The Audacity of GOP Dopes on Health Care [View all]
Michael Tomasky on the Audacity of GOP Dopes on Health Care
by Michael Tomasky May 31, 2012 4:45 AM EDT
After attacking the Affordable Care Act for three years, Republicans now say theyd like to keep its most popular provisions. How convenientand how clueless.
In three weeks or so, the Supreme Court will rule on health care. Republicans have been discussing what they might do in the event that poor, beleaguered John Roberts manages to withstand that vicious assault of the liberals and to lead a majority that strikes down the individual mandate. This one is a classic, folks. After spending three years lying their eyes out about the bill and tearing this country apart over it, it now turns out that they may well want to keep several of its provisions. And of course they want to keep the easy and fun stuff and get rid of all that bad-bad-bad stuff, but what they dont understandor more likely do understand but refuse to acknowledgeis that the good doesnt work without the "bad." Its breathtaking and ignorantwhether breathtakingly ignorant or ignorantly breathtaking Im not quite sure. Call it the audacity of dopes.
Two weeks ago, John Boehner was insisting that Obamacare must be repealed lock, stock, and barrel. Some other Republicans wanted the slightly less radical approach of keeping some aspects of the law. A few days ago, some in the House warmed to this idea. Now, TPM is reporting that Senate Republicans are hopping on the piecemeal train.
The idea is to preserve the language that requires insurers to cover people with preexisting conditions, because everyone likes that; to continue to permit young people up to age 26 to stay on their parents insurance, because thats helpful, especially in a rocky economy; and to press forward with eliminating the Medicare prescription drug donut hole, whereby seniors have to pay 100 percent of medication costs within a certain price range.
The last two are fine. But that first one is the gobsmacker. You cannot just make insurance companies cover really sick people. Sick people are expensive people, and insurers costs will shoot to the heavens, and those costs of course will be passed along to everyone else. Is there a solution to this problem? Yes. The solution is to get more people in the insurance poolespecially more healthy people, who dont cost a lot to cover. Then, insurers have more money to use paying for the care of the sick people. But since you cant just wish for more healthy people to buy insurance, you have to figure out some way to get them to do so. And hence ... the individual mandate. It broadens the pool and brings premiums down. Its how you manage to pay for all those people who need radiation and chemo and dialysis.
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