# Is there any possibility that we'll get a bipartisan Health Care Bill? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 18, 2017, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-possibility-that-well-get-a-bipartisan-health-care-bill/791593 "2017-07-18T19:58:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2017, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-possibility-that-well-get-a-bipartisan-health-care-bill/791593/21 "2017-07-19T15:50:45Z")
> [@kopek](#): > > So I would say Obama-care/ACA is safe for the foreseeable future. But that’s the problem. It isn’t “safe.” If Republicans and Trump don’t authorize the payments to insurance companies for the subsidies, then insurance companies will pull out of the exchanges. The next subsidies payment is due tomorrow. Republicans and Trump have already failed to provide subsidies funding data and/or assurances to insurance companies for 2018. This means insurance companies can’t calculate what plans they can offer in 2018. They generally need this information by May. When it didn’t come, several insurance companies pulled out of the exchanges because of the uncertainty. Republicans then point to this and say, “Obamacare is failing!” When Republicans say they intend to “let Obamacare fail,” what they are really saying is, “We’re working hard to make sure Obamacare fails.” ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2017, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-possibility-that-well-get-a-bipartisan-health-care-bill/791593/22 "2017-07-19T16:13:30Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Why in the hell won’t the politicians join together to fix? The quality of people’s lives is at stake. This is bigger than anybody’s fucking political agenda. To you, maybe, but not to most Republican politicians, nor apparently to the people who vote for them. It has the taint of Obama on it and must not be allowed to stand. I believe their motto is “I’ll support Obamacare over your dead body!” ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2017, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-possibility-that-well-get-a-bipartisan-health-care-bill/791593/23 "2017-07-19T16:17:19Z")
> [@davida03801](#): > > No. Neither party is willing to work with the other. That’s not equally true. While the Democrats aren’t always saintly, the Republicans have made it an express policy not to cooperate with Dems, for over eight years now, with an intensity not seen before. Democrats on the whole will work with reasonable Republicans. Republicans on the whole will not even consider working with Democrats, reasonable or not. ETA: And it seems that most Republicans will not work with reasonable Republicans. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2017, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-possibility-that-well-get-a-bipartisan-health-care-bill/791593/24 "2017-07-19T16:35:27Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > The reason that the Republicans are hamstrung is because they know their constituency actually all want Obamacare. They ALL do? None of my family, friends, coworkers, or acquaintances are even on Obamacare, let alone want it. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2017, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-possibility-that-well-get-a-bipartisan-health-care-bill/791593/25 "2017-07-19T17:43:20Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > They ALL do? None of my family, friends, coworkers, or acquaintances are even on Obamacare, let alone want it. They may not be in the individual health insurance market, but if you think that’s all there is to Obamacare then you don’t understand it. Anyone with private health insurance is currently on “Obamacare” to a degree. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2017, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-possibility-that-well-get-a-bipartisan-health-care-bill/791593/26 "2017-07-19T18:57:31Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > They may not be in the individual health insurance market, but if you think that’s all there is to Obamacare then you don’t understand it. Anyone with private health insurance is currently on “Obamacare” to a degree. I am not getting a subsidy, but having the market helped out alot. Before the exchange, I had to call each insurance company, then wait a day or more for them to get back to me with a quote, at which time, they would want to enroll me immediately, and would threaten that if I didn’t accept their quote, then it may be higher the next time. It was almost as if they wanted to make comparison shopping as hard as possible. I also would not be covered with anything to do with any of my joints or my back, as I had sciatica a while back. With the exchange, I was able to find a plan that was significantly less expensive than the one I was paying for, that had better coverage in general, and obviously having the pre-existing conditions exclusions lifted was nice. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2017, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-possibility-that-well-get-a-bipartisan-health-care-bill/791593/27 "2017-07-19T20:14:53Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > They ALL do? None of my family, friends, coworkers, or acquaintances are even on Obamacare, let alone want it. Are any of them getting their insurance through the “Affordable Care Act”? There are some people on the right taking advantage of this but are either completely ignorant that this is “Obamacare” or flat out denying that it is. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2017, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-possibility-that-well-get-a-bipartisan-health-care-bill/791593/28 "2017-07-19T20:57:41Z")
> [@kopek](#): > > I would say no. I don’t see any of the Democrats voting for anything the GOP brings forward and with the Republicans being far less unified than we are, we’re always going to get a couple defectors. So I would say Obama-care/ACA is safe for the foreseeable future. I don’t think this theory has been tested, yet. The GOP has very pointedly not even bothered to work with conservative Democrats, much less the Democratic leadership on finding a compromise. So far, with the plans brought forward, the Democrats as a whole _and each Democrat individually_ have been able to point to specific provisions or outcomes of the bills and say “we’re not voting for any bill that \_\_\_\_ (removes coverage for pre-existing conditions, decreases funding for medicaid, results in 20 million fewer people with medical coverage, etc).” The headlines of the proposals brought forward have contained ideas and policies that Democrats are very against. It is still possible that some of the legislators with D’s next to their names could or would vote for a proposal that addresses Democratic concerns - but as none has yet been proposed, it can’t at this time be said that they’re knee jerking against the bills just because a Republican brought them forward. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2017, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-possibility-that-well-get-a-bipartisan-health-care-bill/791593/29 "2017-07-19T21:18:16Z")
The mistake you all are making is that this wasn’t a health care bill. It was a Tax Cuts for the Koch Brothers bill. Eliminating health care for millions of people was just the way to get those tax cuts. If the Republicans sat themselves down and tried to come up with a health care bill that offered coverage for everyone that is better and cheaper than what we have now (You know, what Trump promised everyone?), Democrats would fall all over to vote for it. Except this is not going to ever happen. You know it. I know it. The American people know it. We might get health care that’s much cheaper for the government, but it’s going to cover fewer people and be much worse and cost the consumer much more. So since any conceivable Republican plan that can actually exist is going to be worse coverage for fewer people that will cost those people more, then how many Democrats are you expecting to vote for that? This isn’t even taking into account the last couple years of Republican hardball on formerly nonpartisan issues like, you know, Supreme Court nominees. Republicans cannot plausibly horse-trade with Democrats in the old fashioned “you vote for my pet issue and I’ll vote for your pet issue”, because how could that be believable? ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2017, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-possibility-that-well-get-a-bipartisan-health-care-bill/791593/30 "2017-07-20T00:02:53Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > The Senate Republicans have admitted they don’t have the votes to pass health care reform. Primarily because a few on the extreme didn’t feel it went far enough. > > Currently the Republicans are considering the repeal bill the Senate passed in 2015. I think most of us know that was symbolic political theater. The Republicans knew Obama would veto it. > > Imho it would be political suicide for the Republicans to repeal The Affordable Care Act. No. It would be the best thing to happen. Kill it, drive a stake through its heart, and never raise the issue again. Keep the government out of health care and let it repair the damage that Obamacare did by itself. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2017, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-possibility-that-well-get-a-bipartisan-health-care-bill/791593/31 "2017-07-20T00:31:26Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > … Keep the government out of health care … So much for that whole “promote the general welfare” thing in the preamble constitution… ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2017, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-possibility-that-well-get-a-bipartisan-health-care-bill/791593/32 "2017-07-20T02:13:20Z")
We’re more likely to see a bipartisan effort to replace Trump than were are to replace the ACA. > [@k9bfriender](#): > > …Before the exchange, I had to call each insurance company, then wait a day or more for them to get back to me with a quote, at which time, they would want to enroll me immediately, and would threaten that if I didn’t accept their quote, then it may be higher the next time. It was almost as if they wanted to make comparison shopping as hard as possible. I also would not be covered with anything to do with any of my joints or my back, as I had sciatica a while back… Yeah, that sure was fun. Especially the part where you had to try and remember ever single illness or injury you had in the preceding 5 years and put include in on the application. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2017, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-possibility-that-well-get-a-bipartisan-health-care-bill/791593/33 "2017-07-20T02:29:03Z")
Republican insistence that Government is incompetent and shouldn’t be allowed to do anything is what keeps us from joining the rest of the free world in having single-payer health care. I bet the money class just hates the idea that the administrators of it would have to accept government wages and not millions of dollars in salaries and stock options. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2017, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-possibility-that-well-get-a-bipartisan-health-care-bill/791593/34 "2017-07-20T02:46:20Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > No. It would be the best thing to happen. Kill it, drive a stake through its heart, and never raise the issue again. Keep the government out of health care and let it repair the damage that Obamacare did by itself. So we are repealing Medicare and Medicaid and the VA too? How many Republican votes do you expect for that? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2017, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-possibility-that-well-get-a-bipartisan-health-care-bill/791593/35 "2017-07-20T03:34:37Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > No. It would be the best thing to happen. Kill it, drive a stake through its heart, and never raise the issue again. Keep the government out of health care and let it repair the damage that Obamacare did by itself. I consider this an affirmation that Obamacare is a very good thing indeed.🙂 ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2017, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-possibility-that-well-get-a-bipartisan-health-care-bill/791593/36 "2017-07-20T04:24:46Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > They may not be in the individual health insurance market, but if you think that’s all there is to Obamacare then you don’t understand it. Anyone with private health insurance is currently on “Obamacare” to a degree. No. I have the same employer sponsored plan I did before Obamacare. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2017, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-possibility-that-well-get-a-bipartisan-health-care-bill/791593/37 "2017-07-20T13:13:02Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > No. I have the same employer sponsored plan I did before Obamacare. so, you liked your plan, and you kept it. What’s the problem here again? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2017, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-possibility-that-well-get-a-bipartisan-health-care-bill/791593/38 "2017-07-20T13:20:24Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > No. I have the same employer sponsored plan I did before Obamacare. You may have the same carrier and the same premium, but you don’t have the same plan. In fact no plan ever stays identical from year to year, whether or not the underlying regulations change. ---
**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:** [July 20, 2017, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-possibility-that-well-get-a-bipartisan-health-care-bill/791593/39 "2017-07-20T14:02:20Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > A bipartisan solution has to be negotiated. You’re not from around here, are you? > [@aceplace57](#): > > There’s no way any one person has the answer. It’s going to take a bipartisan approach. Using a lot of people’s best ideas. Do you think the “problem” with Obamacare is that no one’s yet come up with the special “silver bullet” ideas? > [@kopek](#): > > I would say no. I don’t see any of the Democrats voting for anything the GOP brings forward and with the Republicans being far less unified than we are, we’re always going to get a couple defectors. So I would say Obama-care/ACA is safe for the foreseeable future. Safe from legislative repeal maybe, but … > [@Aspenglow](#): > > But that’s the problem. It isn’t “safe.” If Republicans and Trump don’t authorize the payments to insurance companies for the subsidies, then insurance companies will pull out of the exchanges. The next subsidies payment is due tomorrow. > > Republicans and Trump have already failed to provide subsidies funding data and/or assurances to insurance companies for 2018. This means insurance companies can’t calculate what plans they can offer in 2018. They generally need this information by May. When it didn’t come, several insurance companies pulled out of the exchanges because of the uncertainty. Republicans then point to this and say, “Obamacare is failing!” > > When Republicans say they intend to “let Obamacare fail,” what they are really saying is, “We’re working hard to make sure Obamacare fails.” I don’t know how easy it would be for a Party and President with integrity to kill, without passing legislation, a program the public likes. But it will be easy for _this_ Party and _this_ President to do it. Even if three GOP Senators suddenly remember they’re human, Ryan’s House will ham-string the government until at last 2019. > [@Lemur866](#): > > The mistake you all are making is that this wasn’t a health care bill. It was a Tax Cuts for the Koch Brothers bill. Eliminating health care for millions of people was just the way to get those tax cuts. ---
**Author:** ![davida03801](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5e925/32.png) [@davida03801](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davida03801)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2017, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-possibility-that-well-get-a-bipartisan-health-care-bill/791593/40 "2017-07-20T14:33:58Z")
> [@Gary\_T](#): > > That’s not equally true. While the Democrats aren’t always saintly, the Republicans have made it an express policy not to cooperate with Dems, for over eight years now, with an intensity not seen before. Democrats on the whole will work with reasonable Republicans. Republicans on the whole will not even consider working with Democrats, reasonable or not. That works both ways. As I see it the Dems are equally guilty here. The idea of compromise no longer applies and that is a shame. In my view the fault of the last 9 years falls squarely on Obama. When the ObamaCare was in the works he should have brought into the Oval Office Pelosi, Reid, McConnell and Boehner and told them to all work together give and take and compromise to come up with a bipartisan bill. At that time he had the political capital to do so and bring a plot of public pressure on both sides. He ran on the promise of bipartisanship which is what the voters really want. Instead he proved to be a partisan hack politician with no interest to actually do any work to manage the process. All major social change legislative bills for the last 120 years all had to some degree bipartisan support and that is why they were accepted. That is until ObamaCare which will fail on its own soon enough. There needs to be a bipartisan solution here and we will have this continuous battle until that happens. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-possibility-that-well-get-a-bipartisan-health-care-bill/791593.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-possibility-that-well-get-a-bipartisan-health-care-bill/791593.md?page=3)