# "Supreme Court to hear latest challenge to the Affordable Care Act" **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 10, 2020, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supreme-court-to-hear-latest-challenge-to-the-affordable-care-act/925227 "2020-11-10T15:29:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2020, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supreme-court-to-hear-latest-challenge-to-the-affordable-care-act/925227/21 "2020-11-10T20:54:55Z")
> [@Kearsen1](#): > > Everyone should have been working on it. What the heck does this mean? > Also, it is going to cost money, a lot more money than previous, the message needs to be right to get people on board. What would be the “right” message? ---
**Author:** ![Akaj](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/akaj/32/145_2.png) [@Akaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akaj)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2020, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supreme-court-to-hear-latest-challenge-to-the-affordable-care-act/925227/22 "2020-11-10T20:55:07Z")
> [@Kearsen1](#): > > I mean sure that is the easy excuse. The bottom line is that a healthy majority of people would LOVE to have universal care or some form of it. If the ACA gets struck down, it isn’t like it is a giant surprise and both parties should have been working together on something the entire time. > > Bunch of lazy fat rich punks. > > They do need to make sure that it is good enough to put all politicians on the plan as well. One party proposed and passed a flawed plan that nevertheless installed essential protections and extended coverage to millions. The other party has spent a decade picking it apart, threatening to overturn it and proposing exactly zero to replace it. But they’re all a “Bunch of lazy fat rich punks”? Talk about “lazy.” ---
**Author:** ![Kearsen1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Kearsen1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kearsen1)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2020, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supreme-court-to-hear-latest-challenge-to-the-affordable-care-act/925227/23 "2020-11-10T20:56:58Z")
Was I not clear, both the Democrats and Republicans should have been working on a plan to get everyone covered with the best cost. A plan so good in fact that the mandate actually covered everyone, and not exempting of the politicians drafting it. As to the second, I am not a politician but I can tell you what DIDN’T work. ---
**Author:** ![Akaj](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/akaj/32/145_2.png) [@Akaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akaj)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2020, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supreme-court-to-hear-latest-challenge-to-the-affordable-care-act/925227/24 "2020-11-10T20:58:30Z")
> [@Kearsen1](#): > > Was I not clear, both the Democrats and Republicans should have been working on a plan to get everyone covered with the best cost. > > As to the second, I am not a politician but I can tell you what DIDN’T work. Right, because Republicans have been ever-so-cooperative in collaborating with Democrats lately. Did you hit your head in 2007 and just wake up? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2020, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supreme-court-to-hear-latest-challenge-to-the-affordable-care-act/925227/25 "2020-11-10T20:59:32Z")
> [@Kearsen1](#): > > Was I not clear, both the Democrats and Republicans should have been working on a plan to get everyone covered with the best cost. A plan so good in fact that the mandate actually covered everyone, and not exempting of the politicians drafting it. The Democratic plan is called the ACA. What is the Republican alternative? ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2020, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supreme-court-to-hear-latest-challenge-to-the-affordable-care-act/925227/26 "2020-11-10T21:03:55Z")
> [@Kearsen1](#): > > Was I not clear, both the Democrats and Republicans should have been working on a plan to get everyone covered with the best cost. Are you aware that ever since the first Obama administration, Mitch McConnell has declined to and forbidden his minions to work with the Democrats on ANYTHING? During the past four years, the Dem-majority House has sent dozens of bills to the Senate and Mitch has not brought ONE of them to the floor for a vote. Soooo… what was your point? > [@Kearsen1](#): > > As to the second, I am not a politician but I can tell you what DIDN’T work. Yeah, that’s the easy part. ---
**Author:** ![Kearsen1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Kearsen1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kearsen1)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2020, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supreme-court-to-hear-latest-challenge-to-the-affordable-care-act/925227/27 "2020-11-10T21:07:27Z")
Clearly my point was messaging. If someone has an idea, a grand idea, that benefits a good majority of people, then messaging would pressure the non majority into concession. And a vote would be demanded. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2020, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supreme-court-to-hear-latest-challenge-to-the-affordable-care-act/925227/28 "2020-11-10T21:07:45Z")
And the Democrats have also come up with much better plans, such as Medicare for All, that would be both cheaper and provide better coverage to more people. But they can’t get those better plans passed, because the Republicans would rather let people die than let the Democrats get credit for helping them. ---
**Author:** ![Akaj](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/akaj/32/145_2.png) [@Akaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akaj)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2020, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supreme-court-to-hear-latest-challenge-to-the-affordable-care-act/925227/29 "2020-11-10T21:10:07Z")
> [@Kearsen1](#): > > Clearly my point was messaging. If someone has an idea, a grand idea, that benefits a good majority of people, then messaging would pressure the non majority into concession. And a vote would be demanded. You can’t be serious. You believe that the GOP’s refusal to work with Democrats in any way, shape or form for more than a decade has been due to _insufficient messaging_? I can’t even … ---
**Author:** ![Kearsen1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Kearsen1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kearsen1)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2020, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supreme-court-to-hear-latest-challenge-to-the-affordable-care-act/925227/30 "2020-11-10T21:32:21Z")
Yes, I do. ---
**Author:** ![Akaj](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/akaj/32/145_2.png) [@Akaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akaj)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2020, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supreme-court-to-hear-latest-challenge-to-the-affordable-care-act/925227/31 "2020-11-10T21:40:40Z")
Okay, I’m a messaging guy myself, so I’m genuinely curious. Let’s just focus on healthcare. What possible messaging could have made McConnell an eager collaborator with Democrats rather than a scorched-earth obstructionist? ---
**Author:** ![Kearsen1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Kearsen1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kearsen1)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2020, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supreme-court-to-hear-latest-challenge-to-the-affordable-care-act/925227/32 "2020-11-10T21:47:11Z")
You shouldn’t be worried about McConnell as to what your message says. It should be the masses of people your healthcare plan will be addressing. It has been incredibly easy to pick apart things that were only designed to catch a few , when the plan should have been catching (and having things) for a whole lot more. Yes, it would have cost more. Yes, it would have had other negative consequences, but the primary problem you had with the ACA was that it did too little to much detriment. If instead the ACA was packaged around the middle class (while also helping out the poor) then you have a pretty giant mandate of people all getting something they were formerly struggling to get. What you ended up with was a bill designed for the poor that affected the middle class negatively. Granted, not ALL of the middle class. ---
**Author:** ![Akaj](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/akaj/32/145_2.png) [@Akaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akaj)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2020, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supreme-court-to-hear-latest-challenge-to-the-affordable-care-act/925227/33 "2020-11-10T22:19:17Z")
1. That’s not messaging, it’s policy design. 2. I disagree with your analysis of the policy, but that’s not the point. I’ve already acknowledged the policy was flawed. 3. It was still a complete and enacted policy, which is more than the GOP has ever even bothered to propose. 4. Which brings us back to your earlier assertion that they’re all a “Bunch of lazy fat rich punks.” They haven’t all done nothing. Which side has actually done nothing? I’ll hang up and wait for your answer. ---
**Author:** ![Kearsen1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Kearsen1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kearsen1)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supreme-court-to-hear-latest-challenge-to-the-affordable-care-act/925227/34 "2020-11-11T12:57:45Z")
The messaging I was talking about, is after policy design. The messaging would work to take McConnell out of the picture. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supreme-court-to-hear-latest-challenge-to-the-affordable-care-act/925227/35 "2020-11-11T13:07:44Z")
It’s amazing to me to think that messaging would stop McConnell’s assault on the ACA. Even after it got popular and McCain did his last minute switch to stop it from being overturned completely, the Republicans continued to attack it at both the Federal and State levels. You’re really off in this analysis, in my opinion. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supreme-court-to-hear-latest-challenge-to-the-affordable-care-act/925227/36 "2020-11-11T13:09:55Z")
I don’t think this is getting off the ground with the Supremes. > **[John Roberts has heard just about enough of Obamacare for one lifetime | CNN...](https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/10/politics/john-roberts-affordable-care-act-again/index.html)** > > Chief Justice John Roberts twice saved Obamacare, and he appears ready to uphold it again. But Roberts is growing weary of it all. ---
**Author:** ![Kearsen1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Kearsen1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kearsen1)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supreme-court-to-hear-latest-challenge-to-the-affordable-care-act/925227/37 "2020-11-11T13:15:51Z")
Like I said, the ACA with all the promises, mandate, and some of the untruths that they used to promote it isn’t a good example to use for what I mean by messaging. When you have a really good piece of legislation, it ought to be able to speak for itself (after getting it out to the masses) What the ACA lacked was the ‘really good legislation’ part ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supreme-court-to-hear-latest-challenge-to-the-affordable-care-act/925227/38 "2020-11-11T13:18:15Z")
> [@Kearsen1](#): > > What the ACA lacked was the ‘really good legislation’ part How about the fucked up demonization by GOP assholes? ---
**Author:** ![Kearsen1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Kearsen1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kearsen1)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supreme-court-to-hear-latest-challenge-to-the-affordable-care-act/925227/39 "2020-11-11T13:30:58Z")
Sure, but if it was really good legislation, that demonization is harder or not possible eh? I am on record being a centrist, the ACA doesn’t really address the centrist POV. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supreme-court-to-hear-latest-challenge-to-the-affordable-care-act/925227/40 "2020-11-11T13:34:58Z")
> [@Kearsen1](#): > > Sure, but if it was really good legislation, that demonization is harder or not possible eh?- WHOA!! Words fail me… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supreme-court-to-hear-latest-challenge-to-the-affordable-care-act/925227.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supreme-court-to-hear-latest-challenge-to-the-affordable-care-act/925227.md?page=3)