Thread: Obamavote: Healthcare application registers voters, too

Obamavote: Healthcare application registers voters, too

March 25, 2013 | 2:55 pm | Modified: March 25, 2013 at 3:00 pm

The 61-page online Obamacare draft application for health care includes asking if the applicant wants to register to vote, raising the specter that pro-Obama groups being tapped to help Americans sign up for the program will also steer them to register with the Democratic Party.
On page 59, after numerous questions about the applicant's identity and qualification for Obamacare, comes the question: "Would you like to register to vote?" The placement of the question could lead some to believe they have to register to vote to get health care.
In the introduction of the document, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services declare: "This document-the 'questionnaire'-represents each possible item that may need to be asked for successful eligibility determinations."
In a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius Monday, Rep. Charles Boustany Jr., chair of the House Ways and Means Oversight subcommittee, said HHS is overstepping its bounds by a mile.
"The draft documents wander into areas outside the department's purview and links applications for health insurance subsidies to voter registration," he wrote in the letter provided to Secrets. "The position of the question could lead some to think voter registration is somehow tied to subsidy eligibility," he added.
Boustany, a Louisiana Republican, said the application raises two alarming issues: What does HHS plan to do with all the information it collects on each applicant and will pro-Obama groups like AARP and Families USA that might be tapped as "navigators" to sign people up to Obamacare, steer them to register as Democrats. Others have indicated that groups like Planned Parenthood and ACORN could also act as a navigator.
In his letter, Boustany demands from HHS guidance for the navigator program, especially whether they will be encouraged to ask applicants about their voting status. He set an April 8 deadline for HHS' response.
He added that the Affordable Care Act does not let HHS probe into an applicant's choice to vote. What's more, he said the Paperwork Reduction Act requires that federal agencies seek only information needed to do their job.
"While the health care law requires that government agencies collect vast information about Americans' personal lives, it does not give your department an interest in whether individual Americans choose to vote," wrote Boustany.
Obamacare Draft Application

Obamavote: Healthcare application registers voters, too | WashingtonExaminer.com

..

Relax, Obamacare's Voter-Registration Question Is Not a Secret Democrat Ploy
By Philip Bump | The Atlantic Wire – 2 hrs 58 mins ago...

Among the 60 pages that comprise the planned online application for the Affordable Care Act is this one: "Would you like to register to vote?" As it does in the application for any public assistance program, by law. But why let that get in the way of a conservative media furor?

RELATED: Who Is Neil Munro and Why Is He Interrupting the President?

The conservative Washington Examiner was the first to report on a letter sent to Kathleen Sibelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services, by Rep. Charles Boustany.

Boustany, a Louisiana Republican, said the application raises two alarming issues: What does HHS plan to do with all the information it collects on each applicant and will pro-Obama groups like AARP and Families USA that might be tapped as "navigators" to sign people up to Obamacare, steer them to register as Democrats. Others have indicated that groups like Planned Parenthood and ACORN could also act as a navigator.

Never mind that ACORN doesn't exist.

RELATED: Obamacare Is Complicating Some Student Loans

Other conservative outlets — the Daily Caller, NewsMax — also picked up the story. And so did The Hill which, in its penultimate paragraph, explains why the language is there.

RELATED: Neil Munro's Place Among the Obama Interrupters

As a Department of Justice FAQ explains, any agency that "provides either public assistance or state-funded programs primarily engaged in providing services to persons with disabilities must offer voter-registration services" under Section 7 of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993. The Affordable Care Act clearly meets that standard. So one step of the online application process involves asking the same question that appears on applications for Medicare, food stamps, and WIC benefits. "Would you like to register to vote?" Say yes, get an application.

RELATED: Preparing for the Supreme Court's Big Health Care Decision

The Examiner's insinuation (and the implied insinuation of other outlets) is that this is a backdoor effort by the administration to encourage more Democrats to register to vote. Which is partially right: It's an effort to encourage more people to register to vote. As suggested in this brief, people with lower economic status, like those who might be more likely to rely on assistance programs, "are more apathetic towards politics, have a low level of political efficacy, and participate less in the voting process." The NVRA seeks to remedy that. The concern among conservatives, of course, is that those voters are also more likely to vote for Democrats, "navigators" like ACORN aside.

RELATED: Mitt Romney: A Law and Order Prankster

For what it's worth, the National Voting Rights Act also includes language on combatting voter fraud, not that rampant (or even small scale) voter fraud exists. None of which will do anything to keep this from being a hobby-horse of Obama opponents for months to come.

Relax, Obamacare's Voter-Registration Question Is Not a Secret Democrat Ploy