The federal government isn’t quite open for business today, but the health exchanges – the centerpiece of the Affordable Care Act passed in 2010 – have officially launched today. (The exchanges are not affected by the shutdown that began at midnight because they are already funded.)
The Obama administration expects millions of consumers to apply for private insurance coverage. The first open
Read More »from Obamacare: The Exchanges Are Here. Experts Answer Your Questions LiveAmazon is set to release its new Kindle Fire HDX tablet by mid-October, around the same time Apple will release the iPad Mini 2.
While both Apple (AAPL) and Amazon’s (AMZN) tablets will have typical upgrades -- nicer displays, faster processers, and a sleeker design -- Amazon plans to bring something new to the table: Mayday.
Related: Good News, Apple Fans: The New iPhones Are Pretty Cool
Call it a next-level Siri. The Mayday button on all new Fire tablets will purportedly connect the user with a live Amazon expert via video chat within 15 seconds. The customer service representative will be able to offer immediate tech support, but Yahoo Finance tech reporter Aaron Pressman thinks there’s more to it. “Why are they making this huge investment?"
Related: Apple Slammed: Howard Lindzon Says Avoid the “Battleground”
“They’re probably going to sell 5 to 10 million tablets," says Pressman. "They’re going to need a lot of live support representative for that. So maybe it becomes more than
Read More »from How Amazon’s Mayday Could Change Your World and Disrupt AppleBy Joe Weisenthal
Barring some last-minute miracle, it looks like the government is going to shut down at midnight tonight.
The crux of the matter is that the House GOP is not inclined to pass a budget that doesn't include some kind of delay or defunding to Obamacare. And obviously Democrats won't agree to that. So, impasse.
But there are reasons to think this would be good.
Goldman explained why this could be helpful in a note to clients last Friday:
It would be a mistake to interpret a shutdown as implying a greater risk of a debt limit crisis, in our view. It would not be surprising to see a more negative market reaction to a shutdown than would be warranted by the modest macroeconomic effect it would have. We suspect that many market participants would interpret a shutdown as implying a greater risk of problems in raising the debt limit. This is not unreasonable, but we would see it differently. If a shutdown is avoided, it is likely to be because congressional Republicans have opted to
Read More »from Government Shutdown: Good News or Bad News for the Economy?Washington is on the brink of a shutdown but the temporary closure of various government agencies would not impact the official enrollment date of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. Millions of Americans without health insurance can choose a new plan starting Tuesday, Oct. 1, through the various state health marketplaces that were established by the law. Avik Roy, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, crunched the numbers and found that Colorado, New York and Ohio will offer the lowest insurance rates to residents.
Related: Obamacare Could Mean Steep Rate Hikes in These Four States
The savings will be big: rates will drop as much as 34% in Colorado, 30% in Ohio and 27% in New York. That may seem like a huge decrease, but Roy tells The Daily Ticker that New Yorkers, for example, currently pay some of the highest rates in the country, so “yes from a relative standpoint New York is going down but on an absolute basis New York will still be one of the highest cost
Read More »from Obamacare Could Mean Lower Rates in These Three States"The Daily Ticker" covers the most important business stories of the day -- the economy, investing, corporate leadership and politics. "The Daily Ticker" picks up where Tech Ticker left off and is hosted by Aaron Task, Lauren Lyster and Henry Blodget. Often serious, sometimes irreverent and always interesting, "The Daily Ticker" gives viewers a unique take on the business world's most crucial stories.
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