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New Congress prepares to undo Obamacare, weigh Trump personnel picks

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Beefy

Member
A new, Republican-controlled U.S. Congress convenes on Tuesday eager to repeal major portions of President Barack Obama's healthcare law and roll back environmental and financial industry regulations, but could quickly become embroiled in fights over President-elect Donald Trump's Cabinet choices.

Despite his promise to unite a deeply divided country, Trump will be sworn in on Jan. 20 leading a Republican Party that early on will push legislation through Congress without significant - or any - Democratic support.

According to a Gallup poll released on Monday, Trump will take office with less than half of Americans confident in his ability to handle an international crisis, use military force wisely or prevent major ethics lapses in his administration.

Leading Democrats on Monday warned of a fierce fight over Obamacare, which is expected to have 13.8 million people enrolled in the program that aims to provide health insurance to economically disadvantaged people and to expand coverage for others.

Obama is scheduled to meet on Wednesday with congressional Democrats to discuss strategies for fending off Republican attacks on Obamacare.

Vice President-elect Mike Pence will meet with his fellow House Republicans the same day to rally them on repealing Obamacare, Politico reported.

Republicans in coming weeks will try to steer legislation through Congress using procedures that would not require Democratic cooperation. Their bill, which has not been unveiled, is expected to repeal Obamacare, but postpone the actions for two or three years while also maintaining some of the law's provisions.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-u...f7bd&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=twitter
 

Platy

Member
Meanwhile

https://news.vice.com/story/federal...care-protection-one-day-before-implementation

Transgender Americans had thought they’d be ringing in the new year with an assured entitlement to healthcare under a new anti-discrimination provision of Obamacare. But that didn’t happen.

On Dec. 31, a federal judge in Texas issued a nationwide court order that blocked the policy one day before it was scheduled to go into effect. The court order, brought by the states of Texas, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Kansas, Louisiana, Arizona, Kentucky, and Mississippi, along with three Christian-affiliated groups, stated that the Health and Human Services department’s regulations prohibiting doctors from discriminating on the basis of gender identity, or against women seeking abortions, violated practitioners’ religious freedom.
[...]
O’Connor’s ruling is a victory for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who led the fight against the Obama administration’s new guidelines. On Sunday, Paxton in a statement described those guidelines as a “striking example of federal overreach” that would “force many doctors, hospitals, and other healthcare providers in Texas” to provide “controversial services” such as gender-affirming surgeries “even if it violates their best medical judgement or their religious beliefs.”

The guidelines were released last summer by Health and Human Services, clarifying Section 1557, the civil rights provision of the Affordable Care Act, Obama’s signature legislative achievement. The guidelines explicitly state that the provision applies to transgender Americans, and applies to any health program or activity that receives federal funding, including hospitals that accept Medicare or doctors who receive medicaid payments.
 

Vena

Member
The moment they repeal ACA it will all collapse, the fact that they think a two or three year delay on its taking effect would change this shows how utterly stupid/evil they are.

Insurance companies would pull out immediately because the uncertainty and loss of incentive, and then the whole thing will dominoes. It will hit Medicare/Medicare and hospitals especially hard. It's a ploy to not get ass-rammed in 2018 but it will backfire spectacularly. 2020 is going to have dead bodies on their hands from their own constituents. "Here are the assholes who repealed Black Lung for coal miners."

In the words of Diamond Joe, go ahead, see what happens.

I think it's becoming obvious that they have no plan, and I don't even think they grasp the repercussions and blowback this will cause. They cornered themselves with rheotirc and now must act.
 

Geist-

Member
get
 
but guys we have to be respectful about trump being elected and not be sore losers about it </s>

Man, we are going to get railed hard. This sucks. This fucking sucks. I feel the US will be a wasteland within a few years, where the gap between the high class and low class will become wider than a galaxy. It's gonna get nasty..

If they repeal it, then what do they have planned to replace it?

Nothing so far. Paul Ryan has his plans, but they're terrible and hopefully wouldn't get passed.
 

StoOgE

First tragedy, then farce.
I start paying for my health insurance this year and will be freelancing by June.

How fucked am I

I own a small business and rely on the marketplace for insurance.

We are fucked so that "small businesses" with 100+ employees don't have to deal with cutting hours or splitting their companies up to screw over employees
 

Vena

Member
If they repeal it, then what do they have planned to replace it?

Nothing. I genuinely don't think they understand what this repeal will do or how fucked the situation will be when they make good on their threats for the last six years.

They have no plan. They are playing out their rhetoric like blind actors.
 

JordanN

Banned
Obama is scheduled to meet on Wednesday with congressional Democrats to discuss strategies for fending off Republican attacks on Obamacare.

Obama: Yo Republicans, stop pissing on my legacy.

Republicans: Relax B-Rock. We got you covered. We're going to introduce TrumpCare! You see, the way it works is, Trump doesn't care! Do you seriously want Americans to have free healthcare? We'll be no better off than those communist Canadians and their "free healthcare".
 

RinsFury

Member
This is such a nightmare for so many people. I hope millions take to the streets to protest these fascist criminals if they try to make good on eliminating this.
 

Vena

Member
The dems better not bail them out.

I see no way how that can happen. I don't even mean that politically I mean that literally. They are powerless and there is no emergency break.

This isn't a small change, this has the potential to throw out entire health system into dissaray. Republicans will own this, and there's no much here for Dems to do for better or worse, theirs no emergency exit on this ride.

Good luck, part of those 13 million voted for him.

Team sports tends to end when you start dying. Sad as it is, death will open some eyes. It's just sad that it historically almost always has to get that bad before people stop being idiots.

It's already been happening since the election. First people in denial over health care or bewilderment that they'd actually repeal it. And now miners hoping against hope that somehow Black Lung protection doesn't go down with ACA. Reality is dawning, and it doesn't give a shit what you "feel".
 

Nelo Ice

Banned
Good Lord. I nearly punched my monitor when I read that.

Hell is too good for these atrocious bastards.

As for the Obamacare repeal. Fine, go for it. It's obvious the Republicans don't have shit. People will lose their insurance, get sick, and have nowhere to go. Everything that happens afterwards can be blamed squarely on the fucknaughts running the country.
They'll find some way to shift blame to Obama and or Dems. If that fails then they can go with the usual blame the minorities.
 

Eidan

Member
Same shit as before

Nothing.
Even now the only inkling of a replacement I've heard out of Trump are HSA's. Which shows a stunning lack of understanding of what the PPACA actually was, or a stunning disregard for what it was.

Long story short, fucking nothing.
 
My only comment at this point is
"Please proceed, Republicans"

Same. They feel they have a mandate then let them run with it. People just don't get it until shit hist the fan and I'm kinda tired of these hard swings. Young people want something to remember and talk about when they are old. Ya'll bout to seem some reckoning. Hopefully it shakes enough people out of their naive notions of 3rd parties and silly ideals like libertarianism and wakes them up to how the world really runs. Those novel daydream Ideas are nice and rosy under the governance of adults keeping the world order together but as soon as shit hits the fan its OMG save me from myself.
 

Vena

Member
They'll find some way to shift blame to Obama and or Dems. If that fails then they can go with the usual blame the minorities.

I can't see it this time. Too many people that this threatens did nothing but gain from ACA. They won't soon forget that if you rip it away.

From various protections to allowing pre-existing coverage to the systemic changes with hospitals and how Medicare and Medicaid were changed.

The AARP will be out for blood.

I understand the rhetoric boogeyman of fake news, but that can only defy reality for so long. When your actions directly lead to death, you own it. Dems will smear this all over Republicans if they do repeal it.
 
I can't see it this time. Too many people that this threatens did nothing but gain from ACA. They won't soon forget that if you rip it away.

From various protections to allowing pre-existing coverage to the systemic changes with hospitals and how Medicare and Medicaid were changed.

The AARP will be out for blood.

I understand the rhetoric boogeyman of fake news, but that can only defy reality for so long. When your actions directly lead to death, you own it. Dems will smear this all over Republicans if they do repeal it.

Good. I get that Obama wants to save his legacy and he truly cares for people but what does that buy him? Another election cycle of demonizing him and dems to win elections again threatening to repeal it? Let them proceed. Its and eventuality with these maniacs.
 

ezekial45

Banned
FYI, Trump is going in with the lowest approval rating for any PEOTUS ever, and many of his supporters are already dreading losing their healthcare.

http://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2016/12/13/13848794/kentucky-obamacare-trump

I don't see him and the GOP weaseling out of this one, especially when they hammered in the point of how they vowed to destroy Obamacare for the last 5 years.

One thing that a number people forget is that hospitals and insurance companies will see massive hits if they proceed with dismantling ACA. Obamacare also created jobs in the healthcare industries, which will likely go away once try to drop it.
 

Shard

XBLAnnoyance
I can't see it this time. Too many people that this threatens did nothing but gain from ACA. They won't soon forget that if you rip it away.

From various protections to allowing pre-existing coverage to the systemic changes with hospitals and how Medicare and Medicaid were changed.

The AARP will be out for blood.

I understand the rhetoric boogeyman of fake news, but that can only defy reality for so long. When your actions directly lead to death, you own it. Dems will smear this all over Republicans if they do repeal it.

Also anger and rancor over shit going south ALWAYS falls on the party in power.
 

Vena

Member
Good. I get that Obama wants to save his legacy and he truly cares for people but what does that buy him? Another election cycle of demonizing him and dems to win elections again threatening to repeal it? Let them proceed. Its and eventuality with these maniacs.

I, for one, would rather we not have to destroy the lives of millions...
 

ChrisD

Member
I'm actually beginning to have worries of death go through my mind. Even the sucky healthcare I'm under (Molina) is still better than nothing, especially when you're having trouble breathing. If I lose that, I nor my family can afford the things I've done in just the last week.

Then it leads into stress and anxiety, which makes it harder to breath, and...

I just want to go back to a few months ago when everything in my life may not have been perfect, but health wasn't an issue on the mind, the election was a sure fire win the other way, and... A number of other things, but aren't those enough?
 
Meanwhile, House Republicans are dismantling the apparatus for investigating their ethics abuses.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...pendent-ethics-office/?utm_term=.7d34c2bb4081

The House has long had the House Ethics Committee, but that committee was run by members of the House and memberships to the committee were appointed by whoever controlled the House, which meant that the party in control could make sure that nothing came out of the Ethics committee if they did their job right in stacking the membership. And this was a real problem in the Bush years, because there was a lot of Republican corruption (see: Jack Abramoff and, specificially, Duke Cunningham and his menu of corrupt shit you could pay him for).

When Democrats had control of Congress in 2008, one of the early things the House Democrats did was establish an independent entity called the Office of Congressional Ethics. This was an independent watchdog that did not have to answer directly to any member of the House. It had no punitive powers, so it couldn't punish anyone found to have committed ethics investigations, but they could investigate whatever they pleased and could report their findings not just to the House Ethics Committee but also to other government agencies as well as the public (a certain period of time after they informed the Ethics Committee).

House Republicans convened privately to form the rules package that will be the first thing the new House votes for after the Speaker. That body voted to include this amendment that moves that office under the direct control of the House Ethics Committee and prohibits that organization from telling anyone except the Ethics Committee what they have found. And since the rules are formed in a private meeting of the caucus, while there is a vote count that has been reported, no one has any idea of who voted for and against this provision.
 

Shard

XBLAnnoyance
If they were to repeal it, how long would it take to actually revoke people's healthcare?

That is kind of the rub here and ironically something is probably going to slow down the repeal process, the time is being aimed at 2-4 years and there isn't a whole lot of unity on that at the moment.
 

necrosis

Member
If they repeal it, then what do they have planned to replace it?

they're not going to fully repeal it; they don't have the backing to win that fight (unless they decide to change senate rules, which is incredibly unlikely)

they're likely going to try and defang it via budget reconciliation which will basically get rid of the exchanges, tax penalties, etc but leave behind medicare reforms and requirements that insurers cover young adults on their parent's policies & offer plans regardless of preexisting conditions

what will be interesting in this scenario is the idea that insurers will be compelled to offer plans to everyone, yet there will be no tax penalty for not having a plan. in theory, you would be able to go without insurance until you get sick, then simply pick up a plan and be insured. that's something that will probably have to be addressed
 

Vena

Member
We didn't win this time. They did. They want this.

I don't even know if that's true. I think they cornered themselves into this since Boehner started the rhetoric. They fueled this warpath for six years, they are locked in with no veto at the top to play their little ploy out against.

They expected Hillary and a veto at every turn on fighting ACA so they went into that full-throttle for six years and the 2016 elections and doctoring the message. They convinced their own constituents of this. And now they can't stop and Trump won't do shit... If he does, he'll shatter the party with a veto.
 

BobLoblaw

Banned
What I want to know is, how the fuck do you spend millions of dollars over six years protesting a bill and when you finally get the chance to repeal it, you need more years to come up with a solution?
 
Not long at all. The system could very well bottom out overnight.

Yep. The whole 2-3 year wait period. Not gonna happen especially because they are going after the mandate and without that it all falls apart. The industry is a capitalist machine with investors etc they are not going to wait for an alternative especially because they know the GOP does not have one they will revert back to the status quo before the ACA. Its all about money afte rall your health be damned.
 

Vena

Member
they're not going to fully repeal it; they don't have the backing to win that fight (unless they decide to change senate rules, which is incredibly unlikely)

they're likely going to try and defang it via budget reconciliation which will basically get rid of the exchanges, tax penalties, etc but leave behind medicare reforms and requirements that insurers cover young adults on their parent's policies & offer plans regardless of preexisting conditions

what will be interesting in this scenario is the idea that insurers will be compelled to offer plans to everyone, yet there will be no tax penalty for not having a plan. in theory, you would be able to go without insurance until you get sick, then simply pick up a plan and be insured. that's something that will probably have to be addressed

If they repeal the tax penalty and, potentially, the mandate, the system will fall apart within hours.

That market has no incentive to exist if they remove those key parts. Markets with no incentives, no defined future or plan, quickly collapse.
 

ezekial45

Banned
What I want to know is, how the fuck do you spend millions of dollars over six years protesting a bill and when you finally get the chance to repeal it, you need more years to come up with a solution?

There's apparently 2-3 different alternatives that the GOP came up with, but they can't decide on which one they want. They want to remove the individual mandate, but that will unfortunately cripple UHC, which will lead to a whole lot of problems.

The GOP got to this point much faster than they anticipated, and now they're scrambling to figure out what to do next.
 
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