Posted on 06/23/2017 6:54:09 AM PDT by Rockitz
Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) told Breitbart News in an exclusive interview that he thinks the Senate healthcare bill “looks too much like Obamacare.” Senator Rand Paul joined Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT), Ron Johnson (R-WI), and Ted Cruz (R-TX) in opposition to the Senate bill. The coalition of conservative senators argue that the legislation does not do enough to repeal Obamacare.
Senator Paul explained his opposition to the newly released Senate healthcare bill:
I think the bill looks too much like Obamacare. It really doesn’t look like a repeal bill. It looks like we’re keeping Obamacare, it keeps probably 100 percent of the Obamacare subsidies. In fact, we have estimated that it may have more subsidies than Obamacare. It creates a new stabilization fund of over $100 billion. This fund is something that is not consistent with conservative philosophy because it’s the government giving money to insurance companies. The bill keeps ten of twelve Obamacare regulations that causes the prices of premiums to spiral upward. So my fear is that Republicans in putting forward something and saying they’re repealing and replacing Obamacare and not making it better. It actually does not repeal and replacing Obamacare, it replaces it with more Obamacare or Obamacare-Lite, which doesn’t really fix the problem.
So the four of us said no with really the intention that we can use that leverage to try to make the bill better.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
Just ask for a straight vote for a full repeal of Obamacare with no mention of replacing it. Then when it fails to pass, Republicans, including Trump, should put the blame squarely on the Democrats.
Then move on to the tax cuts.
You are dreaming. If people in Iowa or wherever lose their meds due to obamacare collapsing they are not going to blame the Dems. They are rightfully going to blame the GOP since they hold both Congress & the WH.
Selling across state lines is obvious, but as far as I know there is nothing in this that addresses one of the single most important underlying problems - DOCTOR SUPPLY. The AMA keeps tight reins on the number of doctors being produced, which inherently keeps supply down and costs up. They also make it nearly impossible for doctors immigrating from overseas to get internships and pass medical board exams.
If every policy is required to cover things people don’t want or need, the premiums will still be high. These Cadillac plans can still be offered along with other plans and the individual should have the freedom to choose which plan best fits their needs and pocketbooks.
ANYONEWHO VOTES FOR THIS POS NEEDS TO GO
This bill repeals an awful lot of taxes. It helps Obamacare die quicker....but then the Repubs own it.
No, that’s a cop-out too.
Trump and the GOP leadership have spent no capital pushing for what is right and what they had campaigned on here.
E.g., Collins is a problem—but Trump won one of her two congressional districts.
They should have taken this to the people and put the pressure on the GOP House and Senate to pass just what they passed so many times when they knew Obama wouldn’t sign it.
............make no mistake, this piece of legislation is being CONTROLLED by Big Insurance and Big Pharm. It has nothing to do with health care and EVERYTHING to do with these huge world wide companies soaking the taxpayers for trillions of dollars over the life of the bill if it passes.
It’s probably the biggest fight over the biggest amount of money in the history of the world and many Senators are just flat bought off!
With regard to Obamacare Republicans have only three alternatives:
1) Repeal it
2) Attempt to repeal it but fail
3) Leave it alone and try to blame Democrats when it fails.
In any case, Obamacare will be gone and Republicans, who nominally control congress, will have to share the blame, rightly or wrongly.
My position is that since the blame is going to get spread around regardless, why not simply do the right thing?
What is the right thing? The right thing for health care is the right thing for any aspect of life, liberty or the pursuit of happiness: return to the founding principles of a limited government that protects individual freedom.
The federal government has grown to a monstrous size, a thousand times that intended and agreed upon by the founders when the constitution was ratified.
As such, instead of protecting its citizens from tyranny, it provides the mechanism for tyranny through redistributive schemes which replace free enterprise with cronyism.
Repeal this socialist POS and don’t replace it with anything federal. Accept the political consequences for doing the right thing.
They were elected to REPEAL ObamaCARE,
and instead support Pizzagate, treason, and their own
EXEMPTION to ObamaCARE 2.0
And this is because if there is ANY form of Obamacare still on the books when the Dems regain the Congress, they will gleefully modify that law to reach this end. So, the only safe course for conservatives is to repeal Obamacare and make the Dems start over, if they dare.
One out of three ain't bad. The subisidies are staying for now, scheduled to be reduced in the coming years. Obviously there needs to be a higher price for obtaining insurance when you don't bother buying, and then get sick. That is common sense. What is gone is mandatory insurance purchase, that restricts freedom.
The rest is up to the states. The bill devolves a lot of power to the states.
Yes it does that. It also devolves power to the states. That's 90% of the bill. The rest is some restrictions on states and payments to states, probably more than there really needs to be.
That's silly. Read the bill, there's 15 billion (for 2 years) then 10 billion a year in payments to states. There's nothing in the bill giving pharma or insurance companies anything.
Not in the Senate bill. Check stays.
Obviously there needs to be a higher price for obtaining insurance when you don't bother buying, and then get sick.
Which means you pay a penalty if you don't maintain coverage. You just pay it to the insurance company instead of the government. Check is back.
The rest is up to the states. The bill devolves a lot of power to the states.
The Senate bill removes the ability for the states to request a waiver on covering pre-existing conditions, though they can request a waiver on most of the rest of the Obamacare requirements. So the check is back there, too.
You may have forgotten:
1. 18 year olds are considered adults for voting and military service. 26 year olds who suck off their parents health plans are useless bums, and additional cause of rise in premiums/deductibles;
2. Most importantly, the Federal Government has NO business interfering in a free-market insurance system.
Besides the Robert's "tax" if you don't buy Obamacare, my other astonishment is the "pre-existing conditions" requirement. That is hardly insurance. A fix for those unfortunate folks could be an Interstate high risk pool.
The Senate bill removes the ability for the states to request a waiver on covering pre-existing conditions,
I have not seen that, but if it is missing, then that would explain why I didn't see it.
I haven't forgotten, though that does almost nothing to impact the insurance premiums. What has caused premiums to skyrocket is the requirement that insurance companies cover pre-existing conditions with no increase in premium - something that stays in the Senate plan - and no limit on the liability that a policy can pay out - something neither the House or Senate plan addresses.
2. Most importantly, the Federal Government has NO business interfering in a free-market insurance system.
No argument there. I have constantly stated my belief that Obamacare should be repealed and not replaced because there is nothing the government can do regarding health care coverage that won't make things worse.
A fix for those unfortunate folks could be an Interstate high risk pool.
A government high-risk pool does not exist. And for individual states to fund their own pool requires money. States like my own and like neighboring Kansas and Illinois can't cut spending fast enough to keep up with deficits. Where are they going to get the money for a high-risk pool?
So if an extra charge for allowing your coverage to lapse is not a penalty then what is it exactly?
I have not seen that, but if it is missing, then that would explain why I didn't see it.
So I get the checkmark back?
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