Posted on 11/14/2013 6:36:05 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Writing at RedState, Erick Erickson argues that, in championing the Upton billwhich would make millions of Americans health-insurance plans legal again for the next year Republicans are walking into a trap. He writes that the bill, proposed by Representative Fred Upton (R., Mich.), does not have anything in it that can force insurance companies . . . to keep insurance plans going. Meanwhile, Senator Mary Landrieus bill, which, Erickson writes, the Democrats love . . . mandates [that] insurance companies have to keep people on their present insurance. He then predicts the following result:
The House, with the help of a good number of Democrats, will pass the Upton plan and send it to the Senate. Harry Reid will substitute the Landrieu plan and send it back to the House. The House will be forced to either vote for the Landrieu plan or be characterized as siding with insurance companies against people.
In one fell swoop, the Democrats will have the GOP on record saving Mary Landrieus re-election in Louisiana by casting her as the one who saved Americans health care plans, and also getting on record as really being in favor of fixing Obamacare with the use of mandates.
In truth, Obamacare is not fixable. The only solution is to fully repeal it. The Republicans should not be helping Democrats with their re-election plans, which is all the are doing with Upton/Landrieu.
Erickson is certainly right that Obamacare is not fixable, that Republican shouldnt be trying to fix it in any event, and that the only real solution to Obamare is to repeal it (which cant happen until President Obama has a complete ideological or psychological conversion, about 40 percent of Senate Democrats jump ship, or we hit January 20, 2017 whichever comes first). Hes also right that the Upton bill wont bring back to life all of the plans that Obamacare has already killed off with its coercive mandates. But hes wrong that its a trap. Or, rather, hes wrong that its a trap for Republicans.
The Upton bill helps put Obamas oft-repeated you can keep it lie even more front-and-center. More important, it puts red-state and swing-state Senate Democrats in the position where they have to decide between defying Obama on his centerpiece legislation or else saying that they dont think their constituents who like their plans should be able to keep their plans. In short, it puts them in an impossible place and helps solidify their status as sitting ducks a year from now.
Moreover and important the Upton bill would not help fix Obamacare. To the contrary, if it were to become law, it would badly undermine Obamacares exchanges, which would then be drained of millions of (previously insured and hence generally healthier) people whom Obama wanted to compel to buy exchange-based plans by banning their preferred plans. In short, Upton would hurt Obamacare, not fix it which is why Obama opposes it.
As for Landrieus bill, if Republicans cant successfully argue that Congress has no constitutional power to compel commerce (the basic point of the successful in that vein challenge to Obamacare under the Commerce Clause), if they cant argue that Congress has no power to compel anyone to sell an insurance plan, or, by extension, to compel a doctor to see a patient, etc., then were in sad shape.
Obamacare made millions of peoples plans illegal. By passing the Upton bill, House Republicans would be striving to make them legal again for the next year. If insurers nevertheless choose to stop offering those plans, it will still be Obamacare that set that trend in motion. Whats more, the GOP would then be free to criticize those insurers and remind voters that, over the next decade, Obamacare would funnel a stunning $1 trillion from American taxpayers, via Washington, to insurers (according to the Congressional Budget Office). Meanwhile, Landrieus bill is more of the heavy-handed, coercive model of government that gave us Obamacare to begin with, and Republicans should say so.
Finally, Landrieus bill would undermine the Obamacare exchanges at least as much as Uptons bill would. So the Democrats certainly dont love it, and its highly unlikely they would ever pass it. But if they did, and if the House and Senate ended up reconciling Upton and Landrieu in conference, the clear loser would be Obamacare whose exchange population would just have gotten older, sicker, and costlier.
And then around October 2014, all of those notices about losing your health plan because of Obamacare would start being mailed out again, just in time to help voters make an informed choice on November 4.
House Republican should pass the Upton bill and let Senate Democrats decide what to do with it. The range of bad options facing the party of Obamacare will further illustrate that, just because they like their government takeover of health care, they cant necessarily keep their government takeover of health care.
Jeffrey H. Anderson is executive director of the newly formed 2017 Project, which is working to advance a conservative reform agenda.
That makes me laugh but I proposed a related idea for amnesty, which seems to be dead fortunately.
The Senate amnesty bill exempts illegals from Obamacare but that would give employers a effective tax cut to hire them over us.
To be consistent with Rubios promises the amnesty bill should have required that illegals who apply meet all the Obamacare mandates without any government $$$ to help pay for it.
That would have killed the amnesty bill because few or none could comply.
I actually had a few here who argued for the constitutional rights of illegals against the idea.
Note to Republicans: not one of you should do anything to fix this disaster called 0bamacare. If you do, we will primary you.
5.56mm
I am of the opinion that the GOP could propose bills that are popular and look compassionate but weaken Obamacare, the Obamacare that only Dems will own.
only because of this situation Dems got themselves in.
Like when Dems pass minimum wage increase, very few blame them for the associated unemployment. But they score points for compassion for it.
Fight like Dems do, to win.
“They should do nothing to save or aid the bill in any way, shape or form.”
Agreed - but voting against the bill is NOT ‘doing nothing’
They will blame us for voting down the fix!!
The only way to ensure that the dems/libs will continue to own it is to abstain from voting for anything less than repeal. Don’t vote NO. ABSTAIN!
Obligatory .... like CZ-J and MoDo ...
Dems pass minimum wage and when people lose those low paying jobs they blame the rich and corporsations and say it shows we need even MORE food stamps and tax credits and head start and Obamaphones for those unemployed victims of greed. (and medicaid)
Only a small % of Americans seem to understand why minimum wage would kill jobs.
And yes, CEW, you CAN borrow that line.....:-)
I saw them lose 2012 after they repealed it 40 times in house.
Then October 1st we were told Obama would blink and defund Obamacare if the government shut down and it only seemed to strenthen him amd make him bolder.
I notice Mark Levin and Rush are suddenly quoting polls when justa few weeks ago during shutdown they kept saying that polls are irrelevent.
Fight like Dems, they pass minimum wage and successfully blame the rich for the unemployment, and look compassionate for it too.
Full Definition of LAISSEZ-FAIRE
1) a doctrine opposing governmental interference in economic affairs beyond the minimum necessary for the maintenance of peace and property rights
2) a philosophy or practice characterized by a usually deliberate abstention from direction or interference especially with individual freedom of choice and action
When I found out it was Upton behind the law for those horrible lightbulbs & GWB signed it, that’s when I knew we have NO ONE TO TRUST IN OUR GOVT. GE & China thank you — UPTON the IDIOT. Send them all back home. We would be better off if Congress met one month a year with the sole purpose of de-activating the damage they have done to us all. Revolution is long overdue.
This one says it all and puts the analysis of this Upton bill to rest ...
Fred Upton Supports the Landrieu Obamacare Fix. So Does Barack Obama
Right now, o-commie is a PROVEN LIAR in many ways; so, the timing of repealing o-disaster-care could not be better.
Not ONE Republican voted for the infinite-disaster (O-care); so, why go within a few galaxies of the monstrous pile of dung? The world finally sees the empty suit as the complete LIAR he always has been, and his commie-crat party with their propaganda media are solely responsible for it all. Let the whole group of evil, worthless liars OWN the train-wreck they've created.
“ Jeffrey H. Anderson is executive director of the newly formed 2017 Project, which is working to advance a conservative reform agenda.”
Maybe his heart’s in the right place, but I’d sure love to play poker with him.
Keep your plan for a year
during the election campaign last year John Beohner said ACA was the law of the land and would be funded.
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