1) Jon Stewart is a big disappointment. 2) Washington State Success, + more

1) Jon Stewart Grills Sebelius on Obamacare: ‘Level of Incompetence That’s Larger Than What It Should Be

 http://www.mediaite.com/tv/stewart-grills-sebelius-on-obamacare-level-of-incompetence-thats-larger-than-what-it-should-be/

I am very disappointed with jon stewart last night. His criticisms of HHS are food for the republicans and based on weak arguments and to top if off he implied that sebelius lied.  Or am I missing the boat and he is setting republicans up.  I do not think so but never certain. What do you think. 

 2) Washington State successes
Here’s what Obamacare looks like when it works wapo.st/17jSfoM

WA Healthplanfinder ‏@WAplanfinder

We've had 9,452 enrollments since Oct 1! 10,000 additional have completed applications but haven't submitted payment. 837k site visits.

3) 

How faith-based providers are working to expand access to health care through the Affordable Care Act ampr.gs/1hz8mo7

 4)

Want to help w/outreach but not sure where to start? New blog post full of action steps you can take: gtcvrd.am/19elU7F

Some food for thought but need to suggest priorities.

5)

The first-ever health system performance scorecard focusing on low-income Americans has one overriding message: where you live matters. Visit our interactive map for state-by-state comparisons of the #healthcare experiences of the 39% of Americans earning less than twice the federal poverty level.

Interactive Map: http://datacenter.commonwealthfund.org/#ind=60/sc=47

 6) 

http://t.co/fnwGtPmnAh your thoughts on this

Right-Wing Truckers Plan To Jam DC’s Major Commuter Highway, Arrest Members Of Congress

7)

http://t.co/QXUEgUKRfA

Tell Congress to do its job

8)

Hospitals and insurers struggle to reduce costs by patients dubbed “super-utilizers”

Article in today's post health section.  Good review but does not mention a key study: "The Hot Spotters" by Atul Gawande in the New Yorker.  http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/01/24/110124fa_fact_gawande

I discussed Gawande's work previously on my blog.

Today's Post 100713

Not much new today.  I have been busy with wrapups from Saturday's enrollment fair and planning for next steps in providing support for ACA enrollment. Here are two items of value.  
1)
Obamacare Facts  This has a fairly good review of lots of key facts about the ACA.
2)
Is snail mail the key to modernizing enrollment? New blog post w/lessons from a site visit to Arkansas: gtcvrd.am/17crmUG #GetCovered
3)
From Maryland Health Connection
Users of our website should visit the Information Update page for important notices before beginning to apply http://ow.ly/pAI6k   There are a number of useful items in today's update. 

4) From Sarah Kliff , washpost

Measuring Obamacare enrollment is actually kind of tricky

Day 5: Maryland problems; Senator Rosapepe's successful ACA enrollee fair

1) 

http://t.co/bBdfW648Ow For some shoppers, buying Obamacare is turning into a marathon Ezra Klein Washpost

This is not good news.  Maryland seems to be having the biggest problems. Progress is being made but there are many challenges ahead for Maryland and HHS among others.  Some states are having great success.  Shows a great deal of interest, more than expected.  Hope they can solve these problems in the near future.  They have until March 31 but hope it is soon.

  2) Senator Rosapepe and D21 Delegates Affordable Care Event

a) Here is a news report from Channel 8 part of WJLA-TV.

http://www.wjla.com/articles/2013/10/affordable-care-act-forum-held-in-prince-george-s-county-94938.html  Channel 8 reporter Kristen Holmes

b)

http://tinyurl.com/qaoo4am

These are my photos from today.  Lost several photos.

c) Event summary

This event was organized by Senator Rosapepe, his staff, especially Carolyn Brenner, and the other D21 delegates.  About 100 folks signed up for the ACA.  They completed a paper application with the navigators.  There were 21 navigators present.  We provided 22 volunteers.  Most potential enrollees had pre-registered but quite a few were walk-ins.  As noted, the Maryland Health Connection was present.  Several health plans were present including Carefirst,  Kaiser, and Evergreen a brand new Coop.  I helped recruit a number of volunteers along with Mark Ferrenz and Darryl Pryor. 

d) Had very interesting conversations with Ari Ashe from WTOP.  He interviewed me and then we talked quite a bit afterwards about ACA, transportation, etc  Then I got to talk with this photographer from Washpost.  We talked about lots of things, like Bezos, post photographers.  He took lots of photos but  at best only a few photos will make it in to the paper if at all.  The rest are stored internal to Post.  We agreed that it is too bad that the rest of his photos are not available to public. One or two of his photos might make it into Sunday's paper. 

e) As of this time, do not see a report by Ari Ashe on the web or live broadcast.  Will add if I see it on later. 

Update:  http://media.dev-cms.com/wtop/31/3104/310436.mp3    here is Ari's report

Day 3: Progress being made.

Here is my compilation of articles, etc that seem the most useful.   This is as of 1:30 p.m. Will update by 8 p.m.  Please provide feedback if this is useful
1) 

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-september-30-2013/jon-stewart-s-rockin--shutdown-eve

Jon Stewart on September 30 re the shutdown. Very clever. 

2)
Why Kentucky’s Health Exchange Worked Better Than Many Others

Looks good, and as of 4:00 p.m. Wednesday, 10,766 applications for health coverage had been initiated, 6,909 had been completed and 2,989 individuals or families had enrolled in new coverage.  One family is cited that saved lots of money compared to their current plan. 

3) 72 Percent Oppose Shutting Down The Government Over The Affordable Care Act. . CBS Poll:

4)  Wall Street Journal  EDITORIAL - Our advice is to give up on the impossible task of defunding or delaying ObamaCare …

5) CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta stopped by the Maryland Health Connection's consumer support center this morning  http://tinyurl.com/guptamhc

6) Here is a similar scam in Washington state as compared to what I reported.

http://khne.ws/GB3uUE 

7) from washpost       Shutdown will halt D.C. Medicaid payments

 

8) A simple but powerful tool: MDers can see what health plans their doctors participate in here http://goo.gl/lPTdwR 

9) A number of volunteers will be helping State Senator  Rosapepe and D21 delegates at a enrollment program on 10/5 in Laurel.  

10) This might be the best-ever Obamacare ad

Washington Post covers Jon Stewart's show from Tuesday. His Monday show on the Rockin Shutdown Eve was wonderful as well.

11) MD Health Connection ‏@MarylandConnect 2h

Website performance improving. Consumers can create accounts, complete applications & compare plans. Techs working on delays.  System down between 11 p.m. to 5 a.m.

 

Please let me know what you think of today's blog.  Too much info?  This is far less than say Kaiser Health news.  I hope I have hit on useful info for many of you.

Baltimore Sun article in which I report a scam to the State

Multiple health insurance websites spring up as online exchanges launch 

In this article, the Baltimore Sun describes how I reported a scam to state officials and the actions they took.  Are there any more scams out there?

Day 2: Some impressive stats but problems persist; scam report

Lots of very useful news in this edition.  Of note is a scam I uncovered. See item 4. What are your thoughts on what is happening so far.  Is it understandable with such high volumes that there would be these glitches?  What does this say about the level of interest in the country?  Were the Republicans right that the Affordable Care Act would be a failure? 

1) https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BVl0PjbCYAIjW4p.jpg

Very impressive graphic and stats from healthcare.gov twitter feed concerning very large volumes of calls, enrollees on first day October 1. The problem is too much traffic.  Day 2 has had large volumes also.  healthcare.gov has had over 6 million visits today. 

2) Kaiser Family Foundation came out with these today

•  Released an expanded list of   Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

•  Three Things To Know Before Buying A Health Plan -- And Where To Find Them   (very useful advice, such as look at plan ratings, is your doctor in the plan)

  3) I see that many folks are having better luck in  person or via phone.  In person, if computer is down, they can at least fill in a written application and enter the data later.  

4)  Baltimore Sun 

•  Look for an article in tomorrow's sun written by Eileen Ambrose.  It will cover a scam by a insurance broker that created a website that looks like the state's.  This was discovered by myself and a colleague of mine. !!!
• by Andrea Walker -Update: It now appears that people can't create accounts on the website. If you already have an account you can sign in, but there is no longer a prompt to create an account. The Maryland Health Connection twitter account is suggesting that people sign up in person with organizations it has hired to enroll people in plans. You can find a list here.

4) Meet The People Who Were Eager To Sign Up For Obamacare On The Very First Day    From thinkprogress.org

5)  MD Health Connection ‏@MarylandConnect 

Tech teams working to resolve issues. Service improving and consumers able to shop, compare & select health plans.

10/2/13 1:00 p.m.

  6) The washington post and nytimes had good reviews early this afternoon. 

7) From Get covered

 We're so thrilled @GetCoveredUS is answering Qs TONIGHT (9 ET) abt #healthinsurance options for #latinos #GetCovered

RT @dchealthlink: http://dchealthlink.com  is open for business for District residents and small business owners!

News from 9/30 to 10/2: A success in general but problems in places - updated

Here are news articles in reverse chronological order for the past 3 days.  So first article is this morning and the last article is from Monday evening.  With my comments as posted on facebook in many cases.  

1) NYT:  Opening Rush to Insurance Markets Runs Into Snags 

2) Washpost: Obamacare site goes live, with some glitches

3)       Wildly popular or dismal flop? New health exchanges crash on Day One http://nbcnews.to/18MmHuh From reporter I know

4)      http://www.baltimoresun.com/health/health-care/bs-hs-health-exchange-demonstration-20130930,0,1106064.story Mixed success today but read the whole article. "By 4:30 p.m., the state had received 50,000 unique views to the website and more than 300,000 page views."

5)      New stats from HHS: 2.8 million healthcare.gov visits since midnight, 81,000 calls to the call centers, 61,000 live chat requests. From sarah kliff, washpost tweet

6)      http://maryland-health-connection.com/Home.html  This is a scam site, reported to Lt. Governor. 

7)      http://tinyurl.com/lg7tmst encouraging news. Md is working but slightly sluggish, use phone with state, region or in person. Pls let me know if enrolled

8) 

NYT: New York's marketplace overwhelmed by 2 million visitors

http://tinyurl.com/onweuxt  Very glad to hear this.

 

9)   here is the  brief debate on Channel 9 WUSA news at 7:15 p.m. on 93013. I represented the democratic side.
   http://tinyurl.com/wusainterview