Less Than 48 Hours to Enroll

You have less than 48 hours left to enroll before deadline day.

Take the next step and submit your application today. It’s easier than ever to apply this year – you can even do it on your mobile device.

Over 9.9 million people have already signed up, and 8 out of 10 people who enroll save money on their monthly premiums.

There’s no better time: Go to HealthCare.gov and find the plan that’s right for you before the final deadline on Sunday, February 15.

The clock is ticking. Join the millions getting covered!

Village Tips: Affordable Care Act

Just a reminder that the Affordable Care Act requires most 'villagers' to have health coverage. The good news is that most of y'all already have it. If you have health insurance through an employer, Medicare or Medicaid, or a military program, or if you buy policy in the private market, you satisfy the requirement.

For more information or to find the marketplace in your state, call (800) 318-2596 or visit healthcare.gov. To learn more about the health care law, go to HealthLawAnswers.org.

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• Health Care Reform and Your Taxes
• Affordable Care Act 101: What is a Health Care Reform Tax Penalty
• Impact of the Affordable Care Act
• Study: Obamacare Will Raise The Poorest Americans' Incomes By At Least 5 Percent

32,000,000 Uninsured People Will Get Health Insurance

32,000,000 -- that’s the number of Americans who will get health insurance under the President’s plan. It appears that the President's health care reform plan takes care of quite alot of ground -- from eliminating discrimination based on pre-existing conditions to controlling costs and lowering the national deficit to providing tax credits for middle class families and small businesses, health insurance reform will finally put America's families and small businesses in control over their own health care.





I'm in favor of the legislation being pushed by the president and Democrats in the congress. The Republicans don't appear to have a clue on how powerful the need is for health insurance reform. What are your thoughts about the national debate on health insurance reform?

1 in Every Six Dollars Spent on Health Care

1 -- in every six dollars in the U.S. economy is spent on health care today.

If we do nothing, in 30 years, 1 out of every three dollars in our economy will be tied up in the health care system.

Skyrocketing health care costs aren't just crippling the U.S. economy -- they're emptying the pocketbooks of American families. If we do not enact health insurance reform, individual and family spending on premiums and out-of-pocket health care costs could increase 79 percent in just 10 years.

I ran a business in downtown Cincinnati for five years. I employed two people. One of the major cost factors was health insurance. It kept getting more and more expensive at the time. I can't imagine what it is like for small businesses with employees in today's economy.

President Obama was in Ohio today speaking out about the impact of rising health insurance costs (premiums, co-pays and such). Have you noticed increases with your health insurance? Is it enough of a reason to support health care reform?

625 People Lost Their Health Insurance Every Hour in 2009

625 -- that's the number of people who lost their health insurance every hour in 2009.

A statistic like that tells a frightening story -- losing insurance can happen to anyone. How many more Americans have to lose their health insurance and how many more businesses have to drop coverage before we fix our broken health care system?

We've been debating what to do about our broken health care system for decades -- not just this past year. Every idea has been put on the table. Every argument has been made. Everything there is to say about health reform has been said. It's time to decide how to reform our health care system to give American families and businesses the security and stability they deserve.

As the President has said, "In the United States of America, no one should have to worry that they'll go without insurance -- not for one year, not for one month, not for one day."
The millions of Americans who lost their insurance last year can't wait any longer. The time is now for health insurance reform.

Let's get it done!

No Public Option; No Re-Election; No Kidding

I'm self-employed. I don't have health insurance. I haven't had health insurance since I started my company back in 2002. It is important to me that the Democratic Party take advantage of their recent election success by passing health insurance reform ... that includes a robust public option. I am hopeful that Harry Reid (D-NV) and Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) are tough enough to get this done.



Do you think that a robust public option will be in the final bill that goes to President Obama for his signature later this year?

Track Meet: Heather Graham Supports Public Option

Heather Graham stars as the Public Option in this funny ad, showing how she'll force the lazy, bloated private insurance companies to get back in the game and compete. After all, competition is as American as apple pie.

President's Weekly Address: 'Taking the Insurance Companies on Down the Stretch'

As the health insurance reform debate enters into its final stages in Congress, the President denounces the desperate and deceptive last-ditch efforts of the health insurance companies to derail it.





What do you think about the message from the President this week?

Is WellPoint the Worst Corporation in America?

WellPoint, the nation's largest health insurer which pays its CEO roughly $9.8 million, announced that it is cutting back on the health benefits it offers to its own employees. WellPoint also announced that it will eliminate some jobs at the company, while raising deductibles and premiums for some of its employee health benefits.

Netting $2.5 billion in profits last year wasn't enough for WellPoint, the nation's largest insurance company ... now, WellPoint's affiliate, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, is suing the state of Maine for refusing to guarantee it a profit margin in the midst of a painful recession.




Health insurance companies are truly screwing the American people as they seek to avoid health care reform in our nation. Methinks that these companies are choosing profits over health and life. What say u?

Heath Insurance Companies Contribute to Death of 'Norma Rae'

There are times in life when the real-world actions of everyday people are shared with the world by Hollywood movies. That was the case of Crystal Lee Sutton. Her union organizing work in the South inspired the 1979 movie, "Norma Rae".

It saddened me to learn that she passed away last week after a long battle with brain cancer. Sutton’s story is particularly tragic because after fighting her whole life for rights of working Americans, her health insurance wouldn’t cover the medications she needed:

She went two months without possible life-saving medications because her insurance wouldn’t cover it, another example of abusing the working poor, she said.

“How in the world can it take so long to find out (whether they would cover the medicine or not) when it could be a matter of life or death,” she said. “It is almost like, in a way, committing murder.”

I suspect that Ms. Sutton was counting on President Obama to sign health care reform legislation that would improve the lives of the working poor. Time tells if he is able to do so. For now, we simply pray that Ms. Sutton rests in peace.

President's Weekly Address: Myths and Morality in Health Insurance Reform

President Obama debunks the myths around health insurance reform, and discusses the public option proposal in which many of them are rooted -- but he focuses his address on the stark moral and historical turning point at which we find ourselves: "This is our chance to march forward. I cannot promise you that the reforms we seek will be perfect or make a difference overnight. But I can promise you this: if we pass health insurance reform, we will look back many years from now and say, this was the moment we summoned what’s best in each of us to make life better for all of us. This was the moment we built a health care system worthy of the nation and the people we love. This was the moment we earned our place alongside the greatest generations. And that is what our generation of Americans is called to do right now."





President Obama continues to fight for health care reform. What say u?

President's Weekly Address: 'Real Conversations about Health Insurance Reform'

The President talks about how the chatter and ruckus around health insurance reform on television obscures the reality of what's happening in America. He discusses how in most towns people and Members of Congress are having constructive conversations, and how people are learning how reform will help them and their families with the real problems they have faced with the insurance system.





President Obama is very calm about this process. It may be time to bring each of the Blue Dog democrats into his office and set them straight on the importance of health care reform in a more up-close-and-personal manner. I'm just saying...

President's Weekly Address: 'Health Insurance Reform, Small Business and Your Questions'

The President discusses a key factor that has been considered in the development of the health insurance reform proposals that are being considered: the impact of reform on small business.

The White House Council of Economic Advisers released a major report on the subject in conjunction with this address -- read the report as a web page, in pdf form, or through Slideshare.





During the address, the President asks that small business owners and employees give us their comments and questions on the report. The White House is open to hearing from you here through WhiteHouse.gov, or if you are a member of the social network LinkedIn, go take part in the discussion CEA Chair Christina Romer initiated there. Romer will be answering some of most penetrating responses in a live video discussion on Wednesday at 3:00 PM EDT.

NOTE: Villagers, methinks that President Obama seems to be losing the effort for major health care reform. His August deadline won't be met to get congress to vote on a health care bill before they take a vacation. I'm sad to see Obama with such a visible loss so early in his presidential administration.

Do you think that Obama is going to lose this battle? Is health care reform dead in the water? What say u?

President's Weekly Address: 'Health Care Reform Cannot Wait'

The President calls on Congress to seize this opportunity – one that may not come again for decades – and finally pass health care reform:

"It’s about every family unable to keep up with soaring out of pocket costs and premiums rising three times faster than wages. Every worker afraid of losing health insurance if they lose their job, or change jobs. Everyone who’s worried that they may not be able to get insurance or change insurance if someone in their family has a pre-existing condition..."

My view on health care reform: I'm self-employed. I don't currently have health insurance. As such, I watch this legislative process closely. I figure that health care insurance should be like automobile insurance ... it should be mandated. I worked for the federal government for 23 years. I remember clearly how nice the health care options were as a government employee. I figure that all citizens should have the same options given to government employees. I'm in favor of the so-called 'public option'.

What say u?

President's Weekly Address: 'Health Care Reform as the Key to Our Fiscal Future'

The President has long noted that skyrocketing health care costs will be disastrous in terms of our long term national debt unless we pass real reform. In this Weekly Address, the President also explains how he will cover the upfront costs of reform by eliminating overpayments from Medicaid and Medicare and driving down costs contributing to government’s health care expenditures across the board.





I agree that health care reform is critical for our nation. I'm a self-employed entrepreneur operating without health insurance. I wonder how many others that read this blog are living without health insurance? What is your take on the health care reform issue?

Let's Hope that Obama Can Put 'Em Out of Business

There are over 43 million Americans under the age of 65 who don't have health insurance coverage. Almost 9% of the children under 18 don't have health insurance. I hope that the Obama administration is able to make a difference.




What are your thoughts on the health insurance crisis in America?

Help Override Bush Veto of SCHIP Legislation

Did you know that Rep. Charles Rangel sponsored the SCHIP legislation? Anyhow, President Bush used a veto on H.R. 976, the recently passed children's health insurance bill. The President objects to the $35 billion increase in the bill and has said that it represents a step towards universal government health care. Others have expressed concern that parents might drop out of private insurance plans and enroll their children in the government program instead.

Bottomline ... more uninsured children will have health insurance if congress overrides the Bush veto. The Senate passed the bill with 67 votes, enough to override the President's veto in that chamber. In the House of Representatives, however, the bill received about two dozen votes less than would be needed to override the veto.

Villagers are encouraged to click here to TAKE ACTION necessary to override Bush. I hope you will take a moment to do so...