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.
I believe in Beegles, and Squeekers. Praise the Lord!
“The system that we have had is one where those finite dollars have been shared with insurance companies, some having profited by as much as 40% of premiums paid by consumers.”
Which ones? How do health care insurance companies make money? When does an insurance company get to take excesses over payouts as profit?
I bet anytime conservatives want to help progressives get insurance companies out of the health care business, Nancy will welcome them with open arms.
How ’bout it Carl? Are you and Grover ready to get after those insurance companies?
Hmmm. I think I prefer doing things the way God wants as opposed to bouncing all over the place doing things the way Obama, or whoever occupies the NYT’s op ed board, wants. Or following the dictates of various smarmy, sanctimonious twit commenters who are far too evolved to believe in Satan, but far too primitive to view the Koch Brothers or Sarah Palin in any fashion short of fear and trembling.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
mespo, you are paranoid to believe I’m trying to sell you anything. I just contrast your socialism with the larger picture, making you look not just horribly silly, but awfully mad too, obviously.
samantha:
You can believe any damn fool thing you want to, just don’t try and sell it to me or affect my world with your delusion. When you deny climate change on religious grounds or assert that the God wants it this way, you affect everybody. Expect to be pilloried for your silliness since your delusion is now dangerous.
swart, your comment suggests that people do not already pay for healthcare via insurance premiums and taxation. Just because you have an insurance policy, does not mean it’s a sugar daddy. Consumers and taxpayers have to pay for it first. What GiGi is suggesting, by eliminating insurance premiums and tax subsidies to insurance companies, that is no third party payers, the marketplace would correct and exterminate gouging by hospitals and doctors, bring health care costs in line with those we see in other countries. There are only so many healthcare dollars available in any economy. The system that we have had is one where those finite dollars have been shared with insurance companies, some having profited by as much as 40% of premiums paid by consumers. If you think private insurance is a workable plan for health care, then you must believe Ponzi is workable for you stocks on Wall Street, too. There’s a reason why national health care works in some countries, and it’s not because it’s run by private insurance companies.
rafflaw, you are making a giant leap, suggesting there are no Democrats denying science, or that all Republicans do, for that matter. You use “denying science” in the same way you use homophobe to discredit and demonize those who do not think the way you do. If the bible brings comfort to someone, who are you to deny that right? Yet if your lord is Jack Daniels, you’d be the first one to grouse when someone complains. When it comes to the origin of life, I really don’t know one way or the other. Neither does science know, in spite of what you think you know. As for the 6000 year thing, there are as many Christians buying that on the left as there are on the right. I’m not sure why you couldn’t first draw on your extensive religious knowledge before making such an outrageous comment, which was tantamount to saying there are no Catholic Democrats.
Gigi, “I SAY WE GO BACK TO PAYING CASH FOR SERVICES–FORGET INSURANCE AND GOVERNMENT TO BAIL US OUT.” Not too many people can afford to pay cash for surgeries or cancer treatments. I guess only the very wealthy could afford medical care using that standard.
What Mark said about the adults in the room. When you have Republicans still denying science to the detriment of the planet, why should they be given any more power?
ACA is still being tested. It will take the next few years, before it can claim to be successful or not.
* Everyone I talked to, who was dropped from their insurance company and could not find another company to take them, are now paying 1/3 more for ACA. So I do not call that a successful move for American’s. I call that gouging our citizens.
* The insurance companies that dropped individuals came out smelling like a rose and have been paid off by Washington for their cooperation in this scandal.
*Many young people, who didn’t have previous insurance, signed up because they were told it was mandatory or they would be fined. I don’t call that success, I call it forcing people and taking away their liberties.
*When a person cannot have the freedom to opt out of a provision, it is big government taking over the privacy of a person’s life.
* Pharmaceutical firms are also raking in the big bucks with their over priced medications.
* Like everything else the government gets involved in, it will cost the average Joe big bucks.
*Doctors and Hospitals will find a way to gouge the government and make more money, while we end up paying for all the fraud. It is never ending.
I SAY WE GO BACK TO PAYING CASH FOR SERVICES–FORGET INSURANCE AND GOVERNMENT TO BAIL US OUT.
Nick:
I agree with that. Dems forgot their base.
Nick Spinelli
mespo, I grew up in a blue collar, Dem family from back when Dems were the party of the middle class. It’s merely nostalgia now. We need to shake things up, big time. My old man died in 1989. He would not even recognize his party any longer.
===========================
The middle class is a dinosaur with a different look (“that is not a Buick“) because the 1% have it in for them and they, like you seem to, trust the 1% philosophy of Ayn Rand.
“In other words, a society does not ever die ‘from natural causes’, but always dies from suicide or murder — and nearly always from the former, as this chapter has shown.” – A Study of History, by Arnold J. Toynbee
mespo, I grew up in a blue collar, Dem family from back when Dems were the party of the middle class. It’s merely nostalgia now. We need to shake things up, big time. My old man died in 1989. He would not even recognize his party any longer.
Nick:
I don’t like labels. However, I will say that Dems have the problem of being divorced from reality, too. That said, I do look at the leaders of the groups yo evaluate them. Neither party is blessed with gifted leaders but the Repubs are scary. They say things that no one could believe and they pander to the lowest common denominator. They also are a thinly veiled front for the entrenched economic interests. The Dems pander to minority groups but their leadership looks more like adults to me. I want someone who looks out for middle class and working class people who really are the life blood of the nation. Nobody speaks for them and that’s the problem. But if I have to pick, I’ll take folks who seem to have some intellect over those who just plain make no sense at all.
Annie,
Thanks for making my point.
No, it wasn’t WND or Inforwars.
WND?
**Annie
Link to poll? **
I thought of that before I posted & I went hell the ones that don’t want to believe it won’t anyway so why post a link to the poll, so I didn’t post the link.
It is a real poll though that came from what I consider a safesite.
There’s a big poll coming out in November. We’ll all see together what the consensus of those who program the electronic voting is at that time.
At this point in the game, know plenty about the trustworthiness of computer programing, I’ve considered asking candidates to start asking voters to each sign an affidavit as to how the voted just to make sure of the accuracy.
Anyway, thanks asking, but I think my 1st thought was correct & I’ll pass & not post the link. Sorry.
I missed JT being on Kornacki. He is someone who isn’t a real red meat guy, he eats some poultry and pierogies. I try and follow where JT is appearing on Twitter.
mespo, You’re absolutely correct, Dems are smart, hardworking and caring. Republicans are stupid, lazy and heartless. I know you actually believe that. I also know you are quoting Jindal, and he was correct. But please, Dems are not competent @ running the institution they love, government.
How can you give MSNBC a pass w/ AL SHARPTON being in prime time? You have become much more militant the past few months. Is that conscious or subconscious? I surmise the former, trying to keep this blog left, where it always had been. I do understand that. You do it w/ class. But, there are loons on both sides of the spectrum here. Do I need to name names? I think the lunacy and conflict has diminished noticeably the last 2-3 weeks. This place was never Nirvana, some folks just thought it was.
Annie, Yep. One thing they all have in common is that they detest Obama and want him removed from office. The lawsuit might be bringing them in……