Dave Jones (Not Pictured Here) Uncovers Covered California Exchanges: You Have Group Insurance!

California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones announces that while the federal government may be strangling itself in a vain effort to prevent Obamacare from going into existence — in California is now already exists, under the name of “Covered California.”

Today is the first day that California’s seven million uninsured can begin shopping for individual health insurance at CoveredCA.com.

Individuals and families who have individual market health insurance already (not through their employer, union or government health insurance like Medi-Cal and Medicare) and small businesses can also shop there too.

This is a historic day, yet another of a long series of important ObamaCare health insurance reforms that we have been working to implement with our partners in state and federal government since I was sworn in as Insurance Commissioner in 2011. Congratulations to Covered CA for meeting this important deadline.

Open enrollment for health insurance sold through Covered California runs from today, October 1, 2013 until March 1, 2014.  Actual health insurance coverage does not start until January 1, 2014. To be covered as of January 1, 2013 you have to purchase by December 15, 2013.

You can shop and purchase directly at www.CoveredCA.com, or by calling Covered CA at  1-800-300-1506, or with the assistance of a Certified Enrollment Counselor certified by Covered CA, or through an agent or broker licensed by the Department of Insurance and certified by Covered CA.

Take a moment to forward this email to friends, family, neighbors and colleagues to help get the word out to those who are uninsured that they can and should begin shopping at CoveredCA.com.  There are subsidies available for those below certain income levels so its well worth the time spent to see how purchasing health insurance through Covered CA might help you and your family.

Thank you,

DAVE JONES
Insurance Commissioner

As I’ve written before, Obamacare basically gives uncovered individuals the benefits of group insurance — coverage of pre-existing conditions, no rescission, and much lower group rates than individual insurance (achieved by including virtually all uninsured in a state-run group pool.)  The details are complicated, but the broad outlines are not.

Incidentally, these “Creepy Uncle Sam” commercials — funded by and possibly featuring one of the arch-conservative Koch Brothers in an attempt to get young people not to sign up for Obamacare (without an accompanying offer to pay for them when they get sick and have to go to the emergency room) — are wildly inaccurate and depend for their effectiveness on the viewer being stupid.  A recent survey shows that over 90% of OJB readers are not stupid.  Good for you.  (The “over 90%” figure is calculated after lumping together all “Matt Cunningham-like anonymous posters” as one person.  One poor, sad, desperate, benighted person.)

Creepy Uncle Sam "don't get health insurance!" advertisement

The Koch Brothers are paying for ads trying to get young people to reject Covered California because a large and evil looking leering Uncle Sam will probe your body cavities. OJB salutes their patriotism — with one middle finger of each hand.

If anyone really needs an explanation of how such free preventative care will work, please ask.  (Only long-established pseudonymous posters or those using their real names can expect an answer.)

For the rest of you, there’s this question: why do the Koch Brothers hate America?

Meanwhile, read what plain-speaking U.S. Senator from Maine Angus King has to say: encouraging someone to go without affordable health insurance, given the probability that it will help save the lives of an appreciable number of them, is akin to murder.  The Koch Brothers aren’t telling their own kids to go without insurance — or, if they are, it’s only because Daddy can afford to pay cash for any conceivable illness.

UPDATE: And because we know how much you like videos, here’s this introduction to Obamacare from the Kaiser Family Foundation:


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"Admin" is just editors Vern Nelson, Greg Diamond, or Ryan Cantor sharing something that they mostly didn't write themselves, but think you should see. Before December 2010, "Admin" may have been former blog owner Art Pedroza.