# 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:** 129
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/2562 "2014-06-25T12:56:14Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > THat’s fantastic news. Did anyone predict that ACA would have no benefits, that nothing would go better than expected? I do know there are some who seem to insist that nothing is going worse than expected, or badly. After the first day, I’m sure Eisenhower thought that D-Day was going worse than expected and nothing went better than expected. It still came out ok. The ACA is off the beaches and moving inland, it will make up for that initial fierce resistance just as well. ---
**Author:** ![2ManyTacos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/3da27b/32.png) [@2ManyTacos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2ManyTacos)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2014, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/2563 "2014-07-01T21:41:55Z")
As I said in the relevant GD thread, yesterday’s Hobby Lobby decision is complete and total nonsense IMO. That said, I’m much more interested to see the resolution of Halbig v. Sebelius, which should bee coming down any day now. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2014, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/2564 "2014-07-01T22:45:05Z")
> **[Op-Ed: Get ready for an even bigger threat to Obamacare](https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-oe-0701-turley-obamacare-subsidy-halbig-20140701-story.html)** > > Now that the Supreme Court has issued its ruling in the Hobby Lobby case, the legal fight over the Affordable Care Act will shift a few blocks away to another Washington courtroom, where a far more fundamental challenge to Obamacare is about to be... The administration’s loss in the Hobby Lobby case is a bitter pill to swallow, but it is not a lethal threat to Obamacare. For critics of the law, Halbig is everything that Hobby Lobby is not. Where Hobby Lobby exempts only closely held corporations from a portion of the ACA rules, Halbig could allow an mass exodus from the program. And like all insurance programs, it only works if large numbers are insured so that the risks are widely spread. Halbig could leave Obamacare on life support — and lead to another showdown in the Supreme Court. “an mass exodus”? latimes is slipping. Fingers crossed, anyway. Could be a much needed stake through the heart for ACA if decided for Halbig. Kinda funny that Turley, who, IIRC, was completely dismissive of Halbig case as frivolous, is now in a mild panic. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2014, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/2565 "2014-07-01T22:54:27Z")
Past edit: my bad, Turley was not the one before thinking Halbig was frivolous. ---
**Author:** ![2ManyTacos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/3da27b/32.png) [@2ManyTacos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2ManyTacos)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2014, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/2566 "2014-07-01T23:04:05Z")
Yeah, I almost linked to that article in my last post. I don’t know how many times I’ve said that Halbig is one of the dumbest lawsuits to have ever come across the country, and it really points to ACA opponents desperation to undermine the legislation no matter how many straws they have to grasp. Now, its practical effect would be to screw a helluva lot of people out of insurance within the 34+ states that opted for the federal marketplace. And c’mon, why the FUCK would the Supreme Court want to rule on the ACA for the THIRD F’N TIME. It’s frivolous beyond words, really. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/2567 "2014-07-02T17:11:38Z")
The ACA failed to focus on the real problem all along: the ludicrously high cost of health care. Getting insurance to cover a $60,000 surgical procedure wasn’t the solution. Cutting the cost down to, say, $3,000, while keeping quality and availability just as high, was. ---
**Author:** ![jfreakofkorn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecc23a/32.png) [@jfreakofkorn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jfreakofkorn)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/2568 "2014-07-02T17:29:19Z")
i am not for the non-affordable care act my co pay has gone up along w/ many others in my policy i do not want to imagine the full effect of this ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/2569 "2014-07-02T17:39:18Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > The ACA failed to focus on the real problem all along: the ludicrously high cost of health care. > > Getting insurance to cover a $60,000 surgical procedure wasn’t the solution. Cutting the cost down to, say, $3,000, while keeping quality and availability just as high, was. That’s one of the “real problems” (and, depending on the metrics looked at, the ACA has reduced costs), but there are others, like the high numbers of uninsured, and folks with pre-existing conditions not being able to get insurance that the ACA helps to solve pretty unambiguously. ---
**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:** [July 2, 2014, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/2570 "2014-07-02T18:26:52Z")
> [@jfreakofkorn](#): > > my co pay has gone up along w/ many others in my policy Before Obamacare, did your premiums, copays or coinsurance ever go up? ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2014, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/2571 "2014-07-03T13:53:08Z")
I’m confused. [I thought the ACA was supposed to _destroy_ jobs?](http://money.cnn.com/2014/07/03/investing/june-jobs-report/index.html?hpt=hp_t1) > [@CNN](#): > > The American jobs recovery seems to have finally hit its stride. > > The U.S. economy added 288,000 jobs in June, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Thursday. > > That number beats economists’ expectations and comes along with other good news: Job growth was revised higher for both May and April. > > Taken altogether, that means employers added 1.4 million jobs in the first six months of the year. > > That’s the strongest six months for job growth since 2006. > > Meanwhile, the unemployment rate is now 6.1%, down from 6.3% in May. The drop came for the right reasons: More Americans said they had jobs, plus more people joined the labor force. > > Another encouraging sign: pay is on the rise. Hourly wages ticked up 0.2% in June and are up 2% in the past 12 months. Of course, he’s still the worst President since WW2. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2014, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/2572 "2014-07-03T14:28:24Z")
How is Halbig stupid? Not only does the text say that only state exchanges get subsidies, that was the INTENT. Now the administration wants to reinterpret the law in light of the unpleasant reality that 34 states opted not to set up exchanges. I’d say that counts as a pretty valid lawsuit. Unless of course we are not a nation of laws, but merely a nation where whatever result you desire should be what happens. Rule of men, in other words. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2014, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/2573 "2014-07-03T14:33:12Z")
And yet the DC District Court[laughed it out of court](https://ecf.dcd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show_public_doc?2013cv0623-67), in the inimitable way judges have. Imagine that. > [@](#): > > Plaintiffs’ theory is tenable only if one accepts that in enacting the ACA, Congress intended to compel states to run their own Exchanges – or at least to provide such compelling incentives that they would not decline to do so. The problem that plaintiffs confront in pressing this argument is that there is simply no evidence in the statute itself or in the legislative history of any intent by Congress to ensure that states established their own Exchanges. And when counsel for plaintiffs was asked about this at oral argument, he could point to none. See Dec. 3, 2013 Tr. 8-18. Indeed, if anything, the legislative history cuts in the other direction and suggests that Congress intended to provide states with flexibility as to whether or not to establish and operate Exchanges. See infra at 35-38. > > Nor does plaintiffs’ theory make intuitive sense. A state-run Exchange is not an end in and of itself, but rather a mechanism intended to facilitate the purchase of affordable health insurance. And there is evidence throughout the statute of Congress’s desire to ensure broad access to affordable health coverage. See, e.g., 42 U.S.C. § 18091(2)(D)-(G). It makes little sense to assume that Congress sacrificed nationwide availability of the tax credit – which plaintiff David Klemencic previously described as critical to the operation of the Exchanges, Brief for Private Petitioners on Severability, Nat’l Fed’n of Indep. Bus. v. Sebelius, 132 S. Ct. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/2574 "2014-07-04T14:19:21Z")
There’s just one small problem: the text: “enrolled in through an Exchange established by the State under section 1311.” Federal exchanges are section 1321. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2014, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/2575 "2014-07-05T11:06:22Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > Fingers crossed, anyway. Could be a much needed stake through the heart for ACA if decided for Halbig. Kinda funny that Turley, who, IIRC, was completely dismissive of Halbig case as frivolous, is now in a mild panic. It continues to boggle my mind to see so many Americans root for so many other Americans to be forced to go without health insurance. Really, why do you guys hate Americans? ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2014, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/2576 "2014-07-05T12:15:15Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > It continues to boggle my mind to see so many Americans root for so many other Americans to be forced to go without health insurance. > > Really, why do you guys hate Americans? You forgot [the children](http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f259/bigbadterr/lovejoy.jpg). What I hate is seeing millions more Americans being deliberately hooked on government handouts. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2014, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/2577 "2014-07-05T12:19:53Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > You forgot [the children](http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f259/bigbadterr/lovejoy.jpg). > > What I hate is seeing millions more Americans being deliberately hooked on government handouts. All children who ride on roads, eat food grown by American farmers, get vaccinations, live in houses owned by their parents, etc., are ‘hooked on government handouts’. And they have been for decades. I don’t see how it’s hurt them. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2014, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/2578 "2014-07-05T12:27:39Z")
In that case, why does anyone need to work? We can all take handouts and nothing bad will come of it. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2014, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/2579 "2014-07-05T16:59:50Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > In that case, why does anyone need to work? We can all take handouts and nothing bad will come of it. This is incoherent and child-like. Nuance exists. Grey areas exist. The way Republicans talk about “handouts” is infantile and makes no sense whatsoever. ---
**Author:** ![WWhiskey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f9ae1b/32.png) [@WWhiskey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WWhiskey)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2014, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/2580 "2014-07-05T18:44:11Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > If Obama had said “IF you like your insurance and IF your insurance is ACA-compliant and IF your insurer doesn’t get out of the business you can keep your insurance. IF you like your doctor and IF your doctor accepts your new insurance IF you have to change or IF your doctor still accepts your old insurance IF you don’t have to change, you can keep your doctor”, would that have made you happy? Looks like you are picking an ever shrinking nit. If Obama would have said any of that, he wouldn’t have got a second term, or it would have never passed, the second part being doubtful only because demorcrats controlled by both house at passage ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/2581 "2014-07-07T14:01:07Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > What I hate is seeing millions more Americans being deliberately hooked on government handouts. ACA is private insurance for which the covered pay premiums. Have you been paying no attention whatsoever? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561.md?page=128) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561.md?page=130)