Posted on 11/08/2014 8:14:37 PM PST by Steelfish
Here to Stay: Why the New Republican Congress Can't Gut Obamacare BY MAGGIE FOX
Republicans may have promised to repeal or at least do a big makeover of Obamacare now that they control both the House and the Senate, but most experts believe it’s lip service only.
The 2010 Affordable Care Act is in full force across the country, with internet-based health insurance exchanges up and running, expanded Medicaid in 28 states and strict new requirements for health insurers. Here are five reasons the GOP-led Congress won’t be able to change much.
The veto.
This is the big one: President Barack Obama still has veto power. Republicans may have a majority in the Senate, but they don’t have the 60 seats needed to override a Democratic-led filibuster or a presidential veto. And Obama’s not going to allow his signature piece of legislation to be gutted.
They like it.
Republicans actually like a lot about Obamacare. It’s great business for health insurance companies, which in turn give plenty of money to Republicans. Republicans have also always agreed that more Americans need to be covered by health insurance. They just haven’t always agreed on how to get there.
“The five major national health insurers have all seen their stock price at least double — one has almost tripled — since the ACA was enacted, and they’ve all been raising their earnings estimates,” says Jay Angoff, who helped construct health reform at the Health and Human Services department before returning to private law firm Mehri & Skalet. "Republicans are not going to try to repeal a law that has been such a boon to insurers: They are still a Republican constituency group."
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...
Jeeze you completely miss the point. DemforBush gets it.
No one in this country wants to see someone get sick or die for lack of ability to pay. We believe human life is precious.
But at the same time most of us agree its not fair to subsidize the affluent with taxpayer dollars. It simply makes health care harder and more expensive for most people to obtain.
And Obamacare tries to do the right thing in exactly the wrong way. We need something that addresses the uninsured problem while not inconveniencing every one else. Its an ethical as well as a financial issue.
The key to socialism is that everyone must be forced to participate because it collapses otherwise.
Like one of my managers says ‘Good Times’.
and the ban on new and expanding physician-owned hospitals should be ended immediately
In the past, I did not believe people on food stamps drove nice cars, till I saw someone pay for groceries with food stamps. I decided to follow them and see. They got into a really beautiful Toyoyta Camry. I think that is the rule, rather than the exception. Bitter? More than just a little.
Camry? Man, I’m talking Escalades, BMW’s, new Tahoe’s. It’s pretty absurd.
There was no healthcare/insurance bitching from Americans, period, until the illegal hispanics started closing down Emergency Care centers all over the border states.
That surge impelled Hillary/Romney’s ‘Care’ for the insurers who were hung out with the US Southwest new unpayable claims.
Nobody in Texas had to have auto liability insurance until the MenSeekingMen media announced we had to in 1990 or so because the mexicans were causing wrecks that nobody had insurance for.
Same as zerocare. The problem is they can’t tax you for being alive. They can tax you for driving. I expect Roberts to get real again when the case is brought for the ‘language’ clause.
What would stop Obola from doing an Executive Order nullifying the SC ruling?
Yes it would be illegal and unconstitutional but he and the State run media love it and no-one on our side has the guts to raise any objection.
Well, I certainly agree with that.
Call out the military and imprison the traitors. Woohooo! No Queensbury. Time is short.
Did you not see the electoral map turning vibrant RED Tuesday?
The brownshirts are confined to a very few clusters.
zero can pen and phone all he wants: who will enforce his BS?
Ms. Fox must have sent in her column before SCOTUS announced they’re taking the Burwell case.
Obama would not. Defiance of the Court would bring demands for his resignation from his own party. He would not survive impeachment. The Court has too much prestige to be defied without dire consequences.
The new Camry was just the first nice car I saw, driven by a food stamp person. I saw others later, driving vehicles similar to what you describe. Rather than thinking of it as absurd, I thought that, more than likely, it involved criminal fraud. I also used to see tons of BMW 750s, driven by 20 or 21 year old guys. Of course I never knew for sure, but I used to wonder if they got their money by other than lawful means.
I have a question. I don’t completely disagree with you but...
The affluent were forced to participate in Medicare deductions, like everybody else. So why should they not share in the benefit? Especially since they are subject to means testing.
(And believe me...I am not or never will be affluent.)
Congress has the power of the purse. The House could have stopped things long ago if they were truly interested in doing so. Maybe we are a bit closer to a critical mass to get some action. Doubtful, but one can hope.
I don’t think Buckwheat will go that far- and if he does, I think that he will be stopped by a massive citizen outcry. I will not get any more specific.
That’s not oil...she’s sweating out the contents of a gin mill...
The idea that there has to be any more kabuki theater between the GOP leadership and Obama over Obamacare is pure malarkey. All they have to do is quit funding it, and there isn’t a thing Obama can do about it. Congress holds the purse strings, not the president.
Agreed...cut the mandates. Most people can’t afford the deductibles and out of pocket cost and won’t pay them any way.
If they had just addressed pre-existing, most people wouldn’t have said a word. The poor were still getting care.
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