Brian Beutler reveals a very interesting conundrum for right wing extremists in his latest piece over at Salon.com. When Healthcare.gov actually starts working, GOP will have to choose between politics or their constituents' health. With the bugs being ironed out at healthcare.gov, Beutler points out what the future holds.
A working site that can service nearly a million people a day destroys that excuse. Some conservative groups have been craven and reckless enough to actively discourage people from enrolling in Affordable Care Act coverage. Elected Republicans have generally used their influence more subtly, by drawing attention to the hassles and supposed dangers of using Healthcare.gov. Manipulation vs. direct appeal. They’ve also maligned an administrative solution President Obama devised that will allow carriers in some states to reissue canceled policies.
But the real fix for 70 percent (or so) of people whose policies have been canceled is to get new, subsidized coverage through exchanges, or to enroll in Medicaid. Once Healthcare.gov is working at high capacity, they’ll owe people with canceled coverage more than just the play-acting they’ve offered for the past month.
Democrats will be helping these people find such coverage. Will Republicans?
No, they won't. And that's why I say we should take Reince Preibus's advice: Stamp the ACA right to our foreheads and run proudly on it in 2014. That's exactly what I would do if I was up for reelection next year.
6 comments:
You still haven't defined what successful is regarding O-care.....
Guess it's like porn, you'll know it when you see it.
He doesn't need to be able to define success - his glorious leader will tell him.
If PPACA "success" is anything like the success M has touted with the GM bailout, then oh my, we are in trouble.
Debbie Wasserman-Schultz agrees that Dems can run and win on ObamaCare. She must've gotten a professional to do her hair,for her, BTW. It usually looks like she's got a wet poodle draped on her head, and it only looks damp in this picture.
But Daffy Debby and Markadaffiya can both stamp "ACA" on their foreheads and the Democrats can run on that, and WIN! For Charlie Sheen-like levels of "Winning!" anyway.
To be sure, I don't think the website is the real problem. It's just all too emblematic of what we can expect of government programs. After long delays and huge cost overruns, it will be got to work. After all, it's just a stupid website, not something really complex like the ATC system upgrade that dragged on for several years after it was supposed to be fully operational across the US, but finally had to be taken out behind the barn and shot.
No, the real problem is everything that's behind the website. For all the problems our medical system has today (many of them the direct, mostly unintended consequences of past government laws, regulations, and policies), I'm pretty sure this will fuck things up even worse. I'd like to be proven wrong, but I'd like to be proven wrong about free energy from perpetual motion machines, too. Sadly, most "progressive" social engineering schemes are founded on the same sorts of premises.
My guess is that Obama will delay the employer mandates again until after the mid-term elections to reduce the number of people getting "serviced" by ACA so that Democrats aren't hammered as badly. After all, only a minority of people are as dedicated to the cause as Markadelphia so that after being "serviced" once, they're still eager for more and "BOHICA!" becomes an exclamation of joy and anticipation, not resignation and resentment.
It's just all too emblematic of what we can expect of government programs.
In the liberal mind bloat, waste and fraud only happens in Defense. Anything that involves social spending is never ineffective or inefficient. If there is even a hint of corruption it must be because of Republicans.
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