Cigar
10-23-2013, 09:56 AM
http://www.msnbc.com/sites/msnbc/files/article-teasers/10.23.13.jpg
A new Gallup poll was released this morning showing public support for the Affordable Care Act inching higher, from 41% in August to 45% now. In isolation, that’s a pretty modest shift in a single poll, and hardly worth getting excited about. But it’s not the only poll showing improved support for “Obamacare.”
This week, four national polls have been released – Gallup, CBS News, CNN, and ABC/Washington Post – and all four show the health care law more popular now than the last time the pollsters asked.
To be sure, you can look at the chart I put together and see that in each instance, support for the law is below 50%, so it’s obviously far too soon to characterize the Affordable Care Act as “popular.” It’s not.
But the shift in public attitudes comes as a bit of a surprise. The only major news related to the law in recent weeks has been considerable coverage of technical problems with the system’s website. I largely expected the polls to show declining favorability in light of all the negative press coverage.
And yet, there are four independent, national polls showing the exact opposite.
- more -
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/polls-show-growing-support-obamacare
Obamacare off to great start in Kentucky, Washington, Oregon
by Joan McCarter
Kentucky's Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear has great things to say about the launch of Obamacare in his state.
"We're signing up people at roughly a thousand a day. It's a great rate and a great success so far," he said on CNN's "New Day." <...>
Asked about Republican Sens. Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul, Kentucky's two senators and staunch opponents of Obamacare, the governor said critics of the law "are not paying attention to the facts" and they "weave a web of misinformation."
His piece of advice?
"Take a deep breath. You know, this system is going to work. The only thing that really isn't working right now on the federal level is the website," he told CNN's Chris Cuomo. "I'll guarantee you that whether it's a week from now, a month from now, two months from now, they'll get it up and they'll get it working. People will be signing up."
Likewise, in Washington state, the system is going gangbusters, with more than 35,000 people enrolled in the first three weeks of the program. Of those, about 31,000 qualify for the expanded Medicaid. In the first three weeks, "35,500 Washingtonians have enrolled in coverage through Healthplanfinder and nearly 70,000 additional residents have completed applications." That's the kind of success seen in Oregon, which its uninsured population by 10 percent in just the first two weeks of enrollments in the Medicaid expansion.
What do all these states have in common? Democratic governors who actually want everyone in their state to have access to health care.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/10/22/1249670/-Obamacare-off-to-great-start-in-Kentucky-Washington-nbsp-Oregon
Kentuckians are signing up in droves–at a rate of more than 1,000 people per day–in a state where more than half a million people have been uninsured.
150,000 Sign Ups Under New York Obamacare Exchange
Three weeks since the Affordable Care Act's Oct. 1 rollout, at least 150,000 people have successfully signed up for a health insurance plan using New York state's website, according to the Albany Times Union.
"In less than three weeks since the launch of NY State of Health, already nearly 150,000 NewYorkers have signed up for quality, low-cost health insurance," said Donna Frescatore, executive director of the state online marketplace, in an emailed statement. "Thousands of New Yorkers have not only registered, but actually enrolled in and purchased insurance coverage through the NY State of Health website, according to the state Health Department. Officials will not say how many, and have promised that number soon.”
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/150-000-sign-ups-under-new-york-obamacare-exchange
Thanks To Obamacare, Oregon Cut Its Unsinsured Population By 10 Percent Over The Past Two Weeks
Over the past two weeks, Oregon has signed up so many low-income residents for health coverage that the state has cut its uninsured population by 10 percent, according to state health officials. The majority of those people are newly eligible for public insurance plans thanks to Obamacare’s expansion of the Medicaid program.
The Oregon Health Plan — which is what the state calls its Medicaid-funded program for poor residents — has enrolled 56,000 new people this month. State officials credit those high numbers to a fast-track enrollment system that allows people to easily sign up. More than 250,000 food stamp recipients in the state received a notice informing them that they’ve become eligible for the Oregon Health Plan, and explaining that they can either make a phone call or fill out a form in order to complete the enrollment process.
“This is tremendous news for the thousands of Oregonians anxious to get access to quality, affordable health care,” Gov. John Kitzhaber (D) said in a statement. “We still have a ways to go, but in reducing our uninsured rate by 10 percent in just two weeks, we’re showing what’s possible when a state is committed to fundamentally changing the health care system to provide better access, better health and lower costs.”
October 1 marked the first day of enrollment for Obamacare’s state-level insurance exchanges, one of the central tenets of the health reform law. That date was also the beginning of the enrollment period for the people who will gain insurance coverage under newly-expanded Medicaid programs, the second mechanism that Obamacare uses to extend insurance to people who don’t currently have it... like other exchange websites across the country, Cover Oregon is currently experiencing some technical glitches. State officials say it will be working by the end of the month. Until then, they’re allowing Medicaid enrollees to bypass it with the fast-track system.
- more -
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/10/17/2801311/obamacare-oregon-medicaid/
A new Gallup poll was released this morning showing public support for the Affordable Care Act inching higher, from 41% in August to 45% now. In isolation, that’s a pretty modest shift in a single poll, and hardly worth getting excited about. But it’s not the only poll showing improved support for “Obamacare.”
This week, four national polls have been released – Gallup, CBS News, CNN, and ABC/Washington Post – and all four show the health care law more popular now than the last time the pollsters asked.
To be sure, you can look at the chart I put together and see that in each instance, support for the law is below 50%, so it’s obviously far too soon to characterize the Affordable Care Act as “popular.” It’s not.
But the shift in public attitudes comes as a bit of a surprise. The only major news related to the law in recent weeks has been considerable coverage of technical problems with the system’s website. I largely expected the polls to show declining favorability in light of all the negative press coverage.
And yet, there are four independent, national polls showing the exact opposite.
- more -
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/polls-show-growing-support-obamacare
Obamacare off to great start in Kentucky, Washington, Oregon
by Joan McCarter
Kentucky's Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear has great things to say about the launch of Obamacare in his state.
"We're signing up people at roughly a thousand a day. It's a great rate and a great success so far," he said on CNN's "New Day." <...>
Asked about Republican Sens. Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul, Kentucky's two senators and staunch opponents of Obamacare, the governor said critics of the law "are not paying attention to the facts" and they "weave a web of misinformation."
His piece of advice?
"Take a deep breath. You know, this system is going to work. The only thing that really isn't working right now on the federal level is the website," he told CNN's Chris Cuomo. "I'll guarantee you that whether it's a week from now, a month from now, two months from now, they'll get it up and they'll get it working. People will be signing up."
Likewise, in Washington state, the system is going gangbusters, with more than 35,000 people enrolled in the first three weeks of the program. Of those, about 31,000 qualify for the expanded Medicaid. In the first three weeks, "35,500 Washingtonians have enrolled in coverage through Healthplanfinder and nearly 70,000 additional residents have completed applications." That's the kind of success seen in Oregon, which its uninsured population by 10 percent in just the first two weeks of enrollments in the Medicaid expansion.
What do all these states have in common? Democratic governors who actually want everyone in their state to have access to health care.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/10/22/1249670/-Obamacare-off-to-great-start-in-Kentucky-Washington-nbsp-Oregon
Kentuckians are signing up in droves–at a rate of more than 1,000 people per day–in a state where more than half a million people have been uninsured.
150,000 Sign Ups Under New York Obamacare Exchange
Three weeks since the Affordable Care Act's Oct. 1 rollout, at least 150,000 people have successfully signed up for a health insurance plan using New York state's website, according to the Albany Times Union.
"In less than three weeks since the launch of NY State of Health, already nearly 150,000 NewYorkers have signed up for quality, low-cost health insurance," said Donna Frescatore, executive director of the state online marketplace, in an emailed statement. "Thousands of New Yorkers have not only registered, but actually enrolled in and purchased insurance coverage through the NY State of Health website, according to the state Health Department. Officials will not say how many, and have promised that number soon.”
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/150-000-sign-ups-under-new-york-obamacare-exchange
Thanks To Obamacare, Oregon Cut Its Unsinsured Population By 10 Percent Over The Past Two Weeks
Over the past two weeks, Oregon has signed up so many low-income residents for health coverage that the state has cut its uninsured population by 10 percent, according to state health officials. The majority of those people are newly eligible for public insurance plans thanks to Obamacare’s expansion of the Medicaid program.
The Oregon Health Plan — which is what the state calls its Medicaid-funded program for poor residents — has enrolled 56,000 new people this month. State officials credit those high numbers to a fast-track enrollment system that allows people to easily sign up. More than 250,000 food stamp recipients in the state received a notice informing them that they’ve become eligible for the Oregon Health Plan, and explaining that they can either make a phone call or fill out a form in order to complete the enrollment process.
“This is tremendous news for the thousands of Oregonians anxious to get access to quality, affordable health care,” Gov. John Kitzhaber (D) said in a statement. “We still have a ways to go, but in reducing our uninsured rate by 10 percent in just two weeks, we’re showing what’s possible when a state is committed to fundamentally changing the health care system to provide better access, better health and lower costs.”
October 1 marked the first day of enrollment for Obamacare’s state-level insurance exchanges, one of the central tenets of the health reform law. That date was also the beginning of the enrollment period for the people who will gain insurance coverage under newly-expanded Medicaid programs, the second mechanism that Obamacare uses to extend insurance to people who don’t currently have it... like other exchange websites across the country, Cover Oregon is currently experiencing some technical glitches. State officials say it will be working by the end of the month. Until then, they’re allowing Medicaid enrollees to bypass it with the fast-track system.
- more -
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/10/17/2801311/obamacare-oregon-medicaid/