How the government shutdown will affect the average US citizen; Report finds California has highest poverty rate in US; Finding bone marrow matches is harder for some ethnic groups; LA Unified's backlog of broken musical instruments 'like a war scene'; FAQ: Navigating Covered California's health insurance exchange, plus much more.
How the government shutdown will affect the average US citizen
There's one story today that's overshadowing the launch of Obamacare: The US government shutdown.
Last night, Congress couldn't come to an agreement on a new budget and refused to extend the current one. No money means no government, and this morning, various government agencies began taking steps to scale back.
With more on how the government shutdown might affect your daily life, we're joined by KPCC's Steve Proffitt.
Proffitt: Hello, you've reached the United States. We can't come to the phone now.
A Martinez: I feel really bad for people who planned a camping trip to Yosemite...
Proffitt: Or how about this guy, Shane Duffy. He's a friend of our director, and he flew from LA to Butte, Montana and drove 100 miles to get to Yellowstone:
"I had no idea that there was a possibility that a National Park was going to be closed to the public for which it was created at all. It was just unfathomable.
Martinez: Unfathonable. Yeah, I guess it's hard for Brits to understand how our government works.
Proffitt: Or doesn't. Then, there are the school kids who take those trips to our nation's capital. Pretty much everything there will be closed, and the Starbucks will be crowded with idled government workers. Actually, the Starbucks here might be crowded, too. LA County has 48,000 federal workers, more than any place in the state. It's not clear exactly how many of them have been put on ice, but it's a fair bet that the beach might be a little more crowded than usual today, too.
Martinez: But maybe the freeways won't be so bad - a few less commuters.
Proffitt: Right, and that's the thing. It is possible that along with various inconveniences, some people may actually benefit from the shutdown. Small things - no pesky phone calls from census workers during dinner time. And maybe bigger things.
If you are being sued in a Federal civil court, your case might get delayed. But there's some really aggravating stuff, too. Like, for instance, A, if you need to check the calibration on your nanometer measuring device, you might be out of luck, because the National Institute of Standards and Technology is pretty much dark. And if you, like most of us, spend a lot of time hoping a big break through in battery technology, prepare for disappointment. Government researchers who work on renewable energy - they're staying home.
Martinez: Seems like it might be a good time to just get out of the country. France is looking pretty good all of a sudden. But then, maybe you'd have trouble getting a passport or visa...
Proffitt: The State Department says they will continue to issue travel documents. Although many Federal buildings will be closed, so that could be a problem. But here's something that I know will make you feel better. The government will continue to provide weather forecasts...
Martinez: So we won't have to depend entirely on Fritz Coleman...
Proffitt: Right. OK, here's a few other interesting things. The people that handle automobile recalls, they're staying home. But at least for now, rocket scientists are on the job. The LA Times reported a spokesperson for the Jet Propulsion Lab expects JPL to remain staffed at least for this week.
After that, it's touch and go, as they say in the space business. And just because the government has run out of money doesn't mean it's actually run out of money. Printers and engravers employed by the Treasury Department have been deemed essential.
Martinez: I guess I didn't really need to stock up at the ATM this morning...
Proffitt: No. Although bank robbers should be aware the the FBI will pretty much be fully staffed during the shutdown. And, if you have taxes due, you still have to pay them. However, if you want to cheat on them, here's your big chance.
The IRS won't be conducting audits. Now, of course, this whole kerfuffle - don't you love that word? This whole kerfuffle is part of an ongoing effort by conservatives who want to kill Obamacare, and who also were able to derail plans for immigration reform and gun control.
But here's the thing, A. Because of the shutdown, the e-Verify system, which is used to ferret out unauthorized workers - it will be down. And the system used to see if you qualify to buy a firearm. Down, too. Just a couple of unintended consequences of the government shut down of 2013.
Report finds California has highest poverty rate in US
A new report finds that California has the highest rate of poverty in the nation. The study also included some surprising findings about which areas of the state are the poorest.
For more we're joined by one of the report's authors, Sarah Bohn, research fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California.
Finding bone marrow matches is harder for some ethnic groups
Bone marrow donations can save the lives of some leukemia patients and others suffering from blood cancers. The challenge is finding a donor, and within some ethnic groups, the search is even harder for both scientific and cultural reasons. KPCC's Josie Huang explains.
Obamacare FAQ: Navigating Covered California's health insurance exchange
In his speech defending the federal health care law, President Obama last week told Americans: “You don’t have to listen to the politicians. You don’t have to listen to me. Just go check it out for yourself.”
Now you can do that, beginning today. This morning, insurance marketplaces opened around the nation allowing Americans the chance to comparison shop for insurance. Now all Americana can find out what the Affordable Care Act – or Obamacare – really means to them.
RELATED: FAQ: Is Obamacare a good thing for California's small businesses?
A survey last week by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that three out of four Californians who earn modest incomes and could buy government-subsidized private coverage wrongly believe they’re not eligible for federal assistance or they simply don’t know if they qualify.
The survey found only half of newly eligible low-income Californians are aware that they will qualify for expanded Medi-Cal in California — the government program for the poor.
In addition, about half of California’s undocumented immigrants wrongly believe they will be eligible for coverage, even though the law specifically forbids them from buying insurance in the state exchanges. The law only permits immigrants who have a green card and have lived in the U.S. for five or more years are eligible to participate in the exchanges or Medi-Cal.
KPCC health reporter Stephanie O’Neill joins Take Two to help us wade through the confusion.
FAQ:
Here are the basics: Under the Affordable Care Act nearly every American must have health insurance by January 1, 2014 or pay a fine. The fine starts out around $95 (or 1 percent of income, whichever is larger), then it climbs in 2016 to $695 a year or 2.5 percent of income.
Enrollment starts today and lasts through March 31, 2014. You can’t just wait and buy insurance when you get sick and are on your way to the hospital. Also you have to buy it during the open enrollment period.
Q: Who does the ACA affect?
A: If you already have health insurance from your employer, you don’t have to do anything. If you have Medicare, the law improves your coverage of prescription drugs, but otherwise, the law leaves Medicare pretty much unchanged. If you receive Medi-Cal – federal-state insurance for the poor — you will continue to receive it and nothing changes for you. If you are an uninsured Californian, things will be different.
Q: How will the ACA affect uninsured Californians?
A: There are more than 5 million Californians who will qualify to get insurance on the new state-run marketplace that opened today, Covered California. About half of them are eligible for government subsidies, which are federal tax credits that will offset the cost of their monthly premium. The subsidies are available to those who earn $15,850 to about $46,000 a year. A family of four is eligible if they earn between $32,500 to $94,200 a year. The more you make, the smaller the subsidy. The less you make the more assistance you’ll get, and that’s based on your adjusted gross income plus any tax-exempt income you might have.
Q: How does the government subsidy work?
A: You can decide whether you want it up front to offset the cost of your premium each month, or if you want to take it at the end of the year. But if you underestimate your income, or you earn more money during the year, you will be required to reimburse the government at tax time. Likewise if you earn less than you thought, you’ll get a rebate.
Q: What about California's Medi-Cal expansion?
A: Another almost 1.5 million Californians are eligible for expanded Medi-Cal, which will be open to all individuals under 65 with incomes of up to $16,000 for an individual and about $32,500 for a family of four.
Q: What about those not eligible for Medi-Cal or a subsidy?
A: They’ll pay full price for the plans. Plain and simple. Whether they can get better deals on the exchange or off it, will require some shopping on their part.
Q: How does the law advantage everyone?
A: Some key provisions of the law is insurers will no longer be able to deny you coverage because of a pre-existing medical condition – be it back pain, an STD, or cancer. You can’t be booted out of your insurance because you get sick. Your child can stay on your policy until their 26th birthday. Each policy must provide certain essential benefits, like hospitalization, prescription drugs and maternity care. They also must provide certain preventive care, such as some cancer screenings,without charging you a co-pay or deductible. Lastly, insurance companies can no longer impose lifetime caps on coverage, which is important for those with costly medical conditions.
Q: What plans does Covered California offer?
A: The plans will be provided by twelve private insurance companies statewide. They offer basically the same standard benefits in four categories or tiers of coverage. The first is bronze, which offers the cheapest premiums, but only covers 60 percent of medical costs. So if you’re pretty healthy and don’t go to your doctor much, this might be a good bet. Then it steps up to silver plans which pay 70 percent of medical costs. The next tier is Gold, and that pays 80 percent. Then there are Platinum plans, which have the highest premiums and cover 90 percent of medical costs. Those might be a good bet if you have a lot of medical expenses.
Q: Will these policies be more affordable than what's already on the market?
A: Government officials are saying they will be. So the average statewide premium for a so-called "Silver Tiered" plan – which covers 70 percent of your medical costs — is $373 a month or less depending on whether you’re eligible for subsidies. But the average cost is just that – an average. Your individual cost will be calculated based on three things: how old you are, where you live and how many people are in your family. You can find that out now, =by going on the Covered California website and using the online calculator.
Q: What should we be aware of?
A: Narrow Networks. Many of the companies will provide less-costly plans by working deals with doctors and hospitals who agree to get paid much lower rates than they now get. That creates more narrow provider networks which may not include your doctor or hospital. The Covered California website allows you to search for your doctor when considering your plan.
Q: How easy is it to navigate the website?
A: Not as easy as buying a book on Amazon or shoes on Zappos as executive director Peter lee had hope it would be, but health insurance is complicated business, so that’s no surprise. What you’ll find is a lot of fill in the blanks. Stuff like household income, number of people, address, your age, etc. And then you can see if you qualify for subsidies.
Q: Any last-minute advice?
A: Yes. One way you’ll want to compare what the plans really offer will be by reading the disclosures document that was required under the health law to help consumers compare. It’s pretty straightforward. These forms will provide information about the deductibles, what they apply to, coinsurance and copays and they’ll tell other stuff like you what services are not covered. That’s really key when you’re making such an important decision.
Grand Theft Auto V rakes in $1.5 billion in two weeks
The newest version of Grand Theft Auto came out two weeks and, and within three days it raked in more than $1 billion.
For a little context, the summer's biggest blockbuster, "Iron Man 3" made a mere $372 million in its opening weekend. For more on the success of Grand Theft Auto V and what this means for the media landscape, we're joined by Dan Ackerman of CNET.
Tuesday Reviewsday: Drake, Aloe Blacc, The Internet, and more
It's time for Tuesday Reviewsday, our weekly new music segment with Oliver Wang from Soul-Sides.com and music supervisor Morgan Rhodes.
Oliver's Picks:
Artist: Drake
Album: Nothing Was The Same
Release Date: Sept. 24, 2013
Songs: "Too Much," "Connect"
Who He Is: Grammy-nominated, multi-platinum rapper signed to Lil Wayne's Young Money Cash Money Record Label. Canadian former child-star from the TV show Degrassi. Honest, transparent album.
Artist: Poets of Rhythm Album: Anthology 1993-2012
Release Date: Oct. 1
Songs: "Smilin' While You're Crying," "More Mess On My Thing"
Arguably the first retro-soul/funk band (pre-dating and setting up the future emergence of Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, Amy Winehouse, et. al.). Berlin group. For their early singles, they used to come to the U.S. and leave their 7"s in record stores, hoping people would think they were "vintage" releases. This is their first anthology.
Morgan's Picks:
Artist: Aloe Blacc
Album: Wake Me Up EP
Release Date: Sept 24, 2013
Songs: "Can You Do This," "Ticking Bomb"
Who He Is: indie soul singer formerly signed to the Stones Throw Record label. Had a song featured as the theme song on a popular cable show in 2010. Voice draws comparisons to an iconic soul singer from the 70's. Former rapper with an LA based collective called The Loot Pack.
Artist: The Internet
Album: Feel Good
Release Date: Sept 24, 2014
Songs: "Dontcha," "Sunset ft. Yuna Zaraai"
Who They Are: Matt Martian and DJ Syd The Kid, offshoots of a collective called Odd Future, based here in LA whose members include Earl Sweatshirt, Frank Ocean Tyler the Creator (both have released projects this year).
Reactions to Obama's speech on government shutdown
We just heard President Obama's remarks on the government shutdown and the Affordable Care Act. For some analysis we're joined by KPCC's Washington correspondent Kitty Felde and democratic congresswoman Janice Hahn. She represents the 44th district, which includes San Pedro and Compton and she sits on the transportation and small business committees.
Poll: Majority of Californians against bullet train project
A new USC Dornsife/LA Times poll found that a majority of Californians believe the bullet train project is a waste of money and that it should be scrapped altogether. The $68 billion project is a year behind schedule and facing several lawsuits.
For more on the high speed rail and why the project is so near and dear to the governor's heart, we're joined now by John Myers, of the ABC affiliate in Sacramento.
Gov. Brown legalizes industrial hemp in California
Governor Brown signed a bill allowing for industrial hemp to be grown in California. The catch? It’s still against federal law.
Nine other states have also passed industrial hemp laws and host A Martinez speaks with David Monson, a hemp farmer in North Dakota, about his experiences.
LA Unified's backlog of broken musical instruments 'like a war scene'
Getting supplies is a yearly ritual for students heading back to school. For music teachers, that can mean fixing up an old trombone or re-stringing a cello. But as KPCC's Mary Plummer reports, the process hasn't been easy this fall at LA Unified.
'The Disaster Artist': One actor's life inside the cult film 'The Room'
"The Room" was once described by Entertainment Weekly as the "'Citizen Kane' of bad movies."
No one who has seen the film would argue against that label, but it has since become a cult hit enjoyed by audiences around the world. Los Angeles was host to many midnight screenings of the film, in which audience members would routinely blurt out quotable lines like, "You're tearing me apart, Lisa!"
Written, directed and produced by Tommy Wiseau, who also stars in the film, the story centers around about a man named Johnny and his passionate relationship with is fiancee, Lisa. While it might seem like their relationship is going well, Lisa becomes bored and starts having an affair with Mark, Johnny's best friend.
In addition to amateur acting, "The Room" is riddled with continuity errors, plot holes and dialogue that leaves a lot to be desired. Still, people just can't get enough.
Actor Greg Sestero played Mark in the film and knew Wiseau prior to filming. In his new book, "The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside 'The Room', The Greatest Bad Movie Ever Made," he recounts what it was like to work on this cult classic.
Interview Highlights:
How do you describe Tommy Wiseau:
"A lot of people ask, 'where's Tommy from?' I really believe he comes from his own planet of one. The was he sees things, the way he interprets life is really unlike anybody else I've experienced, and you see it in this film because no one could have conjured up this dialogue and these thoughts and these characters."
What's the backstory to the infamous line, "You're tearing me apart, Lisa!":
"I think when he wrote "The Room," he wrote this scene to be his James Dean moment. He literally took verbatim the line from "Rebel Without A Cause," and he just slipped it in there thinking nobody would notice. The funny part is when he wrote the script he wrote the line "you're taking me apart, Lisa." Nobody really knew that he was trying to do James Dean and I just sat there and watched it happen...It became this big joke."
"Finally after 10 or 20 takes that he kept saying this line, I walked up to him and told him, Tommy, you know its 'you're tearing me apart.' He looked at me and was like,'Ok'. Luckily he said the line and nailed it on the next take. What's funny to me is if you go on YouTube, Tommy's "You're tearing me apart," has 100 times more hits than James Dean's. I don't even know what to say about that."
What was Tommy's background when it came to women:
"I think it came to a point where either he was going to make his dream happen or it was not going to happen. I think he made up his mind that he was going to be a movie star and an auteur that was going to be like Hitchcock and no one was going to tell him otherwise. It was almost like a revenge against Hollywood that if you won't accept me then I'll show you that I belong."
Why did you decide to get involved in the film?
"I'd seen the good side of him, so I wanted to help him get the movie made, and nobody knew Tommy like I did, so I felt like I could be his interpreter and help him communicate and get the ball rolling. The night before filming, he really wanted me to play the role of Mark and I really didn't want to. Through a strange set of circumstances I agreed to be in it. I really did not think anybody would ever see this movie, I phoned in my performance, actually I mailed in my performance and forgot to lick the envelope. There were some tough times because I was friends with a lot of the people on set and the cast. I was more so trying to survive the film than put effort into it. "
Interview Highlights:
How do you describe Tommy?:
"A lot of people ask, 'where's Tommy from?' I really believe he comes from his own planet of one. The was he sees things, the way he interprets life is really unlike anybody else I've experienced, and you see it in this film because no one could have conjured up this dialogue and these thoughts and these characters."
What's the backstory to the infamous line, "You're tearing me apart, Lisa!":
"I think when he wrote "The Room," he wrote this scene to be his James Dean moment. He literally took verbatim the line from "Rebel Without A Cause," and he just slipped it in there thinking nobody would notice. The funny part is when he wrote the script he wrote the line "you're taking me apart, Lisa." Nobody really knew that he was trying to do James Dean and I just sat there and watched it happen...It became this big joke."
"Finally after 10 or 20 takes that he kept saying this line, I walked up to him and told him, Tommy, you know its 'you're tearing me apart.' He looked at me and was like,'Ok'. Luckily he said the line and nailed it on the next take. What's funny to me is if you go on YouTube, Tommy's "You're tearing me apart," has 100 times more hits than James Dean's. I don't even know what to say about that."
Why do you think Tommy Wiseau made this film?
"I think it came to a point where either he was going to make his dream happen or it was not going to happen. I think he made up his mind that he was going to be a movie star and an auteur that was going to be like Hitchcock and no one was going to tell him otherwise. It was almost like a revenge against Hollywood that if you won't accept me then I'll show you that I belong."
Why did you decide to get involved in the film?
"I'd seen the good side of him, so I wanted to help him get the movie made, and nobody knew Tommy like I did, so I felt like I could be his interpreter and help him communicate and get the ball rolling. The night before filming, he really wanted me to play the role of Mark and I really didn't want to. Through a strange set of circumstances I agreed to be in it."
"I really did not think anybody would ever see this movie, I phoned in my performance, actually I mailed in my performance and forgot to lick the envelope. There were some tough times because I was friends with a lot of the people on set and the cast. I was more so trying to survive the film than put effort into it."
Book Giveaway: We're giving away a signed copy of "The Disaster Artist." Head to our Facebook page for entry info!
"The Disaster Artist" Excerpt:
On the first day of The Room’s production it was my job to make sure Tommy got up and to the set on time. This would remain my job for the entirety of filming, during which Tommy was routinely three to four hours late. In my defense, Tommy’s interior clock is more attuned to the circadian frequencies of a bat or possum than a man. He typically goes to bed around six or seven in the morning and gets up at three or four in the afternoon. Yet he was insisting on morning shoots for The Room.
After quitting my job at French Connection, I parked my Lumina in Tommy’s driveway. I walked through his front door, which was ajar, and called his name. No answer. There was a kettle of boiling water on his stove, whistling away. I took the nearly empty kettle off and went upstairs. Tommy’s bedroom door was closed but I heard him make a few grumbly noises, one of which sounded like “Five minutes.” I went back downstairs and sat on his couch, where I found a note from him to me that said: “You will receive majority of candy (95%) when completion of production. I’m not Santa Claus.”
“Candy” was Tommy’s unusually creepy slang for money. It was typical Tommy behavior to delay revealing an agreement’s fine print until after the handshake.
After twenty minutes, I went back upstairs and knocked on his door. “Five minutes,” Tommy said again.
I realized, sitting there on his couch, that there was a pretty significant loophole in Tommy’s payment plan: What if we never completed production?
Tommy briefly appeared on the staircase, looking disheveled. “We take your car, okay?”
“Okay,” I said. “But why?”
“Because these people talk if they see my car.” He started heading back to his room.
“We’re late,” I said. “When will you be ready to go?”
“Five minutes,” he said.
Soon I was lying down on the couch. Tommy’s plan was kind of ingenious when I thought about it. How better to incentivize my in- volvement in the film? How else to convince me to wait on his couch for an hour after he told me he’d only be five minutes?
What was Tommy doing? Primping, getting dressed, getting undressed, reprimping, doing pull-ups, getting dressed, primping again, falling asleep. At one point I marched up the stairs to inform Tommy that he couldn’t be two hours late on the first day of filming his own movie. But before I could give him this blast of tough-love truth, Tommy walked out of his bedroom wearing white surgical gloves stained to the wrist with black hair dye. Tommy had actually decided to redye his hair before heading over to the set. I went back downstairs and started watching Spy Game. Tommy had hundreds of DVDs scattered all over the floor, though I’m not sure he watched many of them. By the time Spy Game was over, Tommy was ready to go. We were four hours late now — and we hadn’t even stopped at 7-Eleven for Tommy’s customary five cans of Red Bull. I think this could be deemed an inauspicious beginning.
The Room was being filmed on the Highland Avenue lot of Birns & Sawyer, which over the last five decades had become a legendary provider of cameras and equipment to mainstream Hollywood film and television productions. Birns & Sawyer’s owner, Bill Meurer, had made the unusual decision to let Tommy use the company’s parking lot and small studio space because Tommy had made the breathtakingly expensive decision to purchase, rather than rent, all his equipment. This was a million-dollar investment that not even a large Hollywood studio would dare. Camera and filmmaking technology is always improving and anything regarded as cutting-edge will be obsolete within twelve months. Tommy’s purchases included two Panasonic HD cameras, a 35mm film camera, a dozen extremely expensive lenses, and a moving truck full of Arriflex lighting equipment. With one careless gesture Tommy threw a century of prevailing film-production wisdom into the wind.
Probably the most wasteful and pointless aspect of The Room’s production was Tommy’s decision to simultaneously shoot his movie with both a 35mm film camera and a high-definition (HD) camera. In 2002, an HD and 35mm film camera cost around $250,000 combined; the lenses ran from $20,000 to $40,000 apiece. And, of course, you had to hire an entirely different crew to operate this stuff. Tommy had a mount constructed that was able to accommodate both the 35mm camera and HD camera at the same time, meaning Tommy needed two different crews and two different lighting systems on set at all times. The film veterans on set had no idea why Tommy was doing this. Tommy was doing this because he wanted to be the first filmmaker to ever do so. He never stopped to ask himself why no one else had tried.
I navigated my loud, coughing Lumina through the parked trucks and construction equipment toward Tommy’s reserved spot, which had been ostentatiously blocked off with large orange cones. Guess who put them there?
The best description I ever heard of Tommy was that he looks like one of the anonymous, Uzi-lugging goons who appeared for two seconds in a Jean-Claude Van Damme film before getting kicked off a catwalk. That’s what Tommy looked like now, sans Uzi. This particular day, he was wearing tennis shoes, black slacks, a loose and billowy dark blue dress shirt, and sunglasses, his hair secured in a ponytail by his favorite purple scrunchie. As we walked from the car to the set, he was yelling in every direction: “Why are you standing around like Statue of Liberty? You, do your job! You, move those here! And you film operators, don’t touch anything for HD. Be delicate! We need to hurry! There is no time for waste!” Everyone stared back at him with expressions that said, Are you fucking kidding me? Tommy was ludicrously late for his own shoot and his first leadership step was to hassle the crew? It was not a hot day, but already I was sweating.
Copyright © 2013 by Greg Sestero and Tom Bissell. From the forthcoming book The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside The Room, the Greatest Bad Movie Ever Made by Greg Sestero and Tom Bissell to be published by Simon & Schuster, Inc. Printed by permission.