ObamaCare: The Wonderful Gift That Keeps On Giving

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Jeffrey Young: Uninsured Rate Gets Lower And Lower, Thanks To Obamacare

The Affordable Care Act was designed to slash the percentage of Americans who lack health insurance, and it’s working. The uninsured rate fell to 11.9 percent during the first quarter of this year, 1 percentage point below the rate at the close of 2014, according to the findings of a Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index poll published Monday. The decline coincides with the start of benefits for new Obamacare enrollees at the beginning of 2015. The latest uninsured figure from the Gallup survey is the lowest since the polling firm began tracking the number in 2008, and contributes to a remarkable decline of 5.2 percentage points in the share of people without health coverage since the end of 2013, just before the first wave of Obamacare health insurance enrollees joined the ranks of the insured.

African-Americans, Hispanics and people with low incomes saw the greatest gains in insurance coverage, Gallup found. the pollsters conclude that Obamacare is mostly responsible for the current trend because the uninsured rate is lower than it was in early 2008, when the economy was in recession. About 12 million people are covered by private health insurance obtained via the exchanges, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. A separate analysis published by the department last month estimates that 16 million fewer Americans are uninsured because of the Obamacare coverage expansion, including the exchanges and Medicaid.

More here

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Since the ACA passed, the uninsured rate ↓ 52.5% in states that expanded Medicaid ↓ 30.6% in states that didn't http://t.co/Zcxa4K449C

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Dan Diamond (@ddiamond) April 16, 2015

The uninsured rate gets lower and lower, thanks to Obamacare huff.to/1NxNwen

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HuffPost Politics (@HuffPostPol) April 14, 2015

President Obama & Bill Nye Talk Earth Day in the Everglades

President Obama Delivers Remarks to Mark ODNI’s 10th Anniversary

2:40 EDT: President Obama Delivers Remarks to Mark ODNI’s 10th Anniversary

After All This, Has He Earned Nothing?

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“I take this personally.”

Those were President Barack Obama’s words yesterday at an Organizing for America meeting as he fought back against his critics over the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

The criticism from supposed “allies” like Elizabeth Warren, Allan Grayson, and the labor movement has increased in vitriol and volume.

“Show us the bill!”

“Why is it secret!?”

“This is NAFTA 2!!”

Everyone agrees that no one has seen anything of the deal aside from the summary. And, in perusing the summary, I don’t see anything which approaches an excuse for the Gotterdammerung levels of hysteria.

“It’s being negotiated in secret! It must be bad!”

Name me one treaty which has been negotiated live on C-SPAN.

“NAFTA was awful, so all trade pacts are awful!”

This is a very parochial view. Without growing trade, the economy won’t grow. And NAFTA provides lessons in how not to forge a trade pact, which Pres. Obama is following.

“There are no wage/labor/environmental protections!”

That’s just false. The summary shows this. You can only believe this if you, without evidence, assume the summary is false propaganda.

And that last point leads into the meat of the essay.

Rise and Shine

On This Day: First Lady Michelle Obama reacts while talking with people along a ropeline with President Obama at Love Field Airport in Dallas, Texas, April 24, 2013 (Photo by Pete Souza)

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Today

2:50 EDT: The President delivers remarks to mark ODNI’s 10th anniversary; Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Washington

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On This Day

President Obama and Vice President Biden practice their putting on the White House putting green April 24, 2009 (Photo by Pete Souza)

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President Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, and daughters Malia and Sasha attend Easter church service at Shiloh Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., Sunday, April 24, 2011 (Photo by Pete Souza)

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President Obama waits with 2012 National Teacher of the Year, Rebecca Mieliwocki, 7th-grade English teacher at Luther Burbank High School, Burbank, Calif., and Education Secretary Arne Duncan in the Green Room of the White House before the start of a ceremony to honor the 2012 National and State Teachers of the Year in the East Room, April 24, 2012 (Photo by Pete Souza)

First Lady Michelle Obama hugs a woman during a Girls Inc. luncheon at Century Link Center, in Omaha, Neb., April 24, 2012 (Photo by Sonya N. Hebert)

President Obama and Jimmy Fallon laugh while being briefed on the “Slow Jam the News” segment backstage before taping “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” at the University of North Carolina Memorial Hall in Chapel Hill, N.C., April 24, 2012 (Photo by Pete Souza)

President Obama waits to be announced during a taping of “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” at the University of North Carolina Memorial Hall in Chapel Hill, N.C., April 24, 2012 (Photo by Pete Souza)

President Obama talks with Jimmy Fallon during a taping of “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon”, April 24, 2012 (Photo by Pete Souza)

President Obama greets patrons at the Sink Restaurant & Bar in Boulder, Colo., April 24, 2012 (Photo by Pete Souza)

President Obama acknowledges applause following his remarks on student loan interest rates, at the University of Colorado Coors Event Center in Boulder, Colo., April 24, 2012 (Photo by Pete Souza)

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President Obama holds up a Bo golf club cover, a gift given to him by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Mrs. Akie Abe at Akasaka Palace in Tokyo, Japan, April 24, 2014 (Photo by Pete Souza)

President Obama applauds participants following an archery demonstration at the Meiji Shrine in Tokyo, Japan, April 24, 2014 (Photo by Pete Souza)

President Obama watches archers on horseback demonstrate their skills at the Meiji Shrine in Tokyo, Japan, April 24, 2104. Seated to the President’s left are: Chief Priest Seitaro Nakajima, Caroline Kennedy, U.S. Ambassador to Japan, and her husband Dr. Edwin Schlossberg (Photo by Chuck Kennedy)

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MoooOOOooorning!

Early Bird Chat

On This Day: President Obama stops to view the moon and Venus before boarding Marine One in Boulder, Colo., April 24, 2012. (Photo by Pete Souza)

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MoooOOOooorning!