COVID-19 & Healthcare

No, ‘ObamaCare’ is not in a death spiral

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Tea-Publican political strategy for the 2014 midterm elections is a single issue campaign: repeal "ObamaCare" (second verse, same as the first). Tea-Publicans have convinced themselves from their own GOPropaganda in the bubble of their conservative media entertainment complex feedback loop that "ObamaCare" is a trainwreck and is in a "death spiral."

The Tea-Publican political strategy does not allow for entertaining any fixes to "ObamaCare" to make it work more efficienty. This is what happens when you have demonized something as satanic and evil. Repeal has become a religious crusade for the GOP. One doesn't compromise with evil.

A number of commentators are sounding a warning of an "ObamaCare trap" for the GOP based upon its repeal only stance. The GOP has long since abandoned its "repeal and replace" lie. There is no consensus on a GOP alternative ("ObamaCare" IS the the GOP health care plan; it was crafted by the Heritage Foundation and implemented as RomneyCare in Massachusetts), although Rep. Tom Price's really bad bill has emerged as the point of discussion among the GOP.

Repeal leaves the GOP advocating for a return to the old broken health care system that no one was happy with. Moreover, this would mean taking away health care benefits from millions of Americans who now have access to health care, many for the first time in their lives. "No health care for you!" is not a winning political strategy.

The Tea-Publican economic terrorist are already plotting the next debt ceiling hostage taking

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Beltway media villagers were tripping all over themselves on Sunday to lavish praise on the GOP's alleged boy genius, Ayn Rand fanboy Paul Ryan (R-WI), for his "pragmatic" budget compromise with Democrats. You would think it was the dawn of a new bipartisan era of cooperation where long-delayed legislation like a jobs bill and a comprehensive immigration reform bill were suddenly possible.

I can't believe how stone-cold stupid the Beltway media villagers are. First of all, the Senate still has to pass the House budget this week, which is not at all a certaintly. And then comes the appropriations committee process where Democrats and Tea-Publicans will square off over farm bill subsidies, food stamps and an extension of long-term unemployment insurance benefits, just to name a few.

Secondly, there is no "dawn of a new bipartisian era" — this is the GOP 2014 election strategy to become the "Anti-ObamaCare" single issue party. Ryan on Sunday defended his budget deal to avert a government shutdown, saying that it would allow the Republican Party to "focus" on destroying President Barack Obama's health care reform law. Paul Ryan: Averting shutdown with budget deal allows GOP to 'focus' on killing Obamacare . That sounds like the same old bunch of dead-enders to me.

Tea-Publican Tyranny in Michigan: Women need to buy separate ‘rape insurance’ from their healthcare plan

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The beta testing lab for Tea-Publican tyranny in America is Michigan. Tea-Publicans have used a financial emergency manager law to dissolve democratically elected city governments and school districts, and impose a dictator financial manager appointed by and answerable only to the governor. Democracy exists in name only in Michigan.

Tea-Publicans have starved the city of Detroit of state revenue sharing and forced into a Chapter 9 bankruptcy liquidation as a means of "legally" breaching a constitutionally mandated guarantee to public employee pensioners and looting their retirement security.

TalibanAnd this actually happened last week: the Michigan state legislature passed a bill that requires women to buy separate coverage for abortion if they want to have coverage for it at all, dubbed "rape insurance" by opponents. In Michigan, the meaning of 'rape insurance':

Michigan, State. Sen. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, was not backing down.

For those you who want to act aghast that I’d use a term like “rape insurance” to describe the proposal here in front of us, you should be even more offended that it’s an absolutely accurate description of what this proposal requires. This tells women that were raped and became pregnant that they should have bought special insurance for it. By moving forward on this initiative, Senate Republicans want to essentially require Michigan women to plan ahead and financially invest in healthcare coverage for potentially having their bodies violated and assaulted. Even worse, it would force parents to have similar and unthinkably terrible discussions about planning the same for their daughters. I’ve said it before and I will say it again: This is by far one of the most misogynistic proposals I’ve ever seen in the Michigan legislature.

Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research poll: Democrats should go on the offense on ‘ObamaCare’

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

A Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research poll of "battleground" congressional districts for the Women's Voices, Women Vote Action Fund and Democracy Corps released on Thursday recommends that Democrats go on the offensive on "ObamaCare." Are you listening Reps. Barber and Sinema? New WVWVAF Poll: Affordable Care Act Remains Popular with Rising American Electorate:

Survey Shows Unparalleled Support for Women’s Economic Agenda

WASHINGTON, DC – December 12, 2013 – The Affordable Care Act remains incredibly popular with people of color, unmarried women and other members of the Rising American Electorate, and a plurality in Republican districts and a majority in Democratic districts still support implementing “Obamacare” over repealing it. Those are some of the key findings of a major new poll (PDF) sponsored by Women’s Voices Women Vote Action Fund and conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research for Democracy Corps.

“Despite all the noise over the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, our polling shows that it remains popular among African Americans, Latinos, unmarried women and other members of the Rising American Electorate,” said Page Gardner, founder and President of Women’s Voices Women Vote Action Fund. “They realize that the reform law will improve their lives and ensure that they have affordable and reliable health care. These often economically-vulnerable Americans make up nearly 54 percent of the voting-eligible population, and these are the voters who decide elections.”

Motion to Dismiss in AZ AHCCCS expansion case to be heard today

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Arizona Republic reports, Medicaid battle heads to court:

The battle over Medicaid expansion in Arizona moves to the courtroom today[.]

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Led by Senate President Andy Biggs, R-Gilbert, and House Speaker Andy Tobin, R-Paulden, all but two of the lawmakers who were on the losing side of the June vote sued to challenge one of the biggest public-policy changes in Arizona in decades.

They are joined by two residents and the director of the Arizona branch of the limited-government advocacy ["Kochtopus"] group Americans for Prosperity. [The "Kochtopus" Goldwater Institute is providing the lawyers.]

The case revolves around whether the Legislature had the authority to approve the funding plan that would be used to pay the state’s share of expanded Medicaid coverage.

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The GOP lawmakers and allies argue that because the tax vote fell short of the two-thirds supermajority needed to approve a tax, the move was unconstitutional.

They also argue that Brewer’s plan violates the separation of powers because it allows an executive-branch agency, AHCCCS, to set that rate, rather than the Legislature.

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Brewer, along with her supporters, is asking Judge Katherine Cooper to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing that none of the plaintiffs have proper legal standing to challenge the policy move.