What happens after the GOP repeals Obamacare?

@Finn dAbuzz,

Quote:

Regardless of the cost, everyone loves the pre-existing condition provision of Obamacare. That is not going to go away with the GOP "replace."

This is going to be interesting.

I don't know how a free-market system can support a workable pre-existing condition provision without making insurance mandatory.

What is to keep people from just not getting insurance until they get an expensive disease? And how would it be economically possible for insurance companies to insure people (who haven't been paying into the system when they are healthy) once they get sick?

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@maxdancona,

Agreed. It's a pickle, but I think there are ways it could be structured to prevent the worst case scenario you describe.

Just off the top of my head I can imagine a provision that requires a person to show that they have maintained insurance for a certain number of years.

The problem comes in when a person switches insurance plans and their new one refuses to cover what the old one did because the condition was "pre-existing" That can be addressed pretty easily.

1 Reply

@maxdancona,

They're already doing that. What the planners of Obamacare didn't plan for was that young people failed to sign up for health insurance.

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@Finn dAbuzz,

I think the GOP has jumped into a political minefield on this one. (And I won't say I am not rooting for a detonation.) They need to come up with something, and they don't have very much room for error.

If they are not careful, they may actually succeed in making Obamacare popular (and permanent).

1 Reply

@maxdancona,

Considering how unpopular Obamacare is and the mendacity that led it to it, I don't think the GOP is at all faced with a minefield.

It didn't come about because the American public was clamoring for it, and if it goes away entirely it won't be that big of a deal.

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@Finn dAbuzz,

How unpopular is it?

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/obama_and_democrats_health_care_plan-1130.html

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@maxdancona,

Unpopular enough.

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@Finn dAbuzz,

I'm afraid that for some people, it will be a really big deal. For some, it will be a blessing. Guess which ones are going to be the most vocal.

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@roger,

I've no doubt there will be vocal opposition, however this isn't even close to the #1 concern of Americans. If Trump makes good on reviving the economy and increasing security, there will be little traction to the anticipated left-wing uproar about Obamacare.

By now we should realize that the headlines of the MSM have little resemblance to what Americans really care about.

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@Finn dAbuzz,

Oh, I admit I never thought it was a good idea, and very poorly executed. In fact, I dropped my AARP membership for their avid support of it. Remember when they were claiming that it would be partially funded by 340 to 450 billion dollars in savings from Medicare over the next ten years? That was MY Medicare they wanted to give away so they could push their own insurance plans. AARP didn't own the insurance, but were "partnered" with an insurance company.

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@maxdancona,

That's an interesting poll, because I had the impression that with 20 million more people able to have health insurance, it would be favored by more Americans.

Since we've been covered under Medicare since retirement, our health insurance hasn't impacted us very much. We pay the very low co-pay for doctor's visits, and whatever it costs for lab tests. It's pretty cheap for getting good doctors who work at Kaiser in Santa Clara. Most doctors are graduates from Stanford and USC.

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@cicerone imposter,

http://www.factcheck.org/2013/09/obamacare-myths/

http://www.factcheck.org/issue/obamacare/

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@cicerone imposter,

vox has been known to publish fake news so be careful there.

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So,members of the House Freedom Caucus, a fiscal conservative group, are willing to accept a 1 trillion dollar increase in the national deficit over the course of three years as a cost of repealing the Afffordable Care Act. Their argument is that the increase is symbolic and that real goal of the budget legislation is to establish an opportunity to make good on Repubican oaths to repeal Obamacare.
http://www.budget.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/HEN17065.pdf (PDF file)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/conservatives-ready-to-support-1-trillion-hole-in-the-budget/2017/01/05/76d4bf34-d391-11e6-a783-cd3fa950f2fd_story.html?utm_term=.0f9a138288be&wpisrc=nl_headlines&wpmm=1.

What I don't get is what does an increase in the deficit have to do with repealing Obamacare. Why it would cost so much to reapeal it?

1 Reply

@InfraBlue,

Those numbers makes my head spin; they have no meaning to me. All I know for sure is that there is much waste in those numbers.

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@InfraBlue,

InfraBlue wrote:

I'm thinking they're going to tweak it and give it another name. I seriously doubt they'd leave twenty million people without insurance.

So far the Republicans have absolutely nothing to replace Obamacare with despite the fact that they want to get rid of it as quickly as possible.

Trump, Hill GOP fret about fallout from repealing Obamacare so quickly

Quote:

After years of promising to repeal the Affordable Care Act, a growing number of Republicans are balking at the prospect of doing so quickly without a firm plan to replace it.

As the Senate begins voting Wednesday on a path to eliminate the landmark health-care bill, some Republicans are worried about the political fallout and uncertainty of starting to roll back Obamacare without knowing how the process will end.

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@InfraBlue,

That's a good way to destroy their party. Take away health insurance from 20 million people which will surely kill many people's family members and friends. The subsequent elections will be interesting to watch.

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@InfraBlue,

Well we'll have to wait and see won't we?

During his press conference Trump said they would be simultaneously repealing and replacing.

This suggests they do have something, but then we would all be better off believing you and WaPo.

Right?

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@cicerone imposter,

The absence of healthcare insurance has never been proven to have killed anyone.

People without it can go to Emergency Rooms for care, and not be denied service.

That's far to expensive an alternative, but the notion that people will die without Obamacare is ridiculous.

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@Finn dAbuzz,

Yeah, I'm going to believe Trump over the WaPo. Absolutely.

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What happens after the GOP repeals Obamacare?

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