Obama has begun repealing Obamacare

Washington Post ^ | 12/23/13 | Jennifer Rubin

[Libloather]

Obamacare as written is already gone, dismantled by its namesake. Obamacare itself has not, strictly speaking, collapsed of its own weight. Rather, it has been changed from its original, unworkable form first by Chief Justice John Roberts and then by the president into some new, unworkable mishmash. Obamacare per se is already gone. The question remains whether the law in some form will remain or whether the 2016 contest will be about what sort of plan replaces Obamacare. The latter is the odds-on favorite.

David Brooks on “Meet the Press” yesterday predicted (correctly, in my view) further undoing of the law in 2014: “The American people don’t like mandates anymore. We’re a much more individualistic culture. And every moment when the administration has been faced with either mandating something or surrendering on this bill, they’ve surrendered each time. They’ve weakened each individual mandate all the way along. So you have to expect they’ll weaken and surrender on the mandate down the line.” That is in effect leaving only the shell of Obamacare still in place, a kind of face-saver for the lame-duck president.

[Libloather]

unworkable mishmash

He won’t use it. But in symbolic move, Obama signs up for Obamacare

[arthurus]

Any plan that “replaces” obamacare will be single-payer or will be a worse disaster on the way to single payer. The concept of market medicine is the one prohibited consideration. The power and inherent corruption entailed by socialized medicine of some sort is the guide to what will come from the COngress, the courts, and the president, primarily the president because he has already established that obamacare and by extension whatever health arrangements exist will be altered and manipulated with no limits by him. Congress will only complain and will not actually do anything that he does not ordain Congress to do.

[pepsionice]

Perhaps a number of folks will disagree with me...but I suspect this whole Affordable Healthcare Act was supposed to have collapsed with the Supreme Court making the ‘right decision’. By Roberts taking this one unexpected step...he’s hung a 900-pound anchor onto the President, who can’t fix or solve any part of the mess in order to make it function.

If Roberts had taken the bait...it would have turned the whole 2012 election into a debate about healthcare again, and recharged the nation to remake the Supreme Court into a political process. Instead, the anchor is solid and not about to fall off the party, the President or those in the House/Senate. Try making an election run in 2014 with the current charged up atmosphere....as a Democrat, it’s a lousy election with a marginal chance of winning unless you were in California or New York.

[Liz]

Pundits predict they’ll weaken and surrender the mandate down the line following Obama's surrendering individual mandates along the way. Only the shell of O/care will remain---as a kind of face-saver for the lame-duck president.

Sorry guys, "weakening and surrendering O/Care" does not quite square it w/ the electorate who were batterd and beaten down, forced to accept the O/care atrocity....or else.

The persistent Democrat drumbeat is still ringing in our ears. As far back as 2008, at the presidential debate in Nashville, Democrat candidate Obama advanced his signature plan that was ultimately enacted (by an historic straight Democrat party-line vote) into the "Affordable Care Act:

OBAMA: "No. 1, let me just repeat, if you’ve got a health care plan that you like, you can keep it. All I’m going to do is help you to lower the premiums on it. You’ll still have choice of doctor.”

Repeated over and over ---- with the promise that every American would be saving $2500.00 on healthcare costs.

DEMOCRATS CHIME IN:

SEN. HARRY REID (D-Nev.): “In fact, one of our core principles is that if you like the health care you have, you can keep it.” (Sen. Reid, Congressional Record, S.8642, 8/3/09)

SEN. RICHARD DURBIN: “We believe — and we stand by this — if you like your current health insurance plan, you will be able to keep it, plain and simple, straightforward.” (Sen. Durbin, Congressional Record, S.6401, 6/10/09)

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): “If you like your insurance, you keep it.” (U.S. Senate, Finance Committee, Bill Mark-Up, 9/29/09)

SEN. PATTY MURRAY (D-Wash.): “Again, if you like what you have, you will be able to keep it. Let me say this again: If you like what you have, when our legislation is passed and signed by the President, you will be able to keep it.” (Sen. Murray, Congressional Record, S.6400, 6/10/09)

SEN. MAX BAUCUS (D-Mont.): “That is why one of the central promises of health care reform has been and is: If you like what you have, you can keep it. That is critically important. If a person has a plan, and he or she likes it, he or she can keep it.” (Sen. Baucus, Congressional Record, S.7676, 9/29/10)

SEN. TOM HARKIN (D-Iowa): “One of the things we put in the health care bill when we designed it was the protection for consumers to keep the plan they have if they like it; thus, the term ‘grandfathered plans.’ If you have a plan you like — existing policies — you can keep them. … we said, if you like a plan, you get to keep it, and you can grandfather it in.” (Sen. Harkin, Congressional Record, S.7675-6, 9/29/10)

THEN-REP. TAMMY BALDWIN (D-Wis.): “Under the bill, if you like the insurance you have now, you may keep it and it will improve.” (Rep. Baldwin, Press Release, 3/18/10)

SEN. MARK BEGICH (D-Alaska): “If you got a doctor now, you got a medical professional you want, you get to keep that. If you have an insurance program or a health care policy you want of ideas, make sure you keep it. That you can keep who you want.” (Sen. Begich, Townhall Event, 7/27/09)

SEN. MICHAEL BENNET (D-Colo.): “We should begin with a basic principle: if you have coverage and you like it, you can keep it. If you have your doctor, and you like him or her, you should be able to keep them as well. We will not take that choice away from you.” (Sen. Bennet, Press Release, 6/11/09)

SEN. BARBARA BOXER (D-Calif.): “So we Democrats want people to be able to keep the health care they have. And the answer to that is choice of plans. And in the exchange, we’re going to have lots of different plans, and people will be able to keep the health care coverage they need and they want.” (Sen. Boxer, Press Release, 2/8/11)

SEN. SHERROD BROWN (D-Ohio): “Our Democrat bill says if you have health insurance and you like it, you can keep it…”(Sen. Brown, Congressional Record, S.12612, 12/7/09)

SEN. BEN CARDIN (D-Md.): “For the people of Maryland, this bill will provide a rational way in which they can maintain their existing coverage…” (Sen. Cardin, Congressional Record, S.13798, 12/23/09)

SEN. BOB CASEY (D-Pa.): “I also believe this Democrat legislation and the bill we are going to send to President Obama this fall will also have secure choices. If you like what you have, you like the plan you have, you can keep it. It is not going to change.” (Sen. Casey, Congressional Record, S.8070, 7/24/09)

SEN. KAY HAGAN (D-N.C.): ‘People who have insurance they’re happy with can keep it’ “We need to support the private insurance industry so that people who have insurance they’re happy with can keep it while also providing a backstop option for people without access to affordable coverage.” (“Republicans Vent As Other Compromise Plans Get Aired,” National Journal’s Congress Daily, 6/18/09)

SEN. MARY LANDRIEU (D-La.): “If you like the insurance that you have, you’ll be able to keep it.” (MSNBC’s Hardball, 12/16/09)

SEN. PAT LEAHY (D-Vt.): “[I]f you like the insurance you now have, keep the insurance you have.” (CNN’s “Newsroom,” 10/22/09)

SEN. BOB MENENDEZ (D-N.J.): “If you like what you have, you get to keep it” “Menendez is a member of the Senate Finance Committee, which is expected to release a bill later this week. He stressed that consumers who are satisfied with their plans won’t have to change. ‘If you like what you have, you get to keep it,’ he said.” (“Health Care Plan Would Help N.J., Menendez Says,” The Record, 6/19/09)

SEN. JEFF MERKLEY (D-Oreg.): “[E]nsuring that those who like their insurance get to keep it” “The HELP Committee bill sets forward a historic Democrat plan that will, for the first time in American history, give every American access to affordable health coverage, reduce costs, and increase choice, while ensuring that those who like their insurance get to keep it.” (Sen. Merkley, Press Release, 7/15/09)

SEN. BARBARA MIKULSKI (D-Md.): “It means that if you like the insurance you have now, you can keep it.” (Sen. Mikulski, Press Release, 12/24/09)

SEN. JAY ROCKEFELLER (D-W.Va.): “I want people to know, the President’s promise that if you like the coverage you have today you can keep it is a pledge we intend to keep.” (U.S. Senate, Finance Committee, Hearing, 9/23/09)

SEN. JACK REED (D-R.I.): “If you like the insurance you have, you can choose to keep it.” (Sen. Reed, Town Hall Event, 6/25/09)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-Vt.): “‘If you have coverage you like, you can keep it,’ says Sen. Sanders.” (“Sick And Wrong,” Rolling Stone, 4/5/10)

SEN. JEANNE SHAHEEN (D-N.H.): ‘if you have health coverage that you like, you get to keep it’ “My understanding … is that … if you have health coverage that you like you can keep it. As I said, you may have missed my remarks at the beginning of the call, but one of the things I that I said as a requirement that I have for supporting a Democrat bill is that if you have health coverage that you like you should be able to keep that. …under every scenario that I’ve seen, if you have health coverage that you like, you get to keep it.” (Sen. Shaheen, “Health Care Questions From Across New Hampshire,” Accessed 11/13/13)

SEN. DEBBIE STABENOW (D-Mich.): “As someone who has a large number of large employers in my state, one of the things I appreciate about the Democrat chairman’s remark is — is the grandfathering provisions, the fact that the people in my state, 60 percent of whom have insurance, are going to be able to keep it. And Mr. Chairman, I appreciate that. That’s a strong commitment. It’s clear in the bill … I appreciate the strong commitment on your part and the president to make sure that if you have your insurance you can keep it. That’s the bottom line for me.” (U.S. Senate, Finance Committee, Bill Mark-Up, 9/24/09)

SEN. JON TESTER (D-Mont.): “‘If you like your coverage, you’ll be able to keep it,’ Tester said, adding that if Medicare changes, it will only become stronger”. (“Tester In Baker To Discuss Health Care,” The Fallon County Times, 11/20/09)

SEN. TOM UDALL (D-N.Mex.): “Some worried reform would alter their current coverage. It won’t. If you like your current plan, you can keep it.” (“What I Learned: About Health Care Reform This Summer, By Your Lawmakers In Congress,” Albuquerque Journal, 9/8/09)

SEN. SHELDON WHITEHOUSE (D-R.I.): “..it honors President Obama’s programs and the promise of all of the Presidential candidates that if you like the plan you have, you get to keep it. You are not forced out of anything.” (Sen. Whitehouse, Congressional Record, S.8668, 8/3/09)

Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) the 60th vote on Obamacare: "people who are happy with their current plan, wouldn't need to change it."

FRANKEN YOUTUBE SOUND BITE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCZmAYYNz8Ihttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCZmAYYNz8I

[kevslisababy]

This makes me think of the before and after pictures of people “addicted” to plastic surgery. After so many “fixes”, the person is totally unrecognizable.

[Gaffer]

I think Obama’s remainder is anything but Lame Duck. This man is an oppressive narcissist and a tyrant. Once his cabal of ideological how to best ‘optic out’ a complete transition to Single Payer (without calling it that), he will act ruthlessly.

By executive order, he will order insurance companies to pay claims, hospitals to treat, and suspend pending litigation during the interim wherein HE will have a national healthcare scheme frameworked.

It will be declared under national emergency, and the very first action will be a massive national tax - and he’ll order the IRS to collect it.

Democrats are not going to give the idea of national healthcare up without a massive fight.

[Candor7]

Obama doesn’t really care about whether Obama care works. His goal is ti destroy private health insurance, and to nationalize the health care industry. He has almost accomplished this goal, and it is why he will not repeal the draconian Affordable Health care Act.

The whole purpose of Obama Care is to nationalize the entire health care system, not provide care to anyone in particular.Doctors, nurses, EMTs, med techs? Watch your earning capacity go SOUTH as Obama targets you.

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

I’m not sure the gyrations will take the exact form you predict, but like you, I believe we’ll be looking at the actions and animations of a caged animal when it comes to morphing this cursed thing into its next, next, and next forms.

I definitely know it will not go quietly.

[Gaffer]

I think your caged animal description is very accurate. I only tried to imagine what I would do were I him. But as you say, we can only count on him to react in some vicious manner.

[Hostage]

> “The question remains whether the law in some form will remain or whether the 2016 contest will be about what sort of plan replaces Obamacare. The latter is the odds-on favorite.”

This is the Washington Post. This is their way of conditioning their dwindling readership as well as reassuring themselves that the federal government will still have a role to play; “either federal government option A or federal government option B”.

And then when the 2x4 of reality bonks them on the head, they always fall back on “Well, what’s the Republican Plan?” and then in response the GOPe will trot out someone the likes of Paul Ryan who “has a plan”. Yep, just what is needed, a ‘federal plan’.

How about no federal government option, no federal plan? Leave it to state and local governments, and local community organizations, just as it is now. It’s not perfect but it’s the best in the world by far.

[RedMDer]

Outstanding. Thank you for the quotes.

[livius]

I agree with your assessment. He’s got something even worse up his sleeve and he feels that the crisis he has created with this will give him the opportunity to do it.

I think you ‘re right on the massive tax, too. One of the big demands of the global progressive movement right now is a one- time 10% tax on wealth (that is, on assets) of anyone possessing more than a certain amount. I think this is what he is going to try to do in the US and that by collapsing health care and creating this crisis in the lives of the citizens, he has set the stage to simply order this tax.

[Liz]

Nice take..... when the reality 2x4 bonks them on the head again, Democrats parrot the DNC fall back position: “Well, what’s the Republican Plan?”

Mmmmmmm.....Democrats will be buying cases of Pepto (w/ you tax dollars) when this ad runs; words like "straight party line vote" will bring every Democrat candidate to their knees (now until kingdom come).

And I quote.... "Obamacare is the ONLY legislation in modern American history enacted on a straight party-line Democrat vote......

Obama herded braindead Democrats into voting into law a plan that was specifically designed to:

<><> upend the medical delivery system,

<><> leave millions of American families and children without health coverage,

<><> and nationalize 1/6 of the US economy.

Obama herded Democrat cows to pasture....and now the chickens are coming home to roost. ROTFLOL.

============================================

GOING VIRAL AS WE TYPE: "Democrats took AWAY our health care. They took away our doctors. They made healthcare prohibitively expensive."

"Then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi egged on Democrats---saying Americans could not wait any longer for Obama's perfect health care."

"Democrats steamrolled over Americans---they had nothing to stop them: super-majority voting power, Obama buying their aye votes, and Nancy Pelosi irresponsibly evading Congressional mandates---pressuring Democrats not to read ACA before voting."

"Repubs tried to stop the Democrats....every Republican voted against the ACA. There were numerous Republican bills---Sen Mike Enzi's bill aimed to help Americans keep their plans.......three years before the cancellation avalanche. "

"Democrats decisively voted down countless Republican attempts to assist Americans."

=========================================

NOTE Deranged Dumbocrats are braindead---they plumb "forgot" they voted against countless Republican attempts to assist Americans.

[Alberta's Child]

You raise a very good point there. I'd also suggest that the term "Obamacare" is a misnomer. I don't think this was really a top priority for Obama, despite his Marxist philosophy. A more appropriate name would have been "Pelosi-Care," since this was crafted behind closed doors by Congress and stuck on Obama's desk to sign without much reflection at all.

I have no interest in defending Obama, but I even suspect that he probably thought he was telling the truth when he uttered his Lie of the Year (if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor). He didn't have a clue what was in Obamacare, and Nancy Pelosi's infamous statement -- "We have to pass the bill so you can find out what is in it" -- applied to Barack Obama as much as anyone else.

[Alberta's Child]

I think you have this all wrong. Everything Obama has done to date has been to cut Obamacare's legs out from underneath it. By executive order he has done most of what the Republican Party has been calling for ever since Obamacare was passed.

Think about it, folks: The biggest complaint the Republican Party has right now is that Obama is refusing to follow the mandates of a law that they never supported in the first place ... and he's doing this only because the House and Senate Democrats who passed the stupid law in the first place don't want to face the political consequences of the stupid law they passed.

It doesn't get any more bizarre than that.

[lavaroise]

Expect the gOPe to think inside the box and think they have a job of foxing it, handed to them by democrats. stupid party.

[b4its2late]

The government intrusion part of it will remain intact.

[Pollster1]

I expected Obama's worst legacy to be evil laws, such as ObamaCare, and the massive debt that will cripple our economy for at least a generation. I was wrong. The precedent of governing under Calvinball rules will be even worse. While a conservative who is not squeamish about taking care that the laws be faithfully executed can grant lifetime ObamaCare waivers to every person and business in the country, a big government liberal (whether Democrat or Republican) can do just about anything imaginable, and America's enemies have a lot of imagination.

[Gaffer]

Going back years before he was elected, his litany of socialist spew has been focused on two things: redistributive equity, and single-payer healthcare. Over and over again, these two things.

Actually, I don’t think he gives a rat’s twit about the House or the Senate. It’s true, he’s had to undercut/delay parts of it, but this was the plan. First, delay everything so his 2012 election was assured, and now that his baby has the whooping cough, he’s put her on superdoses of delay this and that until after the 2014 elections.

He only cares about the House and Senate insofar as the Republicans not taking over the Senate, and he’s buying those seats off left and right with money (Landrieu, McConnell, Graham et al) His goal is to implement his agenda, and he has three more years. Once he gets it, single-payer, it will never be taken away. And, with that single-payer comes the redistributive equity in the form of massive tax assessments.

[puppypusher]

Symbolic my a$$.Everything this crimanal administration does is Fraudulent.