except for those who are solely devoted to rooting for America to fail. I'll share these little references here. Feel free to spread them far and wide:
Good News!
"New York exceeds Obamacare enrollment expectations by 60 percent, premiums halved"
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/04/1 ... l=facebook
"Obamacare has led to health coverage for millions more people
At least 9.5 million previously uninsured people have gotten health insurance since Obamacare started, surveys and reports show."
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-oba ... z2ygi67chN
***
Good news:
"Gallup: The uninsured rate is lowest since 2008"
"In the U.S., the uninsured rate dipped to 15.6% in the first quarter of 2014, a 1.5-percentage-point decline from the fourth quarter of 2013. The uninsured rate is now at the lowest level recorded since late 2008.
The uninsured rate has been falling since the fourth quarter of 2013, after hitting an all-time high of 18.0% in the third quarter -- a sign that the Affordable Care Act, commonly referred to as "Obamacare," appears to be accomplishing its goal of increasing the percentage of Americans with health insurance coverage."
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/04/0 ... l=facebook
Chart: http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/i ... 1396880846
More good news: "...official Kentucky figures that the state-based Obamacare exchange signed up roughly 360,000 Kentuckians before the March 31 enrollment deadline. About 270,000 of them were previously uninsured, which stands to cut the state's uninsured population of 640,000 by 42 percent.
"Over a quarter million Kentuckians who did not have insurance now have health care under the Affordable Care Act." http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/r ... 40-percent
Good news: "Blue Cross Says '80-85' Percent Of Obamacare Enrollees Are Paying"
http://www.forbes.com/sites/brucejapsen ... re-paying/
Good news: BOOM: "Obamacare Hit 7.1 Million Sign-Ups On Deadline Day"
If you were to lay 7 million Americans end to end (average of five feet tall), they would stretch from New York to Los Angles and halfway back again. Try it and see.
"http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/3 ... 66687.html
Good news: "Major right wing leaning poll now shows Obama approval at nearly 50 percent"
"The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Monday shows that 49% of Likely U.S. Voters approve of President Obama's job performance."
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_ ... cking_poll
More good news: "American Youth Reject GOP Radical Conservatism, Shift to Support Democratic Party"
"America’s youth are running from the radical conservatism of the Republican Party and choosing to call themselves Democrats in greater numbers than ever before, according to the latest Gallup poll on the subject. Young adults — those between the ages of 18 and 29 — have typically aligned themselves with the Democratic Party, according to Gallup, “but they have become substantially more likely to do so since 2006.”
http://www.newamericanjournal.net/2014/ ... tic-party/
More good news: "Raw Data: By 2017, Obamacare Will Be Covering 36 Million People" http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2 ... ion-people
More good news, support for repeal has tanked to 18%: "Kaiser Family Foundation Poll: “...more of the public would like to see Congress keep the law in place and work to improve it (49 percent) or keep it as is (10 percent) rather than repeal it and replace it with a Republican-sponsored alternative (11 percent) or repeal it outright (18 percent).” http://wonkwire.rollcall.com/2014/03/26 ... care-stay/
And chart: https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/ ... 3271_n.jpg
More good news: "8.5 million new jobs under Obamacare"
http://comebackdecade.tumblr.com/post/7 ... -obamacare
More good news: "The right’s fantasy is shattered: Why Obamacare has already succeeded
Conservatives want you to believe that Obamacare is "beyond rescue" -- but the data tells a very different story"
http://www.salon.com/2014/01/24/the_rig ... succeeded/
More good news: "Republican Lie Dies as the Obama Economy Hits 48 Straight Months of Job Growth"
http://www.politicususa.com/2014/03/07/ ... -jobs.html
More good news! Unless you are a conservative rooting against the success of the nation: "Uninsured rate drops as ACA deadline approaches
A new poll from Gallup finds the percentage of Americans who lack health insurance dropped more than 1% in the last few months, falling from 17.1% to 15.9% since the fourth quarter of 2013."
http://www.msnbc.com/politicsnation/gal ... m_facebook
More good news: "Enrollment is Going Up and Costs are Going Down:
"CBO now projects much higher cost savings in both private and public health insurance than originally projected in its 2010 budget baseline. CBO’s latest projection of spending in 2020 for Medicare is now 15% lower than its 2010 estimate, and 16% lower for Medicaid spending. In the private market, new CBO projections of health insurance premiums per enrollee in 2020 are 9% lower than their 2010 estimates." http://chirblog.org/enrollment-is-going ... exchanges/
More good news! Unless you are a conservative rooting against the success of the nation:
New data show Obamacare's doing what's it was designed to do--bring affordable care to millions:
"Here's a rundown of the latest metrics on the Affordable Care Act.
-- The percentage of uninsured Americans is falling sharply, reaching 15.9% as of the end of February, according to Gallup. That's the lowest rate the survey firm has measured since 2008. The greatest gains in insured status were shown by people earning less than $36,000 -- a prime target for the act -- and black Americans. Hispanics still lag.
-- The cost of health insurance and medical care came sharply down in January, according to number-crunchers at Goldman Sachs and the Commerce Department. Goldman Sachs attributed the slide to cuts in the reimbursement formulas for Medicare services, which are written into the law. The ACA is effectively putting more money in people's pockets -- the Commerce Department estimated that the expansion of Medicaid benefits under the ACA amounted to $19.2 billion in January.
-- The grand total of Obamacare enrollees -- including insurance exchanges, Medicaid members, and young persons kept on their parents plans -- can be estimated as high as 13 million, according to independent statistician Charles Gaba, whose conclusions and methodology can be found here."
http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik ... z2vimxCizs
Good news!
Americans overwhelmingly support:
Universal background checks on all gun purchases
Extending unemployment benefits
Raising the minimum wage
Passing sensible immigration reform
Legalizing same-sex marriage
The reality of climate change
That income inequality is a real problem
ALL issues Republicans strongly oppose. Not only do they oppose these things, often times they support legislation which opposes these things.
And as far as Republicans being the party of “ideas,” please. If it’s not protecting tax cuts for the rich, opposing the closing of tax loopholes for big corporations, supporting subsidies for big oil or pandering to the far-right religious radicals – Republicans don’t have any ideas."
http://www.forwardprogressives.com/paul ... QYVrB.dpuf
Good news: "The Real Numbers On 'The Obamacare Effect' Are In-Now Let The Crow Eating Begin"
http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2 ... ing-begin/
"The results are guaranteed to both surprise and depress those who have built their narrative around the effort to destroy the Affordable Care Act."
Healthcare good news:
—71 million Americans on private insurance have gained coverage for at least one free preventive health care service such as a mammogram, birth control, or an immunization in 2011 and 2012. In the first 11 months of 2013 alone, an additional 25 million people with traditional Medicare have received at least one preventive service at no out-of-pocket cost.
—Up to 129 million Americans with pre-existing conditions—including up to 17 million children —will no longer have to worry about being denied health coverage or charged higher premiums because of their health status.
—Approximately 60 million Americans have gained expanded mental health and substance use disorder benefits and/or federal parity protections.
—41 million uninsured Americans will have new health insurance options through Medicaid
or private health plans in the Marketplace. Nearly 6 in 10 of these individuals could pay less than $100 per month for coverage.
—Consumers have saved $5 billion over the past two years due to a new requirement that insurance companies have to spend at least 80 percent of premium dollars on care for patients (at least 85 percent for large group insurers). If they don’t, they must send consumers a rebate. In 2013, 8.5 million enrollees will receive rebates averaging $100 per family.
—Insurance companies must submit premium increases of 10 percent or more for review by experts. In 2012, 6.8 million Americans saved an estimated $1.2 billion on health insurance premiums after their insurers cut back on planned increases as a result of this process.
—Since the health care law was enacted, more than 7 million seniors and people with disabilities have saved an average of $1,200 per person on prescription drugs as the health care law closes Medicare’s “donut hole.” —Over three million young adults have gained health insurance because they can now stay on their parents’ health plans until age 26.
—Individuals no longer have to worry about having their health benefits cut off after they reach a lifetime limit on benefits. Starting in January, 105 million Americans will no longer have to worry about annual limits, either. —Using funds available through the Affordable Care Act, health centers are expanding access to care by building new sites and renovating existing sites. Health centers served approximately 21 million patients in 2012."
http://www.nationalmemo.com/how-many-pe ... -millions/
"Obamacare Just Made Americans Richer Without Anyone Noticing"
Glenn Beck once said Obamacare would mean "the end of prosperity in America forever." But so far, it turns out President Obama's 2010 health law is actually putting money in Americans' wallets.
To be exact, President Obama's 2010 health law was responsible for about three-quarters of a surprising January rise in U.S. consumer spending and American income growth, according to calculations by the Wall Street Journal."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/0 ... mg00000063
"Health Care Spending Slows To Historically Low Rate
For the first time in more than a decade, health care spending grew more slowly than the U.S. economy from 2010 to 2012, according to a new report by government auditors.
Total U.S. health care spending was $2.79 trillion in 2012, up 3.7 percent from the previous year -- that amounts to 17.2 percent of the national economy, the Office of the Actuary at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services conclude in a report published by the journal Health Affairs. It's the first time since 1997 that health expenditures didn't outpace the gross domestic product.
The historic slowdown in the growth of health care spending since 2009 -- the lowest rate since the federal government began tracking the data in 1960 -- has sparked a debate about its causes. President Barack Obama partially credits elements of the Affordable Care Act,..."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/0 ... 49383.html
Healthcare good news: "93 percent of hospital executives think Obamacare will make health care better"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/won ... re-better/
"71 million Americans have gained access to free preventative services, such as cancer screening, birth control and flu shots."
https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/ ... 9522_n.jpg
"Five million kids with pre-existing conditions can now get coverage thanks to the Affodable Care Act."
https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/ ... 4188_n.jpg
"40 Ways Obama is working" http://www.barackobama.com/news/entry/4 ... s-working/
"Obamacare compels insurance companies to spend 80% of their income on medical services.
In 2012, this saved American consumers $3.9 billion."
https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/ ... 7318_n.jpg
"Five reasons Americans already love ObamaCare —
plus one reason why they’re gonna love it even more, soon"
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/09/ ... yre-gonna/
"Starting in 2014, insurance companies can't charge women more than men for the same coverage.
Today, most health plans must cover 22 preventative services for women, from prenatal care to flu shots, at no extra cost.
Over 8 million more women who now have insurance will get maternity care covered starting in 2014. Kids already can't be denied coverage because of a pre-existing health problem like asthma.
Over 2 million women with Medicare have already saved a total of $1.2 billion in prescription drug costs.
The Health Insurance Marketplace will provide more options for health coverage that meets the needs of women, including 18.6 million who are uninsured."
https://sphotos-a-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/hpho ... 7523_n.jpg
More tax cutting goodness from Obama's ACA: "Why Obamacare Is A Tax Cut For Millions Of Americans"
"...there is no massive tax hike: few people will ever pay the penalty, and those who do will pay less than the amount of the payroll tax increase that Republicans nearly allowed to occur.
In addition, according to a report from Families USA, 28.6 million Americans, most of them middle-class, will receive tax cuts under the bill due to entering health care exchanges and receiving affordability credits:
We found that an estimated 28.6 million Americans will be eligible for the tax credits in 2014, and that the total value of the tax credits that year will be $110.1 billion. The new tax credits will provide much-needed assistance to insured individuals and families who struggle harder each year to pay rising premiums, as well as to uninsured individuals and families who need help purchasing coverage that otherwise would be completely out of reach financially. Most of the families who will be eligible for the tax credits will be employed, many for small businesses, and will have incomes between two and four times poverty (between $44,100 and $88,200 for a family of four based on 2010 poverty guidelines)."
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/0 ... ass-taxes/
Good news: "If canceled, not even 1% will pay more for Obamacare: Study" http://www.cnbc.com/id/101218418
Safety-net hospitals reaping benefit of more insured patients
Harborview Medical Center and other safety-net hospitals in states that expanded Medicaid under
Obamacare have seen an increase in revenue as they serve fewer patients who are uninsured."
http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/ ... etxml.html
