I want to be clear not to endorse this. And it’s definitely not a replacement for HealthCare.gov. But a few guys out in San Francisco have put together something called thehealthsherpa.com, which really quickly tells you what policies are available in your area, what subsidies you are entitled to based on your income and who to call or what site to go to buy the actual coverage. From what I can tell it seems to be the work not of a commercial entity or even an organization, but just some very public-spirited programmers.
Not all fun and games and crack and prostitutes. On a much more serious note, police suspected Mayor Ford was beating his wife.
ICYMI: Six gobsmacking new details from the Rob Ford police report document dump.
There was an upset win in the runoff to fill the vacant seat in Louisiana’s 5th Congressional District last night. Jindal-backed favorite and party regular state Sen. Neil Riser (R) was defeated by newcomer Vance McAllister (R). In national political terms this sounds like a bit of a yawner since this was a run-off between two Republicans. But there’s a big element of the result that runs counter to the current political narrative on ‘Obamacare’.
A few days ago I was speaking to some folks on the inside of the effort to get HealthCare.gov working. Their take on the much-discussed Post piece stating that the site was likely not to be ready by December 1st was that it mistook how any site works. Not that it was wrong per se but was too binary in its take. It’s not like a car where you put your key in the ignition and it starts or it doesn’t. It’s an inherently incremental and iterative process – which at least as a general matter is true with any website, large or small, especially large.
The piece out in the Post today is another case of a headline giving a somewhat misleading view not only of the reality of the situation, but even what’s contained in the piece itself.
What’s your gut tell about where this is going, going on seven weeks in?
You’re an optimist? A pessimist? Or maybe like some, you know it’s the law and one that President Obama is highly unlikely to allow Congress to meddle with, so it’s just going to plow on, bumps or not. That’s what we’re discussing at The Hive (sub req). Join us and let us know what you think.
Embattled crack Mayor says run for Prime Minister is in his future.
There’s so much bad acting in play right now that it’s easy to have it all become a white noise of derp and mendacity. But this new route of sabotage is deserves special mention. Top Republicans are now making a concerted effort to convince the public that Obamacare ‘navigators’, people trained to help people navigate the new system, will steal their identities and private personal information.
ICYMI: That Washington Post about 20% of Americans being locked out of Healthcare.gov even after the site is “fixed” is actually seriously misleading.