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Forget the Polls. Here's the Real Obamacare News that Broke Monday.
Forget the Polls. Here's the Real Obamacare News that Broke Monday.
BY JONATHAN COHN
Most of the Obamacare press coverage on Monday was about a pair of polls—one from the Pew Center for the People and the Press, the other from NBC News and the Wall Street Journal. Obamacare detractors seized on the fact that majorities said they disapproved of the law—and that opposition to the law seemed, if anything, to be growing. Obamacare defenders quickly pointed out that only a minority seemed to support the Republcan position, which is to wipe the law off the books. Even among opponents, about half prefer that public officials work on fixing the law’s shortcomings.
Both the detractors and the defenders had a point. But the biggest news on Monday wasn’t about Obamacare’s poll numbers. It was about Obamacare’s reach. And there the news was much clearly better. In Michigan, Republican Governor Rick Snyder signed a bill that will expand the state’s Medicaid program, as Obamacare envisions. The signing was the culmination of a long, difficult effort by Synder and a bipartisan, statewide-coalition to overcome Tea Party resistance. “This is about the health of fellow Michiganders,” Snyder said. In Pennsylvania, Republican Governor Tom Corbett announced that he would no longer block a similar Medicaid expansion, as long as the state legislature enacts a version of the expansion that fits his policy specifications.
That last part is important: As in several other states, among them Michigan, Corbett wants to modify Medicaid so that it requires more payments from beneficiaries and requires the unemployed to show proof they are seeking a job. Jeffrey Young of the Huffington Post has the details and it’s hard to know, right now, whether Corbett’s demands will be more than the Obama Administration—which would have to issue a waiver—would go along. In situations like these, advocates for low-income groups worry that the restrictions officials would place on Medicaid would make it impractical, or harm people the program is supposed to help. The concern is well-founded.
But the two sides will negotiate, as frequently happens now when states wish to modify their Medicaid programs, and most observers I know think the result will be expansion spreading—not just to Michigan and Pennsylvania, but later to states like Ohio, where another Republican governor, John Kasich, wants to do something similar. And that suggests we’ve hit a critical milestone. As Sarah Kliff noted in the Washington Post on Monday, “if the Pennsylvania expansion does go through, it would be the 26th state to expand Medicaid, meaning that the majority of states had decided to opt into a massive health law provision that the Supreme Court decision last year accepted.”
- more -
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/114740/obamacare-polling-badly-gop-governors-embracing-it
BY JONATHAN COHN
Most of the Obamacare press coverage on Monday was about a pair of polls—one from the Pew Center for the People and the Press, the other from NBC News and the Wall Street Journal. Obamacare detractors seized on the fact that majorities said they disapproved of the law—and that opposition to the law seemed, if anything, to be growing. Obamacare defenders quickly pointed out that only a minority seemed to support the Republcan position, which is to wipe the law off the books. Even among opponents, about half prefer that public officials work on fixing the law’s shortcomings.
Both the detractors and the defenders had a point. But the biggest news on Monday wasn’t about Obamacare’s poll numbers. It was about Obamacare’s reach. And there the news was much clearly better. In Michigan, Republican Governor Rick Snyder signed a bill that will expand the state’s Medicaid program, as Obamacare envisions. The signing was the culmination of a long, difficult effort by Synder and a bipartisan, statewide-coalition to overcome Tea Party resistance. “This is about the health of fellow Michiganders,” Snyder said. In Pennsylvania, Republican Governor Tom Corbett announced that he would no longer block a similar Medicaid expansion, as long as the state legislature enacts a version of the expansion that fits his policy specifications.
That last part is important: As in several other states, among them Michigan, Corbett wants to modify Medicaid so that it requires more payments from beneficiaries and requires the unemployed to show proof they are seeking a job. Jeffrey Young of the Huffington Post has the details and it’s hard to know, right now, whether Corbett’s demands will be more than the Obama Administration—which would have to issue a waiver—would go along. In situations like these, advocates for low-income groups worry that the restrictions officials would place on Medicaid would make it impractical, or harm people the program is supposed to help. The concern is well-founded.
But the two sides will negotiate, as frequently happens now when states wish to modify their Medicaid programs, and most observers I know think the result will be expansion spreading—not just to Michigan and Pennsylvania, but later to states like Ohio, where another Republican governor, John Kasich, wants to do something similar. And that suggests we’ve hit a critical milestone. As Sarah Kliff noted in the Washington Post on Monday, “if the Pennsylvania expansion does go through, it would be the 26th state to expand Medicaid, meaning that the majority of states had decided to opt into a massive health law provision that the Supreme Court decision last year accepted.”
- more -
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/114740/obamacare-polling-badly-gop-governors-embracing-it
The polling isn't new or surprising. Most polls have framed it as approve/disapprove since the law was signed. Kaiser is the only poll that breaks out the specifics in terms of what people like about the law and what "disapprove" means. Consistently, a significant number of those opposed want the law expanded.
Under Obamacare, Millions Of Americans Will Pay Less Than $100 Per Month For Health Insurance
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023683018
23 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
Thank you! 
and it costs about $1 million per month......I got that "news" from yahoo.
