Pirate's Cove

Does anyone think Obamacare supporters are getting a bit nervous over the coming announcement as to how the Supreme Court rules on Obamacare? Here’s EJ Dionne’s take

Any day now, the U.S. Supreme Court may make possible something that has yet to happen: an honest and complete discussion of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA).

Perhaps EJ should have a talk with Nancy Pelosi, whon infamously said “we have to pass it to find out what is in it.”

And if it throws out all or part of the law now popularly known as “Obamacare,” we will need a fearless conversation about how a conservative majority of the court has become a cog in a larger right-wing project to make progressive political and legislative victories impossible.

In other words, the far left will have to reframe their talking points, because people aren’t buying as much of their mule fritters as they used to. Here’s an idea: prove that your leftist ideas actual work in the real world. So far, they’ve been miserable failures every time they’ve been tried.

The ACA is the victim of a vicious cycle: Obamacare polls badly. Therefore, Democrats avoid Obamacare, preferring to talk about almost anything else, while Republicans and conservatives attack it regularly. This makes Obamacare’s poll ratings even worse, which only reinforces the avoidance on the liberal side.

While he’s correct regarding Democrats avoiding mention of Obamacare, he’s dead wrong on the polls. Every poll has been consistent since even before the travesty of a law was passed, showing roughly 60% of the American public are against the bill. The ratings haven’t changed.

Maybe now, supporters of the ACA will find their voices and point to the 30 million people the law would help to buy health insurance, how much assistance it gives businesses, how it creates a more rational health insurance market, how it helps those 26 and under stay on their parents’ health plans, how it protects those with pre-existing conditions. “Obamacare” isn’t about President Obama. It’s about beginning to bring an end to the scandal of a very rich nation leaving so many of its citizens without basic health coverage. However the court rules, we need to remember why this whole fight started in the first place.

This is similar to what the George Soros funded Think Progress is pushing, in a post entitled 10 things you would miss about Obamacare. But, what won’t we miss if Obamacare is tanked?

1. Intrusion by the federal government in our health care decisions
2. The federal government mandating that we purchase health insurance
3. Companies and institutions dropping their health insurance offerings as it is cheaper to pay the fine than offer the insurance and/or because HHS has mandated certain coverages, as in the case of Catholic institutions
4. The cost of medical devices skyrocketing, due to the increased taxes on certain devices
5. Restrictions on Health Savings Accounts, such as limits on how much can be in the account and the need to get a doctors note for certain OTC medicines
6. The federal government essentially taking over the student loans process (remember, that was in the legislation)
7. It causes health spending to rise more than it had been, and will be out of control when everyone thinks it is free
8. The government will be on the hook for out of control spending, raising the debt and deficit exponentially
9. It discriminates against the young in favor of the old by forcing the young to buy expensive insurance they do not want or need.
10. It forces state governments to spend money they do not have
11. It’ll kill the private health insurance market, putting lots of people out of work
12. The government deciding if someone is worth treating, the so called “death panels” (Independent Payment Advisory Board)
13. Insurers leaving the child insurance market
14. It stops small physician owned hospitals from opening
15. Causes doctors to leave the market
16. Unaccountable bureaucrats will be in charge of health decisions
17. Premiums will go up

The list goes on and on, which isn’t particularly shocking when we are talking about a 2,000+ page piece of legislation that no one who voted in favor of it read.

Crossed at Right Wing News and Stop The ACLU.