Lot's of Good News on Healthcare

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Lot's of Good News on Healthcare

Post by Dardedar »

When giving my gentle corrections to conservative errors on Facebook, I keep little blurbs and references to cheer everyone up. That is,
except for those who are solely devoted to rooting for America to fail. I'll share these little references here. Feel free to spread them far and wide:

Image

Good News!
"New York exceeds Obamacare enrollment expectations by 60 percent, premiums halved"
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/04/1 ... l=facebook

"Obamacare has led to health coverage for millions more people
At least 9.5 million previously uninsured people have gotten health insurance since Obamacare started, surveys and reports show."
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-oba ... z2ygi67chN

***
Good news:
"Gallup: The uninsured rate is lowest since 2008"
"In the U.S., the uninsured rate dipped to 15.6% in the first quarter of 2014, a 1.5-percentage-point decline from the fourth quarter of 2013. The uninsured rate is now at the lowest level recorded since late 2008.
The uninsured rate has been falling since the fourth quarter of 2013, after hitting an all-time high of 18.0% in the third quarter -- a sign that the Affordable Care Act, commonly referred to as "Obamacare," appears to be accomplishing its goal of increasing the percentage of Americans with health insurance coverage."
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/04/0 ... l=facebook
Chart: http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/i ... 1396880846

More good news: "...official Kentucky figures that the state-based Obamacare exchange signed up roughly 360,000 Kentuckians before the March 31 enrollment deadline. About 270,000 of them were previously uninsured, which stands to cut the state's uninsured population of 640,000 by 42 percent.
"Over a quarter million Kentuckians who did not have insurance now have health care under the Affordable Care Act." http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/r ... 40-percent

Good news: "Blue Cross Says '80-85' Percent Of Obamacare Enrollees Are Paying"
http://www.forbes.com/sites/brucejapsen ... re-paying/

Good news: BOOM: "Obamacare Hit 7.1 Million Sign-Ups On Deadline Day"
If you were to lay 7 million Americans end to end (average of five feet tall), they would stretch from New York to Los Angles and halfway back again. Try it and see.
"http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/3 ... 66687.html

Good news: "Major right wing leaning poll now shows Obama approval at nearly 50 percent"
"The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Monday shows that 49% of Likely U.S. Voters approve of President Obama's job performance."
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_ ... cking_poll

More good news: "American Youth Reject GOP Radical Conservatism, Shift to Support Democratic Party"
"America’s youth are running from the radical conservatism of the Republican Party and choosing to call themselves Democrats in greater numbers than ever before, according to the latest Gallup poll on the subject. Young adults — those between the ages of 18 and 29 — have typically aligned themselves with the Democratic Party, according to Gallup, “but they have become substantially more likely to do so since 2006.”
http://www.newamericanjournal.net/2014/ ... tic-party/

More good news: "Raw Data: By 2017, Obamacare Will Be Covering 36 Million People" http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2 ... ion-people

More good news, support for repeal has tanked to 18%: "Kaiser Family Foundation Poll: “...more of the public would like to see Congress keep the law in place and work to improve it (49 percent) or keep it as is (10 percent) rather than repeal it and replace it with a Republican-sponsored alternative (11 percent) or repeal it outright (18 percent).” http://wonkwire.rollcall.com/2014/03/26 ... care-stay/
And chart: https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/ ... 3271_n.jpg

More good news: "8.5 million new jobs under Obamacare"
http://comebackdecade.tumblr.com/post/7 ... -obamacare

More good news: "The right’s fantasy is shattered: Why Obamacare has already succeeded
Conservatives want you to believe that Obamacare is "beyond rescue" -- but the data tells a very different story"
http://www.salon.com/2014/01/24/the_rig ... succeeded/

More good news: "Republican Lie Dies as the Obama Economy Hits 48 Straight Months of Job Growth"
http://www.politicususa.com/2014/03/07/ ... -jobs.html

More good news! Unless you are a conservative rooting against the success of the nation: "Uninsured rate drops as ACA deadline approaches
A new poll from Gallup finds the percentage of Americans who lack health insurance dropped more than 1% in the last few months, falling from 17.1% to 15.9% since the fourth quarter of 2013."
http://www.msnbc.com/politicsnation/gal ... m_facebook

More good news: "Enrollment is Going Up and Costs are Going Down:
"CBO now projects much higher cost savings in both private and public health insurance than originally projected in its 2010 budget baseline. CBO’s latest projection of spending in 2020 for Medicare is now 15% lower than its 2010 estimate, and 16% lower for Medicaid spending. In the private market, new CBO projections of health insurance premiums per enrollee in 2020 are 9% lower than their 2010 estimates." http://chirblog.org/enrollment-is-going ... exchanges/

More good news! Unless you are a conservative rooting against the success of the nation:
New data show ‪‎Obamacare‬'s doing what's it was designed to do--bring affordable care to millions:
"Here's a rundown of the latest metrics on the Affordable Care Act.
-- The percentage of uninsured Americans is falling sharply, reaching 15.9% as of the end of February, according to Gallup. That's the lowest rate the survey firm has measured since 2008. The greatest gains in insured status were shown by people earning less than $36,000 -- a prime target for the act -- and black Americans. Hispanics still lag.
-- The cost of health insurance and medical care came sharply down in January, according to number-crunchers at Goldman Sachs and the Commerce Department. Goldman Sachs attributed the slide to cuts in the reimbursement formulas for Medicare services, which are written into the law. The ACA is effectively putting more money in people's pockets -- the Commerce Department estimated that the expansion of Medicaid benefits under the ACA amounted to $19.2 billion in January.
-- The grand total of Obamacare enrollees -- including insurance exchanges, Medicaid members, and young persons kept on their parents plans -- can be estimated as high as 13 million, according to independent statistician Charles Gaba, whose conclusions and methodology can be found here."
http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik ... z2vimxCizs

Good news!
Americans overwhelmingly support:
Universal background checks on all gun purchases
Extending unemployment benefits
Raising the minimum wage
Passing sensible immigration reform
Legalizing same-sex marriage
The reality of climate change
That income inequality is a real problem
ALL issues Republicans strongly oppose. Not only do they oppose these things, often times they support legislation which opposes these things.
And as far as Republicans being the party of “ideas,” please. If it’s not protecting tax cuts for the rich, opposing the closing of tax loopholes for big corporations, supporting subsidies for big oil or pandering to the far-right religious radicals – Republicans don’t have any ideas."
http://www.forwardprogressives.com/paul ... QYVrB.dpuf

Good news: "The Real Numbers On 'The Obamacare Effect' Are In-Now Let The Crow Eating Begin"
http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2 ... ing-begin/
"The results are guaranteed to both surprise and depress those who have built their narrative around the effort to destroy the Affordable Care Act."

Healthcare good news:
—71 million Americans on private insurance have gained coverage for at least one free preventive health care service such as a mammogram, birth control, or an immunization in 2011 and 2012. In the first 11 months of 2013 alone, an additional 25 million people with traditional Medicare have received at least one preventive service at no out-of-pocket cost.
—Up to 129 million Americans with pre-existing conditions—including up to 17 million children —will no longer have to worry about being denied health coverage or charged higher premiums because of their health status.
—Approximately 60 million Americans have gained expanded mental health and substance use disorder benefits and/or federal parity protections.
—41 million uninsured Americans will have new health insurance options through Medicaid
or private health plans in the Marketplace. Nearly 6 in 10 of these individuals could pay less than $100 per month for coverage.
—Consumers have saved $5 billion over the past two years due to a new requirement that insurance companies have to spend at least 80 percent of premium dollars on care for patients (at least 85 percent for large group insurers). If they don’t, they must send consumers a rebate. In 2013, 8.5 million enrollees will receive rebates averaging $100 per family.
—Insurance companies must submit premium increases of 10 percent or more for review by experts. In 2012, 6.8 million Americans saved an estimated $1.2 billion on health insurance premiums after their insurers cut back on planned increases as a result of this process.
—Since the health care law was enacted, more than 7 million seniors and people with disabilities have saved an average of $1,200 per person on prescription drugs as the health care law closes Medicare’s “donut hole.” —Over three million young adults have gained health insurance because they can now stay on their parents’ health plans until age 26.
—Individuals no longer have to worry about having their health benefits cut off after they reach a lifetime limit on benefits. Starting in January, 105 million Americans will no longer have to worry about annual limits, either. —Using funds available through the Affordable Care Act, health centers are expanding access to care by building new sites and renovating existing sites. Health centers served approximately 21 million patients in 2012."
http://www.nationalmemo.com/how-many-pe ... -millions/

"Obamacare Just Made Americans Richer Without Anyone Noticing"
Glenn Beck once said Obamacare would mean "the end of prosperity in America forever." But so far, it turns out President Obama's 2010 health law is actually putting money in Americans' wallets.
To be exact, President Obama's 2010 health law was responsible for about three-quarters of a surprising January rise in U.S. consumer spending and American income growth, according to calculations by the Wall Street Journal."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/0 ... mg00000063

"Health Care Spending Slows To Historically Low Rate
For the first time in more than a decade, health care spending grew more slowly than the U.S. economy from 2010 to 2012, according to a new report by government auditors.
Total U.S. health care spending was $2.79 trillion in 2012, up 3.7 percent from the previous year -- that amounts to 17.2 percent of the national economy, the Office of the Actuary at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services conclude in a report published by the journal Health Affairs. It's the first time since 1997 that health expenditures didn't outpace the gross domestic product.
The historic slowdown in the growth of health care spending since 2009 -- the lowest rate since the federal government began tracking the data in 1960 -- has sparked a debate about its causes. President Barack Obama partially credits elements of the Affordable Care Act,..."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/0 ... 49383.html

Healthcare good news: "93 percent of hospital executives think Obamacare will make health care better"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/won ... re-better/

"71 million Americans have gained access to free preventative services, such as cancer screening, birth control and flu shots."
https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/ ... 9522_n.jpg

"Five million kids with pre-existing conditions can now get coverage thanks to the Affodable Care Act."
https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/ ... 4188_n.jpg

"40 Ways Obama is working" http://www.barackobama.com/news/entry/4 ... s-working/

"Obamacare compels insurance companies to spend 80% of their income on medical services.
In 2012, this saved American consumers $3.9 billion."
https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/ ... 7318_n.jpg

"Five reasons Americans already love ObamaCare —
plus one reason why they’re gonna love it even more, soon"
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/09/ ... yre-gonna/

"Starting in 2014, insurance companies can't charge women more than men for the same coverage.
Today, most health plans must cover 22 preventative services for women, from prenatal care to flu shots, at no extra cost.
Over 8 million more women who now have insurance will get maternity care covered starting in 2014. Kids already can't be denied coverage because of a pre-existing health problem like asthma.
Over 2 million women with Medicare have already saved a total of $1.2 billion in prescription drug costs.
The Health Insurance Marketplace will provide more options for health coverage that meets the needs of women, including 18.6 million who are uninsured."
https://sphotos-a-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/hpho ... 7523_n.jpg

More tax cutting goodness from Obama's ACA: "Why Obamacare Is A Tax Cut For Millions Of Americans"
"...there is no massive tax hike: few people will ever pay the penalty, and those who do will pay less than the amount of the payroll tax increase that Republicans nearly allowed to occur.
In addition, according to a report from Families USA, 28.6 million Americans, most of them middle-class, will receive tax cuts under the bill due to entering health care exchanges and receiving affordability credits:
We found that an estimated 28.6 million Americans will be eligible for the tax credits in 2014, and that the total value of the tax credits that year will be $110.1 billion. The new tax credits will provide much-needed assistance to insured individuals and families who struggle harder each year to pay rising premiums, as well as to uninsured individuals and families who need help purchasing coverage that otherwise would be completely out of reach financially. Most of the families who will be eligible for the tax credits will be employed, many for small businesses, and will have incomes between two and four times poverty (between $44,100 and $88,200 for a family of four based on 2010 poverty guidelines)."
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/0 ... ass-taxes/

Good news: "If canceled, not even 1% will pay more for Obamacare: Study" http://www.cnbc.com/id/101218418

Safety-net hospitals reaping benefit of more insured patients
Harborview Medical Center and other safety-net hospitals in states that expanded Medicaid under
Obamacare have seen an increase in revenue as they serve fewer patients who are uninsured."
http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/ ... etxml.html
"I'm not a skeptic because I want to believe, I'm a skeptic because I want to know." --Michael Shermer
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Re: Lot's of Good News on Healthcare

Post by Dardedar »

Since Obamacare Passed 50 Months Ago, Healthcare Has Gained Almost 1 Million Jobs

"Obamacare was once called “The Job-Killing Health Care Law.” But the latest jobs report suggests that the broader economy—and the health care sector, specifically—is adding jobs at a healthy rate.
Since the Affordable Care Act was signed into law in March 2010, the health care industry has gained nearly 1 million jobs—982,300, to be more precise—according to Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates released on Friday.
Meanwhile, the rest of the economy has added 7.7 million jobs since March 2010, and for the first time, more people are working since the recession began five years ago.
Private-sector jobs also grew for the 51st straight month, Justin Wolfers observes at The Upshot, which ties the longest consecutive streak on record and overlaps with the passage of Obamacare 50 months ago. But that streak is piddling compared to health care, which just reported its 131st straight month of job gains."

LINK

Trader Joe's Proves That Obamacare Can Free Us From The Wrong Jobs
"I'm not a skeptic because I want to believe, I'm a skeptic because I want to know." --Michael Shermer
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Re: Lot's of Good News on Healthcare

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More Than 10 Million People Got Insurance Because Of Obamacare, Feds Say
07/23/2014

The number of Americans without health insurance declined by 10.3 million because of Obamacare enrollment, according to a report from the Department of Health and Human Services and the Harvard School of Public Health, published in The New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday.

That represents a reduction in the uninsured rate for adults aged 18 to 64 from 21 percent last September to 16.3 percent this April, the HHS analysis concludes. The lower rate remained stable through June.... The adult uninsured rate has declined across all ages, racial and ethnic groups, and among men and women,..."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/2 ... 15052.html
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Re: Lot's of Good News on Healthcare

Post by Dardedar »

Obamacare rate shock? Not this time

"Some insurers are increasing premiums quite a bit, but others are actually decreasing premiums, which is almost unheard of in health insurance,” says Larry Levitt, senior vice president at the Kaiser Family Foundation. “It seems that insurers that priced high are now moderating their premiums to gain market share, while those that priced low may be compensating for being a bit too optimistic. The overall story here is that insurers see the potential to gain market share and revenues. It’s a signal from insurance companies that they believe the law is here to stay and that the market is stable."

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/08/0 ... l=facebook#
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Re: Lot's of Good News on Healthcare

Post by Dardedar »

Republican governors denying medicare assistance for their poor and most desperate. Has there ever been a more stark example of republican greed and mindless political pettiness?

-----------
"Wyoming looks like it might be the latest Republican-run state to come around on Obamacare's Medicaid expansion.

The Associated Press reported this week that Gov. Matt Mead (R) and the state's top health official had met with federal officials to discuss a possible deal to expand the low-income insurance program under the law. Mead will present the options early next year the state legislature, which has thus far rejected the expansion, according to the AP.

The news agency did not report any details of what a possible deal between Wyoming and the Obama administration might look like. But the administration has already shown some willingness to meet GOP officials halfway to get them to participate in the Medicaid expansion, a key piece of Obamacare.

Mead acknowledged that the state is sending tax dollars out of state to pay for other states that have expanded Medicaid while receiving nothing in return.

"I juxtapose that against our hospital association saying we're handing out $200 million every year just in Wyoming," he said. "I contrast it with whatever that running total is now, I think it's about $60 million for this year, that Wyoming, if we were in Medicaid, we would have received."

More than low-income 17,000 Wyomingites would be covered by the law's Medicaid expansion."

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/w ... on-options
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Re: Lot's of Good News on Healthcare

Post by Dardedar »

Republicans, not so into bashing Obamacare anymore:

"Nearly every day there seems to be more news that the Affordable Care Act is succeeding in ways that seems inconceivable as Healthcare.gov floundered last year:

We know that at least 10 million Americans have gained health care coverage since January as we’ve experienced the best job creation since 1999.
Every day another 9,000 people enroll in an ACA marketplace plan as the number of those covered by such plans has grown to between 23.7 and 28.4 million.
Insurance premiums are on average growing at a slower rate than before Obamacare became law and they’re even going down in a couple of states.
Closing a tax loophole on health care industry CEOs has raised $72 million.
More insurers are joining more state marketplaces offering increased competition and options for consumers.
And bright red states like Wyoming and Tennessee continue to move closer to expanding Medicaid — because not doing so isn’t just cruel, it’s dumb.
On top of this is the slightly astounding news that Medicare costs per patient are declining in a way that greatly reduces our long-term debt problems, thanks in part to the Affordable Care Act. And this happened as the law had added benefits to Medicare.
But the most amazing news of all is that Ted Cruz has moved Obamacare down his of issues he can use to rile up the Republican base."

Links for each claim here:

http://www.eclectablog.com/2014/09/ted- ... rking.html
"I'm not a skeptic because I want to believe, I'm a skeptic because I want to know." --Michael Shermer
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Re: Lot's of Good News on Healthcare

Post by Dardedar »

Obama's signature accomplishment is "succeeding beyond all reasonable expectation."
It seems quite likely that, in the future, the political world will look back at the ACA debate as a lengthy tantrum, thrown by lazy partisans, about a law that worked exactly as intended.
http://on.msnbc.com/1pyfd4c

***
"Washington hospitals provided nearly $154 million less in charity care in the first half of this year than in the first half of 2013, in many cases boosting the hospitals’ bottom lines.
Hospitals attributed the plunge in charity care — about 30 percent — to the Affordable Care Act’s focus on reducing the number of uninsured patients."
http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/ ... opxml.html

***
"CDC: The uninsured rate now the lowest on record"

http://www.vox.com/2014/9/16/6223677/cd ... ign=buffer

***
Obamacare premiums in Arkansas projected to drop 2 percent in 2015
Aug 26, 2014
"Insurance companies have proposed a net reduction in premiums of 2 percent next year for the Arkansas Health Insurance Marketplace, the health insurance exchange created by the Affordable Care Act. The Marketplace includes all of the plans used for the private option, the state's unique plan which uses Medicaid funds to purchase private health insurance for low-income Arkansans."
http://www.arktimes.com/ArkansasBlog/ar ... -2-percent

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Re: Lot's of Good News on Healthcare

Post by Dardedar »

Thanks To Obamacare, Hospitals Will Save Nearly $6 Billion This Year
"Hospitals will save $5.7 billion in uncompensated care costs this year, thanks to the fact that people are gaining insurance under Obamacare and are now able to pay their bills, according to a new report from the Department of Health and Human Services. Compared to what hospitals would have likely needed to pay without the law’s coverage expansion, that represents a 16 percent drop in costs.

The report finds that there are now fewer uninsured people going to the emergency room and being admitted to the hospital — which translates into big savings for hospitals."
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2014/09 ... e-savings/
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Re: Lot's of Good News on Healthcare

Post by Dardedar »

Commentary: The Good News? Health Care is Expanding, More Efficient
By Lowell Grisham
Posted: September 28, 2014

Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them ... " -- Matthew 9:33

Healing was Jesus' most characteristic activity. In his name Christians have founded hospitals. When Jesus sent out his first disciples, he instructed them to "heal the sick." (Matthew 10:8; Luke 10:9)

Christians should be particularly encouraged and gladdened by some recent good news. More neighbors now have access to health care and our health care costs are going down.

In its first year, Arkansas' private option is a huge success. The private option is the program lawmakers passed in 2013 to use Medicaid dollars under Obamacare to buy private insurance for lower-income Arkansans.

More than 200,000 Arkansans have gained medical insurance coverage through the Medicaid expansion of the private option. Figures released Aug. 31 show 10,532 low-income people here in Washington County and 9,154 in Benton County are benefiting from the program. That's good news for a lot of our neighbors.

With the first year's roll-out of the private option, Arkansas was No. 1 in the nation in reducing the percentage of our uninsured. We cut our rate from 22.5 percent to 12.4 percent. Last year we were at the bottom, 49th. (Texas was 50th.) This year, we're up to No. 22.

More good news. The insurance companies who serve the Arkansas private option announced last month that they have proposed a net reduction in premiums of 2 percent. Amazing! Medical insurance costs are going down! For decades medical insurance has been one of the fasting-growing costs in our entire economy, consistently increasing 6 to 10 percent per year.

The private option has also been a big boon to Arkansas' economy, creating new jobs in the health care industry as more neighbors can afford to seek regular, preventative care.

Our Arkansas hospitals are benefiting tremendously. Their costs for uncompensated care have decreased dramatically. For years people without access have used emergency rooms as clinics, a very costly form of medical care. For years, hospitals (and the rest of us with insurance) have been swallowing the expense of uninsured patients. Now people and hospitals are healthier.

The national health care picture is also improving. Obamacare has given access to medical care to 8 million people on the exchanges, 7 million under Medicaid extension, and 5 million who bought insurance outside the exchanges but benefit from new regulations like the one that stops insurance companies from refusing coverage to people with preexisting conditions.

Medicare costs have slowed dramatically throughout the country. That means the projected federal deficit has dropped significantly. One reason: Effective cost-control measures are an important part of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). Insurance rates now are dropping, not rising.

Many critics of Obamacare predicted 2015 rates would skyrocket; some warned of doubling and tripling of premiums. Wrong. Costs are actually decreasing. My hunch? Even though the critics are wrong again, they won't change their minds. They won't rejoice that finally medical costs are flat or receding and that more people have insurance.

One of the ironies of this 2014 election is that many people who are relieved and pleased finally to have access to affordable insurance for their families are also planning to vote for politicians who rashly promise to repeal Obamacare.

Obamacare is a good policy that has been skillfully slandered. When pollsters describe the specific elements of the Affordable Care Act and ask people for their opinion, the response is overwhelmingly positive. People like the policies. But if you ask them if they like "Obamacare," they'll say, "No." The spin-masters' propaganda has worked, so far. But reality may be catching up to them. Millions who now have affordable insurance appreciate what the Affordable Care Act is bringing them. Eventually Obamacare will be as popular as Social Security and Medicare which were similarly slandered at their beginnings.

We've made great progress this year. Millions of Americans now have health care coverage and costs are better contained. But we could do better. Still 12.4 percent of our Arkansas neighbors are without insurance. The United States continues to have the most expensive and the least effective health care system in the developed world. We are the only wealthy, industrialized nation in the world that does not ensure all of our citizens have access to health care as part of a universal system. We could learn from the other wealthy nations and have universal coverage with even better outcomes.

LOWELL GRISHAM IS AN EPISCOPAL PRIEST WHO LIVES IN FAYETTEVILLE.

Commentary on 09/28/2014

http://www.nwaonline.com/news/2014/sep/ ... h-care-is/
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Re: Lot's of Good News on Healthcare

Post by Dardedar »

Image

These 5 Scary Obamacare Predictions Were Dead Wrong

1. Prediction: No One Is Going To Pay For Health Insurance

What happened: Just About Everyone Paid For Health Insurance.

2. Prediction: Premiums Are Going To Skyrocket!!

What happened: Premiums Went Up A Smidge.

3. Prediction: Obamacare Is The Worst Thing To Happen To Young People Since Moms Joined Facebook

What Happened: A Lot Of Young People Are Insured, Pleasing Moms Everywhere.

4. Prediction: Obamacare Is INCREASING The Uninsured Rate!

What happened: Obamacare DECREASED The Uninsured Rate.

5. Prediction: Obamacare Will Destroy The Private Health Insurance Industry

What happened: Health Insurance Companies Got A Lot Of New Business.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/1 ... =obamacare
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Re: Lot's of Good News on Healthcare

Post by Dardedar »

"According to the Congressional Budget Office, the Affordable Care Act, Obamacare, will cut the federal budget deficit by $100 billion despite adding health coverage for about 10 million people, by federal estimates.

Paul Van de Water, a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, says the reform has been able to do this because it's had real success at one of its key goals, holding down the cost of health care.

The overall federal deficit has dropped dramatically. It's now projected to total nearly $5 trillion less by 2020 than was expected just four years ago. Maybe more importantly, Van de Water says the ACA is improving the health of the vital Medicare program, which is threatened by an influx of millions of baby boomers.
"Medicare will continue to need adjustments, but it's clear health reform has made Medicare's prospects better, not worse," he says."

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/10/2 ... -Obamacare
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Re: Lot's of Good News on Healthcare

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Obama's plan to reduce hospital errors is working — and it's saved 50,000 lives
"From the infections patients get when they stay in the hospital (which kill about 75,000 people annually) to medical mistakes (surgeons left an impressive 4,857 items in patients over the last two decades), hospitals are places where lots can go wrong.

But hospitals are, just slightly, starting to get better at getting things right. A new federal report shows that improvements in hospital care saved 50,000 lives between 2010 and 2013, all by doing better at not making patients sick."

http://www.vox.com/2014/12/2/7317899/ho ... rors-obama
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Re: Lot's of Good News on Healthcare

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"Four New Studies Show Obamacare Is Working Incredibly Well"
1. The uninsured rates has fallen nationally by 30 percent.
2. Health cost inflation in 2013 fell to the lowest level since the federal government began keeping track.
3. Disincentives for hospital errors brought the error rate down by 17 percent since 2010 (saving 50,000 lives).
4. Insurance competition has worked much better than expected.
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/20 ... -well.html
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Re: Lot's of Good News on Healthcare

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"In just 3 yrs #Obamacare has saved 50,000 lives & $12 BIL by preventing "never events"
http://reverbpress.com/politics/obamaca ... ves-saved/

Excerpt:
"HOW THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT IS SAVING LIVES
Obamacare is undoubtedly providing more Americans with health insurance, and having a healthcare policy mean that a person can get the treatment they need if they’re ever injured or fall victim to a serious illness. As of July 2014, in fact, 20 million people had finally gained health insurance thanks to the Affordable Care Act.

On top of those who are insured, though, the ACA has also implemented new rules which incentivize hospitals who make fewer mistakes. In years past, it’s been reported that hospitals could make more money off of mistakes than they could by getting it right the first time around. After all, a patient coming back for further care just adds more money to the bank rolls.

Thanks to the healthcare law, however, this time is now gone. Private insurers and Medicare can now reduce or even withhold payments from medical institutions who are making errors. Additionally, Medicare has begun fining hospitals whose quick readmission rates are too high. So if a hospital has high numbers of people returning within a month of being discharged, they could see serious fines."
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Re: Lot's of Good News on Healthcare

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Re: Lot's of Good News on Healthcare

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Obama administration: 16.4M have gained health insurance

WASHINGTON (AP) — More than 16 million Americans have gained insurance coverage as a result of President Barack Obama's health care law, the administration said Monday as the White House prepares to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the law's signing.
In releasing the latest estimates, Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell called it "the largest reduction in the uninsured in four decades."

LINK

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Re: Lot's of Good News on Healthcare

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Under Obamacare, America’s uninsured rate has fallen 35 percent
--14.1 million Americans have gained health plans since Obamacare's coverage expansion began in 2014.f
--An additional 2.3 million young adults gained coverage between 2010 and 2013 — after Obamacare began requiring employer plans to offer dependent coverage through age 26.
--Federal officials say this is the largest drop in the uninsured rate since 1965, when Medicare and Medicaid began.

A new report from Health and Human Services finds that the uninsured rate has fallen from 20.3 percent prior to the health-care law down to 13.2 percent at the start of 2015. This is a 7.1 percentage-point decrease in the uninsured rate — or, to put it another way, a 35-percent decline in the number of Americans who lack insurance coverage."
http://www.vox.com/2015/3/16/8225253/ob ... d-medicare
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Re: Lot's of Good News on Healthcare

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5 years later, ‘Obamacare’ critics can’t believe their lying eyes

"If you’d told me five years ago that on March 23, 2015, the Affordable Care Act would exceed expectations on every possible metric, including reducing the nation’s uninsured rate by a third, I’d say “Obamacare” would look like a great success. And fortunately for the country, that’s exactly what’s happened.
...it’s also a good time to take a moment to acknowledge those who told Americans exactly what to expect from the Affordable Care Act – and who got the story backwards.

Failed Prediction #1: Americans won’t enroll in the ACA

In 2009 and 2010, it was widely assumed among Republicans that Democrats had fundamentally miscalculated public demand and consumers would show no real interest in signing up for coverage through the Affordable Care Act. Indeed, among some on the right, this was a foregone conclusion – Americans wouldn’t trust “Obamacare.” We now know, of course, that the opposite is true and that millions of families have eagerly signed up for benefits through the ACA.

Failed Prediction #2: The ACA won’t meet its enrollment goals

OK, so maybe some consumers would enroll, Republicans eventually said, but the ACA would inevitably lose the numbers game when the enrollment projections proved overly ambitious. In reality, both this year and last year, enrollment totals exceeded the Obama administration’s preliminary projections.

Failed Prediction #3: Insurers will want no part of the ACA system

Conservatives were absolutely convinced that private insurers would refuse to participate in the ACA’s exchange marketplaces, repeating the prediction over and over again. This also proved to be the opposite of the truth, as insurance companies have been eager to compete for Americans’ business.

Failed Prediction #4: The economy will suffer terribly because of ‘Obamacare’

Among Republicans, there was near-certainty that 2014 – the first full year for ACA implementation – would be an abysmal year for the American job market. After all, it seemed obvious to the right that “Obamacare” would crush job creation and push unemployment higher. In reality, 2014 was the best year for American job creation since the ’90s; the unemployment has shown sharp improvement; and there’s literally no evidence that the ACA had an adverse effect on economic growth at all.

Failed Prediction #5: Even if Americans enrolled, they won’t pay their premiums

When the evidence started looking good for the ACA, Republicans got a little desperate, looking for ways to downplay good news, and the “people won’t pay their premiums” talking point took root. It was, however, completely wrong.

Failed Prediction #6: Even if people pay their premiums, the flawed ACA structure will send premiums soaring

Those hoping to see the American system fail counted on soaring insurance premiums. This just hasn’t happened and the ACA model has proven to be quite effective.

Failed Prediction #7: The ACA won’t reduce the uninsured rate because it will only help those who already have coverage

This was a GOP favorite for quite a while, right up until the evidence proved the right had this backwards, too.

Failed Prediction #8: The ACA will lead to a “net loss” on overall coverage

This line was pushed by House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) for a while, with the Republican leader arguing a year ago that “Obamacare” would end coverage for more people than it would expand coverage to, “a net loss.” Boehner said, “I actually do believe that to be the case.” As it turns out, his actual beliefs were ridiculously wrong.

Failed Prediction #9: The ACA will lead to higher deficits and a weaker fiscal footing for the nation

One of the projections that never sat well for Republicans, who sometimes pretend to care about the deficit, was that “Obamacare” would reduce the nation’s deficit by hundreds of billions of dollars in the coming years. The GOP assumed the non-partisan budget analyses were wrong and proceeded to tell the country the law would make the deficit larger and “bankrupt” the country. According to the Congressional Budget Office, however, Republicans got this backwards, too. In fact, the overall price tag of the ACA is now smaller than previously projected.

Failed Prediction #10: Americans will end up hating the coverage they receive through the ACA

Customer satisfaction rates came as a huge surprise to Republicans, who expected the opposite results: “A majority of Americans give good reviews for insurance they recently acquired through government exchanges within the past year, a new poll shows. With the second round of Obamacare enrollment set to begin on Saturday, 71 percent said their coverage through the exchanges was good or excellent, according to a Gallup poll released Friday. Another 19 percent said the coverage was fair, while 9 percent rated it poorly.”

That’s 10 failed predictions and we could keep going. ACA critics were wrong about the “death spiral.” And “rate shock.” And the notion that young people wouldn’t enroll. And assertions that Medicare patients would suffer. None of these predictions – literally, none of them – stood up to scrutiny."

Links for each claim here:
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show ... _fb_maddow

***
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http://www.newscorpse.com/ncWP/?p=19629
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Re: Lot's of Good News on Healthcare

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No other developed country allows for profit health insurance.
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Re: Lot's of Good News on Healthcare

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Still dealing with wingnuts devoted to lying about the ACA. Here is my handy three point sheet:
***
The goal of the ACA goal was to lower costs, improve access and improve quality. It succeeds in all three:
1) Lowest healthcare inflation in 55 years:
"Prices of health care services have risen just 0.7 percent over the past four quarters, extending the recent period of exceptionally slow health care price inflation, while expanding coverage has driven faster growth in aggregate utilization of health care services.
Prior to 2015, an increase in health care services prices as low as the 0.7 percent increase over the most recent four quarters had not been seen since 1961.
Here is the decrease in chart form:
http://mx3.politicususa.netdna-cdn.com/ ... 85x352.png
http://www.politicususa.com/2015/12/22/ ... -1961.html

2) Access: America's Uninsured Rate Is Now Lowest Ever
"But by June 2015, that number had fallen to 9% — and it’s never been this low before."
http://www.forbes.com/sites/dandiamond/ ... cally-low/
http://blogs-images.forbes.com/dandiamo ... nsured.jpg

"CDC: Number Of Uninsured Individuals Has Declined By 15.8 Million
Since 2013. According to an August report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)'s National Center for Health Statistics, the number of people without health insurance has declined by 15.8 million since the Obamacare's coverage expansion went into effect"
http://mediamatters.org/research/2015/0 ... tic/204980

Obamacare has increased Americans' access to doctors
Fewer Americans say they cannot afford healthcare
"Between January 2012 and January 2015, the number of Americans who said they did not have a personal physician fell 3.5 percentage points. There was a 2.4 percentage point decline in those who reported no easy access to medication and a 5.5 percentage point drop in those who reported an inability to afford needed care." http://www.vox.com/2015/7/28/9049611/ob ... tor-access

3) Quality:
—71 million Americans on private insurance have gained coverage for at least one free preventive health care service such as a mammogram, birth control, or an immunization in 2011 and 2012.
—Up to 129 million Americans with pre-existing conditions—including up to 17 million children —will no longer have to worry about being denied health coverage or charged higher premiums because of their health status.
—Approximately 60 million Americans have gained expanded mental health and substance use
disorder benefits and/or federal parity protections.
—41 million uninsured Americans will have new health insurance options through Medicaid or private health plans in the Marketplace.
—Consumers have saved $5 billion over the past two years due to a new requirement that insurance companies have to spend at least 80 percent of premium dollars on care for patients.
—Over three million young adults have gained health insurance because they can now stay on their parents’ health plans until age 26.
—Individuals no longer have to worry about having their health benefits cut off after they reach a lifetime limit on benefits. Starting in January, 105 million Americans will no longer have to worry about annual limits, either.
http://www.nationalmemo.com/how-many-pe ... -millions/

Saving lives:
The Affordable Care Act is “a major reason why we’ve seen 50,000 fewer preventable patient deaths in hospitals.” http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fac ... nt-deaths/
Politifact says mostly true:
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter ... ed-50000-/
"I'm not a skeptic because I want to believe, I'm a skeptic because I want to know." --Michael Shermer
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