NY Times: Campaign to destroy Obamacare ‘Hits a Wall’

Posted by | February 2, 2017 23:37 | Filed under: Politics

From the newspaper of record:

Congress’s rush to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, once seemingly unstoppable, is flagging badly as Republicans struggle to come up with a replacement and a key senator has declared that the effort is more a repair job than a demolition.

“It is more accurate to say ‘repair Obamacare,’” Senator Lamar Alexander, Republican of Tennessee and chairman of the Senate health committee, said this week. “We can repair the individual market, and that is a good place to start.”

The struggles and false starts have injected more uncertainty into insurance markets that thrive on stability. An aspirational deadline of Jan. 27 for repeal legislation has come and gone. The powerful retirees’ lobby AARP is mobilizing to defend key elements of the Affordable Care Act. Republican leaders who once saw a health law repeal as a quick first strike in the Trump era now must at least consider a worst case: unable to move forward with comprehensive health legislation, even as the uncertainty that they helped foster rattles consumers and insurers.

Insurers are threatening to exit the Affordable Care Act’s market unless the Trump administration and Congress can quickly clarify their intentions: Will they support the existing public marketplaces, encourage people to sign up and keep federal assistance flowing to insurers, or not?

“We need some certainty around the rules,” said Dr. J. Mario Molina, chief executive of Molina Healthcare, which has been a stalwart in the Affordable Care Act market and is making money under the system.

“We have a few months, but we don’t have a lot of time,” he said.

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Copyright 2017 Liberaland
By: dave-dr-gonzo

David Hirsch, a.k.a. Dave "Doctor" Gonzo*, is a renegade record producer, video producer, writer, reformed corporate shill, and still-registered lobbyist for non-one-percenter performing artists and musicians. He lives in a heavily fortified compound in one of Manhattan's less trendy neighborhoods.

* Hirsch is the third person to use the pseudonym, a not-so-veiled tribute to journalist and author Hunter S. Thompson, with the permission of his predecessors Gene Gaudette of American Politics Journal (currently webmaster and chief bottlewasher at Liberaland) and Stephen Meese at Smashmouth Politics.

15 responses to NY Times: Campaign to destroy Obamacare ‘Hits a Wall’

  1. Obewon February 2nd, 2017 at 23:56

    30 M now have insurance under the $1. 5 B+ federal deficit reducing ACA, also decreasing Medicare costs by $1 T+. Voters: The powerful retirees’ lobby AARP is mobilizing to defend key elements of the Affordable Care Act. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a70b3291560cf9c3cd21dbca66ca8cb79296f82e2ada833802891663f71dd093.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4b561b04035dc02fde7ce991a49ad15cbb35bdf72e670a5e1f42aca582895f14.png

    • bpollen February 4th, 2017 at 04:40

      Us old people can be REAL nasty bitches!

  2. anothertoothpick February 3rd, 2017 at 07:36

    the answer is right in front of their noses but the repubs will never see it.

    Medicare is the most efficient form of health insurance in the world.

    Single payer is not only the best answer, it is the only answer.

    • Larry Schmitt February 3rd, 2017 at 08:13

      But then the congressmen can’t get their friends in the insurance and drug industries all those windfall profits.

      • Willys41 February 3rd, 2017 at 20:47

        Exactly. They need to figure out how to rape the US taxpayer. THEN they can “repair” the ACA.

    • Willys41 February 3rd, 2017 at 20:48

      Insurance companies bring NOTHING to health care but the cost of their own obscene profit margins.

    • dborah February 5th, 2017 at 11:41

      Sadly, Medicare does have it’s problems too. Seniors and the Disabled need to purchase an additional insurance policy for what Medicare does not cover…. plus an additional Prescription Drug Policy… and sadly, hitting the Donut Hole for even one month can prevent Seniors from filling those needed prescriptions or going without paying other bills, and some face that horrible Bush Donut Hole for months.
      Prior to ACA, people were paying into insurance coverage and then insurance companies were denying care. That is like paying a monthly mortgage and then the bank telling you that you can not live in that house certain months because you don’t qualify. The pre-existing coverage situation prior to the ACA made insurance coverage completely unaffordable for so many people and the responsibility for costs fell on the hospital or clinics in a crisis putting a financial strain on many.
      I wish we could eliminate a third party payer as there does not seem to be enough health care dollars for so many parties to take a piece of the pie. And yet the added enormous costs to Americans, as many companies leave American soil for countries that cover their workers health costs, rather than the business sector, is becoming a problem.
      When the ACA was in the planning stage it would have been irresponsible to eliminate the insurance industry, and all those jobs, at a time when Americans were losing so many jobs after the 07/08 financial crash. I think BlueCross/Blue Shield alone employed about 18,000 people… if my memory is correct. Now 8 years later we are in a better labor situation so shifting to a situation that would keep more health care dollars between the patient and provider seems possible, and even better for business holding onto the responsibility for healthcare coverage and benefits for many American Workers, and yet at the same time, balking at that responsibility by figuring a way to avoid covering employees, such as employers like Walmart do, or leaving the country altogether. None of the solutions are easy but after 8 years of fussing the Republican still offer so little as to possible responsible solutions for affordable health care! Sad!

      • dborah February 5th, 2017 at 12:53

        The administrator of Medicare funds in most States is an Insurance Company…BCBS!

  3. William February 3rd, 2017 at 13:39

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2d7ea95a175cbb89af136b0ca1620a4f614ed99e6148193a8a30f9e3da89855f.jpg

    • Larry Schmitt February 3rd, 2017 at 22:54

      Obviously it doesn’t include dental care.

    • bpollen February 4th, 2017 at 04:39

      Fair flower of the Glorious South and dental school guinea pig.

  4. amersham1046 February 3rd, 2017 at 18:01

    well Trump promised everybody a waall

    • Willys41 February 3rd, 2017 at 20:48

      Trump-dee-dump-dee sat on a wall, Trump-dee-dump-dee had a great fall.

  5. dborah February 5th, 2017 at 10:56

    No Time?
    No time to left before they destroy coverage for America people?
    Before they crash the Insurance Industry?
    Before they destroy Clinics and Hospitals?
    All of the above?
    So sad!

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