Posted on 07/21/2017 5:24:52 AM PDT by Kaslin
Until now, I haven't been too concerned about the Republican Party's difficulties in passing a health care reform bill because delays have resulted in improvements to the proposed legislation. But enough is enough. No more games.
It's time to quit the finger-pointing. Neither congressional leaders nor President Trump have done enough to whip votes and sell the bill.
A major overhaul of Obamacare, whether a full repeal, or a repeal and replacement, is imperative for Trump and congressional Republicans. More than any other, Obamacare is the issue that has galvanized grass-roots conservatives since 2010, and the Republicans' failure to act now will be devastating on multiple levels.
Excuses like "we had a few renegade senators on the left and the right" won't work. Then-President Obama had no problem getting a majority to support Obamacare and was even able, albeit through deceit and legislative bribery, to cobble together a filibuster-proof margin.
So why can't Republicans get their act together? The differences are that Obama wanted this more than anything else and thus almost willed it into existence, and Democrats are far more monolithic than Republicans and stick together. Republicans must show the same fierce determination Obama showed when he crammed his monstrosity down our throats.
This requires a concerted team effort. President Trump must focus far more attention on this than he has, and his meetings with Senate Republicans this week were a good start. For now, congressional Republicans must also make this their highest priority. Once the bill passes, Trump and Republican legislators must move on to tax reform with the same unified focus and determination.
Like never before, Trump must use the full extent of his political capital to sell the public on this bill and pressure recalcitrant legislators. He should hold major rallies in the states whose senators are balking, and give substantive speeches on what is at stake and why this bill is the lynchpin to reversing Obama's agenda. For their part, congressional Republicans need to be all over television and flood print media with op-eds pushing this bill.
Both Trump and GOP legislators must detail how Obamacare is failing and underscore the failed promises Obama made to advance this bill. In the process, they must change the narrative to distinguish between health care insurance (a term that has been bastardized, anyway) and affordable, quality health care with maximum consumer choices. For far too long, Democrats have corrupted the national conversation by fearmongering and distorting the English language.
I don't deny that the current version of the Senate bill is far from ideal from a conservative point of view, but it is far better than it was before, and it is light-years better than the status quo. I confess that I have been torn on supporting measures that many believe are Obamacare Lite, but in the end, we have to do the best we can do and go forward. We cannot let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
I think we have a far better chance of passing a so-called repeal-and-replace bill, which could be more accurately described as a partial repeal and replacement than a full-blown repeal. Either way, one must occur without further delay.
Many pundits assume that if left alone, Obamacare will continue to unravel and disintegrate, but another school of thought says that it has already sustained the worst and will survive. I don't know about you, but I would never want to bet against the survival of any government entitlement program. Legislators will always figure out a way to bail it out, or, if it is beyond all repair, they might just take the easy route and opt for a single-payer system, which was Obama's plan all along. That's the worst of all worlds.
Even if Obamacare's ultimate failure were inevitable, Republicans can't sit on their hands and watch it die in slow motion. Far too many people will be hurt, which is unacceptable.
Moreover, though many Republicans assume that Obamacare's final implosion would mostly redound to the Democrats' detriment, it is hard to see that considering they would be the ones in power during the implosion. Don't ever underestimate the formidability of the media-enabled Democratic propaganda machine.
If Republicans don't get their act together now, they may not ever get another chance to prevent socialized medicine in this country. We'll never have a better chance to make market-based health care reforms if we don't pass the best bill possible now, for at least two reasons: First, Republicans will be punished for incompetence and betrayal in the next election. And second, there will be a point beyond which market reforms can't feasibly be made.
But if Republicans move this bill through, there's a good chance they can continue to improve it incrementally -- especially if the changes in the current bill yield demonstrable results.
The proposed Senate bill is far from perfect, but we're fantasizing if we think we're going to get anything close to perfect at this point. Sen.Ted Cruz apparently finds the bill acceptable, and, for now, all things considered, that's good enough for me.
Yep!
I’d LOVE to hear at least ONE conservative on tv say “Government has NO business meddling with the healthcare business!!!” NOT their job! NOT their place!
Funny how, we never knew there was a “crisis in healthcare til Obama was elected... except for a bit in 93 when HILLARY wanted to take it over.
They don’t want to repeal Obamacare.
That would weaken Fedzilla.
The only immigration reform we need is enforcement, which we are finally getting.
Music to the GOP ears. They want to be voted into minority party status.
There’s no party. It’s a funeral.
Unfortunately you are right... This is why they insist on having their hands in the mix. But why anyone would support this criminal precedence I don’t know. They keep getting enough support from the people that they can keep going in the wrong direction. And Trump just wants to do Something...anything to try and keep his promise. It is up to him to set some guidelines and dialog in working towards a free market which WILL work, It always does.
Republicans are dead. The only thing left to kill is the stock market...and when that starts to implode the fit will hit the shan....and so be it...at least everyone will be finally equal...ha! Bring it on stupid party!
There’s a new health care model out there and it’s being successful in six hundred locations. Basically, a clinic (group of various docs with various specialties in a building), or maybe it’s more like a small hospital, offers thousands of patients with health issues in the “normal” range health care at $50.00 per month.
And, it’s working. So, the day may come after this model is refined and perfected over the years, that 535 legislators opinions on Health Care are MOOT
There are going to be winners and losers with any plan. With Obamacare the winners were those with pre-existing conditions and lower income people who became eligible for Medicaid. The losers were those who bought health-care insurance on their own and saw their premiums sky-rocket, people who saw their hours cut be companies not wanting to meet the minimum hour requirement for providing insurance. Under Trumpcare the winners will be those who can buy lower cost premiums that meet their needs and people whose employers no longer need to provide insurance and therefore don't need to cut hours. The losers will be those with pre-existing conditions and those who will be dropped from Medicaid when that gets cut. People are going to get hurt one way or the other, so if Limbaugh's goal is to not hurt anyone then he's going to be disappointed no matter what happens.
Ha! We'd be lucky if it was just do nothing
... as is, they're certain to backstab us.
(Indeed, the failure to repeal is proof of their intent.)
David, I love you, brother, but don’t do an editorial unless you want to confront the real reason they are not doing anything for WE THE PEOPLE...it is because they are paid off by pharma, and COC and anyone keeping them in power...in fact, they get richer if they are in the MINORITY!!!
You're right - all the foofarah about comprehensive immigration was a smokescreen for bringing in more illegals and make the ones here legal. Immigration reform was a coalition of the CHEAP LABOR EXPRESS AND VOTER hungry democrats...
InsuranceCare is the same - my guess is most of the bill was written by the self-interested BIG players - Insurance companies, Doctor's groups and big Pharma...
If Congress passes ONE PART OF HEALTHCARE AT A TIME we (the people) can stop the process of 'feeding special interest' by cash starved members of Congress. Congressmen should be working for the people - NOT for the special interest. Voting on ONE part of HealtCare at time puts the kibosh on this type of corruption.
Obama sold the non-productive side of America the idea that they could have EVERY conceivable kind of health care—despite their life styles——at the largess of the productive part of America. He sold this bag of manure with a ‘LOSS LEADER’ ad on what premiums would cost and a handful of other lies:
Your costs will go down $2500 a year
Your kids are covered by you until they are 26-free
You can keep your own doctor
You can keep your own hospital
Premiums won’t rise
Deductibles won’t rise
Everything will be hunky-dory
NOT SO-—Some families are expected to pay more for this ‘health care insurance’ & DEDUCTIBLES than they earn in gross pay in a year.
NOW that Obamacare is spiraling out of control at a Titanic rate, Obama is out of office & the Congress is there to catch hell for the outcome.
The outcome belongs ENTIRELY to the DEMOCRATS. THEY voted for Obamacare. NOT ONE SINGLE REPUBLICAN voted for
Obamacare. Then Kathleen Sebelius had control to add whatever the heck she wanted without ANY oversight or sign off by Congress. And she went nuts with additions like a drunken sailor on shore leave with someone else’s credit card.
John Roberts didn’t help by calling it a legal law because it was a TAX. Gee—I usually get to DEDUCT taxes from my income taxes. Don’t see that space on my 1040. Must be a misprint.....
There are many dirty hands here, but David Limbaugh is correct.
GOP—GET OFF YOUR BUTTS and do something that is actually responsible for once.
My chiropractor will no longer accept any Medicare paying patients-—only those who pay cash. WHY?? Because her Accts receivable has gone from a 60 day range to a range over 180 days with slow payments from the Feds & sending back her requests because of ‘coding problems’. Another 180 days...... How can the human body have over 14,000 different codes that apply to fixing us? NUTS-—COMPLETELY NUTS. Neither she or other small business’ in the health care scene can afford to carry the receivables for that long a time-—and she had to add another office woman JUST TO DO THE CODING—a 50% increase in office staff.
When everybody thinks they can get something for free & they try to put that into place, there has to be pushback.
Here is IS: PUSHBACK
Call it what it is.....the free ride is over.
I don’t buy the polls. Still believe the majority of voters feel the pain of Obamacare.””
Thru most of 2016, I was getting polled 305 times a week.
Since NOv 2016-——crickets...Not one call.
Those polls are being targeted to the people who will give them the answers they want or they are possibly not even making the calls & are just making up the numbers like a game of Scrabble.
That arrogant pos lied plane and simple
Why is every female required to carry maternity coverage? Many of us are way beyond needing such coverage!!!
A person should be able to pick their coverage ala-carte and only pay for what they need.
It would have been an insult to me to have been on my father’s insurance until I turned 26-—a total insult. I was on my own.
Yes!
In fact, the bill does not need to be overly long (no bill does, actually.) Just enough to get rid of the obama "care" [sic] fraud, and establish a workable framework. There is absolutely nothing wrong with coloring-in and fine-tuning the leg, using positive and negative feedback, as implementation begins to move.
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