Federal Health Market Surpasses 1 Million Signups

[ProSense]

Federal Health Market Surpasses 1 Million Signups

HONOLULU (AP) — A December surge propelled health care sign-ups through the government's rehabilitated website past the 1 million mark, the Obama administration said Sunday, reflecting new signs of life for the problem-plagued federal insurance exchange.

Of the more than 1.1 million people now enrolled, nearly 1 million signed up in December, with the majority coming in the week before a pre-Christmas deadline for coverage to start in January. Compare that to a paltry 27,000 in October —the website's first, error-prone month — or 137,000 in November.

The figures tell only part of the story. The administration has yet to provide a December update on the 14 states running their own exchanges. While California, New York, Washington, Kentucky and Connecticut have performed well, others are still struggling.

Still, the end-of-year surge suggests that with HealthCare.Gov now functioning better, the federal market may be starting to pull its weight. The windfall comes at a critical moment for Obama's sweeping health care law, which becomes "real" for many Americans on Jan. 1 when coverage through the exchanges and key patient protections kick in.

- more -

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/health-care-obamacare-million-signups

California alone should add another half million.

GOP ‘confronting a new reality’ on healthcare
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024235936

Georgia GOP operative calls Republican elected officials liars on Obamacare
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/12/22/1264681/-Georgia-GOP-calls-Republican-elected-officials-liars-on-Obamacare

Merry Christmas, and thanks to all Democrats who stood by and supported the health care law.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024227754

[ProSense]

1. Kick because

you can sense the GOP disappointment.

[Agony]

2. Lets hope

this works so that someday people can choose health care instead of health care coverage.

"The fledgling exchanges are still likely to fall short of the government's own targets for 2013. That's a cause for concern, because Obama needs millions of mostly younger, healthy Americans to sign up to keep costs low for everyone. The administration had projected more than 3.3 million overall would be enrolled through federal and state exchanges by the end of the year."

and maybe someday dental and vision care will be considered inseparable from health care.

Agony

[ProSense]

3. This

That's a cause for concern, because Obama needs millions of mostly younger, healthy Americans to sign up to keep costs low for everyone.

...is AP pushing a RW talking point. Young Americans are not financing the law.

Obama Admin: Half Of Young Americans Could Buy Insurance For $50 Or Less
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023939187

Not only are young people able to stay on their parents' plan until 26, but the law is designed to cover tens of millions of people via Medicaid and subsidies (http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024227754).

[ProSense]

4. As for this,

"and maybe someday dental and vision care will be considered inseparable from health care. "

...Medicaid covers dental, unlike Medicare. Tricare (http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022907590), likely the best single-payer model in this country, also doesn't provide dental.

The model would be a hybrid of Medicaid and Tricare.

Krugman on Medicaid.

I Have Seen The Future, And It Is Medicaid

<...>

Meanwhile, we have ample evidence that we do know how to control health costs. Every other advanced country does it better than we do — and Medicaid does it far better than private insurance, and better than Medicare too. It does it by being willing to say no, which lets it extract lower prices and refuse some low-payoff medical procedures.

Ah, but you say, Medicaid patients have trouble finding doctors who’ll take them. Yes, sometimes, although it’s a greatly exaggerated issue. Also, middle-class patients would surely be unhappy if transferred from the open-handedness of Medicare to the penny-pinching of Medicaid.

But the problems of access, such as they are, would largely go away if most of the health insurance system were run like Medicaid, since doctors wouldn’t have so many patients able and willing to pay more. And as for complaints about reduced choice, let’s think about this for a moment. First you say that our health cost problems are so severe that we must abandon any notion that Americans are entitled to necessary care, and go over to a voucher system that would leave many Americans out in the cold. Then, informed that we can actually control costs pretty well, while maintaining a universal guarantee, by slightly reducing choice and convenience, you declare this an unconscionable horror.

So, I’m not proposing that we turn the whole system into Medicaid any time soon. But what I take from the data is that if and when we feel the need to make tough choices — really, really make tough choices, not use the rhetoric of tough choices to justify what conservatives wanted to do in any case, namely privatize everything in sight — health cost control won’t turn out to be that hard after all.

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/09/21/i-have-seen-the-future-and-it-is-medicaid

Community health centers, which also provide dental care, are going to be a big factor going forward.

A Health Care Success Story

Sen. Bernie Sanders on Wednesday brought together leaders of community health centers from across Vermont where three new centers opening in January are part of a dramatic expansion of affordable primary care. A Sanders provision in the Affordable Care Act authorized $11 billion to build, expand, and operate community health centers throughout the United States. “This is a huge step forward,” said Sanders, chairman of a Senate subcommittee that oversees primary health care.

Sanders was joined at the news conference by representatives of the Battenkill Valley Health Center in Arlington, Vt., the Five Town Health Alliance in Bristol, Vt., and the Gifford Medical Center in Randolph, Vt. The Bennington, Addison and Orange county centers will become the newest in the state thanks to $2.4 million in federal funding released last month.

The eight current Federally Qualified Health Centers already provide primary and dental care along with mental health counseling and low-cost prescription drugs to more than 130,000 patients.

The three new centers will bring the total number of Vermonters served to about 163,000, more than one in four people in the state and one of the highest participation rates in the country. In addition, about 25,000 Vermonters now receive dental care at community health centers, a number which will also rise.

http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/recent-business/a-health-care-success-story

[Shandris]

7. Just as a note, Medicaids coverage of dental is only good for...

...$600 per year unless things changed within the last...four years (which is, of course, possible). When I was getting evaluated for dental work, it was enough to cover 1.5 teeth per year from the dentist I had.

And, wouldn't you know it, she botched all 2 of the 3 I had her work on (end of one year, beginning of another).

[ProSense]

8. It likely varies by state, and

"Just as a note, Medicaids coverage of dental is only good for...$600 per year unless things changed within the last...four years (which is, of course, possible). When I was getting evaluated for dental work, it was enough to cover 1.5 teeth per year from the dentist I had. "

...it's still coverage, albeit capped. The problem with dental care is that it's not a part of a comprehensive health plan available to all Americans.

Medicaid is the only system that includes dental.

[Shandris]

9. I wasn't aware Medicaid was the -only- one...

...but I'm pretty sure you're right about the state part. I agree about the coverage-albeit-capped; it -is- better than nothing.

At some point, someone on the national stage is going to point out the obvious -- that 'cosmetic' surgeries (and lets be real, a LOT of the so-called 'cosmetic' surgeries...aren't) are very important to the health and well-being of a person. One only need observe the myriad of studies that show preferential treatment to the more aesthetically pleasing (the -ultimate- privilege, bar none) to see how friggin' important those 'elective' surgeries really are, including dental. Not to mention that dental problems can literally kill a person -- how can you call that 'cosmetic'?!

Meh, there I go again. Sorry for the derail ProSense.

[ProSense]

10. The way

"Not to mention that dental problems can literally kill a person -- how can you call that 'cosmetic'?!"

...dental is offered and treated is atrocious.

"Meh, there I go again. Sorry for the derail ProSense."

Not a "derail" at all.

Thanks for your comments.

[Agony]

12. Yes

and Democrats need to jump on the issue of integral _lifelong_ dental care... one thing my republican friends and neighbors will emphatically agree with is that dental care should be considered health care.

this needs fixing...
"Dental coverage for children is an essential health benefit. This means it must be available to you as part of a health plan or as a free-standing plan. This is not the case for adults. Insurers don’t have to offer adult dental coverage." (from healthcare.gov)

We need our Democratic representatives to act more like Bernie.

[Lifelong Dem]

5. They still need to release the state numbers

[ProSense]

6. Yup, and it'll be interesting

to see if the state enrollments are still outpacing the federal. In any case, the number is likely to be above 2 million.

[ProSense]

11. ACASignups.net 2.0! Prv. Enrollments top 2M, Total tops 6M & More!

ACASignups.net 2.0! Prv. Enrollments top 2M, Total tops 6M & More!
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/12/29/1265876/-ACASignups-net-2-0-Prv-Enrollments-top-2M-Total-tops-6M-More

The Republicans are melting!!!