TPMDC Government Health Care
Health Care
Why Overturning 'Obamacare' Could Lead To Single-Payer
If the Supreme Court strikes down "Obamacare," Republicans claim a huge short-term victory, but they may end up big losers in the long run. The future of the nation's health care system would be thrown into disarray, and conservatives may be forced to swallow a more bitter pill.
The prospect of moving toward a more liberal, government-controlled health care system is fraught with political peril, and therefore far from inevitable, but may wind up being the only way to prevent the demise of the unsustainable, existing system from leaving many more millions without access to health care. Without a mechanism like an individual mandate to cover the uninsured and tackle the free-rider problem, health care costs are set to rise at an unsustainable rate and compel potentially drastic action from Congress.
"Conservatives may find that they weren't careful about what they wished for in opposing 'Obamacare,'" Adam Winkler, a constitutional law professor at UCLA School of Law, told TPM. "The economic, social and political pressure for health care reform aren't going to just disappear. There's a reason every major industrialized country has national health care. If the Supreme Court invalidates the Affordable Care Act, we are likely to see a government takeover of health care in the next decade."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Adam Winkler, Affordable Care Act, Barack Obama, Democrats, Government Health Care, HCR/SCOTUS, Health Care, Health Care Repeal, Jonathan Gruber, Obamacare, Public Option, Republicans, Single Payer, Supreme Court, Tim Jost, health care reform
Unemployment
Dem Governors Press Congress To Fully Extend Unemployment Benefits
U.S. Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) speaks to the press during his weekly press conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. on December 1, 2011.
In a letter to key Congressional principals, 16 Democratic governors are seeking the full renewal of extended unemployment benefits, which are set to lapse (along with the payroll tax cut) on January 1, 2012.
"We write to urge you to swiftly pass a one-year extension of the Emergency Unemployment Compensation Program ("EUC") and 100% federal funding of the Extended Benefits ("EB") Program before they expire on December 31," the governors write. "We are extremely concerned about the potential impact of the expiration of these programs on families and our economic recovery as a whole. Unless Congress extends these programs before adjourning for the holidays, nearly 2 million unemployed workers will lose this critical support in January 2012 alone."
House Republicans passed a bill this week that would limit the extended benefits over time. That legislation is at the center of a massive legislative conflict on Capitol Hill that could result in a government shutdown Friday evening.
You can read the full letter below the fold.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Democratic Governors Association, Government Health Care, Payroll Tax Cut, Unemployment
Health Care
The GOP Proposes 'Obamacare' For Seniors -- Just Don't Tell Democrats Or Republicans That
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX)
If I told you that the chairman of the Republican senators' reelection committee wanted to phase out the existing Medicare system and slowly replace it with Obamacare, would you believe me? No major caveats, no clever tricks. Just a slow transition from Medicare as we know it to the same health care law Republicans have sued and attempted to repeal -- but for seniors only.
You probably wouldn't. But you'd be wrong.
The long-term Republican budget plan proposed by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) phases out Medicare as a guaranteed, universal, single-payer system and replaces it with a government-subsidized private insurance program. If that sounds familiar, it should.
"It's exactly like Obamacare," said NRSC chairman Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) in the Capitol Thursday. "It is. It's exactly like it. Which strikes me as bizarre that you're seeing so much pushback [from Democrats]."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Bill Huizenga, Budget, Eric Cantor, Government Health Care, Health Care, Health Care Repeal, Health care lawsuits, Individual Mandate, Jay Rockefeller, John Cornyn, Medicare, Mike Pence, Republicans, Ron Wyden
Health Care
Freshman GOPer Didn't Know Government Paid For Her Health Benefits
Rep. Ann Buerkle (R-NY)
A fun nugget buried in this story about Rep. Ann Buerkle's (R-NY) first town hall meeting as an elected member of Congress. Constituents repeatedly asked a puzzled Buerkle about her health benefits. She couldn't figure out why. But her staff sure could.
Buerkle, who voted to repeal the health care reform act, was twice asked about the health insurance she receives as a government employee. At first she said she couldn't understand why people were so interested in her health insurance, and that taxpayers didn't pay anything for it. She later corrected herself after being handed a note from a staffer. Like most employees, she pays for a portion of her insurance and her employer, the government, pays the rest, she said.PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)
Topics: Ann Buerkle, Government Health Care, Health Care, Republicans
Health Care
Lock, Stock, and Barrel: House Votes To Repeal Health Care Law
House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH)
The House of Representatives voted Wednesday evening to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act -- President Obama's signature accomplishment and the single most consequential piece of legislation Democrats passed in the 111th Congress.
All Republicans and 3 Democrats voted for the repeal measure, while 189 Democrats voted to preserve the new reforms. The final vote was 245-189. The three Democrats who voted for repeal were Reps. Mike Ross (D-AR), Mike McIntyre (D-NC) and Dan Boren (D-OK). The only member who didn't vote was Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ), who remains in the hospital following an assassination attempt on Jan. 8.
The vote fulfills one of the GOP's main promises to its base ahead of the November midterms, when they retook control of the House from the Democrats. But it's a Pyrrhic victory for conservatives. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has signaled he won't hold a vote on repeal, and any effort by the GOP to force that vote will be met with fierce resistance by Democrats who still hold a majority in the upper chamber.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Barack Obama, Eric Cantor, Government Health Care, Harry Reid, Health Care, Repealing health care, Republicans, Senate, White House
Health Care
New Ad: GOP Wants To Repeal Health Benefits That Mirror Their Own
Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and John Boehner (R-OH)
A new cable TV ad, running nationwide on CNN and in D.C. on all news channels, highlights the fact that Republicans want to repeal a law that provides regular people the same health benefits they receive as members of Congress.
"The Affordable Care Act gave your family the same health protections members of Congress get," the ad says. "But Republicans want to take that protection away from your family."
Complete with sad-looking baby in the background!
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Government Health Care, Health Care, Repealing health care
Health Care
How The Health Care Repeal Push Marks The End Of The Universal Health Care Consensus
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA)
Here's one case for the individual mandate in the health care law boiled down to two sentences -- both fairly elegant considering they were spoken extemporaneously.
"There isn't anything wrong with it, except some people look at it as an infringement upon individual freedom. But when it comes to states requiring it for automobile insurance, the principle then ought to lie the same way for health insurance, because everybody has some health insurance costs, and if you aren't insured, there's no free lunch. Somebody else is paying for it." -- June 14, 2009
A corollary to that argument is that you can't have a functioning private health care system that treats the sick unless it also draws money from the healthy. In this regard, the individual mandate actually marries two distinctly American priorities -- an obsession with private markets, and the core belief that nobody should go without health care.
Considering just how cacophonous the health care debate has become, it might surprise you to learn that the mystery reformer quoted above is Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), the Republicans' health care point man in the Senate who, during the same interview, with great authority, claimed "I believe that there is a bipartisan consensus to have individual mandates."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Barack Obama, Chuck Grassley, Dave Camp, Government Health Care, Health Care, John Boehner, John Chafee, John Cornyn, John Thune, Lamar Alexander, Mitt Romney, Repealing health care, Republicans
Nancy Pelosi
House Dems Press GOP To Announce Whether They'll Accept Government Health Care
Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)
The minority has almost no power in the House of Representatives, but they usually do have the prerogative to force a single uncomfortable procedural vote. These motions leave the majority to choose between voting against something popular, or voting to scuttle or complicate their own agenda. This is how Republicans managed to wrongfoot Democrats on the 9/11 health bill and other issues in the last couple Congresses.
Democrats just offered their first "motion to commit" the new House rules. The goal? To amend the package to force new members to announce whether or not they'll be taking their government health care.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Democrats, Government Health Care, Health Care, House Rules Committee, Insurance, Nancy Pelosi, Repealing health care
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