Republicans In Collapse as Obamacare Enrollment Skyrockets In December

[ProSense]

36. Reminds me

"Don't forget: enrollment isn't the end-game. Let's all hope that actual healthcare delivery & program costs going forward continue to bear out the promise in such an obvious manner so as to blunt any noisy, ongoing Republican windmill-tilting."

...of this:

UPDATE: New Silly ACA Attack: "But how many have actually PAID???"

by Brainwrap

I included this as an update to my previous diary, but decided that given how often I'm hearing this new attack lately, it deserved it's own diary.

First it was "No one can get on the website!"

Then it was "OK, the site is loading but no one can create an account!"

Then "OK, you can create an account but no one can view the plans!"

Then "OK, you can view the plans but no one can fill out their application!"

Then "OK, you can apply but no one can actually enroll!"

Then "OK, it works now, but no one bothering to do so anymore!"

Then "OK, (a lot of) people are enrolling, but none of the data is being transferred to the insurance companies!"

And now that we've hit over 1.8 million private enrollments, the new attack is:

"FINE, a lot of people have ENROLLED, but how many have actually PAID???"

- more -

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/12/25/1265346/--But-how-many-have-actually-PAID

Next, well they paid, but how many actually have the money in the bank.

I wouldn't be surprised if a Republican suggests drug testing applicants.

During the furor over cancellation letters, there were endless stories about Obamacare causing people to lose plans they liked.

Still, given that the majority of Americans have employer-based coverage, the quality of health care isn't going to change for the worse. In fact, it's changing for the better, even for those who have employer-based coverage.

Wendell Potter on Obamacare

by teacherken

in an interesting piece at Reader Supported News dated yesterday and titled Obamacare: What's in It for You? Plenty, So Take Time to Find Out.

He notes a number of things that most Americans do not seem to know, in large part because of how the media has covered the roll-out, starting with this: the average increased in premiums of 4% much lower than the average of the past decade.

Here's a few more things people don't seem to know:

- 3.1 million young adults have been added to the insurance rolls because they cabn stay on their parent's policy until age 26

- $1.2 billion in rebates in 2011 and $2.1 billion in 2012 from insurers who did not spnd the requisite 80% of premiums upon benefits

- $7 billion saved on prescription drugs by Medicare beneficiaires as a result of closing of the "Doughnut Hole" in Part D

- > 25.4 million people on original Medicare program receiving at least one preventive service at no cost to them during just the first eleven months of 2013

We know the numbers of those enrolling are surging.

It is unfortunate there have been glitches in the rollout, in the sign-up procedures.

But the Affordable Care Act is working, and providing real benefits.

Now, if only the media would do its job and tell the WHOLE story.

Peace?

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/12/25/1265241/-Wendell-Potter-on-Obamacare#

For the tens of millions of uninsured who gain access to health care, the law also ramps up additional community health centers.

A Health Care Success Story

Sen. Bernie Sanders on Wednesday brought together leaders of community health centers from across Vermont where three new centers opening in January are part of a dramatic expansion of affordable primary care. A Sanders provision in the Affordable Care Act authorized $11 billion to build, expand, and operate community health centers throughout the United States. “This is a huge step forward,” said Sanders, chairman of a Senate subcommittee that oversees primary health care.

Sanders was joined at the news conference by representatives of the Battenkill Valley Health Center in Arlington, Vt., the Five Town Health Alliance in Bristol, Vt., and the Gifford Medical Center in Randolph, Vt. The Bennington, Addison and Orange county centers will become the newest in the state thanks to $2.4 million in federal funding released last month.

The eight current Federally Qualified Health Centers already provide primary and dental care along with mental health counseling and low-cost prescription drugs to more than 130,000 patients.

The three new centers will bring the total number of Vermonters served to about 163,000, more than one in four people in the state and one of the highest participation rates in the country. In addition, about 25,000 Vermonters now receive dental care at community health centers, a number which will also rise.

http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/recent-business/a-health-care-success-story