There was good news for President Obama in the new U.S. Census data released Wednesday: For the first time in three years, the number of Americans without health insurance dropped.
About 1.4 million more Americans have health insurance than one year ago. After three years of rising uninsured rates, the percentage of Americans without health insurance coverage dipped from 16.3% in 2010 to 15.7% in 2011.
Ezra Klein, guest-hosting on The Ed Show, explained a major reason for the decline was an uptick of newly insured young adults, many of whom benefitted from a provision in Obama's Affordable Care Act, which requires insurers to let parents keep their children on their plans up to age 26, and which has kept 3 million young adults insured.
Another driving factor was that the number of Americans covered by government programs like Medicaid has expanded.
"There's a lot of things government doesn't do well," said Klein. "But one thing it does know how to do, which you can see here, and you can see frankly in every other developed nation on earth, is give people health insurance."
The Census data wasn't all roses, however. The median household income dropped to $50,054 in 2011, about 1.5% from the previous year. Meanwhile, income inequality grew.
"The rich are getting richer," said Klein.
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Too funny. The mandatory insurance part of Obamacare doesn't take effect until 2014. All that is in so far are the cost drivers to business. By the way, how is the unemployment rate progressing? You know, it is a shame to waste a crisis (like the Chicago strike).
Gee Rusty, It seems you really did not read the article closely. Their was nothing about the mandatory health ins. but only that more young adults were insured under their parents and more people were covered by the expanded Medicaid. When you respond, you really should know what you are responding to. They also did not mention how many of us seniors no longer have to worry about not taking a whole pill instead of cutting them in half, because the donut hole will be filled. Also, my sister, who had cancer will never have to worry about getting coverage because of a pre-existing condition. I could go on and on but what is the point? You have obviously made up your mind already!
Gee Cynlo- I might tell you the same. If you read my post- only the cost driver for businesses, keeping the young on parents rolls longer, is in play.
Now- do you think there is even the possibility that an additional cost like that would cause a small or medium size busiiness to scale back on hiring? Or have you already made up your mind?
wondering how many people who have died have been taken in consideration when they say number of uninsured has dropped..just sayin...
when a grandmother who hasnt voted in years spends 4 hrs at the DMV to get a photo ID, it tells u how much healthcare means to the elderly
I sympathize with Grandma, but why wasn't Grandma voting all the other years? We should never take our voting rights for granted. This year especially. This will be the most important election of the last forty years. If every voter had voted in 2010, we might not be in the shape we're in now. Maybe we could have kept the Tea Party from getting a foothold. Every vote in every election is going to be critical from now on.
Ademuyiwa Oremosu How the heck did Grandma ever cash any checks or take money out from her account without that I.D.?
More people on insurance, and more people out fo wrok, more people on food stamps.
Jupp obummer care is working like a charm.
Just cost 1500 amreican jobs. and more to come.
Takes the ablity of personal choice away form the people and doctors.
Yippy skippy, and who gets to pay for it? the tax payers thats who.
So you want to put the guy into office that will only make everything worse. Really all the GOP create are millions of poor families, that is the GOP legacy going all the way back to 1929. Really what is robme hoods plan who knows he just says trust him and find out, sorry moocow I don't trust robme hood anymore then I trust you, because like you robme hood can only tell lies. Oh and moocow the only people who do not pay taxes are the people like robme hood the wealthy, they are busy hiding their wealth off shore. But you admire them for being tax cheats gee imagine that whine about taxes then cheer lead tax evaders.
Got any facts? at all?
Just more key board worrier BS.
Keep hammering away, soon you will get your green star.
You can't prove anything you post, all bull$hit.
From small minds come small things.
You should know ho, you've got one of the smallest I've ever seen.
DNF the trolls
Cowpie is a great one to talk about facts and keyboard BS. That's all we've got of it (cowpie) from day one.
Look it takes 3 liberals to say one thing.
3 blind mice. from small minds come small things.
“So, let me get this straight (this is a long sentence), we’re going to be gifted with a healthcare plan we are forced to purchase, and fined if we don’t, which purportedly covers at least ten million more people, without adding a single new doctor, but provides for 16,000 new IRS agents, written by a committee whose chairman says he doesn’t understand it, passed by a congress that didn’t read it, but exempted themselves from it, and signed by a president who smokes, with funding administered by a treasury chief who didn’t pay his taxes, for which we will be taxed for four years before any benefits take effect, by a government which has already bankrupted Social Security and Medicare, all to be overseen by a surgeon general who is obese, and financed by a country that’s broke. So what the blank could possibly go wrong?”
The majority of small business owners, welcome Obamacare, publicly, but there are some who, publicly rail against it, but privately not only welcome it but actually praise it. Republicans use "repeal Obamacare" as a partisan political issue, which is not in the best interest of their constitutients. They want their constituents to go back to paying they premium to the insurance provider, who will decide if, and when, they will pay benefits as written in the policy. The provider can decide to deny payment of benefits, based on pre-existing condition, reaching a cap, and the provider can also decide if, and when, the patient is un-insurable. Also seniors with medicare part D, would go back to the donut hole. Also the insured would go back to having very large increases on our premiums and hospital cost, to help pay for those who choose to have no health insurance coverage. Republicans are a shame and dis-grace to Americans, by encouraging their low information followers, to believe Obamacare is bad and should be re-pealed. Too bad their followers, do not have the ability to research facts and decide what is in their own best interest.
whose poll shows the majority of small business owners?? i want to see the research on this poll. not what i am hearing. i know my son's uncle own a transmission business in rhode island and he will argue your point, he has been very clear on his feelings about this.
As a (thankfully) former small business owner this is going to kill jobs. My current healthcare costs are skyrocketing since obamacare. I pay $900 a month for not great insurance. The dollar is going to be worthless soon and we have 16 Trillion in debt, the deficit is HUGE. Gas is double what I paid before Obama was elected. Unemployment is still over 8% and that is not even the real unemployment, it does not count those who have given up and are no longer looking. Regulations and taxes are killing small businesses and many companies. Medicare is going broke and needs changes so it stays solvent, no budget for the past 4 years. Yes I know Obama proposed a budget but it got ZERO votes. No democrat voted for it. Even if you taxed the rich at 100% you could not save us from the government spending that is out of control. Our country is headed towards a financial collapse, why would anyone vote for Obama? He is obviously in over his head and has no idea how to run a country. He has no concept how the economy works or what makes businesses grow and hire. He has never run any business and has no idea what he is doing. This country will collapse before another 4 years with him in office. People REALLY need to think before they vote. I don't care if the president is cool or would make a good buddy. We are hiring someone for a job, qualifications matter, and job history cannot be ignored.
recycled - The spending has been out of control for the last 30 years, and your statement that no Democrat voted for his budget proposed is at best argumentative. I know of 2 house members from Hawaii who voted for it.
What great news. The Poverty level didn't go up from last years historic high and secondly the Tax Payers got to fund more people on Medicaid. Thirdly, all those Insurance Premium and Co-Pay increases we have seen didn't go to waist, we got to pay for adults to stay on their parents Insurance. Great news all the way around, Obama's redistribution policies are working. Tax Payers and people buying their own insurance were compelled to pay for medical coverage for others. Only MSNBC would think this is good news.
We need to welcome the news that more than one million plus American have health insurance. The ACA will start to give coverage to 30 million plus Americans very soon. This is an excellent start but we also need to consider expanding Medicare and Medicaid so that all Americans are covered with health insurance. We need to have a Medicare for all public option available at the exchanges so that all Americans get health insurance. The reason that we rank 37th in the world for public health outcomes are that most other countries have universal coverage from single payer systems of various types. Our 50 million uninsured figure has slipped to 49 or 48 million uninsured.
Its really a national security issue to have all your people covered by insurance. The Affordable Care Act will do the following things to help the uninsured in America:
1. Insurance company abuses will end such as outlawing preexisting conditions or canceling coverage when a person gets sick or hurt.
2. Premiums are kept low by requirements that insurance companies spend 80% of their premium dollars on actual health care.
3. Health care is expanded for about 32 million Americans under the ACA. Insurance exchanges will be set up in all states and insurance companies will compete for business to serve patients. About 95% of adults under 65 years old will be covered.
4. The donut hole will be closed for prescription drugs for Seniors under reforms made to Part D of Medicare.
The ACA is a wonderful start. We will still have millions of Americans who will be uninsured. I argue strongly that we need to expand a Medicare public option so that all those who do not have health insurance can buy reduced Medicare insurance or be eligible for expanded Medicaid. The only way to save money in the long run and bring our health care system costs in line with other countries are to get all Americans covered period. This is the best way to start a new wave of small business job creation and entrepreneurship in our country. We need to get the burden of health insurance off of the backs for small businesses. We spend twice as much per capita as any other industrialized country. These extra costs hurt US manufacturing and drive jobs overseas to countries with more efficient single payer health care systems.
If we all have to pay higher taxes for Medicare for all so what? My argument is that we have to get everyone covered before we can discuss how to contain costs for health care. Those who do not have health insurance end up going bankrupt, face a 40% chance of early death, and are a huge deadweight to the economy. The costs of the uninsured shifts costs onto all the rest of us who have health insurance driving our costs up $1100 annually. If we want our economy to grow we must have a Medicare for all public option available at the insurance exchanges in 2014. We can do this America and at the same time it will mean an economic and business renewal for all Americans as the middle class can get back on its feet from the 2008 Great Recession.
Sure isnt that what this bill was supposed to do. I would have been surprised if the numbers went up. As more people are covered my premiums continue to go up. So were's the justice here. Because I have a job that has some sort of insurance premium coverage I should get shafted so someone out there who doesnt have insurance can be covered. NO THANK YOU. Since the bill was passed three years ago my portion of my health premiums have gone up over 25%. That in one year is over $1000. Is that justice? Thats $1000 less I can save for my daughters college. $1000 less my family can spend on food, or buying goods and services. Hell thats $1000 less we have to pay bills, buy gas. This less money has resulted in my family watching our fuel bill.
Rex and other liberals seem to think we can insure an additional 30 million people without costs going up one dime! Truly ignorant thinking!
Sixty four years ago Norman Thomas knew what was going to happen to our country in 2009. Norman Mattoon Thomas (November 20, 1884 - December 19, 1968) was a leading American socialist, pacifist, and six-time presidential candidate for the Socialist Party of America. The Socialist Party candidate for President of the US, Norman Thomas, said this in a 1944 speech: "The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism. But, under the name of "liberalism", they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program, until one day America will be a socialist nation, without knowing how it happened." He went on to say: "I no longer need to run as a Presidential Candidate for the Socialist Party. THE DEMOCRAT PARTY HAS ADOPTED OUR PLATFORM.”
ACA will cripple job growth. Anyone who has ever had a business knows that. If you have 52 employees you will lay off a few to avoid the additional insurance burdens. Or companies dump their group plans to save money and the system is flooded, costs (taxes) would skyrocket. The cost of the uninsured is not even close to the cost of Obamacare. The federal government has provided healthcare for native Americans and it is a disaster. Medicaid and medicare is full of abuse and waste. Government cannot run anything well. Premiums and costs of insurance would be much lower if we just had insurance reform which would enable competition. In Montana a plan for a family costs 1500/mo compared to the same plan in Missouri that is 800/mo. Montana has only about 3 companies to choose from. Medicare is going broke, socialized medicine does not work. My son has had heart surgeries and there are people from all over the world who have to come here because treatments are not available in other countries. Medical school costs 100k+ and the salaries are going down and malpractice costs are skyrocketing. Not everyone will pay higher taxes, it is families like mine who work hard yet stay middle class because the taxes drain us. Obamacare is going to cost us more starting next year. How would you like to lose $100 of your income for nothing. I would never put my family on Obamacare, they would never pay the 750k for my special needs child to have a heart surgery out of state. Our country has poor health not because of our healthcare system, it is the best in the world. It is because we are fat lazy slobs who eat way to much meat, cheese and dairy. Doctors will stop taking medicare and the federal plan because the reimbursements are to low and then you won't be able to get in to see a doctor. Doctors are retiring to avoid obamacare. Medical school is getting easy to get into because it is no longer worth it to go. Our country cannot afford this and when we are broke how many people will die because health care is not available? Parts of ACA are good and have bipartisan support but more than half of the country does not want this yet it is being forced on us. This is not freedom this is tyranny.