Things to cheer about

Obamacare employer mandate kicks in Jan. 1

Starting in 2015, companies with 100 or more workers have to provide affordable insurance to at least 70 percent of their employees or pay heavy fines under the “employer mandate,” which was supposed to take effect at the start of this year, alongside the health care law’s other key provisions.

Employers with 50-100 workers will have to comply starting in 2016, at which point all affected employers must insure at least 95 percent of their employees.

Excellent!

And at the same time, this.

19 states raise their minimum wage levels effective January 1, 2015

At the stroke of midnight today, 19 states increased their minimum wage. 

Residents of three more and the nation’s capital can expect hikes later on this year.

A year ago, the White House and Democratic lawmakers embarked on a campaign to make the minimum wage a defining issue in the 2014 elections. 

And although that didn’t pan out exactly as planned at the federal level, nearly half the states took action on the issue.

In his State of the Union address last January, President Obama urged members of Congress to pass bills from Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, and Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., to raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10.

“Say yes,” Obama said. “Give America a raise.”

Good advice.

And this, too.

Vast majority of Obamacare customers qualify for subsidies

Nearly 90 percent of people who bought health insurance in the second year of ObamaCare qualify for government help to pay their premiums, federal health officials announced Tuesday.

The new figure, which was released Tuesday by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), signals success for the government’s extensive push to promote financial assistance for millions who remained uninsured after ObamaCare’s first year.

Despite whining by the Medicare for all fans of the left and the bare-knuckle capitalism fans of the right, Obamacare is full of good things for people who certainly need them.

For that, O will deserve a place beside FDR and LBJ as one of the most successful progressive presidents, those who have done most for America's ordinary folks and America's needy.