Day 56
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Posted on 05/26/2013 10:52:14 AM PDT by Olog-hai
If Republicans were writing a movie script for next year’s congressional elections, the working title might be “2014: Apocalypse of Obamacare.”
The plot: The rollout of President Barack Obama’s health care law turns into such a disaster that enraged voters rebuke him by rewarding the GOP with undisputed control of Congress.
But there’s a risk for Republicans if they’re wrong and the Affordable Care Act works reasonably well, particularly in states that have embraced it. Republicans might be seen as obstinately standing in the way of progress. …
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
I’ve heard some liberals say recently, that Obamacare itself is a good law, but that the only problems arising are with implementation of the law.
The unanswered question is: since the Obama administration and good Democrats are the ones implementing the law, how will they blame problems with implementation on the GOP???
That’s my first thought, too. Obama will scream that the Republicans and the Tea Party racists are cruelly and deliberately obstructing Obamacare, the press will agree, and judging from this past election, many voters will agree.
And in any case, election fraud will continue to worsen, while the Republican Establishment looks the other way and does nothing.
That’s going to be tough to do when the unions are also screaming they don’t have the plan that was promised to them (i.e. “if you are happy with your current plan, no need to change it”)
“The unanswered question is: since the Obama administration and good Democrats are the ones implementing the law, how will they blame problems with implementation on the GOP???”
Sequestration. They will lie about the money and low information voters will believe them.
Whether Obamacare works or not, this will be the narrative of choice for the Dems. Everything bad in this country is because Republicans stand against progress.
Hey, Republicans, if this was such a great strategy, how did Obamacare pass in the first place? Find another drum to beat. (IRS, AP/Rosengate. Benghazi) Use Obamacare, but if that is the only thing you bet on, you will lose again.
“But there’s a risk for Republicans if they’re wrong and the Affordable Care Act works reasonably well”
Yeah, right. Keep dreaming, AP.
In the 2014 election, the GOP will only have to tell America how much Obamacare will cost.
There is no sane way to fund all the mandates written into the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2011” and still have it perform all the duties and provide all the advantages claimed for it.
Employers will simply opt out of providing health care altogether, and pay whatever fines are involved, the sum of which would not nearly close the revenue gap resulting in full implementation of the provisions. States have still very little real incentive to form the “state exchanges”, as the cost of the mandates that would be placed upon them would quickly bust their annual budgets for years to come, and many states just do not have the borrowing authority to provide for deficit financing of this scheme.
Even the concept of third-party payment for health services is flawed, especially when the delivery of services is held to be an entitlement. There is something called “major medical” that would avert catastrophe, and when used in conjunction with a medical services savings account, provides a personal safety net that is pretty hard to abuse.
The option to even carry medical services insurance programs should be left up to the informed individual, as some people, through their personal belief in their invulnerability and/or immortality, would not choose to carry any plan. Others should have plans tailored to their individual needs. But the exceptions should not make the standard.
Obamacare should have been an issue in 2012 but the dumb Republicans nominated Mr. Romneycare as their presidential candidate. They will mess up again.
Romney was nominated in the same way McCain was. Open primaries that allow squishy middles and moderates to get momentum behind the least conservative candidate.
How about the rampant corruption in all of our agencies under 0bama? Those scandals are a bigger threat, as well they should be!
LOL!! Now that is a good one. HaHaHaHaHaHa good one
yup
I think you make good points. Already we’re seeing employers cutting employee hours, so that they won’t be “full time” per Obamacare, and thus there would be no requirement to provide them health insurance benefits.
Also, how many people without employer provided health insurance will simply choose to pay the fine, rather than getting required health insurance? We don’t know yet, but I would imagine that millions, especially young people, will go that route.
Good point about major medical insurance vs. more comprehensive health insurance. From what I understand, major medical policies, which cover hospitalization but not all the routine doctor visits, are much less expensive than those which cover all healthcare costs. Yet, again especially for young healthy people, being hospitalized is what will break the bank, not the costs of doctor’s visits.
And we don’t know how many employers will opt out of health insurance altogether. There are literally millions of small businesses in this country, which employee millions of people. There’s a great potential for tens of millions who once had employer provided health insurance to lose coverage. And many of these will simply not get health insurance at all.
And, remember that we all know that emergency rooms provide care regardless of ability to pay or whether someone has insurance. I can imagine many people thinking that, if they have a medical problem, they will go to the ER if it happens, rather than paying for insurance.
And the IRS is going to be a key enforcement agency involved with enforcing the individual mandate of Obamacare. But, how will they enforce anything against the huge number of people who don’t pay income tax and don’t even file tax returns? I wonder if anyone has thought that through.
No, what the media is doing is sending hints to the dems to dump it before 2014
Yeah, and the 47% who pay for it on net will be pissed. So what?
The true price of ObamaCare will be manipulated long enough to get past the election. It’s like our insane debt - democrats just keep printing money... eventually the fiddler’s going to have to be paid. But it’s ‘all good’ until the collapse.
I suggest that the GOP come up with solutions and alternatives, rather than just sitting back at the golf course or their cocktail parties and waiting for the dims to self destruct.
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