Obamacare

Is Obamacare “Now Beyond Rescue?”

/ Matthew Clemente / Leave a comment

That was the proposition being debated on the Intelligence Squared squared podcast.

Moderated by ABC News’ John Donvan, the debate featured Dr. Scott Gottlieb (Practicing Physician & Former Deputy Commissioner, FDA) and Megan McArdle (Writer and Columnist, Bloomberg View) who argued for the motion; and Jonathan Chait (Political Commentator and Columnist, New York Magazine) Dr. Douglas Kamerow (Family Physician & Former Assistant Surgeon General), who argued against the motion.

Here is description of the debate:

With the disastrous launch of the HealthCare.gov website, critics of the Affordable Care Act, or “Obamacare,” were given more fuel for the fire. Is this political hot potato’s inevitability once again at stake? And is the medical community really on board with the law, or resisting (rewriting?) it from the sidelines?

The Problem with Possibly Postponing the ACA’s Insurance Mandate

/ Matthew Clemente / Leave a comment

The Problem with Possibly Postponing the ACA’s Insurance Mandate

Yesterday, NPR’s Story of the Day podcast replayed a story from All Things Considered which discusses the problems created by the glitches in the governments Affordable Care Act (ACA) website. Some critics of the ACA are calling for a delay in the implementation of the insurance mandate.  If people cannot sign up for insurance with the government, how can the government penalize people for not having insurance?  As the story explains, the seemingly simple fix of delaying the insurance mandate is complicated. 

Here is are excerpts from the story: 

One of the big questions now circulating concerns what will happen if the website can’t be fixed soon. Will the government really penalize people for not having insurance if they can’t realistically buy it?

Technically, people are supposed to have coverage starting Jan. 1, 2014. But there’s a 90-day grace period, meaning you actually have until the end of March, which is also when the current open enrollment period ends. . . .

Even the administration says it wants to fix this. At a briefing Monday, White House spokesman Jay Carney said, “In terms of the Feb. 15 date that you just mentioned, there’s no question that there’s a disconnect between open enrollment and the individual responsibility time frames in the first year only. And those are going to be addressed.”

And if that mismatch does get changed, it would give people an additional month and a half to sign up without risking a penalty — and without extending the existing open enrollment date.

But what about the possibility of extending the enrollment period, which even some Democratsare now calling for if the website isn’t fixed soon? Or of waiving the penalty for the first year?

That’s where you start to run into big issues with the insurance companies that are offering these products in the exchanges. They set their premiums based on the rules as they’re written — that healthy young people would be strongly encouraged to sign up by the prospect of a penalty, and that they would be encouraged to sign up within this six-month window.

Fareed’s Take: Gridlock and Polarization in Washington

/ Matthew Clemente / Leave a comment

Fareed’s Take: Gridlock and Polarization in Washington

On the most recent episode of Fareed Zakaria GPS, Fareed devoted much of his show to the current state of political polarization and gridlock in the Nation’s capital. He began with his “take” on the problem.  He then discussed the topic with a panel comprised of Vanessa Williamson (Harvard PhD student and author of  The Tea Party and the Remaking of Republican Conservatism) , Norm Ornstein (of the conservative think tank the American Enterprise Institute) and Jeffrey Toobin (legal columnist for the New Yorker). 

Here is a link to  Williamson’s commentary on the Tea Party.

Toobin’s take on Republican radicalism and the effects of the primary system can be found here.

Sunday Funday: Obamacare vs. The Affordable Care Act

/ Matthew Clemente / Leave a comment

Jimmy Kimmel Live: Obamacare vs. The Affordable Care Act

In an effort to bring some levity to the blog, Sundays will feature  “Sunday Funday” posts, posts about the lighter side of public policy debates.  This week, we have the viral video from Jimmy Kimmel Live where people on the street are asked which they prefer: Obamacare or The Affordable Care Act.

Here is a description of the video from CBS:

As someone who covers entertainment and viral videos all day long, I am not going to pretend that I totally understand Obamacare, but I kind of hoped that the general public knew more than me (since I choose to stay out of politics as a rule), but this clip from Monday’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” demonstrates that we really don’t know what we’re talking about when it comes to this healthcare initiative. Watch the segment titled “Six of One” above, posted on Kimmel’s YouTube page, and be prepared to be disturbed.

This clip seemed particularly timely in the midst of all this government craziness, and it just seemed to scare me more. Were you shocked that people knew so little about Obamacare? Or that Obamacare and The Affordable Care Act were the same thing? Now, I know that this “data” is not scientific in the least, and they definitely chose clueless people on purpose, but it’s still a pretty shocking indication of what most people probably know and think.

But what I do like best about Kimmel, and the way he handled this social experiment is that no matter how dumb he may make people look, he’s always a good sport. As the woman who really seemed clueless on the segment was in the audience, and the late night host joked, “Welcome stupid people, you have a home here with me.” Always keeping it light, that’s what I like to see.

Obamacare: Answers and Explanations

/ Matthew Clemente / Leave a comment

Obamacare: Answers and Explanations

With key parts of the Affordable Care Act going into effect  in less that two months, NPR’s Morning Edition answers some common questions about the Act. 

Here is a description of the segment: 

The Oct. 1 launch of the new health insurance exchanges is now less than two months away, and people are starting to pay attention to the changes these new marketplaces may bring to the nation’s health care system.

We know it’s confusing, so we’re spending part of the summer and fall answering at least some of your questions about the law. You can see earlier pieces in our series here and here.

Today we’re answering questions regarding two of the more frequent topics raised: student health plans and possible penalties for failing to obtain health insurance.