TRUMPCARE

I doubt there is a solution that will find sufficient votes in both houses. So Trump will try to kill it by making it untenable through a thousand regulatory cuts. If he serves to make it untenable the alternative in 2021 will be a single payer system. That would be a great irony.

Even without common ground. A better planned, more thought out, more conservative plan had a better chance of being passed. What I'm questioning is the rushed, haphazard approach that makes this nothingbtgat anyone wants. Rush, rush, rush to produce a piece of crap bill/act. I don't want it to e more conservative but I would have at least preferred it to be well considered, better planned.

drummerboy said:

what makes you think the problem you want to solve is even close to the problem the Republicans are trying to solve?

There is no common ground to be found. One side wants the government to intervene to provide coverage for more Americans. The other side wants the exact opposite.

conandrob240 said:

midnight vote under cover of darkness. Yup, sounds about right.

Seriously, what was the rush that this had to be done so half-assed that neither side wants it? Why couldn't we take some time, put some good minds together and do some great problem-solving? My heart truly breaks for our country. We deserve and can be so much better.

It was not that it was rushed.There is really no way to solve the equation. The freedom caucus wants lower premiums by covering less. That is like a car dealer saying I can sell you the car for less but it will not have a rear seat.

Of course there is. There are models that work well elsewhere.

I just want to deny the idiot, who doesn't know or care what's in the current bill, the ability to say "I repealed Obamacare!"

Those are liberal models that have no chance in this environment.

conandrob240 said:

Of course there is. There are models that work well elsewhere.

yes, probably true.

ridski said:

No vote today.

Great!

For 8 years the Republicans have screamed about repealing what the call "Obamacare". Trump said it would be gone "on day one" or something like that. And here they are, not able to do it two months after they took control of the White House and both Chambers of Congress. The Freedom Caucus is the tail trying to wag the dog, and they are all failures.

This WaPo article explains why Republicans were in such a hurry to take on health care reform. If they could pass it first, they could then realize much greater tax cuts for the rich down the road.

Health-care reform is a lot harder than tax cuts. So why are the Republicans trying to do it first?

The answer, as tax analyst Chye Ching Huang points out in a new piece, is that “passing the health package first facilitates deeper tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations in subsequent tax legislation.”

You might have thought that the ACHA’s tax cuts for the rich and spending cuts for the poor slake the conservatives’ thirst for upward redistribution. If so, you’ve underestimated their greed. They intend to make two trips to the well of tax cuts, and Trip 1 paves the way for Trip 2.

vote postponed until tomorrow morning. what do they think will happen by then? And why do they get to delay the vote simply because they don't think it'll go their way?

This is definitely a circus. But recall that the way Obamacare was originally passed in 2010 wasn't exactly pretty either.

I fear that the country is becoming ungovernable due to the extremes both right and left. Did I hear correctly that Schumer and Pelosi plan to filibuster Judge Gorusch's nomination, despite his being clearly qualified (whether you like him or not)?

ice said:

I fear that the country is becoming ungovernable due to the extremes both right and left. Did I hear correctly that Schumer and Pelosi plan to filibuster Judge Gorusch's nomination, despite his being clearly qualified (whether you like him or not)?

Yes - that is a problem. Granted, in normal times, requiring 60 votes makes sense, by in an overly partisan environment, it's a problem.

ice said:

Did I hear correctly that Schumer and Pelosi plan to filibuster Judge Gorusch's nomination, despite his being clearly qualified (whether you like him or not)?

He may be qualified, but DJT is not in a position to nominate a SC Justice. GOP set the precedent. If they thought that being in the last year of his term (actually, last 13 months) disqualified a president from nominating a Justice, surely being the subject of FBI investigation due to conspiracy with the Russian government must disqualify a president from putting someone on the SC. In fact, during the presidential campaign, the GOP proclaimed -- often and loudly -- that an HRC presidency would never be able to do anything because a president "under investigation" should not be allowed to pass anything or put forth any policy.

it's not both the left and the right. And there are certainly no extreme leftists in the Senate. If Gorsuch is filibustered it will be because the GOP denied Garland a vote. To vote on Gorsuch would reward the Republicans for their bad behavior. And then there's this. Do we really want someone with this sort of reasoning on the SCOTUS?

What sort of callousness does a person need to possess to come to the conclusion Gorsuch did on that case? In every court in which that case was heard, only Gorsuch voted as he did.

I guess in the world where Schumer and Pelosi are the far left, the way Obamacare was passed was a problem.

In the real world, neither are very true.

What was the problem with how Obamacare was passed - other than that it was held hostage by conservative Dems like Baucus and Lieberman?

ice said:

This is definitely a circus. But recall that the way Obamacare was originally passed in 2010 wasn't exactly pretty either.

I fear that the country is becoming ungovernable due to the extremes both right and left. Did I hear correctly that Schumer and Pelosi plan to filibuster Judge Gorusch's nomination, despite his being clearly qualified (whether you like him or not)?

The Dems should filibuster EVERYTHING, except maybe proclamations like declaring April 19th Cheez Whiz Day.

jamie said:

Spicer is super confident it will pass - there's no Plan B.

Soon.

c'mon. Plan B isn't covered. That's like killing a unborn baby, right?

+1. If choosing a SC justice with a year left of a scandal free presidency is " not the will of the people" then a less than 90 day Presidency riddled with corruption and collusion scandals should disallow Gorusch on principle. Matter of fact it should be the law.

shoshannah said:

ice said:

Did I hear correctly that Schumer and Pelosi plan to filibuster Judge Gorusch's nomination, despite his being clearly qualified (whether you like him or not)?

He may be qualified, but DJT is not in a position to nominate a SC Justice. GOP set the precedent. If they thought that being in the last year of his term (actually, last 13 months) disqualified a president from nominating a Justice, surely being the subject of FBI investigation due to conspiracy with the Russian government must disqualify a president from putting someone on the SC. In fact, during the presidential campaign, the GOP proclaimed -- often and loudly -- that an HRC presidency would never be able to do anything because a president "under investigation" should not be allowed to pass anything or put forth any policy.

ice said:

This is definitely a circus. But recall that the way Obamacare was originally passed in 2010 wasn't exactly pretty either.

I fear that the country is becoming ungovernable due to the extremes both right and left. Did I hear correctly that Schumer and Pelosi plan to filibuster Judge Gorusch's nomination, despite his being clearly qualified (whether you like him or not)?

The way they are trying to "repeal and replace" ACA is almost a caricature of the way it was passed.

Pelosi can't filibuster anything. The Republicans refused to even have a hearing on Garland despite his being clearly qualified.

The latest from the White House is that Trump says he won't negotiate any more. He says the House must vote yes or no, and if they vote no they will just have to live with Obamacare because he will move on to other things.

this makes me so extremely happy. I pray this will fail tomorrow. Maybe the baby-in-chief will handle everything like this and just stomp his feet and walk away every time he fails. It would be perfect.

LOST said:

The latest from the White House is that Trump says he won't negotiate any more. He says the House must vote yes or no, and if they vote no they will just have to live with Obamacare because he will move on to other things.

That's the benefit of having no ideology and no policy opinions. He only cares about the win. He will consider it a win if he punishes Ryan like this.

LOST said:

The latest from the White House is that Trump says he won't negotiate any more. He says the House must vote yes or no, and if they vote no they will just have to live with Obamacare because he will move on to other things.

Spoken like a two year old who has no core beliefs and lacks the discipline to act on any beliefs he might have.

shoshannah said:

LOST said:

The latest from the White House is that Trump says he won't negotiate any more. He says the House must vote yes or no, and if they vote no they will just have to live with Obamacare because he will move on to other things.

That's the benefit of having no ideology and no policy opinions. He only cares about the win. He will consider it a win if he punishes Ryan like this.

And in the end, deal making looks like bullying.

What the republicans are asking for is quite odd - you should only have to pay for what you need. So empty nesters shouldn't have to pay for pediatric care - seniors shouldn't have to pay for maternity care, etc. Even Paul Ryan has said the problem with Obama care is that the healthy is paying for the sick. It's absolutely bizarre, these guys have no clue how health care works.

The fact that they changed that seniors can be charged 5 to 1 over the cheapest plan - instead of 3 to 1 as it is now - is a benefit for the young and healthy - instead of a increase to seniors.

They've had zero testimony from the healthcare community. 17% approve the bill. The want healthcare control to go back to the state.

jamie said:

What the republicans are asking for is quite odd - you should only have to pay for what you need. So empty nesters shouldn't have to pay for pediatric care - seniors shouldn't have to pay for maternity care, etc. Even Paul Ryan has said the problem with Obama care is that the healthy is paying for the sick. It's absolutely bizarre, these guys have no clue how health care works.

The fact that they changed that seniors can be charged 5 to 1 over the cheapest plan - instead of 3 to 1 as it is now - is a benefit for the young and healthy - instead of a increase to seniors.

They've had zero testimony from the healthcare community. 17% approve the bill. The want healthcare control to go back to the state.

It's insurance as defined by Republicans. In the vernacular, we call this the **** you policy.  Or maybe it is **** thy neighbor.

jamie said:

What the republicans are asking for is quite odd - you should only have to pay for what you need. So empty nesters shouldn't have to pay for pediatric care - seniors shouldn't have to pay for maternity care, etc. Even Paul Ryan has said the problem with Obama care is that the healthy is paying for the sick. It's absolutely bizarre, these guys have no clue how health care works.

The fact that they changed that seniors can be charged 5 to 1 over the cheapest plan - instead of 3 to 1 as it is now - is a benefit for the young and healthy - instead of a increase to seniors.

They've had zero testimony from the healthcare community. 17% approve the bill. The want healthcare control to go back to the state.

OK, listen up everyone. The sooner we embrace the fact that the GOP DOES NOT CARE about American citizens (except the 1%), the better the chance we'll have to run them out of town for good. Stop pondering how it's bizarre they they don't know how insurance works. Stop wondering why they didn't get expert input. Just remember these two things:

1. They are ALL kleptocrats. Every last one of them. They want it all for themselves.

2. THEY. DON'T. CARE.

Read this. It gets to the heart of the matter better than any article I've seen.

http://billmoyers.com/story/has-the-trump-budget-blown-republicans-cover/#.WNSc7do3_As.facebook

+10

ice said:

This is definitely a circus. But recall that the way Obamacare was originally passed in 2010 wasn't exactly pretty either.

I fear that the country is becoming ungovernable due to the extremes both right and left. Did I hear correctly that Schumer and Pelosi plan to filibuster Judge Gorusch's nomination, despite his being clearly qualified (whether you like him or not)?

@Shoshannah,

I get it, you want to run the Repubs out of DC.

Being that we have a two party system, who/what will be the opposition party once the Dems are firmly in control (and the Repubs have been "run out of town")?

shoshannah said:

jamie said:

What the republicans are asking for is quite odd - you should only have to pay for what you need. So empty nesters shouldn't have to pay for pediatric care - seniors shouldn't have to pay for maternity care, etc. Even Paul Ryan has said the problem with Obama care is that the healthy is paying for the sick. It's absolutely bizarre, these guys have no clue how health care works.

The fact that they changed that seniors can be charged 5 to 1 over the cheapest plan - instead of 3 to 1 as it is now - is a benefit for the young and healthy - instead of a increase to seniors.

They've had zero testimony from the healthcare community. 17% approve the bill. The want healthcare control to go back to the state.

OK, listen up everyone. The sooner we embrace the fact that the GOP DOES NOT CARE about American citizens (except the 1%), the better the chance we'll have to run them out of town for good. Stop pondering how it's bizarre they they don't know how insurance works. Stop wondering why they didn't get expert input. Just remember these two things:

1. They are ALL kleptocrats. Every last one of them. They want it all for themselves.

2. THEY. DON'T. CARE.

Read this. It gets to the heart of the matter better than any article I've seen.

http://billmoyers.com/story/has-the-trump-budget-blown-republicans-cover/#.WNSc7do3_As.facebook