Last sentence in the article. “Plus, as the ObamaCare exchanges continue to crumble and as more states chafe at Medicaid’s costs, it will be easier for Republicans to get what they want on their own — if Republicans are smart enough to seize the opportunity, that is.”
Republicans aren’t smart enough to seize and opportunity
Even if there is a movement to primary RINO’s in 2018, few will actually be defeated in the primary. They have the money from special interests and the party. Challengers have trouble raising the big money needed to run a campaign. As a result, most of those responsible for the O’care repeal debacle will be carrying the GOP flag in the fall of 2018.
The big question for 2018 will be the long suffering conservative Republican base voter. When it comes to Election Day will those voters once again go to the polls and vote for their back stabbing RINO representative in order to keep a Democrat from winning. Or, will those voters have reached the conclusion there is really no difference between a Democrat and RINO. If the latter, there may be a Democrat takeover of the House and Senate because enough of the Republican voter base stays home in disgust.
Doubt it. The Dems will not be blamed; the Reps will get the full blame for not “fixing” it. On to single payer which is the goal of the uniparty anyway.
Enforce obamacare as passed by the democrats.
Trump needs to revoke ALL of Obama’s exceptions.
I’m leaning toward asteroid impact or Yellow Stone caldera eruption in 2018. Nothing else seems to faze the uniparty.
That's what Trumpcare was supposed to do as well, and it had zero chance of doing that. So government health-care intervention has been doomed ever since they got involved.
For decades that Rats have openly taken the position that *everything* that goes wrong in this country is the GOP's fault. ObamaCare is no exception.
Amendment X
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
Democrats don’t need to be concerned about being held responsible for the implosion of Obamacare.
The media will pin the blame for the failure of Obamacare on the republicans and paint the democrats as the heroes who struggled mightily against the mean republicans in an effort to save Obamacare for the little people.
For those who don’t want to support the pimping of his own blog as he always does, here’s the entire article....
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Health Reform: There were lots of celebrations on the left side of the aisle after the Senate GOP bill to repeal and replace ObamaCare died. The good times will be short lived, because one way or another ObamaCare is going away, and it’s not at all clear that Democrats will gain additional leverage over what comes next by waiting for its collapse.
It was amusing to hear Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer say, after the Senate bill failed, that Republicans should “work with Democrats on a bill that lowers premiums, provides long-term stability to the markets and improves our health care system.”
Lower premiums, stabilize insurance markets, improve health care? Wasn’t that what ObamaCare was supposed to do in the first place?
While Schumer and company were busy calling Republicans mass murderers, here’s what was actually happening with ObamaCare.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reports that the number of insurers applying to participate in ObamaCare exchanges next year plunged by 38% compared with last year, and is half what it was in 2016.
CMS also reported that 40 counties in Indiana, Ohio and Nevada are at risk of having zero insurance companies in their ObamaCare exchanges next year. The Kaiser Family Foundation put the number of at-risk counties at 38.
In addition, CMS reported that 2.4 million enrollees in 40% of the nation’s counties will have just one insurance company in their area.
The average increase in premiums next year for a Silver plan in eight states will be 18%, according to Avalere. One of the last ObamaCare insurers in Iowa has put in for a 43.5% hike. In Washington state, the average boost is 22%. In Tennessee, the proposed rate hikes range from 21% to 42%. And so on.
As we noted before in this space, these insurance defections and gargantuan rate hikes have nothing to do with the Republican’s repeal effort, but with the continued deterioration of the ObamaCare markets.
States are also starting to struggle with the costs of ObamaCare’s “free” Medicaid expansion. A report from the National Association of State Budget Offices said that the expansion will cost states nearly $9 billion next year, more than twice what it cost in 2016.
CMS reports that the per capita costs of the Medicaid expansion are 50% higher than expected.
Arkansas scaled back its Medicaid expansion in May, and Ohio lawmakers voted in June to freeze the expansion in that state. Oregon’s Medicaid expansion contributed a $1.6 billion gap in the state’s budget. In California, the Medicaid expansion will cost the state $1.3 billion this year, putting additional strain on the state’s budget.
As economist Herbert Stein once put it, if something can’t go on forever, it won’t.
That’s the reality facing ObamaCare. And it’s one Democrats have so far been able to avoid by focusing the public’s ire on the fumbling GOP efforts to come up with a replacement plan.
But with repeal-and-replace now off the table, all we have left is the self-destructing ObamaCare. Don’t be surprised if ObamaCare’s popularity suddenly nose-dives again.
So the GOP’s answer to Schumer should be: You had your chance to fix health care. You blew it. Twice. First when you passed ObamaCare, and second when you refused to admit that mistake and decided to cast Republicans as evil. Why should the GOP reward you with a third?
Plus, as the ObamaCare exchanges continue to crumble and as more states chafe at Medicaid’s costs, it will be easier for Republicans to get what they want on their own — if Republicans are smart enough to seize the opportunity, that is.
One of the things that struck me as I plodded through the original bill seven years ago was how much authority the administrator has. That’s what we were going to see put into use in the so-called “phase two” of repeal and replace, and it’s still available. I have a feeling a careful examination of all the flexibility the administrator has would reveal a significant number of areas where the most onerous parts of Obamacare could be mitigated. I hope that flexibility gets used to its fullest.
blog-pimpin’
In the history of man in any form of government, what government program has ever lowered cost and improved quality?
Whatever happens, the media will blame the Republicans. It remains to be seen whether the voters hold them accountable or not. For me personally, it sure is making it hard to consider/plan retirement.
Let it burn.
The best thing that could have happened would be a clean total repeal. The worst would be what the GOP was trying to pass. The second best is to do nothing. The Gop should be all over the airwaves declaring that they couldn’t fix Obama care because the Democrats wouldn’t help.
Also, the GOPe supporters of Obamacare need to feel Trump’s wrath.
The Democrats’ end game all along was that it would collapse and pave the way for them to do single payer.
However, when it became clear California could not figure out a way to do single payer, all the wheels began to come off of the Master Plan.
IBD wants ever higher Pharma drug prices.
IBD cannot handle natural stock fluctuations, no prices must always rise like a day trader.
IBD are dummies about investing.
IBD are Socialist Republicans.
We need endless emphasis on the fact that the RATs fully OWN Obamacare. No Republican input was accepted and no Republican votes passed it. Otherwise the collapse will be blamed on our side by the liars in the media.
One year from now as we approach the midterms, more and more people will be very upset at their premiums. I believe that they will not totally blame Republicans - they will blame the half dozen Republicans who have played this cute and they will blame all Democrats - it will be a huge campaign issue, people vote when they are mad as hell.
Schumer needs to keep his piehole closed;not to make him look better,but to keep him from looking any dumber.