Hillarysworld

Jen the Michigander · SuperModerator

Morning After CNN Poll: 59% of Americans still oppose Obamacare (Post-Partisan Examiner 3/22/10)

Sanders · Diamond

Why am I not surprised at all! LOL.

The bills are hard to digest and I hope there will be some good articles with really good succinct summary on the actual cost implications for low income people.

What I cannot change, I look for the positives all the way (I was marginally leaning in favor anyway, with wanting public option).

Here are a few of what I like about the bill so far:

Low income people will get major subsidies to avail health care insurance
Married at-home (non-working) women do not have to live in fear of loosing healthcare benefit in case of death of spouse or divorce (from what might be a bad marriage). [My volunteering at the YWCA has really opened my eyes to just how many women are in this boat.]
No/low-income women who face unplanned pregnancy do not have to make whether they can afford health care for themselves or their baby a part of their decision in their choice [A factor that Rep.Marcy Kaptur brought up that really touched me. I called Rep.Kaptur's office and thanked her for this.] While choice is already the law, this Bill CAN shift the balance in favor of continuing with the pregnancy. For many people, especially students and new immigrants (i.e., people without income/assets in their name/their family's name), their choice has a huge economic component in it.
Children with pre-existing condition will not be denied health care almost immediately.
College-graduated kids without insurance (no job/no job that gives health benefit) can stay on parents' insurance a bit longer (great in this economy)
Donut hole being bridged for the elderly [who have no income and their assets are all under water with the market being so down]
Health Insurance Exchanges are VERY likely to create some competition. They may even create competition for Chamber of Commerce (which, come to think of it, may itself be viewed as a health insurance exchange).
Public health is likely to improve with introduction of community health centers, and less people having to wait until they need to land in emergency
Formation of Community Health Centers will create new jobs.
Our cost of insurance from our company is likely to go up at a rate LOWER than if this bill were to not pass.

I do want to see some tort reform -- and I hope Dems/Repubs put a SEPARATE bill on the docket for this. But there are some well deserved cases of doctors negligence and total irresponsibility that should never go unpunished. Consumer (patient) safety is something that we need to continue to guard.

-- Edited by Sanders on Tuesday 23rd of March 2010 12:33:12 PM

Ebinger · Platinum

Yes, it does have some good features, but overall I think the American electorate are going to resent Obamacare more and more with time and the bill is going to be challenged on constitutional grounds over and over. They'll probably gut the mandate in it for sure as a violation of the commerce clause and Tenth Amendment. Even the state I live in is trying to file a case against it and fast-track it up to SCOTUS. Congress should have gotten a lot more backing from the public before they passed something like this, the Democrat Party is now going to get killed in the elections later this year.

Sanders · Diamond

Yes, Ebinger, I expect there will be some constitutional challenges.

Yes, this has always been a concern even when Hillary Clinton was proposing her near-Universal Health Care Reform proposal in 2008.

What the President needed to do was gain more popular support to reduce the populist pressure on the AG offices to challenge the HCR legislation.

I am not a lawyer, certainly not a constitutional expert..

Will such challenge win? I do not know. It will not have issues on procedural grounds because they did pass (adopt) the Senate version directly first, and then the Amendment ("Reconciliation") bill, which will now go to the Senate for passage there. So, with Deem and Pass being set aside, procedurally they will be fine. Constitutionally, the question of whether the Federal government can mandate commerce without "providing something from the Federal government side" is a question that may come up - and I wonder if such a challenge would have been addressed with a public option.. and if the government will still come up with one.

Will such challenges make the Dems look bad? Absolutely! So, I expect Tea Partiers, aka GOP, will be onto it in a hurry and give it a lot of push as well as publicity.

I have already received mailing on this from John McCain. I replied reminding him that I worked with his team on Health Care reform and that he needed to put forth something strong that would get major backing and he failed to do this - honestly I am not happy that he did nothing, practically zippo, in relation to bringing forth a comprehensive health care reform bill that would counter the Dem proposal. He really should have.

Meanwhile, it may serve the Pres.Obama administration as well as the people of America to get to the public a comprehensive comprehendable summary on the HCR+Amendment bills that constitute the current HCR legislation once it passes the Senate. Summary information is sorely needed.

-- Edited by Sanders on Tuesday 23rd of March 2010 06:22:22 PM