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Posted on 11/13/2013 10:06:18 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
Democrats leaving the meeting said the administrative officials gave no details about what tweaks HHS has in mind, or when they might surface.
House Democratic leaders are doubling down in their opposition to GOP legislation allowing Americans to keep their healthcare plans, even as the party is taking a political drubbing over the contentious issue.
Although several centrist Democrats have already endorsed the Republican measure, sponsored by Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), Democratic leaders are digging in behind President Obama, who is adamantly opposed to the GOP bill.
"The Upton bill is just another attempt to undermine the Affordable Care Act. That's it. It's plain and simple," Rep. Joseph Crowley (N.Y.), vice chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, said Wednesday after a closed-door meeting of the Caucus in the Capitol. "And when my colleagues on our side understand that, I believe they'll vote against it."
"We're interested in working on anything that … improves the health security law," echoed Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.), the chairman of the Caucus. "But we're not interested in, once again, … repealing all or part of the health security law."
The comments arrive as the pressure is mounting on Obama to come up with administrative changes to the healthcare law that would allow more Americans to keep the insurance plans they currently purchase.
In the months leading up to the law's 2010 passage, Obama had promised that those who like their plans would have the option of staying in them. But in recent weeks, as the deadline for the individual insurance mandate has inched closer, millions of Americans have received cancellation notices revealing that their plans don't meet the minimum coverage criteria established by the law.
Democratic leaders have defended those dynamics, at once blaming insurance companies for offering inferior products and arguing that those who lose their current insurance will ultimately benefit by moving into more robust plans covering many more services.
"There is nothing in the Affordable Care Act that is requiring these policies to be cancelled," Becerra said. "That insurance companies are canceling health insurance policies that Americans may be holding today is the decision of those insurance companies."
Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) piled on, arguing that the Upton bill would allow patients to enroll in inferior plans that the healthcare law was designed to discourage.
"They could reinstate exclusions for pre-existing conditions. They could reinstate gender ratings that would make women pay more," she said. "In other words, [it's] a bill that would allow the insurance companies to go back to their old ways."
But Republicans have pounced, and House GOP leaders have upped the pressure by scheduling a Friday vote on the Upton bill.
"The president has an opportunity over the next couple of weeks to keep his promise," Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said Wednesday at a press briefing. "This is not about politics. These are about real people in our districts that are being harmed by ObamaCare."
As the story has churned countless headlines, a growing number of Democrats are also calling on the Obama administration to support a fix.
"Telling people that [these are] the worst kind of policies [that] don't cover anything does not undo the fact that it was a commitment that was made," Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.) said as he left Wednesday's Caucus meeting. "The insurance companies were bound to exploit this. We knew that from the beginning."
With the House vote just two days away, many Democrats are urging the White House to come up with an administrative alternative to the Upton bill before that measure hits the floor and Democrats face pressure to back it.
Briefing the Democrats at Wednesday's Caucus meeting were David Simas, the White House deputy senior advisor for communications and strategy, and Mike Hash, director of the office of health reform at the Department of Health and Human Services.
Democrats leaving the meeting said the administrative officials gave no details about what tweaks HHS has in mind, or when they might surface.
No, it won’t.
All Upton’s bill does is give insurance companies the OPTION to continue policies.
It delivers no benefit. There isn’t even an attempt to actually reverse the current situation. It just says “Well, you don’t HAVE to cancel the non-conforming plans.”
They’re already scheduled for cancellation or are cancelled. It’s a done deal. The time for this bill would have been about 10 months ago. The horse not only has left the barn, he’s out of the paddock, on the interstate and is about to be hit by a Peterbilt. It is a little late to be spending money on a new door latch.
much better correction, if 93 million lose their policies by this time next year, I predict dems will lose more than their jobs and power in DC.
So far.
The Upton bill provides for a POSSIBLE bifurcation in the insurance market. POSSIBLE.
But it won’t make it happen. And it won’t happen.
As it is, the Obamacare numbers will add up to a huge, crushing defeat for the Democrats a year from now. Get out of the way and allow that to happen.
Exactly.
This has the potential to turn into a historic repudiation of liberals’ ideas that the government can do anything and everything.
Yes, and I would guess many of the insurance companies will want to re-instate because they're losing out on premiums.
We all understand they're scheduled for cancellation. That's obvious. This legislation allows for that to be reversed something which can happen with the cooperation of Congress, the insurance companies, and the insurance commissioners within the states.
It is already going to happen. And the GOP helping millions of people is going to gain many more votes for our side.
I did hear that they have the authority to pay off the Insurance companies, but Congress has to approve the actual funds release. However, that is how it used to work, but the Constitution is just a piece of paper anymore so who knows.
The ping and quote is a courtesy that used to be common, just like when you mention someone’s name.
The brief moment of clarity has passed.
Good luck with that, Democraps.
Obamacare
It's only going to get worse™
That's silly. Your suggestion makes sense.
The bill allows Sebellius to bail out the insurance companies. More debt is a small price to pay for their dream of socialized medicine.
The plan will not collapse under its own weight. It must be repealed legislatively.
It won't even come to that. All the Democraps and media have to say is, "why are the Republicans witholding funds for healthcare? Do they want people to die?"
Boehner will fold faster than you can say, "cheap suit."
It seems like most people figured that Bill Clinton’s statement about ObamaCare the other day was meant for Hillary, but don’t forget, Clinton is a Democrat, and his loyalty to the Democrat Party is pretty strong. So, as well as helping Hillary, I think he was trying to send a message to Democrats that they need to get out in front of this ObamaCare debacle. Feinstein seems to have gotten the message. But these dopey Democrats in the house must be all kinds of stupid. Clinton throws them a life raft, and they want to stay in the water. I guess they think Obama is going to walk up to them and pull them out. They can all drown as far as I’m concerned!
the current plans are still in effect until 12/30/13 and would not be had to reinstate
The republican party has a terminal case of stupidity.
They have such an opportunity here. Not one of them voted for the ACA fiasco.
You'd think they'd be hammering the democrats for what they've FORCED on the American people, and all the massive damage it's causing.
What do they think the democrats would be doing/saying if the republicans had been the only ones to vote to FORCE the ACA nightmare on the people?
It's just soooo frustrating to see the constant caving, and whimpering, and cowering, while all the while-the Marxists in the White House march on with their efforts to destroy this nation.
yeah, i know, it just doesn’t happen to me that often. the people that almost always respond to me are directly responding to my post, not someone doing a courtesy ping.
No, it won’t work that way any more than helping pass immigration “reform” will convert hispanic illegals to the GOP.
This sort of wishful thinking is why the GOP is on the way to becoming a permanent minority party.
If the GOP has answers to bring relief to people numbers will continue to move in their direction.
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