Posted on 07/13/2017 11:45:44 AM PDT by ckinv368
For months now, the country has waited with interminable patience to see what the Trump Administration would do with healthcare policy. Few believed the Affordable Care Act—Obamacare—was ever a perfect solution, and Republicans spent 7 years campaigning on its immediate repeal. But even though several healthcare exchanges are collapsing and millions around the country are in danger of losing healthcare services provided by Obamacare, Republicans have had a difficult time figuring out how to go from the party of “no Obamacare” to the party of healthcare solutions.
After much wrangling, the House eventually passed a bill that was imperfect in its approach, and was essentially a punt to the Senate to come up with a better solution. It was clear the Senate’s job was to make the House plan more palatable to the voting public. Reduce costs, reduce taxes, take away the “individual mandate,” but still ensure people that want healthcare have the ability to purchase it. Up until now, those goals have been elusive.
Released today, the new Senate healthcare plan—modified by Sen. Ted Cruz—gets Republicans most of the way there, and may actually stand a chance of passage. Under the modified plan, federal Medicaid costs would be decreased at the state level, and most Obamacare taxes and penalties (many of which weren’t complied with anyway) would disappear. Gone will be the day when my butcher Roland (who is healthy) is required to pay a $700 penalty each year he doesn’t sign up for an overly-expensive government-mandated plan he can’t afford.
But, you might ask, without “penalties,” who will step in to “subsidize” the cost of high-risk patients whose plan costs are capped? The answer in the Cruz plan is finally market-driven, not government-mandated. By allowing healthy Americans the opportunity to buy cheaper, high-deductible health plans that would otherwise not qualify for Obamacare, the insurance industry essentially gets a subsidy, allowing it to decrease the cost of health plans for those that truly need coverage. And, millions of average Americans, like my friend Roland, will be able to afford catastrophic coverage that they will likely not use, but will provide peace-of-mind should tragedy strike.
Is the Senate plan perfect? Definitely not, even with the Cruz compromise. Does it contain “give-aways” to get moderate Senators on board? I don’t see how else you could categorize giving $45 billion to moderate mid-Western states to “combat the opioid epidemic.” Is it the pure “repeal” that very conservative Republicans have clamored for since 2010? It, unfortunately, is not. But what it is, is a workable—and possibly passable—alternative that fixes many of Obamacare’s worst problems, and returns power to the states, and to individuals.
Opening up the healthcare marketplace to the power of capitalism is the right way forward. More government mandates and additional taxes and regulation are not. If nothing else, the Senate’s new healthcare plan takes a step in that right direction.
For additional commentary like this, please visit: www.cameronkinvig.com
No Obamacare is the solution. Less federal involvement is the solution. Honoring the Constitution and not progressive mad schemes is the solution.
I completely agree on all of those things. Unfortunately, this may be the best we get. I don’t necessarily like it either, but it is better than Obamacare, and starts peeling that onion back . . .
Sucking less is about all we can hope for.
I also completely agree with Rurudyne, but it’s all too clear it just is not going to happen.
And the Republicans are apparently too afraid to allow 0care to collapse on it’s own.
I always was in the ‘repeal or bust’ camp, but...
That’s the way I see it. The $45 billion BS give-away, and keeping some Obamacare taxes, is the price we have to pay to largely get rid of a horrible government over-reach.
I humbly disagree. I think Obamacare should be in the mix. Break off Medicaid, give it back to the states with minimal funding to get that ship righted. Everything about catastrophic policies and reduced premiums should be the alternative to Obamacare. Then whack funding for Obamacare based on the amount of people that leave the program because they have better choices.
Turn Obamacare into the Governments choice of plans. Monitor it for a year and depending on how many people leave it, put a sunset provision in saying it doesn’t work. This way, it is always Obamacare and the Democrat plan. Plus, no one can say people were thrown off the plan. They made a choice to leave it.
If it does not return medicine to the free market and that does NOT mean a simulacrum of the free market, medicine in America will continue to deteriorate. The problems with medial care and insurance derive wholly from previous government intervention in first, the insurance market (FDR) then in the whole medical field. So Obamacare was to solve those problems by multiplying government intervention which resulted in insuring more people and cutting more people out of medical care altogether though they do have “insurance.” Now the ongoing collapse of the savior system is bringing a tweaking of government intervention and a removal of much of the funding for the government Health System for that is what it is. Our elected representatives are the recipients of a whole new and wonderful world of graft and corruption such that they soon will not even have to pay lip service to the voters. Government control of medicine and access to medicine is ultimately total control of the society. The elected officials cannot let this get away from them by rationalizing the system back to the free market. It cannot be done by Congressional vote.
Welcome to Stockholm Syndrome!
The Republicans are desperately trying to stamp “Republican” and “Trump” on the collapse. They will stand for nothing less.
Cruz’s plan is a very sneaky way of getting rid of Obamacare by allowing people the option of purchasing other health care insurance. It will be the death of Obamacare. Very clever in my mind.
It were better to leave Obamacare to collapse fully with Hussein’s brand on it. Any system the Republicans come up with will be a salvage and will collapse just the same but will have Trump’s brand on it.
It were better to leave Obamacare to collapse fully with Hussein’s brand on it. Any system the Republicans come up with will be a salvage and will collapse just the same but will have Trump’s brand on it.
Released today, the new Senate healthcare plan—modified by Sen. Ted Cruz—gets Republicans most of the way there, and may actually stand a chance of passage. Under the modified plan, federal Medicaid costs would be decreased at the state level, and most Obamacare taxes and penalties (many of which weren’t complied with anyway) would disappear. Gone will be the day when my butcher Roland (who is healthy) is required to pay a $700 penalty each year he doesn’t sign up for an overly-expensive government-mandated plan he can’t afford.
I read earlier that McConnell released the bill and it didn’t include the Cruz Lee Amendment. Maybe he was able to get a motion thru that added it?!?
Medical Insurance should be as easy to buy as Car Insurance.
I was just going off of what the WSJ said. Think Cruz won enough support to slip the amendment into the formal bill that was re-unveiled this afternoon.
Hope so...that would be good news if he had success. Thank you for posting this.
The perfect solution:
Repeal Obamacare in full
Put Medicare back to where it was
Allow folks to buy the health insurance THEY WANT across state lines to promote competition
Drop the 26 year old on parents policy BS
Drop the pre-existing conditions BS
Healthcare is not a right it’s a product you purchase..IF you want it.
It’s a LOT better than Ebolacare. No mandates (Ebola and Reggie deeply saddened), and we don’t have to buy the crap commie-care plans. The other stuff in Ebolacare is also bad, but more at the level of noise than those two issues.
“Drop the pre-existing conditions BS”
Many people say this and I wonder, what would you personally do if you or a family member had a pre-existing condition and could not buy health insurance?
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