Month: October 2013

He compares Obamacare website to Apple.

By Alina Selyukh WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. government shutdown has divided hundreds of thousands of workers into "essential" and "non-essential," bruising egos and leaving many grappling with the financial toll of unpaid leave. "I'm heading in to be non-essential," said one jeans-clad Environmental Protection Agency worker as she joined many others headed to work on Tuesday to cancel upcoming meetings, lock up files and put out-of-office messages on email and voicemail. The U.S. …

By Kate Kelland LONDON (Reuters) – Assessment tools used to predict how likely a psychopathic prisoner is to re-offend if freed from jail are “utterly useless” and parole boards might just as well flip a coin when deciding such risks, psychiatrists said on Tuesday. Publishing a study that found risk score tools are only around 46 percent accurate on how likely psychopathic convicts are to kill, rape or assault again, they said probation officers and judges should set little or no store by such tests. …

By Kathryn Doyle NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Getting that nose job could boost your self-esteem and quality of life, according to a new report. But the evidence is a bit shaky, researchers looking at studies of people who had plastic surgery found. The report’s lead author said he knew of studies showing improvements in body image after cosmetic surgery. But those studies typically focused on procedures like breast augmentation instead of nose jobs and facelifts. …

High site traffic hampers Obamacare health insurance exchange launch.        

The shutdown affects CDC’s tracking of outbreaks, monitoring of flu.        

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama on Tuesday told U.S. government employees that the government shutdown was “completely preventable” and that he would try to get Congress to restart operations as soon as possible. Obama, in a letter posted on the Energy Department website, praised federal workers for their service, noting “you do all this in a political climate that, too often in recent years, has treated you like a punching bag.” “This shutdown was completely preventable. …

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Unexpectedly high Internet traffic volumes spawned delays on the first day of operations for federally operated Obamacare health insurance marketplaces, but the problems would be resolved within hours, an official said on Tuesday. The official said the online system set up to serve uninsured consumers in 36 U.S. states was functioning but that slow speeds and problems loading pages were due to high volumes. "We expect to resolve these issues in the coming hours," the official said. …