"Democrats Are Going on Offense on Obamacare"

[applegrove]

Democrats Are Going on Offense on Obamacare

By David Freedlanderat the Daily Beast

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/12/20/democrats-are-going-on-offense-on-obamacare.html

"SNIP........................................


Top Democratic strategists said the coming counteroffensive isn’t so much a full-on embrace of the warts-and-all Affordable Care Act rollout, but rather a reminder that Republicans’ call for repeal means the well-liked aspects of the law, such as the end of the lifetime cap on health spending and the end of pre-existing-condition discrimination, would wither as well. They plan also to tie Republicans’ continued efforts to a larger framework of obstruction, linking their unwillingness to improve the law to intransigence about budgetary issues that led to a government shutdown this year.

“They are so committed to their plan—which is repeal—that they shut down the government trying to implement their plan,” said Michael Czin, press secretary for the Democratic National Committee. He pointed out that while many are seeing benefits of the health-care law despite its frail website, Republicans like Sen. John Cornyn of Texas are facing primary challengers just for declining to keep the government shutdown over the law.

“Democrats are making to work it better. Republicans are trying to take it away.”

As part of the latest push, the White House unveiled a 51-page report detailing how the law is benefiting consumers in every state, with numbers showing how many Americans with private coverage are able to gain one free preventive-health service, or have new insurance options through Medicaid, or benefit from expanded mental-health coverage.




.......................................SNIP"

[russspeakeasy]

1. I wouldn't get too excited.

Their spines could soften overnight.

[BlueStreak]

2. The press still seems determined to call it a failure -- especially NPR

I have no idea why they are going so far out of their way to try to paint this in such a bad light. It is clear that the cumulative effect of all this media is a big decline in support in the polls. But that is absurd because the trouble spots only affect about 5% of the public. There is no rational reason why the support should have dropped by 20% because there just aren't that many people who have been inconvenienced by this.

Nonetheless, the numbers will speak for themselves. The latest meme is that all these people aren't really getting insurance because they won't make their payment. That is absurd. Why would anybody jump through all the hoops to get an application in and then not actually make the payment. Yes, a few thousand people will do that, but not a significant number.

So after the holidays, the facts will begin to speak for themselves. There will be a million people who have policies in January because of the ACA. And there will be a million more getting their policies started before the end of open enrollment -- plus all the people who are benefiting from Medicaid expansion.

And still no death panels. I know the media badly wants to stick with the narrative that nothing good is happening here, but at some point, they will have to stop with that narrative.

[applegrove]

3. That makes me feel better. Plus someone

said on cnn tonight that the ACA is ahead of where Massechusets was at this point.

[BlueStreak]

4. I don't think Obama ever made it very clear that this would be a 5-year evolution,

as it was in Massachusetts. We have 50 million uninsured. We are only trying to pick up 7 million this year. But that is a good start. That is 7 million people who will no longer be getting their primary care in the ER and not paying the bills. That is billions of dollars that will no longer be shoved onto the insurance companies in the form of jacked up charges from the hospitals to cover all the unisured costs.

So going into the 2015 plan year, those cost reductions will allow the insurers to lower their premiums a little, which makes insurance more affordable. And there are a lot of markets that have no real competition in 2014. Hopefully with a year to work on that, those markets will attract other competitors for 2015. And the individual mandate penalty goes way up in 2015.

So we are certain to get a lot more people into the system in 2015. That, in turn, will reduce the ER delivery problem and the burden shifting problem, which will allow policies to be a little bit better in 2016 ... when the mandate gets a little steeper.

And so on. It doesn't all happen in one year. The Massachusetts plan was enacted in 2006, and heavily amended in 2008, 2010, and 2012. Only now has it reached the original goal of essentially full coverage.

[applegrove]

5. Thanks for explaining it all in detail. I used

to read lots on policy but seem to have stopped in the last 5 years. I'm bookmarking this. Thanks.

[Cha]

6. I rarely say this.. because I know things take TIME.. but..

It's About TIME!

Mahalo applegrove~