HHS officials living large on taxpayer's dime...

They should all be fired.

Via The Washington Examiner:

Helping America's poor, aged and sick is the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' reason for being, but hundreds of its top officials are traveling in style and luxury at taxpayer expense.
Records obtained by the Washington Examiner under the Freedom of Information Act show that HHS executives spent $31 million taking 7,000 first class and business class flights between 2009 and 2013, including 253 trips for which a one-way ticket cost more than $15,000.
Half the records listed the price of a coach ticket for comparison. For that portion alone, the upgrade boosted the cost by almost $14 million, from $4.9 million to $18.5 million.
Federal employees are allowed to fly business or first class if the flight is longer than 14 hours, but only 1,400 of the 7,000 flights met that description.
For the vast majority of the flights — 5,100 — the government executives upgraded because they claimed they had a medical disability that necessitated it.

Your Tax dollars at work: HHS pays $146.64 per month per user for email

This is another reason Kathleen Sebelius should have been fired a longtime ago. 

Via WFB:

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) spends roughly $123.2 million per year to provide “email services” for its 70,000 employees, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

Buried in a footnote of a recently released GAO report on the agency’s coordination with the nonprofit group Enroll America, the congressional watchdog detailed the high operating costs associated with running the department’s email.

“HHS told us that HHS pays $146.64 per month per user for email; that this charge covers connectivity, storage, and other e-mail services; and that this charge is independent of the number of emails that are sent or received,” the GAO said.

According to the Cato Institute, HHS employs approximately 70,000 people.

Keep on reading…

Obama's HHS Secretary nominee ordered the shutdown of war memorials during the 2013 government shutdown

Republicans and Democrats should say "Hell no" to this woman. 

Via Breitbart:

Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin blasted President Barack Obama for nominating as his new Health and Human Services Secretary the same woman who ordered the shutdown of the war memorials during the so-called government shutdown last year.

After accepting Kathleen Sebelius’ resignation Friday, Obama nominated Sylvia Burwell, the former Office of Management and Budget director. This is the same person who sent the email initiating the barricading of the memorials, even as veterans were arriving in D.C. on their “honor flights” to see the memorials that they built. Palin, along with Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Mike Lee (R-UT), joined veterans as they protested the barricades.

Keep on reading…

Obama's HHS used private individuals data from states to start Obamacare apps without approval...

There has to be something illegal about this...

Via Shark Tank:

In the closing days of the open enrollment period for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) , the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) was mailing out letters notifying certain Americans that they had already started a healthcare coverage application on their behalf.
The HHS letter stated that the information they used to begin the application for individual Healthcare was obtain by the state agency in charge of implementing Obamacare.
The next step for the individual would be visit Healthcare.gov and complete the already started application to see if they qualify for “Marketplace coverage.”
News of the HHS letter was first mentioned by a listener of the popular “Daybreak with Drew Steele” Show on Fox 92.5, which is out of Fort Myers, Florida.
Keep on reading…

Can you imagine having your private data entered into that cesspool of a website without your knowledge or approval? 

HHS Sec Kathleen Sebelius: The lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered community will be a special focus of Obamacare...

As if we needed another reason to dislike Obamacare. Now we learn some people will be treated specially...

Via Washington Secrets:

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on Monday said that members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered community will be a special focus of Obamacare because “for too long…[they] were pushed to the side.”

To honor Lesbian, Gay, Bixexual and Transgender Pride Month in June, the administration is drawing attention to new benefits under Obamacare targeted to the LGBT, which Sebelius said have had their access to health care limited and who, she added, have higher rates of tobacco use and are at increased risk for mental health illness.
Among the benefits to the community under Obamacare are the end of a lifetime coverage limit, which is expected to help victim of HIV/AIDS who are often on an expensive regimen of drugs.

She added that the administration is stepping up their focus on and attention to the LGBT community by adding gender status to health surveys and questionnaires which are critical in determining services under Obamacare.

Keep on reading…

Obamacare Stumbles Out of the Gate

The Department of HHS has missed four deadlines in the implementation of Obamacare. Let's hope they miss them all.

Daily Caller reported:

Critics say missed deadlines and other signs show the Obama administration is stumbling out of the gate on its early steps to implement the president’s health-care law.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has already missed as many as four deadlines under the law – not on any major regulations — but still a worrying trend, critics say.

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius Hid Damaging Medicare Actuary Report for One Month

While Democrats were touting deficit reduction claims, based on a CBO report, in the run up to the Obamacare vote, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius was sitting on a report, from the nonpolitical government's Medicare’s Office of the Actuary, which found the Democrats health care bill actually bent the cost curve up and would cause 14 million Americans to lose employer based health coverage.

FOX Nation reported:

The economic report released last week by Health and Human Services, which indicated that President Barack Obama’s health care “reform” law would actually increase the cost of health care and impose higher costs on consumers, had been submitted to the office of HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius more than a week before the Congressional votes on the bill...

The analysis, performed by Medicare’s Office of the Actuary, which in the past has been identified as a “nonpolitical” office, set off alarm bells when submitted. “We know a copy was sent to the White House via their legislative affairs staff,” says the HHS staffer, “and there were a number of meetings here almost right after the analysis was submitted to the secretary’s office. Everyone went into lockdown, and people here were too scared to go public with the report.”

Obama's own HHS actuaries warn Senate health care bill will cause premium hikes and Medicare service cuts

From Bluegrass Pundit

President Obama's HHS actuaries have warned the Senate Democrat's health care reform plan could cause an "insurance death spiral." They warn costs will increase, premiums will rise and Medicare services may be cut. If this doesn't kill the Democrats health care reform, Democrats are insane.

From AP via Google:

A new report from government economic analysts at the Health and Human Services Department found that the nation's $2.5 trillion annual health care tab won't shrink under the Democratic blueprint that senators are debating. Instead, it would grow somewhat more rapidly than if Congress does nothing.

More troubling was the report's assessment that the Democrats' plan to squeeze Medicare for $493 billion over 10 years in savings relies on specific policy changes that "may be unrealistic" and could lead to cuts in services...

HHS investigates Humana for criticizing Obamacare

Humana sent seniors a mailer warning them that the planned $500 billion in medicare cuts could affect their benefits. They urged seniors to contact their Congressman.

The Humana mailer focused squarely on the Medicare Advantage program.

"While these programs need to be made more efficient, if the proposed funding cut levels become law, millions of seniors and disabled individuals could lose many of the important benefits and services that make Medicare Advantage health plans so valuable," it said...

The HHS took offense at Humana exercising their free speech rights.

HHS ordered the company to immediately halt any such mailings, and remove any related materials from its Web site. In the letter, the government also said it may take other action against Humana.

Here is a screen shot of the mailer. Click image for a larger view.

PDF of full mailer is here.

Although there is nothing misleading about this mailer, HHS alleged that seniors were so senile they would mistake the mailer for an official Medicare communication.

In a warning letter to Humana, HHS said the government is concerned that the mailer "is misleading and confusing" partly because the company's lobbying campaign could be mistaken for an official communication about Medicare benefits.

Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., was outraged.

"It is wholly unacceptable for insurance companies to mislead seniors regarding any subject — particularly on a subject as important to them, and to the nation, as health care reform," Baucus said Monday, disclosing the HHS investigation.

Sen. Max Baucus, just because you don't think the Medicare cuts will lead to benefit cuts doesn't make it the indisputable truth. The government has no right to censor communications between companies and their customers as long as no law is broken.