BROCKTON – State Rep. Geoff Diehl's bid to add another Republican to the state Senate came up short Tuesday as state Rep. Michael Brady (D-Brockton), fueled by an 8,000-vote edge in his home city, managed to defeat the GOP challenger and keep the seat under Democratic control.
The race was defined by the heavy hitters who came to bat for both candidates, as Brady had U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren stump on his behalf while Diehl (R-Whitman) had GOP Gov. Charlie Baker standing firmly in his corner.
As if the Affordable Care Act's massive increase in government intervention in the U.S. health care system was not enough of a problem, it appears that the system practically invites waste, fraud and abuse, according to a series of government oversight reports.
In the latest report, the U.S. Government Accountability Office, echoing a similar report it published in July, found that basic information used to determine enrollment and subsidy eligibility, such as Social Security number, citizenship status, household income and family size, was not verified by the federal Health Insurance Marketplace (based on data from New Jersey and North Dakota) or the two state exchanges examined, in California and Kentucky, which led to the approval of fictitious applications submitted by the GAO.
