Headache on horizon for GOP as it weighs health reform repeal

[babylonsister]

Oops. They're kinda screwed however they approach this. :nopity:


Headache on horizon for GOP as it weighs health reform repeal
By Alexander Bolton - 03/23/10 06:00 AM ET

snip//

But stressing healthcare could muddy the GOP message on jobs and the economy and put its candidates in danger of appearing callous or getting bogged down in intricate policy arguments.

“I don’t see it as a great argument for Republican campaigns this year,” said Joseph Antos, a healthcare scholar at the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute. “I don’t see healthcare as such as a big issue for them. I think it’s economy and jobs.”

Antos said Republican candidates would be in a tricky position because if they campaigned on a broad repeal of the Democratic healthcare reform law, it would open them up to political attack.
If they chose to focus on overturning narrow provisions of the law, those arguments are “more technical and more complicated and not prone to the sound bite — they’re not really good on a campaign poster,” Antos said.

Republicans advocating repeal will be competing with popular provisions that start immediately, while having to warn against less attractive items that voters won’t feel for some time.

By August, the law will bar insurance companies from excluding children with pre-existing medical conditions and allow children to stay on their family policies until age 26.

This year, it will reduce the size of the Medicare drug benefit “doughnut hole” by $500, helping seniors whose prescription drug costs are not covered by the current program. It will also provide $5 billion in federal funding to create purchasing pools to help high-risk individuals buy insurance.

Taxes will go up by only $8.5 billion through 2012, the presidential election year, most of it to be borne by drug manufacturers and high-income earners.

It’s not until the year after the election that the $31.9 billion in tax increases go into effect, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation.

Beginning in 2010, the legislation would also provide tax credits to small businesses to give healthcare benefits to employees. Tax credits of up to 35 percent of premiums would be made available to companies immediately.

The only taxes that will kick in this year are a 10 percent excise tax on indoor tanning services and a fee on insurance companies, which are expected to earn less than $100 million for 2010.

“Even if Republicans scored a 1994-style landslide in November, how many votes could we muster to reopen the ‘doughnut hole’ and charge seniors more for prescription drugs?” wrote David Frum, who was a speechwriter for former President George W. Bush and has questioned the wisdom of Republicans campaigning on a repeal message. “How many votes to re-allow insurers to rescind policies when they discover a pre-existing condition? How many votes to banish 25-year-olds from their parents’ insurance coverage?”

more...

http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/88473-health-headache-for-gop

[LiberalFighter]

1. To stymie a Republican landslide it is important to tie them to taking it away.

That they don't want Americans to have a chance to have health care similar to what they have in Congress.

[babylonsister]

2. Yes. And it seems like they're anxious to help us-win/win! nt

[LiberalFighter]

3. Hey Babylon... Do you mean the Republicans are helping the Democrats to win this year?

Awesome!!!

[babylonsister]

4. If they remain opposed to everything in this bill and publicly fight it,

then 'you betcha'! ;)

[Cha]

5. Isn't it "26 year olds" who get the benefits of their parents'

insurance? :)

[Blue Owl]

6. And we're all out of tylenol

too bad, losers...

[4_TN_TITANS]

7. And this is where the Party of No finds itself.

"No" isn't a very convincing meme in an election year. Gotta hand it to Obama, he knows how to do some politiking.

[onenote]

8. the repubs problem is that they don't do "nuance" well

While they can pontificate all they want that they too support some aspects of health care reform, they built opposition to the bill not by picking on specific elements, but rather by fomenting generalized opposition. The opponents of health care who carry signs decrying "Obamacare" as "socialism" and declare broadly that government should stay out of their health care are going to have trouble figuring out why a "little socialism" is now suddenly okay with the repubs.

[BlueIdaho]

9. It gets worse for them...

By constantly failing to deliver what they promise - they begin to look weak. The brown shirts only follow strong leaders, decisive leaders. Boner, McConnell, and Steele are beginning show themselves as the gang who couldn't shoot straight and nothing makes potential voters stay home like a sense of hopelessness.

[SpartanDem]

10. They also have the problem of pleasing the teabaggers

IMO that crowd is not going want to see anything less than full throated support for a full repeal. They spent the last year getting these people foam at the mouth a about this bill that they risk turning off their base.