World News Korner

Actually Obamacare is working very well. At least for those eligible for Medicaid.

Courtesy of The Washington Post:

The background here is that before the rollout of the Affordable Care Act there were a lot of people eligible for Medicaid who simply didn't know it. This "take-up rate" -- wonk-speak for the percentage of people eligible for the program who sign up for it -- varies widely from state to state, with some states as low as 36 percent and others as high as 81 percent.

The publicity around the new health-care law has led a lot of those people to inquire about whether they're eligible for health insurance -- and they're finding out that they are. The clearest example of this is in the red states that aren't participating in the law's Medicaid expansion: There, 91,000 people have tried to sign up for health insurance and learned, in the process, that they are already eligible for Medicaid coverage.

The effect is also present in the blue states. The Kaiser Family Foundation reports that of the 70,000 people who've enrolled in Medicaid in Washington State, 30,000 were eligible before the new law took effect -- they just didn't know it.

You know one has to imagine that with this population of individuals having so little difficulty accessing a program that meets their health care needs, that those who DON'T qualify for Medicaid might start really resenting how complicated the insurance companies make buying insurance and start demanding the option of single payer.

And it appears that President Obama may have helped to promote that idea with his speech on Thursday. This read from the Daily Kos:

The insurance companies are now upset. When they cancelled policies they did so with an up-sell of more expensive policies as opposed to encouraging folks to go to the Obamacare exchanges. In doing so they created a political firestorm instigated by Republicans. Now the insurance companies are complaining about the fix disrupting the insurance markets.

Purists believe the Obamacare fix is about to create a big mess. This is partly true. This mess is politically necessary to expose insurance companies and Republicans. It will illustrate realities versus perceived hypotheticals.

The insurance companies attempted to circumvent the Obamacare exchanges and got bit. Their threats of future higher premiums should be ignored. If they do not work towards assisting in getting a sustainable pool that can be insured at affordable rates, Americans will demand a public option which will likely evolve into a single payer.

The game is called chess Republicans.

You better learn it.

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