Imperfect, for a fact, but it's finally over; the health care reform bill passed and ready for Obama to sign off on. I'm not wetting my pants about it or anything, but I am glad, for what it's worth. For all my bitching about the details of the plan and for the peremptory stunts pulled getting it through, it is at least something useful, bringing the United States' health care setup closer to better.
I suppose it's really not ended yet, of course. Already the Republican claptrap has started up vowing to legislatively repeal the "monstrosity", which might be interesting to watch them try, seeing as how to repeal the bill they would need to bring in 60 votes in the Senate and a majority in the House.
And as Paul Abrams at HuffPo pointedly asks, what exactly in the bill would they scrub? In part,
All just posturing, pomp and circumstance is what it amounts to. Believing they now have November assured, what with Obamacare taking effect inherent with its death panels and sundry socialist heinousness, all I can think is they're only trying to put an exclamation point to how all this bad happened on the Democrats' watch. Problem is, they so far have nothing to back up the rhetoric.
I have a hunch this might backfire, that they might only end up looking more foolish than anything else, and what will be remembered instead is them stupidly dragging the whole mess out... when between now and November, people will start finding out that the big scary monster, the Obamanation of America, turns out to not really affect most of them so much after all. To boot, all the perks that kick in straight away are sort of bonuses, truth be told.
Call me queer (just don't call me "faggot") thinking that, despite fancying having it in the electoral bag this year, the Republicans might be better off stifling for the time being, and indulge the Democrats their right to whoop and crow and waggle big-ass giant gavels.
Because here's the deal: the parts of the reform law that might eventually sting at all, won't start in stinging until 2014. Depending on how things go revamping the system between now and then, there could be a better time for the GOP to get all toldja-so indignant on the issue. Basically, though, I just want them to shut the hell up about it, at least for awhile.
I suppose it's really not ended yet, of course. Already the Republican claptrap has started up vowing to legislatively repeal the "monstrosity", which might be interesting to watch them try, seeing as how to repeal the bill they would need to bring in 60 votes in the Senate and a majority in the House.
And as Paul Abrams at HuffPo pointedly asks, what exactly in the bill would they scrub? In part,
"They will again allow discrimination based on pre-existing conditions, wiping millions off of insurance rolls? They will reinstate lifetime caps on health care reimbursement, driving hundreds of thousands of families into bankruptcy? They will again allow insurance companies to drop coverage when an enrollee actually gets sick? They will cancel medical insurance for 32 million people who will now have it?"Of course, they could try to eliminate the taxes imposed by the new law, defund the subsidies and best practices studies, tax credits and such things as Abrams notes, "mickey-mouse stuff"... all inflating the deficit, totally transgressing the GOP's newfound ism of deficit reduction, post-Bush. Also, at this time anyway, probably not the best occasion they would want to bring up reconciliation to push it through.
All just posturing, pomp and circumstance is what it amounts to. Believing they now have November assured, what with Obamacare taking effect inherent with its death panels and sundry socialist heinousness, all I can think is they're only trying to put an exclamation point to how all this bad happened on the Democrats' watch. Problem is, they so far have nothing to back up the rhetoric.
I have a hunch this might backfire, that they might only end up looking more foolish than anything else, and what will be remembered instead is them stupidly dragging the whole mess out... when between now and November, people will start finding out that the big scary monster, the Obamanation of America, turns out to not really affect most of them so much after all. To boot, all the perks that kick in straight away are sort of bonuses, truth be told.
Call me queer (just don't call me "faggot") thinking that, despite fancying having it in the electoral bag this year, the Republicans might be better off stifling for the time being, and indulge the Democrats their right to whoop and crow and waggle big-ass giant gavels.
Because here's the deal: the parts of the reform law that might eventually sting at all, won't start in stinging until 2014. Depending on how things go revamping the system between now and then, there could be a better time for the GOP to get all toldja-so indignant on the issue. Basically, though, I just want them to shut the hell up about it, at least for awhile.
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