If Obamacare Isn't Repealed, What Can We Expect?
"NO, NO, NO! That's the wrong form! You filled out the canary form - the admissions form is the SALMON form! NEXT!"
Posted on 06/29/2012 5:57:37 AM PDT by Lou L
So the seemingly unexplainable happened yesterday, the US Supreme Court upheld Obamacare. Republicans have promised an immediate repeal should they sweep the elections come November, but that's not a slam dunk. It should be, but we know their track record.
If the Republicans don't sweep both Houses of Congress and the White House (including enough votes to avoid a fillibuster in the Senate), what happens next? What can we expect to see with the implementation of this law? Little things, big things...describe it here.
I think that new identification will be coming down the road ASAP. This won't be in the form of a small dossier of papers; it'll be a high-tech, electronic form of ID, containing RFID, and when decoded, will link to all your personal records, including healthcare and financial. God help us if they decide an optional way to ID people is with a cute tattoo stamped on our foreheads!
I think that most smaller companies still offering insurance will pay their fines, and drop their offerings. There won't be any financial incentive for the companies to keep their healthcare plans, and they'll need to drop them to stay competitive. Employees of these compannies will have to seek insurance through government brokerages.
There will be larger companies that still offer plans, but through government requirements and mandates, eventually it will become too expensive to offer plans, and those employees too, will have to seek insurance offered through government plans.
I'd like to think that the plans offered through the government might be tiered in such a way that they could offer "basic" coverage at the lowest possible rate, and offer better coverages to those that could afford it.
There will be a whole new lexicon of terms and challenges to our current understanding of healthcare. There may be a move to a more "military" style of basic care, where triage is practiced. It may be much like the way an inner-city emergency room is today; nurse practioners may be at the door, sending everyone home with a few asprin, for those with less than life-threatening conditions.
Public "clinics" will pop up, and people will have to go there for basic care. Of course, there will be a lot of standing around, a lot of paperwork. Some people will receive remarkably efficient service--most of these people will have some kind of political connection, be tied to some kind of public service job, or will have made a contribution to a re-election campaign.
Medical innovation will eventually slow. Pharma companies will see less and less incentive to develop expensive drugs, though some companies may thrive and get special exemptions to put some products on the market faster. There will be a political side to R&D...if a drug or device is politically popular, it may get to the market sooner, or through less rigorous testing.
Pharmas and Bio-Techs will need to watch their bottom lines closely (as will the government). Exceptional profits will have to mean that a greater percentage of contributions will need to be made. Of course, companies can't give directly to candidates, but they can give "soft money" to causes.
Eventually, demand will overwhelm the system, and rationing will inevitably occur. The "death panels" won't be obvious at first, but we'll see them. They'll never outwardly publish statistics, but if a drug isn't available, or a procedure can't be performed, well...what are you going to do?
The political system will change. Republicans will have to eventually accept the status quo (of a government healthcare system), and defend it, just like Social Security, and other programs. HC will become the "Fourth Rail," and will become untouchable. The Democrats will run on "improving the existing system," which may mean "higher taxes on those who can afford it..." Republicans will run on "improving the system in a fiscally responsible way...one that keeps HC costs low, and gives patients more choices."
Companies will start to make adjustments to staff to insure that they are at the minimums of these new regulations and taxes.
Some companies will find early on that the fines will be much less than the premiums they are paying and will make changes to their benefit packages.
We only need 51 votes in the Senate. It’s a tax so it can be repealed through Reconciliation process. Same way Dingy Harry got around a GOP filibuster, and rammed it through the Senate in 2010.
If Obamacare isn’t repealed I expect the GOP to disappear the teaparty to take it’s place.
I’ll tell you what is next. Higher utility bills and more expensive taxpayer provided trips by that b*tch in the White House.
Sorry, I am in a very foul mood this morning.
If that happens, I expect very possibly to move to Idaho where Obamacare has been nullified (or maybe Texas if they do the same).
better start taking better care of your health
After Scott Brown was elected, the Rats couldn't pass this bill so they changed the rules and passed this horror show through that very same process.
Oh, the irony
When was an entire state given a waiver? I haven't heard that.
Traveling to different countries to chose a new country to live
At 18% of GDP? A current debt already exceeding GDP?
Another 1,000 yrs of darkness.
We’re already infested with Community Clinics infested with list checking morons.
I guess there’s somewhat of a silver lining. DemoRATS will suffer too. They will have family members dying as well as a result of waiting times. So between that and them aborting their kids, we will eventually get rid of them.
Different Countries?
Such as?
What makes you think it’s not Worse in other countries?
Read some of their Constitutions.
Ireland’s protections for Citizens essentially say they have Rights until some faceless Bureau Weasel says they don’t.
First of all it’s absolutely ESSENTIAL to the democrats that the “Bush Tax Cuts” expire AND that obama get an increased borrowing line by increasing the debt ceiling this fall - AGAIN
They will shut down the government (threaten social security. MEDICARE add military pay) before the election and make it look like the GOP’s fault, to force the GOP to go along
They’ve already programmed the increased revenues to get obamacare up and running, though it won’t be nearly enough because their projections of increasing govt revenue from economic growth are/were wildly off base (a BIG LIE actually)
It is my understanding that many of the people without insurance are Illegals. Are Illegals now required, under law, to have insurance? And if they don't have insurance, will they be penalized - or would that be considered discrimination?
We are becoming Europe. Look at their medical system (limited socialized care) and that is what we are getting.
Also, the more congress and govt in general gets involved in something, the more it costs and the more fouled up it gets. There will be ZERO cost savings from this. The cost of medicine will continue to go up. The only way to bring down the cost of medicine is to have tort reform, which won’t happen until we first have term limits in congress.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.