Obamacare Is the Right’s Worst Nightmare

[DEATH ROW JOE]

Obamacare Is the Right’s Worst Nightmare

News from New York: it looks as if insurance premiums on the individual market are going to plunge thanks to Obamacare. This shouldn’t come as a surprise; in fact, the New York experience perfectly illustrates why Obamacare had to look the way it does. And it also illustrates why conservatives should be terrified about this legislation, as it takes effect. Americans may have had a lot of misgivings in advance, thanks to vast, deliberately spread misinformation. But I agree with Matt Yglesias — unless the GOP finds even more ways to sabotage the plan, this thing is going to work, it’s going to be extremely popular, and it’s going to wreak havoc with conservative ideology.

To understand what’s happening in New York, you have to start with what almost everyone at least pretends to believe: Americans shouldn’t find it impossible to get health insurance because of pre-existing conditions that aren’t their fault. Two decades ago, New York tried to deal with this by imposing community rating: insurance is available to everyone, and the price doesn’t depend on your medical history.

The problem was that this created a death spiral: young, healthy people didn’t buy insurance, worsening the risk pool, driving up premiums, driving out more relatively healthy people, etc., until you were left with a rump of very ill people paying very high rates.

How do you deal with this? Well, ideally, Medicare for all. But since that wasn’t going to happen, you improve the risk pool by requiring everyone to buy insurance — the individual mandate. And since some people won’t be able to afford that, you also offer subsidies. Voila! ObamaRomneycare!

Where does the money for the subsidies come from? Partly by reducing corporate welfare: reducing overpayments for Medicare Advantage, reducing tax breaks for very generous insurance plans; partly with new taxes on the wealthy.

And while a few people will be hurt — young, healthy individuals too affluent to qualify for subsidies, wealthy taxpayers, etc. — a much larger number of people will be helped, some of them enormously.

Does this amount to “redistribution”? Well, yes — not as an end in itself, but yes, a lot of people will be made better off at the expense of an affluent few.

And Yglesias is right: there will be bobbles along the way, but this is going to become an immensely popular program. By the time Liz Cheney challenges Hillary Clinton’s reelection campaign, there will be signs at the rallies declaring “Don’t let the government get its hands on Obamacare!”

Conservatives are right to be hysterical about this: it’s an attack on everything they believe — and it’s going to make Americans’ lives better. What could be worse?

[Turner Coates]

[Sheep_Mafia]

That's one of the dumbest articles ever written. You should be ashamed for posting it though you are ignorant enough to likely believe it yourself.

From those with a more sane and realistic opinion--so these union guys are right wing now?

"Dear Leader Reid and Leader Pelosi:

When you and the President sought our support for the Affordable Care Act (ACA), you pledged that if we liked the health plans we have now, we could keep them. Sadly, that promise is under threat. Right now, unless you and the Obama Administration enact an equitable fix, the ACA will shatter not only our hard-earned health benefits, but destroy the foundation of the 40 hour work week that is the backbone of the American middle class.

Like millions of other Americans, our members are front-line workers in the American economy. We have been strong supporters of the notion that all Americans should have access to quality, affordable health care. We have also been strong supporters of you. In campaign after campaign we have put boots on the ground, gone door-to-door to get out the vote, run phone banks and raised money to secure this vision.
Now this vision has come back to haunt us.

Since the ACA was enacted, we have been bringing our deep concerns to the Administration, seeking reasonable regulatory interpretations to the statute that would help prevent the destruction of non-profit health plans. As you both know first-hand, our persuasive arguments have been disregarded and met with a stone wall by the White House and the pertinent agencies. This is especially stinging because other stakeholders have repeatedly received successful interpretations for their respective grievances. Most disconcerting of course is last week’s huge accommodation for the employer community—extending the statutorily mandated “December 31, 2013” deadline for the employer mandate and penalties.

Time is running out: Congress wrote this law; we voted for you. We have a problem; you need to fix it. The unintended consequences of the ACA are severe. Perverse incentives are already creating nightmare scenarios:

First, the law creates an incentive for employers to keep employees’ work hours below 30 hours a week. Numerous employers have begun to cut workers’ hours to avoid this obligation, and many of them are doing so openly. The impact is two-fold: fewer hours means less pay while also losing our current health benefits.

Second, millions of Americans are covered by non-profit health insurance plans like the ones in which most of our members participate. These non-profit plans are governed jointly by unions and companies under the Taft-Hartley Act. Our health plans have been built over decades by working men and women. Under the ACA as interpreted by the Administration, our employees will treated differently and not be eligible for subsidies afforded other citizens. As such, many employees will be relegated to second-class status and shut out of the help the law offers to for-profit insurance plans.

And finally, even though non-profit plans like ours won’t receive the same subsidies as for-profit plans, they’ll be taxed to pay for those subsidies. Taken together, these restrictions will make non-profit plans like ours unsustainable, and will undermine the health-care market of viable alternatives to the big health insurance companies.

On behalf of the millions of working men and women we represent and the families they support, we can no longer stand silent in the face of elements of the Affordable Care Act that will destroy the very health and wellbeing of our members along with millions of other hardworking Americans.

We believe that there are common-sense corrections that can be made within the existing statute that will allow our members to continue to keep their current health plans and benefits just as you and the President pledged. Unless changes are made, however, that promise is hollow.

We continue to stand behind real health care reform, but the law as it stands will hurt millions of Americans including the members of our respective unions.

We are looking to you to make sure these changes are made."

James P. Hoffa
General President
International Brotherhood of Teamsters

Joseph Hansen
International President
UFCW

D. Taylor
President
UNITE-HERE

[DEATH ROW JOE]

That's one of the dumbest articles ever written. You should be ashamed for posting it though you are ignorant enough to likely believe it yourself.

Wonderful analysis.

"The article is dumb because it's dumb and you're stupid."

That's how sheep-mafia argues. You're the board laughing stock.

Funny that you decided to show your face on the War board again after getting owned off it last month.

TFrom those with a more sane and realistic opinion--so these union guys are right wing now?

So you did not even read the article you are commenting on. Big surprise. It's talking about people who want to see right take control of govt. It is not characterizing anyone who is unhappy with the ACA as right ring.

Did you even read the article you posted?

The Union leaders are asking for a bigger handout, one they do not deserve. A non-profit is by definition subsidized by the govt. Now they want an additional subsidy.

The claim that Obamacare forced workers to cut hours is nonsense. The employer mandate was extended into 2015. So if they were laying off workers in 2013 to comply with 2014, we should see a huge hiring boom now. Are you seeing that dumb ass? No.

You stupid fuck.

[Sheep_Mafia]

You post an article that rises to the level of stupidity that one does and it stands on its own. Nobody has to, or should have to, refute that ignorance.

I've never been "owned" (grow up clown) off any thread here and certainly not by the likes of you. Any and all objective persons here know you are nothing but a race baiting, liberal government loving, one-sided moron.

Obamacare is drawing similar concern from all sides of the aisle now except for the lowest intellect fools like yourself. Cheerleading idiots like you are why its destined to fail. None of the problems will get addressed because morons like you and those in Congress who won't admit there are problems in the first place. Except when you do, it's "because they have stuff in there from the GOP or Heritage Foundation". Fucking weak-minded bastard.

[DEATH ROW JOE]

You post an article that rises to the level of stupidity that one does and it stands on its own. Nobody has to, or should have to, refute that ignorance.

I've never been "owned" (grow up clown) off any thread here and certainly not by the likes of you. Any and all objective persons here know you are nothing but a race baiting, liberal government loving, one-sided moron.

Obamacare is drawing similar concern from all sides of the aisle now except for the lowest intellect fools like yourself. Cheerleading idiots like you are why its destined to fail. None of the problems will get addressed because morons like you and those in Congress who won't admit there are problems in the first place. Except when you do, it's "because they have stuff in there from the GOP or Heritage Foundation". Fucking weak-minded bastard.

[Danzig in the Dark]

You post an article that rises to the level of stupidity that one does and it stands on its own. Nobody has to, or should have to, refute that ignorance.

If you disagree with the position of another, you gather facts and craft a reasoned argument supporting your position using them. That is Debate 101. Anything less is failure.