Interesting article for California residents needing health insurance or wanting to change health insurance companies.

http://elcerrito.patch.com/articles/coming-soon-a-new-way-to-buy-health-insurance-in-california

If the estimate holds true I will be thrilled! I cannot afford personal health insurance now($700 a month premium) but I will be happy to pay $210 a month.

Of course Ryan is submitting his new budget tomorrow and it includes repealing Obamacare. I guess no one in the right has ever not had health insurance nor had a hard time getting it.

As imperfect as the Affordable Care Act is, this shows just how it is a vast improvement over the 'system' it is replacing.

There will be some bumps in the road getting this up and running and then tuned. Don't let the naysayers use those initial bumps to paint armageddon as they seek to return to the status quo.

I think the various state 'insurance marketplaces', and the federal version for states that don't want to set up their own, will begin educating consumers about the inefficiencies of for-profit healthcare. If the comparison shopping is really as easy as promised, those companies who gouge consumers will stand out like a sore thumb.

I'm looking forward to the day when a single-payer option will be among those offered. Naturally, the for-profit insurers will lobby to the death to keep it out of our hands. Of course, the more they spend on lobbying, the worse their prices will look.

It may take a few years, but I think the ACA will eventually evolve to the universal healthcare ideal that most other countries already have. It's a complex piece of legislation, no doubt, but I think those who crafted it were not unaware of the trajectory it was likely to follow.