, including New York, Medicare Advantage works very well. They've shouldered their share already and this proposed cut would have been disproportionate, hurting seniors who would lose doctors or pay more. We're glad the administration heeded our call and reversed the policy," Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a statement.
The administration's move didn't go far enough for some Republicans, who had threatened to use the cuts as a political weapon this fall.

"Although [the administration] has scaled back some of the new proposed cuts, much more work needs to be done to protect our seniors," Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said in a statement.

Under the planned cuts, insurers offering Medicare Advantage plans were to see their federal payments reduced by 1.9 percent, which likely would have necessitated cuts for customers.

But now the Medicare plans will actually see a net gain, as administration said the federal payments to insurers would increase next year by .4 percent.

The healthcare reform law included $200 billion in cuts to Medicare Advantage over 10 years, in part to pay for ObamaCare. The Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) on Monday said changes in the healthcare market meant it did not need to make those cuts this year.

The administration cited an increase in healthy beneficiaries under Medicare, which it said has lowered the projected costs for that program.

The CMS separately is delaying a risk assessment proposal that was set to take effect under ObamaCare.

Matt Eyles, an analyst for Avalere Health, said the 2.3-percentage-point swing to a positive adjustment over a 45-day-period was "a bit surprising."

Insurers spent millions of dollars on a lobbying and public relations blitz against the cuts, and dozens of Democrats joined Republicans in calling on the administration to keep the rates flat to avoid cutting benefits for seniors.

The issue threatened the newfound momentum Democrats had on healthcare after the party was energized by a late enrollment surge under ObamaCare.

The opposition to the cuts included Democrats who frequently differ from the administration on policy, including Blue Dog Democratic Rep. John Barrow, a perennial GOP target in Georgia, and Sens. Mark Pryor (Ark.) and Mary Landrieu (La.), two of the party's most vulnerable Senate incumbents.

Opponents also included White House allies and party heavyweights like Sens. Schumer and Michael Bennet (Colo.), the chairman of the Senate Democrats' campaign arm.

The opponents wrote a number of letters to the administration urging it to stop the cuts, and some Democrats even engaged in a House floor protest to ramp up the pressure. That's a reversal for many Democrats, who have historically lampooned the alternative to government health insurance as receiving outsized federal support in comparison to Medicare.

Monday's announcement is also "significantly better for health plans" than the initial proposal in February, CMS administrator Jonathan Blum said in a conference call with reporters.

"The policies announced today will provide improved benefits in Medicare Advantage and the Prescription Drug Plans while keeping costs low for Medicare beneficiaries," Blum said. "We believe that plans will continue their strong participation in the Medicare Advantage program in 2015 and beneficiaries will continue to have access to a wide array of high quality and affordable Medicare health and drug plans."

America's Health Insurance Plans, the main lobby group for healthcare plans, was among the most vocal critics of the proposed cuts, and had aired ads in the Washington area reminding lawmakers that "seniors are watching."

Still, critics could frame Monday's announcement as the latest in a string of unilateral changes to ObamaCare meant to boost Democrats in an election year. Republicans have hammered the administration as "lawless" for instituting myriad delays and changes to the law after the botched rollout.

But the Medicare announcement differs from many of these changes, in that it was hashed out in consultation with industry professionals, and Republicans may be hesitant to attack the administration for instituting a change they support.

In February, the Obama administration argued that the proposed cuts would help strengthen the program — an increasingly popular private alternative to traditional Medicare — and guard against waste.

White House officials had also pushed back at criticism of the pending cuts, noting that Medicare Advantage's enrollment has spiked to an all-time high since the passage of the Affordable Care Act, and that premiums under the plan have fallen by 10 percent.

Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/202897-obama-backs-down-on-cuts-to-medicare#ixzz2yHKrKw00

[Warph]

Jailed Occupy Leader: "You Can Take Your College Midterm And Shove It"

Guess that's why this moron is facing time in prison for throwing an elbow to the head of a cop.

[Ross]

[Ross]

Congratulations to the Democrats and Young People! You now own it!
The next terrorist attack, you own it.
Can't get a job after graduation, you own it.
Sky rocketing energy prices due to Obama's EPA shutting down the energy producing states, you own it.
A nuclear Iran, you own it.
Bowing to the Soviet Union, you own it.
Another severe recession, you own it.
A volatile border with Mexico, you own it.
Trouble getting good health care, you own it.
Higher health insurance costs and health care costs, you own it.
No federal budget, you own it.
Our allies mistrust, you own it.
Several more trillions of debt, you own it.
More Benghazi situations, you own it.
No one willing to join the military, you own it.
Trouble getting a loan to buy a home, you own it.
More dependency on food stamps, you own it.
Trouble finding good employment, you own it.
Several part time jobs instead of a good job, you own it.
A World Government, you own it.
The UN governing the United States instead of ourselves doing it, you own it.
A Senate that will not bring any legislation to the table rather it is "Dead on Arrival", you own it.
China controlling our world trade trampling all over us, you own it.
Loss of our freedoms as we have known it in the past, you own it.
A dictatorship instead of a democracy that follows the Constitution, you own it.
Less take home pay and higher living costs, you own it.
Driving a car that looks like a toy, you own it.
More government corruption and lies, you own it.
More toleration of extreme and fanatical Islamist, you own it.
Terrorist attacks called work place incidents, you own it.
Your revenge instead of love of country, you own it.
Have a good day. God bless the United States. God is still our hope.
- A Friend of a Friend of a Friend

[Ross]

[Ross]

1,800 New Jersey children had their healthcare plans cancelled and are now without insurance due to Obamacare. The wave of cancellation notices hit mailboxes all across the Garden State.

The Obamacare mandate eliminated New Jersey's low-cost children's insurance coverage plan, FamilyCare Advantage, for failure to meet requirements. The plan was created for children whose parents don't qualify for Medicaid and offered medical, dental, and vision coverage for only $144 a month. The program was the first of its kind and considered a model for others states seeking efficient ways to provide quality healthcare coverage for kids from working class families.

FamilyCare Advantage lacked certain coverage like mental health services that not everyone needs, so Obamacare determined the children's 1,800 plans that served them well was illegal and the program was shut down.

"This is enormously disappointing," said NJ state Sen. Joseph Vitale (D), co-sponsor of the bill that created the program. "It was $5 for doctor visits, $1 for pharmacy and no deductible or cost sharing."

The Obamacare version of the plan offered by the same provider has a $1,500 minimum deductible. Most of these families will be ineligible for federal Obamacare subsidies because "they earned too much money." I thought this was the Affordable Care Act? Nothing about this sounds affordable.

These 1,800 children join the five million other Americans who also had their plans canceled by Obamacare. Nearly one million people whose plans were canceled by Obamacare still remain uninsured, a figure Democrats previously claimed was less than 10,000.

Corey Barrow National Liberty Federation

[Ross]

7th Grader Suspended and Subjected to Psychological Evaluation for...Twirling a Pencil

Ethan Chaplin was twirling a pencil with a pen cap on it when a fellow student yelled, "He's making gun motions – send him to juvie!"

The student who made the accusation had bullied Ethan earlier in the day and was trying to get him in trouble, Ethan says. He said the school administrators wouldn't hear his side of the story.

Ethan was suspended and told he could not return to school until a complete physical and psychological examination was conducted.

Vernon Schools Superintendent Charles Maranzano says school policy and the law requires him to investigate when anyone in a school feels uncomfortable or threatened by another student.

"We never know what's percolating in the minds of children," says Maranzano. "And when they demonstrate behaviors that raise red flags, we must do our duty."

Red flags? Yes, because pencils are so darn terrifying. Surely, twirling a pencil in class is a sign that a student is about to commit some atrocity against humanity.

Lily Dane  National Liberty Federation

[Ross]

"The government encouraged the manufacture and importation of firearms for the criminals to use. This is intended to foster a feeling of insecurity, which would lead the American people to voluntarily disarm themselves by passing laws against firearms. Using drugs and hypnosis on mental patients in a processcalled Orion, the CIA inculcated the desire in these people to open fire on schoolyards and thus inflame the ant-igun lobby. This plan is well under way, and so far is working perfectly.... -Milton William Cooper - Behold A Pale Horse

[Ross]