YR NEW FAVORITE TERRIBLE HEALTHCARE BILL
Here we go again.
The GOP is giving the Big Repeal another go with the Graham-Cassidy bill, and by most reliable accounts it’s even worse than the last few.
Which is saying something.
As usual, most people are only interested in the hyperpartisan batshit rhetoric that supports their side. For the rest of you, here’s a couple of possibly useful links:
A good summation of what the bill is trying to accomplish (as opposed to what will actually happen if it passes).
Another good summation of why the GOP is desperate to repeal Obamacare.
A fine collection of GOP senators trying to explain why the Graham-Cassidy bill is great, and generally failing.
All I can add is:
1. It’s stunning just how bad the GOP is at this, not least because they don’t seem to have learned anything from their previous experience. It’s as if they think the problem with badly written healthcare bills and rushing them through by any chicanery necessary before anyone has a chance to evaluate or debate them is that they weren’t fast enough.
Little wonder their bills are so unpopular. You’d think the message to Congress was blindingly obvious: “Look, if you really think Obamacare is so awful (and there’s no convincing evidence that it is, but let’s say there is) that you need to get rid of it, okay, but replace it with something as good or better. It’s complicated, so take all the time you need, vet it, debate it, and come up with something solid and workable.”
The fact that they’re doing the OPPOSITE of that suggests strongly to me that they don’t have a better idea for doing what Obamacare does, apart from “leave it to the states and the free market and it’ll be fine”. Which by all accounts it won’t be - not under this bill, anyway.
Not that it matters, since I’m reasonably sure many Republicans want to ditch Obamacare for the same reason Trump does - it’s a product of the Obama admin. They’re made it clear they are far more interested in repealing than replacing.
2. It’s kind of amusing that most of the debate about Graham-Cassidy is being led by late-night talk-show hosts.
Naturally conservatives are trotting out the old “celebrities shouldn’t express political opinions, they should stick to entertainment” meme. Which is disingenuous, considering how many of them voted for the current POTUS. See also: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ted Nugent, Chuck Norris, James Woods, Kid Rock, etc. So I can’t take people who pull the “stay in your lane” argument seriously - let’s admit, they only object to celebrity political opinions when they disagree with them.
Anyway, I don’t have a problem with Jimmy Kimmel making an issue of it. Given his family situation, I don’t blame him.
3. Bernie Sanders is using this as an opportunity to revive his single-payer universal healthcare idea - which of course has zero chance of passing now, but I assume he’s warming it up now in case the Democrats take back Congress in 2018, in which case it still won’t pass because Trump will veto it. Unless Bernie is also banking on Trump getting impeached by then, but I don’t see President Pence being any more willing to sign something I’m sure he feels is probably the only thing worse than Obamacare.
Anyway, you can read the details here, but if you felt the Bern last year, odds are you already know what he has in mind. For me, the chief problem with Berniecare - then and now - is that it’s really difficult and expensive to implement, and Bernie tends to get really vague on the details on just how we would go about funding Berniecare apart from “we’ll tax the rich enough until it’s paid for”. Which personally I don’t find particularly convincing.
Incurable,
This is dF
This entry was originally posted at http://defrog.dreamwidth.org/1605091.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
The GOP is giving the Big Repeal another go with the Graham-Cassidy bill, and by most reliable accounts it’s even worse than the last few.
Which is saying something.
As usual, most people are only interested in the hyperpartisan batshit rhetoric that supports their side. For the rest of you, here’s a couple of possibly useful links:
A good summation of what the bill is trying to accomplish (as opposed to what will actually happen if it passes).
Another good summation of why the GOP is desperate to repeal Obamacare.
A fine collection of GOP senators trying to explain why the Graham-Cassidy bill is great, and generally failing.
All I can add is:
1. It’s stunning just how bad the GOP is at this, not least because they don’t seem to have learned anything from their previous experience. It’s as if they think the problem with badly written healthcare bills and rushing them through by any chicanery necessary before anyone has a chance to evaluate or debate them is that they weren’t fast enough.
Little wonder their bills are so unpopular. You’d think the message to Congress was blindingly obvious: “Look, if you really think Obamacare is so awful (and there’s no convincing evidence that it is, but let’s say there is) that you need to get rid of it, okay, but replace it with something as good or better. It’s complicated, so take all the time you need, vet it, debate it, and come up with something solid and workable.”
The fact that they’re doing the OPPOSITE of that suggests strongly to me that they don’t have a better idea for doing what Obamacare does, apart from “leave it to the states and the free market and it’ll be fine”. Which by all accounts it won’t be - not under this bill, anyway.
Not that it matters, since I’m reasonably sure many Republicans want to ditch Obamacare for the same reason Trump does - it’s a product of the Obama admin. They’re made it clear they are far more interested in repealing than replacing.
2. It’s kind of amusing that most of the debate about Graham-Cassidy is being led by late-night talk-show hosts.
Naturally conservatives are trotting out the old “celebrities shouldn’t express political opinions, they should stick to entertainment” meme. Which is disingenuous, considering how many of them voted for the current POTUS. See also: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ted Nugent, Chuck Norris, James Woods, Kid Rock, etc. So I can’t take people who pull the “stay in your lane” argument seriously - let’s admit, they only object to celebrity political opinions when they disagree with them.
Anyway, I don’t have a problem with Jimmy Kimmel making an issue of it. Given his family situation, I don’t blame him.
3. Bernie Sanders is using this as an opportunity to revive his single-payer universal healthcare idea - which of course has zero chance of passing now, but I assume he’s warming it up now in case the Democrats take back Congress in 2018, in which case it still won’t pass because Trump will veto it. Unless Bernie is also banking on Trump getting impeached by then, but I don’t see President Pence being any more willing to sign something I’m sure he feels is probably the only thing worse than Obamacare.
Anyway, you can read the details here, but if you felt the Bern last year, odds are you already know what he has in mind. For me, the chief problem with Berniecare - then and now - is that it’s really difficult and expensive to implement, and Bernie tends to get really vague on the details on just how we would go about funding Berniecare apart from “we’ll tax the rich enough until it’s paid for”. Which personally I don’t find particularly convincing.
Incurable,
This is dF
This entry was originally posted at http://defrog.dreamwidth.org/1605091.html. Please comment there using OpenID.