Tag: Affordable Care Act

Paul Ryan Caught on Tape: ‘We’re Not Going to Give Up on Destroying the Health Care System for the American People’

Jon Ponder

Remember Kinsley’s rule: In Washington, a gaffe is when someone accidentally tells the truth:

Republican House Budget Committee Chairman PAUL RYAN: “This to us is something that we’re not going to give up on, because we’re not going to give up on destroying the health care system for the American people.”

The “new” Republican budget released by Ryan, the infamous zombie-eyed granny starver, is the same as the old budget he drafted — it voucherizes Medicare, repeals Obamacare and the rest. Why would Republicans phone in a new budget that’s the same as the budget that is unpopular in the polls and was rejected by Congress?

Paul Krugman cuts to the heart of it:
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Be Careful What You Ask For: CBO Tells Boehner That Obamacare Saves Money and Its Repeal Would Cost More

Trish
BoehnerCry
Don't cry, John!

Pity poor John Boehner. The Republican House Speaker from Ohio asked the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), which exists to measure all things mathematical for the legislative branch, how much the most recent bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act would save.

The answer? Nada. In fact, the CBO found that the ACA will decrease the deficit while its repeal would increase it. Here are parts of the letter sent to the honorable JB.

As you requested, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) have estimated the direct spending and revenue effects of H.R. 6079, the Repeal of Obamacare Act, as passed by the House of Representatives on July 11, 2012…

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Republican Priorities are Different From Yours

Trish

33

Number of opportunities, as of this week, that House Republicans have given themselves to be able to say that they voted against all or part of the Affordable Care Act. None of the votes made it through the Senate, but they did serve their intended purpose: to make House Republicans look like they are doing something when in fact, they are just hanging out in expensive suits and air conditioned offices, listening to one another talk as health care for them and their families is paid for by taxpayers.

When It Comes to Replacing Obamacare, Republicans Have Got Nothing – Which Is Not Surprising Since the ACA Is Based on the Conservatives’ Own Plan

Jon Ponder

Rep. Phil Gingrey, a physician, promising to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act
Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.), a physician, promising to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act
As Republicans in the House prepared to vote for the 33rd vote — we said it was only the 31st vote earlier and apologize for the error — the Los Angeles Times interviewed leading lights in the congressional GOP and have confirmed the obvious.The Republicans’ campaign promise in 2010 to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act was bogus. They don’t have the votes in the Senate to repeal it — and the president would veto it, even if they did — and when it comes to replacing Obamacare, they simply do not have a plan.

That fact becomes clear when you read the laughable excuse-making in these quotes from Republicans in Congress:

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Obamacare Includes a Major Tax Cut for Middle-Class Families – Infographic

Jon Ponder

Center for American Progress:

Beginning in 2014, the Affordable Care Act will give millions of middle-class families large tax credits to make health insurance more affordable. In size and scope these tax credits far outstrip the shared responsibility payments [i.e., the Heritage Foundation-invented mandate] paid by the tiny percentage of Americans who will voluntarily turn down affordable health insurance.

Only 1.2 percent of Americans will pay this penalty, and they are people who do not already have insurance and choose not to purchase coverage, even though they can afford the cost. Other taxpayers will have to continue to subsidize care for these people if they get sick, but the share responsibility penalty will help offset some of this expense. The bottom line is that the Affordable Care Act is a major tax cut for the middle-class.

See below:

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There’s No Such Thing As Not Paying for the Uninsured’s Healthcare

Trish

We don’t have a “deficit” problem. We have a “we already pay for each other’s health care in the dumbest way” problem.

LOLGOP’s post on Facebook as rightwing outrage over the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act goes on and on. Since 1986, when Pres. Ronald Reagan signed the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, uninsured people were required treatment if they went or were taken via ambulance to a hospital emergency room.

Romney’s Top Operative Undercuts Key GOP Talking Point, Says Mitt Agrees with Pres. Obama That Heritage Mandate Penalty Is Not a Tax

Jon Ponder

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In an appearance on Chuck Todd’s oddly named MSNBC show “The Daily Rundown” this morning, Mitt Romney’s top campaign adviser Eric “Etch-A-Sketch” Fehrnstrom admitted that Romney agrees with Pres. Obama on a fundamental issue of legal semantics about the Affordable Care Act. Fehrnstrom said that, in spite of the Supreme Court’s ruling otherwise, the penalty to be imposed on people who refuse to buy insurance under the Heritage Foundation-invented mandate in the Affordable Care Act is not a “tax.”

At minute 4:24, Todd finally gets a definitive answer:

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