Secret Obamacare handbook the feds don’t want you to see is online

Secret Obamacare handbook the feds don’t want you to see is online

By Tori Richards  /   December 13, 2013  /   No Comments

 

  

 

 

Part 83 of 84 in the series Obamacare

By Tori Richards | Watchdog.org
A confidential training manual for Obamacare navigators that threatens prosecution for unauthorized dissemination is on the Internet for the world to see.
The 217-page manual reads like a primer for Amway or novice car salesmen, offering sales advice on how to disarm potential customers who could be lured into purchasing insurance through exchanges created under the Affordable Care Act.

TOP SECRET NO MORE: Now you can know what the navigators know.

Section headers include “Smile: Maintain a Positive Demeanor,” “Make the Customers Feel Welcome,” “Listen” and — in what must  now seem ironic given Barack Obama’s troubles with over-promising — “Build Trust: Be True to Your Word.”
The handbook also delves into the more serious topics of “Identifying Personally Identifiable Information,” “IRS Data Safeguards” and “Preventing Fraud.”
Nothing in the manual seems to rise to the level of a state secret — raising questions about why the federal government felt it necessary to classify information that has no reason to be classified.
“It’s a conditioned reflex aimed at preventing agency embarrassment,” said Chris Farrell, a director with Judicial Watch, a nonprofit aimed at rooting out secret government documents. “The federal government routinely overclassifies documents and withholds information the public is owed.”
Farrell said the most ludicrous example he encountered happened after 9/11.
“An egregious example that comes to mind is the FBI redacting the name of Osama bin Laden from press reports, and then saying they were protecting his privacy,” Farrell said.
The Department of Health and Human Services hasn’t encountered issues as death-defying as the FBI, but still takes its “confidential” information just as seriously. A disclaimer at the bottom of each page of the manual is headlined in bold: “INFORMATION NOT RELEASABLE TO THE PUBLIC UNLESS AUTHORIZED BY LAW.”

TRUST ME: Keep your doctors, hospitals, and listen to my navigators.

“This information has not been publicly disclosed and may be privileged and confidential,” the warning reads. “It is for internal government use only and must not be disseminated, distributed, or copied to persons not authorized to receive the information. Unauthorized disclosure may result in prosecution to the full extent of the law.”
A New Jersey woman who stumbled upon the document was so alarmed that she called the feds to report it. But her concerns fell on deaf ears.
“I immediately sent an email through the White House web site that these documents are on the web for all to see. I got no response,” said Tammy Duffy, a radiation health physicist who was signing up for Obamacare. “I also called the White House yesterday and spoke to a volunteer (and said) these restricted documents are on web. I have heard from no one. I also sent it to a friend who works at the Department of Defense and said, ‘Get this taken down.’ It’s still up there.”
Duffy first learned of the document when she was talking to Obamacare navigators who referred to the manual online because they could not answer her questions regarding coverage for a self-employed person.
“I asked the nice ladies for a copy and they said I could not have it because it was a government document not for the public,” Duffy said. “So I thought maybe there is an outline or shorter version that is for the public. I went to Google and typed in ‘healthcare insurance marketplace navigator SOP.’”
To her surprise, the document popped up. She found other training materials as well.
Labeling the manual “confidential” just makes the feds look silly — something they should be used to, Farrell said.
“They are their own worst enemy,” he added.
Contact Tori Richards at tori@watchdog.org or on twitter @newswriter2

Part of 84 in the series Obamacare

1. Obamacare compliance means less money for TN service agencies
2. The mystery of Obamacare spending in Arkansas
3. Obamacare raises questions for MD small business owners
4. Kansas official on Obamacare: ‘Let someone else be the guinea pig’
5. Obamacare insurance marketplace has plenty of kinks on first day
6. OR’s Obamacare insurance marketplace hits technological snag
7. Fail: Day 1 of the New Mexico Obamacare rollout
8. Senator asks: Do you want this dysfunctional government taking over health care?
9. Jobs, coverage at risk with Obamacare, MN union health official says
10. Oregon’s Obamacare ads resemble middle school art
11. VIDEO: Obamacare vs Affordable Care Act: Comedy triumphs in court of confusion
12. Patience is key to navigating Illinois’ Obamacare marketplace
13. Hawaii residents, lawmakers frustrated with health connector glitches
14. Healthy young, key to Obamacare, aren’t buying it
15. NM’s health exchange tries to lure ‘young invincibles’
16. Obama drama: Senator blames governor for big rate hikes
17. Progressive group navigates Oregon students through Obamacare
18. Maddening: Trying to log onto federal health care site
19. You know that one guy who successfully signed up for Obamacare? He didn’t
20. What’s wrong? It’s been a week, and Obamacare website still not working
21. HHS Secretary Sebelius back in FL after embarrassing Obamacare rollout
22. Health centers enroll Floridians in Obamacare as application problems persist
23. VIDEO: Stewart skewers Sebelius on Obamacare
24. Obamacare effect? 9 companies exit Nebraska’s health insurance market
25. Obamacare: Children of undocumented parents face an uncertain future
26. Which way do we go? Obamacare navigator registration in TN in question
27. NM health exchange tries to ease problems with Obamacare website
28. CPA says hype over Obamacare small business tax credit is misleading
29. Obamacare navigator under fire for arrest warrant
30. Reports of Obamacare fraud emerge in Tennessee
31. After two weeks, FL online Obamacare enrollees are hard to find
32. Illinois state governor touts 100K Obamacare enrollees, all in Medicaid
33. Kansas lawmaker calls for crackdown on Obamacare navigators
34. WI health care exchange seeing few getting through
35. Hawaii’s Obamacare exchange relaunches with more glitches
36. We’ll know next month how many people in NM signed up for Obamacare — maybe
37. Zero: Number of Nebraskans Obamacare navigators have signed up
38. It took this Delaware woman 11 days to sign up for Obamacare – and she was the first
39. How many people have signed up for health insurance in VA? Who knows?
40. What else? NM federal health exchange ads stalled due to website problems
41. Blue Cross hires temp workers to deal with Obamacare glitches
42. If Obamacare is the next Medicare, will physicians leave en masse?
43. Three problems that won’t be solved by fixing the Obamacare exchange glitches
44. Plenty of Oregonians interested in Obamacare, but none can enroll online
45. Criticize this: Obamacare premiums a near match to WI disclosures
46. Report: Missourians will see sharp rise in premiums under Obamacare
47. Kansas navigators say they’ve enrolled no one in Obamacare
48. Obamacare too costly for rich Coloradans, Democrat congressman says
49. Study: Kansas premiums to spike following Obamacare rollout
50. Hang on to your candy: Creepy Uncle Sam is back
51. Obamacare or bust: NM Watchdog turned back again
52. Medical journals, experts refute claim that Medicaid cuts ER use
53. Arkansas spends $4M on Obamacare ads, wants more
54. LOL: In July video, HHS bragged about being ‘on schedule’ with Obamacare
55. Illinois uses Day of the Dead to market Obamacare
56. Sebelius denies GOP’s Terry ‘unreliable’ Obamacare info
57. About 290,000 Washington residents lose health insurance plans
58. Broken promise: Obamacare cancels almost 20,000 Kansas health care plans
59. Top hospitals opt out of Obamacare
60. Obamacare moves to intensive care
61. Obamacare provision could lead to more Medicaid fraud
62. Obamacare: Religious groups want to ‘move mountains’
63. Obamacare hitting Wisconsin residents with double whammy
64. Kansas AG: Obamacare threatens consumer privacy
65. 1,500 in New Mexico have to move out of the high-risk insurance pool
66. Cover Oregon website fiasco creates jobs, but costs millions
67. For Florida’s Obamacare small business exchange, it’s crunch time
68. Only 877 Wisconsinites have signed up for Obamacare, federal report says
69. Just 172 in NM have completed Obamacare applications: ‘Woefully inadequate,’ says NMIX board member
70. With only 346 Oklahomans signed up, leaders decry ‘Obamacare debacle’
71. Defying Obamacare: ‘Send them the bill,’ NM insurance official says
72. Kansas Obamacare enrollment dwarfed by nearly 20,000 cancellations
73. Numbers don’t lie: In Illinois, Obamacare means Medicaid
74. Wisconsin governor proposes insurance plan to address Obamacare rollout failure
75. Tennesseans might know Tuesday if they can keep canceled health insurance
76. People demand answers over Oregon’s Obamacare fail
77. Calif. says ‘no’ to Obamacare freebies, makes own law
78. HI health exchange violates federal law, League of Women Voters say
79. Obamacare video winner: ‘Forget about the price tag’
80. Harvard study finds ‘striking’ rejection of Obamacare by young Americans
81. HI health exchange has signed up 574 people, for about $348,000 apiece
82. Are the uninsured getting Obamacare coverage in Illinois?
83. Secret Obamacare handbook the feds don’t want you to see is online
84. Lost in translation: Once-supportive Hispanics turning backs on Obama, ACA