Sean Renaud
The West Coast Pop
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It definitely won't increase it.
Probably will. Nothing quite like having a better budget for trying to stay within one.
What happened to all of the doom and gloom economic threads?
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Probably will. Nothing quite like having a better budget for trying to stay within one.
mercury14
Pragmatic Metaphysician
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It definitely won't increase it.
Actually accepting the Medicaid expansion helps state budgets. States are currently having to pour cash into their medical systems to pay for the masses up uninsured and under-insured citizens. The Medicaid expansion takes care of most of that problem for them as it's 90% federally-funded plus 100% fed funded for the first three years.
Republican governors who are refusing the expansion are doing so because they'd rather put politics over the well-being of their own people and over the integrity of their state's medical system. Remember, these are working poor (or rather poor) people we're talking about, not people who don't work - and they're still demonized by Republicans who refuse to allow them to have health care.
Busybody
We are ALL BUSYBODY!
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Busybody
We are ALL BUSYBODY!
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BoyNextDoor
I hate liars
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In the absence of Obamacare large employers would pay less if they eliminated health benefits. The only difference is that now there's a penalty if they do it.
It large employers weren't dumping employee health plans before, why would they do it now that there's a penalty?
In the absence of Obamacare large employers would continue to offer the MiniMed
The question is now that there is a delay can they continue to offer the MiniMed in 2014? That would save my company appx $1M in 2014.
BTW - I think the MNGuy was on a MiniMed and then was comparing the MiniMed to a real plan to go up 700%. (MiniMed != Obamacare)
mercury14
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While that's true, mini meds are far from industry standard. The percentage of employers that offer a mini med option is probably pretty significant, but the percentage that offer it as their only option is quite low.
Mini meds are gone in 2014 because there are no more annual caps. Already enacted aspects of the ACA have chipped away at Mini Meds though. There really haven't been traditional Mini Meds since 2010.
Somehow he has Mini med price but decent benefits. Don't ask me how, his plan seems just ridiculously cheap for what he says he's getting.
koalabear
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Medicaid is a fucking joke dumped on the states by the feds.
dajokesonyou
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Adre
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Now is the time to lock the basement and throw away the key.
RobDownSouth
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Vetty and the Rapepublicans would rather see America fail then a Democratic president succeed.
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Adre
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Folks, can you believe this guy's wit? He must keep 'em in stitches at the nursing home.
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mercury14
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But not so outdoorsy that it's an obstacle to making 112,000 Lit posts, right?
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Busybody
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Curry calls Benny B a fucking loser asshole who knows nothing
Bernanke: Unemployment Rate ‘Probably Understates the Weakness of the Labor Market’
After giving a historical speech at an economics conference in Cambridge, Mass., today, Ben Bernanke took questions on current policy, in which he seemed to be doing his best to emphasize that the Federal Reserve isn’t overly eager to tighten its policies. Specifically, he reiterated that the Fed’s rule of keeping interest rates effectively at zero until unemployment gets down to 6.5 percent is a “threshold, not a trigger” — which would be semantic if the Federal Reserve isn’t serious about taking other economic and employment factors into account.
But Bernanke subtly suggested that that’s not the case, by saying “the unemployment rate probably understates the weakness of the labor market,” meaning when unemployment hits 6.5 percent, which the Fed expects it to do around the beginning of 2015, the bank might well decide that economic conditions are bad enough to keep its funds rate at the most stimulative level, zero (this wasn’t the first time Bernanke has said he thinks the labor market is weaker than the unemployment rate makes it look). To similar effect, he admitted that the Fed’s projections are indeed rosier than private-sector competitors’, saying “I think we’re somewhat optimistic,” again implying that the tapering of the Fed’s QE3 program and the raising of interest rates may not be happening quite as soon as he outlined in June, a sketch which sent markets tumbling. (One might note that, while the logic here is fairly clear, these kinds of messages are a little odd coming from a man who had just said transparency is the most important practice of a central bank.)
Further, there’s been plenty of concern over the rise in interest rates in the past few months, and Bernanke explained that the Fed would also be willing to address this issue if it begins to harm the economy.
Throughout the speech, Bernanke emphasized the importance of the tool of “forward guidance” — a central bank’s saying what its future policy will be — and that’s basically what he was providing (again, just not in a terribly transparent way). He’s not willing to commit to a zero-interest-rate policy for a longer period of time, but by admitting certain things about economic metrics and projections, he’s implicitly saying it’s more likely rates will stay low for longer.
He also reiterated that the Fed is committed to keeping inflation at its target rate, 2 percent; it’s consistently been running lower (in the low 1s) for some months now. He explained, “we’re committed to defending the target from below as well from above,” though they haven’t been terribly successful at doing so. Bernanke did take a small jab at the concerns many Americans express over inflation, who might wonder why the Fed wouldn’t be happy to keep inflation as low as possible, or well below its 2 percent target. “It’s hard to explain to your uncle,” he said, but “very low inflation” is particularly bad for the economy, because it raises the risk of deflation, which presents signficant economic problems.
On a lighter note, one person noted that the passage of the 1912 bill creating the Federal Reserve in 1912 was regarded as a significant political achievement, and asked what Bernanke thought a central bank created by today’s Congress might look like. Bernanke quipped, “there wouldn’t be one Federal Reserve bank in the whole western part of the United States. That’s my answer.” Earlier he’d dryly explained, “I’ll have the pleasure of testifying before Congress next week.”
Bernanke: Unemployment Rate ‘Probably Understates the Weakness of the Labor Market’
After giving a historical speech at an economics conference in Cambridge, Mass., today, Ben Bernanke took questions on current policy, in which he seemed to be doing his best to emphasize that the Federal Reserve isn’t overly eager to tighten its policies. Specifically, he reiterated that the Fed’s rule of keeping interest rates effectively at zero until unemployment gets down to 6.5 percent is a “threshold, not a trigger” — which would be semantic if the Federal Reserve isn’t serious about taking other economic and employment factors into account.
But Bernanke subtly suggested that that’s not the case, by saying “the unemployment rate probably understates the weakness of the labor market,” meaning when unemployment hits 6.5 percent, which the Fed expects it to do around the beginning of 2015, the bank might well decide that economic conditions are bad enough to keep its funds rate at the most stimulative level, zero (this wasn’t the first time Bernanke has said he thinks the labor market is weaker than the unemployment rate makes it look). To similar effect, he admitted that the Fed’s projections are indeed rosier than private-sector competitors’, saying “I think we’re somewhat optimistic,” again implying that the tapering of the Fed’s QE3 program and the raising of interest rates may not be happening quite as soon as he outlined in June, a sketch which sent markets tumbling. (One might note that, while the logic here is fairly clear, these kinds of messages are a little odd coming from a man who had just said transparency is the most important practice of a central bank.)
Further, there’s been plenty of concern over the rise in interest rates in the past few months, and Bernanke explained that the Fed would also be willing to address this issue if it begins to harm the economy.
Throughout the speech, Bernanke emphasized the importance of the tool of “forward guidance” — a central bank’s saying what its future policy will be — and that’s basically what he was providing (again, just not in a terribly transparent way). He’s not willing to commit to a zero-interest-rate policy for a longer period of time, but by admitting certain things about economic metrics and projections, he’s implicitly saying it’s more likely rates will stay low for longer.
He also reiterated that the Fed is committed to keeping inflation at its target rate, 2 percent; it’s consistently been running lower (in the low 1s) for some months now. He explained, “we’re committed to defending the target from below as well from above,” though they haven’t been terribly successful at doing so. Bernanke did take a small jab at the concerns many Americans express over inflation, who might wonder why the Fed wouldn’t be happy to keep inflation as low as possible, or well below its 2 percent target. “It’s hard to explain to your uncle,” he said, but “very low inflation” is particularly bad for the economy, because it raises the risk of deflation, which presents signficant economic problems.
On a lighter note, one person noted that the passage of the 1912 bill creating the Federal Reserve in 1912 was regarded as a significant political achievement, and asked what Bernanke thought a central bank created by today’s Congress might look like. Bernanke quipped, “there wouldn’t be one Federal Reserve bank in the whole western part of the United States. That’s my answer.” Earlier he’d dryly explained, “I’ll have the pleasure of testifying before Congress next week.”
Adre
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Your John Wayne impression?
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Adre
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Cream and bananas. Hmmm, what they say about you might be true.
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Disgustipated
LAWLZ
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All that means is you consider Lit the real world and you're on the porch using a laptop, tubby.
RobDownSouth
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When you've been unemployed for as long as he has been (13 years and counting) you have a lot of idle time on your hands.
Sean Renaud
The West Coast Pop
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Does the House really expect Obama to let it stand if they somehow manage to get this through the Senate (which is impossible on it's face)
Busybody
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HHS Announces $150 Million In Grants To Hire Almost 3K Workers To Help Sign People Up For Obamacare…
Pretty soon they will be paying people to sign up for Obamacare, mark my words.
Via Daily Caller:
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced Wednesday $150 million in grant awards to 1,159 health centers nationwide to help enroll Americans in the health-care law’s new insurance coverage options.
With the new funding, HHS says they expect these centers to hire “2,900 outreach and eligibility assistance workers” to help with education and enrollment.
“Investing in health centers means that people in neighborhoods and towns across the country have one more resource to help them understand their insurance options and enroll in affordable coverage,” Sebelius said in a statement.
With the announcement, HHS also released state-by-state lists of health centers receiving this funding. The department says that health centers currently serve more than 21 million patients a year.
According to HHS, the enrollment assistance grants are meant to “complement and align” with other efforts like the “navigator” program aimed at helping people enroll in Obamacare.
Pretty soon they will be paying people to sign up for Obamacare, mark my words.
Via Daily Caller:
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced Wednesday $150 million in grant awards to 1,159 health centers nationwide to help enroll Americans in the health-care law’s new insurance coverage options.
With the new funding, HHS says they expect these centers to hire “2,900 outreach and eligibility assistance workers” to help with education and enrollment.
“Investing in health centers means that people in neighborhoods and towns across the country have one more resource to help them understand their insurance options and enroll in affordable coverage,” Sebelius said in a statement.
With the announcement, HHS also released state-by-state lists of health centers receiving this funding. The department says that health centers currently serve more than 21 million patients a year.
According to HHS, the enrollment assistance grants are meant to “complement and align” with other efforts like the “navigator” program aimed at helping people enroll in Obamacare.
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