Posted on 04/07/2014 9:07:18 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Well, they tried to do it quietly. It didn’t work out.
Originally, O-Care placed caps on deductibles in plans offered by small businesses, which meant less flexibility for employers in what they could offer their workers. That’s bad news for young and healthy employees who don’t visit the doctor much and would have preferred a plan with low premiums and a higher deductible. It’s also bad news for people who use health savings accounts to make high deductibles more affordable. So, last week, the House leadership agreed to insert a provision in the “doc fix” bill (the one that “passed” via a rigged, bogus voice vote) to eliminate the cap. Business wanted it, Democrats wanted it, the Republican leadership wanted it — but did the House GOP rank and file want it?
Because the vote was so opaque and tainted, we’ll never know.
“Maybe you say it helps (Obamacare), but it really helps the small businessman,” said Rep. Phil Roe, R-Tenn., one of several physician-lawmakers among Republicans and an advocate of repeal…
It is unclear how many members of the House rank and file knew of it because the legislation was passed by a highly unusual voice vote without debate…
Asked if the legislation strengthened the law, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said, “I would hope so. I believe that” it does. He added, “So there are changes being made. But the Republicans have to get over if they hate ‘Obamacare’ and are going to repeal it,” he added.
Rory Cooper, a spokesman for House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., said, “This is another in a series of changes to Obamacare that the House has supported to help save Americans from being harmed by the law, and we’re glad to see the President signed it into law.” Cantor was involved in negotiations on the legislation, which were overseen by Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Reid.
Lifting the cap is the first time the GOP’s cooperated with Democrats to make it easier for people to get coverage under O-Care. Which raises anew a question the party will be wrestling with until January 2017 (at least): If repeal is momentarily impossible, should Republicans work to improve the law to lighten the burden on Americans (“bide your time”) or should they demand that O-Care be implemented exactly as it was passed so that Americans can render a fully informed verdict on Democratic-led health care (“let it burn”)? Here’s Joel Pollak on the bide-your-time approach in October of last year, after the shutdown:
The problem is that a member of Congress has to face his or her constituents and explain what he or she is doing to help them–not in 2017, when the only realistic possibility for repealing Obamacare will arise, but today. It would be unacceptable for Rubio or Cruz to tell their constituents that the voters have to be taught a lesson. So they have to take some kind of action to “fix” Obamacare, while still pressing for its repeal.
And here’s DrewM in the “let it burn” camp, writing today about the GOP’s new O-Care fix:
The whole idea behind not “fixing” ObamaCare is that in order to do the heavy lifting of repealing it you need as many people angry about it as possible. If you start pealing off repeal supporters, you’re helping eliminate pressure to actually repeal the damn thing. But let’s be honest, “repeal” is just some BS Republicans tell people to win their votes. When push comes to shove, they will tinker with it and call it a day.
The risk in the “bide your time” approach is that the more comfortable you make O-Care for Americans, the harder it is to get people excited about repeal later. The risk in “let it burn” is that the more obstructionist you are, the easier you make it for Democrats to convince people that O-Care would be working just fine if not for Republicans blocking the necessary repairs. Which strategy is better? Back in October, defending the “defund” effort that led to the shutdown, Ted Cruz rejected the “let it burn” crowd’s proposal to get out of the way and let ObamaCare take effect in full, knowing that Republicans would only benefit from the backlash. “Basically inflict a bunch of harm on the American people and hope we benefit politically from it, what a terrible cynical approach,” said Cruz. “I’m not interested in seeing the American people suffer just because my party might benefit politically if they blame the Democrats for the foolish policies that have been imposed.” Here we are six months later and the law’s a political reality. Does that principle — ease the people’s suffering as much as you can — still hold or has the urgency to stop the law now that it’s taken root changed such that the GOP should oppose stabilizing “improvements” at all cost?
As one poster on the site said:
Let’s be honest, “repeal” is just some BS Republicans tell people to win their votes. When push comes to shove, they will tinker with it and call it a day.
Yes, by all means.
Help bail Obama out.
/s
People willing to vote GOP “No Matter What” get exactly the ‘lesser evil” they vote for.
But it isn’t really lesser anything. Eventually they will be forced to admit it.
Sadly I have no confidence that the GOP will repeal O’Care or in any way reduce the size of govt. When they regain the senate I will be suprised if anything changes.
GOP = THE STUPID PARTY
Yes RINOs, by all means pass “pain medicine” legislation to lessen the pain so that the underlying cancer (Obamacare) that is eating away at the core of American can grow, metastasize and destroy more and more of America.
I refuse to participate. I refuse to pay the fine. I refuse to have health insurance.
If I am to be marched off to a Gulag, so be it, because this is most definitely a USSR thing, and not a USA constitution thing.
You can’t just let the fascists and socialists keep pushing and you keep backing up. You gotta draw the line somewhere. This is mine.
People willing to vote GOP “No Matter What” get exactly the ‘lesser evil” they vote for.
But it isn’t really lesser anything. Eventually they will be forced to admit it.
Look at their responce to corruption and abuse of power in the following cases:
When they regain the senate I will be surprised if anything changes.
I fear that it will only confirm to them that their all talk, no action
strategy is effective in gaining votes/power.
In that sense it could very will be a bad thing, ultimately, if they were to win in these midterm elections.
But come election time the refrain from the conservative faithful will be ‘lesser of two evils’...
Take over the GOP? A foolish waste of effort.
Why do people still beg to operate within the GOP when they will thwart you in every way.
Forget the GOP!
We need a second party.
This sneaky GOP enablement of Obamacare is just one more bullet to the head for Uncle Sam.
Sadly other than changing the sign on McConnell's door from Minority Leader to Majority Leader I fear you're right.
All you have to do is look at how many republicans voted for the NDAA, The Food Safety Act and the Service Act. All big govt power grabs that allow the govt to control every aspect of our lives. The GOP is just as intersted in power s the Dems are.
Anyone who thinks the Republican Party has ever had any interest in shrinking government obviously wasn’t paying attention from 2001 through 2006.
The GOP believes in ‘market-friendly” Obamacare.
Romney forced everyone into health insurance so the insurance companies would have more customers and money, then pass the money onto the hospitals that were being burdened by uninsured patients.
Obamacare does the same thing Romney did with more progressive bells and whistles about abortion and birth control and so on......
...is there any reason to vote this fall?
All the choices are the same...
Why did the idiots do this. Clearly as been seen, Obama has ignored the law, subverted the law, waived the law, & delayed the law -all this for political expedience. In essence, the written law is simply premise for Obama rule, a law only contained in Obama’s mind. How can such a law be amended?
If the gop regains the senate I predict they’ll lose both the house and the senate in 2016 and will not win the white house. It only takes the republicans two years to make people hate them.
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