The most interesting thing to me about the last two weeks is that it really all may be pointless, but not for the reasons everyone thinks.
Consider this: At the witching hour before Healthcare.gov went live the Republicans in Congress had narrowed their demands down to two: 1) Delay the individual Mandate for a year and 2) Eliminate the congressional subsidy that no other American could qualify for.
Democrats refused to budge on their end and the shutdown happened.
Then came October 1st and the exchanges opened. These exchanges are there to connect people with health insurers so that they can sign up for insurance and avoid the tax penalty they will begin incurring on January 1st.
.. except, very few people have actually successfully signed up for insurance. 51,000 by one leaked count, and the general consensus is that Healthcare.gov is a disaster.
This is important because with Healthcare.gov in such a sorry state of dysfunction the government would be hard pressed to prosecute anyone who didn't obtain health insurance by the March deadline -- and if they can't sort out the Healthcare.gov technical issues in the next month the prognosis keeps getting worse -- it could end up that the the Federal Government will need to POSTPONE THE INDIVIDUAL MANDATE until they get their act in gear because it will be unenforceable given the state of the signup system.
So in the long run the Democrats will have refused to grant the House their request of postponing the mandate a year only to have to postpone the mandate a year.
What I find odd is that all the anti ACA types keep trumpeting how few people have signed up. From what it sounds like, the amount of interest has been massive. The number of sign ups seems to be not announced anywhere except for 'leaks' which are pretty sketchy.
But why would anyone expect sign ups to be really big? No one needs to get this before Jan 1, and health insurance is quite complicated - people will be weighing their options and reading and figuring what the best thing to do is for quite a while before committing to a purchase, especially when they dont have a deadline for months.
I can guarantee when the actual numbers turn out to be good, the shouty Cons will pretend they never used the argument that no one was signing up. It will magically disappear from their brains.
The T.E.A. Party representatives are doing what the people that elected them told them to do. The American people are entitled to the same exemptions Obama has given his supporters and base. Blaming the Republicans is nothing more than political theater perpetuated by a willing press. The reality is quite different. Congress passed the law and should be forced onto the law.
Clearly, you don't grasp the concept of what the act does. It allows you to choose. If you like your current plan, you can keep it. That is what the Congressmen and the President are doing: Keeping the plans they have.
As for "doing what the people that elected them told them to do," obviously, a lot of those people changed their minds between November 2010 and November 2012, because the President who brought them Obamacare was easily re-elected.
Maybe the Tea Partiers should stop listening to only their own constituents, and start listening to ALL of America.
Actually, Washington Needs To Stop Listening To America
http://www.dallasnews.com/news/poli...more-than-it-gets-from-federal-government.eceMuch of that Federal support was probably state support that you easily don't understand. The support you get from the Federal Govt. is defense which is mandated by the Constitution. Not much else comes from the Federal Govt. that isn't a use tax like excise taxes on gasoline that fund the highways. Amazing how brainwashed supposedly intelligent people are
What is it about personal responsibility and neighbor helping neighbor that you don't understand?
Clearly, you don't grasp the concept of what the act does. It allows you to choose. If you like your current plan, you can keep it. That is what the Congressmen and the President are doing: Keeping the plans they have.
As for "doing what the people that elected them told them to do," obviously, a lot of those people changed their minds between November 2010 and November 2012, because the President who brought them Obamacare was easily re-elected.
Maybe the Tea Partiers should stop listening to only their own constituents, and start listening to ALL of America.
Actually, Washington Needs To Stop Listening To America
The most interesting thing is what would have happened had the Tea Party gone alone with the deal Boehner and Reid struck in July (a clean CR at 983 Billion).
Fresh from a beating on Syria, the media would have spent the last two weeks covering the disastrous ACA rollout. Republicans could have held hearings highlighting the problem followed by a bill delaying the mandate for a year. Obama and the Democrats would have taken a huge hit fighting such a "reasonable"
http://www.dallasnews.com/news/poli...more-than-it-gets-from-federal-government.ece
But you skipped this part.....which I understand why:
Those are diametrically opposed, one is "boot-strappy", the other is "socialism". I'm all for neighbor helping neighbor, whether that neighbor is next door, across the street or across the city or across the country.
I really hate the fact that the T.E.A. Party is getting such a bad rap from people like you and others. Don't understand why everyone isn't a member.
The most interesting thing is what would have happened had the Tea Party gone alone with the deal Boehner and Reid struck in July (a clean CR at 983 Billion).
Fresh from a beating on Syria, the media would have spent the last two weeks covering the disastrous ACA rollout. Republicans could have held hearings highlighting the problem followed by a bill delaying the mandate for a year. Obama and the Democrats would have taken a huge hit fighting such a "reasonable" proposal.
Didn't read the article, did you? What is it going to take for you to admit that the Federal Govt. spends too much money and the Obama economic policies a disaster?
The host being the United States of America, of course.
Yes I did.Didn't read the article, did you?
What is it going to take to get you to admit that "taking responsibility for yourself" and "neighbors helping neighbors" are diametrically opposed?What is it going to take for you to admit that the Federal Govt. spends too much money and the Obama economic policies a disaster?
We'll see how "overwhelming favorable" those provisions are once people have to start paying for them.The individual provisions within the plan are overwhelmingly favorable - no pre-existing conditions, extending coverage to age 26, etc.
We'll see how "overwhelming favorable" those provisions are once people have to start paying for them.
Not all of them. Southern slaveholders certainly shared your view that slaves should have been counted the same as any other person.
?? People always been able to do this. Maybe I missed what you were trying to say.We will, but I suspect that the basic concepts of being able to get insurance without a company sponsored insurance plan will outweigh the costs by a long shot.
How do you expect that divorcing health care from employers (via Obamacare) will help the economy?This plan will also lead us onto the path of divorcing health care from employers for good. It may take a decade or two, but the path is there, and that will be much better for the US people, as well as the US economy.
?? People always been able to do this. Maybe I missed what you were trying to say.
How do you expect that divorcing health care from employers (via Obamacare) will help the economy?
I've never seen any credible evidence to show that our system provides "below average results" - life expectancy and infant mortality statistics are typically used as evidence and neither is a good indicator for quality of healthcare.Remember the concept of how a car has more healthcare costs in it than steel costs? That makes US products and industries less competitive than other nations. WE spend double on health care thru employers for below average results.
Hey Con....just curious....how many times did you post about your heroes spending sprees and disasterous economic policies? Oh...yeah......right......carry on.
Yes I did.What is it going to take to get you to admit that "taking responsibility for yourself" and "neighbors helping neighbors" are diametrically opposed?
I've never seen any credible evidence to show that our system provides "below average results" - life expectancy and infant mortality statistics are typically used as evidence and neither is a good indicator for quality of healthcare.
As for the cost difference, the vast majority of the excess occurs after retirement, when people have no employer tie-in and are instead covered by Medicare. Almost half of your lifetime cost will go to end-of-life care alone.
Since I joined this forum in December 2009 I can say Zero since Bush wasn't in office.
Will the next GOP candidate for TX Gov. be affected by this shutdown, the thread title?
Do you support the slander of McCain by Gohmert saying McCain supported al Qaeda along with the rest of his 'Values Voter' vomit??
Did you support your Gov. using 9 billion from the stimulus to balance your budget, ripping the stim all the while?
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