.

[Wilikon]

About 3 million Americans have now signed up for insurance through President Obama's health care law since the debut of the law's exchanges on Oct. 1, the Department of Health and Human Services said on Friday.

HHS did not specify when the exchanges hit the 3 million mark. Department spokeswoman Joanne Peters replied by email: "We hit 3 (million) this week, don’t have an exact date."

Combined with a previous report by HHS, this suggests that about 800,000 people signed up for insurance between Dec. 28 and sometime this week.

To put this number in context, before the exchanges opened, HHS had been projecting 3.3 million people would enroll by the end of December and about 1.1 million people would enroll this month, bringing the total to 4.4 million by the end of January.

So, this means that January could be the first month in which monthly signups roughly align -- or perhaps even beat -- expectations. Originally, the exchanges were supposed to enroll 7 million Americans through March.

But there's also an important caveat. HHS still hasn't disclosed how many of those who have selected a plan through the health care law have actually paid for it, which is how insurers typically define enrollment.

http://washingtonexaminer.com/hhs-says-obamacare-signups-hit-3-million-still-unclear-how-many-have-paid/article/2542844?custom_click=rss

[Spendulus]

The use of the phrase "running out of other peoples' money" refers to what happens when a country reaches the limit of it's capability to create money from thin air.  If the country is on an international monetary standard like the Euro, then it would be borrowing.  If it has a national fiat currency, it must print money.

I'm afraid to disappoint you, but that is not what the phrase refers to.  Capitalism isn't what you guys believe that it is.  Corporations making vast numbers of generic products isn't capitalism in it's original sense, but only in the modern political sense.  That kind of capitalism would fit the model of a form of socialism all on it's own.

you know, come to think of it, I guess the government could just order you to buy the products of certain companies, whether or not you'd already ran out of money...

like, say.....health insurance?

lol...

[Spendulus]

About 3 million Americans have now signed up for insurance through President Obama's health care law since the debut of the law's exchanges on Oct. 1, the Department of Health and Human Services said on Friday.

HHS did not specify when the exchanges hit the 3 million mark. Department spokeswoman Joanne Peters replied by email: "We hit 3 (million) this week, don’t have an exact date."

Combined with a previous report by HHS, this suggests that about 800,000 people signed up for insurance between Dec. 28 and sometime this week.

To put this number in context, before the exchanges opened, HHS had been projecting 3.3 million people would enroll by the end of December and about 1.1 million people would enroll this month, bringing the total to 4.4 million by the end of January.

So, this means that January could be the first month in which monthly signups roughly align -- or perhaps even beat -- expectations. Originally, the exchanges were supposed to enroll 7 million Americans through March.

But there's also an important caveat. HHS still hasn't disclosed how many of those who have selected a plan through the health care law have actually paid for it, which is how insurers typically define enrollment.

http://washingtonexaminer.com/hhs-says-obamacare-signups-hit-3-million-still-unclear-how-many-have-paid/article/2542844?custom_click=rss

It's still total deception, because the real comparable is how many people enrolled in a health care plan the average of the last five years in that period of accounting (day, week, month).  And whether this even exceeds that.

To be even more correct, look at comparable periods and figure the number that enrolled, versus the number that lost their plans.

But that era of truth is over.  We're now in the propaganda phase.  Watch the billboards and tv adds coming.  Just like Britian.

[MoonShadow]

When was the era of truth you speak of?

[Spendulus]

When was the era of truth you speak of?

back when 2+2 was...

wait, i am having trouble remembering...

it's like there is a wall between me and...

FIVE?

[Wilikon]

900,000 Californians lost their health plans by January 1, 500,000 signed up on the Obamacare exchange.

[...]
But even if all or most of the 500,000 people who signed up for Obamacare by December 31 end up paying their bills, is that really a success? Leaving aside important questions about the quality and cost of Obamacare plans, the enrollment numbers are not impressive. The California exchange is doing very little to achieve the goal of insuring the uninsured.

Recall that California did not allow insurers the opportunity to re-offer plans canceled by Obamacare. Anne Gonzales of Covered California confirmed to THE WEEKLY STANDARD in a phone call that all 900,000 non-grandfathered plans in California “had to be discontinued by January 1.” So how many of the 500,000 people who signed up for Obamacare before January 1 previously had insurance? “I don’t think we have those [numbers],” Gonzales said.

But it’s easy to infer that the majority of people who signed up for Obamacare already had insurance. “Of those 900,000 [who lost plans], 310,000 of those would have been subsidy eligible if they came to the exchange,” Gonzales said. Another 20,000 subsidy-eligible Californians lost plans because their insurance carriers were dropping out of the market.

Health care industry expert Bob Laszewski points out that that means at least 330,000 of the 500,000 people who signed up for Obamacare already had health insurance. “If you want to know how many uninsured bought it, subtract by at least” 330,000, Laszewski told THE WEEKLY STANDARD. “The only place they can get the subsidy is in the exchange. So if they’re going to replace their policy, unless they’re really stupid, they’re going to replace it in the exchange.”

[...]
After spending $1 billion on developing and advertising the exchange in a blue state where views about the law are more favorable than the nation as a whole, is that really a success? Does that justify a multi-trillion dollar program and the cancellation of the insurance policies of millions of Americans across the country? The good folks at Covered California and WonkBlog seem to think so. A strong majority of American voters continue to disagree.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/obamacares-dismal-california-numbers-900000-people-lost-plans-january-1-500000-signed-exchange_775360.html

[Spendulus]

900,000 Californians lost their health plans by January 1, 500,000 signed up on the Obamacare exchange.

[...]
But even if all or most of the 500,000 people who signed up for Obamacare by December 31 end up paying their bills, is that really a success? Leaving aside important questions about the quality and cost of Obamacare plans, the enrollment numbers are not impressive. The California exchange is doing very little to achieve the goal of insuring the uninsured.

Recall that California did not allow insurers the opportunity to re-offer plans canceled by Obamacare. Anne Gonzales of Covered California confirmed to THE WEEKLY STANDARD in a phone call that all 900,000 non-grandfathered plans in California “had to be discontinued by January 1.” So how many of the 500,000 people who signed up for Obamacare before January 1 previously had insurance? “I don’t think we have those [numbers],” Gonzales said.

But it’s easy to infer that the majority of people who signed up for Obamacare already had insurance. “Of those 900,000 [who lost plans], 310,000 of those would have been subsidy eligible if they came to the exchange,” Gonzales said. Another 20,000 subsidy-eligible Californians lost plans because their insurance carriers were dropping out of the market.

Health care industry expert Bob Laszewski points out that that means at least 330,000 of the 500,000 people who signed up for Obamacare already had health insurance. “If you want to know how many uninsured bought it, subtract by at least” 330,000, Laszewski told THE WEEKLY STANDARD. “The only place they can get the subsidy is in the exchange. So if they’re going to replace their policy, unless they’re really stupid, they’re going to replace it in the exchange.”

[...]
After spending $1 billion on developing and advertising the exchange in a blue state where views about the law are more favorable than the nation as a whole, is that really a success? Does that justify a multi-trillion dollar program and the cancellation of the insurance policies of millions of Americans across the country? The good folks at Covered California and WonkBlog seem to think so. A strong majority of American voters continue to disagree.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/obamacares-dismal-california-numbers-900000-people-lost-plans-january-1-500000-signed-exchange_775360.html

from an obscure Zerohedge comment...

Trust is evaporating like snow on a hotplate...

[Wilikon]

The left-wing Norman Lear Center is co-sponsoring the event.
Two powerful left-wing Hollywood organizations combining with the federal government's powerful CMS is not something to be taken lightly. The intent here is obvious and deadly serious, and the American people should brace themselves for a propaganda push in their film and television entertainment that is meant only to aid and abet Obama's federal government.
This invitation should serve as a reminder that, with rare exceptions (that only prove the rule), Hollywood is not filled with brave rebels, iconoclasts, and individual thinkers; but rather they are servants eager to do their government's bidding and who understand that success in the entertainment business means never coloring outside the lines of left-wing conformity.
And let's remember this invitation the next time Hollywood and its subservient media try to tell us -- as a friend of mine so aptly put it -- "that the sh*t we show in the movies has NO EFFECT WHATSOEVER on anybody’s behavior."

[Wilikon]

Democrat Jim Moran, a top House Democrat and a key ally of Nancy Pelosi and President Obama, admitted this weekend that their signature health care law may be on the verge of falling apart.

His concern? It has nothing to do with Republicans, as President Obama likes to say, and everything to do with the fact that young people simply aren’t buying into ObamaCare.

“I’m afraid that the millennials, if you will, are less likely to sign up,” Rep. Moran admitted to radio station WAMU 88.5. “I don’t think we’re going to get enough young people signing up to make this bill work as it was intended to financially.”

Translation: the law is beginning to unravel. And according to Rep. Moran, Democrats don’t have an answer for the American people who are hurting under ObamaCare.

“I just don’t know how we’re going to do it frankly,” he says. “If we had a solution I’d be telling the president right now.”

From WAMU:

Congressman Jim Moran (D-Va.) is voicing concern that the entirety Affordable Care Act could unravel because not enough young people are signing up.

More than 40,000 Virginians signed up for health insurance on the federal exchange last month. Only 27 percent of those were young adults — the group needed to fund the new system. Moran says he doesn’t think those numbers are going to get much better.

“I’m afraid that the millennials, if you will, are less likely to sign up. I think they feel more independent, I think they feel a little more invulnerable than prior generations,” Moran says. “But I don’t think we’re going to get enough young people signing up to make this bill work as it was intended to financially.”

If Moran’s prediction is correct, the whole law could unravel. He says there just isn’t enough incentive for healthy young people to sign up for insurance.

http://www.nrcc.org/2014/01/27/top-house-democrat-just-admitted-obamacare-starting-fall-apart/

[Wilikon]

READ THE FULL REPORT

Conceived by two Harvard undergraduate students during the winter of 1999, Harvard University’s Institute of Politics Survey of Young Americans’ Attitudes toward Politics and Public Service began in 2000 as a national survey of 18-to 24- year old college undergraduates. Over the last 13 years, this research project has grown in scope and mission, as we now analyze 18- to 29- year olds on a broad set of longitudinal and current events issues.

Each semester, IOP Director of Polling John Della Volpe leads a study group of undergraduates who collaborate to write, design and analyze the survey. The following represent data and insight beginning in 2009, including five of the key findings from our latest survey, which was conducted from October 30 - November 11, 2013 of N=2,089 young adults between 18 and 29 years old. You can read the full report online here. Check out further analysis of the survey results from the Harvard Political Review.

http://www.iop.harvard.edu/blog/iop-releases-new-fall-poll-5-key-findings-and-trends-millennial-viewpoints?utm_source=email&utm_medium=pressrelease&utm_campaign=Fall2013Survey

[coga]

The US healthcare is pretty much directed by the government as is. The government is now taking complete control and not half assing it. I still have 2 years and my hope that it will go away some how.

It was already half-assed under partial government control. Now that control is complete, the system goes fully assed

[Spendulus]

.....“But I don’t think we’re going to get enough young people signing up to make this bill work as it was intended to financially.”

If Moran’s prediction is correct, the whole law could unravel. He says there just isn’t enough incentive for healthy young people to sign up for insurance.

http://www.nrcc.org/2014/01/27/top-house-democrat-just-admitted-obamacare-starting-fall-apart/

Something that was never together can not start to fall apart.  Here is a situation where people predictably follow their personal economic self interest, no different than going into a store and choosing what to buy and how and when.

This leaves two options (A) crank up enforcement penalties and force these kids to obey (B)  print money to pay for free and subsidized health care

(A) is prevented by Republicans, unless an executive order might be tried
(B) buys votes

Best would be for the Repubs to gain the Senate and interject some sanity into this nonsense, but the money printers will try to prevent that.  There's still a lot of money to be squeezed out of the system on the ride down.

My crystal ball says more corrupt blatant power moves and more totalitarian fear mongering and crushing of opposition and of dissent, coupled with a strong propaganda campaign, and likely a manufactured crisis or two.

Or three.

[MoonShadow]

.....“But I don’t think we’re going to get enough young people signing up to make this bill work as it was intended to financially.”

If Moran’s prediction is correct, the whole law could unravel. He says there just isn’t enough incentive for healthy young people to sign up for insurance.

http://www.nrcc.org/2014/01/27/top-house-democrat-just-admitted-obamacare-starting-fall-apart/

Something that was never together can not start to fall apart.  Here is a situation where people predictably follow their personal economic self interest, no different than going into a store and choosing what to buy and how and when.

This leaves two options (A) crank up enforcement penalties and force these kids to obey (B)  print money to pay for free and subsidized health care

(A) is prevented by Republicans, unless an executive order might be tried
(B) buys votes

Best would be for the Repubs to gain the Senate and interject some sanity into this nonsense, but the money printers will try to prevent that.  There's still a lot of money to be squeezed out of the system on the ride down.

My crystal ball says more corrupt blatant power moves and more totalitarian fear mongering and crushing of opposition and of dissent, coupled with a strong propaganda campaign, and likely a manufactured crisis or two.

Or three.

I'm not convinced that the Repubs can be trusted not to participate in the money printing.  They have much to gain there as well.

[Spendulus]

I'm not convinced that the Repubs can be trusted not to participate in the money printing.  They have much to gain there as well.

Right. 

Unfortunately they are the only alternative. 

And there are some emerging voices in there that are seeming to rise in stature - Rand, Cruz as examples.

I doubt that the mass media would stand quite as  strongly behind Obama if the repubs take the Senate.

In other words, conditions would improve slightly to moderately.

[Wilikon]

KHN says, presumably without irony, that the reason for the sudden shift is unclear:

Uninsured Americans — the people that the Affordable Care Act was designed to most aid — are increasingly critical of the law as its key provisions kick in, a poll released Thursday finds.

This month’s tracking poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation found that 47 percent of the uninsured said they hold unfavorable views of the law while 24 percent said they liked it. These negative views have increased since December, when 43 percent of the uninsured panned the law and 36 percent liked it. (KHN is an editorially independent program of the Foundation.)

The poll did not pinpoint clear reasons for this drop, which comes in the first month that people could start using insurance purchased through the online marketplaces that are at the heart of the law. It did point out that more than half of people without insurance said the law hasn’t made a difference to them or their families. In addition, the pollsters noted that almost half of people without coverage were unaware the law includes subsidies to offset premium costs for people of low and moderate incomes.

Among all Americans, the sentiment was also negative, with 50 percent holding unfavorable views of the law and 34 percent supporting it. Views on the law have not been even since the end of 2012. Despite this, just 38 percent of the public wants the law to be repealed.

http://capsules.kaiserhealthnews.org/index.php/2014/01/health-law-is-a-tough-sell-to-uninsured

[Wilikon]

http://youtu.be/UuA2_P-m4Sk

[MoonShadow]

I doubt that the mass media would stand quite as  strongly behind Obama if the repubs take the Senate.

I don't share this viewpoint.  I think the media would portray the president as a victim of old white men if the republicans were to hold both halls of congress.  Particularly since the articles of impeachment would be filed within a week.

[Spendulus]

I doubt that the mass media would stand quite as  strongly behind Obama if the repubs take the Senate.

I don't share this viewpoint.  I think the media would portray the president as a victim of old white men if the republicans were to hold both halls of congress.  Particularly since the articles of impeachment would be filed within a week.

Now that'd be entertaining.  Particularly since you'd see an executive order barring impeachment.

I do believe though that the media sways to an extent with what they believe is popular sentiment.  Let's say if they think it's 45/55 lib/conservative they'll go with the 45 lib, but if they think it's 27/83 they'll take a middle of the road with stuff like the Cindy Sheehan coverage approach.

Jerks.

[Spendulus]

http://youtu.be/UuA2_P-m4Sk

That's pretty powerful.  I got it worse than they did, by the way. 

So these people bought into the pack of lies and now they are going to have to pay for it.

They voted for free stuff, what they got was themselves paying for other peoples' free stuff.

And it's just starting.

[Wilikon]

http://youtu.be/UuA2_P-m4Sk

That's pretty powerful.  I got it worse than they did, by the way. 

So these people bought into the pack of lies and now they are going to have to pay for it.

They voted for free stuff, what they got was themselves paying for other peoples' free stuff.

And it's just starting.

Yes. Pretty sad to be an obamabot.