Drop In Uninsured Rate Kicks Off Big Week For Obamacare

Not the symbol of excellence yet.

But soon.

SARGENT: As GOP certainty about Obamacare's collapse deepens, uninsured rate falls again. "The most important political and policy news of the day is Gallup's new finding....To be sure, we still don't know for certain whether Obamacare is the reason for this....But Gallup has now found this three straight times, which suggests it may not be statistical noise and could be a trend, though caution is still in order....GOP certainty that the law is collapsing -- and will deliver Republicans the Senate -- deepened earlier this month after the administration announced its latest delay. But today's Gallup numbers remind us we're inexorably moving into the realm of the concrete when it comes to the most important Obamacare metric of all -- how many people are gaining heath care coverage. As Gallup has noted, if this trend continues, it will increasingly suggest Obamacare may be the reason for it. While the short term politics of the law will continue to be tough going for Dems, a continuation of this trend could begin to scramble the political calculus." Greg Sargent in The Washington Post.

Health law cited as U.S. uninsured rate drops. "The share of Americans without health insurance is dropping to the lowest levels since President Barack Obama took office, but sign-ups under his health care law lag among Hispanics -- a big pool of potential beneficiaries. With just three weeks left to enroll on the new insurance exchanges, the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, finds that 15.9 percent of U.S. adults are uninsured thus far in 2014, down from 17.1 percent for the last three months -- or calendar quarter-- of 2013....The drop of 1.2 percentage points in the uninsured rate translates to about 3 million people gaining coverage. Gallup said the proportion of Americans who are uninsured is on track to drop to the lowest quarterly level it measured since 2008, before Obama took office." Associated Press.

Read: The poll's findings. Gallup.

Explainer: Five takeaways from Gallup's poll on the uninsured. Jason Millman in The Washington Post.

Story compilation: With 3 weeks left in enrollment period, Obama administration's sign-up rush is on. Kaiser Health News.

@maevereston: Big Wk for White House on Obamacare. As Mar 31 deadline approaches, @BarackObama will talk to @WebMD while continuing push to Moms & Latinos

But yet another change to the health care law as administration scratches drug rule. "The Obama administration, in an abrupt about-face, said on Monday it would drop proposed changes to Medicare drug coverage that met wide opposition on grounds they would harm health benefits for the elderly and disabled....The proposals were opposed by both Republicans and Democrats in Congress. The Republican Party had already begun to look for ways to leverage popular anger over the changes into campaign attacks on Democratic incumbents who could be vulnerable in November's election showdown for control of Congress." David Morgan inReuters.

Republicans keep up the Obamacare attack. "House Republicans will bring three bills to the floor for votes this week that would expand religious and military exemptions under ObamaCare....GOP leaders are treating the three ObamaCare bills as 'suspension' legislation, which means they will get a shorter debate and must pass with a two-thirds majority vote....The bills under consideration are a far cry from the full or partial repeal legislation House leaders have called up before, and each has attracted at least some degree of bipartisan support. That gives them a chance of passing the House with bipartisan momentum." Pete Kasperowicz in The Hill.

House GOP also to hold vote this week on bill linking 'doc fix' to individual mandate delay. "GOP leaders intend to vote on legislation this week, aides say, to delay the individual mandate in order to fund a 'doc fix' that avoids a 24 percent pay cut to physicians under Medicare -- which will automatically take effect on April 1 unless Congress acts. Inaction would disrupt the health care system, in part by causing many doctors to stop accepting Medicare patients.The strategy is unlikely to succeed and could backfire on Republicans. Delaying the individual mandate is a nonstarter for the Democratic-led Senate and White House." Sahil Kapur in Talking Points Memo.

Federal watchdog to investigate troubled Md. exchange. "The HHS Office of the Inspector General is launching an investigation into Maryland's troubled health insurance exchange, the latest target of expanding federal oversight of poorly performing Obamacare exchanges." Brett Norman in Politico.

COHN: Gallup findings may be more credible than McKinsey survey. "Gallup's survey is not as reliable as the big government surveys on the uninsured, which won't be available until next year. In addition, the Gallup data for last year, 2013, shows a very strange pattern, with the uninsured rate spiking to 18 percent in the middle of the year for no apparent reason. That makes it hard to be certain exactly what's happening right now....Of course, not everybody reacts to news about the health care law so carefully. Over the last few weeks, Obamacare critics have made a great deal of noise about surveys that put Obamacare in a poor light--including a study from McKinsey showing that only a small portion of people getting insurance through the exchanges lacked coverage before....If anything, the McKinsey survey probably deserves less credence." Jonathan Cohn in The New Republic.

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Republicans need to help fix state exchanges, not harass them. "There is no doubt that the exchanges run by Oregon, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota and Hawaii have gotten off to troubled starts -- much like the federal exchanges created to serve residents in states that refused to set up their own. The problems are similar at both levels -- unreliable software and the failure to heed early warnings that the systems weren't ready....Republican leaders, meanwhile, are doing little to solve the difficulties and are instead threatening to recover money not yet spent on enrolling people, and harassing state officials with requests for information about the salaries and vacation time of directors of the state exchanges. The start-up problems will be surmounted in due course. Republican gloating over the problems does not help the uninsured get the coverage they need." Editorial Board.