The article talks about silver plans. If people are striving to get the low premiums when they buy and ACA plan they will buy a lower premium bronze plan and face even higher deductibles and copays.
It was good politics for Obama to delay the enforcement of ACA rules on business plans, which cover most working Americans. Had he not there would be a firestorm of opposition to him and the ACA in this election year. Obama and the Dems know most Americans won’t focus on the ACA until they are actually faced with higher costs and lower coverage. The 5-6 million people whose insurance was canceled are too small a group to matter politically today unless they are highly organized and well funded which they aren’t.
The firestorm has been effectively delayed until 2015. If the Republicans don’t take the Senate in 2014 the Senate Democrats are prepared to stonewall through the firestorm no matter how many times the Republican House votes to kill the ACA. The only chance House Republicans have to end the ACA will be using the appropriations process to defund it. They have always had that power but have not had the political courage to stand tall long enough through the resulting government shutdown to force Obama and the Senate to capitulate. It is hard to imagine Karl Rove and the other moneymen supporting this approach with the 2016 presidential election approaching.
If the Democrats lose the Senate the Republicans have a dilemma. When tens of millions of people on employer plans are facing 30% to 100% premium increases, plus higher deductibles and copays, in a single year there will be a cry from the people. Democrats and Obama will blame the problem on greedy insurance companies and demand single payer. Large multinational companies, and their K street moneymen, will be quietly telling the Republicans Senators to do nothing or acquiesce to single payer. Large corporations want to shed the cost of employer paid health care and won’t want repeal. As a result it is very unlikely a Republican Senate, with a one or two seat majority, will vote to repeal the ACA. All it will take is McCain, Graham, Alexander, Collins and perhaps one or two other Republican Senators, who want to be hailed in the press for 5 minutes as “bipartisan”, to kill repeal. Once repeal is killed once in Congress, Obamacare is permanent and the Republican Party is effectively dead for hard core conservatives.
Even if a Republican Senate passes a repeal measure by one or two votes, Obama will veto it. The Republicans will not have the votes to override and Obamacare will become a permanent entitlement. By 2016 the ACA will be old news, Hillary will run against Jeb Bush or Chis Christie in a “historic” election. With hard core conservatives staying home, and the white female swing vote going to Hillary, she will win comfortably and bring in a Democrat Senate. Game over. Beyond 2016, demographics will overwhelm the Republicans Party, particularly if amnesty is passed in 2014 or 2015, which it will be.
The ACA gives the executive branch and the bureaucracy unprecedented discretionary power over the lives of individual Americans and the language of the law prevents Congressional oversight. If Scalia and Kennedy don’t exit the Supreme Court by the end of Obama’s second term, their ages suggest they will fade out during the first term of Hillary. Once they are replaced by another Kagan or Sotomayor, there is no chance the Supreme Court will place any limits on the ACA or the power of the imperial Presidency.
The period of history we are living through is analogous to the end of the Roman Republic and establishment of the Roman Empire. The election of Obama and the passage of the ACA was effectively the tipping point when the American people, through their elected representatives, chose chains over freedom.
Over the next 5-6 years we will see the fundamental change Obama promised. Amnesty, which the Republican Party establishment has decided to back, will ensure the progressives stay in power permanently. The retirement of Scalia and Kennedy from the Supreme Court will give progressives a permanent majority on the court. Expect the 2nd Amendment to be interpreted as applying only to members of the National Guard, police departments, or state and federal law enforcement. Once the Court so rules, guns held by private citizens will be outlawed and forcibly collected. Freedom of religion will be restricted, particularly for christians. Hate speech laws will pass, upheld by the Supreme Court, and enforced by the bureaucracy. These laws will effectively shut down conservative talk radio and free speech on the internet. Any voices of opposition that aren’t silenced will be persecuted by the IRS for tax law violations or the Justice Department for real or imagined crimes.
In the early 1930’s Hitler could have been stopped if a few prominent men had chosen to be patriots instead of standing aside. Over the past six years, we’ve seen the tyrants (Obama, Pelosi, Reid) openly and without shame trampling liberty. At every key point, those who were in positions to make a difference (Boehner, McConnell, Cantor, McCain, Romney) have failed the test. Not only have they failed the test, they’ve aided the tyrants in stifling the voices of protest from the tea parties, Sarah Palin, Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, and a few others.
While it is true too many leaders have failed us in this time of peril, placing their comfortable lives and social status, ahead of their oath of office and duty the real fault lies with the American people. The American people of today are not the independent farmers of 1776 who rose up against the tyranny of the British Empire. Americans today are highly dependent on employers, government, and the technology of the modern age for their lives and happiness.
The progression from an agricultural society, in which most people were self reliant, to a modern technology enabled urban society has created dependency. In addition, as our ruling class has chosen to subject the American worker to competition from low cost labor from abroad, the government safety net has become more essential to survival for urban and suburban dwellers who, unlike the farmers of the founding, are unable to sustain life independently. The Americans of today have chosen to give up freedom for the perceived security of the safety net. It is ironic that the ACA, which today most moderates and liberals perceive as another reasonable addition to the safety net, will in the future be the vehicle future tyrants use to snuff out the lives of individuals who oppose the regime.
There is a feeling of discomfort in the population today. There seems to be a sense the nation is heading in the wrong direction but at the same time an unwillingness to blame it on the progressive policies of the current regime. Very few Americans are alarmed at destruction of the culture and the encroachments on individual liberty.
What will these Americans do in ten years when the ugly side of government tyranny is being displayed daily? When talk radio and other voices of opposition are gone. When the population is disarmed. When swat teams descend on the neighborhood carrying away the nice couple next door who occasionally said negative things about the president. When they are denied a medical procedure due to their age when the much older precinct captain of the majority party received the same procedure two months ago. When their IRA and 401K accounts taken and swept into social security to protect their savings from the market. Two years later when they are told their individual savings account is now being pooled and disbursements will be based on need determined by a bureaucrat instead of their own choice. When the armed forces begin swearing an oath to the president instead of the Constitution. When electricity supply is no longer reliable with periodic blackouts lasting days. When day to day life fundamentally changes will the Americans of the near future simply cope like the people of Venezuela, China, Cuba, Nicaragua, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union or will they march in the streets in mass despite the risk to life and property? Within ten years we will likely know.
How will it go in the US? Ukaine might be an example. One part of the country imposing its will on everyone else, and some areas not in accord fighting to determine their own path. Calls for federalization, with state and local rights. Some regions and communities will handle it well and have a future, otheres not so much.
So what you’re saying is, we should roll now and make the bass turds pay for what they’ve done to this country.
By election day most people on employer plans will know the bad news. Employee options are usually done in October.
Ayn Rand said that the time to go on strike was when you’re no longer allowed to vocally protest the government’s actions.