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What Are We Going to Do When Republicans Don’t Repeal Obamacare?
First, some history. Before 2010, Republicans said, “We can’t do anything as a minority party, but give us the House, and we’ll repeal Obamacare.” After 2010, Republicans said, “We only have the House, we can’t do anything. GIve us the Senate, and we’ll repeal Obamacare.” After 2014, Republicans said, “We can’t repeal Obamacare with just the House and Senate, we need the White House.”
Now, it’s 2017. Republicans have both houses of Congress and the White House. And now they are saying, “We can’t possibly repeal Obamacare, but maybe we can fix it.”
It’s time to face the reality that the Republicans are never going to repeal Obamacare. The likelihood is that most, probably all of it, will remain, with some changes around the edges. It will still be mandated to have health care insurance. The Government will still dictate what health insurance plans must cover; and they must cover a lot. Insurance companies will be required to cover “pre-existing conditions.” (i.e. you don’t have to buy insurance until after you get sick.) There will still be massive subsidies for both insurance companies and lower income people.
The dilemma to Republicans is they want to leave all of that stuff in place, but make it cost less and do away with the absurdly expensive, high-deductible plans that have become fixtures of Obamacare. They can’t. It’s an economic impossibility. There’s no shortage of good ideas and market-based solutions that would actually work; but there’s no stomach in the GOP for braving the nasty editorials in the New York Times and the sob stories the cable news channels would cook up.
So, when the Republicans once again fail/let us down/betray us, what are we going to do? I don’t even have a suggestion. I just want to know what you think.
Published in Healthcare
Its broken because of the *#%&@#%@ laws. With a few rare exception ( limited pricing regulation on Emergency services (3k for a few stitchs not even done by a doctor exploitation to the core), and require solid written itemized quotes on all services.Both will stop a huge mount of exploitation by Hospitals), the goverment needs to but out regulating all things medical. .
And isn’t the most obvious reform then to offer the same tax breaks to all insurance plans? We would remove the prop holding up the current reliance on employers, then stand back and watch that system collapse. And yet, we achieve that, not by taking anything away, but by generously giving. Seems like a no-brainer.
Should have expected that: Totally inclusive phraseology is almost always incorrect.
One problem, as I see it, is that since “Obamacare” is over 2700 pages of legislation, it would be almost impossible to find something in there that Republicans don’t hate.
If they leave, say, five pages of the legislation intact, does that constitute failure to repeal?
Five out of 2700 is pretty good.
Yes.
In my book, “repeal’ means the entity as a whole is abolished as the law of the land. This is an absolute requirement because nothing about that legislation is legitimate and cannot be made so as part of a standing law that emerged from such a putrid process and stands today only through actions by all branches of government unworthy of “government of the people, by the people, for the people”.
Now, if the content of some number of pages is deemed appropriate and if it can be passed through proper legislative processes, implemented to stand on its own without illegal executive meddling, and Chief Justice Roberts stays the eff out of it, then so be it.