BENGHAZEEEEE!!!
That's how bad the Obamacare numbers are for Republicans. Especially the HHS report, quoted below, of 15,000 lives, more than half a million other infections and injuries, and $4 billion, saved before the Exchanges and Medicaid expansion began.
Republicans in Congress have turned almost totally away from trying to trash Obamacare (for example at the surprisingly tame hearing for Sylvia Burwell to become the new HHS Secretary), to the new House Select Committee on #Benghazi. It became a parody of itself even before anybody had been named to it other than its Chairman, Trey Gowdy R-SC. Boehner announced the rest of the Republican members an hour ago. Democrats have not yet decided whether to participate or to boycott the proceedingswitch hunt.
Meanwhile, we still have more numbers coming in, including the fantastic number in our headline from HHS, and brainwrap did a bit more analysis that makes the House Republicans' last unskewing of the Obamacare numbers even stupider.
Numbers First
Nevada: Exchange QHPs up to 45.8K; 76% paid (up from 71%)
Nevada is the only exchange still officially open for "normal" private QHP enrollments…
Oregon: Not quite done yet...another 3K QHPs & 16K more Medicaid/CHIP
Massachusetts: 33.5K QHPs as of 5/08, "Limbo" up to 305K
Maine: Estimating 90% QHPs paid based on Wellpoint testimony (UPDATE)
Alabama: 82% of Blue Cross QHPs paid in full
HHS data show quality improvements saved 15,000 lives and $4 billion in health spending
Hospital Readmissions Fall by 8 percent among Medicare beneficiaries
Today, the Department of Health and Human Services announced that new preliminary data show an overall nine percent decrease in hospital acquired conditions nationally during 2011 and 2012. National reductions in adverse drug events, falls, infections, and other forms of hospital-induced harm are estimated to have prevented nearly 15,000 deaths in hospitals, avoided 560,000 patient injuries, and approximately $4 billion in health spending over the same period.
The Affordable Care Act is also helping reduce hospital readmissions. After holding constant at 19 percent from 2007 to 2011 and decreasing to 18.5 percent in 2012, the Medicare all-cause 30-day readmission rate has further decreased to approximately 17.5 percent in 2013. This translates into an 8 percent reduction in the rate and an estimated 150,000 fewer hospital readmissions among Medicare beneficiaries between January 2012 and December 2013.
For starters. The ACA's euphemism reduction program is going to have ever greater effects in the next few years on diseases caught in hospitals, incorrect medications, incorrect surgeries and other procedures, and other "hospital acquired conditions", and on premature discharges from hospitals and lack of followup and continuing home care.
Breaking: Having Health Insurance Saves Lives!
An analysis of the Massachusetts Romneycare program suggests
an absolute decrease of 8.2 deaths per 100 000 adults
A simple but obviously inaccurate extrapolation from that suggests further
…assuming that similar ratios do hold true nationally, and considering that the recent Gallup poll indicates that upwards of 11 million people have (net) gained insurance coverage in the first 7 months of the ACA exchanges, this theoretically means that the ACA will save:
11 million / 830 = appx. 13,250 lives per year at a minimum.
Of course, using that same logic, this also suggests that by denying 4.8 million people access to Medicaid, about half the states are causing about 5,800 unnecessary deaths per year. But that's just grim, so I suppose we shouldn't talk about it…
Yes, Republicans don't want to talk about it either. Have you heard the latest about #Benghazi?
Massachusetts scrapping current website; will either join HC.gov or replace w/different package
The state announced Monday that it would contract with Virginia-based hCentive for health insurance exchange software that has been used to power online marketplaces Kentucky, Colorado, New York and other states.
South Carolina: 71% of QHPs paid thru 4/30
I should also note that while 71% isn't very good, it's still 10% higher than the 61% that the GOP House Committee report claimed for SC last week.
How can you expect Republicans to get their job
doneundone if even Red state Republicans won't go along with the story? Which brings us to
Teh Burning Stupid
One more thing about that GOP House Committee Report...
Take another look at their state-by-state breakout (which, again, only includes states on the Federal exchange...and even then, leaves out Idaho and New Mexico for reasons unknown), and there's several states which I find rather interesting:
- Arkansas: 88%
- Kansas: 87%
- New Jersey: 86%
- South Dakota: 87%
Yup. That's correct: According to the Republican party's own "data" which they've been desperately trying to tout as "legitimate", 4 states—two of which (Kansas and South Dakota) are dark red politically—were already beating the "concensus" payment rate of around 85%…over 3 weeks ago.
Furthermore, if West Virginia could move from 73% paid (according to the GOP report) as of 4/15 up to a whopping 94% paid as of 5/01, it seems to me that Arkansas, Kansas, New Jersey and South Dakota, all of which were at 86% or higher as of 4/15 according to the GOP, should theoretically be into the mid-90's as well by this point. Not saying this is the case, of course...
Well, we knew that they were so confident in their unskewing that they
didn't read the written testimony from insurance companies submitted before the hearing, but now we see that they didn't read their own numbers.
On the other hand, some recent insurance company data seem to indicate a final payment rate of about 90%, not the 93% that brainwrap has been using in his projections. Maybe. We should know when we get the reports for all of May, some time in June.
No matter what that number turns out to be, that's still too many signups, too many paid, too many covered, and far too many alive and in better health to suit Republicans. And too many voters. Did I mention #Benghazi?
Followup on First Sylvia Burwell Confirmation Hearing
The Wire: Senate Republicans Wish HHS Nominee Sylvia Burwell Good Luck Steering the Titanic
WSJ: Sylvia Burwell, HHS Nominee, Answers Senators' Questions
Two Republicans Join Democrats in Backing Her for Top Health Post
NYT:
Pick to Replace Sebelius Draws Senators’ Praise at Confirmation Hearing
WaPo: During Confirmation Hearing, Burwell Pledges Support For CHIP
Yes, that's how tame the hearing was in the evidence-based world. But if you poke a stick into the termite mound, you can find these.
Corrente: ObamaCare Clusterf***[expletive deleted]: Sylvia Burwell, Obama's HHS nominee, pleases Republicans by ruling out single payer
Conservative News: Meet Sylvia Burwell, The Titanic’s New Captain
Bunkerville blog: HHS Nominee Sylvia Mathews Burwell, Dumpster-Dived Dead Vince Foster’s Trash
Dumpster-diving. I see. How is that working out for you?
This is the best you have, and these are the best sites still standing on the Burwell nomination? LOL
Even Free Republic has given up. They have had nothing on Burwell for weeks, although they still have plenty of CT on Obamacare overall.
And so we come to
BENGHAZEEEEE!!!
in particular, #benghazi on Twitter. We are giving as good as we get on this hashtag. Feel free to retweet.
OMG, they are connected!
All right. That's enough for today. We can dissect the committee and the pre-debunked talking points on their agenda another time.