It’s time for GOP to accept reality of ObamaCare
Last spring, conservatives were certain that the U.S. Supreme Court would rule ObamaCare unconstitutional. It did not. Earlier this month, U.S. voters likewise refused to toss out the law’s prime architect, re-electing President Obama to another four-year term. Neither ObamaCare nor its namesake is going anywhere.
So now what?
While some Republicans acknowledge the fact that ObamaCare is now permanent, other GOP politicians seem intent on trying to sabotage the law through inaction even if they lack the support to repeal it. Last week, for example, Gov. Nathan Deal signed onto the strategy of passive resistance against the law when he announced that Georgia would refuse to exercise its authority under ObamaCare to create and operate its own insurance exchange.
The decision means that come 2014, Georgians who try to purchase private health insurance using federal subsidies will be required to compare and buy policies on a federally designed exchange, instead of an exchange that was specially tailored to and operated by Georgia. In short, Deal has chosen to view any cooperation in implementing ObamaCare as a form of collaboration with the enemy.
(UPDATE: The AJC’s Misty Williams has a piece in today’s paper explaining how a decision to reject the expansion of Medicaid also could devastate Georgia hospitals, such as Grady Memorial, that serve a poorer clientele.)
On the narrow question of creating a state version of the health insurance exchange, Deal might have made the right decision for the wrong reasons. While Georgia politicians were playing a delaying game, hoping that ObamaCare would be killed by the courts or the voters, other states that intend to launch their own exchanges have been working on the programs for months if not years. Trying to play catch-up at this point might very well not be worth Georgia’s investment of time, energy and political capital, particularly with a federal exchange as an backup option.
However, the larger and by far more consequential question involves Georgia’s participation in an expanded Medicaid program offered through ObamaCare beginning in 2014. If Georgia ultimately decides to take part, Medicaid coverage would be extended to an additional 600,000 lower-income Georgians. (For a family of four, households with an income of roughly $32,000 and below would be eligible for coverage.) Those Georgians would get covered at very little cost to state taxpayers.
Under ObamaCare, from 2014 to 2016 the federal government will pay 100 percent of the costs for insuring those additional Georgians. In later years, the share covered by the federal government will drop slightly — Uncle Sam will cover 95 percent of the cost in 2017, 94 percent in 2018, 93 percent in 2019 and then 90 percent from 2020 on out. (For comparison’s sake, Georgia pays a little over a third of the cost for current Medicaid recipients.)
Nonetheless, Deal announced at the Republican National Convention in August that Georgia would refuse to take advantage of the expanded Medicaid program. Even with the federal government paying all or most of the cost, Deal said, the state simply couldn’t afford the additional expense.
That’s a foolish decision, especially given that Georgia has the fifth highest rate of uninsured in the country. In effect, Deal would be denying health insurance coverage to some 600,000 Georgia citizens just to make a partisan political point. It also means turning away billions of federal dollars — an estimated $14.5 billion over the first six years — that would flow into the state’s health-care delivery system. That’s a benefit of particular importance to rural Georgia, where the health-care infrastructure is skeletal at best because so many residents are uninsured and have few resources from which to pay medical bills.
(UPDATE: The AJC’s Misty Williams has a piece in today’s paper explaining how a decision to reject the expansion of Medicaid also could devastate Georgia hospitals, such as Grady Memorial, that serve a poorer clientele.)
Deal’s explanation notwithstanding, it’s not a question of whether Georgia can afford it. It’s a question of political priorities. As Tim Sweeney of the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute points out, Georgia’s spending per Medicaid recipient in 2009 was already the second lowest in the country, which says a lot. It says that ObamaCare aside, the health of Georgia citizens simply isn’t important to those elected to lead this state, and if they have to deny health insurance to hundreds of thousands to prove it, harming the state economy in the process, they’re willing to do so.
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658 comments Add your comment
middle of the road
November 21st, 2012
10:29 am
“middle: actually, as I recall, Obama was against the individual mandate, but acquiesced to republicans, who were right about that. The individual mandate isn’t popular, but even Romney proved it could work in Mass.”
So why have Republicans been blasting the individual mandate every chance they get, even to the point of wanting to repeal Obamacare just to get rid of the individual mandate???
Peadawg
November 21st, 2012
10:29 am
“Really? He did?
When?”
How cute. Jay plays dumb. Here’s a collage of Obama repeatedly saying in 2008 that insurance premiums will be reduced by $2500/yr.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=_o65vMUk5so#!
Tony
November 21st, 2012
10:29 am
Namvet, you’ve been reading too many GOP blogs. 62% of citizens of Massachusetts support Romneycare, and Massachusetts has the lowest percentage of uninsured residents in the country. (Only 5% are uninsured.)
Child, please
November 21st, 2012
10:29 am
It’s not a matter of whether GA can afford it, it’s already known that they can’t (state portion supposed be hundreds of millions per year eventually). Already can’t afford State health insurance programs as they are (or just barely as the budget does get balanced every year). Legalized gambling anyone? And opting in with “federal” money just means you and every other taxpayer in the country chip in, you pay for it one way or the other. No free lunches, sorry liberals.
The thing I don’t understand, how does it take a year or more to build an exchange to buy insurance? I can call 10 insurance companies or contact them on the internet and have quotes in a week with a few facts (age, gender, etc.). Why does it take the government so looooooonnnnnngggggggggggg? (time is money)
The
Rabbit
November 21st, 2012
10:30 am
The Republican candidate who embraces Obamacare and the notion that it will 1) improve the health of the populace; 2) reduce the cost of health care delivery; and 3) consequently reduce the deficit will win the nomination in 2016. Other factors will decide whether he or she can win it all.
alex
November 21st, 2012
10:30 am
Jim fixx had famial hyperlipidemia and lived 10 years longer than his father, who died of a heart attack and for many years had smoked 2 packs a day, my point-Fixx may have been a runner for 10 years, but he had a lot of cards stacked against him. Fianally, his runnig obsession may actually have been to his hearts detriment as ultra marathoner,etc. may actually have increased CV mortality,As GRANNY (not GODZILLA) would say:”sonny, everything in moderation”
Nunna Yobinnes
November 21st, 2012
10:31 am
Jay – individual coverage is expensive. My employer doesn’t offer health care. I guess I could cancel my policy and try to get another carrier, but then assuming I could get coverage, I would have to go another year without filing any claims on pre-existing conditions.
I didn’t blame the cost increase on Obama, but Obamacare isn’t going to reduce my costs is it? Nothing gets fixed, just more costs to the middle class get added on.
RF
November 21st, 2012
10:31 am
Terrence: it’s a nice dream, but most folks I know either lost a lot in the recession and can’t afford to think about it, or aren’t rich enough to have that option anyway. Those that are will retire when they wish regardless of healthcare costs. Your point is only relevant to those who may choose to retire early, and in this economy there aren’t many of those. A LOT of the babyboomers looking to retire in this decade are already rethinking that because they lost so much in the recession that won’t return for another ten years, if then.
D man
November 21st, 2012
10:31 am
Here is another example of Liberalism at its worst…
Hostess announced it is going out of business, why? Because the Unions stepped in and told their workers that they could make more on welfare than Hostess could pay them so they went on strike. The company warned them that they would not be able to pay those wages without increasing prices above what the market would be willing to pay. The company said if you don’t agree to these terms, we will go out of business and you will all be on welfare. The workers decided it is better to be on welfare than to work for a living. Isn’t America great these days under Obama!!! Pretty soon, we will not have other products for this same reason unless companies raise prices to compensate for OBAMACARE and other taxes to pay for increasing Welfare…
Regnad Kcin
November 21st, 2012
10:31 am
“The right tried to leave a crime with us holding the bag, now they call that owning something’
They played “starve the beast” for decades – the plan was always to leave the Democratic Party “holding the bag.”
Not a Neal Boortz Redneck
November 21st, 2012
10:31 am
The private part of Obamacare will never be reversed.
The insurers like it, the providers like it, and the insured like it.
I like it.
I cannot be recissioned and my insurer must pay my claims.
Moderate Line
November 21st, 2012
10:31 am
Jay
November 21st, 2012
10:01 am
“Oh great. $1,500 a month for health insurance, and now I have to pay for dead beats health insurance too? No pre-existing conditions? Price just went up again. Well, after the health insurance costs bankrupt me, maybe I’ll qualify for the free stuff.
Actually, Nunn, you were already paying for uncompensated medical care through your own private insurance. And contrary to your complaint about “price just went up again,” health insurance went up just 4 percent this year, one of the lowest increases in recent history.
++++
If you assume that Obama care is actually going to increase the number of people receiving health care unless the supply of doctors increases the cost will be higher with ObamaCare than without. This is basic economics. Demand increases without a increase in supply price goes up. Unless you believe their is excess capacity in the system the cost is going up. There is already a projected doctor shortage. If you remember the pictures of the Soviet Union with it’s empty shelves.
The left is always complaining about the right denying science in the case of global warming but the left seems to avoid the basic concept of supply and demand. There is no way Obama care does not increase the cost of medical care unless it is assume there excess capacity, it increases the number of doctors or magic.
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/doctor-shortage-health-care-crash/story?id=17708473#.UKzwn4dfCSo
JKL2
November 21st, 2012
10:31 am
-You can’t spit-shine a turd.
obama says,”What?”
obama: Four more years of “It’s Bush’s fault” will solve everything.
I'm NOT giving up to getting out of ObUMacare!!!!
November 21st, 2012
10:32 am
In FOUR years (or LESS), voters for ObUMa will be BEGGING to get OUT of ObUMacare!!!
Doggone/GA
November 21st, 2012
10:33 am
“Jim fixx had famial hyperlipidemia”
Jim Fixx “took care of himself”…and still died young.
RF
November 21st, 2012
10:33 am
“So why have Republicans been blasting the individual mandate every chance they get, even to the point of wanting to repeal Obamacare just to get rid of the individual mandate”
playing to the numbers basically. They know its unpopular, so they’re hoping to swing votes with it. They pushed for its inclusion, both because it was necessary and because they knew they’d have a political point to criticize. Romneycare had the mandate too as I recall.
Welcome to the Occupation
November 21st, 2012
10:33 am
JKL2, USinUK, actually the whole premise of power being a direct function of who holds the reserves of one currency or other is a misconception.
If the Chinese hold a significance percentage of US debt, then who holds that power exactly? (Hint: it’s not unipolar. If the US were to default, for example, would the US be the only one that is hurt?)
USinUK - not very ladylike (and former Girl Scout)
November 21st, 2012
10:33 am
“Good to know we are monitizing our own debt. I feel much better knowing we are being run by the United States of Enron…”
corporate entities, too, dear – insurance companies and so forth that HAVE to invest in Treasuries
Doggone/GA
November 21st, 2012
10:34 am
“I didn’t blame the cost increase on Obama, but Obamacare isn’t going to reduce my costs is it”
You won’t know for sure until you have access to a healtchare exchange.
Jay
November 21st, 2012
10:35 am
Moderate, you act as if there’s some time limit on the process that you describe. Don’t you think that higher demand for doctors will produce more supply of doctors (as well as a transition to physicians’ assistants, urgent-care clinics, etc., that is already under way)?
Stevie Ray..Clowns to the left and Jokers to the right..here I am...
November 21st, 2012
10:36 am
Jay
November 21st, 2012
10:21 am
Are you familiar with MIT economist Jonathan Gruber?
JamVet
November 21st, 2012
10:36 am
China owns us.
Just another example of the “low information voter” (which still cracks me up) that JHM wrote of this morning.
JKL2, George who??? (You still miss him doncha? LOL.)
Get Real
November 21st, 2012
10:36 am
Have a great Thanksgiving Jay and all daily bloggers, remember to allot time for one of the best naps (post meal snooze) you will have all year!!
Keep Up the Good Fight!
November 21st, 2012
10:36 am
Wow Pea, you got ‘em.
Candidate Obama proposed a health insurance plan to lower premiums, now since you are so smart, be honest and compare and contrast his proposeal vs what was passed, otay. You are comparing apples to apples, right?
southpaw
November 21st, 2012
10:37 am
Regnad Kcin November 21st, 2012 10:10 am
I’ve learned, over the years, that people of intelligence and good will are still going to disagree sometimes. The best pair of examples that come to mind are Cal Thomas and Bob Beckel. You may have seen some of their editorials in USA Today. I try to follow their lead and disagree without being disagreeable (and sometimes succeed).
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.
weetamoe
November 21st, 2012
10:37 am
Mary Elizabeth, Paul Krugman was a trusted advisor to ENRON. Mary Elizabeth, if you have to cite the contents of your library, it smacks of defensiveness, which is unbecoming to one who wishes to be known for her scholarly pursuits. Mary Elizabeth, I too read Jane Mayer’s article in the New Yorker, but did not find it quite so mesmerizing as you apparently did. It might be prudent to check Ms Mayer’s sources for possible distortions and demonstrated omissions. Mary Elizabeth, you might want too sample a few more diverse opinions. I suggest the writings of Nat Hentoff, a writer with New York’s Village Voice for many years and now with Commentary. His articles are brief and clearly written. I was born in, lived in, and studied in New England for many years. I find the South delightful. There are no more fools here than anywhere else.
Dr. Pangloss
November 21st, 2012
10:37 am
Thomas heyward Jr
November 21st, 2012
8:26 am
The majority of Americans did NOT vote for Barry Soetero.
—————
No, but the majority of American voters did vote for President Barack Hussein Obama.
Lynnie Gal
November 21st, 2012
10:38 am
To the wingnut Republicans, freedom means dying when your insurance is cancelled or you can’t afford COBRA after your job ends, or you get sick and have a pre-existing condition. It means having the freedom of losing your home, your belongings and your future if you get sick and your insurance company will not pay your bills because they say it is above the “usual and customary” fees, or because they decide you’re not covered for that. Republicans, take your “Freedom” and shove it. Americans have spoken. You now have the “freedom” to crawl back under your rocks and wait to slither out and hiss your lies into the ears of others (using public airwaves) closer to the next election.
JKL2
November 21st, 2012
10:38 am
not neal bortz- Before Obamacare we spent $7700 per capita on healthcare and France spends $3800 for better results
Our country is the fattest, laziest country in the history of the world. Our doctors have to be miracle workers based on the product they have to deal with. Healthy people spend less on healthcare.
Peadawg
November 21st, 2012
10:38 am
“Wow Pea, you got ‘em.”
Thanks
Peadawg
November 21st, 2012
10:39 am
“Barry Soetero”
Who’s that?
Keep Up the Good Fight!
November 21st, 2012
10:39 am
You can’t spit-shine a turd.
Well actually on Mythbusters, they proved you can.
RF
November 21st, 2012
10:39 am
D man: do some reading beyond Fox and breitbart, please. Hostess came out of bankruptcy in 2009 with 500 million in capital generated by cuts to labor costs. Unions accepted those cuts to get the company out of bankruptcy. Of course, this was in the beginning throes of the worst recession in known memory, so every company was struggling, especially in such a narrow market as dessert cakes. The company kept labor costs within projections but didn’t generate income. In 2011, income was roughly 2.5 billion- 600 million below projections. The blame is rightly placed on a shrunken market, poor advertising, and no innovation in product to keep up with changing market demands. People are demanding less fatty snacks and more cost-effective foods. Hostess didn’t change a thing, and in the business world if you don’t adjust to the market, it leaves you behind. The company was headed back to bankruptcy soon enough anyway. Oh, and btw, all the unions but the baker’s union agreed to another round of pay and benefit cost reductions. Yes, that single union provided the final impetus to close, but the company was nearing the end anyway.
Not a Neal Boortz Redneck
November 21st, 2012
10:40 am
Krugman may have advised Enron but he didn’t scam stockholders and employees. Kenny-Boy (dead), Pat Skilling (prison) and Andy Fastow (prison) did.
All GOP, by the way.
0311/8541/5811/1811/1801
November 21st, 2012
10:40 am
“In other words, Sink, you’re just chanting slogans.”
You mean like: “Forward” ??
Stevie Ray..Clowns to the left and Jokers to the right..here I am...
November 21st, 2012
10:41 am
Jay
November 21st, 2012
10:35 am
Another ignorant conclusion…the answer is that many doctors, nursing homes, ancillary providers, home health providers and the like will not survive the cuts that favor hospital systems who, along with insurers, paid off Pelosi et al to be favorably treated. Existing docs accepting medicaid/care, will stop accepting same because cuts will kill business model. Those who want to remain in the game are selling practices back to hosptials because that is the only way they can hope to participate in any means of making a profit.
Your assumption about influx of new docs filling new demand is another fallacious position..
JKL2
November 21st, 2012
10:41 am
USinIK- and, unless the federal government takes over the private insurance companies, you can look forward to corporate gouging unless people demand changes.
Thanks for point out obamacare does nothing to fix the problem.
chris hiers
November 21st, 2012
10:42 am
is it me or or are republicans greedy to the point of no humanity and to the point of hypertension?
Doggone/GA
November 21st, 2012
10:42 am
“Our country is the fattest, laziest country in the history of the world”
Got proof?
wayne
November 21st, 2012
10:42 am
For healthcare cost to come down, medical expenses have to be lowered. There was nothing in the PPACA that addressed it. Tort reform was not allowed because the Democrats are in the pocket of the trial lawyers. There was not one Republican who voted for the bill and no amendments were allowed or any input. The bill has 21 new taxes built in it and everyone will feel them next year. One is a 2.4% tax on durable medical equipment, how is that going to lower medical cost? How about Obama getting in front of the camera and saying if you like your coverage then you can keep it, that is not true. If you go to an exchange you have to buy the plan design the exchange offers. IF you have a family income of less than 88,000.00 you can get subsidized by the Government, the money will be borrowed to give to people who can afford it. Brokers and agents are the first line of defense in getting Insurance companies to provide service and pay claims and they were thrown under the bus by Sen. Jay Rockefeller. Under the law Insurance companies are allowed to keep 20% of the premiums and the agents commissions are in that 20%. This has affected hundreds of thousands of people who served their communities. Another reason health insurance premiums are so high is because of Government regulations like COBRA and then HIPAA. They drove the cost so high that the Democrats saw a ripe time to take over the industry. Like Government ran Insurance programs? Ask people on medicare, doctors are pulling out in droves. Medicaid is poorly run and almost broke. Medicare has a nearly 42 trillion dollar deficit. The appeals process in the VA medical system takes over 800 days. A friend of mine had to wait 5 years to be treated for agent orange. Last of all the health insurance industry is a private industry and the government has no business being involved in it. Be careful what you wish for your industry will be the next one to be taken over by Obama if he has time!
Markoo
November 21st, 2012
10:42 am
And it’s time for the Democrats to accept the reality as well:
1) It still isn’t popular with the public.
2) It already costs more than projected.
3) It does little to try to contain costs.
I could go on, but the Democrats who didn’t read the plan certainly won’t read a list longer than three items.
Welcome to the Occupation
November 21st, 2012
10:42 am
weetamoe: “Paul Krugman was a trusted advisor to ENRON”
I assume you’re saying that to discredit him because you find his views too “liberal” (even though he is quite the mainstream economist if every there was one).
But if you are going to dismiss an economist for being affiliated with an entity like Enron, you will find yourself without any economists left in your conservative economic stable. (Cough cough, can you say “G-r-e-e-n-s-p-a-n”?)
hewhoasks
November 21st, 2012
10:42 am
Ya know, sometimes the South isn’t the most backward part of the country:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/13/wisconsin-obamacare_n_2125468.html
Regnad Kcin
November 21st, 2012
10:42 am
“To the wingnut Republicans, freedom means dying when your insurance is cancelled or you can’t afford COBRA after your job ends, or you get sick and have a pre-existing condition”
The trailer parks are full of folks who once had a good life-style, but acquired what is now a “pre-existing condition.” Some folks think that’s as it should be; others, not so much.
getalife
November 21st, 2012
10:43 am
Nah, they will continue to ignore reality, lie and lose.
Let them stay the course.
Keep Up the Good Fight!
November 21st, 2012
10:44 am
Pea, since you are not honest and apparently ignorant of context. Here’s a clue for you. In 2008, Candidate Obama was proposing Universal Healthcare. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_care_reform_in_the_United_States_presidential_election,_2008
Hopefully you will apologize for your distorted claims. But I doubt it.
JamVet
November 21st, 2012
10:44 am
Our country is the fattest, laziest country in the history of the world.
THAT’S the spirit!
And that is why you keep on having such staggering success in recent elections!
Woo Hoo!
Republicans hating America and Americans!
The New GOP Patriotism!
Dirty Dawg
November 21st, 2012
10:44 am
As if ‘explaining’ the whole of The Affordable Care Act to most folks here would matter, it’s important to realize that the reason it was named that was its design was to be a ‘balanced’ approach to healthcare that would, over time, help bring the costs down for everybody. For Georgia to deny a Grady, and every other hospital that treats patients that can’t pay – which is all of em – means that those costs are gonna be disproportionately laid on Georgians, rather than shared with the rest of the country. By the way, we’ll be paying into, with our tax dollars, the system that funds this, regardless of whether we use it or not…but don’t worry, Georgia, despite how we already treat our Medicare-eligible citizens, gets more from the Feds than we put it…guess that means we’re a ‘taker’ rather than a ‘maker’…AKA ‘moucher’. So it goes, Deal and the rest of our Republican ‘leaders’ will continue to ‘cut off OUR noses just to spite Obama’…I wish they’d cut off their hands so they couldn’t play with themselves…the jerks.
stands for decibels
November 21st, 2012
10:44 am
Good to know we are monitizing our own debt. I feel much better knowing we are being run by the United States of Enron…
Why don’t you find a nice country that is still on the gold standard and move there, since you’ve apparently been having night terrors since 1971?
The other half of your brain.
November 21st, 2012
10:44 am
Enter your comments here
USinUK – not very ladylike (and former Girl Scout)
November 21st, 2012
8:54 am
“explain to me how raising taxes on the RICH is going to create any more jobs?”
explain to me how keeping it as it is or cutting it will – it hasn’t in 40 years, so why will it suddenly work now???
I actually thought things weren’t to bad under Clinton, just sayin!
Nunna Yobinnes
November 21st, 2012
10:45 am
“Our country is the fattest, laziest country in the history of the world. Our doctors have to be miracle workers based on the product they have to deal with. Healthy people spend less on healthcare”
So your suggestion is government control to reduce fatties? Big brother knows what you should eat, and you will eat it.
What about the “tell government to keep their hands of of my body?” Or does that only apply to specific areas like birth control, abortion, etc.?
JKL2
November 21st, 2012
10:45 am
doggone- Yeah, I have MY plans in place too. Except right after Bush got elected the economy tanked and I lost almost half my retirement savings. Then the economy tanked again at the end of his reign and I lost almost half of what was left. So much for plans
obama says the economy is booming and wall street is at record levels. Didn’t you get the memo?
Jay
November 21st, 2012
10:45 am
Peadawg, each of those truncated quotes is taken out of context. The administration has been clear that that’s an expected reduction below what the cost of health insurance WOULD have been without these reforms.
FREEDOMLOST
November 21st, 2012
10:45 am
Mr Bookman and all your liberal friends, enjoy OBAMACARE and the new taxes, corruption and lack of healthcare you’ll now receive. May the next four years go by quickly and maybe just maybe we can survive the Socialist agenda Mr Obama craves!!!
middle of the road
November 21st, 2012
10:46 am
“playing to the numbers basically. They know its unpopular, so they’re hoping to swing votes with it. They pushed for its inclusion, both because it was necessary and because they knew they’d have a political point to criticize. Romneycare had the mandate too as I recall.”
So, RF, are you saying that the Republicans should be forgiven because “it is just politics”. Sorry, no go. If you want to play politics, that is your business, but don’t act offended when we proponents of reasonable health care don’t vote for someone who wants to kill reasonable health care. Same thing for the Hispanics – do you blame them for not voting for the party that is leading the charge to DEPORT THEM ALL! even though they really don’t mean it? Say what you mean and mean what you say!
Not a Neal Boortz Redneck
November 21st, 2012
10:46 am
Wany, tort reform is being done. 29 states have capped liability.
Its funny how “states rights” GOPers become all Central Gov when it comes to screwing consumers.
Doggone/GA
November 21st, 2012
10:46 am
“Well actually on Mythbusters, they proved you can.”
Well actually…they proved you can shine one. They didn’t “spit-shine” them. ‘-)
Stevie Ray..Clowns to the left and Jokers to the right..here I am...
November 21st, 2012
10:46 am
JAY
Look into Jonathan Grubers new position on ACA..he was main consultant for Romney and BO..offered a complex methodology to tell congress what they wanted to hear…unfortnuately, his original model didn’t factor in the cost of pre-existing conditions, the new high utility insureds, and other major factors..
He orignally told Congress that premiums would be reduced by 14-30%…he was subsequently hired by MN and WS…now his tune has changed with more credible revised model…his new position is that premiums will increase by 13-33%..
Imagine that, the FEDS jamming a program a material majority didn’t want based on data that didn’t consider the main cost drivers of the bill…this is not atypical…and one of the reasons we spend 30% more than we take in…
I guess like any current problem, it’s all Bush’s fault eh? Those evil GOP trying to stop Hope and Change..perhaps you will find others to blame as well..
0311/8541/5811/1811/1801
November 21st, 2012
10:46 am
Markoo:
LOL ! And don’t forget who said we had to pass it first so we could understand it !!!
Get Real
November 21st, 2012
10:47 am
weetamoe
WELL SAID…
0311/8541/5811/1811/1801
November 21st, 2012
10:47 am
The “BANKRUPTCY” of America continues.
td
November 21st, 2012
10:47 am
“Under ObamaCare, from 2014 to 2016 the federal government will pay 100 percent of the costs for insuring those additional Georgians. In later years, the share covered by the federal government will drop slightly — Uncle Sam will cover 95 percent of the cost in 2017, 94 percent in 2018, 93 percent in 2019 and then 90 percent from 2020 on out. (For comparison’s sake, Georgia pays a little over a third of the cost for current Medicaid recipients.)”
Now put these stats into real numbers? What would be the actual cost to the taxpayers of Georgia? We currently spend about $3 to $4 billion a year to cover Medicaid now and I have heard that the expansion would cost the state an additional $1 to $2 billion to start with.
How is the state going to afford this additional cost? Right now Education is about 50% of the states budget and Medicaid is an additional 20%. Do we want to take away money from Education? Police? Archives?
JamVet
November 21st, 2012
10:48 am
You mean like: “Forward” ??
Which, BTW was taken from the Marxist President Ronald Reagan who once gave a speech titled “Forward for Freedom.”
Although the champions of “Backwards!”, Neil Boortz and Mitt Romney, among others, are not amused…
Erwin's cat
November 21st, 2012
10:48 am
how does connecting Greenspan to the GOP give Krugman anymore more creditability?
USinUK - not very ladylike (and former Girl Scout)
November 21st, 2012
10:48 am
“Thanks for point out obamacare does nothing to fix the problem.”
single payer, babbee!!!
Doggone/GA
November 21st, 2012
10:49 am
“obama says the economy is booming”
When you have to lie to make your point, you have no point.
middle of the road
November 21st, 2012
10:49 am
“So your suggestion is government control to reduce fatties? Big brother knows what you should eat, and you will eat it.”
No, I don’t agree with that. But like cigarettes, my weight is under my own control, and if the insurance companies decide that overweight people should pay significantly higher premiums, I am on-board with that. I am overweight and I would pay that extra amount, or else it would goad me to reduce weight, same as the tobacco-free requirement with our insurance is just the goad some people need to quit. Money talks and people listen!
Robert
November 21st, 2012
10:50 am
I am so happy that Obama won the election…I can keep my five free cell phones.
RF
November 21st, 2012
10:50 am
“So, RF, are you saying that the Republicans should be forgiven because “it is just politics”. Sorry, no go.”
WHOA dude, I wasn’t saying forgive them. I was just pointing out the hypocrisy of what they’re saying, which is just toooo easy. I’m on your side here- and saying what I mean. So back off and try a little decaf, dude. My point to you originally was that the individual mandate was not something Obama originally saw a need for- I didn’t either, but I’m seeing that maybe it’s necessary. That’s not a nod to the neocons- sorry if you think it was.
Oscar
November 21st, 2012
10:51 am
The speaker of the house, JB, said he thought the GOP would propose some amendments to the Affordable HCA. He didn’t say what they would be.
When we go over the cliff on Jan 1, there will probably be a lot of changes coming. Mainly cuts and more cuts. In medicare, medicaid and defense.
Nobody that studied the AHCA before it was passed really thought it would lower health care premiums. If they thought that, they were not paying attention.
The aim was to provide health care for more people, not to lower costs for everyone.
Nunna Yobinnes
November 21st, 2012
10:51 am
“I actually thought things weren’t to bad under Clinton, just sayin!”
Yeah, if only the dot com boom false economy hadn’t fizzled out.
JKL2
November 21st, 2012
10:51 am
welcome- If the Chinese hold a significance percentage of US debt, then who holds that power exactly?
Ummm, China. The borrower is slave to the lender.
obama: Bringing slavery back to the people!
mm
November 21st, 2012
10:51 am
Even Gov Nesferatu here in FL realized that was a politically stupid thing to do. But with all the redneck wingnuts in GA, I don’t think it will matter.
Jefferson
November 21st, 2012
10:52 am
Apathy is a for sorry excuses for Americans.
Stevie Ray..Clowns to the left and Jokers to the right..here I am...
November 21st, 2012
10:53 am
Welcome to the Occupation
November 21st, 2012
10:42 am
Did you notice that each side accepts the ecnomists that supports their pre-conceived notions of reality. Krugman is exclusively biased to DEMS and suggests they can do no wrong while REPS subscribe to the economists who are exclusively biased for them..
Nobody on this blog (i hope i’m mistaken) has a clue as to which is correct…it is safer to say they are all mostly wrong…some may turn out to be more right…but it is anything but an exact science..
Same with mathematicians like me..but at least we give a range or outcomes that vary by the quality of data provided..if data is good, range is correct…economics has become so politicized, to always take the side of a guy who is primarily a journalist and secondly an economist is not a good idea.
Many, many other economists offer a more balanced data analysis that are not skewed by pandering to a subscription base…
Jefferson
November 21st, 2012
10:53 am
Much of the debt is owed to the SSI fund, Americans.
Peadawg
November 21st, 2012
10:53 am
Keep, spin all your want sweetheart.
“But it turns out that family premiums have increased by more than $3,000 since Obama’s vow, according to the latest annual Kaiser Family Foundation employee health benefits survey.
Premiums for employer-provided family coverage rose $3,065 — 24% — from 2008 to 2012, the Kaiser survey found. Even if you start counting in 2009, premiums have climbed $2,370.
What’s more, premiums climbed faster in Obama’s four years than they did in the previous four under President Bush, the survey data show.”
The only good thing I can think of that has come out of Obamacare is that insurers can’t deny you for pre-existing conditions.
middle of the road
November 21st, 2012
10:53 am
“Wany, tort reform is being done. 29 states have capped liability.
Its funny how “states rights” GOPers become all Central Gov when it comes to screwing consumers.”
It ain’t screwing consumers – it is screwing lawyers. If people were really upset about that Emory doctor amputating the wrong finger, they would push for having his license suspended or revoked so he could not do it again. Instead, all they want is the money from EVERY doctors malpractice insurance. YES, when you go to the doctor next, you will help pay for that wrong amputation.
Joey M
November 21st, 2012
10:53 am
This is a 10th Amendment issue. The Feds are infringing on State’s rights.
Doggone/GA
November 21st, 2012
10:54 am
“if the insurance companies decide that overweight people should pay significantly higher premiums, I am on-board with that”
and I am NOT. Being overweight is not proof, in and of itself, of being unhealthy. I am at least 100 lbs overweight. I have normal blood pressure and normal cholesterol In the last 20 years I’ve been to a doctor MAYBE 25 times. And in the last 5 years I’ve been once a year, and that’s only because I have to do to get my stomach prescription refilled. And THAT has nothing to do with my weight. It’s just what’s available NOW to control a problem I was diagnosed with at 16…when I weighed 110 lbs.
JKL2
November 21st, 2012
10:54 am
jamvet- JKL2, George who??? (You still miss him doncha? LOL.)
Yes, I really miss having a leader in the White House. Guess we’ll get to see where this rudderless ship will go. Thanks 47%ers….
Peadawg
November 21st, 2012
10:55 am
“Peadawg, each of those truncated quotes is taken out of context. The administration has been clear that that’s an expected reduction below what the cost of health insurance WOULD have been without these reforms.”
That makes absolutely no sense. So it’s going to keep going up…just not as much as it would have?
getalife
November 21st, 2012
10:55 am
I think the gop guvs opting out will give us single payer.
We will join the rest of the civilized world thanks to the gop.
Keep Up the Good Fight!
November 21st, 2012
10:55 am
Pea, yes sweetie, run away from your original claim and move the goal posts. Remember they have to back in place for the games this weekend. You might want to get some help since you are clearly experience a weakness in the mind.
Jay
November 21st, 2012
10:55 am
“We currently spend about $3 to $4 billion a year to cover Medicaid now and I have heard that the expansion would cost the state an additional $1 to $2 billion to start with.”
The most recent number I can find — for fiscal 2010 — put Georgia’s contribution at slightly less than $2 billion.
Doggone/GA
November 21st, 2012
10:56 am
“Ummm, China. The borrower is slave to the lender”
Don’t bet on it. “When you owe the bank $100, the bank owns you. When you owe the bank $100,000,000, you own the bank”
middle of the road
November 21st, 2012
10:56 am
Peadawg @ 10:53
Sorry, but I need a reference for that. I know MY premiums haven’t gone up that much.
Peadawg
November 21st, 2012
10:56 am
“if the insurance companies decide that overweight people should pay significantly higher premiums, I am on-board with that”
Depends on the situation imo. Someone people that are “overweight” are actually perfectly healthy.
Doggone/GA
November 21st, 2012
10:57 am
“That makes absolutely no sense. So it’s going to keep going up…just not as much as it would have?”
You would prefer that it continue going up on the current trajectory?
JamVet
November 21st, 2012
10:58 am
2. I have to admit it, you are awesome.
Your inestimable help in ruining the GOP deserves great thanks as we start this holiday!
Keep Hopelessness Alive!
Oscar
November 21st, 2012
10:58 am
China has a real problem. They depend on us to buy their products. If we stop buying, they will have higher unemployment, and instablility which could topple their government leaving to a coup by the Army. Their Army is already unhappy with the government.
They want to turn to domestic consumption but don’t pay their workers enough for that to happen.
They also know we don’t have the money to pay them, unless we print more and pay in inflated dollars.
Nunna Yobinnes
November 21st, 2012
10:59 am
“I think the gop guvs opting out will give us single payer. We will join the rest of the civilized world thanks to the gop.”
Ah yes, socialized medicine. “You have strep throat. We will spray your throat with Cepacol. Go home and do not come to us again about this issue.”
getalife
November 21st, 2012
10:59 am
If it failed to control costs, it failed.
So what is left?
Single payer so I guess the cons want that.
alex
November 21st, 2012
10:59 am
@ jay, Look at funding for residencies and residency slots, they are not increasing anywhere near enough to keep up with the aging population,Jay you make some good points, we all do, but in this you are responding to good questions with poorly informed thoughts. There is a real problem here of doc shortage which cannot increase overnight which is in essecnce what will happen if 600,000 people get medicaid. Can’t happen. there will be an increase in mid level providers..Now I drive an Accord with over 100,000 miles and I am happy with a mid-level car;my dentist is superb and so is my doc. People with have to compromise with their health care, and that is ok,but NOT for me…I hope everyone out there understands that. This is what happened in england.. See you at Aldis, but NOT at Grady….
GT
November 21st, 2012
10:59 am
Welcome to the Occupation this must be the answer of the Republicans to their disappearing base. They woke up one day realizing they are keeping the liberal masses alive and well with Obamacare, can’t catch up that way.
middle of the road
November 21st, 2012
11:00 am
” Being overweight is not proof, in and of itself, of being unhealthy.”
I am not sure that doctors would agree with that.
I am sure that smokers probably claim the same thing about their bodies – “yes, I smoke, but I am not any more unhealthy than anyone else.”
Moderate Line
November 21st, 2012
11:00 am
Jay
November 21st, 2012
10:35 am
Moderate, you act as if there’s some time limit on the process that you describe. Don’t you think that higher demand for doctors will produce more supply of doctors (as well as a transition to physicians’ assistants, urgent-care clinics, etc., that is already under way)?
+++++++
I am not acting like there is any time limit. In Massachusetts where Romney’s version of Obama care has been instituted for for seven years the access to primary care doctors is still low even though Massachusetts has the second highest number of primary care doctors. If Romney care did not improve the access to primary doctors over time then I do not expect Obama care to do the same in Mississippi or Georgia where there are even fewer primary care doctors.
Almost no one researching the issue(notice the similarities with global warming) believe this will not increase the shortages of doctors.
From the right wing rag the New York Times.
But coverage will not necessarily translate into care: Local health experts doubt there will be enough doctors to meet the area’s needs. There are not enough now.
Moreover, across the country, fewer than half of primary care clinicians were accepting new Medicaid patients as of 2008, making it hard for the poor to find care even when they are eligible for Medicaid
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/29/health/policy/too-few-doctors-in-many-us-communities.html?_r=0
Just proof that the left and right both deny science when it is convenient.
Jay
November 21st, 2012
11:00 am
Jonathan Gruber, Stevie Ray?
Would that be the Jonathan Gruber who wrote as recently as July:
“Of course, the long-term goal of the Affordable Care Act is to reduce spending on health care. And the best projections suggest that it will. Although the law will boost spending initially, the effect is likely to be modest. The official Medicare Actuary projects that, by 2019, the ACA will raise health spending by 1 percent, or 0.2 percent of GDP; this is less than one-sixth of one year’s growth in national health expenditures. Over time, however, the multiple initiatives in the ACA will kick in to help “bend the cost curve,” through increasing consumer incentives to shop for low-cost insurance, moving towards prospective payment methodologies that reward value rather than treatment intensity, and assessing which strategies are cost effective for managing illness. The reforms in the ACA represent the most ambitious initiatives to control health care costs that we have seen in federal legislation. If successful, these can ultimate provide the most important stimulus to job growth in this legislation—by freeing up resources for other, more efficient uses.”
getalife
November 21st, 2012
11:01 am
nonya,
You want single payer because it is the only option left.
Your choice.
JKL2
November 21st, 2012
11:01 am
doggone- got proof?
After an exhaustive 2 second google search, here you go. http://articles.nydailynews.com/2012-06-18/news/32303200_1_obese-adults-global-population-researchers