Aa
Pres Obama looks to regain the offensive on health care reform
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/reclaiming-the-offensive-health-care
By Geoffrey Cowley
After a run of tough weeks, the Obama administration got a dollop of good news on health care reform Tuesday night. Even as congressional committees continued their hearings on the website debacle, and opponents hammered the president for his past misstatements on the cancellation of insurance plans, voters in Virginia elected an Obamacare enthusiast, Democrat Terry McAuliffe, as governor.
McAuliffe’s close victory over tea partier Ken Cuccinelli greatly improves the odds that 400,000 low-income Virginians will gain access to Medicaid next year. And though it won’t end the continuing nightmare that is healthcare.gov, the victory may also help move the president off of the defensive as he travels to Texas to push his signature initiative.
McAuliffe enthusiastically backed Medicaid expansion throughout the Virginia governor’s race. And like a growing number of swing-state governors, he made a pragmatic pitch as well as a moral one. “This common-sense policy is not only right morally, it’s good for the economy,” he said in a September statement. “It will provide 400,000 uninsured Virginians access to health insurance, will create an estimated 33,000 jobs, and will bring $21 billion of taxpayer funds back to Virginia.”
That’s not all it would do. Combined with other features of the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid expansion would reduce the number of uninsured Virginians—currently about 1 million—by half. And though the expansion would cost Virginia $1.3 billion over the coming decade, the state would receive $11 in federal support for every dollar invested. The expansion would also spare Virginia $400 million in unpaid medical bills over 10 years. And it would boost payments to the state’s hospitals by $6.1 billion. Like Texas Governor Rick Perry, Cuccinelli told voters they couldn’t afford to make the investment. Many now seem to realize they can’t afford not to.
While McAuliffe’s victory may brighten the prospects for expanding health coverage in Virginia, it doesn’t guarantee success. This year, under Gov. Bob McDonnell, the state created a bipartisan Medicaid Innovation and Reform Commission to ensure that any expansion proposal includes extensive reforms in the state’s current Medicaid program. The commission includes five voting members from each house of the Virginia legislature, and both five-member groups must approve any plan McAuliffe submits to the feds. Supporters are predicting brisk progress after McAuliffe takes office in January, but he’ll need support from both parties to move forward. Until then, most of Virginia’s poorest adults will fall into the same luckless zone as those in other states that have yet to expand Medicaid. They won’t qualify for subsidized coverage through private insurers, and they won’t qualify for public coverage either.
Some 1.2 million Texans face the same dilemma, and hundreds of thousands of them live in Dallas County, where the president spoke on Wednesday. His visit—one of many that administration officials have staged in Texas recently—serves partly to remind the public how easily Governor Perry could close the gap in coverage. By expanding its Medicaid program, Texas could cover more than a million uninsured people next year—entirely at federal expense. The expansion would cost the state $5.7 billion over the next decade, as the federal share of expansion costs falls gradually to 90%. But the investment would draw nearly $66 billion in federal support while sparing the state unpaid medical bills and strengthening its health care sector.
“This is a no-brainer,” the president said in Dallas on Wednesday evening, encouraging his audience to push state leaders to embrace the expansion program. San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro echoed the call in a post on the White House blog. “Usually, we do things bigger in Texas,” he wrote. “But right now, when it comes to covering the uninsured, some of our neighboring states are trying to beat us to the draw.”
Only a third of Texans approve of the Affordable Care Act, according to polling results released Wednesday by the University of Texas and Texas Tribune. Yet three-quarters favor public subsidies to help low-income consumers buy health insurance through the exchanges, and two-thirds agree that states should have the option of extending Medicaid coverage to impoverished adults.
Overall, American support for Obamacare seems to be growing. A new Ipsos/Reuters poll Wednesday found that 47.1% of respondents viewed the new health care law favorably, compared to 43.8% in September. The trend is even more positive among the uninsured– 44% now support the law, compared to 36.8% in September.
While highlighting what Obamacare could do for Texas, the president also touted what is already changing. Local governments and grassroots organizations have worked closely with federal health officials to link uninsured Texans to the state’s health insurance exchange. And thanks to the Affordable Care Act, more than 2 million of them will qualify for tax credits to subsidize their coverage next year. Until healthcare.gov is working as advertised, that storyline will carry some dark irony. But it underlines a fact the administration is desperate to reassert: the website may be broken, but the health care law is still sound.
By Geoffrey Cowley
After a run of tough weeks, the Obama administration got a dollop of good news on health care reform Tuesday night. Even as congressional committees continued their hearings on the website debacle, and opponents hammered the president for his past misstatements on the cancellation of insurance plans, voters in Virginia elected an Obamacare enthusiast, Democrat Terry McAuliffe, as governor.
McAuliffe’s close victory over tea partier Ken Cuccinelli greatly improves the odds that 400,000 low-income Virginians will gain access to Medicaid next year. And though it won’t end the continuing nightmare that is healthcare.gov, the victory may also help move the president off of the defensive as he travels to Texas to push his signature initiative.
McAuliffe enthusiastically backed Medicaid expansion throughout the Virginia governor’s race. And like a growing number of swing-state governors, he made a pragmatic pitch as well as a moral one. “This common-sense policy is not only right morally, it’s good for the economy,” he said in a September statement. “It will provide 400,000 uninsured Virginians access to health insurance, will create an estimated 33,000 jobs, and will bring $21 billion of taxpayer funds back to Virginia.”
That’s not all it would do. Combined with other features of the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid expansion would reduce the number of uninsured Virginians—currently about 1 million—by half. And though the expansion would cost Virginia $1.3 billion over the coming decade, the state would receive $11 in federal support for every dollar invested. The expansion would also spare Virginia $400 million in unpaid medical bills over 10 years. And it would boost payments to the state’s hospitals by $6.1 billion. Like Texas Governor Rick Perry, Cuccinelli told voters they couldn’t afford to make the investment. Many now seem to realize they can’t afford not to.
While McAuliffe’s victory may brighten the prospects for expanding health coverage in Virginia, it doesn’t guarantee success. This year, under Gov. Bob McDonnell, the state created a bipartisan Medicaid Innovation and Reform Commission to ensure that any expansion proposal includes extensive reforms in the state’s current Medicaid program. The commission includes five voting members from each house of the Virginia legislature, and both five-member groups must approve any plan McAuliffe submits to the feds. Supporters are predicting brisk progress after McAuliffe takes office in January, but he’ll need support from both parties to move forward. Until then, most of Virginia’s poorest adults will fall into the same luckless zone as those in other states that have yet to expand Medicaid. They won’t qualify for subsidized coverage through private insurers, and they won’t qualify for public coverage either.
Some 1.2 million Texans face the same dilemma, and hundreds of thousands of them live in Dallas County, where the president spoke on Wednesday. His visit—one of many that administration officials have staged in Texas recently—serves partly to remind the public how easily Governor Perry could close the gap in coverage. By expanding its Medicaid program, Texas could cover more than a million uninsured people next year—entirely at federal expense. The expansion would cost the state $5.7 billion over the next decade, as the federal share of expansion costs falls gradually to 90%. But the investment would draw nearly $66 billion in federal support while sparing the state unpaid medical bills and strengthening its health care sector.
“This is a no-brainer,” the president said in Dallas on Wednesday evening, encouraging his audience to push state leaders to embrace the expansion program. San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro echoed the call in a post on the White House blog. “Usually, we do things bigger in Texas,” he wrote. “But right now, when it comes to covering the uninsured, some of our neighboring states are trying to beat us to the draw.”
Only a third of Texans approve of the Affordable Care Act, according to polling results released Wednesday by the University of Texas and Texas Tribune. Yet three-quarters favor public subsidies to help low-income consumers buy health insurance through the exchanges, and two-thirds agree that states should have the option of extending Medicaid coverage to impoverished adults.
Overall, American support for Obamacare seems to be growing. A new Ipsos/Reuters poll Wednesday found that 47.1% of respondents viewed the new health care law favorably, compared to 43.8% in September. The trend is even more positive among the uninsured– 44% now support the law, compared to 36.8% in September.
While highlighting what Obamacare could do for Texas, the president also touted what is already changing. Local governments and grassroots organizations have worked closely with federal health officials to link uninsured Texans to the state’s health insurance exchange. And thanks to the Affordable Care Act, more than 2 million of them will qualify for tax credits to subsidize their coverage next year. Until healthcare.gov is working as advertised, that storyline will carry some dark irony. But it underlines a fact the administration is desperate to reassert: the website may be broken, but the health care law is still sound.
The Republicans tried to delay it for a year but GOD would not budge!
Obama never apologized to the people for lying nor did he apologize for lying about the 5%. I used to think the "Sheeple" reverance was harsh. Now I am starting to wander if you can lay your party commintment aside and look at this for youselves. Grape or Orange Flavored? You all seem willing to drink.
Obama never apologized to the people for lying nor did he apologize for lying about the 5%. I used to think the "Sheeple" reverance was harsh. Now I am starting to wander if you can lay your party commintment aside and look at this for youselves. Grape or Orange Flavored? You all seem willing to drink.
Today, in the Washington Post President Obama apologized to the people losing the insurance they liked and could afford.
He is trying to fix it
Many will lose their insurance on 12/31, I don't see that there is much time.
Cucinelli lost because he was against abortion, birth control, women in general...it had littl to do with health care. The paper was saying the women of Virginia would decide the election.
This entire Affordable Care is very confusing to a lot of people.
I wish they had tried some sample drills before releasing it
He is trying to fix it
Many will lose their insurance on 12/31, I don't see that there is much time.
Cucinelli lost because he was against abortion, birth control, women in general...it had littl to do with health care. The paper was saying the women of Virginia would decide the election.
This entire Affordable Care is very confusing to a lot of people.
I wish they had tried some sample drills before releasing it
It's the cost for a lot of people....
Maternity care was always included just like prostrate surgery was. Its always been a package of some sort or another.
I believe that everything will work out just fine and dandy, regardless of the multi million dollar campaign to keep people from getting insurance. What a concept. It is now a fashionable thing to convince people to not purchase insurance when just a year or so ago, the fashionable thing was to tell people to pull themselves up by their bootstraps and carry their own weight.... LOL, Me confused!
And all by the same people I might add!
I believe that everything will work out just fine and dandy, regardless of the multi million dollar campaign to keep people from getting insurance. What a concept. It is now a fashionable thing to convince people to not purchase insurance when just a year or so ago, the fashionable thing was to tell people to pull themselves up by their bootstraps and carry their own weight.... LOL, Me confused!
And all by the same people I might add!
I don't ever remember from my past or current health insurance policies that pediatric & maternity coverage was an optional rider that one could opt out of for a lower rate.
Am I missing something?
Am I missing something?
You're a great brother.
And my sister doesn't qualify for subsidies either. I'm going to help her with her health-insurance monthly payment.
Stupid Obamacare.
Stupid Obamacare.
My sister's insurance is going from $267.00/mo to $685.00/mo.
Pediatric & maternity are covered under her more expensive Obamacare plan, sure, but she doesn't have children, and isn't going to get pregnant (and she's not allowed to opt out of either).
Obamacare might have been a decent concept, but the way it's written, and the way it's been implemented, has been atrocious.
They need to scrap the entire thing, and start over.
Republicans* have been opposed to it from the start, not because it's a bad idea, but because the stupid Democrats* that were supporting it, hadn't thought it all the way through (which has become painfully & irreversibly evident).
*politicians, not laypeople
I have been opposed to it from the beginning, for the same reason. Not because it's a bad idea, but because I knew they hadn't thought it all the way through (and I've been saying much the same thing for the last 3 years).
Doomed from the start, when you allow politicians to be in charge of an implementation.
Pediatric & maternity are covered under her more expensive Obamacare plan, sure, but she doesn't have children, and isn't going to get pregnant (and she's not allowed to opt out of either).
Obamacare might have been a decent concept, but the way it's written, and the way it's been implemented, has been atrocious.
They need to scrap the entire thing, and start over.
Republicans* have been opposed to it from the start, not because it's a bad idea, but because the stupid Democrats* that were supporting it, hadn't thought it all the way through (which has become painfully & irreversibly evident).
*politicians, not laypeople
I have been opposed to it from the beginning, for the same reason. Not because it's a bad idea, but because I knew they hadn't thought it all the way through (and I've been saying much the same thing for the last 3 years).
Doomed from the start, when you allow politicians to be in charge of an implementation.
Respectfully... if employed people had insurance they were pleased with, the President said they could keep it. Now they can't? That's sad, and it is bad news. I think it says a lot about the country right now.
Again respectfully, I don't think it is just the web site that has people upset. I feel it lies with so much on the lack of clarity. People still cannot get a straight shot on this program and I think that has part of this country confused.
I think there are just enough people out there squeaking out a living that are in the same boat I am. They don't qualify for subsidies and are now going to be required to spend money they don't have on insurance.
I feel people are frustrated that there is a lack of continuity regarding the plan. Minnesotans will pay $144 a month for the bronze plan. Citizens of Wyoming will pay $425 per month on average.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/25/obamacare-map-_n_3990491.html
Just doesn't seem fair to me and I think a lot of the country is feeling the same way. It just strikes me as funny that me being of reasonable health will be paying more for insurance than a meth head pizza delivery boy in Duluth.
Again respectfully, I don't think it is just the web site that has people upset. I feel it lies with so much on the lack of clarity. People still cannot get a straight shot on this program and I think that has part of this country confused.
I think there are just enough people out there squeaking out a living that are in the same boat I am. They don't qualify for subsidies and are now going to be required to spend money they don't have on insurance.
I feel people are frustrated that there is a lack of continuity regarding the plan. Minnesotans will pay $144 a month for the bronze plan. Citizens of Wyoming will pay $425 per month on average.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/25/obamacare-map-_n_3990491.html
Just doesn't seem fair to me and I think a lot of the country is feeling the same way. It just strikes me as funny that me being of reasonable health will be paying more for insurance than a meth head pizza delivery boy in Duluth.
“It will provide 400,000 uninsured Virginians access to health insurance, will create an estimated 33,000 jobs, and will bring $21 billion of taxpayer funds back to Virginia.”
That’s not all it would do. Combined with other features of the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid expansion would reduce the number of uninsured Virginians—currently about 1 million—by half. And though the expansion would cost Virginia $1.3 billion over the coming decade, the state would receive $11 in federal support for every dollar invested. The expansion would also spare Virginia $400 million in unpaid medical bills over 10 years. And it would boost payments to the state’s hospitals by $6.1 billion. Like Texas Governor Rick Perry, Cuccinelli told voters they couldn’t afford to make the investment. Many now seem to realize they can’t afford not to."
But its only the website that's a mess which will be fixed, and him speaking out of term about cancelling insurances.. Well yes, people are losing their insurance but its because their employers insurance don't meet the requirements of the ACA. It is actually a good thing because they WILL get better coverage under the ACA..I feel like I sound like a broken record that nobody wants to turn off. I mean people are not losing insurance as we speak. It will start in January. by that time, they can choose and see what coverage is good for them through the ACA..
I just wish the Administration had a better presentation. The definitely F'd up but they will fix it,,I say it still goes back to lack of information and presenting that information to us..The ACA WILL be a success..Nothing good starts good. Look at medicare..But until it turns good, I guess the best thing for the opposition of the ACA is to focus on the negative and stay on the negative..
I'd throw up a smoke and mirror diversionary tactic. I'd certainly back off touting something that ain't walking the straight and narrow right now. Start to talk it up when things are going a lot better than they are right now.
You must join this user group in order to participate in this discussion.
You are reading content posted in the Current Events . . . Group
A list of national and international resources and hotlines to help connect you to needed health and medical services.
Herpes sores blister, then burst, scab and heal.
Herpes spreads by oral, vaginal and anal sex.
STIs are the most common cause of genital sores.
Condoms are the most effective way to prevent HIV and STDs.
PrEP is used by people with high risk to prevent HIV infection.
