• Record 20 million Americans sign up for Affordable Care Act health coverage in 2024


Twenty million Americans signed up for affordable health insurance for 2024, breaking an enrollment record under the Affordable Care Act for the third consecutive year, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced Wednesday.


U.S. President Joe Biden gets a pat on the back from former President Barack Obama after Biden signed an executive order aimed at strengthening the Affordable Care Act during an event to mark the 2010 passage of the Affordable Care Act in the East Room of the White House on April 5, 2022 in Washington, DC.


"With six days left to still get covered, 8 million more Americans have signed up for ACA coverage than when I took office," President Biden said in a statement on Wednesday, adding that most enrollees will be eligible to select a plan that could cost just $10 a month — or even less.

Mr. Biden also slammed Republicans who have blocked efforts to "build upon this progress and make these lower health care premiums permanent," alleging that the GOP's healthcare plan would raise healthcare costs for millions — specifically for elderly Americans and small business owners.

"That would be a catastrophe for families who would face skyrocketing health care costs. I won't let it happen on my watch," Mr. Biden said.

"As too many Americans know: access to quality, affordable health care can mean the difference between life and death, and hope and fear," he added.

The data released Wednesday represented enrollment activity through December 23. The open enrollment period for 2024 coverage began on November 1 of last year.

During this past enrollment cycle, the Biden administration issued almost $100 million in Navigator Awards, which allowed organizations to hire staff who are trained to assist consumers in their searches for healthcare, CMS said.

"A record number of people in the United States have health care coverage through the Affordable Care Act's Marketplace — more than at any point in history," said Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra.

"More people with access to preventive care means a healthier country and lower health care costs across the board," Becerra added.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/afforda...mericans-2024/

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The President is announcing his intent to nominate six individuals to federal district courts—all of whom are extraordinarily qualified, experienced, and devoted to the rule of law and our Constitution.

These choices also continue to fulfill the President’s promise to ensure that the nation’s courts reflect the diversity that is one of our greatest assets as a country—both in terms of personal and professional backgrounds.

This will be President Biden’s forty-fourth round of nominees for federal judicial positions, bringing the number of announced federal judicial nominees to 215.

United States District Court Announcements

Amir H. Ali: Nominee for the United States District Court for the District of Columbia

Judge Melissa R. DuBose: Nominee for the United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island

Judge Sunil R. Harjani: Candidate for the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois

Judge Rebecca S. Kanter: Nominee for the United States District Court for the Southern District of California

Robert J. White: Nominee for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan

Jasmine H. Yoon: Nominee for the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia

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After having planted President Joe Biden’s flag in South Carolina this week with a direct appeal to Black voters, his campaign will continue its ramp-up this month with visits by Biden to Nevada and Michigan, each home to important Democratic constituency groups he needs to firm up ahead of November.

It’s a new phase of the campaign, advisers say, which reflects why Biden felt it was important to overhaul the Democrats’ nominating calendar — to prioritize the party’s more diverse coalition instead of predominantly white states like Iowa and New Hampshire, where Republicans are kicking off their fight.

“For these communities, the message that we have now is that, one, they are the ones that have the most at stake, and two, Joe Biden has done more for these communities than any other president or any other administration,” Quentin Fulks, Biden’s principal deputy campaign manager, said in an interview. “It would be foolish for us not to communicate with them out of the gate.”

In doing so, though, Biden is also having to confront directly some of the biggest political challenges he faces within his party before he can broaden his focus to the general election.

Biden could be courting Latino voters in Nevada while simultaneously negotiating a border funding bill that includes stricter immigration policies that are opposed by Hispanic leaders. And the campaign concedes it needs to take a delicate approach in Michigan, as the state’s sizable Arab American population has been critical of his staunch support for Israel.

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President Joe Biden plans to send a high-level delegation of former top officials to Taipei after the election in Taiwan on Saturday, in a move that could complicate efforts by the US and China to stabilise their strained relationship.

The White House has tapped James Steinberg, a former Democratic deputy secretary of state, and Stephen Hadley, a former Republican national security adviser, to lead the bipartisan delegation, according to five people familiar with the plans.

Earlier in his administration, Biden dispatched two high-level delegations of former officials to Taipei to reassure Taiwan about US support in the face of pressure from Beijing. But sending such a delegation immediately after a presidential election is unusual — and will probably anger Beijing.