Because A Criminal Can Be in the White House – Need to Reform DOJ

The Problem

Congress created the Office of the Attorney General in 1789 and the DOJ in 1870. Both items are not embedded in the Constitution but are creatures of the Congress.

Currently Congress has no control over DOJ. The President has sole control of DOJ. DOJ must be made accountable to both parties of Congress since the President can be corrupt. As per the statutes, the President nominates the Attorney General and all other DOJ political appointments, including appointments in all DOJ component departments (i.e.: FBI, DEA, and others). They are then subject to confirmation by the Senate.

Solution

The law needs to be amended to require a two-thirds Senate approval vote for the confirmation of these positions as opposed to the current +50% level.

In addition, the confirmation must be only valid for 365 days.

The confirmation must be renewed by two thirds of the Senate every year within 60 days of the end of the 365 days.

If the confirmation is not renewed within 365 days, the appointment is immediately terminated as of the 366th day, and the office holder is ineligible for any appointed federal position for the duration of the president’s term.

The person can, however, return to his/her previous non-appointed position.

Temporary Appointments

Because the Senate has problems with confirming appointments, there needs to be a temporary appointment process.

Beginning at the start of the President’s term, all appointed positions at the DOJ (all departments and offices, i.e., FBI, Marshals, DEA, others) are considered empty and awaiting nomination and confirmation.

The two senators who are majority and minority leaders (when 50-50, majority goes to VP’s party) will make alternating temporary appointments to all open positions picking from permanent DOJ employees.

All the positions will be listed by statute in order of authority within DOJ. For equal ranked positions they will be listed randomly by statute. New or eliminated appointed positions at DOJ are automatically either added to the end of the list or removed from the list of appointed positions at DOJ.

The majority leader will make temporary appointments for odd numbered positions, and the minority leader will make a temporary appointment for even numbered positions.

• Temporary appointments will be valid for 90 days.

• A person can refuse a temporary appointment.

• A person can only hold a temporary appointment once during the term of the President.

• Upon the confirmation of a permanent appointment, the associated temporary appointment is automatically terminated.

• Upon the end of the 90-day period of any temporary appointment because there was no permanent confirmation, the senator who made the original temporary appointment will make a new temporary appointment.

• Upon the termination of a temporary appointment the persom automatically returns to his/her previous permanent position.

• Any one person can only be appointed to one 90-day temporary appointment during the term of the sitting President.

• Any person who fails to be reconfirmed by the Senate is ineligible for a temporary appointment at the DOJ.

• A person appointed to a temporary position at DOJ during a President’s term is eligible for permanent DOJ appointments.

Conclusion

The President can terminate a confirmed appointee, but the subsequent nomination will be subject to the two-thirds approval of the Senate and the temporary appointment process.

The purpose of these reforms is to make DOJ subject to both bipartisan Senate control as well as Presidential control. This in turn protects the country from a corrupt President.

Anthem - US Department of Justice - Medicare Advantage Scam

I just stumbled on the following notice from DOJ. Within the press release you can find 112 page complaint. You can read the opening paragraph below:

Department of Justice
U.S. Attorney’s Office
Southern District of New York
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, March 27, 2020

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Files Civil Fraud Suit Against Anthem, Inc., For Falsely Certifying The Accuracy Of Its Diagnosis Data

Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that the United States filed a civil fraud lawsuit today against ANTHEM, INC. (“ANTHEM”), alleging that ANTHEM falsely certified the accuracy of the diagnosis data it submitted to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) for risk-adjustment purposes under Medicare Part C and knowingly failed to delete inaccurate diagnosis codes. As a result of these acts, ANTHEM caused CMS to calculate the risk-adjustment payments to ANTHEM based on inaccurate, and inflated, diagnosis information, which enabled ANTHEM to obtain millions of dollars in Medicare funds to which it was not entitled.

Why is the notice significant? Well, Anthem is the company NYC has contracted with to ramrod NYC retirees into a Medicarae Part C plan (aka Medicare Advantage). You can read the opening of the proposed NYC/Anthem contract below. This raises serious questions about the integrity of this whole process.

Medicare Advantage Group Agreement

This NYC Medicare Advantage Plus Plan Group Agreement (hereinafter "MA Agreement") is entered into as of January 1, 2022 (hereinafter “Effective Date”) by and between

the City of New York (“City”) acting through Mayor’s Office of Labor Relations – Employee Benefits Program on behalf of the Labor Management Health Insurance Policy Committee for the New York City Health Benefits Program with an office at 22 Cortlandt Street, 12th Floor, New York, NY 10007 (hereinafter "Group") and

Anthem Insurance Companies, Inc. doing business as Empire BlueCross BlueShield Retiree Solutions, on behalf of itself and the Alliance, defined below (hereinafter “Empire” or the “Alliance”) sponsor of the NYC Medicare Advantage Plus Plan (hereinafter "MA Plan"). Empire and The Group each are sometimes referred to herein as a “Party” and collectively as the “Parties.”

WHEREAS,

the City and Municipal Labor Committee (“MLC”), an umbrella organization for municipal unions, negotiate on a variety of matters, including collective bargaining regarding health benefits pursuant to their obligations under the New York Collective Bargaining Law;

WHEREAS,

to aid in the administration of the negotiated health benefits agreements, the City and the MLC established the Labor Management Health Insurance Policy Committee (“Committee”) for the MLC and City representatives to meet on a regular basis to discuss City health insurance benefits; and

WHEREAS,

the Employee Benefits Program (“EBP”) is a division of the Mayor’s Office of Labor Relations (“OLR”), and OLR is acting under the authority of the New York City Administrative Code Section 12.126(d) as the administrator of the New York City Health Benefits Program (“HBP”); and

WHEREAS,

on October 30, 2020 OLR’s request for authorization to enter into a Negotiated Acquisition to solicit a Medicare Advantage plan under Medicare Part C for the Medicare eligible retirees and dependents of the City of New York who are eligible for the City’s Health Benefits Program was approved by the City Chief Procurement Officer; and

WHEREAS,

OLR issued a public notice for a negotiated acquisition (EPIN:0021N002) in conformance with the New York City Procurement Policy Board Rules (“PPB”) and had otherwise advertised in order to solicit vendors through the Notice of Intent to provide health benefits services in the form of a Medicare Advantage plan under Medicare Part C for the Medicare eligible retirees and dependents of the City of New York who are eligible for the City’s Health Benefits Program; and

WHEREAS,

the Retiree Health Alliance (“the Alliance”), a strategic alliance between Empire and EmblemHealth Plan, Inc. (“EmblemHealth”) and their affiliates, submitted a response for such services, as provided for in the public notice for a negotiated acquisition, in the form of an expression of interest to OLR; responses were evaluated by an evaluation committee pursuant to PPB Section 3-04; and

WHEREAS,

OLR determined the Alliance’s proposal to be most advantageous to the City, taking into consideration technical expertise, price, contract terms, M/WBE Utilization Plan and other factors set forth in the negotiated acquisition solicitation; and

WHEREAS,

the City desires to appoint the Alliance to provide a Medicare Advantage Plan Under Medicare Part C for City of New York Retirees, and their Dependents, and

NOW, THEREFORE,

in consideration of the terms and conditions contained herein, the parties hereby agree as follows:

  ARTICLE 1 - PURPOSE
The Alliance will provide health insurance coverage to the Group’s eligible retirees and other eligible individuals as described in this MA Agreement. Empire is accountable for the operations, compliance, and performance of the MA Plan. EmblemHealth is an entity contracting with Empire to administer portions of this co-branded product to help ensure the City’s retirees receive continuity of care and membership support.

Specifically, EmblemHealth will co-manage the account, provide a professional network in the downstate New York area, deliver care through Neighborhood Health Centers, and support Empire in multiple areas of plan performance. ...