Tuesday, January 28, 2014

BILL KRISTOL'S REPEAL AND REPLACE FANTASY


On the Jan 26, 2014 Face the Nation, Bill Kristol went back to his repeal-and-replace fantasy yet again.

“Senior Republican Senators tomorrow are going to lay out the outlines of legislation, which I think will become real legislation, that would be a Conservative reform, alternative to 'Obamacare'. It would deal with the pre-existing condition problem, it would have tax credits for the poor, it would get rid of all the ridiculous bureaucracy regulation limitations of 'Obamacare'… but I think it really will make it harder for the President and for Democrats to say the Republicans have no alternative.”

So finally, after roughly five years of repeated empty rhetoric against health care reform and over forty attempts to only repeal, but NOT replace the PPACA, Bill Kristol says THIS time they really mean it. They intend to repeal-and-replace. He predicts it will likely pass in House and in the Senate if GOP wins Senate control. 

Then he proposes, with that inescapable poker tell grin of his -

“…and again, then it’s up to the President whether he wants to abandon 'Obamacare' and sign on to a sensible healthcare reform.”



Of course trying to now "…deal with the pre-exiting condition problem" is laughable in itself. 

For anyone who has forgotten, "Obamacare" is not the name of the law. Frankly, neither is it The "Affordable Care Act". The healthcare reform signed into law by President Obama is called the "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act". Virtually everyone ignores that vital first part. Maybe just for brevity's sake, but the "Patient Protection" component of the law is, to quote someone else, a pretty "big f@&king deal!"

So let's just restate the obvious. PPACA has already ended denial of coverage for simply having a "pre-existing condition". Additionally, it also has subsidies for the poor.

They can claim all they want that their real goal is to provide the patient protections and reforms that already exist in law now. They can sell the rebranded "repeal and replace" talking point all they want in an effort to say that they actually "...do have a positive reform agenda with healthcare." while they simultaneously do everything they possibly can to sabotage it, including shutting down the government over trying to simply repeal the law. Conservatives can do this all they want, but they cannot escape the blunt reality that their biggest objection to the health care reform law is the "Obama" part. 

Had they honestly wanted to "...deal with the pre-existing condition problem..." or offer "...tax credits for the poor...", they could have worked with Democrats and President Obama five years ago rather than put all their efforts into trying to make President Obama a failure. 

Better yet, they could have made such reforms themselves sometime in the past century when they had the power to do so.

But since it is the "Obama" part that they are so objectionable to, and not the patient protections, or the opening up of healthcare access to the poor, I have a really simple solution. 

Stop trying to kill "Obamacare". Instead, embrace the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that actually exists as law. Do your job as members of Congress to tweak it and improve it, but stop trying to sell us the latest "repeal and replace" BS.

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