# GOP still trending to win Senate **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [August 13, 2014, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-still-trending-to-win-senate/695426 "2014-08-13T10:52:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 24
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-still-trending-to-win-senate/695426/461 "2014-09-10T15:02:42Z")
Even people who now have better, and often cheaper insurance, which is most of those affected. And then what? What do you wish a Republican Senate to do? What \*does \*“fix ACA” (your term) mean? Take your time, you’ve had years already to think of something so what’s a little longer … ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-still-trending-to-win-senate/695426/462 "2014-09-10T15:04:51Z")
Republicans are historically too optimistic. They’re expecting a reverse of 2006, when 1998 is more likely. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-still-trending-to-win-senate/695426/463 "2014-09-10T15:08:53Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Even people who now have better, and often cheaper insurance, which is most of those affected. > > And then what? What do you wish a Republican Senate to do? What \*does \*“fix ACA” (your term) mean? > > Take your time, you’ve had years already to think of something so what’s a little longer … All it takes is one line. “All current plans are grandfathered in with no time limit.” ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-still-trending-to-win-senate/695426/464 "2014-09-10T15:09:56Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Republicans are historically too optimistic. > > They’re expecting a reverse of 2006, when 1998 is more likely. 1998? The Republicans lost seats then. I’m not saying it’s impossible, but there is nothing in the polls or the fundamentals to warrant such optimism on the Democrats’ part. Maybe you’re thinking of just the fact that Republicans underperformed expectations in 1998 and could very well do so again in 2014. BTW, fifth straight poll now showing a solid GOP lead in the generic ballot. Historically, that translates to a 7 point popular vote margin. Even if they didn’t win the Senate, that’s still a result to be proud of. [http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/generic\_congressional\_vote-2170.html](http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/generic_congressional_vote-2170.html) ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-still-trending-to-win-senate/695426/465 "2014-09-10T15:13:47Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > 1998? The Republicans lost seats then. That’s my point. The Republicans lost seats against a Democratic presidency then and they may do so again. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-still-trending-to-win-senate/695426/466 "2014-09-10T15:14:13Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > All it takes is one line. “All current plans are grandfathered in with no time limit.” That’s all? Just adding that one line would fix all the problems that have caused your guys to have over 50 repeal-everything votes? That one amendment that the Democrats have been strenuously resisting, that you need control of the Senate to fix, and then the world will be full of sunshine and flowers? _That_? 😃 Meanwhile, [here’s how](http://www.politico.com/story/2014/09/gop-republican-islamic-state-midterm-2014-elections-110786.html)they (you) rally around your Commander in Chief: > [@](#): > > Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has a new TV commercial that opens with a brief clip of an Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant militant firing a weapon, with the narrator intoning that “these are serious times.” In New Hampshire, Senate candidate Scott Brown is out with a Web ad that plays President Barack Obama’s ill-spoken “We don’t have a strategy yet” line and brands the president a foreign policy “failure.” And last weekend, Iowa Senate hopeful Joni Ernst, in a speech to fellow veterans, bemoaned “the president’s inability or unwillingness to present a strategy aimed at eradicating the growing threat” of ISIL. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-still-trending-to-win-senate/695426/467 "2014-09-10T18:24:59Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > All it takes is one line. “All current plans are grandfathered in with no time limit.” I think thats what the ACA says. IIRC, it just that grandfathers do not survive modifications and insurance companies are constantly modifying their polices so they do not stay grandfathered for very long. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-still-trending-to-win-senate/695426/468 "2014-09-10T20:58:29Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > I think thats what the ACA says. IIRC, it just that grandfathers do not survive modifications and insurance companies are constantly modifying their polices so they do not stay grandfathered for very long. Roughly speaking, that’s it. Bob Semro of the Bell Policy Center: [INDENT]With the exception of those provisions, designed to protect consumers, a grandfathered plan could continue to be available to policyholders as long as the insurance company chose to offer it. And that is the key. Insurance companies are not required to offer these plans forever, and the ACA cannot force them to do so - in the same way that the ACA cannot force insurance companies to keep the same doctors and hospitals in their provider networks. And insurance carriers have many motivations to discontinue older plans. [/INDENT] Plans purchased prior to 3/23/2010 must eliminate lifetime benefit caps, offer coverage to dependent children over age 26, and eliminate pre-existing condition exclusions in 2014, but that’s about it. Yes, the practice of rescission, where an insurance company can yank coverage for cancer treatment because you had a clinically irrelevant acne appointment with a dermatologist 6 years ago, is no longer allowed. > **[Grandfathered Plans, the ACA and the 'If You Like Your Plan ...' Pledge](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/grandfathered-plans-the-a_b_4283333)** > > What's the real story? What does the Affordable Care Act do to protect existing plans? If you like your plan, can you keep it, and is that decision up to the policyholder? A full grandfather program would basically remove all patient protections for a select group of policyholders. And for what? The Koch-promoted alleged horror stories fell apart even at the anecdotal level. We are well past the point of rationality and into the land of conservative face saving and sensitive disposition. Rmember talk of Obamacare death spirals? Didn’t happen. But instead of reviewing their past mistakes, modern conservatives simply move on to the next set. Oh for the days of traditional conservatism, the days of Nixon and Eisenhower when conservatives simply took care to establish the goddamn facts. Right wing conspiracy theorists were properly perceived as lunatics, extremists and nut cases. Now they are GOP senators, the fringe tail wagging the dog. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2014, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-still-trending-to-win-senate/695426/469 "2014-09-11T01:04:50Z")
The problem was that the regulations the administration chose made grandfathering very unlikely by making even small changes revoke the grandfathering. And there is no danger to consumers by having a full grandfathering law. If an insurance company offers a plan the consumer doesn’t like, they can go the exchange. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2014, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-still-trending-to-win-senate/695426/470 "2014-09-11T01:15:55Z")
Oh, hilarious. The Republicans finally get smart about something: > **[Harry Reid's government shutdown](https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/harry-reids-government-shutdown)** > > Harry Reid is one unhappy Democrat. With his job as Senate Majority Leader on the line in the coming elections, the Nevada senator has come up with a new and unique complaint. He is upset that Republicans failed to obstruct a constitutional amendment... Reid brought a Citizens United amendment to the floor expecting Republicans to obstruct it. Instead, they said, “Okay, full debate, let’s do it.” Now Reid’s mad because full debate means a) it still won’t pass, needing a two thirds vote, and b) it will take up a lot of floor time. Much like Democrats egging Republicans on to impeach, it’s really me for Democrats to realize that while Republicans haven’t covered themselves in glory in the last two years, assuming they are going to do the stupidest possible thing every time is mistaken. This time they played Reid and played him good. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2014, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-still-trending-to-win-senate/695426/471 "2014-09-11T01:18:02Z")
Since the Examiner is a right-wing paper, here’s a less biased take on the story: [http://blogs.rollcall.com/wgdb/senate-campaign-finance-debate-mcconnell/?dcz=](http://blogs.rollcall.com/wgdb/senate-campaign-finance-debate-mcconnell/?dcz=) > [@](#): > > Senate Democrats are facing the prospect of Republicans voting to prolong debate on a campaign finance constitutional amendment, a move that could interfere with Democrats’ plans for a barrage of pre-election votes on issues from student loans to the minimum wage to equal pay for women. > > Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has already scheduled a Monday evening vote to cut off debate on taking up a proposal sponsored by Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M. to amend the constitution to effectively overturn the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, which threw out many limits on campaign spending on First Amendment grounds. Republicans vehemently oppose the amendment and it seemed, at least at the outset, that Democrats were planning for a quick defeat. > > “Their goal is to shut down the voices of their critics at a moment when they fear the loss of their fragile Senate majority. And to achieve it, they’re willing to devote roughly half of the remaining legislative days before November to this quixotic anti-speech gambit,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell wrote in Politico opinion piece posted late Sunday. > > His complaint is more than a complaint — he has assigned an extended period of time beyond the few hours of debate that would happen if his party simply voted “No” on Monday. So reading between the lines, McConnell may be hinting the GOP will allow debate to continue and, therefore, use procedure to lock Democrats into a prolonged debate. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2014, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-still-trending-to-win-senate/695426/472 "2014-09-11T01:53:11Z")
That…is uncommonly smart of the Senate Republicans. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2014, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-still-trending-to-win-senate/695426/473 "2014-09-11T03:46:34Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > For starters, everyone will get to keep their current health insurance. Who could object to that? Exactly no one did prior to 2013. I don’t think that’s viable. The healthy, whose premiums support the existing plans, will switch to better plans. The infirm, “grandfathered-in” to those existing plans, would produce huge losses for the insurers. Work out the details and you’ll find insurers, and therefore the GOP, would oppose it. But it _is_ a good sound-bite, which is all your side cares about. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2014, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-still-trending-to-win-senate/695426/474 "2014-09-11T03:59:59Z")
The insurers don’t have to oppose it. They are still free to drop their plans if they wish. They just wouldn’t be required to. In addition, professional associations could keep their own arrangements with insurers which the law made basically illegal. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2014, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-still-trending-to-win-senate/695426/475 "2014-09-11T05:55:04Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > That…is uncommonly smart of the Senate Republicans. Mitch McConnell is a highly skilled obstructionist and legislative hacker. Seriously: he discovered bugs in the US system of government that no one understood before. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2014, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-still-trending-to-win-senate/695426/476 "2014-09-11T06:57:41Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > The insurers don’t have to oppose it. They are still free to drop their plans if they wish. They just wouldn’t be required to. 😕 In other words a promise that “you can keep your old plan” would be completely worthless and meaningless? If so, I was right – your side is about nothing at all except soundbites. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2014, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-still-trending-to-win-senate/695426/477 "2014-09-11T08:39:49Z")
THe insurers were forced to drop plans they may not otherwise have wanted to by grandfathering regulations written very narrowly. All I’m saying is to expand the regulations to keep the promise the President made. The government will not require insurers to drop plans. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2014, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-still-trending-to-win-senate/695426/478 "2014-09-11T16:04:31Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > And there is no danger to consumers by having a full grandfathering law. If an insurance company offers a plan the consumer doesn’t like, they can go the exchange. The exchange you want to repeal? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2014, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-still-trending-to-win-senate/695426/479 "2014-09-11T23:09:17Z")
The exchanges are actually a Republican idea and they will stay regardless. It’ll just be easier for a plan to get on the exchange, which will create more choice for consumers. ---
**Author:** ![Zakalwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zakalwe/32/270_2.png) [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2014, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-still-trending-to-win-senate/695426/480 "2014-09-12T00:27:53Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > The exchanges are actually a Republican idea and they will stay regardless. It’ll just be easier for a plan to get on the exchange, which will create more choice for consumers. And healthcare costs will resume rising and corporations will make shit tons of money and poor people will continue to die. The US has one of the WORST healthcare systems in the First World, so let’s keep it! USA! USA! USA! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-still-trending-to-win-senate/695426.md?page=23) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-still-trending-to-win-senate/695426.md?page=25)