Capitol Hill Blue Forums Capitol Hill Blue Opinions CHB Columnists Time to scrap Obamacare and find something that works

So what do we replace it with? Huh?

Or do we just scrap it for "something" and tell the 300,000 or so people who have signed up for Medicaid expansion to f*** off? Or those with pre-existing conditions who were uninsurable pre-ACA to get used to being uninsured again?

If you'd get off your self-righteous high horse, you'd realize that the responses to your article were not in defense of the President. He made promises he shouldn't have made, i.e., he made promises he has broken. And the website sucks, and as "the boss", he bears responsibility for that. And maybe if he had half a spine, we would have come out with something much better than what we got. But what we got is better than what we had, broken promises and shitty website and all. None of that changes the fact that "scrap it and replace it with 'something' else" is a loser's argument.

Doug, I'm not taking issue with that point. In fact, I am right there with you on it.

But let's face facts, you know and I know all about the old saying, "You don't REALLY WANT to know how the sausage is made", don't we?

Well, we ended up with a heaping helping of that sausage, and had Obama hung tough, he would have hung alone, because as usual almost none of the Democrats had enough spine to fight alongside him and the few that did, (like Alan Grayson) got tagged as "too harsh" and "too controversial".
Funny how that works considering we have that "liberal media", isn't it Doug?
Grayson should have been awarded a damn medal.

None of the Democratic Party wanted to hang tough and help Obama fight the good fight, and some even jumped ship right away. We got the sausage we got because it was either that or nothing.

Open question - is being anti-Obama an indicator of partisanship?

You know, the trouble with being General Custer is all those arrows in your ass.
Or so I've heard.

DOug
Could you explain why replace and then repeal is a partisan position?

Also, maybe a little more detail on exactly how Obamacare is dertroyimg the medical system. Perhaps in many ways a boondoggle that was ineptly managed. But I am still not clear on how the medical system has been destroyed.

Some of you are missing the point. From my point of view -- and a column is, remember, a point of view -- Obamacare is a failed system that can't work, won't work and never will work. I've said that from the day it was passed.

In my opinion, every day it is allowed to continue threatens the already-fragile health care system in this nation. Scrapping it means we go back, for the time being, to the system that was in place before until a more-workable solution can be found. Yes, some Americans won't have health insurance during that period. They don't have health insurance now and the odds increase every day that they won't have affordable health insurance anyway because the system that is trying and failing to replace it is more broken thant the old one. Obamacare is an unmitigated failure and the failure is far more than the web site's woes. It is, as it deserved to be, the signature of a failed President.

That's my opinion and it stands.

I recognize that it is an opinion piece, and nothing presented in opposition will change it. I do agree that there are flaws in the system, and it may take more time to correct it than currently available, but what is most obviously true is that it is working and will continue to work, and the proposed "solution" is exactly the sort of emptiness that has been offered by the GOP for decades. That is why the GOP and their fellow travelers are so desperate to scuttle it.

At the risk of injecting "facts" into an opinion discussion, let me lay out a few (and my apologies to those who have already addressed some of them):

1) Approximately 3.1 million 19-25 year olds now have health insurance coverage that they didn't have prior to the ACA.

2) Approximately 106,000 Americans signed up for insurance through the exchanges in the first month, and 27 million unique visitors have visited the exchange websites.

3) The majority of Americans polled do not want the ACA repealed.

4) The insurance industry has spent nearly a billion dollars implementing changes to accommodate the new system.

5) two months remain before anyone has coverage through the exchanges.

6) I believe the figure is 9 million people will become eligible for expanded Medicaid in the States that have implemented it on January 1, 2014. (An additional 4.1 million would have become eligible had the (activist) SCOTUS not manipulated the law to favor their party.)

7) There are no alternatives (including Doug's) on the table, legislatively.

In my opinion, there is no "going back." It cannot be done, legislatively, politically, or economically. The only viable alternative is going forward in some fashion or other, making adjustments, large or small, in the process as it has been in effect for the last three years. It is time for the naysayers to shut up, sit down, roll up their sleeves, grab an oar, and get with the program. That is my opinion.

Oh, and I will iterate my prediction, that approval for "Obamacare" will continue to rise over the next year, and have a substantial impact on the elections of 2014 and 2016. By 2020 it will no longer be a political issue, but its efficacy will be as firmly established as Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. In 2020, the redistricting brought about by the Census will bring about a lengthy lull in Republican dominance, in large measure because of the effect Obamacare, and the fight against it, will have had on the electorate, and because of the inexorable change in the demography of the electorate.

The number of sign ups are not even close to the levels they should be at. Beleilve the water carriers and it is over 100,000. LMAO! This current failed administration has handed out multiple waivers. Folks has lost policies that had, for them, needless add-ons - they have been closed by the millions, or, for some the costs of policies have gone through the proverbial roof. For others it is just another gimmie. The usual response is "Social Justice." LMAO!

As usual we get the usual pattern of excuses from this current failed disaster that rests in the Oval Office. This character cannot even come up with any reasonable excuses.

Once again the government has clearly demonstrated an ability to mandate and zero ability to manage.

I failed to mention two other facts: over 70 precent of Amercians' health insurance coverage is unaffected by "Obamacare" coverage - as they either are on Medicare, Medicaid (as it existed), VA, or have coverage through a major employer, or the government. And the inflatin rate for medical services has dropped precipitously over the last three years. There can be a great deal of debate over why that is, but included in the mix is an acknowledgment by most economists that Obamacare has injected some stability into the healthcare market's forecasts (which drive volatility).

I started a separate thread for this discussion some time back but cannot link to it with this device.

ACA's requirement that insurance companies pay for mental health treatments is an added bonus to not scrapping the law - Obama Derangement Syndrome is pervasive across the blogosphere. The T-Tards are coming unhinged.