Obamacare: Individual Mandate Penalties Are Proving Motivational. Cheerleaders/Hecklers

Hey, Republicans!

"Where's The Train Wreck?"

Objectively, there is only good news going forward.

You guys put all your eggs in one basket. 

Soon they will all be broken.

Don't change a thing!

Keep pissing off Hispanics, Wwomen and young people.

You are progressivism's best ally, doing a better job that we could have done 

even with limitless supplies of Koch money.

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"Where's The Train Wreck?"

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/01/wheres-train-wreck.html

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The individual-mandate penalties seem to be motivating people to sign up for health insurance. "At the Swope Health Services chain of community health centers across the Kansas City metro area, helpers stationed in the lobby say visitors cite penalties as a big reason for seeking coverage. Some leaders in the Kansas City enrollment effort have been incorporating the penalties into their pitches. And the nation's tax preparers are pushing the message hard....Most people who haven't signed up by then face a fine when they file their 2014 income taxes....Polls suggest that Americans are more familiar with the penalties for not having insurance than nearly every other feature of the law. A January survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan nonprofit, said 79% of uninsured respondents said they knew the law required nearly all Americans to have health insurance or pay a fine." Louise Radnofsky in The Wall Street Journal.

Still, millions remain on the sidelines during this final week of open enrollment. "Millions of people in the United States will remain uninsured despite this week's final, frenzied push to sign them up under the health law. Their reasons are all over the map. Across the country, many of the uninsured just don't know much about the health overhaul and its March 31 deadline for enrolling in plans that can yield big discounts, researchers say. An Associated Press-GfK poll found that only one-fourth of the uninsured had tried to sign up through the state or federal insurance marketplaces, also known as exchanges, by late January. If they don't enroll in time, many will face a fine and be locked out of the subsidized plans until next year. President Barack Obama and a phalanx of advocacy groups, insurance companies and volunteers are scrambling to spread the word about HealthCare.gov as the deadline dangles." Connie Cass in the Associated Press.

Who's cheering, and who's heckling? "Perhaps the most telling statistic about the Affordable Care Act as the controversial law turns four years old on Sunday is this: 70 percent of Americans still don't know they could get their healthcare subsidized under the law. But for those who do understand what the law is, what it does, and how it's changing life in America, Obamacare's 4th anniversary is a major turning point for the biggest federal entitlement expansion since the 1960s....Four years after its passage in Congress, Obamacare looms over America as a paradox: Despite making healthcare less of a worry and financial drain for millions of Americans, it also represents for many others a creeping, even sinister, intrusion of the federal government into the lives of Americans....Meanwhile, the long-term problem for Republicans is that, despite its flaws and complexities, Obamacare provides real benefits that may improve its popularity as its benefits become more ubiquitous." Patrik Jonsson in the Christian Science Monitor.

Explainer: Obamacare turns 4. The (very) long, strange trip to now. Gregory J. Krieg in ABC News.

Democrats seek to go on offense with new Obamacare numbers. "The Obama administration is out with new numbers touting consumer savings under the healthcare law, a move that will help boost Democrats' effort to go on offense on ObamaCare. Nearly 8 million seniors saved $9.9 billion on prescription drugs because of the Affordable Care Act since the law was enacted in 2010, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said Friday....HHS also reported that in 2013, 37.2 million people with Medicare took advantage of at least one free preventive medical service as a result of ObamaCare. The figure represents an increase from 2012, officials said....State-by-state Medicare data was circulated among congressional Democrats as the party attempts to use ObamaCare's fourth birthday to seize control of the narrative surrounding the law." Elise Viebeck in The Hill.

As Obamacare turns 4, GOP still lost on what alternative should be. "Four years after Obamacare was enacted, and more than 50 House votes to undo it, Republicans remain dedicated to destroying the law. But they're still lost on what they'd put in its place if given the chance. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) is leading the effort to craft a GOP alternative, and promised his members a vote in 2014. He faces a sea of obstacles to writing a health care bill with sufficient support in the House, and potentially a world of hurt if he follows through with his commitment." Sahil Kapur in Talking Points Memo.

The House has voted 54 times in four years on Obamacare. Here's the full list. Ed O'Keefe in The Washington Post.

Insurance chief suggests adding a new, lower level of health plan. Julie Rovner in NPR.

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Obamacare returns to court. Here's what to expect.

Supreme Court takes up contraception coverage suit. "Two years after the entire law survived the justices' review by a single vote, the court is hearing arguments Tuesday in a religion-based challenge from family-owned companies that object to covering certain contraceptives in their health plans as part of the law's preventive care requirement. Health plans must offer a range of services at no extra charge, including all forms of birth control for women that have been approved by federal regulators. Some of the nearly 50 businesses that have sued over covering contraceptives object to paying for all forms of birth control. But the companies involved in the high court case are willing to cover most methods of contraception, as long as they can exclude drugs or devices that the government says may work after an egg has been fertilized. The largest company among them, Hobby Lobby Stores Inc., and the Green family that owns it, say their 'religious beliefs prohibit them from providing health coverage for contraceptive drugs and devices that end human life after conception.'" Mark Sherman in the Associated Press.

Legal backgrounder on the contraception mandate suit. Pew Research Center.

3 ways the Supreme Court could rule on the contraception mandate. Sam Baker in National Journal.

What's at stake: Are firms entitled to religious protections? "Tuesday's Supreme Court hearing will be the second time the health law will be scrutinized by the justices....The case is distinct in a couple of ways from legal challenges to the law brought by some Catholic schools and charities, now winding their way through lower courts. Those Catholic organizations object to being required to include any type of birth control in their insurance plans. And because those organizations are nonprofit, those cases don't address the religious-protection question for for-profit companies. Last month a federal appeals court declined to grant one of the litigants, the University of Notre Dame, a temporary injunction sparing it from the contraception requirement. The court's decision in the Hobby Lobby case is expected by June. Some lawyers following the case believe the ruling will likely be narrowly tailored. But a more sweeping judgment in Hobby Lobby's favor could open the door for others to seek exemptions from certain federal laws based on their owners' religious beliefs." Janet Adamy in The Wall Street Journal.