President Obama Gives A Progress Report On ObamaCare

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Barack Obama, JD: United States Health Care Reform. Progress To Date And Next Steps

Importance The Affordable Care Act is the most important health care legislation enacted in the United States since the creation of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965. The law implemented comprehensive reforms designed to improve the accessibility, affordability, and quality of health care. Objectives To review the factors influencing the decision to pursue health reform, summarize evidence on the effects of the law to date, recommend actions that could improve the health care system, and identify general lessons for public policy from the Affordable Care Act. Evidence Analysis of publicly available data, data obtained from government agencies, and published research findings. The period examined extends from 1963 to early 2016. Findings The Affordable Care Act has made significant progress toward solving long-standing challenges facing the US health care system related to access, affordability, and quality of care. Since the Affordable Care Act became law, the uninsured rate has declined by 43%, from 16.0% in 2010 to 9.1% in 2015, primarily because of the law’s reforms. Research has documented accompanying improvements in access to care (for example, an estimated reduction in the share of nonelderly adults unable to afford care of 5.5 percentage points), financial security (for example, an estimated reduction in debts sent to collection of $600-$1000 per person gaining Medicaid coverage),

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and health (for example, an estimated reduction in the share of nonelderly adults reporting fair or poor health of 3.4 percentage points). The law has also begun the process of transforming health care payment systems, with an estimated 30% of traditional Medicare payments now flowing through alternative payment models like bundled payments or accountable care organizations. These and related reforms have contributed to a sustained period of slow growth in per-enrollee health care spending and improvements in health care quality. Despite this progress, major opportunities to improve the health care system remain. Conclusions and Relevance Policy makers should build on progress made by the Affordable Care Act by continuing to implement the Health Insurance Marketplaces and delivery system reform, increasing federal financial assistance for Marketplace enrollees, introducing a public plan option in areas lacking individual market competition, and taking actions to reduce prescription drug costs. Although partisanship and special interest opposition remain, experience with the Affordable Care Act demonstrates that positive change is achievable on some of the nation’s most complex challenges.

More here

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Good summary in the NYT

Breaking bipartisan taboo, Obama proposes fixes to health care law, including public option. https://t.co/EcGm0yCxYA pic.twitter.com/TqXEkxnjTn

— NYT Politics (@nytpolitics) July 11, 2016

https://twitter.com/the_sy_guy/status/752610209005264896

The President’s Day

President Barack Obama walks to Marine One after visiting Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland

 

ObamaCare: Making History Every Day

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Tara Culp-Ressler: Obamacare Has Reversed A Negative Trend. Researchers Call It ‘Remarkable’

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 — as Obamacare’s main coverage expansion took effect — 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 couldn’t afford them declined from 43 percent to 36 percent

In a press release, the researchers described the declines as “remarkable.” 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 hasn’t increased. Commonwealth’s 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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Thanks to #Obamacare, fewer people are facing financial distress because of medical bills. More from @nytimes: http://t.co/iy2s3t0Jna

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) January 16, 2015

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Margot Sanger-Katz: Signs of A Decline In Financial Distress Connected To Medical Bills

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 law’s major provisions kicked in, shows a reversal in that trend. The survey also found that fewer people were avoiding doctors’ 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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Obamacare has reversed a negative trend. Researchers call it 'remarkable' http://t.co/TU90lJ6GdV pic.twitter.com/YgFonAulJU

— ThinkProgress (@thinkprogress) January 15, 2015

Early Signs of Another Win for Obamacare http://t.co/WSGsafwv3L

— Nancy LeTourneau 🇺🇦 (@Smartypants60) January 15, 2015

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The New Health Care: Financial Distress Connected to Medical Bills Shows a Decline, the First in Years http://t.co/NWR8MMkuI5

— The New York Times (@nytimes) January 15, 2015

Of all the clicks you make today, this one is most important: http://t.co/w4R9uFoHnp #GetCovered pic.twitter.com/8VKcCuLyxb

— Obamacare (@Obamacare) January 15, 2015

The First Lady at the Children’s National Medical Center

First Lady Michelle Obama talks with a young patient during a visit to the Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, December 16. The First Lady read the book “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas” before greeting the children along with Santa Claus and presidential dogs Sunny and Bo

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Cherish the Children

First Lady Michelle Obama reads a Christmas story as her dog Bo sits on her lap and 5-year-old AJ Murray (L), and 5-year-old Jordyn Akyoko sit nearby at Children’s National Medical Center on December 14

Thank you JER

afternoon all

First Lady Michelle Obama participates in a pre-Easter celebration with military families and children at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, April 4

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President Obama signs the STOCK Act into law at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, April 4. The STOCK Act is a bipartisan bill that prevents members of Congress from trading stocks based on nonpublic information they gleaned on Capitol Hill

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The Week

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Liberal Librarian: Can we call it “fascism” now?

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The First Lady and Dr. Biden’s Joining Forces tour schedule:

Wednesday, April 11:

White House, 11:00 AM ET – Anniversary Celebration

First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden will honor the 20 finalists of the Joining Forces Community Challenge at the White House. The finalists will be joined by the Challenge’s notable judges, Tom Brokaw, who will deliver opening remarks, J.R. Martinez, San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro, USO President Sloan Gibson and Deanie Dempsey, wife of General Martin Dempsey.

University of Pennsylvania, 2:15 PM ET – Nurses Nationwide Join Forces to Support Veterans and Military Families

First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden will announce a major initiative by more than 150 of America’s leading nursing organizations and more than 450 nursing schools in 50 states and territories to ensure our nation’s nurses are prepared to help meet the unique health needs of service members, veterans, and their families.

New York City – The Colbert Report

First Lady Michelle Obama will appear on The Colbert Report to discuss her Joining Forces initiative.

Thursday, April 12:

Shreveport, Louisiana, 1:15 PM CT / 2:15 PM ET – Announcing Joining Forces’ 50,000th Hire

Last August, President Obama announced a series of policies to increase veterans’ employment and asked the First Lady and Dr. Biden to lead an effort through Joining Forces to challenge the private sector to hire or train 100,000 veterans and military spouses by the end of 2013. Well on track to exceed this goal, First Lady Michelle Obama will travel to Shreveport, Louisiana, to announce the 50,000th veteran or military spouse to have been hired by a company through the Joining Forces initiative. Mrs. Obama will visit the Kansas City Southern Railway Company, which has aggressively hired veterans in the last year because of the unique skill set that they bring to the job

Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Florida, 6:00 PM ET – Honoring Young Women from Military Families

First Lady Michelle Obama will invite young women from military families to a celebration honoring their service to our nation as members of a military family. Mrs. Obama will deliver remarks to the high school junior and senior girls and their parents and reveal surprise guests who she invited for this special occasion.

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More here

a christmas tale

Text of the First Lady’s remarks here

First lady Michelle Obama – and Bo – visits the Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, December 12

‘the reality of obamacare’ – an update from ross

You might remember an article posted here about 10 days, ‘Couple comes face to face with reality of ‘Obamacare’: After more than five weeks on a ventilator, Amy Ward is finally being weaned off it to breathe on her own. She no longer requires dialysis. But a near-fatal infection resulting from a freak accident has left her with a long road of rehab ahead.

In the time he’s spent at his wife’s bedside in a hospital critical care unit, her husband has been able to do a lot of thinking. Ross Daniels, on unpaid family medical leave from his IT job to tend to his wife, has had to face the real possibility that he would lose her, though she’s just 39….

… Daniels has also thought about what would have happened if portions of the new federal health care law had not been in place. His wife’s insurance had a million dollar lifetime cap on benefits. Her current expenses have already exceeded that. One medication costs $1,600 a dose. Without the protection against lifetime limits the new law provides, they would have had to declare bankruptcy.

…. by the time the next president is sworn in, enough people will have experienced the protections and benefits it offers that no elected official would risk his or her standing by rescinding it. That’s the value of first-hand experience, painful as it may be. It brings you closer to the truth than all the political platitudes in the world.

Full article here

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Ross very kindly left a comment under the original post (here), and he came back today with another message:

Thanks so much to all of you for your continued thoughts and prayers. They are are a great source of strength to both of us. Amy continues to get stronger every day and making great steps towards a full recovery.

I simply cannot believe the response that this article has received from so many people. It has helped restore my faith that, as Anne Frank said, people are generally good. This faith had been and continues to be shaken by the support the tea party continues to receive on this, and so many other issues.

What I hope people take away from this article though is not a sob story about what we have been through. Yes, it has been a living hell for me personally, but we are fortunate in that we have excellent insurance. We have the savings so that my leave is not an undue hardship and I will have a job to go back to when this is over. We are just the cautionary tale of”what could have been”. I hope people realize that this story applies to millions of people who are LESS fortunare than we are, as opposed to just about us.

Thanks again to all of you,

Ross

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Thank you Ross, wishing Amy a speedy return to full health, and wishing you both the happiest of futures. Thank you so much for sharing your story.

the reality of ‘obamacare’ (please send your best to ross in the comments)

President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and senior staff, react in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, as the House passes the health care reform bill, March 21, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Des Moines Register: After more than five weeks on a ventilator, Amy Ward is finally being weaned off it to breathe on her own. She no longer requires dialysis. But a near-fatal infection resulting from a freak accident has left her with a long road of rehab ahead.

In the time he’s spent at his wife’s bedside in a hospital critical care unit, her husband has been able to do a lot of thinking. Ross Daniels, on unpaid family medical leave from his IT job to tend to his wife, has had to face the real possibility that he would lose her, though she’s just 39….

… Daniels has also thought about what would have happened if portions of the new federal health care law had not been in place. His wife’s insurance had a million dollar lifetime cap on benefits. Her current expenses have already exceeded that. One medication – a potent antifungal agent – costs $1,600 a dose. Without the protection against lifetime limits the new law provides, they would have had to declare bankruptcy.

That law, derisively dubbed “Obamacare” by the president’s opponents, has been portrayed as the essence of evil among Republican presidential candidates. At a tea party-sponsored debate this week, front-runners Rick Perry and Mitt Romney vowed to sign executive orders exempting states from enforcing it. Michele Bachmann bragged of working for its repeal in Congress.

Those attitudes confound Daniels, who says, “It is hard for us to believe that so many of the GOP candidates would have us go back to a time where an illness like this would have forced us, or any other family for that matter, into bankruptcy.” He’s also grateful for the law’s protection against insurance companies denying coverage for pre-existing conditions.

…. by the time the next president is sworn in, enough people will have experienced the protections and benefits it offers that no elected official would risk his or her standing by rescinding it. That’s the value of first-hand experience, painful as it may be. It brings you closer to the truth than all the political platitudes in the world.

Full article here

Thank you JER, this is a brilliant article – make sure you read it all everyone, and spread it far and wide 😉

betrayal

Addicting Info: ….. On Thursday, the House passed a resolution which vows to “Never forget 9/11”. The resolution was introduced by Eric Cantor. There are some nice words in there. They ask us to remember the victims …. They also ask us to remember the war on terror and keep supporting the war on terror.

When I read about the resolution, I was outraged. For 10 years, politicians, especially Republican politicians, have held this country hostage. They have told us to live in fear of Muslims….

They use 9/11 to acquire and to hold power… They use 9/11 to propagate their neocon agenda…. They use 9/11 to distract us. While we’re worried about the brown person next door, they steal our livelihoods … They use 9/11 to pander to us…

In the meantime, first responders are getting sick from the toxins. Their medical bills are going unpaid. Some have died since, and their bodies are not counted with the first 3000. Their families, the same families Eric Cantor claims to honor, are being saddled with medical bills from their lost loved ones.

Just one day after passing Cantor’s resolution, he proposed massive cuts to first responders….

…. I have reached my boiling point when it comes to fear mongering, manipulation and empty lip service …. In our own way, each American is a victim of that day’s tragedy. All Americans have been held hostage for 10 years …. Anyone who truly believes that Cantor is helping the American people or the more direct victims of 9/11 is suffering from Stockholm syndrome.

Full post here

Thank you Ladyhawke