The Affordable Care Act II - Because Mr. Obama Loves You All

[B-Man]

KIMBERLY STRASSEL: Our Self-Interested Senators.

 

The House bill isn’t perfect—no bill ever is—but it amounts to the biggest entitlement reform in history. It repeals crushing taxes. It dramatically cuts spending. And it begins the process of stabilizing the individual health-care market and expanding consumer freedom.

None of this is good enough for a handful of senators, so now it’s time to make this exercise all about them. Mr. McConnell should make clear that the overwhelming majority of the Republican Party stands ready to make good on its repeal-and-replace campaign promise—and that it would have done so already were it not for a cynical or egotistic few. It’s time for some very public accountability.

That rests in Mr. McConnell giving his caucus a drop-dead date to broker a compromise, after which he will proceed to bring up the House bill. And any Republican who votes against moving forward, “a motion to proceed,” will forever be known as the Republican who saved ObamaCare. The Republican who voted to throw billions more taxpayer dollars at failing entitlement programs and collapsing insurance markets. The Republican who abandoned struggling American families. The Republican who voted against a tax cut and spending reductions. The Republican who made Chuck Schumer’s year.

And that’s only a short list of the real-world accountability.

 

 

 

 

The Democrats could agree on almost any “reform” bill, so long as it brought more money and power to Washington — the important thing was to bring more booty to Washington for divvying. What the Republicans have to do is much tougher, as any repeal or genuine replacement means less booty.

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

KIMBERLY STRASSEL: Our Self-Interested Senators.

 

The House bill isn’t perfect—no bill ever is—but it amounts to the biggest entitlement reform in history. It repeals crushing taxes. It dramatically cuts spending. And it begins the process of stabilizing the individual health-care market and expanding consumer freedom.

None of this is good enough for a handful of senators, so now it’s time to make this exercise all about them. Mr. McConnell should make clear that the overwhelming majority of the Republican Party stands ready to make good on its repeal-and-replace campaign promise—and that it would have done so already were it not for a cynical or egotistic few. It’s time for some very public accountability.

That rests in Mr. McConnell giving his caucus a drop-dead date to broker a compromise, after which he will proceed to bring up the House bill. And any Republican who votes against moving forward, “a motion to proceed,” will forever be known as the Republican who saved ObamaCare. The Republican who voted to throw billions more taxpayer dollars at failing entitlement programs and collapsing insurance markets. The Republican who abandoned struggling American families. The Republican who voted against a tax cut and spending reductions. The Republican who made Chuck Schumer’s year.

And that’s only a short list of the real-world accountability.

 

 

 

 

The Democrats could agree on almost any “reform” bill, so long as it brought more money and power to Washington — the important thing was to bring more booty to Washington for divvying. What the Republicans have to do is much tougher, as any repeal or genuine replacement means less booty.

 

 

mitch won't do anything like that. Because, well, mitch is fortitudinally flaccid.

 

I don't repost Facebook spam images without citations because I'm not an uneducated poor like the lot of you

 

 

Right.

 

Note magox's reply. To deny the Affordable Care Act has been anything but affordable makes you look uneducated. Get over yourself.

[ALF]

The latest effort by Republicans in the Senate to overhaul the US healthcare system could have an unexpected effect on deductibles: they could get so high they're actually more than the poorest Americans earn.

Deductibles are what you pay before your insurance kicks in. The CBO estimates that by 2026 the second-lowest-priced plans (the silver plans, in the Obamacare marketplace) would have $13,000 deductibles.

Under the Affordable Care Act currently, a deductible for the same plan would be $5,000 in 2026.

http://www.businessinsider.com/cbo-deductibles-under-new-senate-health-care-bill-to-rise-sharply-2017-7

[grinreaper]

 

I don't repost Facebook spam images without citations because I'm not an uneducated poor like the lot of you

Another lost soul who didn't get his/her period.

[Doc Brown]

KIMBERLY STRASSEL: Our Self-Interested Senators.

 

The House bill isn’t perfect—no bill ever is—but it amounts to the biggest entitlement reform in history. It repeals crushing taxes. It dramatically cuts spending. And it begins the process of stabilizing the individual health-care market and expanding consumer freedom.

None of this is good enough for a handful of senators, so now it’s time to make this exercise all about them. Mr. McConnell should make clear that the overwhelming majority of the Republican Party stands ready to make good on its repeal-and-replace campaign promise—and that it would have done so already were it not for a cynical or egotistic few. It’s time for some very public accountability.

That rests in Mr. McConnell giving his caucus a drop-dead date to broker a compromise, after which he will proceed to bring up the House bill. And any Republican who votes against moving forward, “a motion to proceed,” will forever be known as the Republican who saved ObamaCare. The Republican who voted to throw billions more taxpayer dollars at failing entitlement programs and collapsing insurance markets. The Republican who abandoned struggling American families. The Republican who voted against a tax cut and spending reductions. The Republican who made Chuck Schumer’s year.

And that’s only a short list of the real-world accountability.

 

 

 

 

The Democrats could agree on almost any “reform” bill, so long as it brought more money and power to Washington — the important thing was to bring more booty to Washington for divvying. What the Republicans have to do is much tougher, as any repeal or genuine replacement means less booty.

 

That is the GOP's predicament. They're in a lose/lose situation and have been since they took the majority in all three branches. Obama's legacy will always be pushing the healthcare debate to the left whether you like it or not.

[ALF]

Stories of high drug costs

 

David Mitchell, 67, spent several hours one day last week getting an infusion of two drugs that help stave off multiple myeloma, an incurable – but treatable – blood cancer he has battled for almost seven years. The cost: $20,000.

"I'll need 22 more of these treatments over the next year," said Mitchell, of Potomac, Md. "I'm a very expensive baby; $450,000 worth of drugs a year are keeping me alive."

Medicare, including the Part B supplemental insurance he pays extra for, will cover the cost. But an oral drug called Revlimid – a medication he once took – costs Medicare patients with Part D coverage about $11,500 a year out of pocket.

http://buffalonews.com/2017/07/21/tired-cost-prescription-drugs-share-story/

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

 

Stories of high drug costs

 

David Mitchell, 67, spent several hours one day last week getting an infusion of two drugs that help stave off multiple myeloma, an incurable – but treatable – blood cancer he has battled for almost seven years. The cost: $20,000.

"I'll need 22 more of these treatments over the next year," said Mitchell, of Potomac, Md. "I'm a very expensive baby; $450,000 worth of drugs a year are keeping me alive."

Medicare, including the Part B supplemental insurance he pays extra for, will cover the cost. But an oral drug called Revlimid – a medication he once took – costs Medicare patients with Part D coverage about $11,500 a year out of pocket.

http://buffalonews.com/2017/07/21/tired-cost-prescription-drugs-share-story/

 

 

****ty story. But considering the taxpayers are covering the VAST majority of his expenses, complaining about it is a bad look.

[B-Man]

[Capco]

 

****ty story. But considering the taxpayers are covering the VAST majority of his expenses, complaining about it is a bad look.

 

 

I know right? He basically won the lottery when he got blood cancer!

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

 

 

I know right? He basically won the lottery when he got blood cancer!

Such virtue

 

Many signal

 

Wow

[ALF]

– Drug companies tend to spend much more on advertising and marketing than research and development. Mitchell put the range at 20 to 40 percent versus "at most 15 percent to sometimes as little as a penny." Who ultimately pays for all those TV ads we see during news programs and sporting events? Taxpayers and patients who foot the cost of those drugs.

– Nearly half of drug development research costs – including about 75 percent of new, innovative drugs – is borne by the federal government and government-funded research institutions, but it's unclear how this benefits American patients financially.

http://buffalonews.com/2017/07/21/tired-cost-prescription-drugs-share-story/

enlightening article

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

 

– Drug companies tend to spend much more on advertising and marketing than research and development. Mitchell put the range at 20 to 40 percent versus "at most 15 percent to sometimes as little as a penny." Who ultimately pays for all those TV ads we see during news programs and sporting events? Taxpayers and patients who foot the cost of those drugs.

– Nearly half of drug development research costs – including about 75 percent of new, innovative drugs – is borne by the federal government and government-funded research institutions, but it's unclear how this benefits American patients financially.

http://buffalonews.com/2017/07/21/tired-cost-prescription-drugs-share-story/

enlightening article

 

 

tl;dr DRUG COMPANIES BAD

[B-Man]

Leaked CBO Numbers: 73% of GOP ‘Coverage Losses’ Caused By Individual Mandate Repeal
by Avik Roy

 

In the national debate over the GOP health reform proposals, one data point has stood about above all others: the estimate, from the Congressional Budget Office, that more than 20 million people would “lose” coverage as a result. And there’s been an odd consistency to the CBO’s projections.

 

Do you want to repeal every word of Obamacare and replace it with nothing? CBO says 22 million fewer people would have health insurance.

 

Do you prefer replacing Obamacare with a system of flat tax credits, in which you get the same amount of assistance regardless of your financial need? CBO says 23 million fewer people would have health insurance.

 

Do you prefer replacing Obamacare with means-tested tax credits, like the Senate bill does, in which the majority of the assistance is directed to those near or below the poverty line? CBO says 22 million fewer people would have health insurance.

 

22 million, 23 million, 22 million—these numbers are remarkably similar even though the three policies I describe above are significantly different. Why is that?

 

Thanks to information that was leaked to me by a congressional staffer, we now have the answer.

 

Nearly three-fourths of the difference in coverage between Obamacare and the various GOP plans derives from a single feature of the Republican bills: their repeal of Obamacare’s individual mandate. But the CBO has never published a year-by-year breakout of the impact of the individual mandate on its coverage estimates. But CBO has developed its own estimates of that impact, during work it did last December to estimate the effects of repealing the individual mandate as a standalone measure. Based on those estimates, of the 22 million fewer people who will have health insurance in 2026 under the Senate bill, 16 million will voluntarily drop out of the market because they will no longer face a financial penalty for doing so: 73 percent of the total.

 

Some Republicans advocate starting over and writing an entirely new Obamacare replacement that can get a better CBO score. But any replacement that repeals the individual mandate will be scored by the CBO as covering at least 16 million fewer people—and probably worse.

 

GOP moderates, in particular, have been intimidated by the CBO coverage scores, expressing reluctance to vote for a plan that “takes coverage away” from so many. But if the only reason you’ve stopped buying insurance is because the government is no longer fining you for doing so, nobody has “taken away” your coverage.

 

It’s time for those moderates to choose. Do you support Obamacare’s individual mandate? If you do, then no GOP replacement will ever satisfy you. If you oppose the individual mandate, and would vote for its repeal, then you should ignore at least three-fourths of the CBO’s coverage score. The CBO has left us with no middle ground.

Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/449765/leaked-cbo-numbers-73-gop-coverage-losses-caused-individual-mandate-repeal

 

 

 

More:

 

CBO's Secret: 73% Of Coverage Difference Between Obamacare & GOP Bills Driven By Individual Mandate

https://www.forbes.com/sites/theapothecary/2017/07/22/cbo-three-fourths-of-coverage-difference-between-obamacare-gop-bills-driven-by-individual-mandate/#2e528dc36270

Edited July 23, 2017 by B-Man

[ALF]

"16 million will voluntarily drop out of the market because they will no longer face a financial penalty for doing so: 73 percent of the total."

 

If that many drop out, that would cause a large rate increase for those who keep coverage, I would think.

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

"16 million will voluntarily drop out of the market because they will no longer face a financial penalty for doing so: 73 percent of the total."

 

If that many drop out, that would cause a large rate increase for those who keep coverage, I would think.

 

Yep.

 

Which is why ANY government intervention in private insurance markets is bad.

 

So either go full private or full state.

 

Enough half-assery.

[Chef Jim]

 

I don't repost Facebook spam images without citations because I'm not an uneducated poor like the lot of you

So true. Me so unsmart but at least me know where to get me welfare paper money thing.

[Magox]

Rich Lowry nails it

 

 

The ascension of Donald Trump was supposed to change everything in the GOP. As it happens, perhaps one very important thing hasn’t: The Republicans may well still be The Stupid Party.

 

That Obamacare repeal has one or maybe two feet in the grave, depending on how you’re counting, is testament to jaw-dropping disarray and bad faith. On the cusp of a historic failure, the party has begun the finger-pointing, and it’s hard to argue with any of it.

 

The establishment is right that Trump is incapable of true legislative leadership. The Trumpists are right that the establishment is ineffectual. Conservatives are right that moderates don’t really want to repeal Obamacare, whatever they’ve said in the past. And pragmatists are right that a few conservatives are beholden to a self-defeating purity.

 

At least Collins, an ideological outlier in the Republican Conference, has been consistent. She voted against the repeal-only bill in 2015, and the GOP leadership never thought she was gettable. The same can’t be said of her cohorts. Capito and Murkowski both voted for the repeal-only bill a year and a half ago. The only plausible reason they’ve switched now is that they knew the bill would be safely relegated to oblivion by a Barack Obama veto, whereas Trump will now sign any legislation into law.

Then there is another tranche of Republicans, like Rob Portman, who are nervous fence-sitters. The Ohio senator doesn’t have to appear on a ballot again until 2022, yet gives every indication of quailing at taking a tough vote. For Rand Paul, clearly, a perhaps once-in-a-generation opportunity to significantly reform two entitlement programs isn’t as important as scoring cheap points against his colleagues in the cause of getting as many cable hits as possible. Lee is a thoughtful, public-interested conservative who isn’t a showboater. He has an outsize influence on the prospects of the bill because he is one of the few Republicans willing to be the decisive vote against it. This is why it’s particularly important that the Utah senator keep the big picture in view; torpedoing the entire effort over a relatively technical question about the insurance risk pools — Lee’s current posture — would be a disastrous mistake.

 

It’s not just senators who are falling down. President Trump has very little idea what is in the health-care bill, and doesn’t particularly care. This prevents him from helpfully engaging in detailed negotiations, and he hasn’t made a public case for the bill except in tweets and at the highest level of generality. Repealing Obamacare was never going to be easy. The law has created facts on the ground that are inherently difficult to undo. Mitch McConnell has 52 Republican senators, whereas Harry Reid had 60 senators. But Reid held all his members. At the end of the day, the most important difference between the parties on health care may be that the Democrats had a vision that they were thoroughly committed to and were astonishingly courageous in effecting.

No one had more to lose from sticking with the forced march toward passage of Obamacare than Nancy Pelosi, and yet no one was as devoted to the cause. If she becomes speaker again in 2019 after Republicans — disunited, selfish and fearful — have whiffed on repealing her handiwork, it will be the sweetest revenge. Like the Democrats in 2009, Republicans have a historic opportunity that will quickly vanish unless it is seized. A majority is a terrible thing to waste. Six months in, Republicans are giving every indication that is exactly what they might do, to their everlasting disgrace.

 

 

 

Just about a perfect write up of dysfunction of the GOP. They deserve to be voted out of office.

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

Rich Lowry nails it

 

 

 

 

Just about a perfect write up of dysfunction of the GOP. They deserve to be voted out of office.

 

Yep, they're all cowards, and democrats light. It's why I left the party years ago.

[B-Man]

Apparently having health insurance will save your life.

Who knew? Clearly Chelsea Clinton THOUGHT she knew.

Chelsea Clinton‏Verified account @ChelseaClinton

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Chelsea Clinton Retweeted Kaiser Family Found

Yes, health insurance saves lives:

 

Except that’s not exactly true, unless you’re pushing the Obamacare narrative and carrying the progressive water that says government should magically provide health insurance to everyone.

Democrats continue to confuse health insurance with health care, which makes the Obamacare argument so damn annoying. Ok that’s not entirely true, the idea of Obamacare is annoying all on its own, but the notion that having insurance means you automatically get care is pretty stupid too.

 

Lamar Jones‏ @LamarodjobJones

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Replying to @ChelseaClinton

No. Health providers save lives. Health insurance finances the service as well as tax Americans.

4:06 AM - 21 Jul 2017

 

Edited July 24, 2017 by B-Man

[/dev/null]

 

45]

Apparently having health insurance will save your life.

Who knew? Clearly Chelsea Clinton THOUGHT she knew.

Except thats not exactly true, unless youre pushing the Obamacare narrative and carrying the progressive water that says government should magically provide health insurance to everyone.

Democrats continue to confuse health insurance with health care, which makes the Obamacare argument so damn annoying. Ok thats not entirely true, the idea of Obamacare is annoying all on its own, but the notion that having insurance means you automatically get care is pretty stupid too.

 

45]

 

I wonder how much time, money, makeup, and Botox went into that glamour shot Chelsea attached to her Twitter® profile.