Sep 30, 2013 10:35
"It's not working...If you want people to get health insurance, the best way for them to get health insurance is to get a job."
-Sen. Ted Cruz, two days before the exchanges open
The law was passed, regardless of whether the RNC tried to participate. It was challenged at the Supreme Court level and survived. President Obama was reelected with the Affordable Care Act being a centerpiece of the campaign, meaning it passed a nationwide referendum. Portions of it are already in effect and have lowered health insurance costs, getting some people rebates from their insurers.
And this one part, the exchanges, don't open until tomorrow. And they exist solely for people who do not have health insurance. People who have insurance don't have to mess with them unless they want to.
Meanwhile, the mantra is that we MUST repeal the ACA. But they're doing the same thing that Mitt Romney did during the Presidential campaign last year: we have to eliminate all of these tax loopholes, but I'm not going to tell you which ones. The ACA is terrible legislation and we've got to repeal it and pass something better, but we're not going to tell you what we're going to replace it with.
I think the Republican's biggest complaint is that one part of the ACA that is in force right now is the part that limits profits to health insurers. Now insurers must spend 80% of money coming in on providing service, this is what has generated refunds because the companies have been paying their executives too much.
I'm not against capitalism, but when it becomes pure greed without concern for the rest of the community, that's too much. I remember Elizabeth Edwards on The Daily Show not long before she died talking about her problems getting treatment for her cancer, and she was the wife of a U.S. Senator. She became a healthcare activist after digging and finding out that 2/3rds of her premiums were going to executive compensation.
Ben & Jerry's ice cream used to have a policy that the CEO was limited to seven times the salary of the lowest paid employee. Once the two of them sold the company and eventually left, that rule went away. I understand some Japanese car companies had a similar rule. Can you imagine the CEO of General Electric having such a limitation?
obamacare,
ted cruz