Then why didn’t the senate convict? And is lying under oath about receiving a blowjob really a “high crime or misdemeanor”?
I think the opposite is true. The more people know about the specifics, the more people like it. Part of it is the result of the juxtaposition of how it has been characterized by the right versus the reality (death panels, government takeover of health care, government subsidized abortions, etc) and part of it is that the passage of time makes it seem less stupid to focus on the important but not urgent issue of healthcare at a time when the economy was going to hell in a handbasket.
My problem with PPACA is that it didn’t “bend the cost curve” like Obama promised. It doesn’t cost a whole lot more than what we have today but it doesn’t bend the cost curve at all.
False. The Affordable Choice Act receives accolades from policy professionals. There are 2 main problems with the status quo. Firstly, administration is a huge part of the US health care system: basically it’s devoted to ensuring that somebody else pays the bill. Secondly, we devote 17% of GDP to an industry where we have no idea which services work better than others. To start tackling this, the ACA does the following: [ul]
[li]The tax on Cadillac plans curbs excessive care.[/li][li]Insurance exchanges encourage comparison shopping and lower administrative costs.[/li][li]The newly established Independent Payment Advisory Board makes recommendations on how to improve efficiencies in Medicare. Unlike MEDPAC whose recommendations were nonbinding, Congress will be required to vote on the proposals.[/li][li]Comparative effectiveness research will be advanced and funded by PCORI.[/li][li]And at the health delivery level, Accountable Care Organizations will help ween us off fee for service. [/ul] It’s a solid start. And its passage was a remarkable display of political and moral courage, given that the Republican Party demagogued it with falsehoods every step of the way. Not one Republican voted for the act. Not one. They have no solutions for the challenges America faces: their only response is to filibuster every bill and to obstruct the smooth functioning of government by routinely denying the Executive Branch middle and upper managers. [/li]Cite1: Gruber (2011) Health Care Reform
Cite2: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/the_democrats_have_a_plan_for_controlling_health_care_costs_paul_ryan_doesnt/2011/04/08/AFeF9f1C_blog.html?wprss=ezra-klein
One point I find interesting in Newt’s rise is how the SCOTUS decision on Citizens’ United has actually worked against the conservatives that cheered it on in 2010.
Let’s face it: Newt has made it this far only because his millionaire friend Sheldon Adelson has bankrolled his campaign via the Winning Our Future super PAC. This has got to make the Republican leadership nervous–certainly the rich had influence before, but if the money now really is king, that makes the leadership itself somewhat less important in the process.
The last three things on your list are aspirational. The first thing on your list is negligible (a lot of health plans will have to drop benefits like health club memberships and massages, but those were never really health care costs to begin with). Considering the excise tax on “cadillac plans” is expected to raise about $15 billion/year starting in 2018, we are not talking about a material change to the health care structure, it might be good policy but it only affects the out edge of the fringe, the insurance exchange is a good idea but frankly insurance companies dont really compete with each other on an apples for apples basis, they don’t want to.