Quote:

 

http://dailycaller.com/2014/12/15/jonathan-gruber-confirmed-his-obama-contracts-in-this-email/print/

Jonathan Gruber Confirmed His Obama Contracts In This Email

[...]

Gruber received $297,600 from the Department of Health and Human Services in a contract awarded on June 19, 2009.

“The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE), intends to negotiate with Jonathan Gruber, Ph.D. on a sole sources basis for technical assistance in evaluating options for national healthcare reform,” stated a federal government database. “The anticipated contract period will be eight months.”

The contract was deemed a “continuation” of work Gruber was already providing to the department.

“ASPE requires a technical memorandum on the estimated changes in health insurance coverage and associated costs and impacts to the government under alternative specifications of health system reform,” according to the database. “The requirement includes developing estimates of various health reform proposals on health insurance coverage and cost. The alternative specifications to be considered will be derived from the President’s health reform proposal. This project is a continuation of work that Dr. Gruber is currently providing for ASPE.”

[...]

Quote:

 

http://kaiserhealthnews.org/news/nearly-2-5-million-consumers-have-selected-health-plans-on-federal-marketplace/
Nearly 2.5 Million Consumers Have Selected Health Plans On Federal Marketplace

....Just over half of those individuals who have selected plans since the health law’s second open enrollment season began are returning customers. Enrollment in the states running their own exchanges is not yet available.

...To avoid longer waiting times, nearly 500,000 people who called just hours before the Dec. 15 midnight PST deadline left their contact information. Website officials have begun to call them back, Slavitt said, and they will be able to enroll in coverage to begin Jan. 1 [another rule change mid-stream, this time national!]

...Separately Tuesday, America’s Health Insurance Plans said they would give consumers additional time to pay premiums due Jan. 1 and would provide prompt refunds if individuals were mistakenly billed for two health plans. [Afterall, the taxpayers are paying the largest share anyway!]

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http://www.politico.com/story/2014/12/obamacare-exchanges-2015-113606.html

2.5M enrolled in Obamacare in a month

...The federal website has been handling the increased traffic as the Obama administration works toward its scaled-back goal of having 9.1 million Americans covered in the exchanges by the end of next year

...The Department of Health and Human Services said Tuesday that about half of those signing up for coverage between Nov. 15 and Dec. 12 were new customers.

...Kay Statz, a health insurance broker in Ohio, said she worked until almost midnight on Monday dealing with enrollments. Clients came back to search for other options because the monthly premium for their existing plans was too expensive, she said. “They just couldn’t afford it anymore,” Statz said

...Those who left messages will be considered “in line” and will be allowed to complete their applications for coverage beginning Jan. 1, officials said on a call with reporters. They didn’t say how long the window would remain open.

Quote:

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/17/us/politics/federal-health-exchange-sees-enrollment-flurry.html

Federal Health Exchange Sees Enrollment Flurry

The Obama administration said Tuesday that nearly 2.5 million people had selected health insurance plans through the federal marketplace in the first four weeks of open enrollment this fall.

More than one million of those selections came in just one week, from Dec. 6 through last Friday.

“Millions of Americans want access to affordable quality health insurance, and they came to the marketplace to find it,” Sylvia Mathews Burwell, the secretary of health and human services, said in reporting enrollment activity under the Affordable Care Act.

Monday was the deadline for people to sign up for insurance taking effect on Jan. 1. Andrew M. Slavitt, the No. 2 official at the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said the new data did not include activity from Saturday through Monday, when the website for the federal exchange was exceptionally busy.

In those three days, Mr. Slavitt said, more than three million people used the site, HealthCare.gov, and the exchange received 1.6 million telephone calls.

“Our call center and our technology have done their jobs so far,” Mr. Slavitt said. For about 90 minutes on Monday, officials said, they deployed an online waiting room for visitors to HealthCare.gov, but most users were not affected.

The number of people selecting plans in the first month of open enrollment this fall already exceeds the number who chose plans in the federal exchange in the first three months of enrollment last year, when Kathleen Sebelius was health secretary and the website often crashed or froze.

The improved performance of the website may help the Obama administration fend off attacks on the health care law by Republicans in Congress, who won control of the Senate and expanded their House majority in elections last month.

[...]

Quote:

 

http://www.latimes.com/business/healthcare/la-fi-obamacare-covered-california-20141217-story.html

New Obamacare enrollments in California top 144,000

California's health insurance exchange said 144,178 people have newly enrolled in Obamacare coverage during the first month of sign ups..

During the initial rollout of the federal health law, 1.2 million people purchased a private health plan through the Covered California exchange.

State officials are trying to hold on to most of those existing policyholders during the renewal process now and add about 500,000 more to finish open enrollment Feb. 15 with 1.7 million consumers.

"The interest here in California remains strong," said Yolanda Richardson, chief deputy executive director at Covered California. "We look for the numbers to grow."

Richardson credited the state's increasing use of storefront locations run by certified insurance agents, clinics and other enrollment groups for boosting sign-ups.

She said there are more than 300 such locations statewide and consumers can find local help online.

Officials also reported that 216,423 people have joined Medi-Cal, the state's Medicaid program for low-income people, since Nov. 15. That's in addition to the 2.2 million who had already enrolled in 2014 as part of the health-law expansion.

Medi-Cal enrollment is open year-round.

This week, Covered California extended its deadline for Jan. 1 coverage and renewals to Sunday, Dec. 21. The cut-off had been Dec. 15.

Peter Lee, the exchange's executive director, said the state didn't grant the extension because of problems with online enrollment or long wait times -- which has been the case in the past.

Instead, he pointed to 157,000 people who have completed the application process but have yet to finish by picking out a health plan.
I'm not even sure why they set a date if they know they'll change it.

"The [information technology] systems are working great, but insurance is confusing," Lee said. "Many consumers signing up today are new to health insurance and we know they need help."

Another improvement this year is that many consumers are able to pay their first monthly premium online when using the state website.

Covered California and several of its participating health plans added that payment feature to alleviate earlier problems when people were left waiting weeks to get their first bill and confirmation of coverage.

Lee said that about half of the 144,000 new enrollees have already paid online.

Quote:

 

http://www.politico.com/story/2014/12/vermont-peter-shumlin-single-payer-health-care-113653.html

Vermont bails on single-payer health care

Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin on Wednesday dropped his plan to enact a single-payer health care system in his state — a plan that had won praise from liberals but never really got much past the framework stage.

“This is not the right time” for enacting single payer, Shumlin said in a statement, citing the big tax increases that would be required to pay for it.

[...]

The model called for businesses to take on a double-digit payroll tax, while individuals would face up to a 9.5 percent premium assessment. Big businesses, in particular, didn’t want to pay for Shumlin’s plan while maintaining their own employee health plans.

[...]

Quote:

 

http://www.democraticleader.gov/newsroom/pelosi-13-million-americans-health-security-at-risk/

Pelosi: 13 Million Americans’ Health Security at Risk in Baseless Lawsuit Over the Affordable Care Act

San Francisco – Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi today released the following statement on a new report from Energy and Commerce Committee Democrats revealing that 13 million could lose tax credits to help pay for insurance coverage should the Supreme Court rule against the Obama Administration in the politically-motivated lawsuit of King v Burwell.

• 
  
• “Today’s report verifies what American families already know: the Affordable Care Act is working and helping families afford the coverage they need and deserve. Yet, Republicans and other opponents of the law want to strip some 13 million Americans of the premium tax credits that keep their health coverage affordable.
  
  “It is very disappointing that some ACA opponents refuse to support Americans who simply want access to affordable health coverage. This lawsuit is part of increasingly desperate efforts to destroy the health security of millions of American families who owe their health coverage to the Affordable Care Act.
  
  “The continuing obsession with dismantling the Affordable Care Act threatens the health care of millions of students, workers, women and families. It is long past time for opponents of the law to cease their assault on the health security of the American people, withdraw their radical suits, and recover their common sense.
  
  “I am very confident that the Supreme Court will issue a ruling upholding the ACA and rejecting the baseless arguments of the challengers in this lawsuit.”

Quote:

 

http://democrats.energycommerce.house.gov/sites/default/files/documents/Fact-Sheet-District-By-District-King-vs-Burwell-Impacts-2014-December.pdf

December 2014
District-by-District Impact of a Potential Supreme Court Ruling Against Affordable Care Act Federal Exchange Tax Credits
Committee on Energy and Commerce
Minority Staff

On November 7, 2014, the Supreme Court announced that it would take up the case of King v. Burwell.1 The case involves a challenge to providing federal tax credits to consumers who receive Affordable Care Act (ACA) insurance coverage through the Federally Facilitated Exchanges. Oral arguments in this case are expected to be heard in March 2015 with a decision in the summer of 2015.

Experts have criticized the Supreme Court for addressing this case in the absence of a split in the lower courts.2 Some have even called the case against the ACA federal exchange credits “legally laughable.”3 But a ruling against the ACA would have significant consequences for millions of Americans. It would mean that the Affordable Care Act’s tax credits to help pay for health insurance coverage - which provide assistance to middle-class Americans with incomes from $23,850 to $95,400 for a family of four - would no longer be available in the states that have not set up their own health exchanges.

The Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that if the Supreme Court rules against the Administration, over 13 million Americans could lose tax credits to help pay for insurance coverage by 2016.4 These tax credits will be worth an average of over $4,800 annually.5 For the more than 13 million Americans that are expected to receive them, a total of approximately $65 billion in tax credits are at risk.

This analysis is based on zip-code level data on 2014 ACA plan selections.6 It also uses the Kaiser Family Foundation and CBO estimates of 2016 ACA enrollment by state and average ACA subsidies.7 Using this data, the analysis estimates the number of affected individuals and the total loss of tax credits in each congressional district in the states that will be affected if the Supreme Court rules against tax credits for Americans that purchase health coverage through the federally facilitated health insurance exchanges. The results of the analysis appear in the following table:

Footnotes:
1 Supreme Court To Hear Case on Health Law Subsidies, Wall Street Journal (Nov. 8, 2014) (online at online.wsj.com/articles/supreme-court-to-hear-case-on-health-law-subsidies-1415383458).

2 Linda Greenhouse, Law in the Raw, The New York Times (Nov. 12, 2014) (online at www.nytimes.com/2014/11/13/opinion/law-in-the-raw.html?_r=1).

3 The Conservative Ruling Against Obamacare is Legally Laughable, The New Republic (July 23, 2014) (online at www.newrepublic.com/article/118818/halbig-vs-burwell-obamacare-decision-makes-nolegal-sense).

4 How 13 Million Americans Could Lose Insurance Subsidies, Kaiser Family Foundation, (Nov. 19, 2014) (online at kff.org/health-reform/perspective/how-13-million-americans-could-lose-insurancesubsidies/).

5 Congressional Budget Office, Updated Estimates of the Effects of the Insurance Coverage Provisions of the Affordable Care Act, April 2014 (Apr. 2014) (online at www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/45231-ACA_Estimates.pdf).

6 Department of Health and Human Services, Plan Selections by Zip Code in the Health Insurance Marketplace (Sept. 2014) (online at www.aspe.hhs.gov/health/reports/2014/MarketPlaceEnrollment/EnrollmentByZip/rpt_EnrollmentByZip.c fm).

7 Map: How Many Americans Could Lose Subsidies If the Supreme Court Rules for the Plaintiffs in King vs. Burwell, Kaiser Family Foundation (Nov. 2014) (online at kff.org/interactive/king-v-burwell/);
Congressional Budget Office, Updated Estimates of the Effects of the Insurance Coverage Provisions of the Affordable Care Act, April 2014 (Apr. 2014) (online at www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/45231-ACA).

[...]
(the next 9 pages identify various amounts to be lost through tax credits SCOTUS could rule are not allowed by the law ....in the 28 States that did NOT establish an exchange)