Tuesday, July 18, 2017

'Let Obamacare fail!'

Via Drudge: Trump promises eventual replacement for medical insurance law after Senate bill collapses – but says it will require current system to fall apart first

Donald Trump pledged Tuesday morning that the nation will eventually have a working substitute for the teetering Obamacare system, hours after a prohibitive number of Republican senators withdrew from a plan to replace it.

'We were let down by all of the Democrats and a few Republicans,' the president tweeted. 'Most Republicans were loyal, terrific & worked really hard. We will return!'

Trump has said during both his campaign and his presidency that the national medical insurance scheme left in place by the Obama-era Affordable Care Act will eventually topple on its own as costs spiral and insurers pull out of marketplaces.

(Link to more)

UPDATE: Scott Adams proposes a health care solution.

7 comments:

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Ben Shapiro nails it.

After years of repeal promises - we get O-Care with more gobmint sugar.

I stand with Rand.

Yeah - it's not all bad. We are left with O-care and people are hurt by it and know who shoved it down our throats. The D-party. We can hang on that for now. Oh goody.

Fr Martin Fox said...

I will say it again: the GOP is doing this all wrong.

The right move -- which has yet to be tried -- is to put together a complete bill that represents the best actual policy. Put that before the Senate for a vote. Don't worry about the filibuster. If the Democrats filibuster, then they bear the blame for it not passing.

Partial-repeal-and-partial-replace -- which is what just died in the Senate -- was always the wrong move. One big reason no one loved it is precisely because it was incomplete. And it was incomplete by design: allegedly smart people said, let's just put together something that can pass with 51 votes, no filibuster. Trouble is, people don't tend to like a vacation package with big chunks left out, nor do they like when they are promised a new car, only to find out the engine and transmission will be delivered later.

Simply repealing Obamacare, with nothing to replace it, is also a mistake, because then it leads to playing chicken with the Democrats. Something has to be enacted to replace O'care, and the idea is that the GOP will wait till the Dems blink, as the clock ticks down to health-care apocalypse. Guess what? The GOP always loses these scenarios. They've vowed to do this with cutting the budget, with threatened government shutdowns, with the debt limit, and with taxes. Remember how they were going to stare down Obama over his tax hike on wealthy folks? Who blinked first?

Trump is right when he says, let Obamacare stay in place. The trouble is, he hasn't been consistent about this, and he hasn't shown much leadership in the legislative process.

It should have been obvious that Trump and the GOP cannot get much passed with 52 votes in the Senate. The goal ought to be arranging the battlespace for 2018, so that the GOP does very well in the Senate races. The centerpiece of that strategy must be to force votes in both houses, but especially the Senate, that clarify who is wearing a white hat, and who is wearing a black hat.

edutcher said...

Trump was right.

Repeal and see if anything needs to be done (and it probably doesn't). The free market will fill the gaps.

Leland said...

There is still over a year left, but unless something major changes; I'm either voting for the primary opponent or sitting at home.

Chip Ahoy said...

I think that at least a portion of blame can be directed at Trump for being inconsistent.

Had he made a clear argument for repeal and stuck with that and argued clearly and consistently for allowing the private sector to fill the gaping hole that creates then we might not be having this.

Had he said, repeal and replace but first create an acceptable replacement, and argued for that and stuck with that argument consistently, that is provide clear leadership, then we might not be having this.

But Trump did not. He was rather inconsistent so far as I can tell. And that allowed a Keystone Cops situation with House and Senate.

edutcher said...

Leland said...

There is still over a year left, but unless something major changes; I'm either voting for the primary opponent or sitting at home.

I've been voting primary opponent.

Methadras said...

Looks like the GOP is willing to do just that to the detriment of lying about actual repeal legislation. They simply do not care because they want to be invited to DNC parties. Morons. i do not know how Trumps agenda stands a chance with these fools.