Republican Party no longer interested in repealing or replacing the ACA (Obamacare)

[essentialsaltes]

Republicans abandon Obamacare repeal
Republicans are abandoning their long crusade to repeal the Affordable Care Act, making the 2022 election the first in more than a decade that won’t be fought over whether to protect or undo President Barack Obama’s signature achievement.

None of the Republican Senate nominees running in eight key battleground states have called for unwinding the ACA on their campaign websites, according to an NBC News review.

“I think it’s probably here to stay,” said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, a close ally of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and a former chair of the GOP’s campaign arm.

The new “Commitment to America” from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., which outlines the agenda of a potential GOP majority, makes no mention of the ACA

“I’m opposed to repealing the Affordable Care Act,” said Joe O’Dea, the Republican candidate facing Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet in blue-leaning Colorado.

“No offense, that’s an old question,” Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, a member of the hard-right Freedom Caucus, said when he was asked about repealing Obamacare.

--

Now that it's old-ish and popular, maybe the conservative position is to conserve it.

That and the fact that (despite many promises) there have been no significant GOP alternatives on the table to replace it over the past dozen years.

 

[.Mikha'el.]

It's because they have no clue what their alternative would look like. They never have.

 

[mala]

bet you they will flip flop if trump starts talking about getting rid of it again.

 

[JSRG]

Now that it's old-ish and popular, maybe the conservative position is to conserve it.

Well, the portion that angered Republicans the most, the individual mandate, was repealed by the Republicans. So there is less reason for them to have an issue with it.

That and the fact that (despite many promises) there have been no significant GOP alternatives on the table to replace it over the past dozen years.

There was absolutely an alternative on the table that they tried to get through, but they couldn't get enough of the Republicans in the Senate on board to vote for it. Whether or not that alternative was good or not is another matter, but it's wrong to say they didn't have it.

 

[Nithavela]

bet you they will flip flop if trump starts talking about getting rid of it again.

Even moreso, if Trump calls for repealing it, his followers will be 100 % on board and hold it against the other candidates.

Of course, Trump will say that he'll replace it with something better without going into any details, and his followers will be 100 % certain that the improved version is already in trumps drawer.

 

[Sketcher]

Republicans abandon Obamacare repeal
Republicans are abandoning their long crusade to repeal the Affordable Care Act, making the 2022 election the first in more than a decade that won’t be fought over whether to protect or undo President Barack Obama’s signature achievement.

None of the Republican Senate nominees running in eight key battleground states have called for unwinding the ACA on their campaign websites, according to an NBC News review.

“I think it’s probably here to stay,” said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, a close ally of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and a former chair of the GOP’s campaign arm.

The new “Commitment to America” from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., which outlines the agenda of a potential GOP majority, makes no mention of the ACA

“I’m opposed to repealing the Affordable Care Act,” said Joe O’Dea, the Republican candidate facing Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet in blue-leaning Colorado.

“No offense, that’s an old question,” Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, a member of the hard-right Freedom Caucus, said when he was asked about repealing Obamacare.

--

Now that it's old-ish and popular, maybe the conservative position is to conserve it.

That and the fact that (despite many promises) there have been no significant GOP alternatives on the table to replace it over the past dozen years.

The attempt to repeal it when they had a supermajority caused a split in the party, and they ended up having to do tax reform to take a chunk out of it instead. After that, I can see why they wouldn't want to try and do it again.

 

[Hans Blaster]

Even moreso, if Trump calls for repealing it, his followers will be 100 % on board and hold it against the other candidates.

Of course, Trump will say that he'll replace it with something better without going into any details, and his followers will be 100 % certain that the improved version is already in trumps drawer.

I don't think we need to spend anytime thinking about a Trump replacement effort. Generally speaking, Trump had no real interest in policy and his promotion of an alternative was likely some combination of aides pushing him to back key GOP policy agenda items and buffing his ego: "big, beautiful healthcare" "call it TrumpCare".

 

[JSRG]

The attempt to repeal it when they had a supermajority caused a split in the party, and they ended up having to do tax reform to take a chunk out of it instead. After that, I can see why they wouldn't want to try and do it again.

When did the Republicans have a supermajority? While the term supermajority is admittedly a bit vague, typically it is used to refer to when a political party controls so much of a legislature that they are able to bypass whatever extra restrictions there are that a simple majority cannot. In the case of the US, a supermajority is typically used to either refer to having enough people to overcome a veto or (in the specific case of the Senate) having enough people to overcome a filibuster. The Republicans had a majority in the Senate, but not a supermajority by either definition.

 

[essentialsaltes]

When did the Republicans have a supermajority?

Not recently. In the context of Obamacare, the GOP House passed a repeal and replace option, the GOP Senate failed to pass a different repeal and replace bill.

 

[Fantine]

Well, not a single one of them voted for the Inflation Reduction Act which would have continued subsidies for Americans without workplace insurance who could never, ever, ever afford the entire cost on their own...
,Leading me to believe that they just want to chip it away to oblivion. Ending subsidies for middle class Americans takes the "affordable" out of the Affordable Care Act.

Similarly, my state had a Republican governor who tried to protect us from the dangerous excesses of the state legislature (who spend their time passing bills so extreme the governor vetoed them for "unconstitutionality.") How bad is this state legislature? I would give them their salaries to stay home, reminding them of the adage, "First, do no harm!!" They are the worst legislators in all of the four states I've lived in for sure.

They continually tried to push the state away from the state option (which had different provisos in it to weaken it so it would limp through the legislature, battered and bleeding.) With the almost certain election of Sarah Huckabee Sanders, our state has lost the threadbare, minimalist safety net the current governor tried to maintain.

Help!

And of course, her opponent has a PhD from MIT, was an aerospace engineer, ran an innovation center as a think tank for businesses and education, and is also an ordained minister. He can run so many rings around her that she was a no-show at the Public TV debate, ducking it for an alumni concert at her alma mater. Of course, this principled genius, 100 times more qualified than she, is actually running "close" but is unlikely to win.

 

[Ana the Ist]

Republicans abandon Obamacare repeal
Republicans are abandoning their long crusade to repeal the Affordable Care Act, making the 2022 election the first in more than a decade that won’t be fought over whether to protect or undo President Barack Obama’s signature achievement.

None of the Republican Senate nominees running in eight key battleground states have called for unwinding the ACA on their campaign websites, according to an NBC News review.

“I think it’s probably here to stay,” said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, a close ally of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and a former chair of the GOP’s campaign arm.

The new “Commitment to America” from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., which outlines the agenda of a potential GOP majority, makes no mention of the ACA

“I’m opposed to repealing the Affordable Care Act,” said Joe O’Dea, the Republican candidate facing Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet in blue-leaning Colorado.

“No offense, that’s an old question,” Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, a member of the hard-right Freedom Caucus, said when he was asked about repealing Obamacare.

--

Now that it's old-ish and popular, maybe the conservative position is to conserve it.

That and the fact that (despite many promises) there have been no significant GOP alternatives on the table to replace it over the past dozen years.

Seems like a rather silly thing to fight over given the current problems in our government.

 

[Ana the Ist]

Even moreso, if Trump calls for repealing it, his followers will be 100 % on board and hold it against the other candidates.

Of course, Trump will say that he'll replace it with something better without going into any details, and his followers will be 100 % certain that the improved version is already in trumps drawer.

Fantasizing about Trump again.

 

[Pommer]

It's because they have no clue what their alternative would look like. They never have.

This was “the alternative”, crafted from the remains of the Heritage Foundation’s counter-proposal to “Clinton-Care”.

 

[essentialsaltes]

Speaking again to Obamacare's popularity, South Dakota may become the 7th red state to opt in to the expanded Medicaid under the law. All 6 (maybe 7) states did it by popular referendum rather that through the actions of the GOP-dominated legislatures.


If voters approve the referendum, South Dakota will be the seventh Republican-controlled state in the past five years to expand the low-income insurance program at the ballot box — and likely the last for some time to come.

There are 11 other states that have not expanded Medicaid, but only three — Florida, Mississippi and Wyoming — allow voters to collect signatures for a ballot measure, and none appear likely to take up the effort in the near term.

[SD] Medicaid expansion opponents, including Republican Gov. Kristi Noem, argue the proposal would be costly to the state in the future, would force the state to raise taxes and would discourage able-bodied adults from securing well-paying jobs with benefits. In South Dakota, the Foundation for Government Accountability, the Family Heritage Alliance and the South Dakota Farm Bureau are opposing the measure.

 

[FenderTL5]

Republicans abandon Obamacare repeal
Republicans are abandoning their long crusade to repeal the Affordable Care Act, making the 2022 election the first in more than a decade that won’t be fought over whether to protect or undo President Barack Obama’s signature achievement.

None of the Republican Senate nominees running in eight key battleground states have called for unwinding the ACA on their campaign websites, according to an NBC News review.

“I think it’s probably here to stay,” said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, a close ally of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and a former chair of the GOP’s campaign arm.

The new “Commitment to America” from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., which outlines the agenda of a potential GOP majority, makes no mention of the ACA

“I’m opposed to repealing the Affordable Care Act,” said Joe O’Dea, the Republican candidate facing Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet in blue-leaning Colorado.

“No offense, that’s an old question,” Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, a member of the hard-right Freedom Caucus, said when he was asked about repealing Obamacare.

--

Now that it's old-ish and popular, maybe the conservative position is to conserve it.

That and the fact that (despite many promises) there have been no significant GOP alternatives on the table to replace it over the past dozen years.

The healthcare system in the U.S. is, for the most part, privatized and for-profit. As long as the wealthy are covered and the corporations in the system profitable, the GOP has no incentive to change anything.

 

[essentialsaltes]

Republicans abandon Obamacare repeal
Now that it's old-ish and popular, maybe the conservative position is to conserve it.

More popular than ever.

The Affordable Care Act health insurance marketplaces just hit a record: Nearly 16 million people signed up for the insurance also known as Obamacare.

That is about a million more people than signed up for ACA health insurance last year, and enrollment is still open on Healthcare.gov and in most state marketplaces until Sunday, January 15.

 

[Fantine]

Maybe so, but they are also interested in downsizing it and limiting it and tinkering with it so that it's not as good as it was first conceived to be.

 

[Belk]

The healthcare system in the U.S. is, for the most part, privatized and for-profit. As long as the wealthy are covered and the corporations in the system profitable, the GOP has no incentive to change anything.

But that make no sense. The current GOP is dominated by older and low income people. Currently government spending favors those sectors by 2:3 and safety net items like Social security and Medicare are very popular. Why would they not favor items that are very poplular with their constituents?

 

[Pommer]

But that make no sense. The current GOP is dominated by older and low income people. Currently government spending favors those sectors by 2:3 and safety net items like Social security and Medicare are very popular. Why would they not favor items that are very poplular with their constituents?

Their constituents aren’t the ones keeping them in office.
Piper-payers call the tune.

 

[FenderTL5]

But that make no sense. The current GOP is dominated by older and low income people. Currently government spending favors those sectors by 2:3 and safety net items like Social security and Medicare are very popular. Why would they not favor items that are very poplular with their constituents?

The lack of making sense is one of the reasons I no longer identify with the GOP. The lip-service given to the working class constituency has been only that for years. GOP policy benefits the wealthy and the large corporations regardless of their rhetoric.
Speaking of Social Security and Medicare, the GOP historically has been dead set on eliminating both. They are discussing measures to cut the programs this cycle. Sure, they say no one getting benefits will experience cuts.. but those of us nearing the finish line will see the goalposts moved.
Why, is a great question. The working class voters the GOP relies on are voting against their own best interests. Why indeed. Abortion? Is that it?