A tally from the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform suggests the Dept. of Health and Human Services spent between $400 million and $600 million to build the troubled healthcare marketplace website, but The Washington Post Fact Checker and a government watchdog group say the true cost may be much lower.
A new phase of the Obamacare launch is coming, this one involving Medicaid. And it could be deja vu all over again. On Nov. 1, the health law's malfunctioning enrollment system is supposed to send reams of data to states so they can begin placing thousands of people into Medicaid. But state officials say that transfer system has barely been tested and could be vulnerable to technical failures like those that have crippled the broader Obamacare sign-up process.
The Obama administration is seeking to clarify penalty rules for people who delay signing up for coverage under Obama care. Simply put: People who wait until the end of the initial enrollment period -- up to March 31 -- will not be penalized. The Obama administration is preparing legal guidance to address a confusion of dates in the new law, which says people must sign up by the 15th of one month to receive coverage on the 1st of the next month. That is not the case, the White House says.
Germany's Foreign Ministry summoned the U.S. ambassador Thursday following allegations that American intelligence may have targeted Chancellor Angela Merkel's cellphone. At the same time, a senior lawmaker expressed concern at the White House's statement that it isn't monitoring and won't monitor Merkel's communications - a response that didn't address what might have happened in the past.
A new phase of the Obamacare launch is coming, this one involving Medicaid. And it could be deja vu all over again. On Nov. 1, the health law's malfunctioning enrollment system is supposed to send reams of data to states so they can begin placing thousands of people into Medicaid. But state officials say that transfer system has barely been tested and could be vulnerable to technical failures like those that have crippled the broader Obamacare sign-up process.
The Obama administration is seeking to clarify penalty rules for people who delay signing up for coverage under Obama care. Simply put: People who wait until the end of the initial enrollment period -- up to March 31 -- will not be penalized. The Obama administration is preparing legal guidance to address a confusion of dates in the new law, which says people must sign up by the 15th of one month to receive coverage on the 1st of the next month. That is not the case, the White House says.
Germany's Foreign Ministry summoned the U.S. ambassador Thursday following allegations that American intelligence may have targeted Chancellor Angela Merkel's cellphone. At the same time, a senior lawmaker expressed concern at the White House's statement that it isn't monitoring and won't monitor Merkel's communications - a response that didn't address what might have happened in the past.
