With help from Natalie Villacorta
24-HOUR-COUNTDOWN, FOR REAL THIS TIME — Merry Christmas Eve! Now, thanks to a last-minute announcement by the Obama administration, you can spend today enrolling in Obamacare for Jan. 1 coverage if you so desire. Admit it, you were already tired of eating fruitcake and rearranging the tree ornaments. The one-day extension applies to those in the 36 states with federally-run exchanges, while some of the state-run exchanges also gave shoppers an extra day.
--New York and Massachusetts are extending their deadlines. California, Washington state and the District of Columbia are offering general flexibility for those who started but couldn’t complete their applications by the original Monday night deadline. In contrast, the cutoff was still Monday night in Connecticut and Colorado. http://politico.pro/1gSRWLL
INSURERS RESPOND — They were unhappy with the administration for originally pushing back the enrollment deadline from Dec. 15 to Dec. 23 — saying that would make it harder to process enrollments by New Year’s — but they hinted yesterday that the one-day extension could add to the disruption. “Health plans will continue to do everything they can to help consumers through the enrollment process and mitigate potential confusion or disruption caused by all of these last-minute changes to the rules and deadlines,” said Robert Zirkelbach, a spokesman for America’s Health Insurance Plans. http://politi.co/1fCCWxK
Merry Christmas Eve and welcome to Tuesday PULSE, where we really, really hope your last-minute shopping doesn’t include a health plan. But if it does — and if you’re presently uncovered — you really should try to avoid holiday-related accidents like burning your turkey or stepping on broken ornaments. Unlike about 15,000 people who did things like that last year, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. http://bit.ly/1e6AFK8
--In honor of the holidays (and also because hopefully there won’t be any news to report), we’ll suspend PULSE tomorrow, Thursday and New Year’s Day. Kiss under the mistletoe, stuff yourself silly and we’ll see you back here on Friday.
“We won’t go until we get PULSE, so bring some out here.”
HEAVY TRAFFIC MONDAY — Move over Amazon, everyone’s shopping on HealthCare.gov. CMS spokeswoman Julie Bataille said traffic yesterday was five times higher than traffic last Monday, forcing officials to deploy the website’s virtual waiting room around 11 a.m. President Obama is being regularly briefed from Hawaii on how the website is handling the traffic and how the transition is going, according to a White House pool report.
OBAMACARE: THE MOVIE — If the Affordable Care Act rollout was cinematized, we say it would probably be a serious drama or maybe even a horror film. You think everything’s going to turn out well…and then the Obama administration announces another delay or concession. “For a law that’s faced automatic Republican resistance from the start, the ball fumbling since Oct. 1 that President Barack Obama has repeatedly acknowledged hasn’t helped,” write POLITICO’s Edward-Isaac Dovere and David Nather.
--“The president and his aides say every announcement has been the result of being responsive and flexible, trying to make the law work for everyone. But at this point, the administration appears to be demonstrating that it lacks either a full sense of what implementing health care entails, or a full sense of the kind of blowback that each shift in the rules, however small, will generate.” http://politi.co/J9DiBA
TECH PROBLEMS REACH FURTHER THAN HEALTHCARE.GOV — The federal government has many more tech problems than just a defective website, Pro Tech’s Jessica Meyers reports. “The HealthCare.gov mishap illuminated a cracked federal procurement system that lacks adequate management and routinely misuses millions of taxpayer dollars. And it might stay that way, despite a mounting list of tech projects much larger and more nuanced than a broken insurance portal,” she writes. http://politico.pro/1eAFpwl
‘TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS — Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has spun the classic poem into an Obamacare-themed radio ad against his opponent, Alison Lundergan Grimes. “Twas the night before Christmas, four years ago. Liberals wanted ObamaCare, but Kentucky said 'no,’” it goes. “’If you like your plan, you can keep it,' they said with a twinkle in their eye. Newspapers now say that was the year's biggest lie.” http://bit.ly/19bow6T
NEW PREMIUMS MAP – Check out the latest map of Obamacare premiums, compiled by PwC’s Health Research Institute. The tool displays silver plan premiums for a young person and an older person in metropolitan areas around the country. Among the findings: a newly-insured 27-year-old will pay between $195 and $250 a month in slightly more than half the states, while a 50-year-old will pay between $340 and $415 for the same plan. The most expensive plans for each age category, respectively, are in Vermont and Alaska. The map: http://pwc.to/1cvXDeR
123 NEW ACO’s – Doctors, hospitals and other health care providers will provide care to 1.5 million Medicare beneficiaries through 123 new accountable care organizations, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced yesterday. Since the Affordable Care Act passed, more than 360 ACO’s have been established through the Medicare Shared Savings Program, which rewards health care providers for working collaboratively to lower health care costs. A list of the new ACO’s: http://go.cms.gov/1c33zYm
ICYMI, OBAMA GETS COVERED — After long promising to do so, President Barack Obama signed up for an bronze plan through the D.C. exchange. Probably using an iPad from a Hawaii beach. It’ll cost less than $400 a month, an official said. Of course, the move is symbolic because he already has medical care from the military. http://politi.co/18IxUAP
NEW IRS CHIEF SWORN IN — John Koskinen was sworn in yesterday as new commission of the IRS, taking over the agency as it prepares for a massive new task of administering Obamacare’s fines and tax credits. The former Freddie Mac executive was confirmed by the Senate last Friday. He’ll start next year.
SAFETY-NET PROVIDERS WEIGH IN ON ORPHAN DRUG LAWSUIT — Providers who serve the poor filed an amicus brief Monday supporting an HHS rule that drug makers are trying to block. The rule allows certain kinds of hospitals to purchase discounted orphan drugs (which treat rare medical conditions) under the 340B drug discount program. “Non-parties — hospitals and patients — would be harmed by losing important discounts,” they wrote. “Hospital drug costs will increase, leading to reduced services and increased drug costs for patients.” The brief was filed by Safety Net Hospitals for Pharmaceutical Access, America’s Essential Hospitals and the National Rural Health Association. http://bit.ly/1l9UVwW
WHAT WE’RE READING
Time Magazine reports on three House races where Obamacare could help Republicans cruise to victory. http://ti.me/1fW0fn9
Drugs to help people break addictions are being tested, based on new research identifying the molecular reasons for why harmful habits are so hard to break, the Wall Street Journal reports. http://on.wsj.com/1a4Ph9T
It’s tough to get people to sign up for Obamacare — even in states like Colorado that have thrown lots of resources at the effort, Kaiser Health News writes. http://bit.ly/1fWM6Gj
Wisconsin business leaders say some companies are delaying decisions to hire or expand because of uncertainties about Obamacare, the AP reports. http://bit.ly/1kBerVm
The AP also writes about how Affordable Care Act fallout is tightening key Senate races. http://bo.st/1cOtFzn
24-HOUR-COUNTDOWN, FOR REAL THIS TIME — Merry Christmas Eve! Now, thanks to a last-minute announcement by the Obama administration, you can spend today enrolling in Obamacare for Jan. 1 coverage if you so desire. Admit it, you were already tired of eating fruitcake and rearranging the tree ornaments. The one-day extension applies to those in the 36 states with federally-run exchanges, while some of the state-run exchanges also gave shoppers an extra day.
--New York and Massachusetts are extending their deadlines. California, Washington state and the District of Columbia are offering general flexibility for those who started but couldn’t complete their applications by the original Monday night deadline. In contrast, the cutoff was still Monday night in Connecticut and Colorado. http://politico.pro/1gSRWLL
INSURERS RESPOND — They were unhappy with the administration for originally pushing back the enrollment deadline from Dec. 15 to Dec. 23 — saying that would make it harder to process enrollments by New Year’s — but they hinted yesterday that the one-day extension could add to the disruption. “Health plans will continue to do everything they can to help consumers through the enrollment process and mitigate potential confusion or disruption caused by all of these last-minute changes to the rules and deadlines,” said Robert Zirkelbach, a spokesman for America’s Health Insurance Plans. http://politi.co/1fCCWxK
Merry Christmas Eve and welcome to Tuesday PULSE, where we really, really hope your last-minute shopping doesn’t include a health plan. But if it does — and if you’re presently uncovered — you really should try to avoid holiday-related accidents like burning your turkey or stepping on broken ornaments. Unlike about 15,000 people who did things like that last year, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. http://bit.ly/1e6AFK8
--In honor of the holidays (and also because hopefully there won’t be any news to report), we’ll suspend PULSE tomorrow, Thursday and New Year’s Day. Kiss under the mistletoe, stuff yourself silly and we’ll see you back here on Friday.
“We won’t go until we get PULSE, so bring some out here.”
HEAVY TRAFFIC MONDAY — Move over Amazon, everyone’s shopping on HealthCare.gov. CMS spokeswoman Julie Bataille said traffic yesterday was five times higher than traffic last Monday, forcing officials to deploy the website’s virtual waiting room around 11 a.m. President Obama is being regularly briefed from Hawaii on how the website is handling the traffic and how the transition is going, according to a White House pool report.
OBAMACARE: THE MOVIE — If the Affordable Care Act rollout was cinematized, we say it would probably be a serious drama or maybe even a horror film. You think everything’s going to turn out well…and then the Obama administration announces another delay or concession. “For a law that’s faced automatic Republican resistance from the start, the ball fumbling since Oct. 1 that President Barack Obama has repeatedly acknowledged hasn’t helped,” write POLITICO’s Edward-Isaac Dovere and David Nather.
--“The president and his aides say every announcement has been the result of being responsive and flexible, trying to make the law work for everyone. But at this point, the administration appears to be demonstrating that it lacks either a full sense of what implementing health care entails, or a full sense of the kind of blowback that each shift in the rules, however small, will generate.” http://politi.co/J9DiBA
TECH PROBLEMS REACH FURTHER THAN HEALTHCARE.GOV — The federal government has many more tech problems than just a defective website, Pro Tech’s Jessica Meyers reports. “The HealthCare.gov mishap illuminated a cracked federal procurement system that lacks adequate management and routinely misuses millions of taxpayer dollars. And it might stay that way, despite a mounting list of tech projects much larger and more nuanced than a broken insurance portal,” she writes. http://politico.pro/1eAFpwl
‘TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS — Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has spun the classic poem into an Obamacare-themed radio ad against his opponent, Alison Lundergan Grimes. “Twas the night before Christmas, four years ago. Liberals wanted ObamaCare, but Kentucky said 'no,’” it goes. “’If you like your plan, you can keep it,' they said with a twinkle in their eye. Newspapers now say that was the year's biggest lie.” http://bit.ly/19bow6T
NEW PREMIUMS MAP – Check out the latest map of Obamacare premiums, compiled by PwC’s Health Research Institute. The tool displays silver plan premiums for a young person and an older person in metropolitan areas around the country. Among the findings: a newly-insured 27-year-old will pay between $195 and $250 a month in slightly more than half the states, while a 50-year-old will pay between $340 and $415 for the same plan. The most expensive plans for each age category, respectively, are in Vermont and Alaska. The map: http://pwc.to/1cvXDeR
123 NEW ACO’s – Doctors, hospitals and other health care providers will provide care to 1.5 million Medicare beneficiaries through 123 new accountable care organizations, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced yesterday. Since the Affordable Care Act passed, more than 360 ACO’s have been established through the Medicare Shared Savings Program, which rewards health care providers for working collaboratively to lower health care costs. A list of the new ACO’s: http://go.cms.gov/1c33zYm
ICYMI, OBAMA GETS COVERED — After long promising to do so, President Barack Obama signed up for an bronze plan through the D.C. exchange. Probably using an iPad from a Hawaii beach. It’ll cost less than $400 a month, an official said. Of course, the move is symbolic because he already has medical care from the military. http://politi.co/18IxUAP
NEW IRS CHIEF SWORN IN — John Koskinen was sworn in yesterday as new commission of the IRS, taking over the agency as it prepares for a massive new task of administering Obamacare’s fines and tax credits. The former Freddie Mac executive was confirmed by the Senate last Friday. He’ll start next year.
SAFETY-NET PROVIDERS WEIGH IN ON ORPHAN DRUG LAWSUIT — Providers who serve the poor filed an amicus brief Monday supporting an HHS rule that drug makers are trying to block. The rule allows certain kinds of hospitals to purchase discounted orphan drugs (which treat rare medical conditions) under the 340B drug discount program. “Non-parties — hospitals and patients — would be harmed by losing important discounts,” they wrote. “Hospital drug costs will increase, leading to reduced services and increased drug costs for patients.” The brief was filed by Safety Net Hospitals for Pharmaceutical Access, America’s Essential Hospitals and the National Rural Health Association. http://bit.ly/1l9UVwW
WHAT WE’RE READING
Time Magazine reports on three House races where Obamacare could help Republicans cruise to victory. http://ti.me/1fW0fn9
Drugs to help people break addictions are being tested, based on new research identifying the molecular reasons for why harmful habits are so hard to break, the Wall Street Journal reports. http://on.wsj.com/1a4Ph9T
It’s tough to get people to sign up for Obamacare — even in states like Colorado that have thrown lots of resources at the effort, Kaiser Health News writes. http://bit.ly/1fWM6Gj
Wisconsin business leaders say some companies are delaying decisions to hire or expand because of uncertainties about Obamacare, the AP reports. http://bit.ly/1kBerVm
The AP also writes about how Affordable Care Act fallout is tightening key Senate races. http://bo.st/1cOtFzn