Opposition to Obamacare Becomes Political Liability for GOP Incumbents

[Greenbeard]

As a reminder, in the 2018 midterms exit polls showed health care to be by far the most important issue in that election. Those voting on health care preferred Dem candidates by a 52-point (75-23) margin. The Dems gained back the House with the largest midterm vote margin of all time, nearly 10 million votes.

And now once again the GOP's opposition to the Affordable Care Act is shaping up to be a major albatross around its neck.

Opposition to Obamacare Becomes Political Liability for GOP Incumbents

Public sentiment about the ACA, also known as Obamacare, has shifted considerably during the Trump administration after Republicans tried but failed to repeal it. Now, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing economic crisis, which has led to the loss of jobs and health insurance for millions of people, health care again looks poised to be a key issue for voters this election. With competitive races in Colorado, Montana, Arizona, North Carolina and Iowa pitting Republican incumbents who voted to repeal the ACA against Democratic challengers promising to protect it, attitudes surrounding the health law could help determine control of the Senate.

Despite Gardner’s multiple votes to repeal the ACA, he has largely avoided talking about the measure during the 2020 campaign. He even removed his pro-repeal position from his campaign website.

“I did vote to repeal and replace Obamacare,” McSally said on conservative pundit Sean Hannity’s radio show during the 2018 campaign. “I’m getting my ass kicked for it right now.”

The ACA has proved a stumbling block for Republican Sens. Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Joni Ernst of Iowa. In Maine, GOP Sen. Susan Collins cast a key vote that prevented the repeal of the law but cast other votes that weakened it. . .In Montana, Daines, who voted to repeal the ACA, is trying to hold on to his seat against Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock, who used the law to expand the state’s Medicaid enrollment in 2015. At its peak, nearly 1 in 10 Montanans were covered through the expansion.

Trying to take away people's health care wasn't popular when the GOP tried it in 2017. But trying it during a pandemic? Boy, I don't know.

 

[Phys251]

As a reminder, in the 2018 midterms exit polls showed health care to be by far the most important issue in that election. Those voting on health care preferred Dem candidates by a 52-point (75-23) margin. The Dems gained back the House with the largest midterm vote margin of all time, nearly 10 million votes.

And now once again the GOP's opposition to the Affordable Care Act is shaping up to be a major albatross around its neck.

Opposition to Obamacare Becomes Political Liability for GOP Incumbents





Trying to take away people's health care wasn't popular when the GOP tried it in 2017. But trying it during a pandemic? Boy, I don't know.

This was the genius of Obamacare when it was created over a decade ago. It was generally unpopular and galvanized the Republicans then, but as people saw that it did not collapse the healthcare system, that it did give millions of Americans protection that it didn't give before, its popularity rose over time. In fact some experts believe that 2018 was secondarily a referendum on keeping Obamacare.

 

[swing_voter]

The poor have Medicaid, there's like 75 million poor people on it.

The old have Medicare, there's like 65 million people on it.

A lot of people are insured via their work, that's 150 million people.


The rest are small business owners who have to buy their health insurance on the open market. Guess what the best deal is for these people? Obamacare.


And small business owners make up a lot of Trump's base, so Trump's hurting his supporters.

 

[Greenbeard]

The poor have Medicaid, there's like 75 million poor people on it.

The old have Medicare, there's like 65 million people on it.

A lot of people are insured via their work, that's 150 million people.


The rest are small business owners who have to buy their health insurance on the open market. Guess what the best deal is for these people? Obamacare.


And small business owners make up a lot of Trump's base, so Trump's hurting his supporters.

Just to be clear, the insurance pieces of the ACA aren't just a marketplace to help families and small business owners get affordable coverage, though obviously that's part of it. The law added protections that can and do help virtually everybody.

The ACA is also what makes Medicaid into a universal program for poor people.

It added benefits to Medicare and shored up the program's finances (which prior to the ACA were on track to be exhausted by 2016).

It added protections and benefits for millions of people in employer-based coverage.

And the non-insurance parts help everyone. They invest in expanding the health care workforce, building up the nation's public health infrastructure, making our hospitals safer, recasting the business models health care organizations operate under to promote better care and lower costs. Boring, nuts-and-bolts, revolutionary stuff.

This is what the GOP has been trying to tear down and reverse for a decade.

 

[avatar]

The poor have Medicaid, there's like 75 million poor people on it.

The old have Medicare, there's like 65 million people on it.

A lot of people are insured via their work, that's 150 million people.


The rest are small business owners who have to buy their health insurance on the open market. Guess what the best deal is for these people? Obamacare.


And small business owners make up a lot of Trump's base, so Trump's hurting his supporters.

Medicare by itself sucks. One must purchase additional care to survive.

 

[Helix]

considering the continuous Republican sabotage, i'm surprised that there's anything left of the ACA that is still functional.

 

[wellwisher]

The Democrats create problems and they try to blame others. This is a pattern that they repeat all the time. In this case, they created the unaffordable health care act, which hurt the middle class tax payer. Here is a link from the CMS or Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The entire article can be read at the link below.

Thank Obamacare for the Rise of the Uninsured | CMS

The U.S. Census Bureau released their annual report on health insurance coverage in the United States which shows the number of uninsured Americans rose from 2017 to 2018. As usual, critics of President Trump have been quick to blame the Administration’s healthcare policies for this increase. But a review of key facts suggests the rising uninsured rate stems largely from Obamacare’s failure to deliver affordable health insurance premiums and has created a new class of uninsured.

While Obamacare promised affordable health insurance for every American, and even penalized those who refused to buy it, the law did nothing to control underlying costs. The very structure of the law which imposed billions of dollars in new, costly regulations also led to higher and higher insurance premiums.

As a result, when President Trump took office in 2017, average individual market health insurance premiums in states using HealthCare.gov had already doubled when compared to 2013, the year before Obamacare’s main regulations took effect. Average premiums went up by another 26 percent in 2018.

At the same time individual market premiums were spiking out of control, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) data show a substantial enrollment drop among unsubsidized people on the individual market who do not receive federal premium tax credits. In just two years, from 2016 to 2018, unsubsidized enrollment declined by 2.5 million people, a 40 percent drop.

These numbers clearly show Obamacare has created a serious affordability problem on the individual market—and this was all put in motion before President Trump took office. Let’s remember that insurers’ process for setting rates for 2018 was well under way at the beginning of 2017 when President Trump took office and based on policies set in place under the Obama Administration.

Simply put, there are too many people without subsidies who cannot afford coverage under Obamacare. For example, when a 60-year old couple in Grand Island, Nebraska making $70,000 a year—which is just slightly too much to qualify for Obamacare’s premium subsidy—is faced with paying $38,000, over half of their yearly income, to buy a silver plan with an $11,100 annual maximum out-of-pocket limit. We should not be surprised if they make the tough decision to drop their coverage. With a similar cold reality facing millions of American families, it was inevitable that Obamacare’s affordability crisis would eventually show up in the rates of uninsured Americans.

The data show that the number of uninsured with incomes greater than 400 percent of the federal poverty line (FPL)—the cutoff point to qualify for federal tax credits—increased by 1.1 million in 2018. The number of uninsured with incomes between 300 and 399 percent of FPL who might qualify for smaller Obamacare tax credits, but still must pay a large portion of premium on their own, increased by 500,000. The total increase in the number of uninsured with incomes higher than 300 percent of FPL represents 85 percent of the 1.9 million additional uninsured.

Together these data show how Obamacare created an entirely new class of uninsured individuals, among those with middle to higher incomes who don’t quality for government subsidies and can’t afford coverage because of skyrocketing premiums.

 

[JasperL]

The Democrats create problems and they try to blame others. This is a pattern that they repeat all the time. In this case, they created the unaffordable health care act, which hurt the middle class tax payer. Here is a link from the CMS or Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The entire article can be read at the link below.

Thank Obamacare for the Rise of the Uninsured | CMS

It's shameful we have a government agency acting as a campaign arm for the GOP and Trump. That's campaign propaganda. There's no line Trump won't cross apparently.

And here's an idea. If Trump doesn't like "Obamacare" then show us his ****ing plan. He's promised it for years, and we've seen nothing. Let's see what Trump's awesome, best ever, greatest of all time healthcare plan does for that couple nearing retirement. Show us the damn money, and quit bitching about how those other guys did the job, that he's spent the entire time trying to sabotage and dismantle.

The good news is there is NO ONE with the mental faculties to get dressed in the morning that believe the Trump/GOP "soon to be named later plan that will be awesome and so much better than 'Obamacare'" promises. It's been a decade now and the GOP has shown us nothing. Nearly four years and Trump's still got that plan coming in two weeks, two months ago....

 

[Greenbeard]

The Democrats create problems and they try to blame others.

And yet here you are, sharing propaganda that blames the Democrats for premium hikes intentionally triggered by Trump when he illegally dismantled part of the ACA.

Obamacare bombshell: Trump kills key payments to health insurers

The Trump administration will immediately stop making critically important payments to insurers who sell Obamacare health plans, a bombshell move that is expected to spike premium prices and potentially lead many insurers to exit the marketplace.

The decision to end the billions of dollars worth of so-called cost-sharing reduction (CSR) payments came after months of threats by President Donald Trump to do just that. The news came only hours after Trump signed an executive order that Obamacare advocates said could badly harm the individual insurance marketplaces.

 

[Cardinal]

The poor have Medicaid, there's like 75 million poor people on it.

The old have Medicare, there's like 65 million people on it.

A lot of people are insured via their work, that's 150 million people.


The rest are small business owners who have to buy their health insurance on the open market. Guess what the best deal is for these people? Obamacare.


And small business owners make up a lot of Trump's base, so Trump's hurting his supporters.

Before the PPACA, being a small business owner or an independent contractor was like being in prison without the protection of being in a gang. Obamacare was why I was able to have coverage, and as an artist, all the other models and artists I knew just took it for granted that health care was a luxury for the "other people." Always just a hair too "rich" for medicaid, and never even close to rich enough to buy an independent plan.

 

[Greenbeard]

considering the continuous Republican sabotage, i'm surprised that there's anything left of the ACA that is still functional.

They've thrown everything they can it, done all the sabotage they can think of, and it just keeps chugging along. For example:

Rate cuts planned by some Tennessee health insurers next year
Maine approves double-digit rate cuts for Affordable Care Act insurance
Exchange insurance premiums for NH individuals could drop by over 20% in 2021
Blue Cross projects lower individual ACA premium rates in region for 2021 [North Carolina]
Anthem proposes lower premiums for 2021 individual health plans [Virginia]
Covered California: state health service keeping premiums nearly the same in 2021
‘Obamacare’ individual policy rates for 2021 mostly hold steady in Montana
Rates To Decrease In Delaware Affordable Care Act Marketplace
New Yorkers’ Premiums Will Tick Up In 2021, But Barely, After State Steps In

With the Biden enhancements, it'll be even better.

 

[Helix]

They've thrown everything they can it, done all the sabotage they can think of, and it just keeps chugging along. For example:

Rate cuts planned by some Tennessee health insurers next year
Maine approves double-digit rate cuts for Affordable Care Act insurance
Exchange insurance premiums for NH individuals could drop by over 20% in 2021
Blue Cross projects lower individual ACA premium rates in region for 2021 [North Carolina]
Anthem proposes lower premiums for 2021 individual health plans [Virginia]
Covered California: state health service keeping premiums nearly the same in 2021
‘Obamacare’ individual policy rates for 2021 mostly hold steady in Montana
Rates To Decrease In Delaware Affordable Care Act Marketplace
New Yorkers’ Premiums Will Tick Up In 2021, But Barely, After State Steps In

With the Biden enhancements, it'll be even better.

just look at this, though :

https://www.cbpp.org/sabotage-watch-tracking-efforts-to-undermine-the-aca

how in the **** is it still working?

 

[Greenbeard]

just look at this, though :

Sabotage Watch: Tracking Efforts to Undermine the ACA | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

how in the **** is it still working?

It's a very robust design! That isn't to say it hasn't been significantly damaged, it could certainly be functioning much better if the entire GOP wasn't unified in attempting to screw it up. And the Biden enhancements really will make a huge difference for tens of millions of people.

But the fact that the GOP has landed so many blows on it and it still continues to function pretty well is indeed remarkable.

 

[Helix]

It's a very robust design! That isn't to say it hasn't been significantly damaged, it could certainly be functioning much better if the entire GOP wasn't unified in attempting to screw it up. And the Biden enhancements really will make a huge difference for tens of millions of people.

But the fact that the GOP has landed so many blows on it and it still continues to function pretty well is indeed remarkable.

i wouldn't have predicted its survival of the constant assault. i've been waiting for it to collapse, and yet, on it limps.

 

[Omniscient]

 

[tres borrachos]

It's shameful we have a government agency acting as a campaign arm for the GOP and Trump. That's campaign propaganda. There's no line Trump won't cross apparently.

And here's an idea. If Trump doesn't like "Obamacare" then show us his ****ing plan. He's promised it for years, and we've seen nothing. Let's see what Trump's awesome, best ever, greatest of all time healthcare plan does for that couple nearing retirement. Show us the damn money, and quit bitching about how those other guys did the job, that he's spent the entire time trying to sabotage and dismantle.

The good news is there is NO ONE with the mental faculties to get dressed in the morning that believe the Trump/GOP "soon to be named later plan that will be awesome and so much better than 'Obamacare'" promises. It's been a decade now and the GOP has shown us nothing. Nearly four years and Trump's still got that plan coming in two weeks, two months ago....

What happened to the plan he was supposed to sign into law in August?

 

[JasperL]

What happened to the plan he was supposed to sign into law in August?

As I've said before, FDR nailed the GOP decades ago.

Let me warn you and let me warn the nation against the smooth evasion which says, “Of course we believe all these things; we believe in social security; we believe in work for the unemployed; we believe in saving homes. Cross our hearts and hope to die, we believe in all these things; but we do not like the way the present Administration is doing them. Just turn them over to us. We will do all of them—we will do more of them, we will do them better; and, most important of all, the doing of them will not cost anybody anything.”

But, my friends, these evaders are banking too heavily on the shortness of our memories. No one will forget that they had their golden opportunity—twelve long years of it.

Remember, too, that the first essential of doing a job well is to want to see the job done. Make no mistake about this: The Republican leadership today is not against the way we have done the job. The Republican leadership is against the job’s being done.

 

[tres borrachos]

As I've said before, FDR nailed the GOP decades ago.

Powerful!!

 

[ALiberalModerate]

Medicare by itself sucks. One must purchase additional care to survive.

Medicare by itself covers the vast majority of the risk a recipient poses to insurers. So yes, you need a supplement on it to cover that 20% that Medicare doesn't cover, but seniors would be uninsurable absent Medicare or massive subsidies.

 

[avatar]

Medicare by itself covers the vast majority of the risk a recipient poses to insurers. So yes, you need a supplement on it to cover that 20% that Medicare doesn't cover, but seniors would be uninsurable absent Medicare or massive subsidies.

That of course would not be true if we had universal healthcare.

 

[Patriotic Voter]

Medicare by itself sucks. One must purchase additional care to survive.

It also is totally useless if you are under 65 years old and do not have a disability. With the ACA, people don't have to wait that long to get public health insurance.

 

[JasperL]

Medicare by itself covers the vast majority of the risk a recipient poses to insurers. So yes, you need a supplement on it to cover that 20% that Medicare doesn't cover, but seniors would be uninsurable absent Medicare or massive subsidies.

And of course for poor seniors, Medicaid covers that 20% and other services not covered by Medicare.

 

[JasperL]

That of course would not be true if we had universal healthcare.

Medicare is UHC for seniors, and UHC doesn't imply first dollar coverage of every healthcare cost. There's nothing wrong with copays, or even supplemental plans, so long as those who cannot afford a supplemental plan aren't bankrupted by healthcare costs. My mom can afford the supplement - there's no reason for taxpayers to cover ALL her healthcare costs.

 

[99percenter]

As I've said before, FDR nailed the GOP decades ago.

Greatest president ever. No surprise he was elected to 4 terms.

 

[avatar]

Medicare is UHC for seniors, and UHC doesn't imply first dollar coverage of every healthcare cost. There's nothing wrong with copays, or even supplemental plans, so long as those who cannot afford a supplemental plan aren't bankrupted by healthcare costs. My mom can afford the supplement - there's no reason for taxpayers to cover ALL her healthcare costs.

Medicare is not UHC care for seniors. Depending on which parts you have coverage will vary. If you cannot afford to purchase additional coverage such as part B,C or D you do not have universal health care.