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For the first time in a decade, the number of people struggling to pay their medical bills has started to decline, according to a new survey released on Thursday by the Commonwealth Fund. The researchers attributed the historic drop to the number of people gaining insurance under the health care reform law. Between 2012 and 2014 â as Obamacareâs main coverage expansion took effect â the Commonwealth researchers found that the number of people who had issues paying for health treatment dropped from 41 percent to 35 percent. Over the same time period, the people who skipped out on health services because they couldnât afford them declined from 43 percent to 36 percent
In a press release, the researchers described the declines as âremarkable.â This marks the first time since 2005, when Commonwealth started surveying people on these questions, that the number of Americans struggling to afford medical care hasnât increased. Commonwealthâs findings, which also documented a drop in the number of Americans going without insurance, track closely with other surveys that have reported declines in the uninsured rate under Obamacare. The number of Americans without health care was reduced by about 25 percent last year, which means that between eight million and eleven million people have gained coverage.
More here
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After rising for a decade, the number of Americans experiencing financial distress from their medical bills has started to decline, a new survey has found. The result provides new evidence that the Affordable Care Act, by providing uninsured people with health insurance, is also improving their financial security, a major goal of the law. The large telephone survey, from the New York-based health research group the Commonwealth Fund, has been asking people about their medical bills every few years for a decade. In each survey through 2012, a higher percentage of Americans said they struggled to pay their medical bills, were paying off medical debt or had been contacted by a collection agency.
The most recent installment of the survey, the first since the health lawâs major provisions kicked in, shows a reversal in that trend. The survey also found that fewer people were avoiding doctorsâ visits because of concerns about cost. But Commonwealth also found that, over all, even people who had insurance before 2014 were having fewer problems with medical bills than they were before. That change may reflect rules in the health law that require individual insurance plans to cover a minimum set of benefits for every customer.
More here
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⢠⢠â˘Kentuckyâs Department of Medicaid Services has also provided this map that shows how the uninsured rate has plummeted within each county since 2012, assuming that 75 percent of Kynect enrollees did not previously have insurance (as indicated in their Kynect application): While this drop is staggering through the state, it is most pronounced in the four eastern Kentucky counties of Harlan, Letcher, Leslie and Perry, who went from 17-20 percent uninsured to less than 5 percent. These four counties went from some of the highest uninsured rates to the lowest in the entire state. Thanks, Obama.
While rural hospitals in Kentucky still face unique challenges that must be addressed, including how well Medicaid managed care is able to meet the increased demand for providers, the rosy estimates given by Gov. Beshear last year on the effects of embracing the Affordable Care Act appear to be coming to fruition. The question still remains whether Kentuckyâs legislature will decide to continue these efforts next year, or whether a possible new Republican majority in the state House will decide to roll back the clock.
More here
Kentucky families will receive $6.2 million in refunds, an average of $43 per family, under a provision of the Affordable Care Act known as the 80/20 rule. The refunds announced Thursday by the federal government are the result of the rule requiring insurance companies to spend at least 80 percent of the money paid in premiums on patient care. If the companies don’t reach that amount with spending on bonuses or red tape, it must be refunded to their customers.
According to a news release from the federal Department of Health & Human Services, consumers nationwide will receive $330 million. Four Kentucky health insurance plans will refund money. Anthem Health Plans of Kentucky had by far the largest refund at $4.4 million. Humana Health Plan was at $766,295, Golden Rule Insurance Co., $342,336, and Time Insurance Co., $333,096.
More here
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Of George W. Bushâs myriad of failures that continue to wreck havoc at home and abroad, 7.9 million Americans losing their health insurance rarely gets mentioned. âWhen [former president Bill] Clinton left office, the number of uninsured Americans stood at 38.4 million,â Ron Brownstein wrote in 2009. âBy the time [former president George W.] Bush left office that number had grown to just over 46.3 million, an increase of nearly 8 million or 20.6 percent.â And as Bush left office, the percentage of those without insurance continued to grow as millions continued to lose their jobs in the recession President Obama inherited. But in 2011 the percentage of uninsured began to shrink slightly as the Affordable Care Act went into effect.
That shrinkage leveled out over the next two years but 2014 will likely offer the biggest reduction in the uninsured population at least in decades. The Incidental Economistâs Aaron Carroll â who hosts a great YouTube series called Healthcare Triage â looked at a new survey from Gallup and found that it suggests âabout 10-11 million Americans are newly insured this year. Almost 9 million of them received private insurance through the exchanges.â This means far more Americans have gained health insurance in the first six months of this year than lost it under George W. Bush. It also means that every prediction Republicans have made about this law has been wrong.
More here
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8:40: President Obama tours the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
9:45: PBO delivers remarks (WH Live, the Museum’s website and, maybe, CNN live streaming)
12:30: Jay Carney briefs the press
2:35: PBO presents the Commander-in-Chief Trophy to the Air Force Academy football team
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Washington Post: President Obama will issue an executive order Monday that will allow U.S. officials for the first time to impose sanctions against foreign nationals found to have used new technologies, from cellphone tracking to Internet monitoring, to help carry out grave human rights abuses.
Social media and cellphone technology have been widely credited with helping democracy advocates organize against autocratic governments and better expose rights violations, most notably over the past year and a half in the Middle East and North Africa.
….. Obamaâs executive order, which he will announce during a Monday speech at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, is an acknowledgment of those dangers and of the need to adapt American national security policy to a world being remade rapidly by technologyâŚ.
More here
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NYT: One Saturday last fall, President Obama interrupted a White House strategy meeting to raise an issue not on the agenda. He declared, aides recalled, that the administration needed to more aggressively use executive power to govern in the face of Congressional obstructionism.
âWe had been attempting to highlight the inability of Congress to do anything,â recalled William M. Daley, who was the White House chief of staff at the time. âThe president expressed frustration, saying we have got to scour everything and push the envelope in finding things we can do on our own.â
For Mr. Obama, that meeting was a turning point âŚ. increasingly in recent months, the administration has been seeking ways to act without Congress âŚ.. the White House has rolled out dozens of new policies â on creating jobs for veterans, preventing drug shortages, raising fuel economy standards, curbing domestic violence and more.
Aides say many more such moves are comingâŚ..
Full article here
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Washington Post: Mitt Romney’s contemptuous attitude toward the importance of public disclosure is increasingly troubling. Whether it involves the details of his personal finances or the identity of his big fundraisers, the presumptive Republican is setting a new, low bar for transparency – one that does not augur well for how the Romney White House would conduct itself if he were elected.
First is the matter of tax returns. Mr. Romneyâs campaign, belatedly and under pressure, released a single yearâs worth of tax information in January along with a summary for the 2011 return. Now, with a Friday afternoon release conveniently timed for minimum news coverage a week ago, it announced that the candidate had filed for an extensionâŚ.
âŚ. Then there is the mystery of Mr. Romneyâs bundlers⌠Bundlers play a crucial role for political candidates, collecting donations that can amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars to fuel campaigns. The candidates know full well to whom they are indebted. Perhaps Mr. Romney can explain why the public isnât entitled to the same information.
More here
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Paul Krugman: Just how stupid does Mitt Romney think we are? ….. the question was raised with particular force last week, when Mr. Romney tried to make a closed drywall factory in Ohio a symbol of the Obama administrationâs economic failure. It was a symbol, all right – but not in the way he intended.
âŚ.Mr. Romney somehow failed to mention: George W. Bush, not Barack Obama, was president when the factory in question was closed. Does the Romney campaign expect Americans to blame President Obama for his predecessorâs policy failure?
Yes, it does. Mr. Romney constantly talks about job losses under Mr. Obama. Yet all of the net job loss took place in the first few months of 2009, that is, before any of the new administrationâs policies had time to take effect. So the Ohio speech was a perfect illustration of the way the Romney campaign is banking on amnesia, on the hope that voters donât remember that Mr. Obama inherited an economy that was already in free fall.
âŚ. Mr. Romney wants you to forget that Mr. Obama has faced scorched-earth political opposition since his first day in office. Basically, the G.O.P. has blocked the administrationâs efforts to the maximum extent possible, then turned around and blamed the administration for not doing enough.
Full article here
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Howard Kurtz (Daily Beast): Forget liberal bias. A new study reveals that the press covered Romney twice as favorably as Obama during the primaries – and declared the GOP race over weeks ago.
During the bruising Republican primaries, there was one candidate whose coverage was more relentlessly negative than the rest. In fact, he did not enjoy a single week where positive treatment by the media outweighed the negative.
His name is Barack Obama.
That is among the findings of a study by the Project for Excellence in Journalism, a Washington nonprofit that examined 52 key newspaper, television, radio, and Web outlets.
More here
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Welcome back to shore, Yardarm!
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Morning everyone đ
Workers listen as Mitt Romney speaks during a campaign stop at Gregory Industries in Canton, Ohio, March 5
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Latino Fox News (!!!): âŚ. Latino voters favor President Barack Obama by six-to-one over any of the Republican presidential hopefuls, showed a Fox News Latino poll released Monday.
…… 73% of Latino voters approved of Obamaâs performance in office, with over half those questioned looking favorably upon his handling of the healthcare debate and the economy, at 66% and 58% respectively.
âŚ. the poll shows Mitt Romney with 35% of Latino voter support, to Ron Paul’s 13%, Newt Gingrich’s 12%, and fRick Santorum’s 9%.
âŚ.. In head-to-head match-ups none of the GOP candidates would garner more than 14% of the Latino vote come November…
“This is what we’re seeing across the country,” said Gabriela Domenzain, Obama campaign spokesperson. “The more Latinos learn about the candidates, the more they reject them.”
More here
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TPM: On a day when the number of companies fleeing from Rush Limbaugh has snowballed, the conservative talk radio personality’s program is being immediately discontinued by a Hawaii-based station. Chris Leonard, the President and General Manager of New West Broadcasting, announced today that Limbaugh’s program will no longer be broadcast on KPUA AM 670 in Hilo, HI.
More here
Thanks OZFan
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Sign the petition here
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Energy.gov: Energy Secretary Steven Chu today announced that four new corporate partners â Best Buy, Johnson Controls, Pacific Gas and Electric, and Veolia â are joining the Energy Departmentâs National Clean Fleets Partnership, a broad public-private partnership that assists the nationâs largest fleet operators in reducing the amount of gasoline and diesel they use nationwide. The new partners announced today join with 14 other major national companies in committing to improve the fuel economy of the commercial fleets, integrate alternative technology vehicles like natural gas trucks and electric vehicles into their fleets, and reduce their overall fuel use. Collectively, the National Clean Fleets Partners operate more than a million commercial vehicles nationwide, accounting for more than 12 percent of all commercial vehicles on American roads.
More here
Thanks Jovie
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The Hill: President Obama’s health law has eliminated lifetime coverage limits for 105 million Americans, the administration says in a new report released Monday.
The state-by-state report is part of the White House’s push to highlight popular provisions of the law ahead of its second anniversary later this month. Public opinion about the law remains split, but the administration hopes that its strategy will turn voters against Republicans’ plans to scrap the whole thing.
âŚ. According to the report, 59 percent of workers covered by their employers and 89 percent of people with individual market plans had lifetime limits on their coverage in 2009. That translates to 70 million people in large employer plans, 25 million people in small employer plans and 10 million people with individually purchased health insurance.
More here
More at WhiteHouse.gov
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CNN: Republican party leaders may be surprised by the results of a new poll of institutional investors: A majority of them want Washington to fix the deficit the Obama way, with both spending cuts and tax hikes.
“They tend to be as a population more fiscally conservative than the general public, but they’re not as fiscally conservative as the most conservative elements of the Republican party,” said Brent McGoldrick, who coordinated the poll. “You see the pragmatism of investors coming through here.”
In fact, on this issue at least, the 56% who favor a mixed approach are largely aligned with President Obama.
More here
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Steve Benen: A few months ago, Mitt Romney sat down with Fox News’ Bret Baier, who asked the former governor about his support for a health care mandate. Romney, visibly agitated, repeatedly denied ever advocating a national mandate policy.
When Baier reminded Romney, “Governor you did say on camera and other places that, at times, you thought it would be a model for the nation,” the Republican presidential hopeful got even angrier, snapping back, “You’re wrong, Bret.”
Actually, you’re right, Bret:
More here
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From White House press secretary Jay Carney: “In May, the United States looks forward to hosting the G-8 and NATO Summits. To facilitate a free-flowing discussion with our close G-8 partners, the President is inviting his fellow G-8 leaders to Camp David on May 18-19 for the G-8 Summit, which will address a broad range of economic, political and security issues.”
“The President will then welcome NATO allies and partners to his hometown of Chicago for the NATO Summit on May 20-21, which will be the premier opportunity this year for the President to continue his efforts to strengthen NATO in order to ensure that the Atlantic Alliance remains the most successful alliance in history, while charting the way forward in Afghanistan.”
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Thanks CTGirl
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Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will host the 2012 International Women of Courage Awards Ceremony with special guest First Lady Michelle Obama on Thursday, March 8. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Womenâs Issues Melanne Verveer and other U.S. and foreign dignitaries will also participate. Special guests this year include Ms. Leymah Gbowee and Ms. Tawakkol Karman, 2011 Nobel Peace Prize Laureates. The event will be held at approximately 11:00 a.m. in the Dean Acheson Auditorium of the U.S. Department of State.
More here
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Coming up:
Tuesday:
1:15: PBO holds a news conference
5:30: PBO attends a campaign event at The Jefferson Hotel in Washington
7:10: PBO meets with members of the Business Roundtable at the Newseum
Wednesday: PBO will travel to Daimler Trucks Manufacturing Plant in Mt. Holly, North Carolina, to deliver remarks on the economy
Thursday: PBO will host President John Evans Atta Mills of Ghana for a meeting in the Oval Office
Friday: PBO will travel to Prince George County, Virginia, to deliver remarks on the economy. Later, the President will travel to Houston, Texas to attend campaign events
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Secretary of Defense Leo Panetta, First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden at an event to announce a new report outlining opportunities and best practices for states to better support military spouses serving in professions with state licensure requirements at the Pentagon in Washington
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Nate Silver: The last time I considered Barack Obamaâs re-election chances in this magazine, in mid-November, things were looking pretty bleak for the president. The statistical model I used measured three key factors â a presidentâs approval rating, economic growth and the ideological orientation of his opponent â and taken together, they showed that Obama had become a slight underdog to win re-election.
Three months later, his position is much stronger……
Full article here
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PPP: Michigan is looking more and more like it won’t be in the swing state column this fall. PPP’s newest poll there finds Barack Obama leading the entire Republican field by double digits.
The biggest surprise in the numbers might be how badly Obama is beating Mitt Romney- he leads him by 16 points at 54-38. That’s a major departure from PPP’s previous 3 Michigan President polls, which found Obama ahead by only 4-7 points. Romney’s seen a major decline in his personal favorability in the state over the last 6 months from 39/43 to now 29/58. His numbers have dropped across the board but the most striking shift is with independents. He’s gone from a +14 spread with them at 48/34 to a -20 one at 32/52.
More here
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Link – thanks Rikyrah
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USA Today: President Obama has outraised the top Republican presidential fundraiser in two-thirds of the country, including battleground states such as Pennsylvania and North Carolina considered crucial to his re-election prospects, a USA TODAY analysis shows.
In 19 states, Obama collected more than his four major GOP rivals combined⌠Obama also has a fundraising edge over Romney in all but two of a dozen swing states – Florida and Michigan, where Romney was born and his father served as governor in the 1960s.
More here
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Today:
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Thursday: PBO will attend campaign events in Corona del Mar, California before traveling to San Francisco, California to attend campaign events. He will spend the night in San Francisco.
Friday: PBO will travel to the Seattle where he will continue to discuss his blueprint for an economy built to last. He will also attend campaign events in the Seattle area before returning to Washington, D.C. later in the evening.
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BMG: The next big prize in the GOP primaries is Michigan, one of Mitt Romneyâs five home states. Heâs released an ad showing him driving around in a fancy Chrysler while he talks about how much he loves Michigan, and allâŚ..
And hereâs the problem: that Chrysler that heâs driving is a 300 model, and the 300 is made in Canada…..
More here
Thanks Loriah
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President Barack Obama greets people as he arrives at Los Angeles International Airport
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Charles P. Pierce (Esquire): Why Does Everybody Hate Mitt? âŚ. I’ve cast my memory back as far as I can, and I cannot recall a major politician of either party who causes so many members of his party to spit (metaphorically, one hopes) at the simple mention of his name. And this is not a recent phenomenon. One of the few insights worthy of anyone’s time in that horrible Game Change book was the fact that, by the end of the 2008 presidential cycle, all of the other Republican candidates had come to despise Willard. (John McCain was apoplectic on the subject, even by McCain’s standards, which are considerable.) This now has seemed to transfer itself to the Republican electorate in general. Nobody likes this guyâŚ..
On the surface, this elemental loathing seems disproportionate, even if you take into account how much of the GOP’s Jesus-jammin’ base distrusts the extended coven into which Romney was born âŚ. Willard is something of a foof who spends all his time falling a few yards short of sincerity. He speaks a form of trust-fund English that can be off-putting. He is as utterly unprincipled as a politician can be, and he’s about as trustworthy as a puff adder⌠all Romney’s done is change his position on a whole host of issues, and talk like the guy who’s come to repossess the family farm…..
More here
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President Obama, flanked by European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, in the Roosevelt Room, Nov 28
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WH: Over the weekend, a report by the Associated Press detailed how the Affordable Care Act is dramatically reducing drug costs for seniors who hit the prescription drug coverage gap known as the donut hole. This year, seniors are benefiting from a 50 percent discount on brand-name drugs in the donut hole. And the discount and other provisions in the law are saving money for seniors. As the AP reported:
The average beneficiary who falls into the coverage gap would have spent $1,504 this year on prescriptions. But thanks to discounts and other provisions in President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul law, that cost fell to $901…
âŚ. Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, seniors will receive bigger discounts in the years ahead. By 2020, the donut hole will be closed completely.
And even if you donât hit the donut hole, thereâs still good news for beneficiaries with Medicare Part D. Prescription drug premiums will not rise next year, and thanks to health reform, seniors can get preventive services like mammograms and other cancer screenings for free.
More here
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Caught ya M4O!
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Jonathan Cohn (TNR): Republicans made a lot of arguments against the Affordable Care Act. But perhaps none were as effective, or as seemingly plausible, as their contention that their new law would cripple Medicare Advantage.
New evidence suggests – surprise! – that the argument was wrong.
âŚ. The policy rationale for Medicare Advantage is two-fold: To give seniors more options and to introduce some private-sector competition. The idea is that private insurers might be able to be more innovative or offer certain combinations of services that some seniors would prefer. But, for much of its history, the program (formerly known as Medicare-plus-choice) was also a form of corporate welfare. Non-partisan studies, by the likes of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, suggested that the government was paying the insurers too much.
The architects of the Affordable Care Act decided, quite sensibly, to reduce those extra subsidies and use the money to offset part of the lawâs cost. Thatâs when the Republicans, and their allies, pounced. Taking money away from the insurers, they claimed, would force insurers to charge more, limit their offerings, or pull out of the market altogether.
âŚ. new information, just released from the administration, suggests those predictions havenât come true.
On the contrary, the Department of Health and Human Services announced on Thursday that premiums for the plans are down and enrollment is up, well above the official projectionsâŚâŚ
More here
Thank you ‘africa’
Two Irish television channels will have live online coverage of the President and First Lady’s visit on Monday, RTE and TV3
Sometimes their live online stuff isn’t available for viewing outside Ireland, but that’s usually for major sports events – hopefully everyone willl be able to watch on Monday.
The President and First Lady are due to arrive in Dublin around 9:30 AM Irish time, which is 4:30 AM US Eastern time
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Irish Times: Plans are coming together for Monday afternoonâs big concert in honour of Barack Obama on College Green in Dublin. An early-evening start was originally envisaged, but the concert has been brought forward to mid-afternoon, and it is expected that the grand finale will take place at around 6pm.
President Obama is unlikely to attend the whole of the two-hour show, but he will join his hosts from the Government for the entertainment as soon as he gets back from the revels in Moneygall.
While the final line-up has yet to be finalised speculation is growing that Bono, U2 or both may make a surprise appearance. Bono is an admirer of Obama, saying in a recent Hot Press interview: âThere is nothing fake about this man.â
The band are currently on tour in North America, but their dates leave a window of opportunity: they play Denver tonight, then Salt Lake City on Tuesday. With the help of God and a private jet, anything is possible. đ
Meanwhile, we hear that Sharon Shannon, Mundy, The Coronas and Imelda May will be among those taking the stage.
A number of leading Irish actors will give readings, among them Brendan Gleeson and Gabriel Byrne. Top sporting figures, such as PĂĄdraig Harrington, Robbie Keane and Brian OâDriscoll, will also take part.
More here
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