America’s uninsured rate was already historically low. It just fell even further. https://t.co/6d9tpPYCLj pic.twitter.com/8nokRUwb9y
— Dan Diamond (@ddiamond) November 5, 2015
What an amazing failure — goals are being met, costs are being contained, and the expenditure curve is still looking better today than it did seven years ago.
Can we have more amazing failures like this
:)
BGinCHI
First they hide the real purpose of the pyramids, now they want us to believe that a health care reform is reforming health care?
Pull my other leg…..
japa21
@BGinCHI: Next thing you know they’ll try to convince us that cutting taxes on the wealthy really isn’t good for the economy or the deficit.
mai naem mobile
I happen to be one of the people who aigned up for the coop in AZ that is getting shuttered for 2016. I’m getting a little bit of sticker shock looking at the 2016 rates. The co-op was a pretty narrow plan but that was fine. I know O-care is a huge step in the right direction but seriously, if I have to use my insurance for a major event my healthcare costs are close to $1K/mo which is crazy. I live in a major metro area so this is not some exceptional rural area issue. I’m not blaming this on O-care and I can at least afford it.and
MomSense
Good news about ObamaCare? Unpossible!
How is it that people (hello Kentucky) are still voting against it? Is this just a function of lying Republicans and shitty media?
MomSense
@mai naem mobile:
Isn’t this problem because the Republicans killed the risk corridor provisions?
sukabi
@MomSense: yes.
mai naem mobile
Well, I published the post before I was ready. Anyhoo, I can afford it and its way better than what I had before,but keezus christ,no other first world cpuntry makes you spend $1K/mo on regular nothing special health care
MomSense
@sukabi:
Just like Republicans to take something that was increasing competition, lowering costs, and kill it.
The Raven on the Hill
Health care, on the other hand…
A couple of friends in the over-50 tax-credit gap, making just enough money to get no credit, have just gotten a rise in their insurance prices. They’re thinking of dropping health insurance next year.
The Raven on the Hill
Meantime, my own family’s health insurance company is pulling out of my state, and my health insurance from last summer is still disputing a substantial claim.
Hoodie
@mai naem mobile: Who said we’re a first world country? I think we’re aspiring to “violent Central American oligarchy.”
VFX Lurker
@mai naem mobile:
I am curious what each state will choose to do in 2017, when the “Waiver for State Innovation” kicks in. It’s possible that all 50 states will follow Vermont’s lead, and do nothing. That way they don’t risk the wrath of their voters.
Still, it’d be cool to see one state try Canadian-style single-payer, another state try French-style multi-payer, and a third state try out British-style socialized medicine. We don’t have to stick with a Swiss-style system.
Keith P.
Now you’re just trolling us with the category overload (yes, I’m on a mobile browser)
dedc79
But, but, but, but Obamacare is dead, don’t you know?
Mr. Longform
NPR reporting on Rubio (and what a junior-high-school-sounding person he is – shallow ideas expressed in a voice that can only be described as juvenile, but I digress) and his big applause line is always “repeal and replace Obamacare.” And NPR and every other outlet just merrily goes along letting the teaparty define the terms of the debate without ever disputing anything with mere facts. And really, this in defense of a really stupid health care plan (compared to European models) but one which is so, so much better than what was in place 5 years ago and so, so, so, so much better than whatever the “replace” part would be under President Rubio.
sukabi
@MomSense: as the last 15+ years have shown, that’s exactly what they are all about.
mai naem mobile
@MomSense: ofcourse, O-care is the reason.I will never vote for a Republican again. The fukcers have done nothing to help improve O-care and everything to ruin it. They plain don’t give a shit about regular working people. And, if I have anything to do eith it, I’m going to drum that into my niece and nephew who have long voting lives in front of them. Their parents have benefited big time from O-care because they’re self employed. Did I mention non-moocher hard working up.by their bootstraps small business people who,you know,the Republicans are supposed to lurrrvv.
dedc79
@Mr. Longform: NPR’s coverage of American politics is no better than cable news. Arguably it’s worse, because many listeners are inclined to think they’re getting a left-leaning view, when they’re not.
benw
Other bad features of Obamacare: the Constitution in tatters, Jesus expunged from American life, patriotic citizens rounded up and put into FEMA concentrations camps, doctors forced to do gay marriages, black people openly disrespecting brave police officers, nuns forced to perform mandatory employer-paid abortions, the CDC requiring our kids to get autism injections, etc.
Another Holocene Human
@Hoodie: No need to aspire to violence; that’s home-grown. And Central American? Try the American South. Same blood soaked plantation history. Same inequality. Same phucks in charge.
Another Holocene Human
The state of Louisiana has a murder rate to rival the most dysfunctional Central American or Caribbean country.
mai naem mobile
@benw: You forgot scary black muslim men spreading Ebola! from the country of Africa to the patriotic white wimmens of ‘Murica.
Another Holocene Human
@dedc79: My radio market just got a golden oldies station (replaced after a few false starts what had been the Hannity station). Diane Rheim got pre-empted for drippy easy listening 60s Top 40 that I don’t even like this morning, and I sense a trend coming on.
rikyrah
Keep on bringing the news, positive or negative.
You keep us informed.
But…Obamacare…fail…right?
uh huh.
RSA
@MomSense:
I think it must be people buying health insurance in anticipation of Jeb Bush’s election as President… or something like that. Nah, I got nothing.
Roger Moore
But those uninsured rates are only going down because of a government program, so it either doesn’t count or is a bad thing. It’s only worth celebrating if it’s the result of a free market solution.
Lurking Canadian
The [majority of the voters among the] people of Kentucky are doing their best to turn this disaster around.
dedc79
@Another Holocene Human: Highly recommend the TuneIn radio app. Even with the non-premium version, you can stream basically any station from anywhere (local sports broadcasts tend to get blacked out b/c the NFL/NBA/MLB are evil). So if you miss Rehm, you could catch her on WAMU, which is DC’s public radio station.
Dork
I accidently signed myself up for the some hearthcare. I cant pay for my broken finger, but my fireplace thanked me.
benw
@mai naem mobile: black Muslim Ebola vectors: NEVER FORGET
Nate Dawg
David Cameron is now saying a bomb likely the cause of the Kolovia airplane crash.
If this is ISIS, this is a game changer.
Another Holocene Human
@dedc79: Nah, guess I wasn’t clear, this was in the car and I switched her off.
I posted a while ago about liking her fill in (Tamara something?) better than her. “I don’t think that’s right” when she was wrong and never acknowledging it was like the last straw for me. NPR sucks.
dedc79
@Another Holocene Human: Ok, I was wondering. I like the idea of the show, but not the execution.
Another Holocene Human
@Roger Moore: If only when these twits repeated their sacred scripture on air “Gov’t can’t create jobs,” the media would push back. “What a ridiculous statement. Of course government can create jobs. All they have to do is raise taxes or borrow money and expand spending. Surely you misspoke.”
Matt McIrvin
So Mr. Repeal Obamacare is in in Kentucky, but he seems to realize he can’t just yank the Medicare expansion, he has to make some token effort that preserves most of it.
I wonder what happens if Rubio or someone like him wins in 2016, and the Republicans suddenly have everything they want? Do they just repeal the ACA and replace it with nothing (or some worse-than-nothing law about tort reform and selling insurance across state lines)? Or do they suddenly realize that actually yanking away the health insurance of millions of their own voters, rather than just promising to repeal the dreaded Obamacare, would have a cost?
RSA
@Another Holocene Human:
The media could push back by quoting other twits in the same party, who tell us that military spending cuts will force people out of jobs.
The Other Chuck
@Matt McIrvin:
Making it fall immediately under federal regulations and thus federal standards. Pre-Obamacare, this might have sounded good to Repubs, but they might want to rethink that strategy.
The Other Chuck
@RSA: Pointless. Cognitive dissonance is where these guys live all the time.
NCSteve
@mai naem mobile: I’m going to have to move from a Silver plan to a Bronze one that will basically be of no use to me, other than access to the insurer’s negotiated rates and charges, unless the Worst Case Scenario occurs. And even at that, the cost of the lowest cost Bronze plan available to me on the Exchange will exceed ten percent of my gross pay, meaning I would have been eligible for the public option if not for the never to be sufficiently damned Joe Goddamn Lieberman using the fact that he was the 60th vote to kill it.
The North Carolina Department of Insurance approved rate increases of 32-40% requested by BCBS and the other insurer is, of course, pricing in lockstep. The stated reasons are that “hospital charges went up” and “very sick people are using their insurance to get treatment and then dropping their policies,” which they describe as a flaw in Obamacare. I’m having a lot more trouble believing this than the Department of Insurance seems to have had. Sick people who say “welp, I got my treatment, so no need for me to have insurance anymore?” Really?
I believe a big part of what’s happening here, however, is that it’s the combined impact of the Republicans’ success in killing the risk corridors–which we were assured wouldn’t be such a much–and the hospitals passing on the cost of treating people who ought to be on Medicare but aren’t because of state obstruction and foot-dragging and the rejection of the Medicaid expansion. So, basically, it’s a sign of success of the GOP plot to make the hated Obamacare collapse.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@mai naem mobile:
It sure would be nice if Congress could spend some time doing some of needed tweaks and refinements needed for Obamacare instead of trying to kill it.
We all know it’s not perfect and needs improvements, but it’s hard to do needed surgery when the other side just wants to pull the plug.
Emma
@Another Holocene Human: I remember the first (and only) time I saw a reporter push back on a politician’s lie. Unfortunately, it was in the UK, where they don’t seem to suffer from the American need to ingratiate themselves with the powerful. Some shadow minister or other was bloviating and when he stopped the interviewer said very very calmly: Now we both know that doesn’t actually work that way. My jaw smashed the tiles in the TV room.
Irony Abounds
Even if it is working well, I suggest waiting before taking any victory laps. In Arizona Blue Cross and Cigna are no longer offering PPOs on the exchange, and there is but one plan on the exchange that does offer a PPO (Humana). Premiums have gone up substantially. I have a “grandmothered” plan with Blue Cross that in 2014 was $303 per month and will be $513 a month in 2016 (it went up to $413 in 2015). Any problem that arises in the system will be tied to Obamacare, whether or not Obamacare has the least thing to do with it. If a Republican wins the White House in 2016 I would put my money on some type of repeal making it through.
The Gray Adder
@MomSense: Not to mention ignorant, ill-informed voters. KY has some fine universities. Pity their public schools suck.
C.V. Danes
That’s ok. Kentucky will be doing its best to get that number back above 10%.
A guy
Of that percentage decline what is the percentage of those now enrolled who are otherwise heathy, didn’t want insurance, but were forced to buy a product they don’t want because they will be fined?
The Raven on the Hill
Oh, and only go to the ER if you’re rich.
The Raven on the Hill
The ACA is an improvement; the lesser evil. But damn, the lesser evil is evil.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@A guy:
You probably shouldn’t admit that you never took any of your kids to the doctor. That’s medical neglect, and they can take your kids away for that.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@The Raven on the Hill:
As I said above, the only people who think PPACA can’t be improved are the ones who want to repeal it entirely and put us back in a world where Anthem can drop you during cancer treatment because your dermatologist miscoded a pimple.
CindyH
@NCSteve: Exactly. I too am in NC and have seen health insurance rates go up every year that I’ve worked here (28), but this year, they approved much higher hikes than before and I think it’s to sabotage Obamacare. And then we have the lying ads on about how bad NC was in 2010 and how conservatives have turned it around. Wish I could get the hell outta here!
The Raven on the Hill
@Mnemosyne (iPhone): Question, of course, is when will it be improved. And the answer is, probably not for another six years at least.
A guy
Question still stands. Answer it Richard .