CNN poll: ObamaCare support cratering at 35/62... By the way, the opposition to ObamaCare is nearly identical for all income types. The approval rating for those making less than $50K is 35/60; above $50K, it’s 36/63. Among those 18-34 years of age, the approval rating is 38/59. That’s bad news for Democrats.
◼ Want coverage on Jan. 1? Today is your last chance to get it. - Sam Baker/NATIONAL JOURNAL
There are still another three months to buy coverage, but a lot of people need it on Jan. 1. It's an important deadline for people with preexisting conditions who had been priced out or overtly locked out of the individual insurance market and are now eager to get covered. And it's an important deadline for the millions of people whose insurance policies were canceled because of the Affordable Care Act.
Both groups were largely unable to shop for new plans in October and most of November, when HealthCare.gov was mired in technological problems. The White House has reported an enrollment surge in December, ahead of the deadline to sign up in time for Jan. 1—the earliest possible start date for plans sold through the law's insurance exchanges.
Critics have raised the possibility that because of plan cancellations and the broken website, more people will have lost coverage on Jan. 1 than gained it.
◼ HEALTH PLAN STICKER SHOCK AHEAD FOR SOME BUYERS - AP via BREITBART
Increasingly, experts in health insurance are becoming concerned that many of these first-time buyers will be in for a shock when they get medical care next year and discover they're on the hook for most of the initial cost.
The prospect of sticker shock after Jan. 1, when those who sign up for policies now can begin getting coverage, is seen as a looming problem for a new national system that has been plagued by trouble since the new marketplaces went online in the states in October.
For those without insurance _ about 15 percent of the population_ "the lesson is it's important to understand the total cost of ownership of a plan," said Matt Eyles, a vice president of Avalere Health, a market analysis firm. "You just don't want to look only at the premium."
◼ Administration Secretly Extends Deadline for Obamacare Sign-Up Through Christmas Eve - Eliana Johnson/National Review
The clock to sign up for Obamacare coverage that begins January 1 was supposed to run out at midnight on Monday, but administration officials have extended it 24 hours, through Christmas eve, according to the Washington Post. The Post reports that they did so without any public announcement of the change:
Over the weekend, government officials and outside IT contractors working on the online marketplace’s computer system made a software change that automatically gives people a Jan. 1 start date for their new coverage as long as they enroll by 11:59 p.m. on Christmas Eve.
RT @Doc_0: @MelissaTweets If you enroll today, insurance MIGHT be yours on Jan 1. It's like a lottery. And we all love lotteries, right?
— Melissa Clouthier (@MelissaTweets) December 23, 2013
