Doing nothing is really the ONLY persuasive strategy left to Republicans on Obamacare because the dirty truth is that Republicans SUPPORT the provisions of Obamacare that make Obamacare AFFORDABLE to government and most vocally object only to the provisions popular with American citizens that have created citizen dependence on Obamacare entitlements (though only those who obtain the entitlements are fans which is why ‘enrollment’ is the key for Democrats).
The combination of Republican support for the real goal of Obamacare…To save government money combined with the intention to REDUCE the entitlement payments to those ‘enrollees’ in the form of premium assistance and cost-sharing and expanded Medicaid is the loser argument Republicans have used to justify repealing Obamacare and “returning” to the system that created the opportunity for Obamacare in the first place—one of, if not the most expensive health environments in the world for consumers combined with laws that allow insurers to pay less and less and charge more and more.
*It’s one of the stupidest strategies you can imagine, especially since Republicans have remained largely mute on the issues of fraudulent government payouts, on efforts to actually enforce the minimal restrictions on payouts in the Obamacare system, on enforcement of verification requirements before those payments are made as provided in the Act, on enforcement of recouping overpayments as provided in the Act, on informing the public of the tradeoffs we’ve made for Obamacare including cannibalizing Medicare, all indicating that perhaps Republicans still lazily have not read the Act, or worse yet support this government waste because to change it would require government oversight of government.
Instead, Republicans have become the boogeyman of Obamacare, the strongest reason used to continue to support the law--For citizens as bad as it is, Republican plans would be worse--which might be true.
Republicans have whined, “Repeal,” as the IRS and the Administration have done everything possible and spent as much as possible to use government money to keep ‘enrollment’ up ensuring that the number of American citizens who would tolerate repeal would drop.
Republicans have implemented a strategy of attacking the entitlement provisions of Obamacare remaining mute about the Congressional Budget Office’s change in accounting that permits the government to hide the true “costs” of Obamacare because it examines the cost of health-insurance only, the amount laid out by the government on behalf of individual recipients which has gone down because individuals are paying more and getting less coverage for needed medical services.
Certainly, a sensible Republican might have informed the public that the only “savings” cited by Obamacare for government are those in terms of per capita payout—the amount the government is PAYING ON BEHALF OF INDIVIDUALS using government-sponsored plans like Medicaid or Medicare which savings are attributable to the government providing LESS COVERAGE and requiring more CITIZEN PAY-IN rather than improving the rates they negotiate with providers or reducing government expenses in the form of salary, benefits, staffing, administration of the Obama programs.
Because Republicans would rather cut entitlement payments to citizen consumers rather than put in the work of getting the government house in order (see paragraph *), their arguments are not only repetitive (“REPEAL, REPEAL”) but hostile to American citizens who currently benefit from Obamacare (enrollees) who are getting government money to a greater or lesser extent.
Similarly, you don’t see Republicans attacking the government raising OUT OF POCKET MAXIMUMS for 2016 for health insurance plans when our economy’s growth in income is stagnant and when more people are out of the workforce than have been in decades, meaning that Americans who pay more and earn the same or less will actually have less money after health costs for 2016.
For 2016 self-only is $6,850 up from $6,600 in 2015, other than self-only (such as family coverage), the maximum out-of-pocket limit is $13,700 for 2016, up from $13,200 in 2015. Where are the proposals to amend the ability to raise out of pocket maximums to be dependent on a comparable rise in incomes and dependent on improving the employment participation rate? After all, Social Security is providing no COLA this year because of the stagnant economy.
Republicans need to shut up about Obamacare or continue to risk reinforcing the illogical argument of Obamacare that is its stronghold on the American people that without it things would be worse.
