Thanks Obamacare!

Chuck Sheketoff

The Colorado Consumer Health Initiative and ProgressNow Colorado Education have launched a brand new website thanksobamacare.org and Twitter hashtag #thanksobamacare to put a well-deserved, positive image on the moniker "Obamacare." Their effort calls attention to how the Affordable Care Act -- Obamacare -- provides people better access to affordable and quality health care.

It is time to add your support and amplify the message: Thanks Obamacare! Check out the new website, share it and like it on Facebook, and follow @ThanksObamacare on Twitter.


Oregon Center for Public PolicyChuck Sheketoff is the executive director of the Oregon Center for Public Policy. You can sign up to receive email notification of OCPP materials at www.ocpp.org.

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    The AHCA is just about the only good news out there concerning the economic future of the working and middle classes. But I was at the ABA convention in Toronto in August and a very large number of very smart lawyers seemed to be fairly confident that the Supreme Ct. will strike down the key components of AHCA. I sure hope they are wrong.

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      The American Bar Association meets in Canada? Interesting choice of meeting venue.

      I think you can find certified smart attorneys on both sides of the question of whether it will survive Supreme Court review (which of course is a different question that whether it should survive based on law and precedent).

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    This is a commendable idea. Unfortunately, the term "Obamacare" is Frank Luntz-speak and a GOP talking point that has a negative connotation among the average person. In fact, the first thing I thought when I saw "Thanks Obamacare" was, "Are they being sarcastic?" "Thanks Obama" might fly better - and not play into the hands of conservative messaging, the way the left often does.

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    i'm glad to see the word Obamacare being taken over by our side. OC is not the fix, but it is the start. a huge victory. we need to embrace it. take the word & use it to show people how much they gain from the law.

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    Chuck, there a number of good features of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, PPACA, but they are mostly on the patient protection side, and calling it the Affordable Care Act is almost Orwellian, because it does so very little to control costs.

    The subsidy structure will in the short term from 2014 make insurance and care nominally more affordable for the small population that is eligible for them, though the tax-refund based mechanism means that up front costs will still be an obstacle to access. But because the act does almost nothing to control the underlying cost inflation, this means ever-rising subsidies to private insurers and providers as several times the rate of general inflation. The mechanism is unsustainable fiscally and will collapse.

    Meanwhile PPACA does completely nothing about affordability to people who are ensured through employers, or to employers, and may accelerate the patterns of employers dropping coverage, while offering no protection against employers shifting larger and larger costs onto employees.

    Originally the bill contained language setting standards by which (very low) minimum standards of employer-based insurance were set and employees could get subsidies and employers pay a fine if they weren't met. However, the final round of amendments says that these provisions apply to employees who get their insurance through their employers, except if they get their insurance through their employers. It's hilarious in a sick sort of way.

    It is time to put Improved Medicare for All single payer back on the table.

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    Also, is there anything here [http://bit.ly/afGpfE ] that is no longer true?

    If not, no matter what name it has, Obama Care is long on Obama and the medico-industrial complex and short on care.

    And, lest we forget, this act is the worst news for women's reproductive rights since before Roe.

    Here's how Obama Cares for women: "I'm pro-choice, but I think we also have the tradition in this town, historically, of not financing abortions as part of government-funded health care," Obama said, adding: "My main focus is making sure that people have options of high quality care at the lowest possible price."

    How's that working out for women?

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    I told my story at "thanks obamacare". Thanks for posting this Chuck.

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    Thanks to Obamacare my sister-in-law recovering from cancer gets to live if she has a recurrence. Thanks to Obamacare my young adult nieces get to have health care coverage through their parents' insurance.

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    Wanted to add that thanks to Obamacare my good friend just got a colonoscopy that is fully covered in his Medicare health plan.

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