That's followed a day later by a Census Bureau report that shows the rate of uninsureds in this country falling for the first time in five years. In fact, the drop from 16.3 percent to 15.7 million percent represents the biggest dip since 1999.

And while it's clear the PPACA provision allowing kids—so to speak—to stay on their parents' plans until they turn 26 had something to do with increase in insureds, I'd hesitate to give too much credit to the president's health reform law. I have to agree with the Heritage Foundation's John Goodman, who argued the slowing economy had more to do with at least the slowing health cost increases, with people showing a little bit more discretion (i.e. overdue common sense) when it comes to spending money on health care. And keep in mind that the other reason so many people are insured now is because so many more are on government plans.

But as I sat down to write about all of this, an earlier piece I'd written (over on Benefits Pro) inspired so much vitriol that the emails and phone calls cut off every other sentence I'd try to hammer out. And aside from the usual catcalls over my media bias, the surprise criticism came from those castigating me for daring to write about politics (never mind presidential politics).

For starters, if you've read me for any length of time, you know how naive a complaint that is. I just can't.

And, finally, what's happening in this presidential campaign threatens our way of life, maybe more so than any in recent memory. And this isn't some gloomy rhetoric from a one-time wannabe speechwriter. We've seen the president's health reform law close an entire chunk of our market, scale back the rest and let the specter of a federal takeover linger in the shadows like some scary bedtime story meant to keep naughty kids in check.

Sleep tight…