# What is your ongoing opinion of the Affordable Care Act? (Title Edited) **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [January 17, 2013, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561 "2013-01-17T23:21:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 100
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/1982 "2014-04-04T08:03:08Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > That would indicate that at least for now, results don’t matter as far as what people believe about the law. That means that the next edition of the [KHIP](http://www.healthy-ky.org/sites/default/files/KHIP_ACA_FINL_112012.pdf) (warning, PDF) will make interesting reading indeed - for the 2013 edition, the “negative impact” rating for the survey went up from 2012… It will bear watching as a case study won’t it? ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/1983 "2014-04-04T08:11:23Z")
It’ll also be interesting to see how Grimes views the situation. She’s got a real shot at McConnell and how she handles the health care issue will make a big difference. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/1984 "2014-04-04T16:31:47Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > results don’t matter as far as what people believe about the law. Well, not for \*some \*of you, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/1985 "2014-04-04T17:20:59Z")
The view from the Kentucky trenches: Those who have been added to Medicaid via the expansion–the vast majority of the newly covered–obviously love it. The state made a mess of Medicaid a few years ago by handing it over to a trio of private companies, but it works when it needs to. I expect those numbers to keep rising, since a lot of the people signing up this way are doing so as they come into contact with the health care system. The exchanges are trickier. Our plans are more expensive than the national average because we only have two major insurers and the competition just isn’t there. (This is one of the reasons we were able to set up such a successful exchange–we didn’t have that many insurers to plug in.) So I expect us to have a bigger holdout rate than most. But our individual insurance market was practically nonexistent before, and I know several people who just couldn’t get anything last year who can now and are grateful. For the same reason, I suspect that the number of people in KY who had individual plans they liked that were canceled is vanishingly small. I have not personally encountered one. The thing about Kentucky setting up its own exchange is that it puts some rhetorical distance between our system and “Obamacare”. The President is VERY unpopular here, and I think having its own branding and site has helped our system become the relative success that it has been. The problem is that it makes it hard for Democrats to take credit. I’m sure that there are plenty of people with new health insurance and very grateful for it who will nonetheless denounce “Obammycare” to anyone who asks and who will line up for the very turtle who will try to take it away from them. I’ll be curious to see how Grimes plays it. I don’t understand what motivates someone to vote for Mitch McConnell in the first place, so I don’t really know how you’d go about convincing them not to. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2014, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/1986 "2014-04-05T00:59:44Z")
McConnell spends a lot of taxpayer money buying votes in the state. You know, the kind of campaign spending campaign finance reformers think is okay. Minus the bacon, McConnell couldn’t win 25% of the vote. Back to the subject of health care, why would it be hard for Democrats to take credit for Kentucky’s implementation of ACA? I would think that Kentucky’s success would vault Breashear into the Presidential mix. ACA will almost certainly still be having implementation problems as of 2016. Why not promote a guy who has proven he can manage it? ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2014, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/1987 "2014-04-05T19:26:55Z")
Jumping to another state, the LA Times has an article about [Hawaii](http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-healthcare-coverage-20140406,6560625,7628714,full.story#axzz2y2aEFbf5) that provides an interesting contrast to most states. For forty years, there has been an employer mandate for coverage of all employees who work 20 or more hours per week. Nearly 90% of adults and 95% of children have coverage. Unlike the vote last week in congress… > [@LA Times](#): > > But even as the rest of the country continues to fight over Obama’s law, there has been virtually no talk in Hawaii about repealing the Prepaid Health Care Act, even among business leaders. > > “Like everywhere, employers have concerns about costs,” said Sherry Menor-McNamara, president of the state Chamber of Commerce. “But over the years, businesses have come to see the important impact of the law in improving health.” ---
**Author:** ![2ManyTacos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/3da27b/32.png) [@2ManyTacos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2ManyTacos)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2014, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/1988 "2014-04-05T20:01:18Z")
I’ve kind of been stewing over a sort of magnum opus analysis of the GOP anti-ACA assault writ large. I may or may not get it up here at some point, but in the meantime, here’s a [great article](http://www.nationaljournal.com/political-connections/the-health-care-reform-war-without-end-20140403) that touches on a few of the things I’ve been thinking about. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2014, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/1989 "2014-04-06T03:20:56Z")
Expect Medicare Advantage cuts to be the latest delay: > **[Dems ask Obama to stop health cuts](https://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/healthcare/202631-dems-plead-with-obama-not-to-cut-medicare-advantage/)** > > Democrats took to the House floor to call on Obama to avoid cuts to Medicare Advantage. Will this law ever actually be implemented? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2014, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/1990 "2014-04-06T04:26:02Z")
The story does not say there’s going to be a delay. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2014, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/1991 "2014-04-06T04:38:30Z")
Oh, please. All of the administration’s delays are politically motivated. Cutting Medicare Advantage in an election year didn’t happen in 2012, it won’t happen in 2014. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2014, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/1992 "2014-04-06T04:43:16Z")
If that’s true you shouldn’t have any trouble posting a cite that the administration is thinking about delaying the cuts. Maybe they are, but you posted a cite that says some Democrats are asking for delays. I did a search and was unable to find a current cite that says the cuts may be delayed. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2014, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/1993 "2014-04-06T04:56:00Z")
There won’t be a cite until they do the delay. Until it happens, they’ll insist up and down that there is no thought of a delay. And then they might even deny the did a delay, just like they’ve done with the individual mandate and the Mar. 31 deadline to sign up. They lawyer everything to death. The one thing we’ve been able to count on is that unless they are taken by surprise, they will delay anything that will cause Democrats problems in the coming election. Or at least try, as they did with the announcements of premium increases, which they claimed would give insurance companies more time to assess their risk pools. How nice of them. Unortunately, the insurance companies are still going to announce their new premiums in the summer. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2014, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/1994 "2014-04-07T01:39:18Z")
Another \*\*adaher \*\*prediction. Yippee. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2014, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/1995 "2014-04-07T03:40:45Z")
We’ll know Monday: > **[Obama’s new healthcare dilemma](https://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/medicare/202702-obamas-new-healthcare-dilemma/)** > > Democrats are battling the White House over proposed cuts to Medicare Advantage. BTW, your apologies to Republicans for calling their claims that Medicare Advantage would be cut “lies” are accepted. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2014, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/1996 "2014-04-07T03:48:12Z")
And BTW, I do hope I’m wrong about this one. Medicare Advantage SHOULD be cut. My issue with the Democrats is that once again, they wouldn’t defend a good policy on the merits. Instead, they lied about it and furthermore slandered their opponents in the process. So the President should cut Medicare Advantage as the law he signed and Democrats wrote directs. And they should then face the consequences of those cuts. To back away from the cuts would be yet another cowardly pullback from the political consequences of the law they supported and continue to support. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2014, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/1997 "2014-04-07T12:46:26Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > BTW, your apologies to Republicans for calling their claims that Medicare Advantage would be cut “lies” are accepted. You really do need to work harder at comprehension. The oft-told Republican lie, one which you have serially repeated here, no doubt out of sincere belief, is that those are cuts to _benefits_, not to overhead and bloat. Ryan proposes exactly the same thing, as you may also know. Your apology for mischaracterizing the facts will be accepted once you show you recognize that you have done so. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2014, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/1998 "2014-04-07T12:56:38Z")
Democrats in Congress want the cuts to stop precisely becuase they will lead to cuts in benefits. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2014, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/1999 "2014-04-07T12:58:16Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Democrats in Congress want the cuts to stop precisely becuase they will lead to cuts in benefits. Which Democrats? ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2014, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/2000 "2014-04-07T13:10:52Z")
The ones in the article. \*\*“The additional proposed cuts to the program released in February have raised grave concern from my constituents about their coverage and about the potential of having to pay more and having fewer benefits,” Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-Fla.) said. \*\* \*\*“We are here today because CMS … has proposed cuts to Medicare Advantage,” said Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.). "Next week, CMS will publish its final rule. “I urge CMS to not cut Medicare Advantage. These cuts will decrease choice, create uncertainty and undermine access to care for our seniors. I oppose these cuts.” Other Democrats said that millions of people around the country rely on Medicare Advantage and thousands of people in their districts would be affected by the cuts. “The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently proposed a 5.9 percent cut to this program, which could result in a reduction of benefits and increased premiums on Medicare beneficiaries by $35 to $75 a month,” Rep. John Barrow (D-Ga.) said. "That’s an added cost that many seniors simply cannot afford to pay every single month. Read more: [http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/healthcare/202631-dems-plead-with-obama-not-to-cut-medicare-advantage#.Uz3y5vq3fb8.twitter#ixzz2yCoiG3LU](http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/healthcare/202631-dems-plead-with-obama-not-to-cut-medicare-advantage#.Uz3y5vq3fb8.twitter#ixzz2yCoiG3LU) Follow us: @thehill on Twitter | TheHill on Facebook \*\* Liars, the whole bunch, I guess. See, the administration lawyered you on this one. Sure, benefits aren’t cut, because MEdicare Advantage PAYS no benefits. Neither does Medicare. By their definition, you could reduce payment rates to zero and no benefits would be cut whatsoever! At least not by the government. How insurers respond, and providers, well, they’d cut benefits. See, not the government’ fault. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2014, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/2001 "2014-04-07T14:18:55Z")
Not necessarily liars, except in bowing to what so many of their misinformed constituents say during an election year, but wrong all the same. You really ought to look into [some facts](http://www.politico.com/story/2014/02/medicare-advantage-spending-cut-103797.html). And then explain why there really isn’t even 3.55% worth of administrative bloat and executive bonuses available to cut. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561.md?page=99) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561.md?page=101)