# 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:** 186
**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:** [October 25, 2015, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/3702 "2015-10-25T16:42:40Z")
I think that the healthcare insurance system in the US is screwed for the forseeable future. This is due to a number of factors which have all been covered here to one extent or another: 1. Americans on the whole don’t like change. Once something is a certain way, then that is the way it should stay. Forever. For example, just try to remove the paper dollar bill. Or eliminate the penny. Forget it… that would be different, and people will not stand for that. And of course, don’t even think of debating removing “Under God” from the pledge of allegiance. Those words have been in there for the past 750 years, amiright? 2. Americans on the whole like to think of themselves as strong and independent. They do EVERYthing themselves. Nobody helped them to get where they are. If you are not successful, you are personally responsible for being a loser. Most other countries think that living in a cohesive societal unit conveys benefits as well as responsibilities. Libertarianism is a distinctly American phenomenon. The thought of helping someone out through a group effort (via your elected government) is distinctly un-American 2a. Working together to achieve a common goal is COMMUNIST. The Anti-commie scares of the 1950’s continue to have a deep effect on Americans 1. Of course, the levers of power in the United States are moved by those with large amounts of money. These days that means large corporations. Once large corporations are benefiting from for-profit health care, there is virtually no possible way to dislodge them, short of a complete revolution. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/3703 "2015-10-25T16:46:42Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > That case actually has merit, since no one disputes that the bill originated in the Senate. Well, besides the entire body of the federal appeals court which ruled against the plaintiffs, including the four Republican-nominated judges, as you’d know if you’d actually read the article; > [@](#): > > When the full 11-judge appeals court considered whether to hear the case, the four Republican-appointed judges concluded that the legislation should qualify as revenue-producing. But they would have ruled in favor of the administration anyway. **They said the bill properly originated in the House** , even if the measure was stripped of its original language. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Knig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/3704 "2015-10-25T17:29:40Z")
OMFG, how many bites at the legal apple do you get if you have money and are crazy? At this rate in 2037 the news of Mark Watney’s rescue will be overshadowed by lawsuits going to SCOTUS about PPACA and the Oxford comma. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/3705 "2015-10-25T18:10:53Z")
It originated in the HOuse only by violating the spirit of the origination clause. Which is normal procedure, of course, but let’s be real now. Once Ed Kennedy died, the Senate bill wasn’t going to be changed, so the HOuse had to pass it pretty much as-is. Which they did. The bill originated in the Senate in all but the most technical sense. They may be lawyers, but we don’t have to be. This is the Straight Dope, not the Legalistic Dope. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/3706 "2015-10-25T18:11:57Z")
> [@Typo\_Knig](#): > > OMFG, how many bites at the legal apple do you get if you have money and are crazy? At this rate in 2037 the news of Mark Watney’s rescue will be overshadowed by lawsuits going to SCOTUS about PPACA and the Oxford comma. No law has created more openings for lawsuits. At least one of which was successful(medicaid expansion). ---
**Author:** ![inscrutable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a88e4f/32.png) [@inscrutable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/inscrutable)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/3707 "2015-10-25T22:29:40Z")
> [@rsa](#): > > Seems that all those health care insurers that were so opposed to Obamacare are now embracing it, as is Wall Street. So why are the Republicans attempting to repeal Obamacare and hurt America’s corporations? > > [Health Insurers Gain Under Obamacare - Zacks Equity Research](http://www.zacks.com/commentary/59863/health-insurers-gain-under-obamacare?cid=CS-TICKERTECH-HL-59863) So higher profits for insurance companies is a victory here? ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Knig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2015, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/3708 "2015-10-26T02:26:01Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > No law has created more openings for lawsuits. At least one of which was successful(medicaid expansion). I disagree. No law has been so assaulted with suits. Not even civil rights legislation. A well-funded group of people have attacked every iota and jot of the PPACA, time and again and again and now again. We may reach the point when there are more anti-PPACA lawsuits than there are words in the PPACA law. I think we’ll have peace in the Middle East before this abuse of process stops. And why? Costs are coming down, insurance company profits are up, insurance companies are now guaranteed more customers, and those customers will have access to health care and therefore be less expensive for the insurance companies. Who is fighting this? Who, even in their wrong mind, is fighting this? You want a principled fight on Constitutional grounds? How about overturning the Executive branch’s legal basis for kidnapping or murder of any person anywhere on the planet - including US citizens, and including US soil. Or Uncle Spy’s legal basis for reading all our emails and recording and indexing all of our phone calls. Those are much more noble goals than keeping some poor sick kid from getting medicine. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2015, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/3709 "2015-10-26T18:03:13Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > The bill originated in the Senate in all but the most technical sense. The only sense which **matters** , in other words. Are you now going to argue that the Patriot Act and any number of hundreds of other routine acts of Congress which were passed by similar means are _also_ unconstitutional? Or just the one that was Obama’s idea? ---
**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:** [October 27, 2015, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/3710 "2015-10-27T01:51:09Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > It originated in the HOuse only by violating the spirit of the origination clause. How would characterize this spirit; as an emanation, or a penumbra? ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2015, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/3711 "2015-10-27T06:00:01Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > How would characterize this spirit; as an emanation, or a penumbra? All I know is that during a visit to the National Archives, I got slimed. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2015, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/3712 "2015-10-27T09:37:32Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > All I know is that during a visit to the National Archives, I got slimed. That’s just Nick Cage. They keep telling him they’re not making another _National Treasure_ film but he won’t leave. ---
**Author:** ![glowacks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/glowacks/32/5548_2.png) [@glowacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glowacks)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2015, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/3713 "2015-10-31T03:28:53Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Well then we’d better hurry up and ban solar powered flashlights. > > Actually, there is a market because you get it faster at a private clinic or hospital. There is a market for Solar Powered Flashlights. Just [search Google](https://www.google.com/search?q=solar+powered+flashlight&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8). They all, of course, have batteries that are rechargeable with built in solar panels. ---
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/3714 "2015-11-16T23:52:51Z")
Man, it’s going to take generations to turn this around. New data in The Economist using a pretty graph - data for healthcare seems to take forever to come through, this is still for 2013: > **[The Economist | World News, Economics, Politics, Business & Finance](https://www.economist.com/)** > > Authoritative global news and analysis. Offering fair-minded, fact-checked coverage of world politics, economics, business, science and tech, culture and more ---
**Author:** ![lance\_strongarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lance\_strongarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lance_strongarm)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2015, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/3715 "2015-11-17T00:18:46Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > That case actually has merit, since no one disputes that the bill originated in the Senate. > > It’s just that the rules haven’t been obeyed for 100 years or so. The price of electing lawyers to Congress: rules are something to be gotten around. Wrong. The bill technically originated in the House because the final version had a House number. That’s why the lawsuit will fail. But the rule has never been followed because it is a pointless rule that really can’t be followed. Both houses must pass a bill, so it doesn’t matter where it comes from. The Senate simply works on its own bill, then waits for the House to send its bill and amends the entire bill to replace the language with its own before sending it to a conference committee. This happens with many bills, by the way. The Senate doesn’t, and shouldn’t, sit around and wait to work on a bill like this until the House sends its bill over - it knows it is coming over from the House. If the House didn’t want a revenue bill passed, it would simply not pass one, even if the Senate passed a version first. So the rule is completely pointless. (By the way, the rule only mentions revenue, the origination of spending bills from the House is a tradition but not part of the rule). ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2015, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/3716 "2015-11-17T02:35:21Z")
> [@2ManyTacos](#): > > [ACA opponents are appealing the origination clause case to the Supreme Court.](http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/supreme-court-health-care?utm_content=buffer06ee5&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer) > > Because of course they are. > [@](#): > > Sandefur said the justices will face one challenge to the law after another until it is significantly changed or repealed. I have to thank those guys anyhow for reminding me and many others that the next president is more likely to appoint new supreme court judges. So a Democrat it should be. ---
**Author:** ![2ManyTacos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/3da27b/32.png) [@2ManyTacos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2ManyTacos)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/3717 "2016-01-08T17:56:21Z")
Obama actually [vetoed](http://www.politico.com/story/2016/01/obama-vetoes-obamacare-repeal-bill-217505) a repeal of the ACA today. Duh. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/3718 "2016-01-08T18:14:29Z")
What is the GOP’s alternative to ACA? If they succeed in repealing it, will they have anything to offer in its place? ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/3719 "2016-01-08T18:29:00Z")
> [@vivalostwages](#): > > What is the GOP’s alternative to ACA? If they succeed in repealing it, will they have anything to offer in its place? What does it matter? Let me correct that … it doesn’t matter to Republicans. The status quo prior to ACA would be fine with them. Haven’t you noticed that the country has been crumbling into ruins since it was passed? ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/3720 "2016-01-08T18:31:32Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > What does it matter? Let me correct that … it doesn’t matter to Republicans. The status quo prior to ACA would be fine with them. Haven’t you noticed that the country has been crumbling into ruins since it was passed? :smack: Oh, that’s right. And ACA “doesn’t work.” (The fact that I’ve been using it for some time now with no problems doesn’t count.) ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/3721 "2016-01-08T18:42:29Z")
> [@vivalostwages](#): > > :smack: Oh, that’s right. And ACA “doesn’t work.” > > (The fact that I’ve been using it for some time now with no problems doesn’t count.) Yeah, well, some other guy on the internet is paying twice as much now! He’s doing that because he’s too ignorant to know that pre ACA he had a useless catastrophic plan that would do nothing for him if he got sick. But you know, tyranny. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561.md?page=185) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561.md?page=187)