ObamaCrapCare Being Oversold By Administration. Who Believes Anything They Tell You. Remember, If You Like Your Doctor....

Cruz: Obama's 'Final Score' Praise to Sebelius Was 'Smug,' Political

Friday, 11 Apr 2014 07:02 PM

By Cathy Burke

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Sen. Ted Cruz on Friday ripped into President Barack Obama's "smug" boast that 7.5 million signups for Affordable Care Act coverage indicated a "final score" of success.

In an interview with Fox News, the Texas Republican said the president was willfully ignoring the myriad problems with Obamacare.

Story continues below video.



"He's trying to sweep all of those problems under the rug," Cruz charged.

But Obama's comments praising outgoing Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius were particularly irksome, Cruz said.

In a White House Rose Garden speech, the president said his administration "lost" the first quarter of the six-month open enrollment period for Obamacare because of the HealthCare.gov problems.

But, he added, "Under Kathleen's leadership, her team at HHS turned the corner, got it fixed, got the job done, and the final score speaks for itself. There are 7.5 million people across the country that have the security of health insurance, most of them for the very first time, and that's because of the woman standing here beside me."

Cruz said those numbers don't account for the millions who are left out in the cold.

"You know, I thought the most revealing statement that the president made was the smug statement about the … 'final score,'" Cruz told Fox News. "He has viewed Obamacare from day one as just a political battle.

"This is not a political battle," Cruz raged. "Millions of Americans have lost their jobs, have been forced into part-time work and lost their health insurance and lost their doctor or are seeing their premiums skyrocket. Every time I travel home to Texas, I see men and women who are scared and [have] lost their health insurance."

Cruz said the real reason Sebelius resigned is "because Senate Democrats are scared."

"They're running scared because every one of them in their races across the country, they're underwater," he said. "They're losing because Obamacare has hurt so many millions of people, and I think it was Senate Democrats who demanded Kathleen Sebelius' head, and I think that's exactly what we saw what happen [Thursday]."

Cruz said he would use the confirmation hearing of the next HHS secretary to call for the repeal of Obamacare. "I think [nominee Sylvia] Burwell presents an ideal opportunity to examine the failures that are Obamacare. And four years ago, reasonable minds could have differed over whether this thing might work.

"Today, seeing the disaster, seeing the train wreck that is Obamacare, in my view, it is the essence of pragmatism to acknowledge this thing isn't working. We need to start over, repeal every word of it. Start over."

Cruz said the confirmation hearings on Burwell will be not only "time for the Senate to assess [her] qualifications" but "to examine the failures of Obamacare."

Related Stories:

• Cruz: Holder Should Be Impeached if No Action on IRS Scandal
• Biden to Dems: 'We Could Lose' to Ted Cruz

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Government Exempted Itself From HIPAA Complliance. They Do Not Need To Protect Your Private Health Information! Obsene!

Government Isn’t Obligated To Inform Healthcare.gov Users When Site Compromises Their Private Info

December 26, 2013 by Ben Bullard 

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If you enroll in Obamacare at Healthcare.gov and later find out that your financial information or identity has been stolen by hackers, it likely won’t be because the government called to warn you of the security breach.

That’s because the government isn’t obligated to let you know if Healthcare.gov fails to protect your information from criminals.

According to a report this month at Watchdog.org, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) was approached with concerns about informing site users of any security breaches, but elected not to address them in 2012 as it issued its final ruling establishing how Healthcare.gov and the State-run online markets would function.

HHS solicited input ahead of finalizing healthcare exchange program rules in March 2012. But HHS dismissed the concerns of at least two commenters about how it planned to handle potential online break-ins that could compromise patient records. From the Federal Register, here’s how HHS responded:

Comment: Two commenters asked that HHS ensure that Exchanges promptly notify potentially affected enrollees in the event of a data breach or unauthorized access to PII. One commenter suggested that HHS ensure that an Exchange conducts an investigation and hold the breaching party accountable, both legally and financially, for notification and investigation following the breach or unauthorized access.

Response: We do not plan to include the specific notification procedures in the final rule. Consistent with this approach, we do not include specific policies for investigation of data breaches in this final rule. We do, however, plan to release guidance that addresses breach procedures.

Comment: One commenter requested that the final rule include privacy and security standards for storage, retention, and response to legal and civil matters. Another commenter stated that HHS should not retain PII longer than is necessary to carry out an authorized Exchange function.

Response: While the rule does not specifically mention storage, retention, or response to legal and civil matters, we believe that the final rule adequately addresses privacy and security standards for all potential uses of data, including storage and retention. We therefore do not include these elements in the final rule. We expect privacy and security standards developed by the Exchange will address the storage of information when it is not in use.

Strangely, the stringent privacy protections established by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPPA) apply to everything about Obamacare except the government-managed healthcare websites it established. That means the doctors, hospitals and insurance companies are in violation of the law if they don’t inform you about any behind-the-scenes activity that compromises your privacy — but the government itself is immune from the same law.

“In other words,” notes Watchdog.org, “the health plan itself is covered by HIPAA and any breaches of security that affect a consumer who has purchased a specific plan would have to be reported. But the process of choosing and purchasing a plan through the federal exchange — along with any information entered into the federal exchange as part of that process — is not subject to HIPAA protections.”