Private info released on consumers through Obamacare exchange

from Mary Katherine Ham article

Posted 10/1/2013

An employee of Minnesota’s Obamacare exchange, MNsure, sent an unencrypted file to the wrong person and left 2,400 people’s private information at the mercy of a nearby insurance agent.

One exchange staffer’s simple mistake gave insurance broker Jim Koester access to an Excel document of Social Security numbers, names, addresses and other personal data for whole a list of insurance agents. Luckily for the 2,400, Koester was cooperative — and unnerved.

“The more I thought about it, the more troubled I was,” Koester told the Minnesota Star Tribune. “What if this had fallen into the wrong hands? It’s scary. If this is happening now, how can clients of MNsure be confident their data is safe?” (more…)

Public-Private Partnerships?

Government has no business in business. By the same token, business has no business in government. These two enterprises have opposite rules, goals and types of people. Business is about making a profit. Government is about spending other people’s money. Those two things define the people in each. Putting those two enterprises under one roof, leads later, if not sooner, to corruption.

~Marv Chastain

What would Reagan do?

Posted on April 11, 2011

‘What Would Reagan Do?’ Videos Launched

Ronald Reagan’s son Michael Reagan is hosting a new series of videos that explore how the 40th president of the United States would deal with today’s issues — “What Would Reagan Do?”

One video focuses on the labor strife pitting Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker against the state’s public employees unions, and references how President Reagan handled the strike by air traffic controllers during his administration — he terminated them.

Other videos focus on the unrest in Libya, and the “Federal Pay Gap.” (more…)

Make Mine Freedom!

This 1948 Cartoon tells in an excellent way why we need to be aware of socialism / communism / Marxism and how it creeps into our own government if we are not vigilant.

Results of testing government knowledge

Posted on July 7, 2011 by Sue

The Intercollegiate Studies Institute examines the relationship between higher education, civic knowledge and citizenship. http://www.americancivicliteracy.org/2011/summary_summary.html

It’s interesting to note that college educators have on average only gotten a 55% correct answer rate on the test. Average Americans got only a 49% average correct. Take it, and see how well you can do…

http://www.isi.org/quiz.aspx?q=FE5C3B47-9675-41E0-9CF3-072BB31E2692

Government Spending

Posted on September 13, 2011 by Sue

from Cathy McMorris-Rodgers

Fact of the Day: From 1999-2010, the U.S. Department of Justice spent $43 million to defend the EPA against lawsuits and paid out $14.2 million in attorneys fees alone from 2003-2010 – 75% of which went to environmental groups. Source: Government Accountability Office (GAO), Report 11-650 (published August 2011).