Undercover govt investigators re-enrolled fictitious persons for health benefits
Undercover govt investigators re-enrolled fictitious persons for health benefits
WASHINGTON (AP) — Phony applicants that investigators signed up last year under President Barack Obama’s health care law got automatically re-enrolled for 2015. Some were rewarded with even bigger taxpayer subsidies for their insurance premiums, a congressional probe has found.
The nonpartisan Government Accountability Office says 11 counterfeit characters that its investigators created last year were automatically re-enrolled by HealthCare.gov, even though most had unresolved documentation issues. In Obama’s terms, they got to keep the coverage they had.
Six of those later were flagged and sent termination notices. But GAO said it was able to get five of them reinstated by calling HealthCare.gov’s consumer service center. That seemed to be a weak link in the system.
The five bogus beneficiaries who were reinstated even got their monthly subsidies bumped up a bit, although GAO did not ask for it. The case of the sixth fake enrollee who appealed was under review.
HealthCare.gov does not appear to be set up to detect fraud, GAO audits and investigations chief Seto Bagdoyan said in prepared testimony for a Senate Finance Committee hearing Thursday. A copy was provided to The Associated Press.
‘Something wonderful’: Peaks on Pluto, canyons on Charon seen in 1st close-ups of icy worlds
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Mankind’s first close-up look at Pluto did not disappoint Wednesday: The pictures showed ice mountains on Pluto about as high as the Rockies and canyons on its big moon Charon that appear deeper than those on Earth.
Especially astounding to scientists was the absence of craters in a zoom-in shot of Pluto, the dwarf planet that hosted its first visitor from Earth on Tuesday, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft.
They said that suggests to their surprise that Pluto is geologically active even now and is being sculpted not by outside forces but by internal heat.
The long-awaited images were unveiled Wednesday in Maryland, home to mission operations for NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft.
“I don’t think any one of us could have imagined that it was this good of a toy store,” principal scientist Alan Stern said at a news conference. He marveled: “The Pluto system IS something wonderful.”
Clashes break out as Greek lawmakers debate contentious austerity bill
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Rioters hurled petrol bombs at police who responded with tear gas during an anti-austerity demonstration outside parliament Wednesday, as Greek lawmakers began debating contentious measures needed to start negotiations on a new bailout and avoid financial collapse.
Groups of youths among the more than 12,000 demonstrators smashed storefronts and set at least one vehicle alight during the hourlong clashes. It was the first significant violence since the left-wing Syriza government came to power in January promising to repeal bailout austerity. Police said at least 50 people were detained.
The protest was timed to coincide with the start of debate on the bill, which includes consumer tax increases and pension reforms that will condemn Greeks to years of more economic hardship.
The bill has fueled anger among the governing left-wing Syriza party and led to a revolt by many party members against Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who has insisted the deal forged early Monday after a marathon weekend eurozone summit was the best he could do to prevent Greece from crashing out of Europe’s joint currency.
“I must tell you, that Monday morning at 9:30, it was the most difficult day of my life. It was a decision that will weigh on me for the rest of my life,” said Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos.
Grand jury testimony from brother of Ethel Rosenberg unsealed in Cold War spying case
WASHINGTON (AP) — The brother of Ethel Rosenberg, who was a star witness against his sister and brother-in-law in a sensational Cold War atomic spying case, minimized his dealings with his sister during an earlier appearance before a grand jury and said that they had never discussed her role “at all,” according to secret court records unsealed Wednesday.
The revelation may heighten public suspicion that Ethel Rosenberg was wrongly convicted and executed in an espionage case that captivated the country at the height of the McCarthy-era frenzy about Communist allegiances.
Rosenberg and her husband Julius were put to death in 1953 after being convicted of conspiring to steal secrets about the atomic bomb for the Soviet Union, though they maintained their innocence until the end.
Historians and lawyers who reviewed the transcript said it appears to lend support to both sides of a dueling narrative — that Ethel Rosenberg was framed in an overzealous prosecution even as her husband seems to have played a central role in an intricate spy ring.
“You change a black-and-white Cold War narrative — framed or traitors — into a very nuanced, gray area,” said Tom Blanton, director of the National Security Archive at George Washington University, which fought for the records.
$10 billion man? Presidential candidate Donald Trump offers few details about his fortune
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump filed financial documents with federal campaign regulators on Wednesday and set his personal fortune at more than $10 billion with an annual income of more than $362 million.
Members of his staff had said that Trump would release the financial documents themselves, but they issued only a press release that announced the filing and included a few financial details. It provided little information about how he calculated his net worth.
The $10 billion figure — up nearly 15 percent since the previous year, by Trump’s calculation — would make him the wealthiest person ever to run for president, far surpassing previous magnates like Ross Perot, business heirs like Steve Forbes or private-equity investors like Mitt Romney, the 2012 GOP nominee.
Among the sources of Trump’s income has been $214 million in payments from NBC related to 14 seasons of the business reality television show “The Apprentice.” NBC recently cut its ties with Trump following his controversial remarks about Mexican immigrants.
Trump is relying almost exclusively on his personal wealth to fund his White House bid. His fortune could help maintain his status as a major player in the Republican presidential primary, much to the dismay of GOP officials who worry that his hardline immigration statements could alienate Hispanic voters.
Apple’s updates iPod Touch amid declining sales
NEW YORK (AP) — Although the iPod’s popularity has waned, Apple is updating its music player for the first time in nearly three years by giving the flagship Touch model a faster processor and better cameras.
The new iPod Touch also enables Apple Music, a $10-a-month service that offers unlimited playback of millions of songs. Apple Music launched June 30 as music fans increasingly embrace subscriptions over pay-per-song services such as Apple’s industry-leading iTunes.
Although music players existed before the original iPod’s debut in 2001, the iPod was the first to simplify syncing with digital music collections on personal computers. It was Apple’s first success beyond personal computers and began a company transformation that led to the iPhone in 2007, the iPad in 2010 and the Apple Watch this year.