Legislative politics is tough. On one hand, lawmakers must
cobble together a simple majority to pass legislation. As rules currently
stand, legislation needs 60 votes in the United States Senate to pass.
Republicans (liberal and conservative) along with Democrats
will not support the latest Obamacare replacement proposal. The American people
were crystal clear about their demands.
We want a full and unrequited repeal.
Congress should submit a Repeal Everything Obamacare Act?—ROA?
How about calling the legislation Destroy Obamacare Act—DOA? There’s so much
fun to be had. After all, Republicans did not come to power with a Republican
President just to sit back and get rolled by Democrats again, did they?
Hold on a second … The Congressional Republicans already
submitted a full repeal in 2015, did they not? Well, it was pretty close … The
Obamacare repeal of 2015 (The AOR Act—Almost Obamacare Repeal) still allowed
adults to stay on their parents’ health care plans until they reach 26 years
old. They law also forbade insurance companies from discriminating against
patients with pre-existing conditions.
They could reintroduce that bill. Guess what?—The
House Conservatives have done exactly that. Bravo! But even then, it’s not
full repeal. Boys and girls, when you hit that magic age of 18, you are an
adult. Why would you want to stay stuck on Mommy’s plan? Besides, that
increased burden on insurance companies is part of healthcare’s rising costs.
As for pre-existing conditions … cancer, diabetes, and
asthma are on the rise. Why? People are living longer—good thing. People are
not living healthier—bad thing. How about incentives for preventative care?
Type II diabetes is yours and my fault, not a pre-existing condition based on
genetics. Senator Paul’s wants repeal of government regulations to allow co-ops
among individual, which would pool risk and costs—I like that.
Again, the magic word is “repeal”—get rid of rules, regulations,
laws and liabilities.
Let’s treat health insurance like car insurance—if you have
to have it at all. Yes, this is an oft-repeated plea. How about creating cut
out drivers’ licenses but with a Caduceus on the cover? I drive reasonably well
in traffic hell-hole Los Angeles County. Every year I avoid an accident, I pay
a lower premium. How cool is that? Imagine young men and women who choose to
care for themselves—eat right, exercise appropriately, and give up high-risk
behaviors—and then guess what? Their health care premiums decrease!
But no … House Speaker Paul Ryan has rolled out a plan to
“replace” (fix, bandage?) Obamacare.
1. No employer
mandate.
Great. This is a key part of repeal.
2. Refundable tax
credits to buy health insurance.
If competition is restored among insurance companies and
across state lines, this breakthrough will organically force costs down. Full
repeal needed.
3. Expansion of HSAs
and FSAs. The bill expands both Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs) and
Health Savings Accounts (HSAs).
Repeal government takings and let me save money. OK, but we
need more. Full repeal, please.
4. Move Medicaid
patients to regular coverage
Nope. Cut the adult-welfare umbilical cord, Congress, and
cut the crap. Full repeal. There are too many able-bodied single adults on
Medicare, Medicaid, Medi-Theft from the Young to Cover the Old.
5. Lower costs for
the young, i.e. restore insurance ratios.
Why is the government imposing ratios on insurance companies
in the first place? Repeal all government interventions. Got it?
6. Incentives to keep
coverage.
The cost of health care/health insurance is too damn high because
the Government is Too Damn Big. (Hat Tip, Jerry McMillan).
#RyanCare is more government pretending to care, but it’s really politicians
caring about their jobs. Daniel
Horowitz posts 20 brilliant proposals for health care—let’s try those.
But the in the meantime, repeal the whole damn Obamacare
monstrosity, and let the free market make us healthy. I learned from my own
political training: do not to settle for less. Don’t appoint me to a committee
where we discuss the meaning of “repeal”. Just repeal the whole deal. When I
said “Repeal”, I meant it. When the American people double-down and demand repeal,
they meant it. What part of repeal do
you not understand, Congressmen?!
The same message goes to President Trump. He backed away
from single-payer talk. OK, great, but it’s not the government’s job to ensure everyone
is taken care of. That simply revives the road to serfdom one again.
Don’t just repeal Obamacare, but repeal all the stupid rules
pushed by government and corporate interests to enrich themselves while
impoverishing everyone else. And about more policy-oriented discussions …
Let’s repeal the nasty notion that health care is a “right”
which the government must provide. It’s not working in Canada, the United
Kingdom, or Sweden. Bernie Sanders is a spoiled regressive from Vermont. He
should try getting health care in Canada, where he can pull a number of hope
that he wins a locale’s once-a-month lottery to see a family doctor. The
animals get better care than human beings.
Don’t just repeal the Obamacare monster. Remove all the
decades-old layers of government regulation. During World War II, FDR imposed wage
controls, so employers offered health insurance to compete for jobs. Now
Americans expect third parties (including the government) to bear the burden).
Arbitrary caps on medical students, guild-system quotas on
medical professionals, and arbitrary licensure laws are not helping. The
government that wants to keep us healthy is making us sicker.
When Medicare arrived, more people ended up spending other
people’s money for less healthcare.
Get rid of it.
The tort-lawyer lobby is kicking taxpayers’ butts. Time to
discourage punitive damage awards? Restore the Common Law provisions which forced
lawsuit losers to pay back the winning party’s attorney’s fees?
There’s a theme to these suggestions, along with scrapping
Obamacare entirely.
I agree with US
Senator Tom Cotton. Congress, do you job—REPEAL!
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