{"id":2739,"date":"2015-04-14T12:57:09","date_gmt":"2015-04-14T17:57:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/?p=2739"},"modified":"2015-04-14T14:05:01","modified_gmt":"2015-04-14T19:05:01","slug":"more-americans-have-health-coverage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/more-americans-have-health-coverage\/","title":{"rendered":"More Americans Have Health Coverage"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/wildly-successful-government-program-still-unpopular-because-lies\/\">Speaking of Obamacare<\/a>, news was out last week about its continued success in reducing the number of\u00a0Americans without access to health care. \u00a0Check out <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vox.com\/2015\/4\/13\/8402433\/a-chart-that-obamacares-fiercest-critics-will-have-a-hard-time\">Matthew Iglesias (and Sarah Kliff) at Vox<\/a>, and <a href=\"http:\/\/nymag.com\/daily\/intelligencer\/2015\/04\/uninsured-rate-falls-again-for-random-reason.html?mid=rss\">Jonathan Chait at New York Magazine<\/a>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<h2>Iglesias:<\/h2>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<blockquote>\n<h2><a href=\"http:\/\/www.vox.com\/2015\/4\/13\/8402433\/a-chart-that-obamacares-fiercest-critics-will-have-a-hard-time\">A chart that Obamacare&#8217;s fiercest critics will have a hard time explaining<\/a><\/h2>\n<p>The share of Americans who lack health insurance coverage plunged again last quarter,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.gallup.com\/poll\/182348\/uninsured-rate-dips-first-quarter.aspx\" target=\"_blank\">according to Gallup<\/a>, down to the lowest level since it started keeping track. An additional 1 percent of the American public \u2014 more than 3 million people \u2014 went from uninsured to insured over the past quarter. Unfortunately Gallup&#8217;s data on this doesn&#8217;t go very far back, but as you can see this is <em>way<\/em> lower than where it was when the company started counting.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"e-image\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"vox-lazy-load lazy-loaded\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cdn0.vox-cdn.com\/thumbor\/tMfGvSy48JTWZLoGL5sBJheM_jg%3D\/800x0\/filters%3Ano_upscale%28%29\/cdn0.vox-cdn.com\/uploads\/chorus_asset\/file\/3600020\/lzi_gpd6puu6buc0blijhq.0.png?ssl=1\" alt=\" \" data-chorus-asset-id=\"3600020\" data-full-size=\"https:\/\/cdn1.vox-cdn.com\/thumbor\/95Lp26wqYe9V2mFUhOq-WjvrnaE=\/cdn0.vox-cdn.com\/uploads\/chorus_asset\/file\/3600020\/lzi_gpd6puu6buc0blijhq.0.png\" data-original=\"https:\/\/cdn0.vox-cdn.com\/thumbor\/tMfGvSy48JTWZLoGL5sBJheM_jg=\/800x0\/filters:no_upscale()\/cdn0.vox-cdn.com\/uploads\/chorus_asset\/file\/3600020\/lzi_gpd6puu6buc0blijhq.0.png\" \/><\/figure>\n<p>Every time one of these quarterly reports comes out, I hear from conservatives saying to me that <em>of course<\/em> a law that mandates the purchase of insurance and then subsidizes it will succeed in getting people health insurance. And I agree! But conservatives didn&#8217;t always.<\/p>\n<p>A year or two ago, people up and down the food chain from incredibly popular conservative media celebrities to incredibly obscure conservative think tank wonks were making the case that Obamacare wasn&#8217;t expanding coverage.<\/p>\n<p>Rush Limbaugh used to argue that <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2013\/10\/24\/america_isn_t_signing_up_for_obamacare\">people would never sign up<\/a> for Obamacare plans. National Review editor and Politico columnist Rich Lowry argued that <a href=\"http:\/\/www.politifact.com\/punditfact\/statements\/2014\/mar\/26\/rich-lowry\/were-most-obamacare-sign-ups-people-who-had-insura\/\">new signups were just coming from people who were already insured<\/a>. And to back up his claim, Lowry had an American Enterprise Institute health policy scholar.<\/p>\n<p>Now in defense of conservatives, it&#8217;s a mistake to attribute this all to the Affordable Care Act. A decline in the uninsured rate is, in part, a reflection of the growing strength of the economy and the accelerating pace of job creation.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"e-image\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"vox-lazy-load lazy-loaded\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cdn2.vox-cdn.com\/thumbor\/rHb9KlN43HDltZdLavJeC3P9I0A%3D\/800x0\/filters%3Ano_upscale%28%29\/cdn0.vox-cdn.com\/uploads\/chorus_asset\/file\/3600076\/job_creation.0.png?ssl=1\" alt=\" \" data-chorus-asset-id=\"3600076\" data-full-size=\"https:\/\/cdn1.vox-cdn.com\/thumbor\/8SsL9aIYxAPUa1HqnYA5I0D9OFY=\/cdn0.vox-cdn.com\/uploads\/chorus_asset\/file\/3600076\/job_creation.0.png\" data-original=\"https:\/\/cdn2.vox-cdn.com\/thumbor\/rHb9KlN43HDltZdLavJeC3P9I0A=\/800x0\/filters:no_upscale()\/cdn0.vox-cdn.com\/uploads\/chorus_asset\/file\/3600076\/job_creation.0.png\" \/><\/figure>\n<p>On the other hand, conservatives <em>also<\/em> predicted that Obamacare would destroy the economy. In a 2011 press conference, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.factcheck.org\/2011\/01\/a-job-killing-law\/\">John Boehner used the phrase &#8220;job killing&#8221;<\/a> once every two minutes. Then in 2012 we had the best year of job creation since 2005. In 2013 we had an even better year of job creation. Then in 2014, we had an even better year, the best since 1999.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"video-wrap p-scalable-video\"><script src=\"http:\/\/player.ooyala.com\/iframe.js#ec=FiYjRyczo6AX8fML02ceMdtBSwJs7kJj&amp;pbid=a637d53c5c0a43c7bf4e342886b9d8b0\"><\/script><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<h2>Chait:<\/h2>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<blockquote>\n<h2><a href=\"http:\/\/nymag.com\/daily\/intelligencer\/2015\/04\/uninsured-rate-falls-again-for-random-reason.html?mid=rss\">Uninsured Rate Falls Again for Random Reason Totally Unrelated to Obamacare<\/a><\/h2>\n<p>Not long ago, the hypothesis that Obamacare would substantially reduce the uninsured rate was a point of fierce ideological disagreement. The National Center for Policy Analysis, a major conservative health-care think tank, <a href=\"http:\/\/healthblog.ncpa.org\/will-the-number-of-uninsured-rise-under-obamacare\/\" data-track=\"Body Text Link: External\">predicted<\/a> in 2013, \u201cthe massive law that was enacted to solve the problem of the uninsured in America is more likely to worsen it.\u201d \u201cAt the end of the day, for all of the rhetoric and promises about what Obamacare would achieve, the health law\u2019s most ardent supporters have stuck to their guns because of one thing: coverage expansion,\u201d wrote Avik Roy, a leading Republican health-care adviser, in 2014. \u201cBut new data suggests that Obamacare may fail even to achieve this goal.\u201d\u00a0Obamacare would result in \u201cessentially the same number of uninsured,\u201d insisted <a href=\"http:\/\/mediamatters.org\/blog\/2014\/02\/12\/foxs-krauthammer-falsely-suggests-obamacare-won\/198046\" data-track=\"Body Text Link: External\">Charles Krauthammer<\/a> in February 2014.<\/p>\n<p>The point of this little walk through the past is that <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gallup.com\/poll\/182348\/uninsured-rate-dips-first-quarter.aspx?utm_source=alert&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_content=morelink&amp;utm_campaign=syndication\" data-track=\"Body Text Link: External\">Gallup<\/a> has a new survey out today, and lo and behold, the uninsured rate has fallen again:<\/p>\n<figure class=\"img horizontal  secondary\" data-component=\"img\">\n<div><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img1.nymag.com\/imgs\/daily\/intelligencer\/2015\/04\/13\/13-obamacare.w529.h352.2x.jpg\" srcset=\"\/\/img1.nymag.com\/imgs\/daily\/intelligencer\/2015\/04\/13\/13-obamacare.w529.h352.jpg 1x, \/\/img1.nymag.com\/imgs\/daily\/intelligencer\/2015\/04\/13\/13-obamacare.w529.h352.2x.jpg 2x\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<aside><button class=\"enlarge\" data-track=\"Enlarge\"><\/button><\/aside>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>It is starting to look possible that this trend is not some random fluke that has happened six straight quarters but is somehow related to the enactment of Obamacare. So any day now, we can expect conservative politicians and intellectuals to begin publicly rethinking their analysis of this law.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<!-- sktbuilder starter --><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/wp-content\/plugins\/skt-builder\/sktbuilder\/sktbuilder-frontend-starter.js\"><\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/wp-content\/plugins\/skt-builder\/sktbuilder-wordpress-driver.js\"><\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> var starter = new SktbuilderStarter({\"mode\": \"prod\", \"skip\":[\"jquery\",\"underscore\",\"backbone\"],\"sktbuilderUrl\": \"https:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/wp-content\/plugins\/skt-builder\/sktbuilder\/\", \"driver\": new SktbuilderWordpressDriver({\"ajaxUrl\": \"https:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/wp-admin\/admin-ajax.php\", \"iframeUrl\": \"https:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/more-americans-have-health-coverage\/?sktbuilder=true\", \"pageId\": 2739,  \"nonce\": \"4d2216e7f6\", \"pages\": [{\"title\":\"NTD Officers\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/napervilledemocrats.org\\\/ntdo\\\/wp-admin\\\/post.php?post=475&action=sktbuilder\"},{\"title\":\"2022 Election\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/napervilledemocrats.org\\\/ntdo\\\/wp-admin\\\/post.php?post=11490&action=sktbuilder\"}], \"page\": \"More Americans Have Health Coverage\" }) });<\/script><!-- end sktbuilder starter -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Speaking of Obamacare, news was out last week about its continued success in reducing the number of\u00a0Americans without access to health care. \u00a0Check out Matthew Iglesias (and Sarah Kliff) at<br \/><a class=\"moretag\" href=\"https:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/more-americans-have-health-coverage\/\">+ Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2743,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[65],"class_list":["post-2739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-obamacare"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/13-obamacare.w529.h352.jpg?fit=529%2C352&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2BzCg-Ib","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2739"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2739\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2746,"href":"https:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2739\/revisions\/2746"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}