# Stupid Republican idea of the day **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 26, 2009, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897 "2009-03-26T18:48:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1645
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2017, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/32882 "2017-03-09T21:20:00Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Then you have the ER. The ER is hardly the best or the least expensive option for medical care. Many people end up in ER due to illnesses that would have been better controlled if they had seen a doctor much earlier. But they didn’t, because…they had no insurance. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2017, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/32883 "2017-03-09T21:23:10Z")
Very good point, but I was responding to someone who asked what happens if you have an accident or something. That’s an ER situation whether you have insurance or not. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2017, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/32884 "2017-03-09T21:37:09Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > How about death panels? If you don’t have insurance and have an accident/get sick… The GOP is way ahead of you on this. Pubbie Shrubbie put death panels into law into law in Texas when he was governor: [section 166.046 of the Texas Health and Safety Code](http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/Docs/HS/htm/HS.166.htm#166.046) ([HEALTH AND SAFETY CODE CHAPTER 166. ADVANCE DIRECTIVES](http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/Docs/HS/htm/HS.166.htm#166.046)). ---
**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:** [March 9, 2017, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/32885 "2017-03-09T22:03:54Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Ryan is no dummy. What he was getting at is that it is indeed unfair for young people to pay a lot more than their level of risk so that old people can pay less. Older people have higher incomes, so it makes sense for premiums to increase with age. Obviously in a single payer system you wouldn’t have to worry about this, but the structure of ACA requires that young people be lured into the insurance market. Which isn’t happening. They are balking at the ridiculous prices and staying out. Ryan’s plan imposes a 30% surcharge on anyone who purchases insurance after going without coverage for more than two months. I suspect young people will not be lining up to get covered under this plan. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2017, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/32886 "2017-03-09T22:36:52Z")
Is that what we call \*incentivizing? \* ---
**Author:** ![Chisquirrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6bbea6/32.png) [@Chisquirrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chisquirrel)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2017, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/32887 "2017-03-09T22:40:56Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > Is that what we call \*incentivizing? \* Sounds like a penalty to me. Isn’t that one of the problems with the individual mandate, penalizing not having insurance? ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2017, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/32888 "2017-03-09T23:37:16Z")
> [@Chisquirrel](#): > > Sounds like a penalty to me. Isn’t that one of the problems with the individual mandate, penalizing not having insurance? Ah, but since it only penalizes the poor who may “choose” to forego insurance from time to time it’s all good, bro. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2017, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/32889 "2017-03-10T00:12:10Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > [Paul Ryan says insurance can’t work if healthy must pay more to subsidize the sick.](https://twitter.com/CitizenCohn/status/839884883015118849) > > In other news, fire insurance can’t work if people with intact houses subsidize people with burned-down houses. Yeah, Ryan apparently has no idea how the concept of “insurance” works. Shoehorning the usual GOP tactic of telling citizens “you should resent the lazy people who are living off YOUR hard work” onto the way insurance actually works (lucky people subsidize the unlucky), results in pure nonsense. Of course the real problem is that health care, like certain other aspects of human society (provision of street lighting or flood-control systems, for example), does not function well as a private-sector, for-profit enterprise. But the GOP will never concede that. ---
**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:** [March 10, 2017, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/32890 "2017-03-10T00:18:26Z")
I’ve not clicked to read Ryan’s plan: this crap just makes me despondent now; it no longer provides recreational outrage, but … > [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Ryan’s plan imposes a 30% surcharge on anyone who purchases insurance after going without coverage for more than two months… _Ryan’s plan_ imposes 30% surcharge? I thought such things were up to the free market in a free market system. It looks to me like our Brave New World combines the worst of two extremes: central socialist planning and hyper-capitalism, deliberate transfer of wealth from common citizens to connected corporate kleptocrats. I guess ‘surcharge’ has a more plutocratic ring to it than ‘mandate.’ ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2017, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/32891 "2017-03-10T00:19:44Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Ryan is no dummy. What he was getting at is that it is indeed unfair for young people to pay a lot more than their level of risk so that old people can pay less. Older people have higher incomes, so it makes sense for premiums to increase with age. By that logic, it makes sense for tax credits for people who buy private insurance to decrease with age. Yet the Ryan plan pays more in tax credits the older you are, without regard to income. ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2017, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/32892 "2017-03-10T03:12:28Z")
Whenever I read “healthcare” and why should the young and healthy subsidize us old geezers - I substitute things like oil seizure adventures, border walls, boondoggle military systems for healthcare. I don’t need that shit, why should I pay for it. Let the rich old chickenhawks pay for them. We all pay for children’s education, roads and bridges, airports, national security, parks and beaches. Why not health care for all. A healthy populace would seem to be advantageous economically and part of national security. Yeah, I know i’m being pollyannish above. The GOP can’t wait to “repeal” the nigger’s health plan to tout it to their white racist base. They’ve lied and told the base it will just screw the blacks/browns; in reality it fucks the poorest whites as well. Making it racial are you Steve? Damn right. The shitbags spent the first term trying to make Obama a one term president and fuck all with the country’s recovery from GOP sponsored financial skullduggery. The second term was all about blocking everything they could to tarnish Obama’s legacy. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2017, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/32893 "2017-03-10T04:26:48Z")
> [@smithsb](#): > > The shitbags spent the first term trying to make Obama a one term president and fuck all with the country’s recovery from GOP sponsored financial skullduggery. The second term was all about blocking everything they could to tarnish Obama’s legacy. And when they fuck up healthcare beyond all hope in the next 4 years? Their plan is to blame Obama for the entire thing. Same way that some of them currently blame Obama for just sitting in the White house doing nothing when 9/11 happened. (No, I’m not kidding. Republicans actually think that) ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2017, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/32894 "2017-03-10T04:52:20Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > And when they fuck up healthcare beyond all hope in the next 4 years? Their plan is to blame Obama for the entire thing. > > Same way that some of them currently blame Obama for just sitting in the White house doing nothing when 9/11 happened. (No, I’m not kidding. Republicans actually think that) Ryan actually said the other day that Obamacare is collapsing and their new law will “save us” all. He called it an act of mercy. So, yes, it’s Obama’s fault if their system doesn’t work. Since it’s Obama’s fault when anything and everything goes wrong, from their point of view. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2017, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/32895 "2017-03-10T04:58:04Z")
Oh, look, birtherism is back. This page is linked from Drudge Report’s front page. [http://www.theamericanmirror.com/malik-obama-shares-photo-brother-baracks-kenya-certificate-birth/](http://www.theamericanmirror.com/malik-obama-shares-photo-brother-baracks-kenya-certificate-birth/) ---
**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:** [March 10, 2017, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/32896 "2017-03-10T12:47:10Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Oh, look, birtherism is back. This page is linked from Drudge Report’s front page. > [Malik Obama shares photo of brother Barack's Kenya 'certificate of birth' - TheAmericanMirror.com](http://www.theamericanmirror.com/malik-obama-shares-photo-brother-baracks-kenya-certificate-birth/) Reading the comments on the page may be good for laughs. Or, depending on your reaction it might be a good page to bookmark — for when you need to induce vomiting but don’t have an emetic handy. My guess is the messages weren’t written by ordinary Trumpist simpletons. The plethora of adjectives makes me think Breitbart staffers are paid to outdo each other with hyperbole. Here’s one: > [@](#): > > Obama counted on weak feckles RINOS too scared to call him out. > . > Then when Trump, with the balls of steel, made an issue of it, it forced his dirty hand and if it were not for the lying alt-left media obama would have been impeached and imprisoned. > > History seems to repeat, as President Trump is now calling out Obama’s treasonous spying actions and hopefully obama will finally pay for his many crimes. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2017, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/32897 "2017-03-10T14:37:54Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Oh, look, birtherism is back. This page is linked from Drudge Report’s front page. > [Malik Obama shares photo of brother Barack's Kenya 'certificate of birth' - TheAmericanMirror.com](http://www.theamericanmirror.com/malik-obama-shares-photo-brother-baracks-kenya-certificate-birth/) Well, shit. I guess that means Obama can’t be President any more ☹ ---
**Author:** ![mcgato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac8455/32.png) [@mcgato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mcgato)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2017, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/32898 "2017-03-10T14:49:23Z")
[This snopes page from 2009](http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/birthers/kenyacert.asp) has the exact same “birth certificate.” Some guy had put it on sale on eBay. I wonder if this will ever stop coming up to feed the ignorant, racist masses. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2017, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/32899 "2017-03-10T15:03:25Z")
**GOP Congressman Asks Why Men Should Have To Pay For Prenatal Care** > **[GOP Congressman Asks Why Men Should Have To Pay For Prenatal Care](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/john-shimkus-prenatal-care_n_58c1e4fae4b0ed71826b6e4e?w2nqgfv8wep5e9udi=)** > > The Affordable Care Act requires all plans to cover maternity services. > [@](#): > > Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) suggested Wednesday that one reason Republicans are unhappy with the Affordable Care Act is because men must pay for health care plans that cover maternity services. > … > > During the hearing, Rep. Michael Doyle (D-Pa.) asked his colleague Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) to explain what he meant when he said premiums were “skyrocketing” in his state “because of the mandates from Obamacare.” > “What mandate in the Obamacare bill does he take issue with?” Doyle asked. “Certainly not with pre-existing conditions, or caps on benefits or letting your child stay on the policy until 26, so I’m curious what is it we’re mandating?” > “What about men having to purchase prenatal care?” Shimkus replied. “Is that not correct? And should they?” > Doyle appeared confused by Shimkus’ comment. > “There’s no such thing as a la carte insurance, John,” he said. > “That’s the point,” Shimkus replied. “We want the consumer to be able to go to the insurance market and be able to negotiate on a plan …” > “There’s not a single insurance company in the world that does that,” said Doyle. “You’re talking about something that doesn’t exist.” ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2017, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/32900 "2017-03-10T15:33:22Z")
> [@mcgato](#): > > [This snopes page from 2009](http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/birthers/kenyacert.asp) has the exact same “birth certificate.” Some guy had put it on sale on eBay. I wonder if this will ever stop coming up to feed the ignorant, racist masses. Well, the _Protocols of the Elders of Zion_ has been popping up periodically since 1903. So I’d say no. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2017, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/32901 "2017-03-10T15:36:35Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > **GOP Congressman Asks Why Men Should Have To Pay For Prenatal Care** > > [GOP Congressman Asks Why Men Should Have To Pay For Prenatal Care | HuffPost Latest News](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/john-shimkus-prenatal-care_us_58c1e4fae4b0ed71826b6e4e?w2nqgfv8wep5e9udi&) If “shimkus” isn’t a Yiddish term for “dumbfuck,” it should be. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=1644) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=1646)