Boots & Sabers

The blogging will continue until morale improves...

Owen

Everything but tech support.
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2012, 06 Mar 17

GOP Releases Obamacare Repeal Plan

The real fight begins.

Washington (CNN)House Republicans introduced their bill to repeal Obamacare’s individual mandate that also aims to maintain coverage for people with pre-existing conditions and allow children to stay on their parents’ plans until the age of 26.

The measure would offer individuals refundable tax credits to purchase health insurance and restructure the country’s Medicaid program so that states receive a set amount of money from the federal government every year — changes experts warn could result in millions of people losing access to insurance they received under the Affordable Care Act.
It also largely would keep Obamacare’s protections of those with pre-existing conditions, but allows insurers to charge higher premiums to those who let their coverage lapse.
In my perfect utopia, they would just repeal Obamacare, tear down some of the regulatory barriers that were driving up the cost of health insurance before Obamacare (like allowing insurance across state lines), and let the free market go to work providing coverage to the American people. But we are far, far from my utopia.
In the real world, Trump has indicated that a repeal must preserve some Obamacare provisions, like forcing insurers to accept those with pre-existing conditions. Also, Obama was successful in establishing yet another entitlement in the form of insurance subsidies. While they don’t amount to much money for most people, they will still be angry if we wrench them away before the market can make more affordable health insurance plans available.
Given the realities in play, I would encourage Congressional Conservatives to fight to mitigate some of these Obamacare relics, but get this passed. Perhaps they can get some of these provisions scaled back or put a sunset date on them. But in the end, they must repeal Obamacare before winter or it will never die.
Make the arguments. Take the vote.
Get. It. Done.
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2012, 06 March 2017

8 Comments

  1. Pat

    I find it incredible that the Republicans voted 50 + times to repeal the ACA while Obama was in office, but hasn’t voted once to repeal while Trump is in office. Someone explain why not??

  2. Owen

    I agree, and it is exceedingly frustrating. The short answer is that we didn’t elect a Conservative. We elected a nationalist populist. And he isn’t going to sign a full repeal.

  3. Pat

    Trump, the leader and voice of the Republican Party, made the promise that everyone will be covered even if they can’t afford it. He also promised that the cost for coverage will go down and the cost for healthcare will go down.

  4. Le Roi du Nord

    Owen:

    I think you missed the point Pat was making; that Congress isn’t as interested in repealing the ACA now that Obama is out of office.  Perhaps they now realize that the promises Trump made aren’t really achievable.

  5. Pat

    My point was, congress was wasting time and tax payer money voting to repeal knowing fully well that it was going no where. They could have been drafting a bill that would improve the ACA but instead, chose to give the illusion to their gerrymandered constituents that they were doing something.

  6. Pat

    Sweet! Jason Chaffetz says we’ll be able to get full health insurance for the cost of an iPhone.

    So for signing a two year contract we would get full healthcare for $60 per month, with the option of adding additional family members for $10 each.

    “Americans have choices. And they’ve got to make a choice. And so maybe rather than getting that new iPhone that they just love and they want to go spend hundreds of dollars on that, maybe they should invest in their own health care. They’ve got to make those decisions themselves.

  7. Le Roi du Nord

    If it works, I’m all for it.  But methinks the devil is in the details, and Chaffetz hasn’t got around to the details yet.

  8. Jason

    >But methinks the devil is in the details, and Chaffetz hasn’t got around to the details yet

    Wow, go back 6 years and replace Chaffetz with Pelosi and we’ve got an echo chamber. I think her words were more like “We need to pass it to see what’s in it.” But I bet I’m wasting my time…. I’d wager that you think ACA is still successful and making things better. Am I wrong?

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