COVID-19 & Healthcare

Posted by AzBlueMeanie: For all the rabid mad dogs foaming at the mouth with insanity, the Tea-Publicans are not going to stop "ObamaCare" from coming with a government shutdown at Midnight tonight. They have deluded themselves into believing their own insane rhetoric. The fact of the matter is, "ObamaCare" will continue even if Republicans force … Read more

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The editorial opinion in the Arizona Daily Star today is by Sarah Garrecht Gassen (not the editorial board), Obamacare is here, and that's a good thing:

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Democratic Governor of Kentucky (you read that right) Steve Beshear wrote an opinion for the New York Times on Friday well worth the read. My
State Needs Obamacare. Now.

SUNDAY morning news programs identify Kentucky as the red state with two
high-profile Republican senators who claim their rhetoric represents an
electorate that gave President Obama only about a third of its
presidential vote in 2012.

So why then is Kentucky — more quickly than almost any other state — moving to implement the Affordable Care Act?

Because there’s a huge disconnect between the rank partisanship of
national politics and the outlook of governors whose job it is to help
beleaguered families, strengthen work forces, attract companies and
create a balanced budget.

It’s no coincidence that numerous governors — not just Democrats like me
but also Republicans like Jan Brewer of Arizona, John Kasich of Ohio
and Rick Snyder of Michigan — see the Affordable Care Act not as a
referendum on President Obama but as a tool for historic change.

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

It is incriminating headlines such as this that demonstate the abject failure of the corporate media to inform and educate the public. This is a national disgrace. Three-quarters
of the uninsured don’t know when Obamacare starts:

So says the Kaiser Family Foundation in a poll conducted in mid-September, a few weeks before the Affordable Care Act's new marketplaces open for enrollment.

Twelve percent of the uninsured knew that the marketplaces would open on
Oct. 1, just three days from now. An additional 14 percent guessed that
it would start sometime in 2013 or 2014. The majority, though — and
this held true for the general population as well — just didn't know
when the programs kick in, or declined to guess.

Of course, Sarah Kliff, like all Beltway media villagers, blames the White House for not "hyping" the Affordable Care Act enough. Are you effin' kidding me? The Obama Administration has had a multimedia campaign in place for years. If the media has not received this information, it is because they chose not to receive it.

it is the corporate media, which chooses to report on conflict between Republicans and Democrats in Congress rather than providing factual information with which to inform and educate the public who are at fault. (It is amazing to me how the media can always absolve itself of any fault in any situation. There is no accountability.)

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.