General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: "Making the perfect the enemy of the good." [View all]emulatorloo
(44,274 posts)If the ACA was a Republican proposal, Republicans would have voted for it and the Koch Bros would have saved their billions lying about it. DINO Joe Lieberman would not have killed the Public Option and the proposed alternative Medicare for 55 and above.
The only thing similar to Heritage was the mandate.
However the "conventional wisdom" that the ACA is "the same" as the Heritage Plan doesn't hold up to scrutiny.
No, Obamacare Wasn't a "Republican" Proposal
http://prospect.org/article/no-obamacare-wasnt-republican-proposal
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The presence of a mandate is where the similarities between the ACA and the Heritage Plan end, and the massive remaining differences reveal the disagreement between Democrats and Republicans about the importance of access to health care for the nonaffluent. The ACA substantially tightens regulations on the health-care industry and requires that plans provide medical service while limiting out-of-pocket expenses. The Heritage Plan mandated only catastrophic plans that wouldn't cover basic medical treatment and would still entail huge expenditures for people afflicted by a medical emergency. The Affordable Care Act contained a historic expansion of Medicaid that will extend medical coverage to millions (and would have covered much more were it not for the Supreme Court), while the Heritage Plan would have diminished the federal role in Medicaid. The ACA preserves Medicare; the Heritage Plan, like the Paul Ryan plan favored by House Republicans, would have destroyed Medicare by replacing it with a voucher system.
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THE ACA V. THE HERITAGE PLAN: A COMPARISON IN CHART FORM
http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2013/12/the-aca-v-the-heritage-plan-a-comparison-in-chart-form
Similarities:
Dissimilarities:
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