As a harsh critic of portions of The Affordable Care Act,

[bvar22]

I would like to congratulate President Obama and the Democratic Party Leadership
on a HUGE Victory in a hard fought battle.

Victory Laps and Ball Spikes are well earned today.





I would also like to congratulate my Wife, Strakraven,
for her stubbornness and refusal to quit.
The enrollment was a nightmare that spanned 5 months,
and journeyed from Websites to telephone calls.
We finally received our Policy in the mail last week.
My Wife and myself are NOW covered under the Medicaid Expansion in Arkansas.

The holdup, roadblocks, and dead ends were NOT the fault of Healthcare.gov,
or any other problems with the ACA.
Arkansas opted for a special Public/Private Medicaid option.
The problems in Arkansas were created solely by the State of Arkansas.

KUDOS for everyone.



Disclaimer: I am STILL a harsh critic of parts of the ACA,
but for a couple of days, I'll be happy to grant them all a well deserved celebration and Victory Lap.
Fewer Americans will DIE this year for lack of access to HealthCare.

[doxydad]

1. Still a critic?

Give it a few months...even the worst ideas can be fixed once the ball gets rolling. As a navigator I was proud to have a hand in signing up people who had never had / were under insured. It will get better and once the rest of the United States sees that it can work...it will only get better.

[SomethingFishy]

3. As long as we admit that there are flaws...

I caught 10 minutes of Ed Shultz in the car today and he was claiming the bill doesn't need to be fixed, it's just fine the way it is.

We need to celebrate this victory... and then get back to work.

[bvar22]

4. I started to post a list of some things wrong with the Mandate and Exchanges,

but today IS a day of congratulation,
so I won't be taking the bait.

Cheers.

[Cali_Democrat]

15. You're a navigator?

Thank you for your hard work and dedication!

[doxydad]

67. thanks Cali!

Thanks, heard THANK YOU!! several times, but we also heard "F... YOU KENYAN LOVERS" too. There's some serious hateful people and the worst part of my job was putting up with their hateful crap. Well, that and having my new car keyed because of a I LOVE OBAMACARE bumper sticker, but I'll let good old Karma do it's thing.. Thanks for the post!

[Doctor_J]

19. It won't be right for years, maybe decades

Not months. Big insurance is still going to suck down a half trillion dollars of what should be health care money, until long after I go for my dirt nap.

Don't let the half-assed be the enemy of the good.

[Cali_Democrat]

22. Bernie Sanders on the ACA

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024765617

[Doctor_J]

24. and

Bernie Sanders: Obamacare is a ‘good Republican program’

It's still Heritage Care

[Cali_Democrat]

26. Senator Bernie Sanders: We're Making Progress

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024763628

[MADem]

52. Your link's a year old-I'll take his "This is a big, BIG deal" said today over your older cite. nt

[randys1]

2. Only thing worse than ACA is what we had before

and if it is the first step in Medicare for all, then great...

ACA keeps for profit companies in the loop, companies that were they to operate in most other countries, would go to jail

one step at a time, I guess...

[bigwillq]

5. K and R

Glad you and your family will be helped by the ACA.

[99Forever]

6. I agree. Two thumbs up...

... for getting it done. It's a solid step forward, for sure.

Thanks Obama!

[eridani]

7. Please don't forget that ACA allows state single payer starting in 2017

If you want single payer, PLEASE work in your state, starting now.

[Raine1967]

10. Vermont is working on this if I recall.

I will find the link later if people want, but I know that the President said he wants the states to be basically the incubator for Single payer.

The state of Vermont took that directive seriously.

[handmade34]

17. it is a work in progress...

http://www.vermontforsinglepayer.org/

I will say though, that Vermont has been very progressive (since Howard Dean was Governor) in the way of helping people get health care... no matter my income, my kids never went without health and dental care as they were growing up!!

[Liberal Veteran]

23. That's probably why the Repubs want to repeal it.

Can't have anyone undermining the insurance company profits, can we?

[Autumn]

8. I got my ID cards in the mail today. They spelled my name wrong and

my Primary Care physician is not the one I picked. However after looking up information on the Dr that they put down on my card I think I am impressed. I am going to see if I can try him and if it doesn't work out switch. So I will call them tomorrow to find out and get the spelling corrected.

[bvar22]

11. They got your NAME wrong????

DAMN that ObamaCare!!!!

---just kidding.



Congrats on getting the cards.
I don't believe it should be that difficult to get the names right.

We were hanging in Limbo for 6 weeks after someone over the phone "said" we were approved (Trust Us),
but we didn't rest easy until we received the actual policy in the mail.

[1000words]

13. Pffffttttt ...

You spelled your wife's DU handle wrong.

[Autumn]

40. There's a Obamacare horror story for you

I opened that mail and I was just so happy.

[Raine1967]

9. Awesome.

I appreciate this post.

We have a ways to go, but posts like this I really like!

[1000words]

12. You are a class act, bvar.

Like you, I am not a particularly big fan of ACA, but I am glad to see it fulfilling immediate needs.

Thanks, Obama!

[malaise]

20. 1,000 n/t

[Roy Rolling]

14. To use Winston Churchill's phraseology

The ACA is the worst healthcare approach in America except for all the others that have been tried.

[ProSense]

16. "My Wife and myself are NOW covered under the Medicaid Expansion in Arkansas. "

You got single payer, one of the few such programs that include dental and vision.

A Brief History: Universal Health Care Efforts in the US
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024755799

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised - The Obamacare Photos the MSM Doesn't Want You to See
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024761330

[Doctor_J]

18. Amen

It sucks, but it sucks way less than nothing.

[Zorra]

21. +1, and hopefully, if we play this right, it will help us take back the House and

gain seats in the Senate this year.

[Doctor_J]

25. The press release should say,

"and this is despite the fact that millions are being denied health insurance by far right republican governors and legislature who are literally killing their constituents to try to make me look bad".

But it won't

[brush]

28. Now that's good. I will phone bank and canvass with that slogan. nt

[Politicub]

31. President Obama said this in his remarks today

and didn't mince words.

Still, I don't think red state residents care enough about friends and neighbors to throw out the people keeping the medicaid expansion from happening in their state.

[Doctor_J]

33. Did he say far right? Republican? Killing people?

[okaawhatever]

42. There is zero information getting to the residents of these states. You would be surprised at how

little people know. Hopefully when the good stories start coming in and the business interests and groups like Americans for Prosperity stop paying for anti-ACA ads I think they will slowly get educated and then start to fight for it.

[TheKentuckian]

27. Glad you and similarly situated folks are getting some relief.

[Politicub]

29. :)

There's a lot that needs to be fixed. But wow - what a change for America!

[DCBob]

30. I love to hear posts like this.

It makes me feel like we are truly on the right track.

Thanks for sharing your honest feelings.

[neverforget]

32. It needs some work still but it's better than before and that is a good thing.

Plus, I love watching Republicans head explode.

[bvar22]

34. Me too.

I actually tuned in to FOX this afternoon for the grins.

[delrem]

35. It's a bandaid. But it's the best the Dems have gotten since '08, so....

[GoCubsGo]

36. I see it as a stepping stone, rather than a band-aid.

I agree that the ACA far from perfect, yet it's still the best we could have gotten under the circumstances. However, some of the ACA's flaws are ultimately going to push us toward single-payer, probably by way of a "public option", which I suspect is not far away. I just hope it comes in time for those of us who are currently falling through the cracks.

[delrem]

37. No, the ACA isn't the best the USA could have gotten under the circumstances.

Not even close.

And no, the ACA's flaws aren't going to push the USA toward single-payer. In fact history suggests the contrary, that the ACA will push the issue off the table for the next two decades, at least.

[GoCubsGo]

46. That's your opinion.

You are welcome to it.

[delrem]

57. Well, thank you! nt

[JoePhilly]

38. Actually, best since 1993 ... when Clinton tried and got nothing.

And ... the ACA allows states to use their exchanges to try public options and even single payer.

And ... THAT is how we'll actually get there. The blue states will add POs. And at some point ... and this is the funny part, the federal exchange, you know, the one the red state governments got when they decided to not set up their own exchanges ... well, those red states will get a federal public option added to their federal exchange choices.

And ... BOOM ... red states will actually get a federal public option before blue states get a federal public option.

The GOP is going to need a lot more than a band-aid.

[delrem]

44. OK, I agree:

"the ACA allows states to use their exchanges to try public options and even single payer.
And ... THAT is how we'll actually get there."

Yes, that's the only way you'll get there.

[JoePhilly]

45. In a country this divided, yes.

[delrem]

56. Division is a big problem in any country as big as the USA.

But even in an otherwise similar country with less than 1/10th the population, Canada, that's the way it was done. In one area first. Universal health care was instituted in one Province, proven to work outstandingly well, after which there was no stopping it. To be sure it took an extraordinarily good *minority* Liberal gov't to finally put the federal plan in place (an equivalent in the US might be if the Dems were in power and the Progressive Caucus of the Dem party had enough spine to be meaningful), but even the Conservatives had a very hard argument saying no to it.

There are some things that in the end over-ride divisions within an electorate, and Universal Health Care is proven (in many democratic countries) to be one of them. To be sure, it's an unending battle because the right *never* gives up. But once single-payer is in place it is the right that's constantly looking for any crack in the wall, any opening to exploit and destroy the system -- and the general population hasn't much time for that.

On the other hand, the USA seems to be going the extra mile on the privatization route, even in a direction toward privatizing the entire educational system. Toward "deregulation" of everything, no matter how horrific the consequences. In that light a mandate for the population to buy into private health care insurance is counter-intuitive, to say the least. Likewise secretive behind the scenes deal with pharmaceutical providers designed to foreclose on progressive Pharmacare policy is counter-intuitive.

[ProSense]

41. A Brief History: Universal Health Care Efforts in the US

A Brief History: Universal Health Care Efforts in the US
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024755799

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised - The Obamacare Photos the MSM Doesn't Want You to See
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024761330

Enjoy.

[Nanjing to Seoul]

39. This is a God damned big deal, or how Biden said it at the signing.

ACA is far from perfect, but it's a nice first step.

There is no bigger critic of the administration than me probably on this board, but today, I call a cease fire.

[3catwoman3]

50. In one of my favorite Joe Biden moments...

... he referred to it as "...a big effin' deal," only he used the full vernacular. I loved it!

[okaawhatever]

43. I am so happy to hear you and the Mrs. are covered. I know that must be a load off of your mind.

Congratulations.

[KoKo]

47. With you on This bvar22....!

He deserves for not caving to the Repugs. And this has been a dream of Dems forever and even Nixon and Romney wanted some version of this.

I think we, hopefully, got better than Romney and Nixon's would have been overturned because of Watergate.

But, this has long been a dream of Dems and Obama managed to get it through when he had the MoJo...so Credit is due! Even thought it's been on Dem's "To Do List" credit goes to the President who managed to achieve it.

[Half-Century Man]

48. I finally got my wife and daughter enrolled, today, first day of the extension.

For daughter, 4 years wanting
For wife, 6 years wanting.

Perfect? no
Needed? yes.
A fair start to a longer journey.

[joshcryer]

49. Oh please.

This is such a joke. I have no words.

[1000words]

51. You have no tact, either

An olive branch is extended, and you decide to take a dump on it.

[joshcryer]

53. We fighters for this have been shit on for years.

I'm not going to fall for it anymore. Next week ACA will be shit on by the same people. The olive branch might have been acceptable a week ago while the same people were cheering on calling Obama a piece of shit. But the timing is clearly because Obama won this round.

[ProSense]

54. I wouldn't call it a "joke"

but the poster did support the claim that it was a "step in the wrong direction."

Thanks and congratulations?

[joshcryer]

55. Read their post here:

http://sync.democraticunderground.com/1002492799

Near the bottom, can't link on phone. Their reply to me.

[ProSense]

58. Yikes!

The poster got Medicaid!

I see the joke.

[bvar22]

59. I DID say I was a harsh critic of parts of the ACA,

and remain a harsh critic,
but for a couple of days, I'm going to congratulate The President and Dem Leadership for winning a hard fought battle.

[joshcryer]

62. Your posts weren't 'critical.'

Criticism is more than canned talking points. Anyone can read the link I posted to prosense.

[bvar22]

63. Take your bitterness to another thread.

I am STILL a critic, and will be submitting posts highly critical of the ACA in the near future,
and recommended ways of fixing it,

[font size=3]but THIS is a thread congratulating President Obama and the Dem Leadership for a hard fought victory.[/font]

If you are unable to handle that nuance,
I suggest you carry your tears, bitterness, and baseless attacks somewhere else.

[joshcryer]

64. I didn't know facts could be bitter.

You seem quite defensive. I'm sure you are concerned that one will discover the truth.

[bvar22]

65. See everybody: ^^^THIS^^^ is why we can't have nice things at DU.

I will stand by every critical post I have made about the ACA here at DU,
and WILL be posting more in the future,
facts and all,
but the FACT I'm celebrating TODAY
is that fewer Americans will DIE from lack of Health Insurance.

...and it will take more than you and your pathetic empty whining and baseless attacks to harsh that mellow.


DUDE!

[joshcryer]

66. Like I said, a joke.

I fought for ACA for years as people shit talked. Bitter? Vindication is sweet!

[rhett o rick]

60. Well said. nm

[Corruption Inc]

61. It's the largest expansion of health insurance since Medicare was enacted in 1965

Too bad there's still a tens of millions of people 1 job away from bankruptcy and then being eligible for it.

Single payer/universal is the only answer in the civilized world of which the U.S. still isn't a part of.