Posted on 01/15/2017 7:20:50 AM PST by Kaslin
Repealing Obamacare is all but a certainty. It’s the "replace" part that has everyone hung up. Democrats hilariously claim if Republicans “break it, they’ve bought it.” That’s like accusing someone of breaking the picture on a jigsaw puzzle.
Still, the matter of replacing this abomination presents Republicans with serious problems, not the least of which is the concept of government interference in health insurance has long been ceded.
Were this a pre-Obamacare world, implementation would be easy to stop – people can’t miss what they never had. But it was implemented, and millions of people are used to what Obamacare has “given” them.
This is particularly true of the millions of people who’ve been put on the Medicaid rolls.
Medicaid was supposed to be a program to help the poor – the real poor, not those who have to postpone the purchase of a new 70-inch TV until they find a better sale price. Since its inception, what qualifies as “poor” for the purposes of Medicaid has been creeping up. Obamacare accelerated that trend.
Republicans now have to figure out what to do with a family of four that makes $80,000 but still suckles the government teat by taking health insurance designed for people who are incapable of obtaining it for themselves. What do you tell them?
Calling them losers won’t win any votes, but anyone firmly in the middle class who is comfortable with leeching off taxpayers so they don’t have to address their personal responsibility is unlikely to vote Republican anyway.
Whatever Republicans eventually coalesce around will arm Democrats with people who have no qualms leaching off the government and are more than happy to be trotted out as examples of people “suffering” under the cruel GOP action. So what?
Republicans have to focus on getting the policy right, or as right as they can on an issue with which government never should have gotten involved.
Getting it right means getting the government out of it as much as possible. Republicans can’t concern themselves with who “wins” or “loses,” or if there will be “pain.” Frankly, there has to be pain. Pain should be a cornerstone of what is proposed as a replacement.
The solution to replacing Obamacare isn’t to cobble together a different big government solution, it’s to empower individuals to make the best choices for themselves and get the hell out of the way of everything else.
Among the many changes, there likely will be competition across state lines for health insurance, which will be good and drive competition. And tax credits to buy it. All well and good. But there has to be consequences for choosing not to do so.
The individual mandate must be repealed. The federal government has no business forcing the Americans people to purchase something they don’t want. But there should be serious consequences for not at least buying some catastrophic coverage.
It’s usually young people who don’t buy health insurance. They are least likely to need it and end up essentially subsidizing wealthier older people anyway. They should be free to opt out of that pyramid scheme.
But if, God forbid, someone 37 years old get sick after they’d chosen not to buy insurance, they should not be absolved of the ramifications of that choice.
I’m not saying they should die on the streets. They should get treatment. But they should have to pay for it. Maybe not all of it, but a significant portion. If they own a house, they should have to sell it. Their wages should be garnisheed until a significant but fair portion of their tab is satisfied.
They would have made a bet and lost, and they shouldn’t get to walk away from a bet just because they lost.
Significant pain, or potential for it, would encourage people to do the right thing while affording them the option not to. Family, friends, communities could take up collections and help people who gambled and lost settle their debts, but not taxpayers as a whole. We need to restore the concept of responsibility as we restore liberty. Replacing one big government program with another does neither.
In modern America, the idea of consequences is almost as dead as Latin. The importance of returning them to all areas of life is crucial, particularly in health care. Americans should be free to gamble, to roll the dice. But if it comes up snake eyes, well, the house needs to be paid. If someone wants to risk it to save on premiums for something they don’t think they’ll need, knock yourself out. Just don’t come running to taxpayers if you do get knocked out.
Saying that the “Republicans own it” if they repeal Obamacare is a shallow lie.
If the Republicans left Obamacare in place as it is they “too” would own it (even though not a single Republican voted to pass it) and already Obamacare is BROKEN and it still isn’t even fully doing its damage (each year more of the real costs are shifted to consumers).
Democrats OWN the bastard’s signature piece of legislation and they are trying to DISOWN this garbage.
How about replacing big government marxism with open market capitalism.
Just a thought.
Most people get their healthcare through work. The group with the issue is those on Medicaid because of the expansion. Need to move forward with states taking costs for that. Others will just go back on regular insurance, moved to plans their carriers have already had for years.
To entertain the idea that a bad law has to be replaced with “anything” when being invalidated is patent folly.
There is no basis or justification in our founding documents that says or implies this.
Trump has (clearly) stated all through his campaign.
Repeal and REPLACE Obamacare.
We do not need to go back to the mess we had before Obamacare was enacted.
Obamacare was enacted BECAUSE WE HAD DONE NOTHING ABOUT THE HEALTHCARE MESS.
Healthcare is very important, to a lot of people. Very very important.
Trump said Repeal, and REPLACE.
I have been with the guy since before he even announced he was running, but this is a critical issue.
America is watching, GOP. Do not recklessly assume you can backtrack on this very important issue.
You did nothing for several decades. Nothing.
Obama may have not done what we wanted, but he did something, which is MORE THAN YOU GUYS DID.
Fix it. Fix it. Fix it.
If you repeal it, you broke it again.
Do not do that.
Removing a tumor is painful. Leaving it to grow is worse.
If you want the cost of health care to come down, you don’t need insurance reform, you need tort reform.
Correct. One can only get used to a terminal condition for as long as one survives it. Getting over it is preferable to getting used to it.
Therein lies the problem with having a political class. They did not have the authority to establish Obamacare in the first place. They don't have the authority to establish a replacement.
What Congress does have is the authority and obligation to remove this unconstitutional program existing under color of law. Following that, the Several States can resume their constitutional regulation of insurance within their respective borders.
It’s actually a dumb discussion. Coverage is already available for all from one of the following five: Employers, Veterans, Medicare, Medicaid, or Individual purchase. HRSC’s 9800 government paid clinics already provide lower level care, they claim, to 1 out of 13 Americans.
End ObamaCare tomorrow and all these will still exist and they existed BEFORE ObamaCare.
EVERY American will fit into one of those 5 categories, iirc.
You need both.
Plus, you need some sort of limit on what the public pays for in the way of medical procedures for those who can’t afford to pay for it themselves. A good criteria, IMHO, would be “life, limb, eyesight.”
Absolutely. Loser pays. False claims to be met with prison time.
It's not that we had done nothing... it's that we did too much of the wrong thing. Øcare was enacted because 'Rats and 'Rinos created the problem for which Øcare was the solution. They passed laws and regulations that created an overburdening medical bureaucracy, and then when there was too much red tape to politically be able to add more, they had waiting in the wings and wheeled out Øcare to once again add even more to the medical bureaucracy.
tort reform is only a small piece of the puzzle (less than 5%). We simply need to enforce anti-trust laws including pricing transparency, re-importation, etc
An unemployed person with a pacemaker. If their COBRA has run out they cannot purchase insurance. No one will sell them a policy.
. . .is not middle class
They took the money out of my pocket to pay for other’s health care and insurance.
It was a huge wealth redistribution from the middle working class to the non-working and the working poor class.
It also shifted in theory money from the young to the old, except a lot of the young just didn’t buy health insurance and were covered by their parents longer.
Hard to pay a penalty on your tax return when you don’t make enough to require a tax return in the first place.
Are you sure you didn’t mean to turn let at DU?
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