Agreed. They Freedom Caucus saved them from themselves. The spinelsss Republicans just couldn't bring themselves to repeal the turd sandwich that is Obamacare when they actually had the power to do it. They do end up with egg on their face for this but much less than if the travesty they were pushing would have actually passed. They should have passed a real healthcare bill in the House that would actually do what it takes to fix the issues and reduce cost and passed it along to the Senate. Even if the bill would have required 60 votes in the Senate, it would have been on the Democrats for stopping it not the Republicans looking inept. At least everyone knows who is responsible for Obamacare. Democrats have been paying for it at the polls for years. Maybe the Republicans will end up with 60 plus votes in the Senate after the midterms. Of course even if that does happen, they will probably be too spineless to do what they should. Unfortunately, they are still too scared of the mainstream media which will always blame them for anything and everything.
I agree that the bill was a mistake, but I think keeping Obamacare, regardless of the outcome, now falls on the republicans. Of course it is the democrats and Obamas bill AND I see the angle of blaming the democrats and using it for political gain if/when it fails (EDIT: Failure isn't going to be some grand hoorah the medical system doesnt work, just unsustainable spending..which will just fall on the reigning party)..but I personally do not believe that anyone is going to buy that pitch when the republicans control the government. I also do not see the advantage of just doing whatever the hell you want and then making the democrats oppose it in the senate..that seems like a much better strategy IMO. How can this bring the democrats to the table? This has to be the time for democrats to double down and push for single payer.
lol, you will never get single payer until you control all branches of government. Only time will tell who takes the blame for this but you do realize that as the insurance companies pull out of each state, there will be no Obamacare for people to sign up for.
On a CNN panel discussion (linked below) of the failure of Trump/republican ACA repeal/replacement plan, John King made an excellent point... Trump saying he would let ACA die on its own would be the equivalent of a fire chief seeing a house on fire and then announcing he would let it burn instead of putting the fire out. Even though Trump didn't introduce ACA and even though he doesn't like it... it is the law of the land, and Americans are effected by how it works. The Americans he works for as President. He can pout, say its not important, and pivot to taxation or some other topic, but he chose healthcare as his first major program (as pointed out by Mary Katherine Ham) and it has his name on it now. Interesting she mentions a public option compromise working with Democrat leadership in her part of the discussion. Personally I think ACA is a lot closer to be the correct approach, and if there are problems, they are fixable problems. Americans deserve a government that will do that, as opposed to what we heard yesterday from the majority party and President. This is not the time for juvenile partisanship leadership... otherwise David Gergen was 100% correct, this will be the worst first 100 days of any presidency.
Donald Trump showed poor leadership and an arrogant but ill informed understanding of his own parties law makers. Attempting to force a terrible bill that he had little knowledge of down the throats of law makers. What a terribly embarrassing show of weakness. From the silly infomercial Ponzi scheme presentation by Paul Ryan, to the silly presentation of the bill being top secret under lock and key; all the way to Trump claiming that the bill would cover more people... and the report coming out that it would do the opposite. Simply humiliating, with the President not even getting a vote.. and Paul Ryan leaving the floor while being heckled. Even rank and file Republicans in the house and senate are breaking ranks and calling out the President and Paul Ryan. The American people are at risk having such a weak and ineffective President. The rest of the world is watching and will attempt to capitalize on Trump's weakness.
Conservatives are a victim of their own propaganda. They have created this agenda where they have to be extreme and never compromise to meet in the middle - and that has resulted in the Freedom Caucus and moderate wing of their party being opposed. They are showing they can not govern has a major party. And they are led by the buffoon Trump who set them up for a massive failure.
Embarrassing failure. One of many ads that ran. Of course the Ads is full of lies. Basketball Fans Treated To Ads Congratulating Republicans For Repealing Obamacare
I think there are people on both sides that acknowledge there are issues with Obamacare. A functioning government would work to build consensus on how to tackle those issues and fix them. But we don't have a functioning government -- and both sides share blame for that. For the President to punt on this and essentially say "We're just going to let it burn to the ground" -- if that's what he really believes will happen -- is unconscionable. But we knew this was the type of person we were getting with him as President.
Yep. Also, pretty sure Clinton and Sanders both ran on the idea of fixing Obamacare. Even the talking point from the party today seems to be all about fixing Obamacare. If it implodes like Trump says it will, it will be on the GOP. They are the ones in power. They said they had a better solution, so they are going to have to produce that better solution. Shame on Trump. He's trying to play the public for fools once again. Hopefully the American people are not so dumb to realize that they needed 0 votes from the other side to pass their bill. I sincerely hope the people are not that dumb.
So, if the AHCA is a terrible bill that many people from the left, right and center disliked, what would an Obamacare repeal/replace bill that can actually pass Congress and get signed into law look like?
Two options: #1. Focus on fixing the flaws in the Obamacare markets instead of throwing together a bill with political sound bites like "repeal the mandate" and "keep pre-existing condition prohibitions" when they don't make sense. This could get traction with the left and the moderate right. #2. Start over completely. That probably wouldn't get any traction on the left, but you could unify the hard right and moderate right.
I think there is a better chance of moderate republicans and Democrats agreeing on something (ie. #1) then moderate republicans and the hard right wingers, since anything that the "Freedom Caucus" wants will be too hard on enough Americans that many moderate republicans will see as political suicide. Heck, the ACHA proposal was going to cut 24 million people and wasn't going to reduce taxes and debt enough... if the Freedom Caucus had its way it would be hard to believe how many people would lose their insurance...
What the Freedom Caucus want would be terrible for most middle to low income Americans and virtually anyone who has any pre-existing conditions that gets coverage on the individual marketplace. The real problem with this debate is that most people don't understand what they are talking about with regards to health insurance costs, ACA, etc. They just repeat talking points from whichever side they support. A perfect example is the oft repeated Republican point that people have deductibles of 10-12 thousand dollars and that's part of the problem. So stupid. ACA actually capped deductibles for the first time and created out of pocket maximums. The "premiums are too high and deductibles are so high you can't even use the plan" is a garbage talking point with little basis in reality. Yet it is repeated by the Speaker of the House and the Secretary of HHS.
