Excitable Paul Krugman has decided to chime on on Aetna mostly pulling out of the Obamacare exchanges, something many other health insurance providers have done, which is just a bump in the road, you know. So much so that we should institute government run insurance
(NY Times) More than two and a half years have gone by since the Affordable Care Act, a.k.a. Obamacare, went fully into effect. Most of the news about health reform since then has been good, defying the dire predictions of right-wing doomsayers. But this week has brought some genuine bad news: The giant insurer Aetna announced that it would be pulling out of many of the “exchanges,†the special insurance markets the law established.
This doesn’t mean that the reform is about to collapse. But some real problems are cropping up. They’re problems that would be relatively easy to fix in a normal political system, one in which parties can compromise to make government work. But they won’t get resolved if we elect a clueless president (although he’d turn to terrific people, the best people, for advice, believe me. Not.). And they’ll be difficult to resolve even with a knowledgeable, competent president if she faces scorched-earth opposition from a hostile Congress.
Paul seems to forget that this law is the sole possession of Democrats. No Republicans voted for it, none wanted it. The majority of the public did not want it, and still don’t.
Meanwhile, the bad things that were supposed to happen didn’t. Health reform didn’t cause the budget deficit to soar; it didn’t kill private-sector jobs, which have actually grown more rapidly since Obamacare went into effect than at any time since the 1990s. Evidence also is growing that the law has meant a significant improvement in both health and financial security for millions, probably tens of millions, of Americans.
It’s artificially increased premiums and deductibles, caused tens of millions to lose the coverage plan they liked, and, yes, it did kill private sector jobs. Heck, in deep Blue New York, there was a reduction in hiring, not too mention what has been happening all over the place, which is hours being reduced, and full time positions replaced with part time ones.
Anyhow, after some interesting blamestorming, we get to something that we were told was not something that liberals were actually advocating for (but seems to keep cropping up)
Beyond all that, what about the public option?
The idea of allowing the government to offer a health plan directly to families was blocked in 2010 because private insurers didn’t want to face the competition. But if those insurers aren’t actually interested in providing insurance, why not let the government step in (as Hillary Clinton is in fact proposing)?
No, it was blocked because Democrats weren’t quite ready to bring their even bigger Big Government plans to the table. The citizens were already quite vocal about the massive expansion Democrats were pushing against the wishes of the citizens, who would have preferred dealing with the economy, and didn’t want the Democrats mucking around with their health insurance and health care.
That said, there may still be room for action at the executive level. And I’m hearing suggestions that states may be able to offer their own public options; if these proved successful, they might gradually become the norm.
Just remember, saying that Democrats want to replace Ocare with single payer is just a crazy conspiracy theory, according to Democrats.
Crossed at Right Wing News.
Typo as Dana pointed out fixed.
SHE has nothing to worry about…..WAVE ELECTION INBOUND FOR THE DEMS.
To wit:
A firm run by Donald Trump’s campaign chairman directly orchestrated a covert Washington lobbying operation on behalf of Ukraine’s ruling political party, attempting to sway American public opinion in favor of the country’s pro-Russian government, emails obtained by The Associated Press show. Paul Manafort and his deputy, Rick Gates, never disclosed their work as foreign agents as required under federal law.
Could the GOP possibly have nominated a worse candidate in the history of US politics? I think not. And at a time when the best candidate was needed to stop this tail spin into full blown socialism.
You have a major typo:
That should be: Paul seems to forget that this law is the sole possession of Democrats. No Republicans voted for it, none wanted it.
The esteemed Dr Krugman is just a cheerleader for the left: Obaminablecare is not ‘fixable,’ because it was never intended to work in the first place. Rather, it was simply intended to pass, to get anything passed, which would establish the principle that the federal government is ultimately responsible for seeing to it that everyone gets health care. Then, if Obysmalcare failed, which we all knew it would, the only option would be greater government control and participation; the option of not having the federal government guaranteeing health care would be off the table.
Single payer can work in the USA. The problem is that its going to cause a massive shortage of trained specialists.
Who wants to spend 16 years learning to master the art of brain or heart surgery only to be paid 230,000 a year….when they can be a family practicioner with 7 years of college and make 185,000 a year.
The answer is no one. Literally.
The Airforce cant find pilots to fly their planes or mechanics to fix them. The NO BUDGET OBAMA GOVERNMENT wont give them the money to fix the problem……The socialized VA is a horrendous mess….Anecdotal evidence is my brother and brother in law who uses two different VA hospitals and they simply have a bag of pills rather then operations needed to fix bulging discs and a severely arthritic knee that literally prevents him from walking.
Single payer for 315 million Americans will cost us all because we will have to pay for it….ITS NOT FREE….the government cannot afford 3-4-5 trillion a year on health care.
So eliminate all health care insurance companies and put about 15 million people out of work….hire a third of them to run Single payer……and whose left holding the bag?
THE MIDDLE CLASS…..because the POOR and the RICH DO NOT PAY TAXES….and they will not pay for Single payer insurance.
So the burden falls on the MIDDLE CLASS and CORPORATIONS/BUSINESSES to pay the cost.
CORPORATIONS/BUSINESSES DO NOT PAY FOR ANYTHING….They simply RAISE PRICES TO COMPENSATE FOR ANY CHARGES…..Just look at the cost of a pack of cigarettes now….5-10 dollars a pack……and the corporations that sell cigs just moved to the Asian markets and havent skipped a beat.
So too will it be with single payer….the health care we receive will be shoddy unless its for the flu or a cold or a cut finger……serious health care will fall by the wayside…..
and the people who pay for it…..THE POOR in huge price increases imposed by business because of huge taxes forced on them to pay their share of single payer…..
The MIDDLE CLASS WHO GET NO RELIEF FROM ANYTHING…..they will not only be paying 5-10k a year for single payer in taxes but will also be hit with HUGE PRICE INCREASES BY BUSINESSES…..
The DEMS who pretend they want to help the poor and the Middle class have no solutions…ONLY SUBSIDIES TO KEEP THE MASSES VOTING FOR (D)’s.
This is where we are headed…..a huge black hole in which there is no escape and we can only print money for so long before there is a RECKONING.
And Teach also according to Gallup when polled on choosing to keep ACA in place or replacing it with a federally funded plan Americans OVERWHELMINGLY by 2 to one say that is what they want.
Gallup also asked those who favor either keeping the ACA in place or replacing it with a federally funded system to choose between these two options. The federally funded system wins among this group by a 2-to-1 ratio, 64% to 32%, meaning this system garners the most support among the initial favor/oppose questions and wins when those who like both approaches
http://www.gallup.com/poll/191504/majority-support-idea-fed-funded-healthcare-system.aspx
Only 22% of Americans want the ACA repealed and replaced with nothing
you people are so far removed from what most Americans think and feel you appear to be living on BIZZARO planet where only rightwing filtered news appears
Most Americans want a single payer healthcare system. 58% want a single payer 37% say no
http://www.gallup.com/poll/191504/majority-support-idea-fed-funded-healthcare-system.aspx
Like most issuses the extremist GOP has is way out of mainstream American opinion.
You know, I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if a majority wanted a federally-funded single-payer system. After all, 47% of Americans pay no federal income taxes at all, so they probably think that a federally funded single-payer plan would mean no private health insurance payments for them, and still no taxes. What a great deal that would be!
It’s those of us who do pay taxes, pay a lot of taxes, who would get screwed, but, who cares, we’re in the minority.
In 1 year, 7 months and 13 days, I’ll take the Medicare for which I’ve been forced to pay all of my working life, to try and extract every last euro of benefits that I can. Of course, I’ll have Medicare supplement plans, because you have to to get decent care.
My guess is that, by the time I’m 75, we’ll have some form of single-payer health care coverage. By then, my taxes will be much, much lower, so I won’t have to be working to support the worthless, lazy scumbags leeching off welfare. My only hope is that the insurance to get better care than the [insert slang term for feces here] we’ll get with just single-payer won’t be too expensive.
Oh really?
http://galen.org/newsletters/changes-to-obamacare-so-far/
Why not have the government take over my auto insurance, home owners insurance, life insurance, the expensive workmans comp insurance that the state requires my business to buy? These are protection from natural disasters like floods and fires and cost thousands per year. I have a right to have peace of mind, no?
Wait, never mind. I just remembered that Obama care is costing $24k year in premiums, copays, and deductibles. Car insurance would probably double under ObamaCar, because I’d be paying for someone else as well as a trillion dollar bureaucracy. And I’m already paying extra for illegal alien coverage (err, uninsured motorist protection) required by law. Nope, can’t afford government provided insurance.
The funny thing is that from john’s own citation, most Americans want the ACA gone as in repealed.
He forgot to mention that little tidbit.
well of course most of those insurance companies ARE already heavily regulated by government.
So many people posting here seem to hate living in the USA constantly complaing that life here is not as good as they deserve
SADZ
The funny thing is that most of those people want it replaced by a more socialistic single payer system.
Only 22% of Americans want ACA repealed and not replaced with some type of government funded healthcare 22% ? well that’s not many is it GC?
GChttp://www.gallup.com/poll/191504/majority-support-idea-fed-funded-healthcare-system.aspx
Only 22% of Americans want the ACA repealed and replaced with nothing
Most Americans have political views that are really different from the GOP extremist base, that is why Clinton is so far ahead in the polls.
Then let them have a single payer system for those who want it. Why are you so determined to force people who don’t? I thought you guys were all for “freedom of choice”. Or is that only for abortions? Hypocrite!!!!
Not many? It’s 65 million people. How about this poll: 100% of Congress opted out of Obamacare. The Obama himself opted out of Obamacare. 161 unions and affiliates got exemptions.
And you are one of those people john. You love the system in place in your utopia of Venezuela though. Maybe you can move there as I understand that the government is now allowing people to cross into Columbia to get basic food provisions.
So you favor socialism, john?
The fact of the matter is the ACA is broken and is going downhill fast. It is happening just the way that conservatives predicted it would.
People of your ilk always talk about 2 governmental health care systems – the VA and Medicare. Both systems are ripe with fraud, are providing less than adequate care and the people who run them are either not willing or unable to do what is necessary to fix them.
I suspect that you are enthralled with the ACA because you have never had to actually deal with Medicare or the VA. In short, your experience is akin to a lot of socialists who think the system is perfect because it hasn’t affected them.
There are people who have bought into the lie that the ACA is perfect. You appear to be one of them which only goes to show the depth of your delusion.
you people are so far removed from what most Americans think and feel you appear to be living on BIZZARO planet where only rightwing filtered news appears
Comment by john— August 19, 2016 @ 9:14 am
Do you give your temper tantrum throwing child everything he wants…..When he wants to put his hand in the fire do you let him?
I say go for it. I say lets have medicare for all….I just watched my mom wither away and die….I watched half her doctors quit because they could no longer pay the bills.
I say go for it. Today….lets swap it today. Come on JOHN GIVE ME A REASONABLE PLAN AS TO HOW THIS CAN BE AFFORDED….
Given that today we are using a 20 year olds medicare payments to help pay for todays health care costs.
Tell me how Single Payer is going to work in this gigantic ponzi scheme the politicians have created for America.
Talk Detalis JOHN…..give me a rational expose on how to make Single Payer work without lieing to the stupid Americans who our schools have churned out.
GIVE ME A PLAN JOHN…..Im with ya…..IM ON BOARD….now roll up your sleeves and tell us all here how it can work.
Liam,
I feel confident that Trump is the only one in the field that has a chance against Hillary and her dirty politics. I also feel that Trump would be a great leader, better than any of the pack that he defeated. Think positive, not like the liberals desire for you to.
really Liam
I would first suggest looking at single payer countries that have excellent healthcare and studying what does work in countries like Switzerland Germany or Israel.
Or on a personal level, traveling there to see personally what “socialized” medicine looks like.
But Liam sorry to disappoint you, but you must look elsewhere for your answer. I myself would not presume to design an American plan, I think that is best left to experts.
But hopefully when you do look for answers you will not include those who warned us in the past about the “death panels”
Single payer IS on the way, perhaps it will look a bit like Medicare. Of course THAT is socialized medicine, is that something you think is a failure and we should end ?
Oh yeah, Jonathan Gruber maybe?
God, you’re such a fucking retard.
Teach typed:
This is just not true. The Fed asked business executives their opinions about what they thought the impact of the PPACA was on employment.
http://cepr.net/blogs/beat-the-press/contrary-to-wapo-headline-the-ny-fed-did-not-find-employers-are-cutting-jobs-because-of-obamacare
and:
In fact, many citizens opposed the PPACA because the plan was too complex and not a simple single payer plan. Conservatives oppose such a plan.