Statement by the President on the Fourth Anniversary of the Affordable Care Act

[ProSense]

Statement by the President on the Fourth Anniversary of the Affordable Care Act

Since I signed the Affordable Care Act into law, the share of Americans with insurance is up, and the growth of health care costs is down, to its slowest rate in fifty years – two of the most promising developments for our middle class and our fiscal future in a long time.

More Americans with insurance have gained new benefits and protections – the 100 million Americans who’ve gained the right to free preventive care like mammograms and contraception, the eight million seniors who’ve saved thousands of dollars on their prescription drugs, and the untold number of families who won’t be driven into bankruptcy by out-of-pocket costs, because this law prevents insurers from placing dollar limits on the care you can receive.

More Americans without insurance have gained coverage. Over the past four years, over three million young Americans have been able to stay on their family plans. And over the past five and a half months alone, more than five million Americans have signed up to buy private health insurance plans on HealthCare.gov – plans that can no longer discriminate against preexisting conditions or charge you more just because you’re a woman or a cancer survivor – and millions more have enrolled in Medicaid.

It is these numbers, and the stories behind each one of them, that will ultimately determine the fate of this law. It is the measurable outcomes – in savings for families and businesses, healthier kids with better performance in schools, seniors with more money to spend because they’re paying less for their medicine, and young entrepreneurs who’ll have the freedom to try new jobs or chase that new idea – that will ultimately offer more security and peace of mind to more Americans who work hard to get ahead.

Last month, after her first wellness visit under her new insurance plan, a woman from Colorado shared with me what that peace of mind meant to her. “After using my new insurance for the first time, you probably heard my sigh of relief from the White House,” she wrote. “I felt like a human being again. I felt that I had value.”

This is what’s at stake any time anyone, out of some outdated obsession, pledges to repeal or undermine the Affordable Care Act. And that’s why my administration will spend the fifth year of this law and beyond working to implement and improve on it.

If you’re an American who wants to get covered – or if you know someone who should – it’s now last call for 2014. March 31st is the deadline to get covered this year. So check out HealthCare.gov or call 1-800-318-2596 to see what new choices are available to you, and get covered today.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/03/23/statement-president-fourth-anniversary-affordable-care-act

[BumRushDaShow]

1. There have been a myriad of sign-up events going on here in Philly

A really big push and now hearing very positive anecdotal stories on the radio from folks who are finally able to get coverage and amazed at the subsidies to do so... Now if we could just get a new governor, we could get that Medicaid expansion instead of the bullshit stalling that Corbett is doing to come up with some "alternative".

[ProSense]

2. Yup,

A really big push and now hearing very positive anecdotal stories on the radio from folks who are finally able to get coverage and amazed at the subsidies to do so... Now if we could just get a new governor, we could get that Medicaid expansion instead of the bullshit stalling that Corbett is doing to come up with some "alternative".

...Republicans don't want to see the number of people being helped climb. I love this chart:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024697984

Obamacare: It's Obama's signature achievement
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024695694

[ProSense]

3. Obamacare boosting household income and spending

Last edited Mon Mar 24, 2014, 09:57 AM - Edit history (1)

Obamacare boosting household income and spending

by Joan McCarter

It must have really killed the editorial board over at the Wall Street Journal to see this this story appear on the paper's website.

The Affordable Care Act, President Barack Barack Obama’s signature health law, is already boosting household income and spending.

The Commerce Department reported Monday that consumer spending rose a better-than-expected 0.4% and personal incomes climbed 0.3% in January. The new health-care law accounted for a big chunk of the increase on both fronts.

On the incomes side, the law’s expanded coverage boosted Medicaid benefits by an estimated $19.2 billion, according to Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis. The ACA also offered several refundable tax credits, including health insurance premium subsidies, which added up to $14.7 billion.

Of course it's helping consumers. It was designed to. Which also means it will help the economy when those consumers have a little bit more personal income to spend out in the marketplace. It will help insurance companies who will have more customers, many of whom won't ever require big payouts. That's one of the reason this model of health insurance reform was proposed first by conservatives!

Kudos to the WSJ for noticing, but don't expect anyone on the right to acknowledge that this story exists.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/03/04/1282095/-Obamacare-boosting-household-income-and-nbsp-spending

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024606074

[sheshe2]

4. Kicked and Recommending!

[napkinz]

5. thank you Mr. President

[ProSense]

6. Nice. n/t