Pete Souza: 5-month old Vann Carroll grabs the President’s nose during a wounded warrior visit in the East Room today.
Archive for March, 2014
31
Mar
14
A Beautiful Day
People line up to enroll for health insurance at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas on Monday, March 31
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George W. Bush chose to rally the nation with war. Barack Obama chose to rally the nation with health care. Here endeth the lesson. #ACA
— Bill Harnsberger (@BillinPortland) March 31, 2014
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Shuxun Yu, right, 19, of Oakland, gets assistance filling out an application form during a health care enrollment event at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center Monday, March 31, in Oakland, Calif.
31
Mar
14
ObamaCare In Action
San Antonio, Texas
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Noam N. Levey: Obamacare Has Led To Health Coverage For Millions More People
As the law’s initial enrollment period closes, at least 9.5 million previously uninsured people have gained coverage. Some have done so through marketplaces created by the law, some through other private insurance and others through Medicaid, which has expanded under the law in about half the states. The tally draws from a review of state and federal enrollment reports, surveys and interviews with insurance executives and government officials nationwide. The millions of newly insured also create a politically important constituency that may complicate any future Republican repeal efforts. Precise figures on national health coverage will not be available for months. But available data indicate: • At least 6 million people have signed up for health coverage on the new marketplaces, about one-third of whom were previously uninsured.
A February survey by consulting firm McKinsey & Co. found 27% of new enrollees were previously uninsured, but newer survey data from the nonprofit Rand Corp. and reports from marketplace officials in several states suggest that share increased in March. • At least 4.5 million previously uninsured adults have signed up for state Medicaid programs, according to Rand’s unpublished survey data, which were shared with The Times. That tracks with estimates from Avalere Health, a consulting firm that is closely following the law’s implementation. • An additional 3 million young adults have gained coverage in recent years through a provision of the law that enables dependent children to remain on their parents’ health plans until they turn 26, according to national health insurance surveys from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
https://twitter.com/juanadotcom/status/448883611169992704
• About 9 million people have bought health plans directly from insurers, instead of using the marketplaces, Rand found. The vast majority of these people were previously insured. Rand has been polling 3,300 Americans monthly about their insurance choices since last fall. Researchers found that the share of adults ages 18 to 64 without health insurance has declined from 20.9% last fall to 16.6% as of March 22. The decrease parallels a similar drop recorded by Gallup, which found in its national polling that the uninsured rate among adults had declined from 18% in the final quarter of last year to 15.9% through the first two months of 2014. Gallup’s overall uninsured rate is lower than Rand’s because it includes seniors on Medicare.
More here
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McAllen, Texas
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Peggy O’Hare: Officials Ready For 1,000 At Alamodome Health Sign-Ups Monday
Organizers are bracing for as many as 1,000 people to show up at a daylong health insurance enrollment event at the Alamodome on Monday, the deadline to apply for 2014 coverage. Public interest in health plans on the federal marketplace has surged markedly, say local navigators and others assisting with enrollment. The last-minute rush has been apparent nationwide. More than 6 million Americans have signed up for private health plans through government-run marketplaces, meeting the target number established by the Congressional Budget Office.
Updated enrollment numbers for Texas and Bexar County were not available Thursday. But community groups are on track to meet the goal of enrolling 47,000 San Antonio residents by deadline, health officials said. Local offices said they’ve also seen a surge in public interest. “This week, it’s just kind of skyrocketed,” said Donna Teall, a health insurance marketplace navigator with the Alamo Area Council of Governments.The largest turnout is expected Monday. EnrollSA will have 150 workers and volunteers on hand to assist with the mass sign-ups at the Alamodome that day. That event, scheduled for 9 a.m. until 8 p.m., could draw 1,000 people seeking health coverage, said Andrea Guajardo, an EnrollSA official who helped plan the event.
More here
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Las Vegas, Nevada
31
Mar
14
A Tweet or Two #GetCovered
Be smart, #GetCovered Go to http://t.co/akkdpFzAFi Call 1-800-318-2596 Local help centers: https://t.co/UJj25PgqJ6 pic.twitter.com/o9gEWg1gc5
— TheObamaDiary.com (@TheObamaDiary) March 31, 2014
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One of the most comprehensive studies of Obamacare’s impact shows it covered about 9.5 million previously uninsured: http://t.co/Ve3koPJcMP
— Talking Points Memo (@TPM) March 31, 2014
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9.5m+ previously uninsured people now covered thanks to #Obamacare http://t.co/x5ZKyFPlDc Smart decision, America -> pic.twitter.com/FDkpJTXcjR
— TheObamaDiary.com (@TheObamaDiary) March 31, 2014
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There is nothing sexier than someone with health insurance. #GetCovered! Go to http://t.co/npcEHj9g8V now.
— Zach Braff (@zachbraff) March 31, 2014
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31
Mar
14
Rise and Shine
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The Week’s Schedule
Today: The President will attend meetings at the White House.
Tuesday: Welcomes the Boston Red Sox to the White House to honor the team and their 2013 World Series Championship.
Wednesday: Travels to Ann Arbor, Michigan for an event on his proposal to raise the national minimum wage. Following this event, he will travel to Chicago, Illinois to attend DNC events
Thursday: The President and First Lady will host members of the United States teams and delegations from the 2014 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games at the White House.
Friday: The President will host Prime Minister Mehdi Jomaa of Tunisia at the White House.
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ACA has spurred the largest expansion in health coverage in America in half a century – @latimes. http://t.co/BpcFNIpmKl #GetCoveredNow
— Doctors for America (@Drsforamerica) March 31, 2014
LA Times: 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.
President Obama’s healthcare law, despite a rocky rollout and determined opposition from critics, already has spurred the largest expansion in health coverage in America in half a century, national surveys and enrollment data show.
As the law’s initial enrollment period closes, at least 9.5 million previously uninsured people have gained coverage. Some have done so through marketplaces created by the law, some through other private insurance and others through Medicaid, which has expanded under the law in about half the states.
More here
New figures from RAND and others show that obamacare’s not a success–it’s a HUGE success: http://t.co/vtW9JeOLFJ
— Michael Hiltzik (@hiltzikm) March 31, 2014
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#ACASignups The Graph: http://t.co/5WBGUDixIS #Obamacare #ACA #ACASurge pic.twitter.com/pTILRX3cFh
— Charles Gaba (@charles_gaba) March 31, 2014
#ACASignups Final (for realsies!) exchange QHP projection: 6.9 – 7.0M http://t.co/2lKmdPtgvr #Obamacare #ACA #ACASurge
— Charles Gaba (@charles_gaba) March 31, 2014
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Huffington Post: Obamacare Success Story: Man With HIV Thought He’d Be ‘Dead Within 6 Months,’ Now Has Awesome, Cheaper Insurance
Dan is a gay man from Michigan who called my radio program on SiriusXM Progress on Oct. 23. He sounded frantic. He’d received one of the infamous cancellation letters from his insurance company, he said.
.”… I am going to be one of the people who are going to be screwed by Obamacare. And I really support the president….”
…. Last week Dan called back again … he just kept looking until he found his perfect policy on the Michigan exchange.
… Dan was paying $1,485 per month for his old plan with the $1,000 deductible. His new plan under Obamacare, which includes coverage not only for all his prescriptions but for dental and vision – which his old plan did not – is costing him over $500 less per month, at a total cost of $914, with the same deductible. That’s not to mention that he got it with the pre-existing condition of HIV…..”
.”… I want to say to all your listeners: I was terribly wrong,” he said. “Now I’m going to push myself as a huge Obamacare success story. I’m bragging it to everyone.”
Full post here
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Obama’s #MarchMadness bracket. Wins all the way. 7 Million and counting. #ObamaCare pic.twitter.com/EfjT16KWKL
— amk4obama (@amk4obama) March 31, 2014
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WH.gov: Photos: This is What an #ACASurge Looks Like
The line started forming at 5 a.m. in front of an enrollment center in Miami — where trained workers have signed up 25,000 of their fellow Floridians since November. It was standing-room-only at a center in Houston yesterday.
The final deadline to get covered in 2014 is in just two days, and Americans are literally lining up at grassroots events across the country to make sure they’re covered.
This is what momentum looks like.
Take a look at some of the photos folks are sending in from events around the country…
More here
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#TX: Timothy gets #VA health care & peace of mind of knowing his family is COVERED & will save over $6k in 2014! … pic.twitter.com/ZB8vK4Lmos
— ACA Success Stories (@ACASuccessStory) March 31, 2014
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Fact of the Day: Those signing up for ObamaCare have seen premiums 15% cheaper than CBO anticipated. #MessinaFactOfTheDay
— Jim Messina (@Messina2012) March 31, 2014
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Paul Krugman: The ACA Surge Blackout
… I’m somewhat amazed by what amounts to a de facto blackout by major news media on a developing story that’s really obvious if you read the invaluable Charles Gaba, or even the White House blog: a huge surge in Obamacare enrollments in the final days of the signup period….
…. where I think this does matter is that it shows a persistent slant in much reporting toward emphasizing the negatives about health reform. The website woes were, and deserved to be, a big story; the quite amazing comeback somehow doesn’t fit the preferred narrative….
Full post here
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Not just Conserv. MSM IMO: CNN’s Reliable Sources Highlights How Conservative Media Downplay Positive Obamacare News http://t.co/X98k0KPJ3L
— Donna NoShock (@NoShock) March 31, 2014
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Thousands of Americans died in Iraq, journalists had an orgasm. Millions of Americans getting health care, journalists haz a massive sad.
— BWD (@theonlyadult) March 31, 2014
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Ashwani Talk: The Final Countdown
…. Thanks to this law, I won’t have to worry.
Thanks to this law, 129 million can’t be denied coverage due to a preexisting condition.
Thanks to this law, 3 million young adults can stay on their parents’ plans until 26.
Thanks to this law, 6 million people are covered for the first time in their lives.
Thanks to this law, insurers must spent 80% of your premiums on actual care.
….[Today] is the deadline for open enrollment. There’s no reason not to sign up, or at least take the time to view all the options.
…. If you’re anything like me or my family, I can ensure you that it’s the right thing to do, and the best time to support it. Laws like this do not come around that often. But when they do, we all need to stand together.
Full post here
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Because of #obamacare cancer patients can’t be denied or dropped from health insurance #uniteblue #tcot #acaworks pic.twitter.com/dW7UF47I7H
— Christopher Zullo (@ChrisJZullo) March 30, 2014
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I wonder if @ezraklein plans on providing hold music while we wait for his thoughts on Obamacare hitting the enrollment target @theonlyadult
— José-y (@60th_Street) March 30, 2014
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Steve Benen: GOP struggles with Obamacare surge
As much of the country has probably heard, today marks the end of the open-enrollment period in the Affordable Care Act, and consumers who don’t get coverage are likely to face a tax penalty. ACA proponents have long predicted there’d be an 11th-hour surge in folks signing up, and right now, those predictions are holding up nicely.
…. Congressional Republicans, who are making no effort to hide the fact they’re rooting against the U.S. health care system, aren’t taking the news well.
… “I don’t think it means anything. … I think they’re cooking the books on this,” said Sen. John Barrasso on “Fox News Sunday.”
Even by GOP standards, this was a rather extraordinary moment. A member of the Senate Republican leadership – indeed, the chair of the Senate Republican Policy Committee – went on national television to accuse the White House of perpetrating a fraud based on nothing but his own hopes.
More here
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If I wrote a post of all the false predictions @SenJohnBarrasso made about Obamacare, it would be longer than this: http://t.co/IBqjfQwl4o
— igorvolsky (@igorvolsky) March 31, 2014
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Jonathan Cohn: That Good News on Obamacare? Republicans Insist It’s Not Real
Americans are signing up for the Affordable Care Act. And they appear to be doing so in really big numbers. As of the latest official update, last week, more than 6 million people had selected a private insurance plan through one of Obamacare’s new state marketplaces. But that was before a weekend of huge traffic to healthcare.gov and state-run websites, record call volume to telephone help centers, and queues outside outreach offices in California and even Texas. Charles Gaba, the Michigan-based analyst who runs the website ACASignups.net, now projects that 6.72 million people will sign up for private insurance by the time open enrollment ends.
… Republicans are challenging the statistics — primarily, by suggesting that most of the people getting insurance already had coverage. Some, like Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming, say the administration is “cooking the books.” Others, like Senator Ted Cruz, say that the number of people without insurance is actually rising.
Sorry, but that’s nonsense….
More here
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No copay preventive care for women – just another reason to visit http://t.co/RLNQnarsbp and say #ThanksObamacare pic.twitter.com/RwqXvtXzmb
— The Democrats (@TheDemocrats) March 30, 2014
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Lizelle’s Covered. You Can #GetCovered Too! Enroll TODAY http://t.co/dV4heUtrLL #ACA http://t.co/JOmIQvKj9P
— Dudette (@Dudette9t9) March 31, 2014
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Meanwhile:
senate report finds no evidence that torture lead to bin laden hunt. Can we waterboard motherfucker dick cheney now? http://t.co/t9z2VSNCy1
— amk4obama (@amk4obama) March 31, 2014
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ThinkProgress: This State Is Quietly Becoming One Of The Worst For Women’s Health (And No, It’s Not Texas)
Thanks to the high-profile battle over new abortion restrictions in Texas this past summer, the national media typically associates the Lone Star State with harsh abortion laws. The dire situation in Texas is certainly alarming for reproductive rights activists — but it’s hardly the only state where women’s access to abortion is under siege.
Ohio has recently dramatically tightened its restrictions on abortion, and the number of clinics in the state is dwindling. State lawmakers haven’t shown any signs of ceasing their politically-motivated attacks on reproductive health care. Yet unlike Texas, Ohio women’s fights haven’t garnered much widespread attention.
More here
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Still all teary:
Window washers at a childrens hospital, they deserve endless retweets pic.twitter.com/WOy0MlBFs6
— Earth Pics (@WowEarthPics) March 18, 2014
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Jim Stuart: The Obama Doctrine
Nancy LeTourneau was the first to frame what the President said in this big policy speech last Wednesday in Brussels, Belgium as an Obama Doctrine. I believe this framing is very appropriate…
…. In a nuclear age, military conflict between the great powers is unthinkable. So what happens when a great power wants to eat up its neighbor? Are we pretty much helpless? Until now, the answer was pretty much – Yes. Nobody could stop us from invading Iraq, and nobody did. Nobody could stop NATO from bombing Kosovo, and nobody did. So Putin says to himself, “Since the US won’t use military force, no one can stop us from invading the Crimea, and probably the Ukraine, and nobody will.” Until Obama did.
…. This may take a week, a month, a year, or more. But starting with Wednesday’s speech, we are watching our President lead us …. He is leading the world in establishing certain norms that say all of us have value; that we all deserve to be heard; and that the more powerful should not be allowed to run roughshod over us.
These are norms worth fighting for.
Full post here – follow Jim on Twitter here
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Still laughing:
Obama’s busted NCAA bracket will only embolden Putin into invading Estonia & Poland. He’s shown his fecklessness in choosing Michigan State
— Intergalactic Tyrant (@ArrogantDemon) March 31, 2014
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On This Day
Sen. Barack Obama hugs Jean Hockenbrocht as fellow workers look on during his visit to Wilbur Chocolate Company March 31, 2008 in Lititz, Pennsylvania
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President Obama walks with First Lady Michelle Obama as they depart the White House for a week long trip to Europe, in Washington on March 31, 2009
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First Lady Michelle Obama, White House Assistant Chef Sam Kass and students from Bancroft and Hollin Meadows elementary schools do a dance intended to help the rhubarb they just planted to grow in the White House Kitchen Garden on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington on March 31, 2010
Bo stands in the Rose Garden of the White House, March 31, 2010 (Photo by Chuck Kennedy)
President Obama greets an audience member prior to delivering remarks on energy security at Joint Base Andrews Naval Air Facility in Maryland on March 31, 2010
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President Obama smiles during the filming of a campaign video, March 31, 2011 (Photo by Christopher Dilts for Obama for America)
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First Lady Michelle Obama and her daughters, Sasha and Malia, tour the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Stratton before the ship’s commissioning ceremony in Alameda, Calif., March 31, 2012
First Lady Michelle Obama and her daughters Sasha tour the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Stratton
U.S. Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Robert J. Papp speaks during the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Stratton’s commissioning ceremony in Alameda, Calif., March 31, 2012. First Lady Michelle Obama is the official sponsor of the Stratton and is the first First Lady to sponsor a Coast Guard cutter.
First Lady Michelle Obama congratulates Melinda Cook, the grand niece of U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Dorothy Stratton, during the commissioning ceremony of the Cutter Stratton on Coast Guard Island in Alameda, Calif., March 31, 2012
First Lady Michelle Obama with Taylor Swift at Nickelodeon’s 25th Annual Kids’ Choice Awards, March 31, 2012
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MoooOOOooorning!
31
Mar
14
Early Bird Chat
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MoooOOOooorning Early Birds – Happy Monday!
Chat on, night owls!
Everyone loves a good deal. About 6 in 10 uninsured individuals could pay $100 or less per month for coverage, thanks to tax credits to help them buy a private health plan through the Marketplace or because they are now eligible for Medicaid. And nearly half of single young adults who are uninsured can get coverage for $50 or less in 2014. That could be less than your cell phone bill.
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The White House: 7 Reasons Why Vice President Biden Thinks You Should Get Covered By March 31
Get covered and take care of yourself so today’s injury — a bum ankle, a bad back, or a spider bite — doesn’t become a chronic condition that dogs you for the rest of your life. Signing up for health insurance today could save you from a lifetime of medical debt.
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Your folks probably told you that “you can be anything you want to be.” Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, you’re one step closer. You no longer have to hold back from pursuing a new or different job for fear of losing your health insurance plan. If you don’t get coverage through work, you can now sign up for quality, affordable coverage at HealthCare.gov that gives you the freedom to follow your dreams regardless of the work you do.
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There are three main ways you can sign up by March 31: 1) online at HealthCare.gov or Cuidadodesalud.gov; 2) on the phone at 1-800-318-2596, available 24/7 in 150 different languages; or 3) in person at locations like libraries and community health centers — visit LocalHelp.HealthCare.gov to find places near you.
After you enroll, spread the word to your friends.
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Vice President Biden’s got a reputation for always meaning what he says — especially about health care. But as the Vice President likes to point out, for 100 years — since Teddy Roosevelt was President — we’ve been trying to make health care more accessible and affordable in America. Well, we’re getting it done right now, and that’s a big deal. Now we’ve got to finish what we started.
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The Obama Diary 
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