The Center for American Progress has created a new site to help people understand the impact of the U.S. Supreme Court’s upcoming decision on the above case. The decision will impact the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare.

“If the U.S. Supreme Court rules against the Affordable Care Act … later this June, more than 6.4 million Americans who receive health insurance through the federal exchange could lose their coverage.”

Here’s a link to that site and more specifics on the situation.

ACA · Affordable Care Act · King v. Burwell · Obamacare · U.S. Supreme Court

It’s been 5 years since President Obama signed this act into law and now more Americans have health insurance than ever before – many for the first time. The uninsured rate has dropped dramatically – the largest drop in four decades – and everyday more and more Americans are benefitting from the law.

• More than 16 million: the number of previously uninsured Americans who have gained access to quality health insurance through the Affordable Care Act. 
• Almost 6 million: the number of young adults under the age of 26 who have gained coverage since 2010, including the 2.3 million who were able to stay on their parents plans thanks to the Affordable Care Act. 
• 35 percent: the reduction in the uninsured rate since the first open enrollment in October 2013. 
• Up to 129 million: the number of people with pre-existing conditions who can no longer be denied coverage due to a pre-existing condition. 
• 9.4 million: the number of seniors and people with disabilities on Medicare who have saved over $15 billion on prescription drugs, an average of $1,598 per beneficiary. 

And let’s not forget… 

• About 12 million: the number of private sector jobs that have been added to the American economy since the Affordable Care Act was signed into law in March 2010.
• 60: the number of consecutive months of private sector job growth, the longest streak on record.  

Democrats remain committed to making sure that affordable health coverage is within reach for every American and will continue to fight to improve the lives of working Americans all over the country. The Affordable Care Act is working across the nation, and it is here to stay.

ACA · Affordable Care Act · healthcare · Obamacare

With Republican control of Congress, we shouldn’t be that surprised about this, but the actual number of times the House has voted on this is astounding.

On February 3, 2015, the House and our representative voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act for the 56th time, the 5th time to repeal it in full.

Yes, the man who positions himself as a moderate and “math guy” voted to fully repeal this act that’s helping over 44,000 Minnesotans obtain health insurance.

Here’s a link to a post on this topic on the National Memo website.

ACA · Affordable Care Act · Cong. Paulsen · Erik Paulsen · Obamacare

Earlier this year, Doug Erickson brought suit in federal court to deny emergency contraception for his female employees.  Mr. Erickson is the owner of Hastings Ford and Hastings Chrysler Center.  The conservative Liberty Center handled his law suit.  Here’s a link to an earlier post about the suit.

According to the StarTribune (December 11, 2014), the ruling has come down, and his female employees won’t be getting any emergency contraception. The article states that Mr. Erickson believes that life begins at conception. So, none of his employees regardless of their religious beliefs, will be able to use their medical coverage should they be raped.

If you haven’t been following the latest on the anti-choice front. This is the latest attack. Medical sciences doesn’t support Mr. Erickson’s position. But, people who believe as he does tend to hold that their beliefs trump science. (Just wondering if they’d feel the same way about antibiotics for a bad infection or drugs like Viagra® for men with performance issues.)

Where those holding this position are wanting to move things based on what’s happened in other states, a state constitutional amendment stating that a fertilized egg is a person. This has been rejected, sometimes multiple times, by voters. You can read more about this situation here.

If you’re in the market for a new vehicle, you may want to take a moment, review your core values and determine if you’d like to give this gentleman any of your hard-earned money.

ACA · Affordable Care Act · anti choice · Doug Erickson · Hastings Chrysler Center · Hastings Ford · Obamacare

The above title is from a post on the NationalMemo.com website by Froma Harrop on October 9, 2014.  In the post, the author discusses how Republican governor Rick Perry is dealing with the first U.S. case (and now death) of a person with Ebola.

While Gov. Perry has established a task force to address the Ebola threat, that seems like shutting the upper half of the barn door after the cow’s escaped.

What is the author concerned about?  When states had the option of participating in the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), there was a group of Republican governors including Gov. Perry who were more concerned with making political points against President Obama than seeing their citizens obtain decent health insurance.  What’s the difference?  States participating in the ACA have seen sharp declines in the number of uninsured people in their states.  The states that didn’t participate have about the same number of uninsured  as before the ACA went into force.

What’s the concern with this situation?  Not only are there humanitarian reasons for seeing more people with health insurance, there are now self interest reasons for more people to be able to obtain health care.  Why?  To quote the author, “Even the reach don’t enjoy divine protection from deadly infectious diseases.”

The article proceeds to discuss how the situation in the states with large numbers of uninsured Americans can exacerbate the spread of communicable, deadly disease.  It’s well worth the read.  Here’s a link to the full post.

ACA · Affordable Care Act · Ebola · Obamacare · Rick Perry