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As reported by CNBC:

“US says Medicaid enrollment jumps by 3 million under Obamacare

At least 3 million more people were enrolled in Medicaid or CHIP programs by the end of February than before the beginning of Obamcare sign-ups, federal officials revealed Friday morning.

That post-Obamacare number is expected to grow, possibly significantly, because February’s data is not complete, and because it does not now reflect a huge influx of visitors to government-run Affordable Care Act exchanges in March.

Those exchanges both enroll people in private insurance, and determine whether applicants are eligible for the government-run Medicaid and CHIP programs, which give health coverage to poor adults and children, at no cost to enrollees….”

In other words, for all of its imperfections and the shameless obstructionism of the right wing, millions of Americans who were previously uninsured now have health insurance and millions more soon will. This will mean improved health outcomes for millions and overall lower health care costs as millions of people stop using the emergency room as their doctor.

Read the entire story by clicking here.

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In case you missed it, the business page of the Los Angeles Times ran a fascinating article yesterday entitled “Obamacare numbers coming in huge: Here’s a guide to GOP excuse-making.” As the article notes:

“Against all odds and expectations, enrollments in health plans qualified under the Affordable Care Act are surging Monday toward — and maybe beyond — the 7-million figure projected by the Congressional Budget Office before Oct. 1, when the open-enrollment period began. The deadline for starting enrollment applications for 2014 plans is midnight Monday.

The surge is creating a big problem for the “train wreck” narrative of Republican opponents of the ACA, who have been holding out hope for Obamacare’s utter failure. So the excuse-making has begun.  Read More

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Burr2Richard Burr’s ill-fated exchange with a sharp Canadian physician over the realities of health care in North America continues to rack up some great headlines for North Carolina’s senior senator.

The headline for the Los Angeles Times story is: “Watch an expert teach a smug U.S. senator about Canadian healthcare.”

At the national blog Talking Points Memo, it’s: “Canadian Health Care Expert Schools A Republican U.S. Senator.”

At Salon, it’s “Canadian doctor makes anti-Obamacare senator look like a buffoon.”

At Huffington Post, it’s: “Watch This Doctor Totally School An Anti-Obamacare Senator On Health Care.”

At the Canadian National Post, it’s: “Toronto doctor smacks down U.S. Senate question on Canadian waitlist deaths.”

In case you missed it the other day, here was the most-reported part of their exchange:

Burr: “On average, how many Canadian patients on a waiting list die each year? Do you know?”

Dr. Danielle Martin, vice president of Medical Affairs at Toronto’s Women’s College Hospital: “I don’t, sir, but I know that there are 45,000 in America who die waiting because they don’t have insurance at all.”

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As reported by the folks at Talking Points Memo:

“A substantial majority of Americans believe Obamacare should remain law, either exactly as it is or with small changes, according to a new poll.

Bloomberg News found that a combined 64 percent of Americans said they support keeping the law in place. That includes 51 percent who said it should be kept but may need some small changes and 13 percent who said it should be left alone. Only 34 percent said it should be repealed.”

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There have been a lot of interesting — even amusing — reactions over on Right-Wing Avenue to last Friday’s judicial order halting the state’s unconstitutional school voucher program. House Majority Leader Paul Stam, for instance, wishfully and inaccurately dismissed the court’s action as a trifling matter that can easily be evaded with just a tiny tweak during the upcoming short session.  Meanwhile, the chief voice of the Koch Brothers in North Carolina, Americans for Prosperity, laughably termed the lawsuits brought by an array of concerned citizens and local Boards of Education as “demagoguery from a special interest group.”

But perhaps the most amazing response (and best example of unintended irony) thus far comes from the Pope-Civitas Institute, where a staffer wrote the following in response to the lawsuits and the Judge Hobgood’s preliminary injunction:

“When you can’t win at the ballot box,  enforce your will through the courts.  That’a (sic) well-known tactic of the left and that’s exactly the strategy on display in North Carolina.” Read More

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