The Republican Obamacare repeal plan comes into terrifying focus

[DonViejo]

By Paul Waldman December 12 at 12:59 PM



There has been a lot of uncertainty about how Republicans are going to follow through on their long-held goal of repealing the Affordable Care Act, and in a press conference today, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell offered a little more clarity — with some frightening implications for Americans’ health care.

The press conference was a little bit confusing because McConnell kept using the term “replacement” when it was pretty plain that what he actually meant was “repeal”; for instance, he said, “We’ll move first with the Obamacare replacement resolution and then we will come with what the replacement actually will be.” But after saying that a few times, the message got across: Repealing and replacing are going to be separate, and repeal will happen immediately in January. In other words, the Republican Congress is going to toss millions of Americans off a cliff, then shout down to them, “Don’t worry, we’ll get you some kind of parachute before you hit the ground! Probably!”

Why are they doing it this way? The best explanation is that after voting to repeal the law 60 times, the pressure from their base to immediately thrust a dagger into Obamacare’s heart is just too great. As Rep. Mark Walker said: “Literally every Republican member has made this part of their platform in running for Congress.” They know well the wrath of the conservative base, and they don’t want to incur it. Nothing would show their spinelessness more than failing to repeal the hated Obamacare when they have both houses of Congress and the White House in their possession.

Yet almost seven years after the law was passed, they still can’t agree on a replacement, and there’s also a growing realization that repeal is going to cause an absolute hurricane of disruption across the American health care system. I want to focus on three big groups of Americans, to demonstrate the fire Republicans are playing with when they talk about repealing the ACA:

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[pbmus]

1. The majority of destruction

And the party of contempt for the American people..

[Angry Dragon]

2. asses one and all

[Blanks]

3. It'd be political suicide...

I'll be shocked if they do it this way. They will create a program where certain businesses profit at the expense of regular folk and just rename part of it.

They'll expand Medicaid to the red states and allow blue cross to administer the program and they'll call it 'red care' or some such nonsense.

The real hurt will come in 2021 after they've got a serious majority after they've created a bunch of jobs selling off our public works to private interests.

[riversedge]

4. repugs just know they hate Obama: No other reason to put people in distress and lack

of health care. none at all.

[kacekwl]

5. Never seen so many bad

toupees in my life.