csziggy
csziggy's JournalRecalculating ACA subsidies - has anyone here done it?
This question occurred to me while reading another thread about the ACA - a thread I fervently did not want to get involved with.
My husband will be retiring at the end of this year. I've already set up an account at HealthCare.gov and gotten a preliminary look at possible plans and how much our subsidy might be. But we are not sure how much our income will be next year - we have estimates but not actual figures.
I called and talked to one of the helpers at the HealthCare.gov phone lines and she said that at any time during the year we can go onto the site to our account and put in updated figures on our income so our subsidies can be adjusted.
Has anyone here done that? Did it work for you? How complicated was it? Were you happy with the results?
Thanks in advance for any replies!
One piece of good news in Florida
Gwen Graham beat Tea Party Steve Southerland!
U.S. Representative, District 2
Steve Southerland.....REP.....122,939.....49.56%
Gwen Graham...........DEM....125,132.....50.44%
It's not much, but I'll take any good news I can get.
Crist asks judge to hold some polling place open extra hour - DENIED
No link - on MSNBC.
Broward polls closed, despite Crist campaign effort
Citing those problems, the Crist for Governor Campaign in the hour before the polls closed asked Snipes to extend voting hours in Broward for two hours, until 9 p.m.
After Snipes denied the request, campaign officials said they would file an emergency motion asking the Circuit Court to order the extension.
In a news release, the Crist campaign cited the power outage, the malfunctioning ID scanner and changes in precincts as contributing to "several individual and systemic breakdowns that made it difficult for voters to cast regular ballots."
"We have reports in many cases that voters who were confused about their proper polling location were provided conflicting information and, in many cases, simply gave up attempting to cast a regular ballot," the campaign said in the release.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/fl-election-broward-voting-20141104-story.html
Since DU is in a time warp - here's a flashback to 1980
Good news in Leon County! Early voting WAY up!
Just heard it on the WCTV-TV local news - no link yet.
Ion Sancho said the early voting was up more than 3000 votes over the same period last election. That is HUGE for Leon County and good news for Democratic candidates since Leon is very blue!
Bill Clinton and Jimmy Buffet to rally for Gwen Graham in Tallahassee!
On the Florida A&M University campus - Sunday's event will take place in FAMU's quad at noon. And Jimmy Buffet will be at The Moon in Tallahassee on Oct 29 - doors open at 5 PM.
By Karl EttersDemocrat staff writer @KarlEtters on Twitter 2:29 p.m. EDT October 23, 2014
Former President Bill Clinton will join congressional hopeful Gwen Graham for a Get Out the Vote rally at Florida A&M University Sunday.
Graham is challenging Republican Congressman Steve Southerland to represent Florida's 2nd Congressional District.
This week Graham has turned to star power to encourage people to vote early. Monday, her campaign announced a free Tallahassee concert with beach-inclined singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett.
Democrats typically do not turn out as strongly as Republicans in elections without a presidential pick on the ballot. The event with Clinton looks to highlight the Souls to the Polls movement of providing transportation to people voting after church on Sunday.
"I am so honored to have President Clinton join our campaign as we remind residents about the importance of voting and participating in this election," Graham said in a prepared statement.
http://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/2014/10/23/bill-clinton-stump-gwen-graham-early-voting/17766551/
Karl Etters, Tallahassee Democrat 12:58 p.m. EDT October 21, 2014
Beach-inclined singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett will appear at a campaign rally for U.S. congressional hopeful Gwen Graham D-Margaritaville at The Moon in Tallahassee.
The Oct. 29 Get Out the Vote rally will include an acoustic performance by Buffett and friends starting at 6:30. Doors will open at 5 p.m. Tickets are available on a first-come, first-serve basis at Graham's Tallahassee offices at 1584 Metropolitan Boulevard Suite 102 and at 2130 N. Lake Bradford Road starting Oct. 20 at 5 p.m.
The free tickets will be available from 5- 9 p.m. after that and can also be picked up at Graham's Jackson County office at 4435 Lafayette Street in Marianna and in Panama City at 647 Jenks Avenue.
The candidate's mother and father, former Gov. Bob Graham and Adele Graham will also be at the event.
http://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/local/2014/10/20/buffet-to-campaign-for-graham-at-the-moon/17609105/
Right after I got the call about Bill Clinton coming tomorrow, I got a call from the DCCC polling - I was happy to let them know I had already voted for Crist and for Graham!
New ad with Jeb Bush throws Crist under the bus
And boy does that make me feel better about Charlie Crist! I've been labeling Crist a Jeb toady because Crist continued the Bush doctrine when he succeeded Jeb in office. Even after Crist left the Republican Party and became an Independent, then moved over to being a Democrat I was suspicious of Crist.
Tonight I watched a Crist campaign ad in which Crist talked about being on the side of the average person. Immediately following it was Jeb Bush on the air. The cut was so quick I expected Jeb to be supporting his old follower. No - Jeb was disparaging Crist and supporting Scott. After the things Jeb said, I don't see Crist ever going back to Jeb's camp.
I'm going in to vote tomorrow and I will feel much better about my vote for Charlie Crist!
Voting for or against judges - it's important!
I always hate this part of the ballot - it's so hard to tell whether or not a judge is worth retaining in office.
The Florida Bar has a page that helps, a little:
http://www.floridabar.org/thevotesinyourcourt
On the page for each district there is a little information about each judge with a link to their biographies on the district court web site.
This year for the first time ever I see clear reasons to NOT vote to retain two of the judges in the First District Court of Appeals which covers my area. The two judges I will vote against are Tim Osterhaus and Clay Roberts. First thing I noticed in looking over their biographies is how short their lists of qualifications are compared to the other judges on the ballot. They barely have a paragraph while the other judges (Judges Robert Benton, Joseph Lewis, and Scott Makar) have extensive qualifications, experience, honors and publications.
The two I will be voting against have more political than legal qualifications. Clay Roberts has one that really stands out for me - he was Director, Florida Division of Elections, 1999-2002. He was the guy in charge during the 2000 Florida Election debacle!
Here is all I need to know about the other one I will be voting against:
Before his appointment, Tim served as the Solicitor General of Florida under Attorney General Pam Bondi. As Florida’s SG, and as Deputy SG before that, he represented the state and state agencies in all of Florida’s district courts of appeal, the Florida Supreme Court, federal district and circuit courts, and the United States Supreme Court. This included work on many notable cases, including Florida’s challenge with 25 other states to the 2010 federal healthcare act.
http://www.1dca.org/judges/osterhaus.html
The first line was enough, but the last sentence I quoted put the nail in it as far as I'm concerned. Neither one of these men should be sitting on any judicial bench in my opinion!
Check out the judges in your area - you may find other Republican appointees that we should send home to spend time with their families, not making decisions that destroy other people's families.
Dream Defenders new Vest or Vote ad campaign
http://dreamdefenders.org/vest/A get-out-the-vote ad by a Florida-based group is part of its new “Vest or Vote” campaign, which is rallying voters around police violence against black boys.
posted on Oct. 14, 2014, at 4:06 p.m.
Darren Sands BuzzFeed Staff
It’s part of the Dream Defenders’ “Vest or Vote” campaign, which organizers say is meant to relay dramatic irony around the urgency of voting in this year’s midterm elections. Dream Defenders accepts grants from individual donors; a crowd funding campaign on IndieGogo recently raised $22,000. It is based in Florida with ten chapters, mostly on college campuses, including Florida State, Florida A&M and Florida Atlantic.
Phillip Agnew, the executive director of the Florida-based group, is also a paid organizer for the SEIU.
A spokesman said the campaign also has a billboard in Tallahassee, as well as a digital ad [shown below] on the Dream Defenders’ website which parodies an online sale for bulletproof vests.
“It’s what we call exaggerated reality,” said Steve Pargett, communications director for Dream Defenders. “But here in Florida, it really is the way that mothers are thinking. Mothers are scared for their children. And young people don’t feel as safe as they did before Trayvon Martin was killed. It’s a reality for people living here.”
http://www.buzzfeed.com/darrensands/new-ad-vote-or-buy-a-bulletproof-vest-for-sons#2lcy6wi
Next time I go into town, I'll take a picture of the billboard.
ETA - Local TV coverage of the billboard:
?resize=300%2C169
http://www.wtxl.com/news/dream-defenders-launch-voting-campaign-with-shocking-billboard/article_20c47c3a-541b-11e4-aa17-0017a43b2370.html
Gmail and YouTube are being obnoxious!
I have one personal Gmail account which Google arbitrarily associated with my YouTube account some time back. Yesterday I was checking email both on my personal account and one that I administer for a non-profit. No problems switching back and forth.
Today I wanted to recommend a video that was linked here on DU so I tried to sign into my YouTube account. I got a message from Google saying there was "unusual activity" on my Gmail account and insisting that the only way I could sign in was to give them a phone number and let them text or auto call. As of last night the only "unusual activity" was that I was actually using my account for more than YouTube!
Well, Google, that is NOT going to happen. I don't want calls from Google on my landline and don't do text on the cell phone that is seldom charged or turned on. Google is pushing for "2 step verification" where I would not just enter my password, I would also have to enter a code on my phone. How could I enter a code on my landline? Since I get no cell signal at home, I would not be able to enter a code on my cell phone while sitting at my computer.
I tired creating a new YouTube account that does not use a Gmail address. YouTube arbitrarily assigned the email address as my user ID. If I don't want my email displayed for everything I do on YouTube, I have to associate the account with Google and change the user ID through Google.
I guess my days of using Gmail and YouTube are over. I may watch videos on YouTube - I will not be able to recommend them without an account. I will never be able to upload videos, either.
FU, Google.
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Gender: Do not displayHometown: Leon County, Florida
Member since: Tue Feb 12, 2008, 10:18 PM
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