Free Republic

Several million people hit with new federal fines for going without health insurance will get a second chance to sign up starting Sunday, and that could ease the sting of rising penalties for being uninsured. But as the enrollment window reopens, it’s unclear how many know about the time-limited opportunity, let alone will take advantage of it. Fines payable to the IRS are the stick behind the offer of taxpayer-subsidized private insurance under President Barack Obama’s health care law. Virtually everyone in the country is now required to have coverage through an employer or a government program, or by buying...

As the White House scrambles to get people signed up for health insurance before the March 31 deadline, many uninsured Americans say they are still planning to take their chances and remain without coverage. A new study by Bankrate.com shows that about one third of uninsured Americans are going to remain without coverage and opt to pay the penalty. The survey results suggest that the administration’s outreach to uninsured people may be falling short, with more than half of people without insurance unaware of the March 31 deadline—and even more unaware of subsidies that could make their policies more affordable....

(Reuters) - A new push to sign up Americans for insurance under President Barack Obama's healthcare law will begin in December, when the government's faulty enrollment website is expected to work better, an advocacy group leading the campaign said on Tuesday. Technical problems with the HealthCare.Gov website since it opened October 1 has hindered enrollment and undercut momentum for organizations such as Enroll America, which has led efforts to explain benefits to consumers in 10 states, including Florida, Texas and Ohio. The Obama administration is racing to fix the website by November 30 so that people who want benefits to...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Obama administration says it's granting a six-week extension until March 31 for Americans to sign up for coverage next year and avoid new tax penalties under the president's health care overhaul law. Monday's move had been expected since White House spokesman Jay Carney promised quick action last week to resolve a "disconnect" in the implementation of the law. ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama on Monday said there was "no excuse" for the cascade of computer problems that have marred the rollout of key elements in his health care law, but declared he was confident the administration would be able to fix the issues. "There's no sugarcoating it," Obama said. "Nobody is more frustrated than I am." The president said his administration was doing "everything we can possibly do" to get the federally run websites up and running. And he guaranteed that everyone who wants to get insurance through the new health care exchanges will be able to....

As President Obama's signature health insurance overhaul effort began to enroll new participants on Monday, some states running their own insurance exchanges saw huge levels of website traffic but paltry interest in signing up. California, the ultimate blue state whose federal lawmakers voted overwhelmingly in support of Obamacare, turned less than 1 per cent of its Web visits into 'Covered California' participants on Tuesday. 'We had over 5.7 million hits to our website as of 3 p.m. yesterday,' Covered California spokeswoman Kelsey Caldwell told MailOnline Wednsday. '7,700 consumers began their application process yesterday. ... 4,143 applications are pending,' she added....

Rampant fraud on a New York City contract last year didn’t stop a major nonprofit from landing a slew of federal contracts to sign people up for ObamaCare. Seedco, a New York-based community-development organization, was sued by the federal government for faking at least 1,400 of 6,500 job placements under a $22.2 million federally funded contract with the city. Eighteen months later, the feds and Seedco are teaming up again, this time to help medical-insurance seekers maneuver through the maze that is the Affordable Health Care Act. When ObamaCare’s open-enrollment period starts Tuesday, among the frontline agencies will be Seedco,...

Here's a list of events coming up in your state this week. The list will continue to grow, probably by the hour, so keep checking back in. Use the sign-up form to the right and one of our organizers will be in touch with more information about the event. Events on Monday February 21, 2011 (All times local) Montana Rally Time: 2 P.M. Location: Montana State Capitol Address: 1301 East 6th Avenue - Helena, Montana Nevada Rally Time: 12 P.M. Location: Nevada State Capitol Address: 101 North Carson Street - Carson City, NV 89701 North Carolina Rally Time: 12 P.M....

LAS VEGAS (AP) ― A former Nevada director for the political advocacy group ACORN testified Tuesday that quotas were common and that no one told him he couldn't pay bonuses to encourage voter registration canvassers to work a little harder during last year's presidential campaign. "No one in ACORN knew that this was illegal, up until December," Christopher Howell Edwards testified during an evidentiary hearing before a judge set to decide Wednesday whether the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now and a former regional supervisor will stand trial in state court on felony charges.

Because he's unwilling to face his constituents, Sen. Harry Reid is hosting a telephone town hall on the government-run health care plan on August 28. Go here to sign up. You'll have to provide your name, e-mail address and, of course, a telephone number. While Sen. Reid's website claims this telephone town hall is open to all Nevadans, it's not. Nevada Senator Harry Reid will host a tele-town hall on August 28th with small business owners, health care providers, seniors and any other Nevadans interested in voicing their opinions and asking questions about health insurance reform.First, I just talked with...

ALEXANDRIA, Va., May 8, 2006 – Even though the registration deadline is only a week away, there's still room for military children to attend an "Operation Purple" summer camp free of charge, according to National Military Family Association officials. Applications are available only online, and officials emphasized they will be accepted only through May 15. NMFA's Operation Purple camps provide children from military families fun and memorable opportunities to learn new skills for managing deployment-related stress, officials said. NMFA developed this free summer camp program, sponsored this year by the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation and TriWest Healthcare Alliance,...

Soldiers look at deployment in many different ways. Some see it as a way of furthering their careers and some see it as a steppingstone to financial security. However, one soldier sees it as an opportunity to make a difference and he plans to make that difference as long as the Army will let him. Spc. Jonathan Laureles, a combat medic with the 29th Support Battalion, 29th Support Brigade, recently began his second consecutive tour in Iraq and already extended for a third, which will begin February 2006. Laureles works as a medic at the North Exit Control Point. He...

The Army is getting desperate. Having fallen 25% short of already reduced recruiting goals last month, it is raising enlistment bonuses to $40,000 in some cases and lowering standards to accept and retain soldiers who would have been turned away in years past. A minor criminal record? No high school diploma? Uncle Sam still wants you. Down this way disaster lies — the undoing of the finest armed forces in U.S. history. But what choice is there? With combat dragging on in Iraq and plenty of jobs available at home, there aren't enough volunteers. So far, a real crisis has...

It's March to Victory for Students for Bush! Watch this space from March 18 to April 5 as students from different states square off in the Bush Volunteer Tournament to see who can sign up the most students! CHECK THE BRACKETThe Bush Volunteer Tournament kicks off March 18, as 32 states begin competing for Sweet Sixteen bragging rights. Will Iowa fend off Missouri in the Midwest bracket? Can Ohio shock Pennsylvania? Check out the latest, up-do-date Bush Volunteer Tournament bracket! Help your state advance to the next round. Sign up as a Bush Volunteer and select your school!

Signup Against Telemarketer Calls Starts Friday 1 hour, 46 minutes ago By Andy Sullivan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. households tired of unwanted telemarketing calls can begin registering on Friday for a national "do not call list" due to be launched by President Bush. Telemarketers who call numbers on the list after Oct. 1 face penalties of up to $11,000 per call under the popular measure that Bush will kick off in a White House Rose Garden ceremony at 8:30 a.m. EDT. The measure got a boost from the Federal Communications Commission on Thursday when the agency voted 5-0 to support...

The creators of the Firetalk chat program have introduced a new voice/chat program that is available now for FREE. First, you must load the program on your computer and save to your desktop After loading send an email to JackDracula@efournet.com with your ISP email , nickname , password The information must be listed in the body of email,,, ISP email , nickname , password In 24 to 48 you should be able to log on. This is unquestionably the BEST voice program on the internet. I have been using it for 2 weeks now and the sound quality is truly...

The way I understand it the sign-up is quarterly. The current registration goes into effect September 1. If you wait past the deadline, it will be three months--December 1--before you will go on the list. You can register online at TexasNoCall.Com. It's very easy and takes only minutes!