And afterwards, there will be 4 years in which private insurers go bankrupt, private firms stop offering coverage (hey, get it from the government!) and everyone gets sucked into some level of dependency.
And in 2016, it will seem nearly unthinkable that government healthcare ever be taken away.
Timing is everything, and the initial 3 year delay is very important for this thing to work as planned.
Actually, timing is everything but with a different scenario.
The elections in 2010 become a major issue....with Republicans retaking the house because of this issue, but the Democrats will still control the Senate. 2011 will be wasted as the White House can’t accomplish anything and the House can’t undo this mess. 2011 becomes the year that the President mostly travels outside of the US, for obvious reasons.
So 2012 comes and the entire election is based on one-subject...the universal health care package. It’ll be debated over and over and over. The President is counting on this as his one and only accomplishment for the whole four years....so his vote is dependent on people buying this whole thing...if not...then the new guy and new senate in 2013...undo the whole thing.
It’s a brilliant strategy. There isn’t another thing that this administration will accomplish over the remaining three years. It’s sitting there and preparing for the 2012 election...based on this one piece of legislation. The only thing that could throw a wrench into this...is the Supreme Court.