Repealing Obamacare

[Denny Crane]

https://ballotpedia.org/Scott_Rasmussen's_Number_of_the_Day

July 27, 2017: If the individual mandate were to be repealed and Americans were no longer required to purchase the Obamacare-mandated levels of health insurance coverage, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) believes that 15 million Americans would no longer purchase such coverage.[1]

Some, including Jonathan Gruber, believe that the CBO is overestimating the impact of repealing the mandate. Gruber was one of the architects of the healthcare law.[1]

Politically, the impact of these projections is significant since the individual mandate has long been the most unpopular part of Obamacare. Recent polling shows that two-thirds of Americans would like to see it repealed.[2] For many, the idea of the government forcing anybody to buy anything is in conflict with America’s commitment to individual freedom.

Additionally, if the CBO projections are correct, there are 15 million Americans who would directly benefit from the repeal. Typically, when people are directly impacted by a law, their support or opposition is more intense than that of more casual observers.

If the individual mandate were to be repealed, many Americans might be interested in purchasing less comprehensive and less expensive coverage. The CBO has offered no estimates of how many might take advantage of such alternatives. It is currently illegal for insurance companies to offer less expensive plans offering less comprehensive coverage.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

Hey Denny: time to celebrate! Looks like the bill the Republicans WROTE AT LUNCH will pass because Lindsey Graham spoke to Paul Ryan on the phone and Ryan assured him it wouldn't become law.

Yes, that's right: people are voting to pass this bill while simultaneously saying that it's horrible and must never become law!

What a golden age we live in!

 

[Rastapopoulos]

Democracy!

 

[Rastapopoulos]

 

[Rastapopoulos]

This looks so much like the Republican Party's Brexit. Just as Theresa May is plowing forward because the Tories promised they'd do it, despite the fact that nobody really wants it, so the Repubs feel that they'll look like fools if they don't do this after promising for SEVEN YEARS that they would. The fact that they've been promising for 7 years, but they wrote this bill TODAY is just insane.

Well, I guess we'll see what the American people really think of Obamacare when it is gone. Props to McConnell - he performed the most devious contortions to get to this point. And props to the Repubs for knowing that this is political poison and everybody hates it but doing it anyway because...they're scared of getting Primary'd from the right?

 

[Denny Crane]

The people would actually be stuck with what they don't want.

When polled about the actual things in ObamaCare, like the individual mandate, people do not approve of it.

The law was unpopular with the majority (not a plurality!) of the people until only recently. And that public opinion was moved by outright lies about the effects of any efforts to fix it.

 

[riverman]

They need to get rid of the stipulation that you need to have health care to file taxes...this is wrong across the board...no one should have to apply that does not value the investment or feel they need it. I do feel that in cases of airborne virus' ...etc...people should have access to preventative medical supplies for public health whether they have money or not

 

[Minstrel]

Conservatives aren't fired up about this "skinny repeal" either:



That's a great prescription for an electoral bloodbath--hated by the left and swing voters, held in contempt by their own base for not accomplishing anything.

 

[Denny Crane]

ObamaCare is a mandate to buy the insurance and a lot of little bullshit that doesn't add up to much.

Talk about completely misuse of statistics.

 

[MarAzul]

I don't know what the Skinny repeal mean either. But if it repeals one mandate, I am for it. Then we see what part is next.

 

[Minstrel]

So Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski and John McCain voted no. The bill failed.

 

[Rhal]

This was the most entertained by politics i'v ever been. I spent the last 50 or so minutes reading reddit/twitter as people were freaking out over body language or Senators and the betting sites had no idea what was going on.

 

[Minstrel]

This was the most entertained by politics i'v ever been. I spent the last 50 or so minutes reading reddit/twitter as people were freaking out over body language or Senators and the betting sites had no idea what was going on.

No kidding. True suspense on a Senate vote is incredibly rare. Betting markets started off at around 75% for passage of the bill and fell steadily as bettors analyzed the body language of all the Senators on the floor. Pence leaving the chamber was a pretty big tell.

 

[Rhal]

No kidding. True suspense on a Senate vote is incredibly rare. Betting markets started off at around 75% for passage of the bill and fell steadily as bettors analyzed the body language of all the Senators on the floor. Pence leaving the chamber was a pretty big tell.

McCain leaving to take a phone call had me thinking he would vote Yes.

 

[barfo]

Is it time to say buh bye?

barfo

 

[riverman]

Is it time to say buh bye?

barfo

 

[Rastapopoulos]

Phew! Good thing they flew in John McCain, amirite?

 

[Rastapopoulos]

The law was unpopular with the majority (not a plurality!) of the people until only recently. And that public opinion was moved by outright lies about the effects of any efforts to fix it.

But of course its initial unpopularity was based on full knowledge of exactly its implications and not as a result of a massive smear campaign, right?

 

[Minstrel]

McCain leaving to take a phone call had me thinking he would vote Yes.

The phone call was from Trump. The transcript has been released:

Hello, John. I know you're wavering on this bill, but I hope you can understand the importance of passing it and getting me a win. You'll be a hero. Not a real hero, of course. Real heroes don't get captured. But you'll be a temporary Senate hero, the man who got me my first win. Don't steal my win from me, John. Don't steal my win from me. Did you see the huge crowds I pulled in at that boy scout jimboree thing? I know you'll do the right thing. Don't steal my win from me. *click*​

 

[Denny Crane]

But of course its initial unpopularity was based on full knowledge of exactly its implications and not as a result of a massive smear campaign, right?

There was no smear campaign. After they passed the bill so people could read it and know what is in it, they didn't like it.

 

[Denny Crane]

Instead of shooting it in the head and putting it out of our misery (and its own misert), it is going to cause a lot of people a lot of grief as it dies under its own crushing weight.

The House can refuse to fund it. All spending must originate in the House.

 

[Sedatedfork]

So the GOP is going to intentionally sabotage the health Care system? That's not going to endear them to voters.

 

[crandc]

Senators agreed to vote for it only with the assurance it would not become law, some unspecified unwritten other bill would become law.

You know, there were once honorable people in the Republican Party.

 

[kingslayer]

This tweet really aged well.

 

[SlyPokerDog]

This tweet really aged well.

I'm waiting for his follow up tweet, "I like senators who don't have brain cancer."

 

[Rastapopoulos]

 

[riverman]

Strangely the White House is being run exactly like the New York Knicks

 

[Rastapopoulos]

Senators agreed to vote for it only with the assurance it would not become law, some unspecified unwritten other bill would become law.

You know, there were once honorable people in the Republican Party.

Maybe if they ALL get brain cancer...

(Or maybe having a uterus would help. McCain shouldn't hog all the credit: Collins and Murkowski stood firm the whole time, even while Murkowski was being essentially blackmailed.)

 

[Rastapopoulos]

Strangely the White House is being run exactly like the New York Knicks

New Jersey Nets. Russian owner.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

Instead of shooting it in the head and putting it out of our misery (and its own misert), it is going to cause a lot of people a lot of grief as it dies under its own crushing weight.

And just to make sure, Trump has already diverted funds that were set aside to tell people about it and get them to sign up. What's the point if you don't care about helping people, you just want to kill it?