More than 4 million enroll in Obama’s health care
The first 50-state report on the latest sign-up season under President Barack Obama’s health-care law shows that more than 4 million people registered for the first time or re-enrolled in what the administration called “an encouraging start.”
More than 3.4 million people selected plans using HealthCare.gov as of Dec. 15, and more than 600,000 people selected plans in the state-run marketplaces, with those figures generally up-to-date through Dec. 13, according to the Department of Health and Human Services report released Tuesday.
The report includes figures for 14 state marketplaces, including Washington, D.C., and the 37 states using HealthCare.gov. It doesn’t include people who are being automatically re-enrolled in health plans because that re-enrollment process happened on the federal marketplace from Dec. 16 through Dec. 18.
The numbers are significantly more modest than during the first month of enrollment last year when HealthCare.gov was plagued with technical problems. The nationwide sign-up total after the first month was 106,000.
Open enrollment runs through Feb. 15. People enrolling by that date will get coverage starting March 1. Current customers still can make plan changes through Feb. 15.
Prosecutor in Garner case a congressional contender
WASHINGTON – Potential candidates eyed a New York congressional seat Tuesday, as Republican Rep. Michael Grimm announced his resignation after a guilty plea on tax-evasion charges.
Among the possible candidates is a Staten Island prosecutor who oversaw a case in which a white New York City police officer was cleared in the death of a black man in an apparent chokehold. Two state lawmakers and a former congressman who was unseated by Grimm also could be interested in the open seat.
Grimm, a New York Republican, had vowed to stay in Congress as long as he could, even after his guilty plea last week. But he said Monday night that he plans to resign effective Jan. 5.
Putin’s chief political foe convicted for fraud
MOSCOW – President Vladimir Putin’s chief political foe was convicted, along with his brother, Tuesday in a fraud case widely seen as a vendetta by the Kremlin, triggering one of Russia’s boldest anti-government demonstrations in years.
Police allowed a few thousand protesters to gather just outside Red Square for about two hours – a show of relative restraint for Russian authorities, who have little tolerance for dissent – before moving in to break up the unsanctioned rally by pushing the demonstrators toward subway entrances.
The rally came hours after anti-corruption campaigner Alexei Navalny was found guilty of what activists said were trumped-up charges and given a suspended sentence of 3½ years. His younger brother was sent to prison, a move that drew comparisons to the Stalin-era practice of punishing family members of enemies of the state.
The 38-year old Navalny, a lawyer and popular blogger, rose to prominence with his investigations of official corruption and played a leading role in organizing anti-Putin demonstrations in Moscow in 2011 and 2012 that drew hundreds of thousands.
Navalny, who has been under house arrest since February, violated its terms to attend the rally and was rounded up by police as he approached the site. He later tweeted that police drove him home and blocked him from leaving his apartment.
Associated Press
