1. Who is affected and how: The number of people getting a bad deal is miniscule compared with what Republicans and the conservative media would have your believe.
80% are unaffected (because they get their medical insurance from employers or from the government, such as Medicare/Medicaid or federal emplyees).
15% previously had no insurance and will now be able to get it.
2.5% who had their insurance cancelled but will now get a better policy for less money.
1.5% who had policies cancelled but will now get better policies with federal subsidies to help pay for them.
1.5% who had their insurance cancelled but will now have to pay more for a policy.
98.5 % are either unaffected or will be better off.
1.5% had policy cancellations and will have to pay more.
2. Surprising new data about the savings in health care costs, largely due to Obamacare -- and it's far from fully implemented.
A report by the Council of Economic Advisers shows that the past year's rate of growth in medical spending was the lowest every recorded: only 1.3%. That is a phenomenal slowing. I think it was recently in the 6% range. Several factors may be in play, but arguably the largest is the effect of the ACA. And most of its features are not yet in effect.
Because of this slowed growth, they are lowering the projected estimate of the future costs of the Medicare/Medicaid by 10%. That is huge in a program the size of the nation's health care bill.
NOW, let's see how the conservative media (FoxNews, talk radio) reports this and how the Republicans respond to it. If politics were not involved, they should be over-joyed. But I am not going to hold my breath.
Ralph
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