It’s All Over, Obamacare Haters! Why They’ve Officially Lost The Battle

[Playinghardball]

By 11:59:59 p.m. Monday night — the last moment of the Affordable Care Act’s first open enrollment period — sign-ups on Healthcare.gov and 14 state-based exchanges had cleared the symbolic 7 million threshold, according to both administration officials and data experts, and will continue to climb above it over the next few weeks as HHS processes applications from people who were mid-queue when the clock struck midnight. Throw in new Medicaid enrollments, off-exchange enrollments into Qualified Health Plans, young invincibles on their parents’ plans, and the beneficiary total far exceeds 10 million. On net, millions more people — perhaps about 10 million — are now (or will soon be) insured because of Obamacare than were covered beforehand.

That net number will probably be less than initially forecast, but when you account for the fact that almost half of all states didn’t expand Medicaid, and Healthcare.gov effectively experienced a two-month outage last year, you have to be a fanatical Obamacare hater not to call it a comeback. Now that it’s all over but the shouting, conservatives are watching the mechanisms they’ve employed to discredit enrollment numbers shrink away from them. They are left to think wishfully that the new enrollees will not pay their premiums in overwhelming numbers, or deny that they exist altogether. The universe of Obamacare “success stories” is larger than the universe of Obamacare “horror stories” and many of said horror stories fall apart or are revealed to be ambiguous upon mild scrutiny.

More here: http://www.salon.com/2014/04/01/its_all_over_obamacare_haters_why_theyve_officially_lost_the_battle/

http://theobamadiary.com/2014/04/01/rise-and-shine-788/

[Tarheel_Dem]

1. I've heard wonderful, and in some cases, heartbreaking stories all morning on NPR about newly.....

covered folks. There are folks in their late 40's, early 50's who haven't been covered since they were kids. History will judge the ACA quite differently than the vociferous critics on the left & on the right. Bank on it.

[Dawgs]

4. How are the critics on the left going to be proven wrong?

Will Obamacare reduce healthcare costs?

Will Obamacare take the profits out of healthcare?

Will Obamacare cover everyone?

Will Obamacare have a public option?

[Liberal Veteran]

5. I'm more of a glass half full type, myself.

But to each there own.

[Tarheel_Dem]

6. There, there. I understand.

[Dawgs]

7. No answer then?

[Tarheel_Dem]

8. I think my response was worthy of yours.

[Dawgs]

9. Responding like a child to serious adult questions is hardly worthy.

This isn't a game.

[Tarheel_Dem]

10. Perhaps you could go pester someone else then?

[Dawgs]

11. Asking questions is pestering now?

You've been here long enough to know the difference.

You made a comment that history will prove to the critics on the left that they are wrong about the ACA. I asked questions that many of us on the left have and you chose to be childish in your response. I'm not sure you were the one that was being pestered.

You do realize how these message boards work, right?

[Tarheel_Dem]

12. !!!

[Dawgs]

18. More pictures and smilies instead of answers and discussion.

I wouldn't expect anything less.

[Tarheel_Dem]

25. I "answer" & "discuss" with people I respect.

[Dawgs]

26. No, you only answer and discuss with people who agree with you on everything.

No different than a Republican.

[Tarheel_Dem]

28. Oh, I don't talk to Republicans, which is why I never engage you.

[joshcryer]

15. 2017 states will go single payer.

That's how.

And it wouldn't have happened without the ACA.

[Dawgs]

21. Wow. Proof now comes from predicting the future.

Lovely.

[joshcryer]

22. Vermont has already passed it.

They can't go single payer because they need a waiver, and the ACA is reducing the number of uninsured in their state, as well as preventing them from having to have a 11% payroll tax hike.

I don't know how this is soothsaying more so than understanding facts. It could happen sooner if we could get Congress back and move the waiver to 2014. As it stands now they must wait until 2017. Now if you have evidence, which btw I doubt, that HHS will deny them the waiver, I'd like to see that future prediction.

The whole point of the ACA was to pave the way to single payer.

[Walk away]

27. That always seems to take the wind out of their sails!

[KittyWampus]

19. Your questions have been answered over and over and over again. Ad naseum.

by many posters over a period of many months.

[Dawgs]

20. I missed those posts. can you give me a summary of each? Thanks. n/t

[Number23]

14. I think all of the "Congratulations, Big O!" posts from people who've done NOTHING

but crap on the man and this policy prove your point better than anything.

I have been cracking up reading DU today. Between those posts, the preemptive whining that the president's incessant detractors are just putting "policy before the cult of personality" and the "apologies" it's so obvious that alot of folks have finally come to grips with the fact that maybe they are on the wrong side of history with this thing. Better now than later.

[joshcryer]

16. Yep, one of them let their thread sink when I called them out.

Tempted to kick it, but they don't deserve the visibility...

[Tarheel_Dem]

24. I keep saying, you can't judge anything in the real world, from DU. DU always seems to manage to...

be on a different page than the rest of the world. They seem to always be pulling in the opposite direction, and then they get to bitch & moan that nothing's getting done.

[Number23]

29. And don't forget that endless carping somehow makes them better Democrats

They seem to always be pulling in the opposite direction, and then they get to bitch & moan that nothing's getting done.

It's nothing short of astonishing. Endless complaining and gnashing, much of it WILDLY uninformed and some of these folks wonder why so few people actually want to represent them in Congress. And of course, when something good does actually happen, somehow the craven, corpo fascist in the White House becomes a noble knight because he "listened" to the endless, misinformed carping. ((shaking my head))

[Tarheel_Dem]

30. It's too coordinated to be coincidence. If Dems get good news, you get a rash of "Obama Sucks"....

posts to blunt the impact. We've seen plenty of up close examples of "making the perfect the enemy of the good". DU is Exhibit A.

[Wellstone ruled]

2. And zero stories about how the Rethug and TeaBillies

were banging the bejeebous out of all the sign up web sites. Watch and see now that the so called deadline has come and gone,people will be able to get their E-based paperwork done in a flash. Where were the so called Media? Oh,sorry nothing here just move along. Hope someone nails these assholes and name some names. If I found out about this crap,then,people much smarter than I should have had this covered.

[liberal N proud]

3. They may have lost but they will not stop fighting it

Just as they have fought Social Security since it was introduced, just like Medicare and Medicaid and anything else that does not directly benefit the rich or corporations.

They will fight it as long as their is a neo-conservative party in this country.

[Cha]

13. KICK!

[JI7]

17. wingnuts on some other sites were making fun of the website problems

they had nothing . none of the death panel crap came true. the apolitical types who go which way the wind blows are seeing for themselves that the anti aca talking points were all lies.

[Boom Sound 416]

23. I'd be weary of a victory lap

Kinda like when somebody stood on on a boat somewhere with a banner behind them.