Associated Press
For about three years now, congressional Republicans have sworn up and down that they're hard at work on a health care reform package of their own. It's going to be awesome, they said, and will meet Obamacare's goals without all that unpopular stuff.
Sensible people gave up on actually seeing this vaporware quite a while ago, realizing that "repeal and replace" was a rather pathetic scam. But with the Supreme Court ruling on the Affordable Care Act due fairly soon, and with the possibility of a Republican White House and a Republican Congress on the horizon, there's renewed interest in what, exactly, GOP policymakers intend to do on the issue.
There was some talk this week that Republicans, fearing a public backlash, would "draw up bills to keep the popular, consumer-friendly portions in place -- like allowing adult children to remain on parents' health care plans until age 26, and forcing insurance companies to provide coverage for people with pre-existing conditions." (The interconnectivity of the popular and unpopular parts are generally as lost on Republicans as they are on the general public.)
The GOP's base immediately said this would be outrageous. Yesterday, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) joined them, making it clear that Republicans intend to kill the whole law, including the parts Americans like, want, and have come to expect.
House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) reiterated Thursday that he wants to repeal all of President Obama's healthcare law if the Supreme Court doesn't toss out the entire statute.
"We voted to fully repeal the president's healthcare law as one of our first acts as a new House majority, and our plan remains to repeal the law in its entirety," Boehner said to reporters. "Anything short of that is unacceptable."
Let's not brush past too quickly exactly what this means. The only "acceptable" outcome for Romney is one in which tens of millions of Americans lose their health care coverage, seniors pay higher prescription drug costs, small businesses lose their tax breaks, and the deficit goes up by hundreds of billions of dollars over the next decade.
But there's another point that's gone largely forgotten: we've gone from a policy landscape in which Republicans agreed with 80% of Obamacare to one in which Republicans agree with 0% of Obamacare.
No one seems to remember this, but in September 2009, Louisiana Rep. Charles Boustany (R), the Republican who delivered the official GOP response to President Obama's speech on health care reform, made an interesting declaration, telling MSNBC "about 80%" of the Democratic proposal is acceptable to Republicans.
Soon after, none other than Eric Cantor, now the House Majority Leader, said Republicans and Democrats agree on 80% of the health care reform measures.
Keep in mind, these comments came when the public option was still a key component of the Democratic plan -- which suggests by the time the proposal was being voted on, Republicans liked more than 80% of Obamamcare.
This, of course, leads us to a few questions for Boehner and his cohorts. One, how is it congressional Republicans went from 80% to 0%, when the reform package itself did not move to the left? And two, if Republicans intend to get rid of "the entirety" of the law, including parts that enjoy overwhelming public support, why should voters back GOP candidates?
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And what most people don't know is that when the ACA was being drafted, they included MANY GOP proposals. I spoke with a young man who interned in DC during that time and told me he was in the room when the Democrats told the GOPers they would accept all 73 of their ideas into the bill. So once again, the GOP is now wholly rejecting a law that is largely based on GOP ideas.
It isn't the law they hate; it's the man who signed it into law.
It's the man and the party that signed it into law. They want ALL Democrats eliminated.
Eliminated is a strong word, however accurate it may be. Perhaps liquidated, ala Stalin?
"So once again, the GOP is now wholly rejecting a law that is largely based on GOP ideas."
And yet you sound "surprised". A vote for the GOP in November is a vote against the interests of the 99% and this country, period!
My guess, based on past performance, is that if they are able to repeal everything they will. Then they'll turn around and reenact the same laws and take credit for them saying it was all their idea all along. They don't care that some people can see right through that. After all they make their own reality, the media won't call bull@!$%# on them and the vast majority of the population is so uninformed that they won't know the difference.
Exterminate!
Huh. Wait'll all those teaparty austerity freaks get a load of this:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/obamacare-repeal-would-cost-insurers-1-trillion/2012/05/15/gIQADGbrRU_blog.html
I can't figure out why they want to repeal it, there are perks galore for insurance industry. Only the larger employers would be fined for noncompliance. The costs we pay out for Medicare would be lowered.
http://scrubsandsuits.com/news/new-aca-to-improve-care-control-medicare-costs-off-to-a-good-start
It must be just the knee jerk anti Obama, yes exterminate! fits.
I'm sure it is just a knee-jerk reaction. The ACA is basically a Republican thing, but since Democrats enacted it, then it must go. It's a purely destructive impulse. Since 2008, Republicans seem to have come out as trans Daleks. Maybe some will undergo surgery to have their skeletons removed and some tentacles added, and then sit in trash cans holding a plunger.
Republicans today are anarchists with suits and ties. This is a totally rudderless ship head right for disaster. No one should stay on board.
Please, please, please, Mr. Speaker, can we include all congressional health benefits in that 'Everything must go..."?
i continue to be amazed that almost 50% of the voters vote for these asshats.
Bill, the answer to that question has kept be awake nights my entire adult life.
Why is it every GOP candidate fails civics 101..no president can repeal the health care act with a stroke of the pen on their first day...it was enacted by congress and can only be repealed by a congressional vote..and the odds are the two houses will not change much in terms of parties in november..and the 60 vote super majority needed in the senate guarantees no repeal is viable.
But if the GOP holds the House and get the presidency, they can cut funding even without a full repeal. We must turn out in November and not act like it doesn't matter who's in office. If Bush II didn't teach a lesson, nothing will. And what Rmoney wants to do is even worse.
They are LIARS???? Color me SHOCKED! Yesterday. YESTERDAY, Boehner said they would keep the most popular provisions and TODAY it's get rid of it ALL. They have not only turned their back on their VERY OWN IDEAS but on the country. I guess if we call them on it we'd be engaging in 'character assassination'...
It ain't just them. Andrew Cuomo has totally and deliberately messed up insurance premiums in New York State for people on its previously successful Healthy New York program. By all accounts this is his doing/undoing... and as with things he does which aren't created ostensibly for him to be cheered by crowds (wait... there's just one of them), he is deeply evasive, sending out his clever lover for publicity to announce when a swell fellow he is. Yet this is his willful failure and the Obama administration is furious with him over it. Truth is, A. Cuomo is an M. Romney type... all display with little real acknowledgement of his actions and motivation... and a history of one (just one) won election. Which I'm pretty sure could be his limit if the mordant GOP here can't find anyone sort of sane to run against him.
wtf is that asshat Boner's agenda? This would be good for nobody. Can't we get rid of him? He is the worst goppos there is.
Maybe he's a deep-cover mole?
The Rebublican House of Reps is like a bunch of little kids who want it their way or no way at all! Grow up and learn to compromise before you screw up the country more than you all already have! You are supposed to represent the people not the companies that control you!!!
To the GOP, "compromise" is an even dirtier word than "homosexual".
so exactly what did President Obama compromise in the Affordable Care Act- nothing- as I recall Republicans were excluded from the process- compromise means to President Obama-do it my way- or you are an obstructionist- that said health care in this country is a problem- premiums continue to go up- notwithstanding the promises that they would not- the premiums in my company went up 15% this year and our insurance consultants advise they will go up more that 15% next and to make matters worse we will be penalized because we provide an extensive coverage policy to our employees- that's the Affordable Care Act- if the supreme court declares the major parts of the law as invalid- then hopefully both democrats and republicans will get serious and provide a more rational fix then the affordable care act-
Oh, for Offler's sake! The core feature of the ACA is the individual mandate, which was taken from the Massachusetts' system created when Mitt Romney was governor, and which was proposed by Republicans in the '90s as an alternative to Clinton's proposed health insurance reform. The ACA is a Republican plan! That is, until Republicans repudiated it for political purposes. There is little to nothing in it that is much favored by the left, which prefers single payer.
Why don't you, and every willfully ignorant Foxie like you, start actually paying attention to reality and stop vomiting Republican talking points all over the dinner table? Oh, yes. I forgot. You're all about low-effort thought.
MeddlingMonk...I have a theory as to the opposition of the individual mandate. It is not that the Republicans nor the insurance do not like it, it was just the best legal option available to them to repeal the act in it's entirety as well as gain public support consistent with anti-government fervor. I suspect they are more opposed to the 80/20 or 85/15 caps that went into effect 1/2011. Rachel is the first reporter I have heard mention this and just this week. For groups less than 50, 80% of total revenue must go to direct medical costs. 85% for larger groups. Any overages are to be returned to customers as a rebate. Leaving insurance providers with either 15 or 20% to cover operating costs, salaries, bonuses and share-holder dividends...not to mention lobbying funds that predominantly favor republicans. By June of this year, all companies need to submit financials to the Secretary of Health for the last calendar year and thus comply with the rebates or face criminal prosecution. It always bugged me that republicans opposed their own suggestion and insurance companies would be against a mandate that guaranteed them more customers...it's just that with the cap, they are not guaranteed more profit.
The 80% rule has been mentioned before now, but you have a point although I imagine opposition to that is all about profit. After all, if health insurance companies must put at least 80% of income toward actual health costs, that means that executive 'compensation' cannot continue to balloon as it has done. (Personally, I think it's necessary to cap executive pay universally, since stockholders seem incapable of acting rationally. Companies would do much better if more of their profits were put back into the business instead of sequestering it in executive pay and stock buy-backs.)
Should be "although I don't imagine".
ST54 - If you don't recall Obama compromising, it's because you have a faulty memory, not that he didn't. He made a lot of compromises, ones that made people like me less than happy with the outcome, but evidently anything short of scrapping the whole idea isn't good enough for you or the GOP.
To say the least, may all this frustration turn into votes against this incompetent bunch. They have succeeded in killing the two party system, which has always worked. If they could realistically be voted out, it might wake them up & break the far right grip, just think how much could get accomplished! Frustrated we will stay, at least until more people realize & rise up.
Every time I think the Republicans can not possibly be any more arrogant or out of touch with the America people they were elected to represent -
They prove me wrong -
Again and again and again and again and...................................
Boner needs to go, that is the first requirement on the list, then all health benefits for Federal legislators. Let's see how "easy" it is to get your own insurance Mr. Q/T. Let us see how well you do with ER only medical treatment. By the way douche-bag, when your cirrhosis shows up (which is a given), I hope they turn your (then yellow) ass away. This guy is really pissing me off now! I believe it is time for me to take a blog-vacation lest I vent my frustrations..
http://misleadingguidetocurrentaffairs.blogspot.com/2012/05/unacceptable-result.html
The Republican alternative to health care reform simply would not work. Here's why:
Alan Grayson had the GOP nailed dead to rights as to what their healthplan was.
If you get sick, DIE QUICKLY.
The Republican Party of today still uses the name Republican, but they are nothing at all like what The Real Republican Party of the early to mid Twentith Century was. The days of our great Republican leaders like Abe Linclon, Theodore Roosevelt, and Dwight D. Eisenhower are gone, and but a distent memory. It was in fact in January of 1981 that The Real Republican Party died, but a group of politicians kept the name of The Republican Party.
Today's group of politicians who use the name "Republican" are using that name in vain!
They do not care the least about what "We The People" desire, or think. They obey the commands, and desires of their OWNERS (A small group of wealthy individuals, and Major Corporations).
I believe that within thirty years or so, there will no longer be such a thing as "We The People". Instead this party (which I refer to as The ReNAZIpublican Party, Inc.), and their OWNERS will have completed their master M.A.F. Plan (Make America Fail). Then there will no longer be such a thing as "We The People". Instead they will establish a Fascist like state, and The ReNAZIpublican, and their OWNERS will refer to the remaining 99% of us as "Them Our Slaves"
J.J.J.F.
If the Supreme Court throws out the health care law, it will take the wind out of the Republicans sails since Obamacare will no longer be an election issue. But Dems will be able to put Republicans on the hot seat if they fail to pass any health care legislation. Rising health care costs and premiums are going to reach a tipping point when enough voters are going to demand Congressional action. When that happens, the reforms will be far more draconian than the current health care law and Republicans will be powerless to stop it. This is how many of our laws get passed because benign neglect of problems does not work as a remedy.
"(The interconnectivity of the popular and unpopular parts are generally as lost on Republicans as they are on the GENERAL PUBLIC)" mycaps
As someone who wants universal coverage and don't like what came out as the health insurance reform act I followed this carefully. My question is if the general public doesn't know what is in the bill whose fault is that? I put it squarely on the President &his political advisors who aren't prepared to fight for their own signature legislation and the rest of the Dummycrat party that is incapable of fighting for anything unless they think it is a slam dunk.
PS this automatic link to facebook wall kills posts if you don't have facebook. It should not be an automatic function
In Sept all politics is local. Some of the American Taliban still wants to remain in power. Gov Kasich is also facing a potential recall election before the election as I remember.
Republicans are not to be trusted. VOTE THEM OUT!
Just FYI, I don't think the link about Cantor saying he agrees with 80% of Obama's plan goes to the right story. Cantor never mentions anything about agreeing; he's just his usual dim, unpleasant self.
GOP tried repealing it 26 times already.
The link you provide to show that Eric Cantor said Republicans and Democrats agree on 80% of the health care reform measures actually says nothing of the kind. Please post again with the correct link.
Of course Boehner does. I thought the left did too. It has no public option, it has no path to universal care and is a major giveaway to Big Insurance and Big Pharma. What's to like? The mandate that will mean millions being forced to buy insurance they cannot afford from the big insurance companies? Why defend this crappy bill. Scrap it and let a real national debate ensue. Keep it and the debate ends and insurance companies win. Wake up lefties. This time the right is right. Get on board.
They are trying to hold out getting US any medical ANYTHING....Cos they do not intend to pay for all stuck in their syndromes...
If it is true as reported. The criminals could wipe us out so they don't have to pay for all they infected.
http://worldtruth.tv/ human-genes-engineered-into-experimental-gmo-rice-being-grown-in-kansas/
OSPA is the spirochetal lyme slime used in Lyme vaccines that were infective.
Just as using HeLa cells from a woman who had syphilis.
They both carry the God Like protein formerly known as prion and can share genes with anything.
OspA and Autism - the NIH is *FORCED* to admit the connection:
http://www.pharmpro.com/News/Feeds/2012/05/agencies-and-organizations-national-institutes-of-health-(nih)-nih-supported-study-shows-how-immune-cells-change-/
See more about mechanisms of injury;
http://www.actionlyme.org/
http://mbio.asm.org/content/3/3/e00025-12
Spirochetes share their genes to hide and is the real AIDS/MadCow they lied about for years.
And why kids are being born gay...Not made that way...The infections transverse the neurons with the hormones natural pathways disrupting them, but maintain until the immune system completely give up...
Then they get their syndromes or their cancers from the other 70 or more vaccines they get before 16.
Its ironic the first gay pride ribbon was a Rainbow...
Now we look to that Rainbow Stew of all the many different ribbons they came up with to keep us sick and deny treatment for them all.
Just like they murdered all the HIV pts. because they did not see all the other infections in them hidden in the protein.
Now they all live by treating everything.
And we fight once again for the Right as we watch them deny them all treatment to kill the infections and then stem cells to cure as they brew a stew in Kansas that could make even Toto not care who is changing the money at the gates anymore...