COVID-19 & Healthcare

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The latest conservative media enrtainment complex "ObamaCare is a trainwreck" freak-out (see related story: AZ GOP National Committeeman Bruce Ash shows his racist side again, GOP Official: Obama ‘Shucking And Jiving’ On Health Care Law) is the temporary delay in the small business (SHOP) program online, and the temporary delay in the Spanish language program online. Geezus, people, hasn't everyone epxerienced glitches with Microsoft products over the years? Hello! Glitches hold up elements of health-care sign-up process:

Small-business health exchanges run by the federal government will not
open for online enrollment until November, the Obama administration said
Thursday. But applicants may still enroll by phone, mail or fax
beginning Oct. 1.

* * *

Instead of putting a live application online, the federal government
will post a PDF version Tuesday. Sometime in October, a live application
will go up on the Web, the administration said.

“In November,
small businesses will be able to enroll in coverage options, well ahead
of when coverage begins on Jan. 1,” Joanne Peters, a spokeswoman for the
Department of Health and Human Services, said. “The individual
marketplace will still open on time on Oct. 1 with full online
enrollment and plan shopping options.”

* * *

Also Thursday, White House spokesman Jay Carney said that the launch
of the HealthCare.gov Spanish-language Web site will be delayed until
later in October. There will still be Spanish speakers reachable by
phone on Oct. 1 to begin the enrollment process.

Carney said the
administration estimates that 70 percent of the Latino population will
enroll through English-language portals, suggesting the online delay
would not have a large effect.

So relax and chill out! I have been advised repeatedly that October 1 is a "soft opening," and the people running the program do not expect a rush of people signing up for insurance immediately. They expect people to visit the web site to learn more about it before enrolling at a later date.

Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Sen. Ted "Calgary" Cruz has taken quite a beating for his self-absorbed nihilisitc fake filibuster meant to relieve the rubes on the right of their dollars for his own self-aggrandizement. But I have a question: Does Cruz understand 'Green Eggs and Ham'?: During Sen. Ted Cruz’ marathon talk-a-thon, he dramatically read one … Read more

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Tucson Weekly — which is out with its annual "Best of Tucson" edition today, be sure to pick up a copy — has a Guest Commentary from Tucson Mayor Jonathan Rothschild explaining the Health Insurance Marketplace:

On Oct. 1, open enrollment begins for the Health Insurance
Marketplace, part of the Affordable Care Act, or ACA, also known as
Obamacare. Whether you were for or against this legislation, it's here,
it's the law of the land, and here's what you need to know.

Young adults were some of the first beneficiaries of the ACA, which
made it possible for them to stay on their parents' health plans until
age 26 regardless of whether they're in school or where they live.
Already, this provision has helped more than 3 million young adults get
coverage.

The ACA eliminated many barriers to becoming insured. You cannot be
discriminated against for pre-existing health conditions or gender. (The
ACA banned the common practice of charging women higher premiums than
men.)

The ACA eliminated other questionable practices, too, such as
lifetime or annual caps on coverage, or canceling coverage for making a
mistake on your insurance application. You cannot run out of coverage
because you've hit your dollar limit with a catastrophic illness or
injury, and you cannot have your coverage canceled—in some cases,
retroactively—because you filled out a form incorrectly.

These changes apply to all health insurance plans, whether you get
coverage through your employer, your parents or buy it yourself.

Plus, the ACA strengthened Medicare, which has already saved Arizonans nearly $123 million in prescription drug costs.

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

To paraphrase Shakespeare, Ted "Calgary" Cruz "struts and frets his hours upon the stage, And then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." – Macbeth Act 5, scene 5, 19–28. After 21 hours, Sen. Cruz ends anti-Obamacare speech.

Calgary accomplished nothing but his own self-aggrandizement among the GOP crazy base, and complicating matters for the GOP House leadership, whom he will set up to blame for his own hair-brained scheme.

The Tea Party Cruz-missile crashed and burned today, failing to stop the U.S. Senate from moving forward on a Continuing Resolution to keep the government open and funding "ObamaCare." Senate votes to proceed with spending bill:

The Senate moved Wednesday to take up a House-passed temporary
spending bill that defunds President Obama’s health-care law, despite
Sen. Ted Cruz’s more than 21-hour attempt to delay the legislation.

Shortly after 1 p.m., the funding bill passed its first
procedural hurdle in the Senate, which voted unanimously to invoke
cloture on a motion to proceed on the House’s continuing resolution. The
Senate now is scheduled to hold up to 30 hours of debate on the funding
bill.

[Update: The vote was 100 to 0. Calgary voted
for cloture after saying he'd vote against cloture and urging his
colleagues to do the same. What a fraud!]

* * *

The Senate then essentially choked off the first filibuster hurdle on
its own version of the funding bill, marking the first step toward
allowing Democrats to include funding for the health-care law that had
previously been stripped out by the House.

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Facebook message from Senator Steve Farley (D-LD9):

On October 1, the new healthcare exchanges will arrive. If you are currently buying your health insurance on the open market, or are a current HealthCare Group member, or would like to get insured but previously was not able to find an affordable plan due to your self-employed status or your employer not offering benefits, the exchanges will help you find a good plan at reasonable cost, and likely save you real money as it increases your peace of mind.

State Senator Steve Farley is convening a Tele-Town Hall [Wednesday night] for all of you to get your health insurance questions answered. His special guests will be Herb Schultz, the Region IX Director for the Federal Department of Health and Human Services, who will tell you all you need to know about how the exchanges work and how you can put them to work for you, and Jennifer Carusetta who works at AHCCCS and she is helping with the transition from HCG to the exchanges, so she can help HCG members and also give information on where Medicaid-eligible people fit in and what happens if their income bounces them out from time to time.