Chicago - A message from the station manager

The [Thursday] Papers

By Steve Rhodes

“More than 88,000 Illinois residents have selected a health insurance plan created by President Barack Obama’s health plan, according to enrollment numbers that came out six weeks before the deadline to enroll this year,” the Sun-Times trumpets.
Isn’t that actually an embarrassment? After all, that’s just slightly more than the population of a single Chicago ward – or about as many people Home Depot is hiring for its big spring selling season.


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“Another strong month of sign-ups in new health insurance policies created under President Obama’s health care law pushed Illinois’ total enrollment to 88,602 through Jan. 31,” the Tribune also reports.
“The gains bring the state on target with initial federal projections made in September, according to federal data released Wednesday.”
First, “sign-ups” do not equal actually receiving insurance, as ProPublica notes in its more closely reported examination:

Missing from the report are details about how many of the consumers who signed up actually paid for their first month’s premium, a requirement to actually be insured. The document also does not say which insurance plans consumers chose, a metric needed to determine how the insurance market is shaping up. And it offers no details about how many of those signing up for coverage were previously uninsured, the key goal of the law.

Also, Illinois still hasn’t resolved Medicaid sign-ups for more than 110,000 residents.
Last time I looked, that number was higher than 88,000. Where is that story?
The Obama administration is just lucky that its estimate for new Medicaid sign-ups is “just a fraction” of what it estimated, according to the Washington Post.
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Back to the Tribune<:
“Nationwide, about 3.3 million have selected plans during the first four months of open enrollment in the Affordable Care Act, including about 1.1 million in January alone. That’s short of the 4.4 million the administration projected.”
So it’s not a feel-good story after all.
“Early data continue to suggest that the marketplaces remain more popular among older and potentially less healthy consumers, a trend the Obama administration expected, but also one that threatens to push up monthly premiums in the future unless more young people enroll.”
On top of the premiums that have already gone up under the president’s health care “reform.” Suddenly, 88,000 “sign-ups” seems like the least newsworthy Obamacare item to report.
Truth In Portraiture
Legislation introduced by state Rep. Charlie Meier (R-Okawville):
“Amends State Designations Act. Provides that the portrait of any person who has served as Governor of Illinois and who has been removed from that office by impeachment and conviction or who has been convicted of a crime relating to actions the person took while serving as a state-wide elected official shall have a plaque displayed with his or her portrait denoting the conviction. Effective immediately.”
Agreed.
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It’s the same thing the Baseball Hall of Fame should do – vote everyone in according to their numbers and performance, and then include results of drug tests to complete the picture and let fans decide. This also spares sportswriters from having to make hazy and confused moral judgements.
Street Dumb
“Mag Mile Among 20 Chicago Streets Recommended For ‘Car-Free’ Zones.”
Because it worked out so well for State Street.
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“[P]edestrian malls seem to be less a rejected relic of ’70s planning and more one of those things, like skinny ties and Ray-Ban sunglasses, that go in and out of fashion. The cycle seems to be about every 15 years,” WBEZ reported in 2011.
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The traffic on Michigan Avenue, like on most streets, is a big part of what gives it a big-city flair. You might as well ban honking and crowds.
Cold And Shivery
Farmers predicted this, y’know.
How The Tribune Saw The Rolling Stones
Pretty much the same way they saw the Beatles.
The Dave Savini Saga
Hypocritical, obviously.
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BeachBook
* Academics And Researchers Against Mass Surveillance.
* Which Illinois ER Will Serve You Fastest?
* Chicago Transplant Walks Five Miles To Get Home.
* Epic Chicago Spire Video.
* All Hands On Dick At WGN.
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TweetWood


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The Beachwood Tip Line: Bunk up.

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Posted on February 13, 2014