Conservatives Discover That Obamacare Will Help A Lot Of People

[DonViejo]

SAHIL KAPUR – APRIL 2, 2014, 6:00 AM EDT

Obamacare crossed the 7 million sign-ups milestone before the midnight deadline Monday, sparking angst and introspection among conservative policy wonks about the future of their quest to wipe the health care law off the books.

Central to their dilemma is the emerging discovery that many people will end up benefiting from Obamacare. Despite the health care law's problems, unanswered questions and unknown costs, it can hardly be denied that millions of American are slated to reap the benefits of its insurance subsidies, the Medicaid expansion and beefed-up consumer protections.

And conservatives note the dangers this poses for the GOP's promise of repeal. Staying the course means stripping coverage from as many as millions of newly insured, causing the sorts of disruptions and cancellations they've raised hell about since last fall. But abandoning the repeal mantra would constitute a monumental backtracking ahead of a promising mid-term election where Obamacare is a vulnerability for many Democrats.

"Even if the law remains broadly unpopular, Republicans will have have to deal with the fact that millions of Americans would have their coverage disrupted by repeal," wrote Philip Klein, a senior writer for the conservative Washington Examiner. "And everybody knows how well it worked out for Obama when, at the height of last fall’s backlash against plan cancellations, he tried to downplay the millions of people being affected as only a small percentage of the population."

more
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/conservatives-obamacare-repeal-dilemma-disruptions

[glowing]

1. How do they keep saying unknown costs?

The CBO did do an estimate of costs... And in the longer term, people having lifetime care should decrease some of the costs associated with some of the higher expenses was issues like heart issues and diabetes (which is preventable if caught early on), weight issues, to even catching cancer during the early more treatable stages.

[tridim]

2. And what "unanswered questions" and unspecified "problems"?

There is no law that I'm aware of that states pro-ACA articles have to contain at least one mention of the current RW lies, stated as fact.

And then there's the "largely unpopular" thing, which last I saw was at 49% and rising fast.

I expect more from TPM.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

3. Like "unanswered questions" and "unspecified problems" really bother Republicans

There were lots of both of those in regards to Iraq but they did it anyway, right? I mean, we had UN weapons inspectors in Iraq telling the world that they weren't finding anything. Had we listened to them, think about the money and lives Bush/Cheney could have saved- and they could claim credit for getting the inspectors back in and ensuring that Iraq had no WMDs and called it a day. It continually angers me that they are always so angry and upset that government might do something that benefits people. Not only that but when they are in power, they don't mind spending lots of money on all kinds of stuff and writing all kinds of crazy laws- with little or no scrutiny- but they endlessly scrutinize, over-analyze, and, of course, demonize EVERYTHING Democrats put forward to death!

[glowing]

4. Do you remember when the economy was failing, and Bush decided 2 times just to hand out money to

stem the bleeding that was happening to people's bank accounts due to extremely high gas prices? If Obama decided to do this now, people would be freaking out and calling each other takers (yet not one of them would turn around and endorse their checks back to the Federal Govt).

OR perhaps, they wouldn't say an damned thing against a pay out check to the American people. It would automatically turn around and stimulate the economy. AND those who feel they are "paying for poor people" and being "taken" for a ride, would feel like they are getting something tangible from the guv'mint... Perhaps he should try floating this idea? He's the one who is trying to make people understand that the minimum wage is too low and that people need a raise. Perhaps the govt could help give people a raise that the employers say they cannot afford at the moment (not until they see more revenue in their pockets; especially small biz), and to pay for it by taxing the wealthy millionaires/ billionaires to help float the costs (the likes of the Koch Bro's and Shelden Addelson seem to have plenty of extra money to throw around trying to buy elections). It might actually be the selling point that would help us to raise taxes on the hoarding rich, and at the same time, help stimulate the economy by giving the poor and middle class the money to purchase things they need, have put off, or want to use toward a vacation.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

5. Sounds like a great idea

the Republicans will be all over it for sure, though.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

6. It must be a profound discovery for them

much like the day the rest of us discovered that water is wet.