Top Dems Now Questioning Wisdom Of Political Capital Spent On ObamaCare...
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Opps!!! But as they say, "it is what it is".
Read more BELOW THE FOLD.
Via: Memeorandum
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THE HILL - Influential Democrats who have strongly defended Obama-Care for years are now publicly questioning whether the law was worth the political fallout.
Passage of the Affordable Care Act marked the start of a political unraveling for the Democratic Party, which lost huge majorities in Congress and control of a majority of state governorships in the last four and a half years.
Sen. Charles Schumer (N.Y.), the third-ranking member of the Senate Democratic leadership, said last week that ObamaCare was not worth the political cost. And he’s not alone.
Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), the chairman of the Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee, told The Hill that Democrats should have enacted a single-payer healthcare system or a public option. In retrospect, Harkin said, Democrats should have not passed the bill they did. While he says the ACA enacted some good reforms, he bemoans its daunting complexity.
Schumer’s and Harkin’s recent remarks are quite different than in prior years. After the Supreme Court upheld ObamaCare’s individual mandate, Harkin hailed the ruling as “great news for America’s families, businesses and our economy. The Affordable Care Act moves us forward where every person has affordable, quality healthcare in America.”
Schumer, meanwhile, in 2010 said, “I predict … by November those who voted for healthcare will find it an asset; those who voted against it will find it a liability.”
But the law has struggled to gain traction with the public and has been a boon to the GOP politically. In short, many Democrats are tired of waiting.
The public criticism of the law, the centerpiece of President Obama’s legacy, has ignited a debate within the Democratic Party.
Democrats are arguing among themselves about whether to focus on the poor, who are not reliable voters, or the middle class, who have started to turn to the Republican Party.
Schumer argued at a speech at the National Press Club that Democrats “blew the opportunity the American people gave them” by passing healthcare reform in 2009 and 2010 instead of working on economic legislation designed to help middle-class voters.
Opps!!! But as they say, "it is what it is".
Read more BELOW THE FOLD.
Via: Memeorandum
For better or for worse, passage of ANY healthcare bill was a once in a hundred years opportunity and a calculated risk. The "patient bill of rights" provisions are worthwhile IMO. If Democrats lose elections after a hard fought accomplishment, it's because they are chicken shit cowards who vacillate on principles. The AHCA would have faired far better had they stood solidly behind it.
ReplyDeleteDems were solidly behind it and I am not convinced remaining solidly behind it would have made much difference in the perceptions people hold. Dems openly backing away is a relative recent development isn't it?
ReplyDelete2015-2016 will be interesting if nothing else. It likely won't be a positive two years for the country. But it will be what it will be.
Or put another way... it will be real, it will be fun, but it sure as he'll won't be real fun.
Time for a cool one.
In August 2009 (more than five years ago), I wrote this in an old post:
ReplyDelete"To maximize earnings, private insurers ‘cherry pick’ the most profitable subscribers, reject high-risk applicants, eliminate those with “pre-existing” conditions, limit benefits, drop customers, and charge higher premiums. One inevitable consequence of a profit-driven system is a large pool of “medically uninsurable” applicants who are denied access to affordable, quality healthcare.
Another consequence are high premium costs that partition our people into ‘haves’ and ‘have nots.’ An estimated 47 million people lack healthcare coverage, and medical debts will drive a million people each year into bankruptcy."
The AHCA was passed and implemented subsequent to this comment. It remedies many of the deficiencies identified above. No, the law is not perfect; it is certainly not what I wanted five years ago; but it is all we have at present. To nullify it would mean going backwards in time as a civilized country (if the term "civilized" even means anything at this point).
Chuck has an election coming up soon and so he's saying what he thinks will poll well. The fellow's a politician, in other words.
ReplyDelete