President Barack Obama, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Robert McDonald, and Vice President Joe Biden welcome veterans participating in the Wounded Warrior Project’s Soldier Ride to the White House in celebration of the eighth annual Soldier Ride. The Wounded Warrior Project is a charitable organization offering programs, services and events for U.S. military veterans wounded in conflicts that have occurred in the wake of the September 11 attacks
President Barack Obama greets Army Major Bradley Zimmer
President Barack Obama greets Army Specialist Teresa-Anne Jackson
President Barack Obama greets guests after welcoming veterans participating in the Wounded Warrior Project’s Soldier Ride to the White House
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President Barack Obama signs the bill H.R. 2 Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015, the so-called Medicare ‘doc fix,’ in the Rose Garden at the White House
President Barack Obama reads papers at an outdoor table after signing the bill H.R. 2 Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015
President Barack Obama delivers remarks at a Champions of Change event at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, DC. Champions of Change highlights issues important to working families
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PeteSouza: President Obama takes the stage for the Working Families Champions for Change event in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.
President Barack Obama reaches back to acknowledge those on stage with him who have championed working families
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Patagonia CEO Rose Marcario reacts as President Barack Obama mentions her in his remarks
Satya Nadella CEO of Microsoft, shakes hands with President Barack Obama
Netsy Firestein reacts as President Barack Obama calls on her and mentions her work for paid family leave
That smile you give when you’re enjoying being President of the United States. Smile on, President Obama. You are awesome!
Get the facts – there’s now a permanent link in the sidebar on the right
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ThinkProgress: The Remarkable Slowdown In Health Care Costs Since The Passage Of Obamacare
A new survey of health care premiums for employer-sponsored health care coverage shows that health care inflation is slowing, further undermining critics’ predictions that costs would skyrocket in the aftermath of the Affordable Care Act.
…. Other reports have also uncovered a slowdown in cost increases. The number of double-digit rate increases requested by health insurers in the individual market has plummeted over the past four years and Medicare’s projected spending between 2010 and 2020 had dropped by over $500 billion. Under the new cost scenario, the entitlement program would, by 2085, make up 4 percent of the economy instead of the previously projected 7 percent.
Annual growth of medical spending has also slowed “from a high of about 8.8 percent in 2003 to an average of about 3 percent per capita from 2009 to 2011, according to data reported in January by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.”
USA Today: States predict more insurance customers
Estimates from 19 states operating health insurance exchanges to help the uninsured find coverage show that at least 8.5 million will use the exchanges to buy insurance. That would far outstrip the federal government’s estimate of 7 million new customers for all 50 states under the 2010 health care law….
…. “It’s not a positive development for the Republican opponents who would like to see this fail,” said Paul Ginsburg, president of the Center for Studying Health System Change…..
Jamelle Bouie: Anti-Obamacare Rage, Once a GOP Hit, Fizzles Despite Town Halls
Tea Party Republicans had a huge hit with their rage against Obamacare. It gave them control of the House of Representatives in 2010, fueled their anti-spending crusade in 2011, inspired the most vocal of the GOP presidential candidates, and elevated a host of right-wing politicians to the Senate, providing a national platform for the crusade against the so-called government takeover of health care.
Hits aren’t built to last, however, and after a while, this one began to fizzle … The magic has fizzled so much that some Republicans have begun to walk away from the project altogether, even as others work to turn Obamacare funding into cause for a government shutdown.
… Heritage can play as many of the old tunes as it likes. When October 1 comes, the Affordable Care Act will be there, ready to confer benefits, provide security, and begin the slow transformation of American health care.
TPM: Rick Perry In Talks To Accept Obamacare Funding For Elderly
Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R), an ardent opponent of the Affordable Care Act, is in talks with Obama administration officials to accept an estimated $100 million in care for the elderly and disabled through Obamacare….
Texas health officials are seeking to enroll in the so-called Community First Choice program available via the law’s Medicaid expansion. Perry officially declined to enroll his state in the program, saying in April that expanding the program for the poor would make Texas “hostage” to the federal government.
TPM: Only One in Four Young Adults Know About Obamacare Exchanges
Only one in four young American adults are aware of the online health insurance marketplaces that will open on Oct. 1 as part of the federal health care reform law, according to a report released Wednesday.
In a survey of adults ages 19 to 29 by the non-profit nonpartisan Commonwealth Fund, just 27 percent said they knew they would be able to purchase insurance on the marketplaces, also known as exchanges, starting Oct. 1.
The young adult population has been the focal point of the Obama administration’s campaign to promote the marketplaces. The White House has said that it wants to enroll 2.7 million people ages 18 to 35 in the exchanges by next year; 7 million people in total are expected to sign up for health coverage.
The new report underlines the challenge that the administration faces in reaching that population….
Michael Tomasky: Republicans Move to the Center? Nope, They’re Crazier Than Ever
If you thought the GOP would adopt more moderate positions after its 2012 debacle, you were wrong. From debate threats to defunding Obamacare and even more purges, Michael Tomasky on how the insanity’s only increasing.
If you’d asked me six months ago whether the Republican Party would manage to find a few ways to sidle back toward the center between now and 2016, I’d have said yes. But today, on the basis of evidence offered so far this year, I’d have to say a big fat no. With every passing month, the party contrives new ways to go crazier. There’s a lot of time between now and 2016, but it’s hard to watch recent events without concluding that the extreme part of the base is gaining more and more internal control.
Charles Pierce: …. my fellow Papists … if you all would be so kind, please shut the fk up about birth control, abortion, and this neverending madness about what ladies do with their lady parts without the pope’s permission.
….. please stop going on my television set and telling me what “the Catholic position” is on the fact that the president has told various Catholic institutions – and told them quite gently, too – that, yes, if they want all those nice juicy tax advantages, they must abide by the federal law and, in their capacities as employers, make contraceptives available to their employees under the new Affordable Care Act.
There is no “Catholic position” on this issue. There are the opinions of the clerical bureaucrats and the members of the Clan of The Red Beanie, and then there is the opinion of the overwhelming majority of Catholic laypeople, who stopped listening to anything the Vatican said on the matter of birth control back in 1965.
…. For that matter, there is no real “Catholic vote” out there to be mined, either. A breakdown of how American Catholics vote on one particular issue or another pretty much tracks with how the country in general breaks down … Catholics made up their mind on this issue long ago. They stopped listening to Rome, and to the Chancery, and most of them are much better off.
Kevin Drum: …. I guess I’m tired of religious groups operating secular enterprises (hospitals, schools), hiring people of multiple faiths, serving the general public, taking taxpayer dollars – and then claiming that deeply held religious beliefs should exempt them from public policy …. I imagine the “religious community” in the United States would be a wee bit more understanding if the Obama administration refused to condone the practice.
…. if Catholic hospitals don’t want to follow reasonable, 21st century secular rules, they need to make themselves into truly religious enterprises. In particular, they need to stop taking secular taxpayer money. As long as they do, though, they should follow the same rules as anyone else.
Josh Kraushaar (National Journal): If President Obama wins re-election, he’ll point to the last couple of weeks as a turning point. He’s sharpened his economic message, emphasized fairness for the middle class, and most importantly, he’s benefited from an economy that’s showing some signs of improvement.
But the most underplayed development are signs that the president’s approval rating is ticking upwards with the group most resistant to him, non-college educated, working-class whites. Over the last week, several surveys have suggested that Obama is gaining some ground with this group, in both national and statewide polling. If these gains stick, it’s something that should be very concerning to the Romney campaign, which is dependent on winning overwhelming support from blue-collar white voters as part of a winning GOP coalition.
…. As Buffalo Springfield once sang: “There’s something happening here. What it is ain’t exactly clear.” Pay very close attention to Obama’s numbers with the white working-class. The assumption was that they were hardened against the president. But there’s some fresh evidence that could be changing.
Bloomberg: President Barack Obama nominated Air Force Lieutenant General Janet Wolfenbarger to be the service’s first female four-star general and the military’s second woman to reach the highest rank.
Wolfenbarger, the Air Force’s top uniformed official for weapons development, was also nominated as commander of the Air Force’s Materiel Command, according to a Defense Department statement today. The positions are subject to Senate confirmation.
The first woman with four stars in the U.S. military, Army General Ann Dunwoody, was confirmed in 2008 and is commanding general of that service’s Materiel Command.
Obama Foodorama: Expect some hilarious Let’s Move! hijinks on Tuesday night when First Lady Michelle Obama cameos in a video segment on NBC talk show Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. The comic visited Mrs. Obama last week at the White House to film the outing, which will air as part of this week’s celebration of the second anniversary of the Let’s Move! campaign. Among other fitness activities, the First Lady had Fallon running up and down the historic White House stairs, he said when he announced the upcoming cameo…..
Since it is President Obama and First Lady Michelle’s anniversary I thought it would be good for them and for us to make our first action of the week be:
Contact the Whitehouse, show your support for the AJA, thank them for all they have done, and let them know what our friends and neighbors have been saying. So often our CALLS TO ACTION focus on complaints, I think it is good for our souls to also make time to offer appreciation and support.
You all know what brilliant work Linda has been doing at her What Is Working blog- she just left this message in the comments here:
Here is my CALL TO ACTION
1. Contact your elected officials and tell them you support the bill. Each day that goes by, it is easier to forget our focus, they expected calls Friday, they don’t expect them today. Tell Dems you expect their support, and tell Republicans it’s time to stop protecting the rich and help middle class families.
When you make a call or send an email, let us know here at the blog, just add it to the discussion so we can all be encouraged.
This will be a long fight, just like the election in 2012 is a long fight, we need to practice keeping our focus and doing the same things over and over.
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I’ve added a link (just click that pic of the phone!) in the right sidebar to Linda’s contact info for members of Congress at What Is Working – you’re a gem Linda 😉
“That’s enough to air it quite a bit in Wisconsin, and a sign that the Democratic base is pretty intensely engaged in the state fight,” Politico reported …. through gritted teeth.
Updated again –
Greg Sargent: National liberal money flows into Wisconsin fight: Yesterday I first reported on a new ad being aired by progressive groups featuring ordinary Wisconsites making the case against Scott Walker, and in the 24 hours since, the spot has now pulled in more than $200,000 in contributions to keep it on the air.
The influx of cash — which will enable the ad to run widely — is a measure of how high the stakes have become in Wisconsin for Dems and liberals around the country, and the degree to which they view the standoff as one chapter in a national war with implications that go well beyond the particulars of this one battle.
WH: Before and after the Affordable Care Act became law, many opponents of reform predicted that Medicare Advantage plans – a type of Medicare health plan offered by a private company that contracts with Medicare to provide benefits to seniors – would be severely damaged by health reform.
Today, the Washington Post (‘Medicare Advantage provision going smoothly’) looks at the reality and finds that the dire predictions were unfounded and Medicare Advantage is going strong. Under the headline “Medicare Advantage provision going smoothly” the Post reports:
“One of the most significant savings envisioned in the new health care law – limiting payments to the private health plans that cover 11 million older Americans under Medicare – is, so far, bringing little of the turbulence that the insurance industry and many Republicans predicted.”
“Whether the payment changes are warranted was a contentious subplot in the protracted debate over the legislation. Democrats argued successfully that the private plans were being overpaid and could withstand the changes. Republicans warned that such plans would raise prices, lower benefits or cause defections from the program, stranding the elderly people who rely on them.
“Early clues to the actual effects have now materialized, as elderly Americans may sign up for a health plan for 2011 during an enrollment period through the end of the year, and the warnings of swift, serious damage to the program are not borne out. Fewer health plans are available for the coming year, but the decrease is largely for reasons unrelated to the new law. Premiums have not jumped substantially, and benefits have not tended to erode.”
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)
The Obama Diary 
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