Repealing the PPACA
I am back to the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, as it gives an accurate assessment of what the public really wants with healthcare insurance rather than a political view. Given that Senator Sessions, and Rep. Upton, and Rep. Kingston stopped all funding of the Risk Corridor by placing a sentence in Section 227 of the 2015 Appropriations Act (dated December 16, 2014) effectively eliminating the financial assistance to Co-ops and Insurance companies; it comes as no surprise healthcare insurance premiums would rise, Co-ops would be especially hit hard and go bankrupt, and healthcare insurance companies would leave the PPACA insurance exchanges all together. For sure, we have seen healthcare insurance premiums go up due to the unregulated healthcare industry, less competition due to fallout of companies and bankruptcies, and mostly because of the impact of Section 227 of the 2015 Appropriations Act (dated December 16, 2014). This was a well-orchestrated attack on the PPACA by Republicans, Senator Jefferson Beauregard Sessions, Rep. Fred Upton, and Rep. Jack Kingston to disrupt healthcare coverage, claim to be saving taxpayers money, and shift the blame for increased out-of-pocket costs to the PPACA and President Barack Obama.
Kaiser does a good job of tracking trends with little of the political bias you might see in other polls. The number one concern of the Democrat and Republican constituency is not repealing the PPACA; but, lowering out-of-pocket costs paid by individuals such as premiums, co-pays, and deductibles. 93% of the people polled found this to be a #1 priority followed by lowering the cost of prescription drugs (89%). For sure, Sessions, Upton, Kingston, and their fellow Republicans have aggravated the healthcare premiums costs by restricting the Risk Corridor funding and are hiding in the weeds knowing they put one over on the Dems and the voters. The opportunity was there for Repubs to work with Dems and come up with ways to lower the overall out-of-pocket cost. Republicans let it go by for political reasons and now we have the head Randian Republican Paul Ryan trying to kill the PPACA, Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. To replace them, you will get tax vouchers for each of those programs and a copy of “Atlas Shrugged” telling you to tough it out and be independent. This is coming from a man who has been in politics much of his life, has worked little in the private sector, went to college on Social Security Survivor benefits, and occasionally drove the OM Wiener Mobile around. Unlike ours, Representative Ryan’s congressional healthcare and retirement are a sure thing.
There are those in Congress who wish to repeal the PPACA in favor of whatever might be better as determined in their own minds. It took a long time to get to this point and the last time someone made an attempt at healthcare coverage was in the early nineties by someone named Clinton. In the early nineties, Congress did not like a President telling them what to do which is why Obama had Congress write the PPACA . . . well at least the Democrats put together the PPACA with no input from Republicans. In the chart above, 58% of the constituency favors repealing the PPACA. It is a majority; however within that majority, there are some other questions to be answered.
This particular Kaiser Poll is dated December 13, 2016 so it has some relevance to what is going on today. For example, most Americans prefer Congress to either not repeal the PPACA or at least wait until the detail of the alternative plan is revealed. The second chart gives the percentages. 75% do not want to repeal and want to know “first” what is going to replace the PPACA before repealing.
The percentage of who oppose and support the PPACA shifts with the argument being made for or against. Sometimes the phrasing of the question can determine or lead to the answer given. While healthcare is one of the top priorities for the President – Elect and Congress, repealing the PPACA is not the first or even the second actions the constituency wishes the President to take as shown by the Kaiser pie and bar charts. Overwhelming the constituency wants to know what will replace the PPACA before Congress acts. Furthermore the constituency would rather see Congress deal with lowering out-of-pockets costs first, fix pharmaceutical costs second, and deal with the Opiod epidemic before even deciding on repealing the “catastrophic event ” Mr. Trump called it today. By asking for an immediate repeal of the PPACA by Congress, perhaps Mr. Trump is attempting to distract attention away from the Senate Confirmation Hearing of Senator Jefferson Beauregard Sessions an AG candidate who has some serious issues challenging his candidacy. We can be just as lively in both political arenas.
It was reported today that Trump says they should be able to come up with the replacement within a couple of weeks. See how easy that is?
I find it interesting that the republicans are now starting to call it the ACA rather than Obamacare. In fact, I bet many republican supporters think the ACA and Obamacare are two different programs.
A Jimmy Kimmel skit from three years ago, Jerry:
“https://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?fr=yhs-mozilla-001&hsimp=yhs-001&hspart=mozilla&p=kimmel+skit+aca+obamacare+website#id”
While it is obviously edited to only include the ignorant there are many studies and polls suggesting that ignorance is distressingly far from uncommon.
Why won’t Obama make a big deal publicly out of the Republican effort to undermine the system? Force the press to deal with it. It is so far under the radar that I’ll bet not one tenth of one per cent of the public understands why insurance remains as expensive as it does and why so many companies have folded or are dropping out. It is because the Republicans have been trying to sabotage the program, period.
Why are our leaders so afraid of saying things like that?
Urban:
Congress knew this issue and everyone else in the nation knew Repubs were attempting to undermine the PPACA at the state level by not expanding Medicaid, at the pseudo-religious arena with “Little Sisters” and “Hobby Lobby”, at the congressional level with the House repeatedly voting against it, at the appropriations level with Congress stonewalling every spending bill, at election time with Repubs passing more ID laws and limiting where you can get the IDs, in the courts with Repub justices retracting Voting laws in Southern States, as gender discrimination with states passing anti gay, gender, etc laws. I could go on; but, one final note; “why aren’t you outraged and why don’t you know this?.”
There is no forcing the press. It is up to us to be outraged like we were in the late sixties.
Yeah, I said that during the election. Embrace Obamacare and call the Republicans out on treachery. I think a big part why they didn’t was because Clinton/Obama were not on the same page. I thought part of Obama’s “I would beat Trump easily” quote was directed at Clinton more than Trump.
The “message” issue was because Clinton was still mad over 2008 and her easiest path to the Presidency. “They” didn’t want to give Obama any credit.
The Rage
Forget that Clinton/Obama feud. Not true.
White people do not want to be lectured by a Black Man in The Big White House. In Livingston County, MI the local rag (Livingston Daily) wrote an article about whether we thought the police treated the Black population as poorly/harshly as what was experienced in other parts of the country. It was laughable since we are 96% Caucasian, 1/2 of I% black and the rest of different backgrounds. To find out whether their premise was true, you first had to find a Black person. I called them on it and the editorial disappeared. The area wanted to run a light rail line from Howell to Ann Arbor to Detroit, Guess who got nervous with the possibility of people coming out of Detroit? It is going to happen though as the minority population moves from east to west along the !94 and I96 corridors out to DeVosland.
Obama has spoken out, he has reasoned with them, and has pointed out the facts to no avail. White people are not prepared to understand they are becoming a minority in the US and the great white hope “Trump” lied to them, “We will make America Geat Again” is what they are hanging their hopes on and it is a lie