COVID-19 & Healthcare

Improvements coming to healthcare.gov

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Proverb: “Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones”

GlassHousesYes, the healthcare.gov web site has had serious problems with its roll out, and criticism is both fair and warranted if it is meant to identify problems and to offer solutions on how to fix them.

But there are those who live in glass houses who are in no position to criticize. Case in point, the Arizona Daily Star which has the least user-friendly absolute worst piece-o'-crap web site I have to use, hands down. Who ever designed and manages the Star's piece-o'-crap web site should have been fired years ago. Can I get an Amen!

So the Star today, like so many other news organizations this week, assigned a reporter to open an account on healthcare.gov to see if they could complete the application. (Here's a thought: maybe if it wasn't for all these reporters signing on to healthcare.gov to do the same damn story, the system would not be so overloaded. Just sayin'.) Reporter among Tucsonans who find insurance sign-up problematic.

The Health-e-Arizona Plus web site is now live

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

For those of you who may be experiencing problems with the HealthCare.gov Health Insurance Marketplace (the web site has now been revised and updated), you have another option.

Remember, your application is first reviewed to determine whether you are Medicaid (AHCCCS) eligible. If you are, you will be enrolled in AHCCCS. If not, you may purchase insurance at the Health Insurance Marketplace. You can start the application process at the Health-e-Arizona Plus (HEAplus) web site.

The State of Arizona has been working to modernize its eligibility
system for Medicaid, SNAP and TANF to increase efficiency and provide a
better customer experience for Arizonans.

The Health-e-Arizona Plus web site is now live. On
January 1, 2014, changes to Medicaid eligibility will go into effect.
This is an exciting time; I hope you're as excited as I am about the
changes that are coming! Please take a moment to watch this short video (below the fold)
— the second in a series of messages about the changes to Medicaid and
our new Health-e-Arizona Plus program.

UPDATE: There is also a Quick Start Application Toolkit
here (.pdf).

Debunking the GOPropaganda ‘part-time’ lie

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

BullshitjThe key to GOPropaganda is the insidious "Big Lie" technique — keep repeating the lie over and over again until in the minds of low information voters the repetition of the lie becomes ingrained in their consciousness as a fact — "yeah, I remember hearing that somewhere."

One of the most prevalent GOPropaganda lies in recent years is the claim that the Affordable Care Act aka "ObamaCare" is making America a part-time employment country. There is not one GOPropagandist in the conservative media entertainment complex or GOP politician who has not repeated this claim.

Just this past Sunday, CNBC's Maria Bartiromo, a fluffer for Wall Street CEOs, was a guest on NBC's Meet the Press Gregory and claimed "As a result of Obamacare, we are becoming something of a part-time employment country." Of course, "Dancing Dave" did not challenge her to support her assertion.

But with the belated release of Labor Department statistics on Tuesday, there was a raft of reporting debunking the GOPropaganda "part-time" lie.

Jan Brewer has a kindred spirit in John Kasich

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Earlier this week, former FAUX News host anf Governor of Ohio, John Kasich, used a quirk in Ohio law to enact Medicaid expansion in his state, and to divide his party. Ohio will expand Medicaid after months-long battle between governor and legislature:

Ohio agreed Monday to offer Medicaid to about 300,000 more low-income
people, a major victory for Gov. John Kasich over fellow Republicans
who control the state legislature and oppose the expansion.
After nine months of battling with the state GOP’s conservative
wing, Kasich resorted to an uncommon maneuver in which he turned to a
relatively obscure state board with power over certain budget decisions.
The board voted to accept $2.55 billion in federal money to cover the
cost of expanding Medicaid in Ohio through July 2015.

The 5 to 2 vote by the Controlling Board, composed mainly of a small
group of lawmakers, is only a temporary answer to a question that has
been roiling politics in Ohio — and other states — for more than a year.
It does not spell out whether Ohio will provide money to keep Medicaid
more generous in future years, when the state would need to chip in a
small portion of the expense. And even before the board acted, some
conservative Republican lawmakers were threatening to go to court,
alleging the governor illegally bypassed the legislature.

Reaping the whirlwind: GOP pays the price for its governing-by-extortion strategy

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Two new polls out this week demonstrate that the Tea-Publican governing-by-extortion strategy of taking the country hostage and shutting down the federal government, coupled with threatening to default on the full faith and credit of the United States has been devastating to the GOP. Will they learn their lesson? Nah.

This new poll from CNN is devastating to the GOP.

While President Obama is under water on his approval rating at 44 percent to 52 percent disapprove, the approval of Congress remains in the ocean depths at 12 percent.

The CNN poll finds that Americans have more confidence in President Obama than the Republicans to deal with the major issues facing the country by
44-31. Among moderates, those numbers are 51-24; among indys they are
34-30; even 21 percent of Conservatives approve. Obama leads across all demographics by age, race, sex, education, income and region. Obama's lead among white (40-33) seniors (47-30), critical to the GOP in the midterm electorate, portends real trouble for the GOP.

Critically, the CNN poll finds that 54 percent of Americans think continued GOP control of the
House is bad for the country, including 59 percent of moderates and 53
percent of independents; even 32 percent of Conservatives say it is bad for the country. This negative view of the GOP holds across all demographics by age, race, sex, education, income and region. This negative view of the GOP among white (49-43) seniors (56-39) portends real trouble for the GOP. (Only the 65+ age group is evenly divided).

The CNN poll asked some granular questions about the Affordable Care Act aka "ObamaCare" that most polls do not. 41 percent approve and another 12 percent say ObamaCare is not liberal enough. Only 38 percent oppose ObamaCare as too liberal. By asking the granular questions rather than the error-prone approve or diapprove dichotomy that distorts results, the poll produced a more accurate result.

The TanMan, Weeper of the House John Boehner, finds no love in this poll. 63 percent of poll respondents want to see him replaced as Speaker.