Why Paul Ryan Is So Desperate To Vote On Obamacare Repeal Quickly?

[flamingdem]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/obamacare-repeal-delay_us_5862a42be4b0eb586487380d?

*** The same Kaiser Foundation poll found that roughly half of Americans want to keep Obamacare in place or expand what it does. Another 17 percent merely wants Congress to scale it back, while just over a quarter want full repeal

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The Obama administration announced that the number of people signing up for insurance through HealthCare.gov, the federal website that 39 states use to administer Obamacare plans, is even higher than last year. State-run sites such as Covered California are reporting similar surges.

An independent think tank, The Commonwealth Fund, published a study showing that fewer people are skipping medical care because of cost ― most likely because, thanks to the health care law, so many more people have health insurance.

Standard and Poor’s Global Ratings reported that insurers selling Obamacare plans are seeing better financial results this year, suggesting that premiums are finally coming into line with the actual medical expenses of their customers ― and that this year’s big rate hikes may be a “one-time pricing correction.”

It’s possible that Ryan thinks these and similarly positive news items are irrelevant ― that the Wisconsin Republican has deluded himself into thinking Obamacare really is an unmitigated policy disaster, rather than a fairly typical government program full of pluses and minuses and the inevitable implementation complications that large reform efforts usually overcome.

It’s also possible that Ryan’s crusade to pass repeal in January has nothing to do with policy and everything to do with politics ― that he wants Congress to vote before the rest of the country, and maybe even the president-elect, wakes up to the real-life changes such a vote would unleash.

What “repeal and delay” would mean in real life

Ryan and his allies envision a quick, surgical strike on Obamacare soon after Donald Trump takes office, via what’s come to be known as a “repeal and delay” strategy. The idea is to eliminate Obamacare’s funding, using a special legislative procedure reserved for bills related to the budget, while leaving most of Obamacare’s coverage provisions in place for a year or two or maybe three. In theory, the more than 20 million people now relying on the program would hold onto insurance while Republicans craft their replacement scheme.

Even conservative experts doubt this gambit would work out so neatly. Insurers that tolerated early losses in Obamacare marketplaces in the hopes of realizing future profits aren’t going to stick around for a market that’s about to disappear ― particularly if the repeal bill also takes actions, such as eliminating the individual mandate, that would tilt the insurance customer base even more toward unhealthy people with high medical expenses. If enough carriers flee, a recent analysis from the Urban Institute predicted, millions of people would lose their health insurance in just the first year.

more at link

[LonePirate]

1. Republicans are only interested in eliminating the tax rate hikes associated with the ACA.

Nothing else matters to them, hence the urgency to cut the funding (eliminate the tax hikes) before the public realizes what is happening.

[flamingdem]

2. A bit short sighted since that would destroy the ACA

and make them rather unpopular.. but even here on DU there is much more angst about Medicare and relatively few are impacted by ACA. This gives the Republicans room to move unfortunately.

[LonePirate]

4. Being unpopular can be fixed with some fake outrage or a fake news story. It's no concern for them.

[flamingdem]

6. You're right. People try to tell me not to worry about losing my health insurance

but we haven't seen how bad it can get.

Here's where the media will make a difference. Either show people suffering loss of health care or not. But right wing media will use the fake route and the deplorables will not understand what hit them.

[WhiteTara]

3. May he receive his just rewards

in this life. Would that be an incurable, painful disease? I can only wonder what kind of karma a man like him will receive. I can only hope it is swift.

[flamingdem]

5. He is vile, a worm but Pence isn't much better!

I think Pence is going to end up running things.

Trump is actually, possibly, better than Pence on Obamacare and Medicaid.

Pence seems poised to lead a drastic effort to defund Medicaid and require the poor to at seek a job to keep their health care.

[greymattermom]

7. the jobs that they can get

don't come with health care. Will there be an employer mandate? Who will pay for that with minimum wage jobs?

[WhiteTara]

8. Yes he is. I fear him more than POS

The next years are going to be a nightmare for the entire world and we will receive the brunt.