Monday, March 27, 2017

Just because the Republicans failed to repeal Obamacare does not mean they are finished trying to screw it up.

Courtesy of Yahoo News:  

Republicans may have failed to overthrow Obamacare this week, but there are plenty of ways they can chip away at it. 

The Trump administration has already begun using its regulatory authority to water down less prominent aspects of the 2010 healthcare law. 

Earlier this week, newly confirmed Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price stalled the rollout of mandatory Medicare payment reform programs for heart attack treatment, bypass surgery and joint replacements finalized by the Obama administration in December. 

The delays offer a glimpse at how President Donald Trump can use his administrative power to undercut aspects of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), including the insurance exchanges and Medicaid expansion that Republicans had sought to overturn. 

The Republicans' failure to repeal Obamacare, at least for now, means it remains federal law. Price's power resides in how to interpret that law, and which programs to emphasize and fund.

Bastards!

However Trump and the Republicans are not going to be able to do this in the shadows.

People are paying attention.

Courtesy of HuffPo: 

The Department of Health and Human Services inspector general has launched an investigation into the Trump administration’s decision to pull ads encouraging people to sign up for the Affordable Care Act during the enrollment period. By shutting down such outreach, the action could be seen as a stealth way to starve the health plan without legislative authority, critics say. 

President Donald Trump’s administration said the ads were a waste of money, but Democrats have characterized the action as sabotage. 

In response to a request to investigate the actions from Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), the inspector general said his office is conducting a “fact-finding” review, the Hill reported. 

The office will examine exactly what was done and when by the administration, and its effect on enrollment in the health plan, according to a letter written to the senators Thursday. Dwindling numbers of consumers enrolled in any insurance undermines an affordable risk pool.

And this is what needs to be done right down the line.

Senate and House Democrats need to identify and attempt to stall the various forms of sabotage to the Affordable Care Act while the media reports on what the Republicans are doing and the effects it is having on the already insured and those seeking insurance.

Americans also should be reminded on a daily basis that virtually ALL of the problems that ACA is currently having are related to GOP sabotage from the very beginning of its implementation.

From Republican governors refusing to expand Medicaid or allow the health care exchanges in their states, to the constant flood of disinformation that comes from their mouths, the GOP has created the very problems that they now blame on Obama and the Democrats.

The facts are that the Republicans NEVER wanted to help the American people get affordable health care, and the only way Obamacare will be preserved and improved is with more Democrats in office working to make that happen.

10 comments:

  1. Anonymous3:00 PM

    Where do I sign up to tell my family's story of how Pence's refusal in Hoosierstan to expand Medicaid caused my worked-since-we- were- fifteen with- two- graduate- degrees family to be uninsured for 18 months thanks to unexpected unemployment.Happy to tell everyone what a scumbag Mike Pence and the Republcans are.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous4:09 AM

      We need medicare for all!
      I, too, live in a red state(NC) where there was no expansion allowed. We have not had insurance with the ACA because we simply cannot afford the insurance, on top of the medical expenses we pay straight out of my husband's pocket. The insurance available for us here is priced outrageously, the deductibles started at 15thou$, and the insurance doesn't cover doctor visits, lab work or prescriptions that I gotta take to live. So why pay almost a thousand dollars a month on top of what we already pay, just to say "We're insured"? We just can't afford it. The fines for not being signed up with the ACA begin this year for us. It will be cheaper by far for us to pay the fine.
      I do not want to see the ACA repealed, as there are millions of people that this has truly helped. We hoped at one time to be among those millions.
      The government conspired against its own citizens in order to continue to enrich a few already filthy rich donors.
      Once again, we need medicare for all. This is one of the richest countries on the planet. We CAN afford to do this for our citizens.

      Delete
  2. Anonymous3:36 PM

    Next week:
    https://www.yahoo.com/news/senate-panel-meet-supreme-court-nominee-delay-likely-133128914--politics.html

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous3:43 PM

    OT? 18 YEAR OLD GIRL>
    http://abc7chicago.com/news/authorities-teen-planned-shooting-at-her-school/1820807/

    http://heavy.com/news/2017/03/nichole-nicole-cevario-catoctin-high-school-shooting/

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous3:51 PM

    Lock Trump up!
    Lock Pence up!
    Lock Kushner up!
    Lock Ivanka up!
    Lock Flynn up!
    Lock Sessions up!
    Lock Bannon up!
    Lock Priebus up!

    Deport Melania!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous3:58 PM

    No one honestly believed that they were going to let defeat go, did you? More like, "Fine! I'll show you" and millions pay for their pettiness.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous6:35 PM


    Rachel Maddow Crushes Fox News As Viewers Stampede To MSNBC After GOP Health Care Fail


    Rachel Maddow finished as the number one show on cable news, and MSNBC was the top network on cable news after the Republican health care bill failed in the House.

    On Friday after the health care bill failed, more viewers watched Rachel Maddow (3.058 million) then watched Bill O’Reilly on Fox News (2.363 million). MSNBC’s The Last Word With Lawrence O’Donnell (2.328 million) drew more viewers than Fox’s Sean Hannity (2.235 million). The only MSNBC program that did worse than Fox News primetime was Chris Hayes, but All In still drew 2.154 million viewers.

    MSNBC has been on an incredible ratings roll since Donald Trump took office.

    http://www.politicususa.com/2017/03/27/rachel-maddow-crushes-fox-news-viewers-stampede-msnbc-gop-health-care-fail.html

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:02 PM

      Yes, certain journalist are now uncovering what should have been uncovered over 2+ yrs ago. It is criminal that the FEC would allow this dangerous person on the USA presidential ticket. Oh that's right trumps buddy was on the FEC employment. So operatives were in place and colluded together to get this evil assclown elected and enabled him to destroy America. Pay attention everyone, watch the swamp rats change colors and attempt to distant themselves from the crimes.

      Delete
  7. Anonymous6:40 PM

    IMPEACH prez dummy now!! He is not for America. He wants to kill what help we have right now in health care. Isn't this just crazy. What kind of crazy arse prez is not all about the American people. IMPEACH!!! and all his weirdo staff cabinent...

    ReplyDelete
  8. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-executive-order-climate-change_us_58b07ebae4b060480e079dc2?rmmgxlakibef2bj4i&

    "President Donald Trump plans to sign an executive order on Tuesday rolling back Obama-era policies to curb planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions, a senior White House official said.

    The order, called the “Energy Independence Executive Order,” begins a review of the former President Barack Obama’s signature program to deal with climate change, the Clean Power Plan, which limited greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.

    “We have a different view about how you should address climate policy in the U.S., and we’re going in a different direction,” a senior White House official told reporters Monday evening. “I can’t get into ultimately what that means from an emissions standpoint. I have no idea.”

    The order will instruct all agencies to identify all policies that “serve as obstacles or impediments to energy production.” The White House provided no timeline for implementing the order, but said Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt was “ready to hit the ground running.”

    In an interview on ABC’s “This Week,” Pruitt said the order would rebalance an agency he said overstepped its legal bounds under the previous administration.

    “We have made tremendous progress on our environment. We can be both pro-jobs and pro-environment,” Pruitt said on Sunday. “The executive order will address the past administration’s effort to kill jobs throughout the country through the Clean Power Plan.”

    The executive order will take other measures to protect the coal industry, such as instructing the Department of the Interior to lift a temporary ban on coal leasing on federal lands that the Obama administration put in place last year. The order is also expected to scrap federal guidances instructing agencies to factor climate change into policymaking, and to disband a team tasked with calculating the “social cost of carbon.” "

    ReplyDelete

Don't feed the trolls!
It just goes directly to their thighs.