Obama care collapsing.....

[A2SG]

GOP faces a familiar dilemma: What to do about Obamacare?​

Republican leaders have found themselves in a familiar place: pledging to make major changes to the Affordable Care Act, citing rising health care costs and a looming deadline - but far from agreeing on how to do it.

Republicans promised a mid-December vote on how to proceed on the expiring subsidies, in exchange for support from some Democrats for ending the government shutdown in November. Democrats have argued that the simplest and most politically popular option is to extend the subsidies, which were implemented in 2021 and meant to help defray the cost of health coverage during the covid-19 pandemic. But many GOP lawmakers have campaigned for years on pledges to “repeal Obamacare” and say that continuing to fund the subsidies is a nonstarter, calling instead to shift the money to Americans in the form of health-savings accounts.

“The White House has a solution for cost-sharing,” [can we see it? The last one the WH rolled out vanished in less than a day] Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, said Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” predicting that “people are going to work this out” by Christmas.

“We don’t want to cause panic for the folks who are worried that they’re going to lose the thing that they have,” Hassett added.

Thirteen House Republicans, mostly from liberal-leaning states, sent a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) during the shutdown warning that a failure to extend a version of the subsidies would “risk real harm to those we represent.”

However, many Republicans oppose extending the subsidies - arguing that they are a pandemic-era relic - and instead see the debate as an opportunity to revisit health care reforms the party has sought in the past.

The problem lawmakers of both parties face is they don't want to lose the millions of dollars the for-profit health insurance industry funnels into their reelection campaigns. This money is largely why the GOP first promoted the Heritage Foundation plan as it was market-based and relied on private, for-profit health insurance. It's also why Democrats supported it later on, and that's the only reason the GOP now has a problem with it. But, the problem there is, they haven't come up with any idea that actually provides health care coverage AND relies on for-profit health insurance (protecting their own campaign bottom lines). The only idea I've heard floated about is health savings accounts, which seem like a good idea...if you have money. If you don't, it isn't.

Then again, when has the GOP ever really cared about people who don't have money?

-- A2SG, except when they vote Republican, of course....

 

[essentialsaltes]

'No-win position': GOP careening towards crisis on health care plan​

GOP faces a familiar dilemma: What to do about Obamacare?​

They don't seem to have figured it out.

Frustrated GOP barrels toward key health insurance vote without a clear plan​

Republicans say they won’t have their alternative proposal to address rapidly rising insurance premiums ready in time for next week’s vote, leaving some GOP senators dissatisfied about the lack of a clear strategy to counter the Democrats’ bill.

A group of centrist Republican and Democratic negotiators worked over the Thanksgiving recess to make progress toward a bipartisan deal, but they said it won’t be ready in time for next week’s vote, either. This is fueling pessimism about any deal being reached this year.

[Since] The GOP has no consensus on how to proceed on the issue, which may spur a group of Republican senators to cross the aisle next week and vote for a Democratic bill to extend the subsidies under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

Shaheen, who has been in touch with House colleagues, said that even if the Senate passes a bill, it’s becoming clear that the Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) will not bring it up for a vote.

“What I’m hearing is that it’s unlikely that Speaker Johnson will take up any bill and that it would have to be done by a discharge petition,” she said.