Convicted felons to become Obamacare navigators

Thursday, November 14, 2013 by: J. D. Heyes
Tags: Obamacare navigators, convicted felons, Healthcare.gov

(NaturalNews) As additional layers of the law that nobody read are steadily peeled back, more is revealed about just how contemptible Obamacare really is.

Like the fact that criminals can serve as Obamacare "navigators" - the individuals hired by the federal government (and paid for with your tax dollars) to "assist" Americans with understanding the law's provisions.

Obamacare - taxpayer supported employment for criminals

In a congressional testimony on Nov. 6, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, who was Obama's point girl for the disastrous, glitch-prone roll-out of Obamacare, said it is entirely possible that convicted felons could become navigators.

"Isn't it true there is no federal requirement for navigators to undergo a criminal background check, even though they will receive personal information from the individuals they help to sign-up up for the Affordable Care Act?" asked Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn at a Senate Finance Committee hearing, at which Sebelius was testifying.

"That is true," Sebelius replied. "States could have an additional background check and other features, but it is not part of the federal requirement."

Not part of the federal requirement. One can only guess why not, but I digress.

"So a convicted felon could be a navigator and acquire sensitive personal information?" Cornyn pressed.

"That is possible," Sebelius acknowledged. "We have contracts with organizations and they have taken the responsibility to screen the individual navigators and make sure they are sufficiently trained for the job."

Yes - perhaps by the same firm that vetted and cleared the guy who recently shot up the Navy Yard in Washington, D.C.

"Asked by Georgia Republican Sen. Johnny Isakson if HHS would be open to a federal requirement for background checks, Sebelius said it was up to Congress, but that they would certainly look at it," Breitbart News reported.

The hearing, which lasted about three hours, saw Sebelius once again falling on a sword for Obama. She did so the previous week, during a House hearing which focused on growing concerns about the president's signature legislation.

During her Senate hearing, Sebelius also admitted that, so far, enrollment figures - which she promised to release next week - will be embarrassingly "low."

In response to that revelation, Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said he was demanding monthly progress reports from Sebelius.

"No more excuses," Hatch told her. "No more spin, just give us the truth."

During her opening statements, Sebelius tried to sugar-coat the dismal roll-out, saying that, to date, "a number of fixes have already been completed" to the glitch-prone Healthcare.gov website.

"Two weeks ago, the tech team put into place enhanced monitoring tools for Healthcare.gov, enabling us to get a high-level picture of the marketplace application responding, and to measure how changes improve user experience on the site," she said.

Those who support Obama, no matter what, will support Obamacare, no matter what

Also sitting on the panel was Sen. Max Baucus, the Montana Democrat who was a primary architect of the law. He's been a long-time champion of it, but some months ago, he was the first to call it a "train wreck."

Though the White House has promised in recent days that the site would be running glitch-free by Nov. 30, Baucus asked Sebelius to beat that deadline.

"You said recently that you expect the website to be running smoothly for a majority of users by late November," he said. "There is no room for error. You must meet -- and I prefer you beat -- that deadline."

Whatever. That the government can't even build a functional website is bad enough, but the fact is that even a functioning Obamacare website won't erase the damage the law will do to the nation's healthcare system.

There is nothing good about Obamacare - that should be plainly obvious by now. That the law still has substantial support in America is due in large part to partisan politics - the same people who love Obama and think he does no wrong are among those who still support this terrible law.

There is another group of supporters as well - those who will get taxpayer-provided subsidies and those not yet hurt by the law - though I expect the latter demographic to change its mind quickly once the law starts affecting their coverage and pocketbooks.

Sources:

http://dailycaller.com

http://www.foxnews.com

http://www.mediaite.com

http://news.investors.com