Here is what republicans should do about Obama care.

As much as I hate to, I have to disagree. The Republicans will get the blame when ACA fails, and will pretty much accept it -- apologize to the NY Times and say they will never shut down the govern........ oops, will never destroy health again. Number 2, in the final analysis the Democrats are not bothered if it craters and millions of people hurt badly in the process. To the Democrats that is a worthwhile sacrifice everybody is making for the long term common good. Number 3, the Republicans will not be able to come up with a fix that replaces ACA with something other than a government run single payer system.
All in all a very bad situation. Though I don't know how to avoid it. As of now the Republicans will treat this massive cancer with vitamins and little snips, and no resection followed with large scale chemo to rid all of it.

 

"If your goal is to wipe away everything accomplished during the Obama administration"

I really like that goal. That should be the goal of every rational, sane, educated person in the world.

 

More Repnesia.

http://americablog.com/2013/10/orig...on-created-obamacares-individual-mandate.html
https://www.forbes.com/sites/theapo...invented-the-individual-mandate/#405e9c806187

 

Then go forth and achieve. But, in the meantime, how about you guys stop lying about your motive?

 

I agree. The public has no capability to understand why the GOP can't fix this without a super majority.

They don't understand that the Democrats gave the power to pass law to the HHS Secretary, and that undoing all that illegal law passing is very difficult to undo without 60 votes. Since each item was in the original Obamacare law, written as "to be determined by the HHS Secretary", you can't undo that with only 52 votes, you need the full 60.

So, it creates the appearance that the GOP doesn't want to fix this, but in reality, they are just trying to de-fund it, since that's all they can do with 52 votes. The good news is, come 2018, the GOP will easily have 60 votes in the Senate. The bad news though, is the House swings like a drunken stripper on a greased pole. Who knows where it will go, in any given 2 year period.

 

It's good to know there are still decent honorable Republicans out there

 

Or...dingy Harry could use the money that this bill creates to bribe politicians to vote for the bill. Little deficit reduction... big payoff.

 

Or work with democrats to find a more middle of the road solution.

 

Have I ever lied about my motive? What in any post I have ever written would give even the slightest hint that I support obama?

 

Democrats don't want middle of the road, they want their way, they want total govt control of healthcare. The GOP actually seems to agree with the Democrats.

The problem is the people are totally divided and there is no compromise there. The people supporting the Democrats want total govt control, so there is agreement on that side. The GOP are ignoring their voters, the GOP either repeals the disaster that is obamacare (which the GOP doesn't seem to want to do) or the GOP spits in the face of their voters, expands/supports obamacare, and commits suicide as a political party.

 

Actually the insurance market had leveled out...until Republicans and Trump started screwing around with ACA. One thing Insurance companies absolutely HATE...is uncertainty.

And not know what the hell the market is going to look like in the next year to TEN years breeds a pretty fair amount of uncertainty

 

S. You GuyS as in the collective you. The collective you has no interest in governing, only in trying to wipe away the last 8 years no matter the cost.

 

Wrong. The "collective you" - meaning conservatives - want a smaller government that holds individual freedom as sacrosanct, and opposes the tyrannical form that obama and "progressives" want to impose upon people.

 

Well, my stances are a bit in the middle really. I'd say I'm a military conservative (army rah). I've been absolutely disgusted with the Republican party as of late. They seem to have forgotten their purpose. And people who do stand for what the Constitution writes are steamrolled by people like Trump and Bernie who just yell things that people like to hear.

 

How do you figure the independent insurance market "leveled out?" When did that "leveling" occur?

 

By the looks of it, last year.

2014 and 2015 saw negative margins and MLRs>100%. Starting in 2016 that began to change: positive margins and MLRs<100%. 2017 saw a well-publicized premium adjustment to correct for the underpricing of the initial years.





Which is why going into 2017 most financial analysts agreed that the finances of the marketplaces had stabilized and they had turned the corner (pretty much on schedule). S&P put out a report in the spring saying as much.

Then Trump happened. His administration's actions and threats to defund the CSRs have turned single digit increases into double digit increases (as public rate filings for 2018 and insurer statements have made clear) and in some markets they've driven payers out entirely (see Anthem's actions and statements in particular). It's an unforced error from a belligerent buffoon.

 

Please. If that were true you would have nominated Paul, not Trump. McConnell and Ryan? Get serious. It's never been about governing but only about wiping away any mark that Obama made.

Be honest with yourself son. I already know you.

 

You seem to be referring to the financial health of insurance companies, not the exchanges or co-ops. Premium increases for 2017 are up on average 14%, and 17 out of 23 co-ops have collapsed. One third of counties have only one Obamacare exchange insurer. That's a crisis right now.

I know, you blame Trump, but this process was happening long before the election date.

 

The question was whether the individual market had leveled out. The financial indicators showed that it had. The ACA was designed with the expectation insurers in the marketplaces would take about three years to find their footing: it's pretty amazing that with the degree of sabotage aimed at them this still seems to be pretty much how it worked out.

Co-ops were a specific type of insurer: nonprofit startups whose access to capital was cut off when Congress defunded them and who were hit hard by Congress neutering the risk corridors program (with no other lines of business outside the individual market to rely on, they were hit the hardest). Yes, most couldn't weather that storm.

I think the markets would be better off if more co-ops had survived. But their absence doesn't signal the end of markets.

As for 2018 premium increases, that's my point. The majority of the requested premium increase amounts are attributable directly to policy decisions being made by this administration. That's the problem!

 

I agree 100% and have said the same thing many times on this forum. There is no support for this bill. There is no STRATEGIC reason for republicans to pursue this, OTHER than to try to fix the disaster that Obamacare is. This bill does not do that.

What this does, in effect, is allow democrats to climb off their sinking Obamacare ship and into a life raft, while republicans go down with the ship. Republicans are forcefully taking responsibility for Obamacare from the democrats. Why they would do this, is beyond me.

 

If I understand you correctly, if Hillary had won, and the mandate had continued to be enforced, then there would have been no net increase of premiums, no increase in deductibles or copays, and no further withdrawal of plans from the exchanges?

 

That's actually what needs to happen. Let the Dems own this Frankenstein they created. Once it totally collapses, the Dems will HAVE to work with the rest of Congress. I'm actually hoping nothing gets passed this year. The ACA needs to blow itself up.

 

I would like to see them simply let it fail. Then the free market would see a need and kick in, which would be better for the greater good. But the moment someone died the Dems will blame the Republicans.

 

LOL, you don't even know my name or age.

If conservatives controlled the Republican party, then things would be different - Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan would not be the leaders, there would be no RINO's as chairmen in the House and Senate committees, obamacare would have been repealed the first week the new Congress was in session last January, several federal departments would be phasing out. If Trump were President under those conditions, he would go along with the conservatives - not so much because he is a conservative, but because he would generally have to, and Trump wants to win. If a conservative were President (such as Rand Paul) then it would just be that much better.

 

Now that you mention it, we're going to need some disinfectant. Unsightly skids are not becoming of the White House.