Obamacare

page type::article thing type::legislation

About
Obamacare is the colloqual name for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (aka ACA, PPACA) enacted in 2010 in response to reform initiatives in 2009.

It has been attacked by the political Right, especially free market libertarians, since it was first proposed -- typically with distortions and misrepresentations.

Reference

 * timeline: when each provision takes effect
 * timeline: when each provision takes effect

mythology

 * ObamaCare Facts: "dispelling the myths"
 * ObamaCare Insurance Premiums
 * Snopes:
 * Penalty Shot: about the opt-out penalty
 * 2011-01-21 A judge's letter on health care and an email gone viral
 * 2009-08-28 Twenty-six Lies About H.R. 3200

Projects

 * Saving the American Dream: the current alternative proposal from The Heritage Foundation

to file

 * 2012-12-18 Aetna CEO Bertolini: Get Ready for 'Rate Shock' as Some Health Insurance Premiums to Double in 2014 by Avik Roy
 * 2013-01-07 Obamacare Guarantees Higher Health Insurance Premiums -- $3,000+ Higher by Sally Pipes
 * 2013-02-09 State lacks doctors to meet demand of national healthcare law
 * 2013-02-13 Drop Coverage or Cut Hours? Big Companies Grapple With Obamacare "For large retail and restaurant chains the big unknown in the year ahead is how much more they'll pay for health coverage. Employers with 50 or more workers who put in 30 hours a week will be required to provide health care coverage or pay a fine..."
 * 2013-03-26/SOA ACA-Driven Changes in Individual Market Composition Could Lead to 32 Percent Average Increase in Cost; Wide Variability among States: the SoA "predicts that expected changes in member composition of the individual health care market could drive up underlying claims costs by an average of 32 percent nationally by 2017"
 * 2013-03-26 Health insurance rates to double as Obamacare fully kicks in: this site seems to be a woo-peddler
 * 2013-03-27 Obamacare not so ‘Affordable,’ study finds by M.D. Kittle: report on 2013-03-26/SOA. (This was the only link I was able to find to that report in nearly an hour of searching.)
 * 2013-04-23 PPACA’s Impact on Affordability refers to 2013-03-26/SOA
 * 2013-05-14 Who will pay more under Obamacare? Young men
 * 2013-05-23 California Obamacare premiums: No ‘rate shock’ here by Ezra Klein
 * 2013-05-24
 * Unexpected Health Insurance Rate Shock-California Obamacare Insurance Exchange Announces Premium Rates by Rick Ungar "The jolt that I was experiencing was not the result of the predicted out-of-control premium costs but the shock of rates far lower than what I expected – even at the lowest end of the age scale."
 * California Will Be Spared the Obamacare Apocalypse No sticker shock here—just affordable insurance premiums by Jonathan Cohn
 * 2013-05-26 The Obamacare Shock by Paul Krugman
 * 2013-05-28 California's health-care exchange: Proof ObamaCare works? by Keith Wagstaff
 * 2013-05-30/F Rate Shock: In California, Obamacare To Increase Individual Health Insurance Premiums By 64-146% by Avik Roy
 * 2013-05-30 Obamacare drives up insurance premiums by up to 146 percent in California: promotes 2013-05-30/F
 * 2013-06-01/WP The shocking truth about Obamacare’s rate shock by Ezra Klein criticizes 2013-05-30/F
 * discussion: Tau-Mu Yi, Woozle, and others
 * 2013-06-01
 * Forbes Fight responds to 2013-05-30/F: "Avik Roy wrote an extremely misleading article on Obamacare in California. [...] Basically Roy compared Obamacare exchange rates (without subsidies) to the teaser rate from a web site which has received many extremely unamusing negative reviews for baiting and switching."
 * We Are Not Having A Serious Discussion, Obamacare Edition by Paul Krugman responds to 2013-05-30/F: "Roy claims that Obamacare will cause soaring insurance rates, using a comparison that is completely fraudulent — and I say fraudulent, not wrong, because he is indeed enough of a policy wonk here to know that he is pulling a fast one." He also says that Ezra Klein tries too hard to keep his temper in 2013-06-01/WP.
 * 2013-06-02 Forbes Tells The Truth, Then Lies About Obamacare by karoli responds to 2013-05-30/F in a bulleted list
 * 2013-06-03
 * Conservative economics fraud re: ObamaCare
 * Anatomy of a Bogus Obamacare Argument How an irresponsible Forbes writer distorted the debate by Jonathan Cohn responds to 2013-05-30/F
 * 2013-06-04 Will ObamaCare double your health insurance premiums? by Peter Weber
 * 2013-06-05/NR Un-rigging the Rate-Shock Debate The truth about what those healthy 25-year-olds will pay by Jonathan Cohn
 * 2013-06-05 Higher Health Insurance Premiums: The Obamacare Debate We Didn’t Have by Peter Suderman "that still leaves roughly three quarters of the market who will see far higher rates." -- not clear at all how he figures this.
 * 2013-06-06/ODI Health Insurance Costs to Increase Significantly Under Affordable Care Act
 * as of 2013-06-11, there is no request listed here for 2013 that is anything over 23%. The most recent request was March 31.
 * the 88% figure is apparently derived by comparing 2013-03-26/SOA with rate-hike proposals submitted to the ODI.
 * Analysis: Woozle
 * 2013-06-06
 * Obamacare Insurance Exchanges Creating Roadblocks To Enrollment While Wasting Millions In Taxpayer Money? by Rick Ungar: responds to 2013-05-30/F, but brings up a new criticism
 * Debunking The Myths of Obamacare Rate Shock: discussion of 2013-06-05/NR
 * 2013-06-10
 * Ohio Dept. Of Insurance: Obamacare To Increase Individual-Market Health Premiums By 88 Percent by Avik Roy - reporting on 2013-06-06/ODI
 * Obamacare costs soaring in recent rate checks by M.D. Kittle: reporting on 2013-06-06/ODI
 * 2013-06-22 Even With Obamacare, Health Inflation Falls To Historic Lows ...although some people will still see their premiums go up
 * 2013-10-24 Original 1989 document where Heritage Foundation created Obamacare’s individual mandate
 * 2013-11-12 Is the ACA the GOP health care plan from 1993? "The bill she had in mind did have a strong roster of Republicans behind it, and it did share many major features with the Affordable Care Act. There were some significant differences but in a side-by-side comparison, the similarities dominate. [..] However, to call it the Republican plan, as though a majority of Republicans endorsed it, goes too far."
 * 2013-12-06 The ACA v. the Heritage Plan: A Comparison in Chart Form: argues that Obamacare and the Heritage healthcare plan have only one thing in common: an insurance requirement. This is clearly wrong in at least one regard: they both specify an individual mandate, the very feature most objected to by the GOP and other opponents of Obamacare.
 * 2014-02-14 New GOP health-care plan is a starting point for a conversation, not a replacement