The EU is Russia's largest trading partner, by far. Sanctions could hurt it badly.

Do taxpayers really pay for free birth control?

Hobby Lobby Inspired New York Lawmakers To Fight To Protect Birth Control In Their State

If the craft chain Hobby Lobby and the furniture company Conestoga Wood Specialties successfully win their Supreme Court challenges, it could open the door to allow businesses across the country to compromise their workers’ access to reproductive health care. In response to that potential future, New York lawmakers are taking the opportunity to reaffirm their state’s commitment to providing insurance coverage for essential preventative health services like birth control.

Earlier this month, New York Sen. Liz Krueger (D) and Assemblymember Ellen Jaffee (D) introduced the so-called “Boss Bill,” which would close a loophole in the state’s existing workplace anti-discrimination laws to protect women’s access to birth control. Under the legislation — which was written in direct response to the multiple lawsuits against the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive provision — New York’s labor law would be amended to prevent employers from discriminating against workers on the basis of their reproductive health care decisions, even if those employers are trying to cite their religious beliefs.

More here: http://thinkprogress.org/health/2014/03/25/3418589/hobby-lobby-boss-bill/

found on the Obama Diary

Paul Krugman: Data As Slogan. Data As Substance

Noah Smith has the definitive piece on what’s wrong, so far, with the new FiveThirtyEight. For all the big talk about data-driven analysis,what it actually delivers is sloppy and casual opining with a bit of data used, as the old saying goes, the way a drunkard uses a lamppost — for support, not illumination.So what would real data-driven reporting look like (beyond what goes on at the sites Noah mentions, and also at the Times)? Well, here’s an example: Charles Gaba’s ACASignups.net.

Gaba, a website developer, realized that nobody was systematically keeping track of enrollment data for Obamacare, and has turned himself into one-stop shopping on the law’s progress. And he really fills a need: when you read news reports on Obamacare, you can tell right away which reporters have been reading Gaba and know what’s happening and which reporters are relying solely on official announcements — or, worse, dueling political spin.

More here: http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/03/26/data-as-slogan-data-as-substance/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0

Found on the Obama Diary

They Stole Her Photo, Then Claimed She Hated Obamacare. She Doesn’t

Helene isn’t having the best week.

The Texas blogger was visiting Las Vegas for a bachelorette party this past weekend, and woke up on Saturday to find that she’d become the latest anti-Obamacare posterchild.

The thing is, Helene never signed up for the job.

In fact, she told me yesterday that she’s quite happy with the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and with the “affordable” health care it helped her find.

“Not only do I not agree with what the image is portraying,” Helene wrote me, “I actually have Affordable Healthcare!”

So, if anything, Helene is an Obamacare success story.

But that didn’t stop over 17,000 people on Facebook from sharing an image of her face, posted just days ago, with a caption complaining about Obamacare. To add insult to injury, the people who stole her image couldn’t even spell “conspiracy” right.

When in doubt, lie

Regular followers of the health care reform saga will find this story all too familiar.

The Republicans have attempted to repeal the ACA some 50 times since it was first passed. They also challenged the law all the way to the Supreme Court, where they lost. And they made the presidential election of 2012 about repealing “Obamacare” – and they lost that too.

But far from being daunted, Republicans are only more emboldened by their certainty that President Obama has circumvented democracy by passing legislation with a majority in Congress, then getting it declared constitutional by the Supreme Court, and finally reaffirming the mandate with the popular vote.

But, when the truth fails them, Republicans fall back on their trusted steed, the lie. And boy have they been lying a lot lately about Obamacare. You see, the Republicans keep trotting out Obamacare “horror stories” that just aren’t panning out. Probably the most famous GOP example of the ACA’s failings was the story they told the night of this year’s State of the Union:

More here: http://americablog.com/2014/03/another-anti-obamacare-posterchild-actually-loves-obamacare.html

Found on the Obama Diary

Do Republicans tend to tune women out?

Young Adults Signing Up At Higher Rates Off Obamacare Exchanges

A higher rate of young adults and uninsured people are signing up for coverage through a private insurance website as next week’s enrollment deadline approaches, according to information released by the company Tuesday. The enrollment data, issued by eHealthInsurance, provides a snapshot of how some customers are shopping for insurance away from Obamacare exchanges during the law’s first enrollment period. EHealth, a national online insurance broker predating the health care law, operates similar to the Obamacare exchanges, offering customers a selection of health plans from competing insurers.

However, shoppers on eHealth’s website can’t access federal subsidies to help purchase insurance, though the company says it has helped people enroll in subsidy-eligible plans by telephone. Since Jan. 1, about 45 percent of those picking new health plans through eHealth were between 18 and 34 years old, the company says. By comparison, the all-important demographic accounted for 27 percent of signups on Obamacare exchanges the past couple of months. EHealth says its rate of youth enrollment has increased from 39 percent of signups between October and December.The rate of eHealth customers who identified themselves as previously uninsured has also increased since the first three months of the enrollment, the company says. Since January, 51 percent of the website’s shoppers say they were previously uninsured, up from 34 percent between October and December.

More here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/03/25/young-adults-signing-up-at-higher-rates-off-obamacare-exchanges/

http://theobamadiary.com/

Graph shows how the avg premium has fallen during open enrollment as more young people enroll...

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