Townhall.com ^ | May 29, 2013 | Michelle Malkin
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius controls a $54
million slush fund to hire thousands of "navigators," "in-person assisters" and
counselors who will propagandize and enroll Obamacare recipients in
government-run health insurance exchanges. This nanny-state navigator corps is
the Mother of all Community Organizing Boondoggles. It's also yet another Obama
threat to Americans' privacy.
A reminder about Secretary Sebelius' sordid snooping history is in order
here. In August 2009, HHS and the White House Office of Health Reform called on
their ground troops to report on fellow citizens who dared to criticize their
federal health care takeover. Team Obama issued an all-points bulletin on the
taxpayer-funded White House website soliciting informant emails. Remember?
"If you get an email or see something on the Web about health insurance
reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov," the Obamacare
overlords urged. The feds even singled out conservative Internet powerhouse Matt
Drudge because he had featured a video compilation of Obama and other Democrats
-- in their own words -- exposing the "public option" as a Trojan Horse for
government-run health care and the elimination of private industry.
Texas GOP Sen. John Cornyn protested at the time that "these actions taken by
your White House staff raise the specter of a data collection program." The
flagging operation was shut down, but a plethora of federal disclosure
exemptions protect the Obama administration from revealing what was collected,
who was targeted and what was done with the database information.
White House lapdogs dismissed the concerns of conservatives as paranoid
delusions. Now, fast-forward three years. In light of the draconian IRS witch
hunt against tea party groups and the Justice Department's plundering of
journalists' phone records and email accounts, every tax-subsidized Obama
"outreach" initiative warrants heightened scrutiny.
Obamacare navigators will have access to highly personal data from potential
"customers" to assess their "needs." That means income levels, birthdates,
addresses, eligibility for government assistance, Social Security numbers and
sensitive medical information. They'll be targeting both individuals and small
businesses. Anyone they can lay their grubby hands on. Who's getting the
navigator grants and training? "Community groups" in 33 states that naturally
include socialized medicine-supporting unions and Saul Alinsky-steeped activist
outfits.
On Capitol Hill last week, a top Obamacare official told GOP lawmakers that
navigators will not be required to undergo background checks. Criminal records
are not automatically disqualifying -- and that includes identity theft. The
federal rule-makers will require online training of a measly 20 hours. Health
care regulations watchdog Betsy McCaughey adds that navigators "don't have to
know math or insurance, but rules announced April 5 specify you have to match
the race, ethnicity and language preferences of the neighborhood that will be
targeted."
The Obamacare navigator corps smacks of ACORN redux, stocked with
demographically tailored Democratic Party recruitment operatives, not objective,
informed insurance experts.
Sebelius and her enforcers promise strict neutrality and clean conduct. The
bureaucrats say there will be severe consequences for violating citizens'
privacy or breaking any other laws. Pffft. The Office of Special Counsel
determined that Secretary Sebelius herself violated the federal Hatch Act
prohibition on exploiting her HHS leadership position for partisan activity last
fall. She then tried to cover up her breach after the fact by classifying the
event in which she electioneered for Obama as a "personal" appearance.
Consequences? What consequences?
Sebelius has zero credibility when it comes to reining in overzealous
partisans. But she's darned good at unleashing them. During the White House
pressure campaign for Obamacare, Sebelius goaded her "brothers and sisters" from
the brass-knuckled SEIU. SEIU goon Dennis Rivera joined her on a White House
conference call in which he lambasted tea party activists as the "radical
fringe" of "right-wingers" whose protests amounted to "terrorist tactics."
Now, the SEIU is on the board of directors of Enroll America, the left-wing,
Obamacare advocacy nonprofit for whom shakedown artist Sebelius has been
soliciting funds.
Sebelius' corruptocracy runs deep. While she was governor of Kansas, an
independent inspector general reported that her appointed health policy board
had "applied pressure to alter an audit report, restricted access to legal
advice and threatened to fire her for meeting independently with legislators,"
according to the Topeka Capital-Journal.
Team Sebelius was also embroiled in a ruthless vendetta and obstruction
campaign against then-GOP Attorney General Phill Kline, who unearthed damning
evidence that the Sebelius administration had shredded key documents related to
felony charges against Sebelius' abortion racketeering friends at Planned
Parenthood.
Sebelius notoriously threatened private companies and insurers who increased
rates to cope with Obamacare coverage mandates. She bullied private companies to
meet discriminatory and arbitrary disclosure demands. And she lashed out at
newspapers that dared to report on the true costs of the Obamacare regulatory
leviathan.
You can't trust sleazy Sebelius to navigate anything with her broken ethical
compass. This is worse than the fox guarding the henhouse. She has unfettered
authority and a bottomless budget to weaponize legions more foxes who will serve
as Obamacare's eyes and ears on the ground. The snitch brigade lives.
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