Posted on 11/03/2013 7:43:31 AM PST by BobL
Hi people. Its been a while since I posted, but I feel the man who REALLY deserves the credit for making Obama and the other Democrats look like fools is not getting the credit he deserves - and that is Joe Lieberman.
As some of you may remember, Senator Lieberman would not support the "Public Option", which was a fairly-cleverly designed plan to have a government-run policy show up when you went to the Obamacare website. The public option, of course, would be priced at the level the government chooses, and would not have to be accountable to anyone as far as making money is concerned. So, when the millions of people with cancellation notices went to the Obamacare website, they might get 6 quotes, priced at $750 to $850 per month, and one quote for the public plan, priced at $500 per month - and so they buy the public plan and the price is in the range they expected - and everyone is happy (on their side)...as private health care disappears in the United States.
But Lieberman would not have anything to do with it, and made it clear that he would not supply the needed 60th vote to get it over the top. So it was either no public option, or no Obamacare. I remember this well, because the Dems went nuts when Lieberman broke on that part and were ready to take his head off...but, but, at the same time, they were telling the country that the public option wasn't a big deal, it was NOT a secret plan for the government to take over the industry...no, it was just intended to give consumers one extra choice, when they went to this exchanges. So, when I see a dichotomy between private and public statements, my political antennas go up and I start to pay attention (with private being defined here as statements between Democrats).
So here's what I think happened: The Dems (and Republicans, of course) knew full-well that Obamacare would be a disaster for people in the private market. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that premiums would skyrocket if you did the following (all in Obamacare): (1) Eliminate pre-existing conditions as a way to deny coverage; (2) Raise the age for children to 26 years old to be required on the parent's policy; (3) Require soft medicine, like mental health and similar stuff (i.e., special interest groups in the medical field); (4) Eliminate annual and lifetime caps on coverage; and (5) Limit out of pocket expenses on an annual basis.
So we end up with all of the above requirements, and for people of average income and above, about all they get to see now (or will get to see) is a website that consolidates a bunch of very, very, expensive policies. The people that don't make as much do get "subsidies", but even then, you have to be quite poor before you really benefit.
...and none of this Obama-nightmare would have happened, except for the Joe Lieberman telling the Dems to shove it.
[ By the way, for those that may not remember, Lieberman had been a Dem all his life, but did stray politically from the plantation, which is a capital offense to that bunch (by supporting Bush on the Gulf War, and supporting kids over teachers unions when it came to vouchers). In fact, in 2006, the Dems had him defeated in his Senate re-election primary, and he only managed to stay in the Senate by running Third Party. So, by the time Obamacare came around a few years later, he was no longer a Democrat, although he still caucused with them and usually voted with them - but not on the Public Option. Maybe the nightmare we have now is Lieberman's way of thanking the Dems for the way he was treated? - it would not surprise me, as it was obvious to all how this was going to turn out without the public option]
Agree...but the man to thank for most of the “mess” we’re in is Lieberman. The Dems had a perfect plan to quickly shift the country to single-payer, but they didn’t get to carry it out. Now they have some very tough choices to make.
Single payer would be worse...
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.