December 30, 2013

Paul Krugman:Obamacare Not A Total Disaster, Continued

Perceptions about health reform are in an interesting place. Just about everyone on the right is still living in October, the annus horribilis of Obamacare (yes, I know it was just a month, and I don’t care), and is waiting to move in for the kill after the whole thing collapses. Meanwhile, a funny thing has been happening: enrollments surged this month, to such an extent that the original expectation of 7 million people signed up via the exchanges by the end of March no longer looks crazy.

OK, the usual caveats: we don’t know how many of the people signing up via the exchanges are replacing existing policies, and we don’t know how much trouble there will be when people start trying to use their new insurance. On the other hand, we know that there are a substantial number of people buying ACA-compliant policies directly from insurers, who don’t show up in the numbers yet.

And while 7 million has become the number to match or beat, the truth is that it doesn’t matter too much if “only” 6 million sign up via the exchanges, plus millions more who are signed up under expanded Medicaid. Even a slightly disappointing first year will still offer enough people benefits to make reform politically irreversible.

At this point, we have more than 2 million signed up via the exchanges and more than 4 million added to Medicaid. Both numbers will grow a lot over the next three months. This is pretty close to the end game.

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/12/30/obamacare-not-a-total-disaster-continued/?smid=tw-NytimesKrugman&seid=auto&_r=0

December 30, 2013

An end-of-year message from Robert Reich

The GOP theme song in 2013

I had fun putting together this video—which also calls out some uplifting wins MoveOn members and other progressives were able to achieve this year despite the "Do-Nothing Congress." I hope you'll take just a minute to watch and, if you enjoy it, pass it on.

Thanks for all you do—and all the best in 2014.

–Robert Reich

December 3, 2013

Sen. Bernie Sanders: Health Care For All

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Sen. Sanders talks with Ed about the need to provide health care to all