Health Care Repeal Is 'Dead,' Says Top Republican, Sights Turned To Repealing Individual Mandate

[brooklynite]

Source: Huffington Post

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.), chairman of House Ways and Means Committee, acknowledged Thursday that Republican plans to repeal President Barack Obama’s signature health care law were “dead.” Instead, Camp predicted, the GOP would turn its focus to overturning the most controversial portion of that legislation: the mandate requiring individuals to buy insurance.

"Obviously, I voted to repeal the bill and you pretty much know where I am on replacement because I put out a bill last year on that," Camp said. "Is the repeal dead? I don’t think the Senate is going to do it, so I guess, yes."

Camp added, "In terms of the House, I put out a bill . We know where I stand.”

“I think we have to see where this lawsuit that is working its way through the courts goes,” he said. “I’m monitoring that pretty closely. The individual mandate, I think, we need to get an answer from the courts on that. ... I do think we may have a vote to repeal that provision some time in this Congress ... the individual mandate.”

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/05/health-care-repeal-dead-republican_n_858015.html

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Two explanations for the Tea Party crowd:

1) You elected a bunch of right-wing ideologue nut-cases who haven't got a clue how to get things done in the real world.

2) You are a bunch of right-wing ideologue nut-cases who got suckered by the Republican Party in the last election.

[drm604]

1. That repeal was dead on arrival and they knew it.

The attempt was just a cynical appeal to the tea party crowd. There was no way they could have repealed that bill.

[russspeakeasy]

12. drm604...spot on.

[Oceansaway]

2. k & r...nt

[Pab Sungenis]

3. I'm all for repealing the individual mandate

but the rest of the reforms need to stay. And expanded and built upon.

[cstanleytech]

5. "I'm all for repealing the individual mandate" Why?

Offhand to me it kind of seems like a good idea to require people to get insurance not that it couldnt stand some tweaking, for example I for one would love to see a government form of insurance for health that people can buy and the payments are based solely on their income.

[on point]

14. No mandate without a public option, otherwise insurance company bonanza!

I prefer single payer overall of course!!

[AllTooEasy]

13. Me too. It's a Big Insurance subsidy that all Americans are paying for.

This gov't intentionally increased the market for companies that were already making billions. Why not force everyone to buy a house to help the housing industry?

Put all insurance companies out of business and have Universal Healthcare. It's cheaper and safer.

[EC]

17. Why?

Healthcare isn't a choice. We all need it sometime in our live. Someone who chooses to not buy the insurance is a free-loader. Maybe like we have with auto insurance, make them put down a bond and show ability to pay (the SR22's).

[Pab Sungenis]

18. No public option, no mandate.

Don't force me to buy something from a private company without a lower-cost public alternative.

[KittyWampus]

20. You aren't forced. You can opt out and pay the minimum.

[Pab Sungenis]

22. Paying the minimum

is still paying with no other option.

I called all this as soon as we put all our hopes on the Baucus Bill instead of defeating it and forcing the Kennedy Bill to the floor.

[EC]

21. Public option I agree with..

I wish they'd just do the smart thing and go to Medicare for all. The insurance companies would be better off that way too, selling Supplementary polices to cover that 20% -30% not covered by Medicare...The supplements we can choose not to buy or buy and still at least get care with 70%-80% paid.

[cstanleytech]

25. Well that much I agree with you about.

Having no option for those who cannot afford to buy into one based on their income wasnt the brightest move.

[mvd]

27. It's a big flaw that needs fixing

The mandate would be fine with a public option or single payer. I supported passage because of the insurance coverage that would be added, but always knew we couldn't entrench private insurance. Hopefully when Obama is re-elected and we re-take control of the House, there will be no problem putting in at least a public option.

[KittyWampus]

19. Then we will NEVER have single payer. EVER. And you can then kiss Social Security good bye.

The fact is, can't afford it- you don't have to pay.

Don't want to pay into it- then don't and pay the minimum.

[WingDinger]

4. I guess they will blame the plot to fake kill osama and the lamestream media.

[JJW]

6. Medicare for all

anything else is just BS.

[Historic NY]

7. What does the back peddlar leader Cantor say?

[pampango]

8. Repubs are being smart here. The individual mandate is the weak link that can "kill the bill" after

the fact.

Many conservatives don't like it because it is "socialism" and many liberals don't like it because the mandate is to buy private insurance. Repubs just need to put together a coalition of conservatives and liberals that don't like the mandate and Obama's HCR will be effectively dead. And repubs would then be even happier because it is highly unlikely that a repub-controlled House will pass any effective health care reform so we will be back to the health care system (or chaos) that we had before HCR.

[ReturnoftheDjedi]

9. The Teabaggers will not forgive this failure.

[Zambero]

10. How about "Sights turned to including a public option"?

We need to get rid of the robber barons who have seized control of statehouses and the U.S. Congress, then complete the job of health care reform. It looks like we have some very good momentum, now that Ryan and his cohorts have shown their cards to the American people. Even if they back off on Medicare and health reform, they still need to be held accountable for what they would pull off if given enough power. They also need to have their faces rubbed in the proposal to give another whopping tax cut to the highest income brackets while attempoting to gut programs like Medicaid that assist those most in need.

[Xithras]

11. Now there's a Republican idea I can get behind.

I'm 100% fine with an individual mandate coupled with a government insurance option for ALL income ranges. The idea that people should be forced to contribute to corporate profits, however, is a "healthcare" notion that only a conservative could love. The Republicans DID invent the concept, after all. Remember RomneyCare?

What we really need, of course, is:

Medicare for all.
With contributions and deductibles scaled by income.
With a legal opt-out for those who prefer private insurance.
And a nice tax on those private insurance plans to help fund the expanded Medicare plan.

[bluestateguy]

15. I'm not going to lose sleep if the mandate is repealed

it's really just corporate welfare.

Without a public option there should be no mandate.

and don't be surprised to see many liberals in the House vote to repeal it.

[brooklynite]

16. UPDATE: Boehner: 'Political Realities' Make Medicare Privatization Difficult

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) is the latest GOP leader to acknowledge that his party's plan to privatize Medicare -- which passed the House as part of the Republican budget -- will hit a wall in the White House and Senate.

Responding Thursday to the news that one of his most powerful chairmen, Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI) of the House Ways and Means Committee, will not push ahead with the Medicare plan, Boehner told reporters, "My interpretation of what Mr. Camp was a recognition of the political realities that we face. While Republicans control the House, the Democrats control the Senate and they control the White House."

Boehner insisted the GOP hasn't abandoned the plan, and isn't prepared to take anything other than tax increases off the table. But with multiple top Republicans now acknowledging that budget negotiations will focus on other areas of potential agreement, it seems understood that the plan is basically dead.

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/05/boehner-political-realities-on-capitol-hill-make-medicare-privatization-difficult.php?ref=fpblg

Michelle Bachman's gotta be pissed. Could a GOP backbenchers coup be in the offing?

[dotymed]

23. I really do not understand the "HCR" rules.

I love the idea that more people will be insured. IMO, all people should have health care as a guaranteed right.

Anyway, what about people who are in poverty? Does this "reform" pay for them to be insured, or will they be fined money (they don't have) because they can't buy insurance?

[Nossida]

24. Never ceases to amaze me.

Never ceases to amaze me how much Corporatist Cock
a republican will suck. They will stop at nothing
to sell all the American people down the drain. How
many Americans have died because of substandard
Healthcare attributed to republican policy. Too many.

[24601]

26. When the appeal reaches he USSC, it's all history. n/t