In California, a Democratic Party-run state:
Dozens of workers at a call center in the Sacramento suburb of Rancho Cordova began fielding calls after a countdown to 8 a.m. Tuesday, the time the state’s health exchange opened for business. The agency that runs the exchange, Covered California, reported on Twitter that more than 30,000 telephone calls were received during the first 90 minutes of operations. Another 1,200 were on hold and about 4 percent had hung up.
“Peter Lee, executive director of Covered California…said Tuesday was just the starting point, and it was evident that exchange officials had work to do after the website and phone system were hit with a crush of inquiries.
…
Gov. Jerry Brown, meanwhile, announced he had signed a package of bills to help implement the new law and expand the state’s Medi-Cal program for those who are too poor to pay for the subsidized insurance.
“While extreme radicals in Washington shut down our government, here in California we’re taking action to extend decent health care to millions of families,” Brown said in a statement, referring to the impasse in Congress that has led to a partial shutdown of federal government operations.
Meanwhile, as a result of the government shut down triggered by those GOP extremists, there’s this news:
At the National Institutes of Health, nearly three-quarters of the staff was furloughed. One result: director Francis Collins said about 200 patients who otherwise would be admitted to the NIH Clinical Center into clinical trials each week will be turned away. This includes about 30 children, most of them cancer patients, he said. (From behind the WSJ paywall via the Atlantic) (h/t a tweet from science writer extraordinaire Steve Silberman aka @stevesilberman.)
So there you have it: Democrats strive to get sick people care (and the well, protected), and labor to fix the bits that don’t work.
Republicans leave kids with cancer on the street.
Update: H/t commenter Baud, it turns out that Americans in those (GOP-led) states that have chosen to abandon their responsibility to their citizens actually do twant healthcare from the Feds (via TPM):
Nearly three million people have visited the federal health insurance marketplace created by Obamacare on its first day, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Since midnight, 2.8 million people have visited the website, which will serve consumers in more than 30 states, and 81,000 have called the marketplace’s call center. Those numbers were current as of late Tuesday afternoon.
Image: Cecil Beaton, A mother resting her head on her sick child’s pillow in the Canadian Mission Hospital in Chengtu, 1944.
Comrade Dread
I like living in California now that we’ve kicked the GOP to the curb.
Pooh
Freedom’s just another word for fuck those guys (or more likely girls) over there.
schrodinger's cat
I had a fight over email with friend who repeated the both sides do it mantra in her email this morning.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
also, too, this is pretty good
I like this one, drives it home
Violet
Those kids should be pulling themselves up by their bootstraps. And besides, we don’t leave them in their apartment to die; we send an ambulance to take them to the emergency room. /wingnut
schrodinger's cat
Didn’t we have someone last week who was claiming that young people don’t want to buy insurance. I have to yet meet one of these hypothetical young people who would forgo affordable insurance.
David in NY
@Comrade Dread: Problem with just having Democrats is that they sometimes turn out to be incompetents or crooks too (though ones with better policies), and in a one party state (cf. Brooklyn) they can be hard to dislodge. Took some brave young women to get rid of our corrupt Vito Lopez, the Dem boss here — the system was set up to protect him until they complained and ultimately went public.
But thank god we don’t have the kind of Republican idiocy that’s taken over the midwest (WI, MI, OH) — only the mild Bloombergian virus here.
RaflW
Hey! You’re not being nice.
Republicans aren’t kicking cancer kids in the gut, them no-compromise libruls are … mumble … (incoherent ramblings) … splutter … (silence)
Baud
Belafon
My manager did the “My pride wouldn’t have allowed me to be on my parent’s insurance until I was 26” (he’s my age, 43). I’m like “really, your pride is worth $300 per month?”
Old Dan and Little Ann
I riled up all my wingnut FB friends. This is a good one:
Funny how the liberal media forgot to mention in their headlines that the government shut down because there are no resources to pay for a health system that is about screw most and get abused by the rest of Americans. October 1st is the beginning of the Federal Fiscal Year. Someone’s got to pay for all the new people coming onto Medicaid because of the new poverty thresholds. At least we won’t be doing that in NC. Our Governor was smart enough to say no to the Eye Candy.
Baud
@Belafon:
Does he also talk about how he’d never have an abortion if his birth control failed?
aimai
@Belafon: I’m curious. Does his pride prevent him from allowing his parents to access Medicare? Because shouldn’t he be fully supporting his family members and not tossing their medical care onto the taxpayers?
YoohooCthulhu
@Belafon:
A biiig part of this whole thing is the generational divide. Back when your manager was 26, health insurance was super cheap and the economy was booming. It takes some effort to communicate to older generations that people in their 20s: a) don’t have a booming economy, and b) have massively incredible healthcare costs by comparison, and c) all have student loan payments which are in the vicinity of 100-300 per month.
Violet
@aimai: No, no. His family members should be fully supporting themselves. If his parents don’t have enough money saved up to pay for their medical costs, that’s their own fault, not the fault of Mr. I’m Too Proud.
MikeJ
@Belafon: Is he aware that the young adults aren’t required to stay on their parents’ insurance, and that the parents aren’t required to keep the kids on? It’s an option.
BillinGlendaleCA
@David in NY: When the Republicans had a say in California government(over a 1/3 in the leg and/or the Governor’s office), we went from crisis to crisis. On an annual basis budgets wouldn’t be passed, we had a huge debt(with some saying we were the next Greece). Almost every day the local news would have a story about our dis-functional state government. Now we have an occasional story about what Gov. Brown has signed and maybe something about the Hi-speed real project.
Chyron HR
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Jokes on you, libs. Americans for Prosperity is going to get the I’m A Mac guy to cut an ad saying that health care is laaaaame, dude.
IowaOldLady
@BillinGlendaleCA: I used to think California was just ungovernable. Then the R’s were removed, and lo and behold, the nature of the problem became clear. It was like a controlled experiment or something.
sparrow
@YoohooCthulhu: I WISH my student loans were that cheap. Mine are $800 month, which is effectively 1/3 of my take-home. Sucks. :(
gogol's wife
Tell me I don’t have to write to the NYTimes ombudsman to complain about their front-page “both sides are to blame” stories. Today and yesterday. I’m just too tired.
Violet
@Chyron HR: Maybe we should find the “Dude, you got a Dell!” guy and do some “Dude! You got health insurance!” ads.
Mnemosyne
@YoohooCthulhu:
Nope, sorry, I’m the same age and the guy’s a fucking idiot. I graduated from college in the middle of a recession where my classmates were spelling out “Will Work For Food” on their caps and gowns. COBRA had not yet gone into effect and I knew several people who had been thrown off their parents’ insurance for having pre-existing conditions like asthma and acne. Health insurance was super cheap IF you had zero pre-existing conditions. If not, good luck.
Hal
@schrodinger’s cat:
I made one comment to a friend of mine on Facebook doing the same, and then decided it wasn’t worth it. She’s actually very Liberal but just seemed frustrated with the state of things, so I just said never mind. It drives me insane though when people who should know better go with this ridiculous both sides argument. If only our Liberal media resembled anything near their right wing portrayal.
Suffern ACE
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Yep. I know it’s a pain, but one “emergency” can easily leave you with as much debt as your four year degree. It’s not the happiest thought, but you can rack up more debt that four years of college classes in 48 hours.
schrodinger's cat
@Hal: My friend voted for Obama twice but is now is disillusioned with partisanship for which she blames, wait for it, both sides.
Churchlady
@schrodinger’s cat: Yup. Dems follow the Constitutional rules. The GOP make up new ones. Both sides do it – just very differently.
Baud
@BillinGlendaleCA:
That’s how I kind of feel about the 4 years when Dems controlled Congress and White House in 1993-94 and 2009-10.
IowaOldLady
A young woman I know worked for a small company that ran into cash flow problems and stopped paying premiums for the employees’ health insurance. She had emergency gall bladder surgery. The hospital and doctors all lowered their fees to the minimum, but she wound up with a $20K bill that will take her years to pay.
Suffern ACE
@YoohooCthulhu: Ummmm. No the manager is the same age as I am and the economy most certainly was not humming when we were in our early 20s. And yes, I went without insurance after college as I jumped from temp job to temp job until I was 25 because it was already expensive.
The manager just didn’t have any cool friends like Ethan Hawke and Winona Ryder.
MattR
@Hal: @schrodinger’s cat: I was glad to see this James Fallows piece posted on a friend’s Facebook page. It needs to be shared and repeated until it finally sinks in.
Haydnseek
The insane clown posse that runs the rethugs will turn on Boner if he even gives the Kenyan Kommie the time of day. He will be hated with the fury of a thousand wingnut suns. Dare I say it? Orange will become the new black.
Churchlady
@BillinGlendaleCA: It was AFTER Schwarzenegger left that we passed Prop. 30 and increased the tax rates enough to get solvent. Yes – Jerry did that. Then citizens redistricting led, due to demographic changes, to far more Dem districts. That gave us the 2/3 we needed in each house to pass urgency and other bills. So it’s not just that Dems are better, it’s that the Dems are in the majority now and the ‘politics of GOP obstruction’ cannot undermine what is needed. The GOP were simply the politics of NO in CA just as they are in the House. Someone needs to teach them that “NO” is not a policy.
Jeremy
People who are frustrated by the state of things shouldn’t have allowed the tea party takeover of the house in 2010. People wanted to teach Obama a lesson but it looks like the voters are the ones who are suffering.
schrodinger's cat
@MattR: I sent my friend the blog post I wrote this morning which has in it links to Fallows.
ETA: She is taking a politics sabbatical right now is what she told me, so I let it go.
IowaOldLady
@Jeremy: I’ve never understood the “teach a lesson” or “send a message” theory of voting. When you vote, you’re hiring someone, not practicing your rhetoric.
JPL
Folks without insurance are now entitled to apply for insurance. It’s the same thing that folks that worked for major corporations have done for years. You get a series of plans and choose the one that is best for you. If preexisting conditions should not be covered, then they should not be covered if you work in a major corporation, either. We are a fucked up system. Obamacare is an opportunity for all to take personal responsibility.
aimai
@Chyron HR: Second comment on that amazing Hodgman thing was some bitchery about a “celebrity” “fearmongering.” The details of those tweets and their import was completely lost on the commenter.
jl
@Comrade Dread:
@IowaOldLady:
As I said in previous thread Boehners appearance this morning reminded me of how the CA GOP presented itself to the public before the election that killed it off.
GOP Brass curt and offensive and says nothing. Then GOP base crazies froth on the media. Or on rare occasions GOP brass does say something of substance, GOP base crazies come out and contradict it.
Was like an old tune I hadn’t heard for a few years.
Villago Delenda Est
@Belafon:
You realize, of course, that your manager is a blockhead.
burnspbesq
Remind me again why I should believe that the average Republican cares about the real-world hardships their irresponsible actions are creating or making worse.
Villago Delenda Est
@Belafon:
Is this guy your manager?
Botsplainer
@Violet:
And the bill for those final services rendered in the amount of $12,000 should be cheerfully paid by the parents in gratitude of the freedom offered by this nation in providing the bestest healthcare on Earth. Anything less would be ingratitude.
Litlebritdifrnt
@Suffern ACE:
My husband’s recent bout of Pericarditis racked up a bill of $50K for an overnight stay in the hospital. ER treatment, wrong reading of the EKG, helicopter flight, angioplasty, overnight stay in the heart center = $50K. We have insurance, but the deductibles are horrible, (thanks to the NC legislature) going to kill his credit for many years. We have a 10% mortgage at the moment, I have been trying to refinance for years, but the co-pays and deductibles on my husband’s credit report have killed us. No company that I know of will refinance us due to his low credit score. I am paying hundreds more a month in interest on my mortgage because of medical bills. That is what people don’t seem to understand, medical bills kill you even if you HAVE insurance.
jl
@Baud:
Look a yonder comin’
On down that ACA track
Hey, look a yonder comin’
On down that ACA track
It’s the Obamacare Special
Bringing my health care back
Say, man, when you going back to horrible
And lose those joints there in your knee
Or go back to ‘preconditions’
And get so you can’t even see
No, I’m on that Obamacare Special
And lose those health bill blues.
Say, man, when you going back to horrible?
When am I getting back to horrible?
I don’t know, don’t reckon I ever will
Ain’t you worried ‘bout paying too much for your health?
Well, I DO care if do die, do die, do die, do die, do die, do die.
Hey, talk about insurin’
it’s the biggest thing come down the line
Talk about insurin’
it’s the biggest thing come down the line
It’s that Obamacare Special
Rollin down that health care line.
BillinGlendaleCA
@jl:
Betcha haven’t missed that olde tune either, have ya?
joes527
@Villago Delenda Est: I want Rand to DIAF, so that make him getting horribly burned in a fire the compromise position. Right?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Today on the car radio I heard Marsha Blackburn chirping in a smarmy little singsong that the shutdown would be good for people, ’cause they could learn to live with “less government”. I’m sure she goes to church twice a week, our Marsha, and will pray real hard for those cancer-stricken kids.
Violet
@JPL: The Republicans have an interesting way of talking about the ACA. It’s always something like this unaffordable, unworkable, law called Obamacare.” lots of “Americans have rejected Obamacare.” Meanwhile, millions of people have logged on today to see about getting them some of that sweet, sweet Obamacare.
Trollhattan
@BillinGlendaleCA:
When the Dems got their Leg “super-majority” everybody of a conservative stripe predicted liebrul DOOM. I think they meant crazy lesbian tattoo and sex fests on the west capitol lawn, but I have yet to spot one.
Oddly, despite liebrul DOOM the Cal Chamber managed to snuff all but one of THIRTY-SEVEN bills on their annual “job-killer” list.
Nice work, lesbians. How is Rih Perry ever going to snag more bidnez from here now? I read that Mass has 98% health coverage on accounta Romneycare, while Texas proudly boasts the nation’s highest uninsured rate–more than ten million IIRC. How odd a nation are we that this equals some kind of bidnez paradise?
Anyway, repeating a link from earlier today, Maher’s latest New Rules closes with a great California Uber Alles rant.
http://www.hbo.com/real-time-with-bill-maher#/real-time-with-bill-maher/episodes/0/295-episode/article/new-rules.html
Yatsuno
Sigh. You will NEVER get invited onto the Sunday bobblehead shows with your shrill, uncivil, nay, dare I say it, partisan tone Mr Levenson. You must ALWAYS square the blame on both sides always and forever, else you shall make the ghost of David Broder cry. Do you really want that on your conscience?
BillinGlendaleCA
@Trollhattan:
They’re in the capitol park east of the capitol. You weren’t invited?
dm
Has this been reported here yet?
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9242833/Obamacare_could_help_fuel_a_tech_start_up_boom
Villago Delenda Est
@Yatsuno:
My conscience asks me repeatedly what have I done today to make the ghost of David Broder cry..
Your conscience may vary.
Elizabelle
@dm:
Yes! I think we are going to see an entrepreneurial boom.
Yet another reason for the plutocrats to shake in their boots.
jl
@Trollhattan: Not a big fan of Maher, but he is good sometimes, and I liked most of his rant.
I think CA did all allow undocumented aliens to have drivers licenses until 1917 or sometime in the 1920s, though. So, we are a real Olde Tymey Values state, right?
Once we get the solar and renewable energy programa, and high speed rail, going, there won’t be any turning back.
The annual growth rate in per capita energy consumption in California? Zero. We can use those extra bucks for something I guess.
Though, to be honest I think Florida would be the new crazy state even if CA were still ungovernable. They are doing wild things there that even an ungovernable CA would not be able to pull off.
Ash Can
@dm: I recall reading somewhere, in the last few years, that Europe was leading the US in business start-ups because people there weren’t chained to their employers through company-provided health insurance. Now maybe the US can start to catch up. :)
Violet
@jl:
I think Republicans aren’t as strong in red states as they want us to think. For instance, there are signs that Republicans in Texas are getting nervous.
Example:
Example 2:
Add to it Anita Perry, Rick’s wife, saying more or less that she’s pro-choice. I think Wendy Davis’ poll numbers are better than anyone knows. I also think it’s a sign that the Republican grip on Texas isn’t as strong as people think.
jl
@Ash Can: Believe it! Or Don’t. Sweden and Denmark are among best countries for starting a small business.
Violet
@Litlebritdifrnt: Is there any way you can bring a malpractice suit to cover the bills? The wrong reading of the EKG cost you guys thousands of dollars. Seems like that could have been avoided if the person reading it was competent. Maybe there’s a way to get them to pay for that part due to their error?
Yatsuno
@Ash Can:
Sort of. A lot of that also has to do with the various regulatory schemes and other requirements imposed by the state (insurance etc) that also contribute to a business start-up environment. Europe may be ahead, but Canada smokes us on entrepreneurship.
Hungry Joe
California is solvent again. Not only that: Single Payer could pass both houses and be signed by the governor. If we get Single Payer, and Vermont gets Single Payer … look out.
This coming from ME, a dyed-in-the-cotton pessimist. (I prefer the word “realist,” but … ) The ongoing GOP flameout has me a little giddy.
jl
@Violet: That’s why they aren’t targeting just racial and ethnic minorities in the voter suppression schemes. They also want to go after youth, elderly, working stiffs who may not be able to stand in line for hours on election day, any group they think will not produce a big GOP margin automatically.
Racial and ethnic minorities still have top priority I think, but in some states, it’s hard to tell, they way they are going after youth.
Trollhattan
@BillinGlendaleCA:
Damn it, damn it, damn it!
[Note to self: change Capitol Park walking route.]
IowaOldLady
I see on Kos that prison and border guards are required to work without pay during the shutdown. Talk about being relitigating Civil War issues!
Kay
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Head Start has been doing this great thing since the sequester, where they set up empty chairs to show how many kids got cut. Today was worse. They’re actually closing.
Head Start is wildly popular here for working class parents, young people. There’s a waiting list. They talk to one another about it, “I got in to Head Start because we applied early”. It’s a point of pride for really young parents, means they’re good parents, taking care of business.
Let me guess. She’s pro-life? Tell her a lot of teen parents are without a school for their kids today. They’ll be behind when they get to kindergarten, and they had an uphill climb from the moment they were born. Good job! She should be proud.
Litlebritdifrnt
@Violet: boss and me are looking into it but unfortunately it costs a fortune to file a malpractice lawsuit in nc thanks to rule 9j. apologies for the all lower case typing but my laptop has developed a problem whereby it returns to the last website visited whenever i type an upper case character.
Comrade Mary
@Yatsuno:
You rang, sweetie?
I wouldn’t exactly call myself an entrepreneur, or even a job creator (although that may change this year), but despite being rather risk-averse, I haven’t taken a pay cheque from anyone else since the 20th century. I’ve owned or co-owned my own corporations, and have done a couple of stints of sole prop. One big reason why I could do this was OHIP, as imperfect as it is. I have core health care covered through the province, not J. Random Employer, and I never, ever had to hang on to a job I hated, or wistfully hoped for getting even a hateful job, just to get health care.
Thank you, Tommy D.
floridafrog
So, will be working like crazy to evict Voldemort from the Florida statehouse but as a backup plan – is CA accepting Florida refugees? I would love to have some of that blue state goodness
Violet
@Litlebritdifrnt: I hope it works out for you guys. It really seems like you got screwed by the medical staff and shouldn’t have to pay for their mistakes.
David in NY
@BillinGlendaleCA: OK, you sort of had the tea party before its time. In that context, you are 100% right.
WereBear
@Litlebritdifrnt: That is really awful; and the fact that your state is working hard to make matters worse; that’s worse.
We got smothered in bills when we used our credit cards to pay for Mr. WereBear’s experimental therapy (which worked!) The Bush Administration allowed them to play with our due dates and then jack up the interest to 30%. We dug out with the help of a Debt Consolidation Service (non-profit.) This was because credit cards have no fixed rate.
If you have penalties or interest on that debt, such a thing might help?
SiubhanDuinne
@Baud:
But wait, I heard that Obamacare is wildly unpopular with the American people! They hate it! They don’t want it!
Kevin
@Baud: Trenchantly observed. Also, my dad lives about ten minutes from Baud, in Brittany.
Jerzy Russian
@Comrade Dread:
A-fucking-men to that.
SiubhanDuinne
@Yatsuno:
Maybe you’ve written about it in another thread, which I have not yet seen, but am wondering whether you were furloughed today, or expect to be in the near future.
Shorter SiubhanDuinne: Nu?
SiubhanDuinne
@jl:
Used to be Canada. Were brags about the “Silicon Tundra.”
SiubhanDuinne
@Litlebritdifrnt:
zombie e e cummings
Jerzy Russian
@Litlebritdifrnt:
That is really strange. All the advice I can offer is to reset your browser and reboot.
I am sorry to hear about your husband’s situation. There must be some legal remedy out there. I had a similar thing (several misdiagnoses) about 5 years ago, but fortunately I had only copays and not large deductables. I would have been seriously screwed without insurance or even with minimal insurance.
Mike G
about 200 patients who otherwise would be admitted to the NIH Clinical Center into clinical trials each week will be turned away. This includes about 30 children, most of them cancer patients, he said.
I’m sure the “pro-life” Republicans will be greatly concerned by this. Or, Jesus has cursed these patients with illness because they are baaaddd people. One or the other.
Jebediah, RBG
@floridafrog:
On behalf of the State (and population) of California, come on over!
John M. Burt
Both sides do it . . . their own way.
Choose your side. You have no excuse to delay or equivocate — choose!
Interrobang
@Comrade Mary: This. I more or less had to spend a large portion of my adult life freelancing, and good luck even trying that in the US with my cerebral palsy and other chronic conditions, not to mention every transient thing that smacks me. (I seem to be super-susceptible to respiratory and GI tract infections.) I’m just disabled enough to have a hard time now and again, and not disabled enough to actually qualify for disability. Without OHIP, I would have been dead, end of story, not consulting, periodically hiring contractors, and finally getting a job with a Really Big IT company.