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Obamacare Enrollment Sets Another Record Even As Trump Threatens The Law Yet Again (www.forbes.com)

submitted 11 months ago by MicroWave to c/news

16 comments fedilink hide all child comments

A record 19 million Americans are expected to purchase individual coverage, also known as Obamacare, via the health insurance marketplace under the Affordable Care Act for the 2024 coverage year.

The Biden administration Wednesday said more than 15.3 million Americans have already have signed up for health insurance marketplace plans in states that use HealthCare.gov, which is a 33% increase compared to this time a year ago.

“As of December 15, 2023, for HealthCare.gov states and December 9, 2023, for State-based Marketplaces, preliminary data projects that over 19 million consumers will enroll in 2024 coverage through the ACA Marketplaces — over 7 million more than when President Biden took office,” the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said Wednesday. “This includes 15.3 million individuals who have selected a health plan using the HealthCare.gov platform. On December 15 alone, the deadline for coverage starting January 1, 2024, more than 745,000 people selected a Marketplace plan through HealthCare.gov — the largest single day in history.”

The record enrollment comes with such coverage becoming integral to Americans, having been offered on exchanges now for a decade with most of the enrollment coming from those renewing coverage year after year.

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[–] givesomefucks 12 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (2 children)

Why are they acting like this is a good thing?

It's a sign that lots of Americans don't have a job with benefits.

To really get an idea tho, we need to use percentages not total numbers. Since population keeps increasing, total numbers just go up organically.

We need to actually fix healthcare. We got nowhere close to even what Obama started asking for, but after it got argued down by Republicans and moderates, neither party wants to increase it.

Republicans want to break it just to break it. And dem party leadership barely wants to fight to keep what we have, there just aren't enough progressives in office yet to overcome moderates so we can actually getting something close to what every other developed nation has.

[–] partial_accumen 41 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Why are they acting like this is a good thing?

Its a good thing because it means more people have healthcare coverage. That is a measurably better situation for millions of Americans.

It’s a sign that lots of Americans don’t have a job with benefits.

I'd actually prefer if my healthcare wasn't tied to my job. I'd prefer single payer even. But you're measuring this as a negative by using the old yardstick as what should exist.

We need to actually fix healthcare. We got nowhere close to even what Obama started asking for, but after it got argued down by Republicans and moderates, neither party wants to increase it.

"Perfect is the enemy of good" -Voltaire

I agree we need to do more, but this the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) was the biggest step of progress in decades. This article is pointing out that even more people today are benefiting from it now 13 years after its passage.

[+] givesomefucks -7 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Its a good thing because it means more people have healthcare coverage

That's like saying it's a good thing food banks exist...

It is.

But it's not a good thing they *need to exist.

The issue is a majority of elected officials are fine with the current status quo. Moderates argued Obama down, and ever since they've opposed their own party fixing it.

Like, you understand the American healthcare system is still fucked right?

[–] partial_accumen 16 points 11 months ago (3 children)

The issue is a majority of elected officials are fine with the current status quo. Moderates argued Obama down, and ever since they’ve opposed their own party fixing it.

Cool, you've got it figured out. How does that give people healthcare today. It doesn't. So, continue fighting the good fight, but don't dunk on actual passed legislation that give millions of Americans better healthcare options than they have had in decades prior.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

Can we not critique half-measures? Sure, be thankful they exist, but still demand more. Hard to do that when you're too busy patting yourself on the back for ensuring that the status quo is maintained rather than improved.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

So push for better things but don't criticize the things you're trying to replace. Got it.

[–] partial_accumen 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

How about doing the actual replacing before you crap on the work others actually accomplished? Your argument has zero weight when you're calling an imperfect solution a "bad thing".

[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Single payer.

There, now I can crap on it.

And any solution that ties health care to health coverage is a bad thing.

[–] partial_accumen 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Thank you for making my point so clearly.

We both agree the ACA is doing good for people, but there is more needed.

We disagree with what that "more" is. So while we hash out solutions the ACA is benefiting people today.

Without the ACA millions of Americans would be worse off right now.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Two thirds of all bankruptcies are for medical debt, people are still avoiding care because of cost, mental health care is still not covered, and people are still at the whims of corporate death panels.

But we won't be outright rejected for a pre-existing condition, they'll just use their lawyers and stalling tactics to avoid paying for it. So I guess that's nice.

[–] partial_accumen 0 points 11 months ago

You're no longer talking to me, but now at me. You're not including me in your conversation anymore, so you don't need my input anymore. Thanks for conversing up to this point. Have a great day!

[–] MotoAsh -5 points 11 months ago

Keep being happy catching crumbs. I'm sure those crumbs serve you well. Definitely better than a full meal.

[–] PM_Your_Nudes_Please 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Yeah, this is a little like going “underemployment hit record highs” and treating it like a celebration. It’s great the program exists, but the fact that it needs to exist is utterly fucked. We shouldn’t be treating this as a win. It’s a sign that things are really fucking dire. They’re celebrating the fact that people are being forced to use an ultra expensive safety net, instead of just fixing the system that necessitates the need for the safety net in the first place.

Imagine a headline that said “Food Bank Usage Sets Another Record Even As Trump Threatens The Law Yet Again” instead, because it’s essentially the same thing in a different wrapper. It’s great the program exists as a stopgap, but holy shit this is bad news. This is some straight up Orphan Crushing Machine stuff.

Orphan Crushing Machine

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I'm sure the health insurance companies are super happy about all the new individual customers. They're a lot easier to defraud than a company buying health insurance.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

I don't know. They're pretty good at defrauding regular customers who have insurance through their company as well.

[–] Alwaysfallingupyup 1 points 11 months ago

Record for profits