# The Repeal of Obamacare/ACA: Step-bystep, Inch-by-inch **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 2, 2017, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-repeal-of-obamacare-aca-step-bystep-inch-by-inch/776146 "2017-01-02T17:06:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 15
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-repeal-of-obamacare-aca-step-bystep-inch-by-inch/776146/281 "2017-01-11T03:40:41Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > Again, so what? If MediCAID was expanded to cover more people, that would be good. Or, if MediCARE was expanded to cover more people, that would be good. Why are you hung up on that? It’s like saying an orange and a nectarine are the same thing. No, they aren’t. They are related, but they aren’t the same. How can you can intelligently about a topic when you can’t even get terms correct? Answer: you can’t. Medicare is geared towards people 65+ and would be a poor fit for young people. Medicaid… is all over the place. Some programs are definitely better than others. If you’re going to expand Medicaid WHICH Medicaid are you going to use? And just “covering more” isn’t going to get the job done - we need to cover _everyone_. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-repeal-of-obamacare-aca-step-bystep-inch-by-inch/776146/282 "2017-01-11T03:47:31Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > It’s like saying an orange and a nectarine are the same thing. No, they aren’t. They are related, but they aren’t the same. How can you can intelligently about a topic when you can’t even get terms correct? Answer: you can’t. > > Medicare is geared towards people 65+ and would be a poor fit for young people. Medicaid… is all over the place. Some programs are definitely better than others. If you’re going to expand Medicaid WHICH Medicaid are you going to use? > > And just “covering more” isn’t going to get the job done - we need to cover _everyone_. Ok, Medicare and Medicaid AREN’T the same thing. I admit it. So what? Why is Medicare a poor fit for young people? I don’t know which Medicaid to expand. Nor am I saying it’s a good idea or bad idea. But maybe it could be looked at? Maybe a state with a good Medicaid plan could be looked at to replicate across the US? I live in Maryland, its Medicaid plan is pretty good. I have family members that are on Medicaid here, and they go to the same clinics that I go to. Maybe expand that? Again, you are arguing terminology, not policies. I know the difference between Medicaid and Medicare. Who cares? They are programs that seem to be successful. I believe that successful programs should be expanded. Maybe you don’t. ---
**Author:** ![Weisshund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ba8739/32.png) [@Weisshund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weisshund)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2017, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-repeal-of-obamacare-aca-step-bystep-inch-by-inch/776146/283 "2017-01-12T23:12:13Z")
> [@Hey\_Hey\_Paula](#): > > No hospice? Really? Dying slowly and painfully sucks, and hospice care makes it suck a bit less - you wouldn’t want that? No, not honestly. That’s something like 1600 1800 dollars each day in a hospital type facility, and even in your own facility its something like 200 or 300 per day? Or maybe more, i’m not sure. All that money wasted, just so i can die? Surely there is something a lot more worthwhile to spend it on than something i am going to do for free anyway. ---
**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:** [January 12, 2017, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-repeal-of-obamacare-aca-step-bystep-inch-by-inch/776146/284 "2017-01-12T23:25:35Z")
When the time actually comes, and it’s not theoretical anymore, I have no doubt Mr. Weisshund will be begging for any comfort and pain relief he can get, and damn the cost. Blathering about what a hard-ass you are, and how you’ll just suffer away is mighty easy when sitting on your ass typing on your computer. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2017, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-repeal-of-obamacare-aca-step-bystep-inch-by-inch/776146/285 "2017-01-12T23:52:02Z")
> [@Weisshund](#): > > No, not honestly. Well, at least you admit you’re not honest. Or maybe you just can’t write any better than you can think. You’re either a total idiot who thinks health care is unnecessary (except for stitches, of course) or a shameless hypocrite, or (I suspect) probably both. The kind of hypocrite who whines and moans the loudest when they’re dying and in pain and in desperate need of help. But since you don’t appear to have sufficient perception to be convinced of your own idiocy and you’re certainly not going to convince anyone here that they’ll never need health care, perhaps it’s best that you just go away instead of parading your faux-masochistic delusions here every few days. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2017, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-repeal-of-obamacare-aca-step-bystep-inch-by-inch/776146/286 "2017-01-13T08:14:36Z")
[No plans for replacement yet, though.](http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/11/politics/senate-obamacare-repeal/) > [@](#): > > Senate Republicans launched their effort to repeal and replace President Barack Obama’s landmark healthcare law early Thursday morning, approving a budget blueprint that they’ve dubbed the Obamacare “repeal resolution.” > > The Senate voted 51-48 along party lines for the measure […] > > Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, the top Democrat who led the late-night fight against a repeal, said the protest could be a sign of things to come as the fight stretches on. > > “I think it’s important for this country to know this was not a usual thing, this is a day which lays the groundwork for 30 million people to be thrown off their health insurance,” Sanders said. “And if that happens, many of these people will die.” […] > > The House is expected take a swift vote on the resolution, possibly as early as Friday, which will trigger congressional committees to begin crafting a second bill that would roll back major parts of Obamacare. […] > > Trump has ratcheted up the pressure this week, calling on his party to act as quickly as possible. Perhaps more significantly, Trump is adamant that Republicans vote on repealing and replacing Obamacare more or less at the same time. […] > > “We’re going to be submitting – as soon as our secretary’s approved, almost simultaneously, shortly thereafter, a plan. It’ll be repeal and replace. It will be essentially simultaneously,” Trump said. “Probably the same day, could be the same hour.” > > Trump appeared to be suggesting that the plan would come from his administration, but a transition spokesman told CNN that he couldn’t confirm whether that was Trump’s intention. […] > > Republicans on the Hill do not yet have a plan for replacing Obamacare, and are considering a series of possible legislative paths to replace what they vote to repeal. ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2017, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-repeal-of-obamacare-aca-step-bystep-inch-by-inch/776146/287 "2017-01-13T08:59:15Z")
Well, hey, they’ve been looking for 6 years. I’m sure given a few more days, they can hammer together something. It’s just a shame they didn’t learn that it’s a good idea to have your replacement for a crucial system ready to roll out before you break the old one. They should try this lesson the next time they move - they should burn their old house down, then start looking for a new place to live. See how well that works for them. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2017, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-repeal-of-obamacare-aca-step-bystep-inch-by-inch/776146/288 "2017-01-13T10:08:01Z")
> [@Hey\_Hey\_Paula](#): > > No hospice? Really? Dying slowly and painfully sucks, and hospice care makes it suck a bit less - you wouldn’t want that? > [@Weisshund](#): > > No, not honestly. > > That’s something like 1600 1800 dollars each day in a hospital type facility, and even in your own facility its something like 200 or 300 per day? Or maybe more, i’m not sure. > > All that money wasted, just so i can die? > Surely there is something a lot more worthwhile to spend it on than something i am going to do for free anyway. “Hospice” is not the same as “hospital”. My father-in-law, mother, and father all opted for hospice and all died at home in their own beds, not a “hospital type facility”. You admit you’re “not sure” - how about you actually educate yourself? The notion you wouldn’t opt for palliative care is ludicrous - you’re dying in agony (as an example) and you’d refuse painkillers? Palliative care is about symptom relief and comfort, which aren’t always medically intensive or highly expensive. The problem with the sort of insurance you deem adequate for your needs is that in the vast majority of cases when some really serious illness happens the people opting for “just stitches” have second thoughts and realize they really want more care than that. Which winds up costing the rest of us more than if they had been properly covered because doctors, nurses, other personnel, and various institutions wind up providing that care “for free” - which, of course, it isn’t because those people still have to be paid, supplies paid for, etc. ---
**Author:** ![DeptfordX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DeptfordX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeptfordX)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2017, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-repeal-of-obamacare-aca-step-bystep-inch-by-inch/776146/289 "2017-01-13T11:57:54Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > When the time actually comes, and it’s not theoretical anymore, I have no doubt Mr. Weisshund will be begging for any comfort and pain relief he can get, and damn the cost. > > Blathering about what a hard-ass you are, and how you’ll just suffer away is mighty easy when sitting on your ass typing on your computer. A friend of mine once declared he didn’t care about making any plans for his retirement. He declared “He’d get by, hell he’d eat Cat food if he had to”. Luckily, the other friend whose house this was had a Cat. So I got a fork and a tin of Cat food and challenged him to eat it here and now, as doing so in the future wouldn’t be a problem. Needless to say, the Cat did not lose a future meal. ---
**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:** [January 17, 2017, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-repeal-of-obamacare-aca-step-bystep-inch-by-inch/776146/290 "2017-01-17T04:02:54Z")
New HHS Secretary Price not privy to Trump’s Obamacare replacement plan… that way he can’t be asked about it during confirmation hearings. :smack: > [@](#): > > …Price, a Georgia congressman and orthopedic surgeon, does not want the sole focus of his appearance before the Senate Health Committee on Wednesday to be his own proposal to repeal and replace Obamacare, according to a Trump transition official. He wants to avoid signaling that he is asking fellow lawmakers to endorse his plan to reform the country’s health care system. > > In the lead-up to his confirmation hearings, Price has been kept out of the Trump transition team’s efforts to craft an Obamacare replacement plan. According to a senior transition official, the incoming administration wants Price to be inoculated from questions about what Trump’s alternative to the Affordable Care Act looks like when he faces probing senators this week. > … > > The suggestion that Price does not want to lobby for his own Obamacare legislation is significant. > > Trump, whose most urgent legislative priority as president is to overhaul President Barack Obama’s signature health care law, said over the weekend that his own plan is almost complete and that he will unveil it as soon as Price is confirmed. > > The Price hearing comes as Republican lawmakers are also busy crafting a replacement blueprint, although a consensus alternative to the current health care system has yet to emerge… [Cite](http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/16/politics/tom-price-obamacare-donald-trump-confirmation-hearing/index.html) Price got a plan, Trump got a plan, Congress gonna get a plan one of these days. _All God’s chillun got a plan…_ Let’s make sure the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is up to. Do these clowns have any idea how stupid this makes them look?? :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2017, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-repeal-of-obamacare-aca-step-bystep-inch-by-inch/776146/291 "2017-01-17T05:39:33Z")
Oh, so do _you_ have a plan, Ms. Smarty Pants? They got three! And three is twice as much as one! ---
**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:** [January 18, 2017, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-repeal-of-obamacare-aca-step-bystep-inch-by-inch/776146/292 "2017-01-18T18:47:10Z")
…but we’re still in the dark. [Price says millions won’t lose insurance](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/18/us/politics/confirmation-hearing-cabinet.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=0) > [@](#): > > …Mr. Price was quick to offer a reassurance that the Republican effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act would not leave millions of people suddenly without health insurance, echoing other Republicans who have tried to soothe anxieties over the swift march toward repeal. > > “One of the important things that we need to convey to the American people is that nobody’s interested in pulling the rug out from under anybody,” Mr. Price said. “We believe that it’s absolutely imperative that individuals that have health coverage be able to keep health coverage and move, hopefully, to greater choices and opportunities for them to gain the kind of coverage that they want for themselves and for their families.” > > “I think there’s been a lot of talk about individuals losing health coverage,” Mr. Price added. “That is not our goal nor is it our desire nor is it our plan.” > > It remains unclear, however, what exactly Mr. Trump’s plan is to repeal and replace the health care law. Mr. Price did not shed much light on that… ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2017, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-repeal-of-obamacare-aca-step-bystep-inch-by-inch/776146/293 "2017-01-18T19:03:55Z")
Here’s my plan. The Republicans install a genuine single payer plan, like Obama didn’t even dare to attempt, and call it their own. We, the Loyal Opposition, will promise to pretend it never crossed our minds, that we will praise this startling Republican program to the very skies, and lay all the credit at their feet. They totally outsmarted us, we will humbly admit, but they have shown us the Way, and the Light. Don’t want to see any more news specials about doctors and nurses working for free in impromptu clinics out in the sticks, people waiting overnight for the simplest treatment, to get a tooth fixed, to get an infection treated. And if the doctor’s office is more crowded, if I have to wait an extra hour to two because they are there, I don’t give a fuck. Give the people what they need, let the bloodless cocksuckers take the credit, I don’t care. They don’t even have to be sincerely concerned, I don’t care if they do it for Baby Jesus or St. Ayn of Leningrad, just press the goddam button that says “Yes”! I will not snark, I will not sneer, I will tape my mouth shut and hammer my keyboard. Just do it. ---
**Author:** ![Tee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@Tee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tee)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2017, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-repeal-of-obamacare-aca-step-bystep-inch-by-inch/776146/294 "2017-01-18T20:30:44Z")
Single-payer = the government will take over health care, decimate the health insurance industry and start paying providers Medicare rates for everything. The idea is huge and messy enough to make me think “recession” and I don’t even belong to a country club. ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2017, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-repeal-of-obamacare-aca-step-bystep-inch-by-inch/776146/295 "2017-01-18T21:27:49Z")
> [@Tee](#): > > Single-payer = the government will take over health care, decimate the health insurance industry and start paying providers Medicare rates for everything. > > The idea is huge and messy enough to make me think “recession” and I don’t even belong to a country club. Think of the long term benefits though. Even if there’s short term pain while people who lose their jobs have to be retrained for something else. We’ll bounce back from it. Imagine a country with zero medical bankruptcies, where everybody who needs medical help can simply get it. Once single payer is implemented, I can’t imagine us ever going back. Think of the future generations decades and even centuries from now that will look back on our actions and thank us. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Wiggler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/red_wiggler/32/13190_2.png) [@Red\_Wiggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Wiggler)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2017, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-repeal-of-obamacare-aca-step-bystep-inch-by-inch/776146/296 "2017-01-18T21:28:59Z")
> [@Tee](#): > > Single-payer = the government will take over health care, decimate the health insurance industry and start paying providers Medicare rates for everything. > > The idea is huge and messy enough to make me think “recession” and I don’t even belong to a country club. Luci is probably right in the post prior to yours. The Republicans will eventually see single payer as the only affordable solution and that’s when we’ll have it. But, like someone else once said, “it’s taking longer than we thought.” ---
**Author:** ![Bookkeeper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bookkeeper/32/281_2.png) [@Bookkeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bookkeeper)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2017, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-repeal-of-obamacare-aca-step-bystep-inch-by-inch/776146/297 "2017-01-18T21:41:06Z")
> [@Tee](#): > > Single-payer = the government will take over health care, decimate the health insurance industry and start paying providers Medicare rates for everything. > > The idea is huge and messy enough to make me think “recession” and I don’t even belong to a country club. The health insurance industry will simply move to supplementary health insurance coverage plans, like they did in other countries. “Sure TrumpCare will pay for your hospital stay, but if you want a private room, you need GreenStar insurance.” ---
**Author:** ![Tee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@Tee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tee)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2017, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-repeal-of-obamacare-aca-step-bystep-inch-by-inch/776146/298 "2017-01-18T22:05:13Z")
I’m sorry, I am very open to ideas, but as of right now there is no way I’m believing that government health care as designed by modern conservatives is a _goal_. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2017, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-repeal-of-obamacare-aca-step-bystep-inch-by-inch/776146/299 "2017-01-18T22:24:07Z")
> [@Tee](#): > > Single-payer = the government will take over health care, decimate the health insurance industry and start paying providers Medicare rates for everything. > > The idea is huge and messy enough to make me think “recession” and I don’t even belong to a country club. It’s always good to have someone like yourself announce your opinions. I value the opinion of a random Internet poster much more than, say, health care economists who have spent a lifetime studying health care systems in major industrialized countries around the world. :rolleyes: You are correct in one respect, however: it would seriously degrade if not entirely decimate the traditional revenues of many companies engaged in the health insurance business. This is, however, a feature and not a bug – private health insurance for medically necessary procedures is a business that is morally and functionally equivalent to racketeering. When Canada moved systematically to single-payer health insurance, province by province, and eventually adopted uniform federal guidelines for universal health care principles, the health insurance industry complained that it was going to drive them out of business. The answer from the public and their elected representatives in government was essentially, “don’t let the door hit your ass on the way out”. The country has been fine ever since. ---
**Author:** ![Tee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@Tee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tee)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2017, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-repeal-of-obamacare-aca-step-bystep-inch-by-inch/776146/300 "2017-01-19T00:59:39Z")
By all means, consult the economists. Ask what’s likely to happen when the US health insurance industry tanks, all the “administrative costs” personnel are gone, and, most importantly, the $1T health care industry is forced to accept Medicare allowable costs in toto. Also, that’s kind of a strange view of insurance companies. It’s generally accepted that people without insurance are not getting health care. There’s a reason for this. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-repeal-of-obamacare-aca-step-bystep-inch-by-inch/776146.md?page=14) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-repeal-of-obamacare-aca-step-bystep-inch-by-inch/776146.md?page=16)