By Mark Esposito, Weekend Contributor
Even as the GOP struggles to hold onto to its wacky Tea Party base and appease the country clubbers who finance the show, it finds it can unite on one thing: It Loves the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”). That’s right, the party who issued dire warnings over death panels and runaway costs, and rationing, and lost jobs just heard from its grass-roots and … they LOVE it. According to the Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation that “aims to promote a high performing health care system that achieves better access, improved quality, and greater efficiency, particularly for society’s most vulnerable,” polling shows 74% of persons who had the guts to identify themselves as Republicans “said that they were very or somewhat satisfied with their new insurance plan.” And even more remarkably for that “sky-is-always-falling” crowd, they’re optimistic .. yes, optimistic, that “new health coverage will improve their ability to get the care they need.” What ? No waiting lines, no rationing of health care ? No shadowy board saying Grandma must die because she needs hormone replacement therapy?
What is this our conservative brethren cry? Well, it’s reality and everything Republican leaders hoped — for purely political reasons — it wouldn’t be. Like the number of uninsured dropping from 15.6% to 13.4% in just one quarter. This is “the lowest quarterly average recorded since Gallup and Healthways began tracking the percentage of uninsured Americans in 2008. ” Oh, then there’s the actual people who now can get the healthcare they need (and that most civilized nations regard as a civil right). Over fifteen million Americans have signed up for coverage by the end of the last enrollment period and about 8 million went through the exchange. A Kaiser Survey found that nearly 6 out of 10 of the 8 million who enrolled in the marketplace were previously uninsured. Maybe that will reduce the 25,000 American per year who, pre-ACA, were dying from little or no healthcare.
And what about the demographics of those recently insured? Those cut across all age groups except those 65+ due to their eligibility to Medicare.
Not seeing the doctor of their choice, I bet. Nope that canard has gone the way of the buggy whip too, according to the Washington Post. “Just about one in five of those with new coverage, though, said they tried to find a primary care doctor — but of those, 75 percent said their search was somewhat easy or very easy.” So 80% kept their doctor, and 75% said getting a new one –if they had to — was easy. That lying Obama saying that everyone will get to keep their doctor and plan. Throw him in jail for that whopper!
And lastly, what about that great Republican bugaboo. You know the one where we’ll all wait years for surgeries or even just to see a specialist under Obamacare? Well, the Commonwealth Fund says that 58% of those newly insured who needed to see specialists did so in two weeks. Two weeks? That’s how long it tales me to get a plumber out to my house!
So, with the dire predictions of the demise of healthcare system via the ACA effectively debunked what does it mean for the GOP’s singular wedge issue? Plan B: The President’s travel schedule? ( He won’t “visit the border,” you know) Well, maybe, but the bigger problem is the disconnect between GOP leadership and its apparently healthy and satisfied membership. Taking away the things that people like by their own government has never really been a winning political strategy. See, Prohibition, i.e. disaster.
Even more politically challenging is that independents love Obamacare more than Republicans. By a 85% to 15% gap, independent voters can’t get enough of quality affordable health care that, for the first time in a long time, actually costs less per month than their mortgage. Try that on for size GOP. Who’s left to vote? Undocumented workers? Oh, sorry, they can’t and well, a lot are Hispanic and … you know … you’re not doing so great on immigration reform. Next subject, please.
Already facing a demographic nightmare in 2016 when even more young people and minorities are expected to vote, the GOP presidential chances stand at a crossroads. Give up the best issue you thought you had: government “takeover” of the healthcare system or change? What would a savvy political party do? Well, change of course. For the GOP? Well, they do love a good collision course with reality sometimes.
Ok, all you political operatives in the making, what do you think:
Source: Commonwealth Fund and throughout.
~Mark Esposito, Weekend Contributor
By the way and for better or worse, the views expressed in this posting are the author’s alone and not necessarily those of the blog, the host, or other weekend bloggers. As an open forum, weekend bloggers post independently without pre-approval or review. Content and any displays of art are solely the author’s decision and responsibility. No infringement of intellectual property rights is intended and will be remedied upon notice from the owner. Fair use is however asserted for such inclusions of quotes, excerpts, photos, art, and the like.
Your Koch brothers’ John Birch Society aka “tea party” says “don’t tread on me.” My reply is DON’T TRICKLE DOWN ON ME. IT DOES NOT WORK, IT HAS NEVER WORKED AND IT WILL NEVER WORK, AND I DON’T INTEND to give you one more chance to prove me wrong.
I don’t believe in your trickle down tooth fairy anymore. I have yet to see one trickle down quarter under my pillow.
What do you all say now, since the brand new FACTUAL INFORMATION reveals that Obamacare is a SMASHING SUCCESS? Read the latest article in Business Insider titled “What Obamacare has done TO THE COUNTRY” Bloomberg just came to the conclusion given the facts that Hospitals are losing far less money and Insurance companies are making more money (over 40%) WHICH BY LAW WILL FORCE PREMIUMS DOWN, Since the 80/20 rule limits insurance GROSS markup to 20% above actual claims paid. If they collect more than 20%, it will by law BE REFUNDED DIRECTLY TO CONSUMERS. We are about to live longer as a nation, since we have fallen to 49th in life expectancy due to a lack of universal health care. The CiA reports that people who have health insurance live ON AVERAGE 6 years longer. Chances are I am now going to live longer, and to those of you who could care less about your fellow countrymen, I would say that you are selfish sociopaths. Your big concern was that it was going to prevent you from buying a new Mercedes this year, and it appears that it will end up costing you NOTHING, because health care inflation is going down. Bloomberg’s even said that the entire country would be well served if Democrats win Governorships in Georgia and Florida, because the governor will expand medicaid and lower costs for everyone else in the process. I used to vote republican and even voted for Reagan. But I cannot afford to do so anymore, and risk losing my retirement IRA if another republican wins the white house. The republicans have a 1000 batting average since 1928 of creating major recessions, near depressions and a Great Depression. The only ones who do well are the wealthy who have the hoarded cash to come in and buy foreclosures, stocks, etc. at pennies on the dollar
Ted Cruz answered a voter’s question in 2011 “Why am I against Obamacare? Because we are afraid people are going to like the program, and then we will NEVER BE ABLE TO GET RID OF IT”
I now have Obamacare after being a self employed, uninsured businessman for the past 18 years. I LOVE it, and I PAY MY PREMIUMS GLADLY, which I could not afford in January of 2013, when I was quoted “A Minimum of $1,000 Per Month for me alone for a $5,000 deductible policy. My cholesterol was slightly elevated and I’m 63 and overweight. I now have a $500 deductible Blue Cross plan with a $1500 annual cap and $10 prescriptions for $158 per month after my tax credit, since I only make about $40k per year. If I made over $80k, and lost the tax credit, my premium would still be less than $500 per month, and I would gladly trade the tax credit of about $4,000 per year for an extra $40,000 income.
This is exactly what I am talking about when I say that we all have the responsibility, when we vote, to follow the outcomes and use that information to inform all future decisions.
You voted for something that you thought would be a humane solution to health care access for the poor. The result is that you now made health insurance unaffordable for the middle class on private insurance, and the same result will soon sweep down the rest of the population on employer plans. It’s such a bad policy that Congress exempted itself, because it feared a “brain drain” if it had to force its employees on Obamacare. CONGRESS said this, and these fools voted for it.
So admit it was a mistake, repeal it, and press on with different reform measures. You don’t keep destroying the middle class because you’re not mature enough to admit it was well-intentioned, but ultimately harmful.
For example, I believe that years ago, I voted for High Speed Rail in CA. It sounded wonderful – a green energy train that would revitalize rail and zip across the state. But then I discovered that the costs was grossly under-reported, that Governor Brown was raiding Cap & Trade funds to help pay for it, that it would do zero to address the gridlock or potholes plaguing commuters in my state, that our state cannot afford it, that the train would cause a net increase in pollution, that ridership was grossly overstated, that a single accident would likely not be survivable, that such high speed trains decimate wildlife (which don’t have time to move out of the way), that the passing trains cause blight because they cause such noise from the air crashing down behind them, that the trains would need to be updated every 35 years at tremendous cost, that the market is not there for the train, that they would seize properties via eminent domain, that the ticket price was grossly underestimated, it would cost almost as much as a plane ticket, that you’ll have to change trains 3 times to get to San Francisco, so you’ll pay almost as much as a plane ticket but take hours to get there and still have to rent a car. How many commuters in LA do they think are driving to SF? We can’t afford a vacation train. The state has forgotten that it’s primary duty is to maintain the roads that people use to engage in business and get to work. They are abandoning their responsibilities for a pet project that will benefit the unions that bought and paid for Democrat politicians in my state. It is pork of an overwhelming, I think criminal, scale. And it was passed by, once again, lying to voters.
I made a mistake, and as soon as I realized this, have worked to rectify it. That is the responsibility of every voter.
Simple math, here, people.
Doubling premiums = BAD for the middle class
Increasing deductibles 1100% = BAD for the middle class
Reducing doctor choice to 25% and those use a factory model = BAD
Reducing drug formularies to offset spiraling premiums = BAD
Making out of pocket costs for off-formulary not cost towards max caps = BAD
Having to pay out of pocket, which doesn’t count towards max caps, to see a doctor when you’re now paying as much for health insurance as many pay for mortgages = BAD for the middle class
Would drawing a diagram help? Are people being deliberately obtuse? Because I say with certainty that if Republicans did something that caused the above result to women, or the middle class in general, Liberals would be howling, and rightfully so.
I find it just unbelievable when people try to argue why middle- and upper- class women should receive birth control for “free” with no copay. As if we couldn’t possibly have to PAY a copay for our own contraceptives. Without government handing it out to them, the Kim Kardashians and Paris Hiltons of the world couldn’t possibly manage.
Why can women not be expected to share a copay, if they can afford it, which is designed to help keep costs down for everyone? And isn’t that the POINT of health insurance – to keep costs down to make health care affordable for everyone? And why not medications that mean life and death – blood pressure medication, diabetes medicine, etc? Why not the medications that keep MS patients out of wheelchairs for as long as possible? Why? Because copays keep costs down. If every single medication on the planet was “free” I cannot conceive of how high premiums would be. Because nothing is “free.” We all pay for it either via copays, premiums, or out of pocket. It is very simple math. Why? Because “free birth control” (assuming ladies cannot add) is a political gimmick to address the contrived “war on women.” Prior to 2008, I always had contraceptives covered on my health insurance plan if I wanted them. And I could have GOOGLED (at the library, on a free computer if need be) free condoms in every state, including Alaska, where they would be shipped to my door if I. I knew ZERO women who felt there was a war against them because they had several contraceptive choices, or they could get contraceptives or prophylactics for free with the barest modicum of effort. This is a political gimmick that the sheep among our masses have dutifully bleated about, as directed.
And a magic money tree springs up overnight to offset all 20 “free” contraceptives covered. Because, even though health insurance already usually covered at least some contraceptives, obviously unless we had 20 different choices, pregnancy would skyrocket. Even though the effective rate of the choices they did offer was the same as the additional choices that now make 20.
And please disregard the notifications from our health insurance company that specifically noted these extra benefits as the reason why my premiums increased.
“Free birth control/prophylactics for the middle class & rich, driving up everyone’s premiums = absurd”
Here is an article in Time magazine that makes the argument that ‘free’ birth control provided by insurance companies does not increase premiums and likely saves insurance companies money because of the reduced number of pregnancies.
Sounds like a good deal from the perspective of both social policy and health care cost.
http://business.time.com/2012/02/14/why-free-birth-control-will-not-hike-the-cost-of-your-insurance/
“By contrast, if an insurer makes birth control totally free for all of its customers, it avoids having to reimburse them for countless unplanned pregnancies and births. Overall, then, it’s cheaper for the insurer to pay a little upfront to save a ton down the line.”
So Karen, Squeeky here is going to vote for Hillary Clinton If she’s the Dem nominee and she thinks it’s wonderful that Hillary would’ve insisted on Single Payer.
Free birth control/prophylactics for the poor = good
Free birth control/prophylactics for the middle class & rich, driving up everyone’s premiums = absurd
Thanks, Squeeky.
People fail to see the irony of their intolerance while preaching from the pedestal of the Party of Tolerance.
http://www.medicaldaily.com/free-birth-control-initiative-colorado-leads-40-drop-teen-birth-rates-292072
Free birth control initiative in Colorado leads to a 40% drop in teen births.