ACA 2018 Enrollment Off To Strong Start

Despite the efforts of the Trump Administration to sabotage the Affordable Care Act by shortening the enrollment period from November 1-December 15, cutting the advertising budget  90% and cutting funding for the Navigator program from $62.4 million to 36.8 million, ACA enrollment during the first four days has soared.

According the federal and state officials, over 600,000 signed up for ACA coverage from November 1-4, far outpacing last year's signup rate.  200,000 people signed up on November 1, the first day open enrollment started. 

1 million people have visited the official federal government website HealthCare.gov, and that was a 33% increase in traffic on the site compared to 2016.

The 2017 ACA enrollment in November and December 2016 spiked upward in large part because Trump unexpectedly won the presidency and fears about the future of the landmark healthcare legislation signed into law by President Obama in 2010.

Nearly a quarter of the people signing up for 2018 ACA overage were first time enrollees, while the rest were renewing their coverage. 

While that is wonderful news to the people and organizations who support the Affordable Care Act and  who are working diligently to ensure that every American has affordable health coverage, that news is probably not sitting well with an administration that is trying to kill the ACA.   

We will also have to wait and see if the early rush of people to sign up for 2018 ACA plans actually translates to people being enrolled for 2018.   You are not considered enrolled until the first month's premium is paid after you select a plan.

Speaking of enrollment, the clock is inexorably ticking toward that December 15 deadline to sign up for 2018 ACA coverage.   There are organizations standing by to help you find a plan that fits you budget and gives you the coverage that you need, but you do need to make that happen as soon as possible.

2018 ACA Enrollment Starts Today

The United States has tried to pass some form of comprehensive health care legislation since the late 19th Century.  President Franklin Delano Roosevelt attempted to do as part of Social Security  was the first to attempt to do so, but was vehemently opposed by the American Medical Association.

President Harry S Truman attempted to do so as part of his Fair Deal, but also ran into AMA opposition .   That same AMA opposition was present when President Lyndon B. Johnson got Medicare and Medicaid passed in 1965, and a serious effort to do so happened during the Nixon and Clinton and Obama administrations.

To tackle the problem of over 40 million Americans being uninsured, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was passed and signed into law by President Obama on March 23, 2010.

The Affordable Care Act cut the number of uninsured Americans in half, slowing down the rapid rise in health care costs and acted as a stimulus that fueled national economic growth.

It also has saved lives in the process.

But despite the obvious benefits of the ACA, the law has been under attack by the Republican Party since its passage.  With Donald Trump now in the White House, Republicans see an opportunity to repeal the law and replace it with their own plan.   Those efforts have already failed, and were opposed by much of the American population that likes many of the ACA's more popular features like allowing dependents to stay on their parent's health insurance plans until age 26,  no preexisting conditions or coverage caps.

The Trump administration is resorting to other methods to kill the ACA by starving it of funding,  cutting the advertising budget to publicize 2018 ACA enrollment by 90% and the cut of funding for the Navigator program from $62.4 million to $36.8 million.

They cynically hope that the less people know about when to re-enroll for 2018 ACA coverage, it will cause the overall numbers of people enrolled to drop and then the conservative  'the ACA is failing' propaganda has a veneer of plausibility.

So let's commit a revolutionary act and thwart those plans.

The 2018 enrollment period for the ACA starts today, November 1 and runs through December 15th.   It's time once again to get covered, and there are people and organizations out there in your locale who will help you try to get the health care coverage you need that fits your budget. 

Here's the link to Healthcare.Gov to get you started.

Jennifer Hudson's 'Scandalous' PSA For The ACA

Y'all know Scandal starts its new season on Thursday, and with the start up of people signing up for Obamacare AKA the Affordable Care Act today Jennifer Hudson took her love for the show to another level.

She and the peeps at 'Funny or Die' created this humorous PSA that parodies the ABC show and has her dressed as our fave 'covert social manager'.

Lydia Cole is out and about in Washington DC trying to fix scandalous insurance issues already solved by signing up for the ACA.

Check it out. 

Scandalous with Jennifer Hudson from Jennifer Hudson     

ACA Bans On Sex-Based Discrimination Covers Transpeople

TransGriot Note: Sharing this wonderful news I received from the Task Force concerning the Affordable Care Act
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently confirmed that the Affordable Care Act’s ban on sex-based discrimination includes discrimination based on gender identity. This affirms the Task Force’s longstanding position that federal civil rights statutes that prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex include protections against discrimination on the basis of gender identity. This means that no one can be discriminated against because of their gender identity or because of a health care provider’s stereotype about sex – what a man or a woman “ought to look like.”

"We agree that... sex discrimination prohibition extends to claims of discrimination based on gender identity or failure to conform to stereotypical notions of masculinity and femininity."


Back in June, the Task Force and our New Beginning Initiative coalition partners sent HHS a letter asking for exactly this clarification. We’re thrilled they agree with us and numerous federal courts that have issued similar opinions clarifying that sex-based discrimination protections also address gender identity as well.

We encourage anyone who feels they have been discriminated against because of their gender identity to file complaints so it can be investigated. Have you been discriminated against in a health setting in the past? We ask that you file a complaint with the HHS Office of Civil Rights.