Daily Archives: 02/15/2015

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Enrollment Ends


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Open Enrollment For The Affordable Care Act Ends This Weekend With 10 Million Americans Insured

The Affordable Care Act’s second open enrollment period ends on February 15th and 10 million people have already signed up or been automatically re-enrolled in federal and state-run marketplaces since November. If you haven’t already done so, log on to HealthCare.gov this weekend to sign up for a plan or shop around to make sure your current plan is still the best fit for you. At least 2.4 million people have signed up through state run exchanges, and more than 7.75 million people have signed up in the 37 states that use the federally-facilitated exchange. Here are just a few highlights of the 2015 enrollment period so far:

  • Almost 9 in 10 qualify for tax credits. 87 percent of people, or close to 6.5 million, who have signed up for a 2015 plan through the federal marketplace qualify for an advance premium tax credit.
  • Tax credits reduce monthly premium costs by almost 75 percent. The average premium tax credit is $268 a month and on average covers 72 percent of an individual’s monthly premium.
  • Most people could pay less than $100 a month. Nearly 80 percent of people have the option of choosing a plan with a monthly premium of $100 or less. The average monthly premium for those enrolled in the federal marketplace is $105.
  • Tax credits will save individuals over $1 billion a month. The advance tax credits will reduce premium costs by over $1 billion a month.

Despite the fact that millions of Americans finally have access to quality, affordable health insurance, ideologically-motivated Republicans are working to take that away for political gain. A few weeks ago the House voted to repeal the law for the 56th time. And the Supreme Court case King v. Burwell, which we’ve written about before, threatens to strip the premium tax credits from the millions of Americans enrolled in the federally facilitated exchange, which would cause a ripple effect that could destroy the entire health care system.

A report by the Urban Institute breaks down the characteristics of the people most likely to lose access to health care if the Supreme Court rules against the law, and found that those most likely to lose their credits are white, single adults living in the South. It is important to note that while the Supreme Court case could make insurance unaffordable for millions, it currently has no effect on people’s ability to receive tax credits. So if you have yet to visit HealthCare.gov to enroll or renew a current plan, be sure to log before February 15th.

BOTTOM LINE: Millions of Americans have already taken advantage of open enrollment and reaped the benefits of the Affordable Care Act. Nevertheless, ideologically-driven conservatives continue to attempt to dismantle the law with no regard for the devastating consequences that would have on millions of

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An Earful ~~ The Affordable Care Act Benefits People


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Republicans Are Hearing How The Affordable Care Act Benefits People

As momentum continues to build up to the March 31 open enrollment deadline, Republican lawmakers continue to make every effort to dismantle the Affordable Care Act. The House GOP keeps saying they are going to present an alternative, but all they can agree on is repealing the law–which they have now voted to do over 50 times.

Here’s one of the many flaws with that strategy: the law is working. And what’s more, Republican elected officials and candidates for public office are hearing about it from their constituents. Here are a few recent examples:

  • Constituent Tells Rep. Paul Ryan About A Friend With Leukemia Whose Out-Of-Pocket Expenses Were Cut In Half. 64-year-old Michael Martincic criticized Ryan’s opposition to the law, telling the story of his friend with Leukemia who will save money thanks to the ACA and his own positive experience checking coverage options on the website. “It was so easy to get on the site; the whole thing took 15 minutes,” Martincic said. Michael and his wife are currently insured through his union, but they are thinking that they might switch to coverage under the ACA after he found out that they could save $500 a month through the exchange.
  • New Hampshire GOP State Rep. To Former Sen. Scott Brown: ACA Was A “Financial Lifesaver.” Scott Brown is now taking his anti-Obamacare campaign plan from 2010 in Massachusetts up to the Granite State, but times are different now that the law is in effect. Brown was in the middle of calling the ACA a “monstrosity” at the home of State Rep. Herb Richardson, when his host chimed in to say that it in fact had been a “financial lifesaver” for his family. Previously, Richardson had been injured on the job and forced to live off worker’s comp, paying $1,100 for health care through the federal COBRA law and no longer able to afford his home. Now he and his wife are covered for just $136 per month. “Thank God for Obamacare!” his wife said.
  • Health Advocate To Gov. Chris Christie: There Are “Almost 400,000…Who Qualify For Subsidies. We Need To Help Them Connect.” There are a huge number of people who are not aware that financial assistance is available through the ACA. At a town hall meeting Tuesday, health policy advocate Maura Collinsgru called out New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie for failing to help the hundreds of thousands of New Jerseyans eligible for subsidies to connect to the insurance exchange. According to the Star-Ledger, “Collisgru said insurers, hospital systems, advocates and even Christie’s own Medicaid director all agree they must connect people to coverage.” “We’re asking you to join that,” Collinsgru said.

BOTTOM LINE: People are standing up and telling Republican lawmakers their stories about how the Affordable Care Act is working. The question is will they listen or just keep on pursuing their repeal-at-all-costs agenda?

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What is Healthcare Reform … #ACA reminder


The President’s Proposal puts American families and small business owners in control of their own health care.

— It makes insurance more affordable by providing the largest middle class tax cut for health care in history, reducing premium costs for tens of millions of families and small business owners who are priced out of coverage today. This helps over 31 million Americans afford health care who do not get it today — and makes coverage more affordable for many more.— It sets up a new competitive health insurance market giving tens of millions of Americans the exact same insurance choices that members of Congress will have.

— It brings greater accountability to health care by laying out commonsense rules of the road to keep premiums down and prevent insurance industry abuses and denial of care.

— It will end discrimination against Americans with pre-existing conditions.

— It puts our budget and economy on a more stable path by reducing the deficit by $100 billion over the next ten years — and about $1 trillion over the second decade — by cutting government overspending and reining in waste, fraud and abuse.

It includes a targeted set of changes to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the Senate-passed health insurance reform bill. Key changes include:

— Closing the Medicare prescription drug “doughnut hole” coverage gap;— Strengthening the Senate bill‘s provisions that make insurance affordablefor individuals and families;— Strengthening the provisions to fight fraud, waste, and abuse in Medicare and Medicaid;— Increasing the threshold for the excise tax on the most expensive health plans from $23,000 for a family plan to $27,500 and starting it in 2018 for all plans;— Improving insurance protections for consumers and creating a new Health Insurance Rate Authority to provide federal assistance and oversight to states in conducting reviews of unreasonable rate increases and other unfair practices of insurance plans.

For more information, check out:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/health-care-meeting