Duckus

We are so sloppy right now.

Weird game so far. Entertaining, but unexpected pace and score so far.

Yes. Things will have to settle. We came out super jacked.

I don't know what is more surprising in the first quarter - Wiz scoring 30 on Chicago's defense or their offense scoring 28. Great game so far.

I can't hear the commentators at all. Lol.

Poor Gortat. Dude is being violated out there. Refs giving zero respect.

Post of the year!

**** these refs.

Gortat getting ZERO respect from the refs tonight.

Beautiful start!

Sadly, she is just one if almost two dozen that I have seen completely debunked.The GOP is smart and very, very good at this. It doesn't need to be a true sorry. News stations will take the story and run with it. Months later it will be debunked (like almost every ACA scare story from the past year) but at that point the hit is complete. You are seeing it happen again. The new line on attack are claims that millions will never find a doctor. An epidemic!!! Over the next few months you will sees the GOP find and exploit a dozen or so people to "tell their story." Media will run with with it. In 3-4 months someone will run fact checking and find holes everywhere. But it's to late. GOP is on the next topic.

My guess - Wiz in 6.

Absolutely. Still a long, long way to go. But man, what a dramatic shift in the entire frame of the debate. A few months ago we were talking about the botched rollout, government incompetence, lack of folks enrolled, a shortage of young people, health care scare stories (almost all proven to be wildly inaccurate) and more. I think even the most optimist folks had very grave concerns about how this enrollment period would turn out with such a bad start. The result have been impressive and the conversation is turning sharply.

Bad week for the haters. Guess that is why its on the second page. 1) Obamacare hit 8 million today. Wow. Just crushing projections now. That doesn't include 3 million more have signed up for coverage through Medicaid, 3 million now have coverage by staying on their parents’ plan, and 5 million people have signed up for ACA-compliant plans outside the marketplace. http://thinkprogress.org/health/2014/04/17/3428219/obamacare-enrollment/ 2) Premiums were 15% below CBO original estimates driving Obamacare costs down. $164 billion less in the next decade on subsidies. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/04/14/lower-premiums-yes-really-drive-down-obamacares-expected-costs-cbo-says/ 3) 28% of those who signed up through the federal marketplaces were 18 to 34 - very similar to MA rollout (28.3%). A good sign and trends show that it should rise even more next year.

Not surprisingly - Forbes doesn't understand the results of that survey. Rand survey covered extensively on acasignups.net http://acasignups.net/14/04/08/rand-survey-out-conclusion-net-insurance-gain-93m I seriously suggest that site. Great stuff.

Enrollment hits 7.5 million. http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/obamacare-enrollment-7-5-million As always, ACASignup.net has some fantastic info breaking down state-by-state numbers.

Man, how things have changed.

Good lord. http://grantland.com/the-triangle/nba-bag-the-phil-jackson-to-the-knicks-theory/

ACA Sign-Ups - 9.97 million insured from Obamacare as of 1/13/2014. 2.34 million private 4.5 million medicaid/CHIP 30,000 off-exchanges 3.1 million Sub 26 This actually doesn't include some of the latest reports. Probably will be updated tomorrow with new numbers from a few states. I know Texas reported today 120,000 new sign-ups, and over 500,000+ applications.

WP says the dog thing is probably not true. Original source is from a tabloid in Hong Kong.

After the disaster of a launch, impressive numbers. For those who haven't checked it out, I again highly recommend Charles Gaba's site - http://acasignups.net/spreadsheet Great way to see what is happening with enrollments. Really interested to see the numbers in a few months.

I have not seen anything on that. Can you post a link? Everything I have read on COBRA is that you have to pay monthly. You have 60 days to accept it and once you do you are covered moving forward. You must pay the monthly premium to continue the coverage. Never seen anything about not paying until you need it. Interested in that.

?I have never had to use COBRA but was under the assumption that it extended your current employer provided insurance for a limited period and you pay the full premium. I assumed it works like any private insurance - you pay monthly monthly premiums and get insurance. Your saying you can keep the insurance AND not pay the premium until you actually need it? Or you just saying there is the option obviously to decline it and take the risk being uninsured or finding another private plan?

I am lost. Does "your way" include an individual mandate? All you said was your way would have been no pre-existing condition exclusions, no premium rates based on medical history, and expansion of Medicaid. All wonderful, wonderful things that I 100% support. But you can't just do those alone. Without an individual mandate you are basically giving the "FREE CANDY MACHINE!" 5th grade class president speech. How got to give me a little bit more - how do you pull off those enormous changes without a mandate system?

Sounds perfect. No pre-existing conditions exclusions and no outrageous rates for the sick. But...how does that work again? The mandate was created specifically for this reason. It provides new customers (healthy and/or young people) for insurance companies to off-set the costs of covering pre-existing conditions and reasonable rates for the sick. How do you propose selling your plan to insurance companies? The math doesn't work.