Krugman: More Good Obamacare News

[ProSense]

More Good Obamacare News

Until just the other day, Obamacare was a total disaster; no way would it meet its first-year enrollment targets, or come anywhere close.

Now the opponents have retreated to their next line of defense: OK, people are signing up, but only because their existing policies were cancelled, so the program isn’t actually reducing the number of uninsured.

Oops:



Furthermore:

These early estimates understate the full effects of the Affordable Care Act on the uninsured for two major reasons. First, the survey does not capture the enrollment surge that occurred at the end of the open enrollment period, because 80 percent of the responses to the March 2014 HRMS were provided by March 6, 2014. Second, these estimates do not reflect the effects of some important ACA provisions (such as the ability to keep dependents on health plans until age 26 and early state Medicaid expansions) that were implemented before 2013.

- more -

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/04/04/more-good-obamacare-news

[ProSense]

1. WaPo: More Young Adults Signed Up For Obamacare Ahead Of Deadline

WaPo: More Young Adults Signed Up For Obamacare Ahead Of Deadline

One outstanding question for Obamacare had been whether more young adults would sign up ahead of the March 31 deadline. Some early returns, according to an analysis by the Washington Post, suggest that they did.

The Post gathered data from six state-run insurance marketplaces and found that each of them experienced an increase from February to March in the share of enrollees who were young adults ages 18 to 34.

Jake Grovum @jgrovum
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Call it the 'Between Two Ferns' Bounce. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/04/04/facing-obamacare-deadline-more-young-people-signed-up-in-march/ … from @JasonMillman
2:26 PM - 4 Apr 2014

3 Retweets 1 favorite

- more -

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/obamacare-young-adults-march

Sebelius: We Saw A 'Galifinakis Bump' On HealthCare.gov
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024759013

[Tarheel_Dem]

2. Every news outlet is rushing to stick a mic in a teabagger's face for reaction, and it's always....

the same. The talking points have gone out, and all I'm hearing is "the people signing up lost their previous insurance because of Obamacare"; or "only a small percentage have actually paid the first premiums"; blah...blah...blah. The networks rarely have anyone on to refute them.

[Cha]

3. I just go online.. but, you know the media outlets wouldn't give the Obama Admin Prime

time for their BFD 7 Million Enrollment News?

Donna NoShock @NoShock
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ABC, NBC, and CBS Push Obamacare Lies then Deny President Obama Airtime to Deliver The Facts http://www.politicususa.com/2014/04/04/abc-nbc-cbs-push-obamacare-lies-deny-obama-airtime-deliver-facts.html … #ShameOnNetworkNews
10:26 AM - 4 Apr 2014

17 Retweets 4 favorites
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snip//

The media went on a jihad after the failed rollout of healthcare.gov, loudly trumpeting every failure, every glitch, every frustrated user of the website. The blandishments were endless and incessant. For weeks, newscasts led with the problems faced by the website, as if the website were the totality of the Affordable Care Act. It would feature every detractor of Obamacare on its newscasts, would consign the entire enterprise to dismal doom. As AP so famously put it, it would “take a miracle” for the law to reach its target.

But reach its target it did. In fact, it has surpassed it, to the consternation not only of the right wing wurlitzer, but of the perspicacious segments of our failed media experiment, the supposed gatekeepers of all that is newsworthy."


http://theobamadiary.com/2014/04/04/what-to-do-now/

[Tarheel_Dem]

4. National Journal: The Missing Millions in the Obamacare Enrollment Total

"New numbers fill in some of the mystery of off-exchange enrollment—and significantly increase the total so far."

By Sophie Novack
April 3

The total has been hotly debated, with critics and supporters alike pointing out that we still don't know how many consumers have paid their first-month premiums (estimates have hovered between 80 and 90 percent), or what the breakdown of age and health status is of those enrolled. These are all important in evaluating the number actually getting coverage and the security of the risk pools.

Yet one of the biggest question marks has been largely excluded from the conversation, and it could add millions to the overall enrollment tally.

Off-exchange enrollment—directly with insurance companies or through private brokers and online sites—allows consumers to bypass the sometimes-troubled exchange websites to purchase coverage. They are not using the new enrollment vehicle, but they are often buying the same plans, and are part of the same risk pools, with the same impact on premium costs.

The Blue Cross Blue Shield total significantly increases the off-exchange total thus far. Washington state—one of the only to release this data—had seen more than 180,000 people enroll in plans off the exchanges by the end of February, more than the 125,000 paid enrollments on the exchange as of March 23.

http://www.nationaljournal.com/health-care/the-missing-millions-in-the-obamacare-enrollment-total-20140403

[ProSense]

5. Thanks for the link. n/t

[Tarheel_Dem]

6. You're welcome. n/t

[ProSense]

7. I say

between 18 million and 20 million.

ACA Signups: 26 Million Total (Update x0)
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/04/04/1289581/-ACA-Signups-26-Million-Total-Update-x0

[Tarheel_Dem]

9. That is awesome.

[freshwest]

8. Kicking for more good news! n/t