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I think the GOP is winning the shutdown battle, as each day this goes on and people realize the sky hasn’t falling, how stupid the liberals look. And now that bills have passed to allow furloughed workers to essentially get paid during the entire shutdown for doing nothing, that’s going to remove the biggest noticeable effect, and put more pressure on the libs to fund those “piecemail” bills the GOP has tried to passed in Congress. The cat is out of the bag that a shutdown is not the end of the world.

The same could be said about the debt ceiling. If we don’t raise it, but people realize the mandatory debt is being paid as well as the largest entitlement programs affecting the most Americans, there will be another realization that the “sky isn’t falling”, and the libs won’t be able to use this issue either for the forseeable future. This is why I think they trying to push Obama to commit an impeachable offense, because if Americans learn the debt ceiling doesn’t have to be raised to pay the debt, they won’t have this as an issue in the future to scare Americans....

And while all that is happening, this (reality) is too: Miami Herald

"......... Prices and availability varied significantly, according to an analysis of the 1,923 plans being sold in the 34 states where the Department of Health and Human Services is running the marketplaces or working in partnership with states.

Under the health law, insurers can only set prices for policies that begin in 2014 according to age, household makeup, geographic location and smoking status (insurers are allowed to charge smokers 50 percent higher premiums than nonsmokers).....

.........monthly premiums are only part of the equation that consumers should consider when comparing plans. Ray Smithberger, general manager of individual and family plans for Cigna, urged consumers to consider the “total value” of their coverage, including provider networks, when shopping for plans that can cost a family as much as in one year as a mid-size sedan, or $20,000, when accounting for monthly premiums and out-of-pocket costs, such as co-pays and deductibles.

Smithberger said consumers should study their options. He cautioned consumers motivated by low monthly payments to consider the potential risks of higher out-of-pocket expenses for medical care — when a plan with a higher monthly premium might offer greater coverage of costs.

“If they’re thinking, ‘I’m getting my insurance and I’m only spending, with my subsidy, $25 a month’,’’ he said, “they need to understand that if they have a broken leg or need to go to the ER, that’s going to cost them out of pocket.’’

Insurers also offer plans with lower monthly payments but with narrow provider networks that restrict consumers’ choices of doctors and hospitals......”