Relevant and even prescient commentary on news, politics and the economy.

Why Are So Many Americans Confused About Obamacare? How a Video Produced by CBS’ Washington Bureau Misled Millions –Part 1 Updated

run75441: I have been out and about to Thailand and China again so I have had not had a lot of time to contribute. Just reading the many comments on Robert Waldman and Beverly Mann’s well written articles gives a snapshot of how many people do not understand the PPACA and really do not care […]

More on Julia Boonstra

Paul Krugman also comments on healthcare horror stories hooey: by Robert Waldmann More on Julia Boonstra Glenn Kessler noted that the latest ad presenting an alleged Obamacare victim doesn’t add up right. Koch funded “Americans for Prosperity” broadcast an advertizement in Michigan in which Julia Boonstra complained that her old insurance was cancelled due to […]

Dear Ms. Boonstra: It’s too bad that you don’t live in Kentucky. Or Rhode Island. Or New York State. Or California. Or Arkansas. Or that Michigan’s state government now has a Republican governor, a Republican-controlled House, and Republican-controlled Senate. And, yes, that healthcare.com didn’t work until December. [UPDATED]

Congratulations, Republicans.  You’ve finally found a case in which the failure of the federal ACA website amounted to the failure of Obamacare itself. At least for what turned out to be a very difficult two months for one particular woman, Julie Boonstra, a resident of Michigan Republican Rep. Tim Walberg’s district. Which, contrary to your […]

Paul Krugman vs. … um … me. [Updated.]

No, no; of course, I don’t mean that Paul Krugman has expressly disputed something I wrote here on AB.  Or that he has ever read a post of mine.  Or that he knows that I exist.  Those latter two things have happened, but only in my dreams. The first of those has never happened at […]

Just Go Read

As I said on Facebook, it appears that Tim Armstrong—who got paid $12 million last year alone as CEO of the dead-on-its-feet AOL—is even more of an asshole than anyone previously believed. The pull quote: Until the morning I woke up in labor, every exam indicated that our daughter was perfectly healthy. In fact, had […]

Political Journalists Should Follow the Lead of Insurance Industry CEOs and Read Angry Bear Regularly. Seriously.

Meanwhile, health insurers warned that Rubio’s legislation [to kill the insurance risk-corridors provision in the ACA] would lead to the government-run health-care system that most alarms conservatives. And there was the awkward fact that the risk corridors were the same mechanism Republicans used in the 2006 prescription-drug legislation. — From Obamacare to the IRS scandal, […]

Republicans and Dana Milbank Solve the Unemployment Problem in Germany, Canada, Taiwan and Australia: Those countries just need to repeal their universal-healthcare laws and tie healthcare insurance to full-time employment at large corporations!

It’s worth appreciating the perverse nature of the [Republicans’] lie on display [in a new web ad against North Carolina Sen. Kay Hagan here. Because Republicans are absolutely wedded to their “Obamacare is a job killer” talking point, the CBO report’s findings are being distorted into proof that the law will inflict job losses on […]

Obamacare Killing Jobs . . . again

picture hat tip TPM DC After shown to be wrong by Factcheck.org in its analysis, the Fox News group and Republicans are at it again  with a worn out commentary on how Obamacare kills jobs. This time they are using the CBO’s new analysis on the impact of Obamacare. Sometimes, I wish the CBO’s Douglas […]

Obamacare roundup: Great enrollments for Wellpoint; “Bette from Spokane” debunked

Via Joan McCarter, we learn that Wellpoint, which runs a number of for-profit Blue Cross/Blue Shield insurance plans, reported on an investor’s conference call that it expects to add over one million new policyholders this year and that its enrollments are much better than expectations. Of 500,000 enrolled so far, fully 80% of them came […]