President Obama announces health law fix

[Scott]

Off-topic posts deleted along with replies.

[Dimpys Dad]

...

All the original projections for the previous socialist inventions, Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, have exploded and are now projected to be broke in the not too distant future.

...

That is incorrect. Especially regarding Social Security. Most certainly NOT going broke.

Ok, "going broke" is a matter of definition. From a mailing from the SSA itself, and I forget the exact year stated 2025 or thereabout, SS benefit outlays will exceed income from current funding streams. The narrowest definition of going broke means one cannot pay ones bills anymore. The USG will simply continue to raise taxes and print money in order to continue paying its bills so it will not, by the narrow definition, go broke. However, there will come a point where a real solution will be necessary and that will mean to reform the system. Meanwhile, tax and print, tax and print.

[Scott]

Off-topic post deleted. Please stay on topic.

[Dimpys Dad]

You're joking, right?

It's just STARTED!

The sharks are attacking from every angle. You can't know jack about the total eventual percentages and where they will fit in for SEVERAL months. Duh!

You are correct. This has just started. But in a year or so, let's see who says "duh" then. All indicators point to an unmitigated disaster, but let's wait and see.

Meanwhile, now that the government has been able to force its citizens to buy a product, it represents a loss of freedom for citizens and will result in more and bigger government. Obamacare by all accounts (except from its staunch supporters of course) will fail. We can only hope.

[thaibeachlovers]

You're joking, right?

It's just STARTED!

The sharks are attacking from every angle. You can't know jack about the total eventual percentages and where they will fit in for SEVERAL months. Duh!

You are correct. This has just started. But in a year or so, let's see who says "duh" then. All indicators point to an unmitigated disaster, but let's wait and see.

Meanwhile, now that the government has been able to force its citizens to buy a product, it represents a loss of freedom for citizens and will result in more and bigger government. Obamacare by all accounts (except from its staunch supporters of course) will fail. We can only hope.

The theory that I like is that Obamacare was designed to fail so that they can then bring in single payer, the only sane health care system in a world where medical costs are insane and growing continuously.

Having benefited from just such a system in the UK, I can say it is the best system currently available, provided the corruption can be stopped.

[Ulysses G.]

I want single payer too, but after the likely failure of Obamacare, I'm guessing that passing it will be impossible. I'm angry that the democrats did not pass it in the first place. They had the House, the Senate and the presidency and they stick us with this turkey.

[Jingthing]

I want single payer too, but after the likely failure of Obamacare, I'm guessing that passing it will be impossible. I'm angry that the democrats did not pass it in the first place. They had the House, the Senate and the presidency and they stick us with this turkey.

I'm sorry. That is totally disingenuous. Anyone with an elementary understanding of the political situation at the time knows full well that even with those majorities, single payer could NOT have passed then. You forget the power of the money lobbies tied to health care and the politicians owned by that, including many democrats. I'm angry too that the U.S. can't manage to do the right thing, but political facts are political facts. Obama COULD have started at that point and compromised down. Perhaps. But then he might have gotten nothing. I also think Obamacare is a turkey but that the pre-Obamacare status quo was plague carrying RAT.

[Scott]

Off-topic post and reply deleted.

[sustento]

Saw this in a paper I was reading today

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/29/opinion/krugman-obamacares-secret-success.html?ref=paulkrugman&_r=0

[Jingthing]

The website is fixed! We can all relax now and look forward to the transition from a horrible status quo to a somewhat less horrible but still very crappy new reality. Republicans, you're not going to repeal or replace it, especially so because you've got basically NOTHING in the works to replace it with. Improvements going forward? Bring them on!

[thaibeachlovers]

The website is fixed! We can all relax now and look forward to the transition from a horrible status quo to a somewhat less horrible but still very crappy new reality. Republicans, you're not going to repeal or replace it, especially so because you've got basically NOTHING in the works to replace it with. Improvements going forward? Bring them on!

You call a 50,000 at one time capacity "fixed", LOL. Imagine if google or amazon could only handle that!

And, it cost HOW MUCH ?

[thaibeachlovers]

I want single payer too, but after the likely failure of Obamacare, I'm guessing that passing it will be impossible. I'm angry that the democrats did not pass it in the first place. They had the House, the Senate and the presidency and they stick us with this turkey.

I'm sorry. That is totally disingenuous. Anyone with an elementary understanding of the political situation at the time knows full well that even with those majorities, single payer could NOT have passed then. You forget the power of the money lobbies tied to health care and the politicians owned by that, including many democrats. I'm angry too that the U.S. can't manage to do the right thing, but political facts are political facts. Obama COULD have started at that point and compromised down. Perhaps. But then he might have gotten nothing. I also think Obamacare is a turkey but that the pre-Obamacare status quo was plague carrying RAT.

Must be the first time I ever agreed with you!

[Publicus]

Trends are promising because it's clear Americans are keeping an open mind and going forward in respect to the ACA..

December's figures will be interesting as will the monthly enrollment data. Americans have to sign up by December 23 to get coverage starting January 1st.

The final signup date is the end of February so things by then should be more clear. But with the federal website online and operating, people in the many states with Republican Party governments actively engaged in deliberate and willful sabotage can now access the ACA.

Things are beginning to even out. The next step is to get ahead.

Obamacare Sign-Ups Exploded In November

About 100,000 people signed up for health insurance in November through HealthCare.gov, the plagued online federal health exchange, according to Bloomberg News' Julianna Goldman.

The number would mean about four times as many people enrolled through the federal exchanges in November when compared to October

The Obama administration announced a "tech surge" in late October as the problems piled up, and on Sunday it declared that it had met the goal of improving the website to the point where the "vast majority" of users can use the site without much trouble.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/obamacare-enrollment-numbers-november-2013-12#ixzz2mL1dPVVK

Obama Administration Declares That It Has 'Met The Goal' Of Improving The Obamacare Site

The Obama administration is out with a progress report on HealthCare.gov, the federal health care website that it pledged in late October would be fixed for the "vast majority" of users by Nov. 30.

The report declares that it has "met" that goal, two months after the disastrous launch of the website.

"While we strive to innovate and improve our outreach and systems for reaching consumers, we believe we have met the goal of having a system that will work smoothly for the vast majority of users," the progress report says.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/healthcaregov-progress-report-obamacare-website-2013-12#ixzz2mL3BIkR8

[Scott]

Off-topic posts and replies deleted.

[meechai]

On the subject of this new healthcare & expats.

I have read expats will not need to buy it only if you qualify as a true expat.

The article/blog I read said that meant filing your taxes using a foreign address.

Does anyone know if that is true? I only ask because I normally use a US PO Box

as my filing address. It is no problem to switch to my Thai address & will do so this year just in case.

But was wondering if anyone had any links to official exclusions from this as an expat?

[Publicus]

Monday the new ObamaCare website had 1 million hits and Tuesday it had 300,000 so HealthCare.gov clearly is newly capable of successfully receiving and serving a large number of visitors.

Although glitches in many respects continue to be identified, they are being addressed. Consequently, signups are double the previous day's high.

Prez Obama and his team will be out every day at a daily event during the leadup to the rescheduled initial deadline of December 23 for Americans to be eligible for coverage beginning January 1st.

The signup deadline is the end of March. The similar Massachusetts RomneyCare program initially got a tenuous and tepid response but as the deadline approached there was a rush of enrollees to the point that 98% of residents of the Bay State are covered.

The ACA law as written is not scheduled to be fully implemented until the end of 2018.

There's plenty of time for every consideration and adjustment to be made, despite the active sabotage of the law by the Republican Party governors in certain populous states such as Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, New Jersey, Indiana, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana among others where the state government has refused to set up its own website to assist all citizens of each of the states in establishing the program.

These Republican Party governors are the governors of the Republicans of their states only, ignoring the rest of the population of each state respectively. These governors are terrible public servants and aren't public servants at all - they are closed minded and cheap partisan political hacks.

However, before ObamaCare became law it had been declared dead numerous times by its Republican Party opponents, yet it did become law.

It's again being declared dead by Republicans who nonetheless have now clearly given up on their obsessive compulsive drive to repeal or stop ObamaCare. This touch of Republican Party realism is indicative of a new inkling and recognition that is long past its due among these reactionary elements of the society.

Forward.

[Publicus]

On the subject of this new healthcare & expats.

I have read expats will not need to buy it only if you qualify as a true expat.

The article/blog I read said that meant filing your taxes using a foreign address.

Does anyone know if that is true? I only ask because I normally use a US PO Box

as my filing address. It is no problem to switch to my Thai address & will do so this year just in case.

But was wondering if anyone had any links to official exclusions from this as an expat?

I dunno if this might help to answer your question, but it does speak to the point of what an expat is and how we are affected by ObamaCare.

The link is included so that you might look at the larger article in which an expert of expats and medical insurance discusses the ACA.

Let us know if it's helpful to you or whatever.

Most of the points in the link are found in IRS Publication 54, Tax Guide for US Citizens and Alien Residents Abroad, and also in respect to filing an IRS Form 2555 Foreign Income Exclusion, Exemption, Exception, which you're very likely familiar with already.

What determines the definition of a U.S. Expatriate?

An individual whose tax home is in a foreign country and who is:

A) A citizen of the United States and establishes to the satisfaction of the Secretary of the Treasury that the individual has been a bona fide resident of a foreign country or countries for an uninterrupted period that includes an entire taxable year, or

A citizen or resident of the United States who, during any period of 12 consecutive months, is present in a foreign country or countries during at least 330 full days.

Basically the Physical Presence test requires you to be physically present in a foreign country for 330 days in a 365 day period. So the example of someone who is in the U.S. for 3 months each year would not qualify.

http://www.banderasnews.com/1310/vl-how-obamacare-affects-american-expats.htm

[meechai]

http://www.banderasnews.com/1310/vl-how-obamacare-affects-american-expats.htm

Thanks yes I had read that & similar before.

I was mainly interested in meeting the IRS standards & had read....

That if you file your taxes using a US mailing address you are

not an expat & subject to buy this insurance regardless of how many or how few days

you spend in the US.

I think with the end of the year coming I will just use my Thai address

this year to be safe.

I guess not having to take part in this is another nice reason to be

here.

[thaibeachlovers]

Monday the new ObamaCare website had 1 million hits and Tuesday it had 300,000 so HealthCare.gov clearly is newly capable of successfully receiving and serving a large number of visitors.

Although glitches in many respects continue to be identified, they are being addressed. Consequently, signups are double the previous day's high.

Prez Obama and his team will be out every day at a daily event during the leadup to the rescheduled initial deadline of December 23 for Americans to be eligible for coverage beginning January 1st.

The signup deadline is the end of March. The similar Massachusetts RomneyCare program initially got a tenuous and tepid response but as the deadline approached there was a rush of enrollees to the point that 98% of residents of the Bay State are covered.

The ACA law as written is not scheduled to be fully implemented until the end of 2018.

There's plenty of time for every consideration and adjustment to be made, despite the active sabotage of the law by the Republican Party governors in certain populous states such as Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, New Jersey, Indiana, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana among others where the state government has refused to set up its own website to assist all citizens of each of the states in establishing the program.

These Republican Party governors are the governors of the Republicans of their states only, ignoring the rest of the population of each state respectively. These governors are terrible public servants and aren't public servants at all - they are closed minded and cheap partisan political hacks.

However, before ObamaCare became law it had been declared dead numerous times by its Republican Party opponents, yet it did become law.

It's again being declared dead by Republicans who nonetheless have now clearly given up on their obsessive compulsive drive to repeal or stop ObamaCare. This touch of Republican Party realism is indicative of a new inkling and recognition that is long past its due among these reactionary elements of the society.

Forward.

It's irrelevant as how many actually sign up when the system isn't sending the info to the insurance companies. Many are finding that although they have signed up on the website, they are not actually signed up with the company.

[Jingthing]

Another glitch that will be fixed in time. But it seems Fox news won't EVER stop their kvetching.

Sent from my GT-S5360B using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[thaibeachlovers]

Another glitch that will be fixed in time. But it seems Fox news won't EVER stop their kvetching.

Sent from my GT-S5360B using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

They've only got till Jan 1st. Is that enough time to sign up 7 million people?

[Jingthing]

March I think. Cheerleading for failure. Really sad.

Sent from my GT-S5360B using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[thaibeachlovers]

March I think. Cheerleading for failure. Really sad.

Sent from my GT-S5360B using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Not so. Cancelled policies expire end December.

[Publicus]

March I think. Cheerleading for failure. Really sad.

Sent from my GT-S5360B using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Not so. Cancelled policies expire end December.

The deadline to be eligible for coverage as of January 1st is December 23rd. It's for those who want or may need to get a new medical insurance policy effective January 1st, not for 7 million participants (or for 1 million or for, say, 20 million).

The ACA wants 7 or 8 million by the signup deadline in the law of March 31, 2014. Even then, the March 31st deadline date is not irrevocably final and it certainly is not Doomsday for those who would love to see it to be that.

It's written into the ACA that it will not be fully implemented until the end of 2018. So there's plenty of time for everything that needs to be done to get done.

Political hack Republican Party governors won't establish state websites for their populations and are actively obstructing and sabotaging the new ACA law, acting in a sinister league with Republicans in Washington.

However, the Republican Party has given up on its obsession of trying to repeal ObamaCare. The fact is most Americans have accepted ObamaCare, especially the reality of it, i.e., ObamaCare is the law and it's here to stay.

The insurance companies already have massive advertising campaigns ready to go and will launch them after January 1st providing the website holds up and the glitches are removed from the process of completing the forms to the insurers, both of which are expected to come to fruition.

Insurers have ready to go multimillion dollar ACA advertising campaigns which will spend up to $400 million to compete for ObamaCare subscribers, to include Aetna, Cigna, Humana, United Health Group, Blue Cross just to name a few.

Peace.

.

[Publicus]

It's refreshing to see that the tales based in the long train of possible horrors have subsided concerning ObamaCare and that the country is now focused on the realities of what ObamaCare does or doesn't do based in the reality it is a medical insurance program rooted in the private sector.

Urban legends and instant mythologies, the opposite of reality, that have been proliferated against ObamaCare are giving way to the central inquiries concerning what exactly and precisely ObamaCare is in respect to my health and medical insurance needs and preferences, each of us.

For instance, I'd been unsure how the ACA might impact me and my long standing medical insurance program. Now I know it does not impact me at all, that my long relationship with my medical insurer will continue because the insurer not only meets the standards of the ACA, it exceeds the standards, but without being anything remotely near a cadillac program.

Although I'm certainly in the company of a vast majority of others in this respect, I'm talking about myself and myself only

The two links below present, for anyone interested, some urban legends and instant mythologies against ObamaCare. The myths are corrected, the urban legends are shot down. The links together expose mythmaking and also discuss the nature of tall tale telling.

The psychology of such blown-up 'horrors' and mythmaking is well known, as indicated by the following quote from one of the two links:

It's a lack of information coupled with these fears that tends to give rise to new legends. When demand exceeds supply, people will fill in the gaps with their own information … they'll just make it up.

The ACA is undergoing changes, modifications, time extensions, as always has been the case when major new legislation comes online. There are glitches so the glitches are being addressed.

Republican Party sabotage continues however, both in Washington and among Republican governors and by certain state legislatures controlled by the Republican Party in certain populous states. Almost every Republican Party governor also has repugnantly deprived their general population access to the highly successful expanded Medicare provisions of the ACA.

Despite this spiteful opposition that adversely deprives citizens in these states, we can say mission accomplished concerning the ObamaCare website.

So presently and for the next several months, Americans will be finding out the facts and the realities of ObamaCare and will be making choices and decisions in respect to their real medical insurance needs and preferences.

Remember all those Obamacare horror stories?

Not looking so bad now

Inflammatory personal testimony has been a staple of bad debating since humans first started arguing with each other

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/dec/04/obamacare-horror-stories-debunked

Urban Legends: How They Start and Why They Persist

http://www.livescience.com/7107-urban-legends-start-persist.html

[Scott]

An off-topic, inflammatory post has been deleted

[chuckd]

I would further add that developments are positive, at least in states run by Democrats because the states have an ObamaCare insurance exchange where Americans can compare competing insurance company plans. Almost all Republican Party-run states have refused to set up their own exchanges for all their citizens in each respective state, leaving it instead to the only recently rehabilitated federal government’s Healthcare.gov website.

The campaign of the Republican Party in both Washington and in state capitals to try to sabotage ObamaCare is failing, increasingly so.

That number "44" keeps showing up.

There are a couple of defensive spins that have been used to blame the Republicans for the failure of the Democrat's law. Oregon would seem to disprove both of them.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Oregon signs up just 44 people for Obamacare despite spending $300 million

BY PHILIP KLEIN | DECEMBER 11, 2013 AT 9:04 AM

...from the article...

"One defense was that state-based exchanges were performing a lot better than the federal healthcare.gov website servicing 36 states. But Oregon's website problems have forced the state to rely on paper applications to sign up participants.

Another defense of the Obama administration has attributed the troubled rollout of Obamacare to the obstruction of Republican governors who wanted to see the law fail as well as a lack of funding.

But Oregon is a Democratic state that embraced Obamacare early and enthusiastically. Its outreach effort, which included a folk-style music video featuring a singer playing an acoustic guitar against a colorful and scenic backdrop, had been praised among the law's supporters."

http://washingtonexaminer.com/oregon-signs-up-just-44-people-for-obamacare-despite-spending-300-million/article/2540529

[Publicus]

I would further add that developments are positive, at least in states run by Democrats because the states have an ObamaCare insurance exchange where Americans can compare competing insurance company plans. Almost all Republican Party-run states have refused to set up their own exchanges for all their citizens in each respective state, leaving it instead to the only recently rehabilitated federal government’s Healthcare.gov website.

The campaign of the Republican Party in both Washington and in state capitals to try to sabotage ObamaCare is failing, increasingly so.

That number "44" keeps showing up.

There are a couple of defensive spins that have been used to blame the Republicans for the failure of the Democrat's law. Oregon would seem to disprove both of them.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Oregon signs up just 44 people for Obamacare despite spending $300 million

BY PHILIP KLEIN | DECEMBER 11, 2013 AT 9:04 AM

...from the article...

"One defense was that state-based exchanges were performing a lot better than the federal healthcare.gov website servicing 36 states. But Oregon's website problems have forced the state to rely on paper applications to sign up participants.

Another defense of the Obama administration has attributed the troubled rollout of Obamacare to the obstruction of Republican governors who wanted to see the law fail as well as a lack of funding.

But Oregon is a Democratic state that embraced Obamacare early and enthusiastically. Its outreach effort, which included a folk-style music video featuring a singer playing an acoustic guitar against a colorful and scenic backdrop, had been praised among the law's supporters."

http://washingtonexaminer.com/oregon-signs-up-just-44-people-for-obamacare-despite-spending-300-million/article/2540529

Oregon's Obamacare Website Hasn't Enrolled Anyone Because It Doesn't Work

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/20/oregon-obamacare-website_n_4308629.html

You completely missed that the Oregon's state ObamaCare exchange website also failed on the first day.

While the feds have greatly improved their website, Oregon has not. The Oregon state website is still crashed.

How else could it be that only 44 people have been processed in a state where the general population is enthusiastic in its support of ObamaCare?

Consequently everyone in Oregon who's interested has to fill out between 9 to 19 paper forms. The state has hired another 400 temporary employees to help it process the hard copy application forms.

You read a lousy news story linked above that didn't tell you that.

And Oregon has signed up 70,000 Americans to the expanded Medicaid program that citizens of states with Republican Party governments cannot enroll in because their Republican Party state governments refuse to accept the Medicaid expansion and its new money. Republican Party governors and politicians in Washington are in fact doing everything they can to try to sabotage and wreck the ACA. The public be damned.

Oregon state officials hope their online marketplace to ObamaCare can be up and running early next year, which still doesn't sound very promising. However, people in Oregon now have the federal website to access.

ObamaCare is here to stay. It's the law. As of this week 44 million Americans have started the process of shopping on the federal website exchange.

[chuckd]

I would further add that developments are positive, at least in states run by Democrats because the states have an ObamaCare insurance exchange where Americans can compare competing insurance company plans. Almost all Republican Party-run states have refused to set up their own exchanges for all their citizens in each respective state, leaving it instead to the only recently rehabilitated federal government’s Healthcare.gov website.

The campaign of the Republican Party in both Washington and in state capitals to try to sabotage ObamaCare is failing, increasingly so.

That number "44" keeps showing up.

There are a couple of defensive spins that have been used to blame the Republicans for the failure of the Democrat's law. Oregon would seem to disprove both of them.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Oregon signs up just 44 people for Obamacare despite spending $300 million

BY PHILIP KLEIN | DECEMBER 11, 2013 AT 9:04 AM

...from the article...

"One defense was that state-based exchanges were performing a lot better than the federal healthcare.gov website servicing 36 states. But Oregon's website problems have forced the state to rely on paper applications to sign up participants.

Another defense of the Obama administration has attributed the troubled rollout of Obamacare to the obstruction of Republican governors who wanted to see the law fail as well as a lack of funding.

But Oregon is a Democratic state that embraced Obamacare early and enthusiastically. Its outreach effort, which included a folk-style music video featuring a singer playing an acoustic guitar against a colorful and scenic backdrop, had been praised among the law's supporters."

http://washingtonexaminer.com/oregon-signs-up-just-44-people-for-obamacare-despite-spending-300-million/article/2540529

Oregon's Obamacare Website Hasn't Enrolled Anyone Because It Doesn't Work

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/20/oregon-obamacare-website_n_4308629.html

You completely missed that the Oregon's state ObamaCare exchange website also failed on the first day.

While the feds have greatly improved their website, Oregon has not. The Oregon state website is still crashed.

How else could it be that only 44 people have been processed in a state where the general population is enthusiastic in its support of ObamaCare?

Consequently everyone in Oregon who's interested has to fill out between 9 to 19 paper forms. The state has hired another 400 temporary employees to help it process the hard copy application forms.

You read a lousy news story linked above that didn't tell you that.

And Oregon has signed up 70,000 Americans to the expanded Medicaid program that citizens of states with Republican Party governments cannot enroll in because their Republican Party state governments refuse to accept the Medicaid expansion and its new money. Republican Party governors and politicians in Washington are in fact doing everything they can to try to sabotage and wreck the ACA. The public be damned.

Oregon state officials hope their online marketplace to ObamaCare can be up and running early next year, which still doesn't sound very promising. However, people in Oregon now have the federal website to access.

ObamaCare is here to stay. It's the law. As of this week 44 million Americans have started the process of shopping on the federal website exchange.

" As of this week 44 million Americans have started the process of shopping on the federal website exchange."

Nonsense!

How do you know it wasn't 4.4 million people that tried to sign up ten times each?

These are hits on the web site, not the number of individuals that are trying to sign up for Obamacare.

[Ulysses G.]

As of this week 44 million Americans have started the process of shopping on the federal website exchange.

It would be lot more impressive if they had actually paid for insurance.