Page 2 The Skanner November 15, 2017
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ACA Enrollent Surging, Even Though It Ends Dec. 15
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Opinion
he enrollment period to
be covered by the feder-
al Affordable Care Act
(ACA) began Nov.1st, and
is scheduled to end Dec. 15th,
for those hoping to qualify
for health care coverage be-
ginning January 1, 2018.
The Trump Administra-
tion, which has made no se-
cret of its wish to “repeal and
replace” President Barack
Obama’s signature legisla-
tive achievement, has done
everything it can to force the
ACA to whither on the vine
by cutting the enrollment pe-
riod from the previous three
months, to just 45 days. And
it has also cut the $100 mil-
lion Obama Administration
budget to both advertise the
open enrollment period, and
slashed grant funding efforts
for state and community or-
ganizations across the nation
that reach those in dire need
of all that the ACA offers
through education and mobi-
lization, by an estimated 90
percent to just $10 million for
the entire nation.
And yet, according to re-
cent published reports, Pres.
Trump’s efforts to strangle
Cash
Michaels
NNPA
Columnist
the ACA to discourage partic-
ipation are coming up short.
In fact, based on available
numbers, people are enroll-
“
Pres. Trump’s
efforts to
strangle
the ACA to
discourage
participation
are coming
up short
ing at a higher, faster pace
than last year at this time, and
there’s every reason to be-
lieve that pace will continue
the closer Dec. 15 comes.
While no official numbers
have been released by the ad-
ministration yet, The Wash-
ington Post (citing sources)
reports that,
“More than
200,000 Americans chose
a plan on Nov. 1 (first day
of open enrollment). That’s
more than double the number
of consumers who signed up
on the first day of enrollment
last year. More than 1 million
people visited HeathCare.
gov, the official federal web-
site, the official said, which
amounts to roughly a 33 per-
cent increase in traffic com-
pared with 2016.”
This doesn’t account for
over a dozen states that have
their own health insurance
exchanges. However, several
states, like California, New
York and Connecticut, all say
they are seeing more signups
over last year as well.
Indeed, those wishing to en-
roll should go to www.health-
care.gov to qualify for federal
tax subsidies to offset the ris-
ing cost of health insurance
premiums. Those subsidies,
better known as APT (Ad-
vanced Premium Tax Subsi-
dies), make monthly premi-
ums more affordable for most
Americans who apply.
Premiums on some health
insurance plans can be sub-
sidized as low as $87.00 per
month from a high of $662.00,
depending on the type of plan
an applicant needs and signs
up for.
To make sure Pres. Trump’s
efforts to squash the ACA
signup period fails, several
advocacy groups across the
nation, including the NNPA,
have stepped forward, mak-
ing sure that their constitu-
encies are properly informed
about all ACA deadlines and
requirements.
Some states are stepping up
to cover the cost of open en-
rollment education too, like
California, adding $5 million
to its efforts.
The question now is, though
it’s clear that many Ameri-
cans are ignoring Trump’s
efforts to kill the ACA, just
how many of them are young
people. There is concern in
the health care community
that most of the new signups
are people who are older
and have afflictions, versus
young, healthy people who
are needed in large numbers
in order for the ACA to work
properly by design.
Is the FBI’s New Focus on ‘Black Identity
Extremists’ the New COINTELPRO?
I
f you’ve been to a Black
Lives Matter rally or tweet-
ed the related hashtag re-
cently, then the FBI might
consider you a “Black Identity
Extremist,” at least according
to a report published by one
of the nation’s top law en-
forcement agencies.
In October, an internal FBI
report titled “Black Identity
Extremists Likely Motivated
to Target Law Enforcement
Officers,” was leaked to the
public—raising concerns of
activists, civil rights groups,
and policy makers, including
myself and other members of
the Congressional Black Cau-
cus.
The report concludes, based
on a limited total number of
incidents, that:
“...it is very likely Black
Identity Extremist (BIE) per-
ceptions of police brutality
against African Americans
spurred an increase in pre-
meditated, retaliatory lethal
violence against law enforce-
ment and will very likely
serve as justification for such
violence. The FBI assess[es]
it is very likely this increase
began following the 9 Au-
gust 2014 shooting of Michael
Brown in Ferguson, Missou-
ri, and the subsequent Grand
Jury November 2014 declina-
tion to indict the police offi-
cers involved.”
These unsubstantiated con-
Rep.
Cedric L.
Richmond
Chairman,
Congressional
Black Caucus
clusions are troubling, es-
pecially in the context of the
FBI’s history of targeting Af-
rican American activists and
leaders, including Martin
Luther King, Jr., and members
of the Congressional Black
Caucus. But what is more
“
Does the FBI
believe rac-
ism, injustice,
and police
brutality
don’t exist?
troubling is the FBI’s creation
of the term “Black Identity
Extremist” and the definition
of it.
According to the report,
Black Identity Extremists are
individuals who, “in response
to perceived racism and injus-
tice,” commit violent acts in
the name of those beliefs, and,
in some cases, desire a “sepa-
rate Black homeland…social
institutions,
communities,
or governing organizations
within the United States.”
The report continues: “The
mere advocacy of political
or social positions, political
activism, use of strong rhet-
oric, or generalized philo-
sophic embrace of violent
tactics ‘may not’ (emphasis
mine) constitute extremism,
and may be constitutionally
protected.”
I think the words “may
not” leave people who orga-
nize under the Black Lives
Matter movement and other
well-meaning African Amer-
ican activist groups vulnera-
ble to the type of monitoring
and manipulation that the
FBI engaged in as part of
COINTELPRO, a counter intel-
ligence program that unfairly
and, in some cases, unlaw-
fully destroyed movements,
careers, relationships, and
lives.
I’m also concerned about
the FBI’s definition of “ex-
tremism.” The question be-
comes: What does the FBI
consider extreme? The report
never provides an answer
to that question and further
complicates the issue on page
4 in talking about the case of
Micah Johnson, the African
American man who shot 11
police officers in downtown
Dallas, Texas, on July 7, 2016:
“Johnson searched and liked
social media pages of BIE and
Black separatist groups, and
had been ousted from a lo-
cal BIE group for being too
radical, according to an open
source news article.”
I agree that Johnson was an
extremist, but here are some
questions I have: What group
kicked him out? Was it Black
Lives Matter, a non-extremist
group? Does the FBI consid-
er this group representative
of extremism? If so, then its
definition of Black Identity
Extremists is extreme and
ineffective. Also, what does
the FBI mean by “perceived
racism and injustice” and
“perceived past police brutal-
ity incidents?” Does the FBI
believe racism, injustice, and
police brutality don’t exist?
Here are some other ques-
tions I have: Why is one of
the most powerful federal law
enforcement organizations
in the nation relying on news
articles to figure out whether
Johnson was kicked out of a
local Black Identity Extremist
group? Also, if this is a prob-
lem that’s on the rise as the
FBI indicates, why isn’t clear
and convincing incident data
illustrating this included in
the report? Finally, is the FBI
devoting as much time on this
issue as it is on White extrem-
ism? If they are, then they are
not spending their time wise-
ly when it comes to domestic
extremists.
Read the rest of this commentary at
TheSkanner.com
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