After the November election, it seemed like the Republicans would actually help in governing the country instead of the same old stuff of doing nothing but obstruction and throwing stones, but the first vote in the new U.S. House shows its politics as usual.
House Republicans plan to hold a vote next week when they take control of the House to kick students up to age 26 off their parent’s health care insurance, allow insurance companies to discriminate, again, against those with pre-existing conditions, kick 32 million Americans off health care and add $100 billion to the federal budget deficit. Republicans plan hold a vote next week on repealing the historic health care insurance reform bill passed last March.
The good news is it will not get passed the Senate, and if by a miracle it did, the President will veto it. This is just one more example of Republicans playing politics while the adults address the problems facing the country and clean up the mess left by Republicans.
It’s sad that Republicans want to go back to the days of families facing bankruptcy due to unaffordable health care costs, the no. 1 cause of bankruptcy, and hospitals facing insolvency again because of the cost of uncompensated care costing more than $29 million annually.
Just one more example of Republican playing politics as usual and playing to the fringe that controls the GOP.
4 comments:
You must be misinformed. Last year, Republicans kept complaining that the ACA had been rushed through and that they hadn't been consulted. There's no way they'd do exactly that three months after the election. Why, that would be hypocritical.
Once again, you twist and lie. First of all, the Republicans were not included in the health care takeover except perfunctorily. Obama held his "summit" but that was nothing more than lip service to the press.
The bill passed the House, then the Senate, then it was due for markup. But Kennedy died and Brown got his seat. Everyone knew that he'd vote with the Republicans because it was a bad bil. The ONLY way it could pass was if the House passed the Senate version untouched because the House had the majority and they only needed a majority.
No markup between the two bills. Instead, to get health care passed, the Democrats played politics.
Being against legislation is not being an obstructionist. If so, then each party is obstructionist and now it's going to be the Democrats in the Senate that will be obstructing. This health care bill was passed last year against the wishes of the governed. The people didn't want it and even more don't want it now.
While it's a long shot, this repeal is not impossible. The election showed that the people do not want more spending which the health care takeover does. They don't want more taxes, which the health care takeover does.
More Democrats are up for re-election next time than Republicans. If they go against this and block it, they'll be dealt with in the next election.
If it doesn't get blocked, you're probably right. Obama will likely veto it. Good. He can hang his hat on that for the next election.
But if he does veto it, there is a very slight possibility that his veto could be overridden. If not, it won't be funded. Then you can explain the taxes and now the death panels that have cropped up again under Obama with the misnomer of "end of life counseling".
Your spin is just that. Spin...misinformation...lies.
Once again, anonymous coward, I’m still waiting for you to point out where I lied. Let rephrase that; I’m still waiting for you to prove I ever lied. I already caught you in two. First, this is not a “health care takeover,” and Republicans were included in the process. In fact, some of their ideas were incorporated. However, they voted no just so the President would fail, and this would be his “Waterloo.”
I don’t give a dam how it got passed; it got passed. The fact is the Republicans have not offered a single solution to the problems they created.
It’s more than a long shot, it’s impossible. But it’s just one of many examples of Republicans playing politics and keeping and grabbing power above all else.
There is no such thing as death panels, and there never was.
Your spin is just that. Spin...misinformation...lies.
Once again, anonymous coward, I am still waiting for you to back up your outrageous lie that we were “nearly shoulder to shoulder once.”
1. The ACA is not a government takeover of health care. In fact, it's just the opposite: It extends the current system based on private insurance for those under 65. It does not call for the construction of government-owned and operated medical facilities or for the hiring of government-employed provider.
2. Republicans who indicated that they could support health care reform (Collins, Grassley, Snowe) were included in negotiations. That they negotiated in bad faith contributed to the decision to use the reconciliation process. Moreover, historically speaking the content of the bill is bi-partisan, since it reflects Republican health policy developed as far back as the Eisenhower Administration. Insurance mandates were their idea: This sudden characterization of them as a government takeover is pure cynicism.
3. No one really knows what the public thinks about the actual content of the bill because so much of its thinking was shaped by a relentless campaign of lies and disinformation about a government takeover, Medicare cuts, and death panels. Polls also show that the public supports closing the doughnut hole, banning rescission, and ending restrictions on coverage of pre-existing conditions, the last two of which are impossible without mandates.
4. Opposing something in good faith is one thing. Blocking badly needed reforms and refusing to participate in their development because of political calculations is another.
5. Be careful of what you wish for: If the Republicans repeal or gut the ACA, health care reform becomes their issue. Voters will hold them responsible when the numbers of uninsured and underinsured reaches a crisis point.
6. The ACA at best buys time. Responsible politicians would accept it as a done deal and want to take the next steps of reducing cost and improving quality. But with the Khmer Rouge of American politics controlling the Republican party, we won't have a healthy debate: We'll have a war to prevent a return the Year Zero.
4. "the Democrats played politics." OMG. Stop the presses: That's never happened in Congress before.
Post a Comment