Weekly Address: President Obama – If you haven’t gotten covered, here’s your chance

November 7, 2015 JanF Featured Posts, From the White House 3

The President’s Weekly Address post is also an Open News Thread. Feel free to share other news stories in the comments.

From the White House – Weekly Address

In this week’s address, the President discussed the importance of reducing the number of people without health insurance. Because of the Affordable Care Act, more people now have the security of health insurance than ever before. As the law’s coverage provisions have taken effect, 17.6 million Americans have gained coverage, and the nation’s uninsured rate now stands at its lowest level ever. The ACA is working, making health care more affordable, accessible, and of higher quality for millions of people. But there are still Americans around the country who are eligible for Marketplace coverage yet remain uninsured. The President encouraged those who do not have health insurance at this point, especially those whose communities are part of the Healthy Communities Challenge, to go online, take advantage of the open enrollment period that began this past weekend, and sign up for health care coverage.

In this week’s address, the President discussed the importance of reducing the number of people without health insurance.

Transcript: Weekly Address: If You Haven’t Gotten Covered, Now’s Your Chance

Remarks of President Barack Obama
Weekly Address, The White House, November 7, 2015

Hi, everybody. For decades, too many working Americans went without the security of health insurance — and their financial well-being suffered because of it.

We’ve begun to change that. As the Affordable Care Act has taken effect, we’ve covered 17.6 million Americans. Since 2010, the uninsured rate has decreased by 45%. And for the first time, more than 90% of Americans are covered.

If you haven’t gotten covered yet, or if you care about someone who hasn’t gotten covered yet, now’s your chance. It’s open enrollment season for the Health Insurance Marketplace.

What that means is, with a few clicks on HealthCare.gov, you’ll find private insurance companies competing for your business. You can compare plans and choose the one that’s right for your family. In fact, most Americans will find an option that costs less than $75 a month. Even if you already have insurance through the Marketplace, check it out. Shopping around can save you a lot of money — last year, consumers who shopped saved almost $400.

Take the story of a man named Phil Viso, who emailed me earlier this year. Phil’s a software developer from my hometown of Chicago. Last winter, he had an idea for a new app and decided to start his own company. And that can be scary when you need to get your own insurance. But Phil logged on to HealthCare.gov, answered a few questions, picked a plan, and even found out he was eligible for a tax credit that saved him money.

Here’s what he wrote: “I’m still sort of in shock about how great the experience of signing up for health care was…I will have a lot to worry about over the course of the year as I try to get my app released, but thankfully, good health care will not be one of those worries.”

After he sent me that email, Phil ended up getting a new and better job anyway. But that’s the whole point of health insurance. Peace of mind. And under the Affordable Care Act, if you want to change jobs, go back to school, or chase that new idea, you can do it without worrying about going broke if you get sick. If you’ve got a pre-existing condition — diabetes or cancer or heartburn or a heart attack — you can no longer be charged more or denied coverage. You can no longer be charged more just for being a woman. And preventive care like checkups and immunizations now come with no additional out-of-pocket costs.

What we’re talking about is no longer just a law, and it’s certainly not the myths and scare tactics that the cynics have peddled our way for years. This is reality. This is health care in America. And the bottom line is, Americans like it. They’re happy with their plans and their premiums.

So join them. Give it a shot. Check out HealthCare.gov, CuidadoDeSalud.gov, or call 1-800-318-2596 to find a plan that’s right for you or someone you care about.

And by the way — if you live in one of the 20 cities participating in our Healthy Communities Challenge, I want to see how many of your neighbors you can get signed up. I’ll come visit the city that enrolls the highest percentage of folks who aren’t covered right now. That’s a promise.

After all, this country is at its best when we look out for each other. And together, we can help more Americans get the security that they and their families deserve.

Thanks everybody. Have a great weekend.

Bolding added.

~

3 Comments

  1. The last 10% might be a tough “get” as it is people who are not poor enough for Medicaid (especially in the Republican states that rejected the expansion) but don’t have enough money for premiums because the tax credits are too low.

    Health insurance is a tough sell when tax credits are low

    Those eligible for the lowest subsidies to buy health insurance were the least likely to sign up for 2015 plans, studies show, another indication of the challenge of boosting enrollment for President Obama’s signature health care law in 2016.

    The percentage of those choosing health plans dropped from about 75% for those earning $23,540 to about 14% for those earning about $47,000, new research from the Urban Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) shows. Premium tax credits available on the federal and state insurance exchanges decrease as consumers earn closer to 400% of the federal poverty limit, which is about $47,000 for an individual.

    The RWJF report shows that 96% of those who found insurance last year on the exchanges are satisfied with their coverage and staying put.

    But it will be difficult to get everyone insured:

    For many uninsured consumers, having no insurance has “become a way of life,” says Katherine Hempstead, RWJF’s director of insurance coverage.

    The rest are “the really tough population, which has been uninsured for a long time and is not really interested in paying several hundred a month” for insurance, she says.

    Many of the uninsured are making do with low-cost drugs and health appointments available at retailers, including Walmart and Costco, Hempstead and others say.

  2. In the news: From the MSNBC Democratic Candidate Forum in South Carolina

    Hillary Clinton on the brutal attack in South Carolina by the school “resource” officer and how we need to provide resources to help kids, not arrest them:

    Warning: at the end Luke “Example of Promoting Based on Last Name Alone” Russert pops up on your screen!!

  3. In the News: SCOTUS to hear another ACA lawsuit, the one attacking the birth control mandate

    From SCOTUSblog:

    On Friday, for the fourth time in three years, the Supreme Court agreed to rule on challenges to the new federal health care law — this time, religious non-profit institutions’ objection to the Affordable Care Act’s birth-control mandate, which requires employers to provide their female employees with health insurance that includes no-cost access to certain forms of birth control. The Court accepted parts of all seven cases on that issue filed with it under the ACA. It has not yet spelled out how those will be consolidated for a hearing — planned for late March.

    In all seven cases, the Court will rule on whether the mandate itself and the government’s attempt to arrange a way to exempt non-profit charities, schools, colleges, and hospitals from the mandate violate the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. It specifically refused, in two of the cases, to hear claims that the government has discriminated among those allowed an exemption and those not — claims made either under RFRA or under the Constitution’s First Amendment.

    Seven wins, one conservative appellate court loss forced the issue:

    Seven out of eight federal appeals courts have agreed with the administration that requiring the faith-based groups to make their objection known and identify their insurer or insurance administrator does not violate a federal religious freedom law.

    Only the appeals court in St. Louis ruled for the groups, saying they probably have a right to refuse to comply with the administration rules.

    The justices on Friday said they would hear pending appeals from groups in Colorado, Maryland, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas and Washington, DC.

    Hobby Lobby revisited:

    The Supreme Court announced on Friday that it will hear a bloc of cases, all of which present the issue of how far employers may go to cut off their employees’ access to birth control coverage those employees are entitled to receive under the law.

    In its 2014 Hobby Lobby decision, a 5-4 Court held that employers who object to birth control on religious grounds could refuse to include contraceptive coverage in their employer-provided health plans, even though federal rules required them to do so. Hobby Lobby, however, strongly implied than the federal government could use an alternative method to ensure that these employees still receive contraceptive care. Under this alternative, religious objectors must fill out a form declaring their objection to birth control and disclosing which company administers their insurance plan. The government then works directly with this insurance administrator to provide contraceptive coverage plans to the objecting employer’s workers.

    The five Catholic men on the court will get another chance to set their religious beliefs into law, tossing aside science and the constitution. I am not very hopeful they will choose to uphold the laws and womens rights.

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