The crackpot court decision last Friday to abolish Obamacare probably won't survive appeal -- and it is kind of amusing to watch weathervanes like Maine Republican US Senator Susan Collins try to run away from what Republican Attorneys General have won.
Yes there is. That's why by the end of the 2018 election, Republican candidates were lying all over the map, promising to make sure that insurance companies couldn't deny coverage to sick people. I know it happened: our candidate's incumbent opponent was running ads promising to "protect pre-existing conditions" after voting multiple times to kill Obamacare. He was not believed, nor can Collins be believed.TAPPER: So, millions of Americans, including everyone covered by Medicaid expansion and many with preexisting conditions, are going to lose their health insurance if this ruling is upheld.
You voted for the repeal of the individual mandate as part of the tax reform bill last December. That’s the basis of this judge’s decision. You heard President Trump call this — quote — “a great ruling for our country.”
Do you agree?
COLLINS: I don’t.
First of all, I would probably any doubt that this ruling is not going to affect people who are currently enrolled or in Obamacare policies, so — or their policies for 2019.
There is widespread support for protecting people with preexisting conditions. ...
3 comments:
This will impact a lot of people if it is upheld by the Supreme Court, where it is bound to end up after the next court probably disagrees with the first court. I bet the Supreme Court will not be thrilled to hear it given the consequences either way. I read that the Texas judge's opinion was founded solidly on the Constitution and precedent-- and hence, might well stand. If it does, what happens next for everybody? I suspect the stock market is upset also as big pharma has profited much from ACA, which didn't end up very affordable even for Medicare/Advantage people in terms of copays for some items (I know about that personally) or for exceedingly high premiums and plans where it doesn't kick in until you have exceeded six thousand in costs (i only know about that from friends).
Where I am concerned about it is the inability of our two parties to work together on anything, which could impact Medicaid, where people are most vulnerable. Fear is a bad thing for health. I don't know if it'll impact Advantage plans but might for higher premiums.
To me, our system is in trouble. For those who want medicare for all, how do they afford the many trillions in cost? Cost of Medicare for all. Those assumptions were what the ACA relied on and it didn't happen. Our medical system has just gotten more costly and even bloated with each clinic buying expensive equipment that another clinic nearby also has. We have come a long way from the doctor's offices of my youth where only hospitals kept the expensive stuff and even they had little of what we have today.
In Tucson, you can go to a medical office in a pharmacy and get prescriptions ordered up. The clinics are all over with probably less cost than the one we go to in Oregon, which has all the bells and whistles a hospital once had along with a lot more. That all costs a lot but does it benefit most of us? Probably not until we get something really seriously wrong. Then we have to face a question, each of us individually-- is this extending my life or my dying? Some, of course, like my parents go before they get to that question. At 75, I hope that'll be my case but life offers no guarantees about health. When it's not that way, the costs can be horrendous, and somebody pays as nothing is free.
Rain: couldn't agree more that our system (health and gov't) is in trouble. But you are reading nonsense again if you think this Texas opinion is anything but legal bullshit. Federal judges are not immune from making up "law" to suit their prejudices. See also Plessy v Ferguson. Or Dred Scott. We will see more of this as current GOPer implanted judges multiply. But they also become appropriately fearful of going too far and many of them have some care for their reputations.
Well, we shall see as I didn't read his opinion and with legalese, probably wouldn't understand it if I did (we've been trying to redo our wills and all I can say is ugh). In the end, it doesn't matter what the law has been or even the Constitution. It'll be the Supreme Court and how they see it. Remember when they gave legal status as a citizen, in therms of donating as freedom of speech, to corporations. And as for reading bull---- I read both sides on almost all issues. I like knowing what more than one side says.
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