May 8, 2018

Obamacare Works Fine — If You Want It To

Via Andrew Sprung, here are the final figures for Obamacare enrollment:

Take a look at the bars on the left. These are from the states that run their own exchanges and actually care about getting people enrolled. There was no decline from 2017 to 2018, even among the unsubsidized population.

Now look at the bars on the right. These are from the states that defaulted to the federal exchange, many of which are either indifferent or hostile to Obamacare. All the losses came from those states.

Bottom line: Nothing is perfect, but Obamacare works fine. That is, it works fine if you put in the minimal effort it takes to administer it properly. Conversely, if you don’t care—or, worse, if you actively try to sabotage it—then it will deteriorate. But that’s true of everything, isn’t it?

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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