The Week Just Past: Affordable Care Act Misfiring Every Way

America Responds to the Philippines Disaster

This Week’s Salute:  Community Hope serves Veterans

Rodney’s New Responsibilities

The Week Just Past: Affordable Care Act Misfiring Every Way

“An editorial in the Wall Street Journal said it best last week as it captured the current state of affairs of the President’s new healthcare law: The editors wrote‘The Affordable Care Act (ACA) appears to be misfiring in every imaginable way, and Democrats are having second thoughts about serving as human shields for White House ineptitude. If they really want to make amends, they'll join Republicans in trying to repair some of the damage they caused.’

“Let’s review the facts:

1.   President Obama’s health secretary disclosed last week that a mere 106,000 people enrolled in ACA health plans since the program was launched on October 1, far below the Administration’s goal of 500,000.  And only 27,000 people were able to sign up through HealthCare.gov, the balky federal exchange!

2.   New alarms have come to light about the security, or lack thereof, of the HealthCare.gov website.  CBS news reported last week on ‘limitless security risks’ for the website.

3.   The President held a lengthy news conference Thursday and basically admitted that website will not be ‘fixed’ by his deadline of November 30.

4.   A few days after his apology for his ‘incorrect’ promise that ‘if you like your policy you can keep it,’ the President announced a one-year reprieve for canceled insurance plans, industry executives warned it would cost taxpayers and consumers while state officials split on their support for it. 600,000 policyholders in New Jersey alone are threatened with cancellation!

“If the President wanted to prove the sincerity of his apology and that he is serious about keeping his promise to the American people, he would work with Congress on bipartisan proposals like the Keep Your Health Plan Act, which the House passed on Friday afternoon. This bill aims to help people keep the plan they currently like and can afford. 

“Implementation of this law has been disastrous, leaving worried Americans without the health care plans they had, skyrocketing premiums, and limited access to doctors they like.”

Rodney Frelinghuysen

Recommended Reading: Sharyl Attkisson of CBS News reported on an Obama Administration memo that “Warned of ‘limitless’ security risks for HealthCare.gov.”  See the story here.

Recommended Reading: Avik Roy writing in Forbes Magazine, “The Obamacare Exchange Scorecard: Around 100,000 Enrollees and Five Million Cancellations.”

America Responds to the Philippines Disaster

The government of the Philippines requested relief from the U.S. after what is believed to be one of the worst storms in that country’s history, Typhoon Haiyan. The U.S. Marine Corps estimates 4.2 million people have been affected. The death toll has reportedly reached 2,275.

That figure is expected to rise, perhaps significantly, when accurate information is collected from the entire disaster zone, which spreads over a wide area of the eastern and central Philippines.  Our hearts go out to the many Filipino-Americans in New Jersey who have lost loved ones.

The United States Navy, Marine Corps and the Agency for International Development are assisting humanitarian relief efforts.

Keep track of U.S. military efforts to help the people of the Philippines:

http://www.defense.gov/home/features/2013/1113_haiyan/

This Week’s Salute:  Community Hope Serves Veterans

Congratulations and thank you to Community Hope of Parsippany upon receiving a $35,000 grant from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to acquire two vans to provide outreach and transportation to homeless veterans.  Community Hope has been a pioneer in the fight against homelessness among our veterans as a prime sponsor of the Hope for Veterans transitional housing program and the Valley Brook Village permanent housing project on the Lyons VA medical center campus in Bernards Township.

Recommended Reading: Glenn Thrush, writing for Politico,“Locked in the Cabinet.”

Rodney’s New Responsibilities

It’s official. On Wednesday Rodney was named the new Chairman of the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee.  He succeeds the late Rep. C.W. Bill Young (FL), who passed away last month.  The announcement was made Wednesday by the Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Rep. Hal Rogers (KY). 

“I am grateful to Chairman Rogers and the House Leadership for giving me this responsibility. The security and budget challenges we face are real and dramatic. The job before us is to provide for a strong national defense and support the men and women in uniform who provide for that defense each and every day,” Rodney said.

“Rodney is a thoughtful, steady, and strong leader, is staunchly dedicated to doing what is best for the country and his district, and has a determined focus that allows him to rise above politics to get things done. He has an unwavering devotion to the safety and security of our nation, and to the care and protection of our men and women in uniform, and I know he will be a great leader of the Defense subcommittee,” Chairman Rogers said.

Rodney has served on the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee since 1999.  Most recently he served as the panel’s Vice-Chairman. The Subcommittee is charged each year with producing legislation that provides funding for critical national security needs and the resources needed to continue the nation’s military efforts abroad. In addition, the bill provides essential funding for health and quality of life programs for the men and women of the Armed Forces and their families.

Read Herb Jackson’s story in the Record here.