Kaiser: Majority wants to keep ACA in place

[Miles]

Article.

[Mechaman]

Also note: A tiny minority wants to keep the law "as it is" while practically a majority wants to improve it.

I think this is very relevant, given the claims of those of us who support Universal Healthcare.  However, we must take these polls with a grain of salt.  I just did the math on the "Total" and I'm pretty sure it didn't add up to 100%.  I mean, where is the other 13% going?

Also, 19% of people still support Social Darwinism.  Actually, the number is probably as high as 31% if we are being really honest about what the "Republican sponsored alternative" would be.

[Franzl]

What is meant by a "Republican alternative"? ObamaCare is the Republican alternative.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

FAUX News Headline:  "New Poll shows only 8% of Americans want to keep Obamacare"

[Antonio the Sixth]

Dominating.

[AggregateDemand]

What is meant by a "Republican alternative"? ObamaCare is the Republican alternative.

ACA is the "Republican alternative", if Republicans were obsessed with arcane, inaccurate wealth redistribution schemes and expansion of Medicaid

A majority of Americans are clinging desperately to the ACA because it's the only major reform Congress has passed in decades, and they are afraid to let it go, even if it makes the country worse.

[Brittain33]

What is meant by a "Republican alternative"? ObamaCare is the Republican alternative.

They have a plan that throws 1 million people out of their plans and raises the deficit.

http://www.minnpost.com/eric-black-ink/2014/02/cbo-republican-bill-improve-obamacare-would-increase-deficit-reduce-insured

[Franzl]

What is meant by a "Republican alternative"? ObamaCare is the Republican alternative.

They have a plan that throws 1 million people out of their plans and raises the deficit.

http://www.minnpost.com/eric-black-ink/2014/02/cbo-republican-bill-improve-obamacare-would-increase-deficit-reduce-insured

I see. Well that's typical.

[AggregateDemand]

They have a plan that throws 1 million people out of their plans and raises the deficit.

It will increase the deficit by $74B over 10 years, and reduce the incidence of employer-provided healthcare plans for 1M people, who the CBO assumes will go onto Medicaid. Clutching at straws.

Healthcare premiums are out of control because we treat employer-provided health insurance premiums as tax free compensation. Everyone wants more tax free compensation. Then one day, millions of Americans lose their jobs, and they realize how stupid they've been.

The Republican plan provides refundable tax credits for healthcare. If someone buys an individual policy for $5,000 in annual premiums, and $7,500 is the individual tax credit, the taxpayer will receive a $2,500 refund. This will put immense downward pressure on costs, and most Americans will be covered in short order, regardless of what the CBO is peddling.

The obvious caveat with Republican refundable tax credits is that people may have an incentive to cut costs too far. Healthcare services and health may decline as a result.

[Brittain33]

They have a plan that throws 1 million people out of their plans and raises the deficit.

It will increase the deficit by $74B over 10 years, and reduce the incidence of employer-provided healthcare plans for 1M people, who the CBO assumes will go onto Medicaid. Clutching at straws.

If it hadn't been just a few weeks since Republicans trumpeted a CBO report showing that Obamacare was going to throw 2 million people out of work, I'd feel more sympathetic to that argument... but I think they've been hoist on their own petard.

[King]

Happy Christmas,  war is over.

[Lief 🗽]

Twelve percent supports the Republican alternative? Interesting...

[AggregateDemand]

If it hadn't been just a few weeks since Republicans trumpeted a CBO report showing that Obamacare was going to throw 2 million people out of work, I'd feel more sympathetic to that argument... but I think they've been hoist on their own petard.

I'm sympathetic to allegations of Republican impropriety, but it won't change the economics. ACA is just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic so the lower-working classes and chronic patients get a better view of the iceberg. The Republican plan is only risky insofar as it might be too disruptive. Same with single-payer.

[SWE]

I think this is very relevant, given the claims of those of us who support Universal Healthcare.  However, we must take these polls with a grain of salt.  I just did the math on the "Total" and I'm pretty sure it didn't add up to 100%.  I mean, where is the other 13% going?

It says all of the "don't know" and "do something else" answers were left out of the graph

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

What is meant by a "Republican alternative"? ObamaCare is the Republican alternative.

ACA is the "Republican alternative", if Republicans were obsessed with arcane, inaccurate wealth redistribution schemes and expansion of Medicaid

A majority of Americans are clinging desperately to the ACA because it's the only major reform Congress has passed in decades, and they are afraid to let it go, even if it makes the country worse.

It was certainly the Republican alternative in the 1990s when Bill Clinton was trying to get a more bold single payer plan through. And it certainly was the Republican alternative in the 2000s when Mitt Romney basically wrote what's now known as ObamaCare in response to the Democratic legislature's push for state single payer. And it certainly would have been the Republican alternative in 2010 had Barack Obama tried overreaching for single payer.

[SPC]

A poll sponsored by a health insurance company found that a majority of Americans support a health insurance mandate? Shocking!

[Deus Naturae]

What is meant by a "Republican alternative"? ObamaCare is the Republican alternative.

ACA is the "Republican alternative", if Republicans were obsessed with arcane, inaccurate wealth redistribution schemes and expansion of Medicaid

A majority of Americans are clinging desperately to the ACA because it's the only major reform Congress has passed in decades, and they are afraid to let it go, even if it makes the country worse.

It was certainly the Republican alternative in the 1990s when Bill Clinton was trying to get a more bold single payer plan through. And it certainly was the Republican alternative in the 2000s when Mitt Romney basically wrote what's now known as ObamaCare in response to the Democratic legislature's push for state single payer. And it certainly would have been the Republican alternative in 2010 had Barack Obama tried overreaching for single payer.

How was the 1990's Republican plan the same as Obamacare?

Are you really suggesting that Mitt Romney's tenure as MA Governor is representative of national Republicans? I didn't think anyone on here bought Romney's "severely conservative" bs.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

Mitt Romney's actions as governor from Nov. 2004 onward were fully calculated to winning the GOP nomination in 2008. And that, precisely is when Mitt Romney kicked off his plan to reform Massachusetts health care (in response to the Democratic legislature): November 2004.

Massachusetts health care reform was supposed to be one of Mitt Romney's strengths -- a Republican-influenced way of fixing what most agree to be a real problem in the country that could one day be applied nationwide. He was intending to run on it. But by 2012, he was put in the unenviable position of having to run from it and embrace it at the same time, because RomneyCare and ObamaCare wound up being almost the same thing.

A political calculation made in one era did not serve him well in the follow-up era. Actual convictions beat convictions-by-poll every time. Live and learn, future politicos.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

FAUX News Headline:  "New Poll shows only 8% of Americans want to keep Obamacare"

"Americans want to repeal Obamcare by a 4-1 ratio"

[AggregateDemand]

It was certainly the Republican alternative in the 1990s when Bill Clinton was trying to get a more bold single payer plan through. And it certainly was the Republican alternative in the 2000s when Mitt Romney basically wrote what's now known as ObamaCare in response to the Democratic legislature's push for state single payer. And it certainly would have been the Republican alternative in 2010 had Barack Obama tried overreaching for single payer.

Someday, hopefully sooner rather than later, you'll realize that Democrats had a filibuster proof majority in Congress, and when they removed Republicans from the bargaining table, they didn't do so to enact a Republican plan. The new school Democrats had their asses handed to them by the stalwart Great Society liberals, who were not about to relinquish control of Medicaid and Medicare for some new public option or single-payer system.

Democrats had to find a new system so they took Republican healthcare reform, and modified it to make liberals happy. Medicaid was be expanded. A raft of new taxes were placed on cadillac plans and medical equipment. The Republican system of catastrophic insurance was replaced by the liberal concept of comprehensive insurance.

Just because two systems rely on private insurance does not make them the same. Whether something works or whether it ends up like ACA, depends on the details.

[Warren 4 Secretary of Everything]

It was certainly the Republican alternative in the 1990s when Bill Clinton was trying to get a more bold single payer plan through. And it certainly was the Republican alternative in the 2000s when Mitt Romney basically wrote what's now known as ObamaCare in response to the Democratic legislature's push for state single payer. And it certainly would have been the Republican alternative in 2010 had Barack Obama tried overreaching for single payer.

Someday, hopefully sooner rather than later, you'll realize that Democrats had a filibuster proof majority in Congress, and when they removed Republicans from the bargaining table, they didn't do so to enact a Republican plan. The new school Democrats had their asses handed to them by the stalwart Great Society liberals, who were not about to relinquish control of Medicaid and Medicare for some new public option or single-payer system.

The Democrats negotiated way too much on the bill. They placated to moderate Republicans like Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe the entire time the bill was being debated, and they ended up voting against it anyway.

Democrats had to find a new system so they took Republican healthcare reform, and modified it to make liberals happy. Medicaid was be expanded. A raft of new taxes were placed on cadillac plans and medical equipment. The Republican system of catastrophic insurance was replaced by the liberal concept of comprehensive insurance.

Democrats took the Republican Plan because Obama thought it would make Republicans vote for it and the ACA would go down in history as a bipartisan reform of the health insurance system.

[AggregateDemand]

[Democrats] Republican Plan because Obama thought it would make Republicans vote for it and the ACA would go down in history as a bipartisan reform of the health insurance system.

Denial is a hell of a drug. ACA was the macabre compromise necessary to get Democrats to sign off. Old liberals were not going to let Medicaid and Medicare be turned into a public option or single payer system. Most Democrats didn't even want ACA and Congress spent 18 months trying to broker compromises with amendments and modifications, like the Stupak amendment. Changes had nothing to do with Republicans. Democrats couldn't even build a coalition in their own party because representatives and senators knew what was going to happen after passage.

Republicans just sat on the sidelines and watched Dems make a mockery of our healthcare system. The elections in 2010 were predictable.

When it comes to dismantling Medicaid and Medicare, for single-payer or for privatization, Democrats have more allies in the Republican Party than they have in the Democratic Party. Until they accept reality, we are going to be stuck with the Great Society and all of middle-class economic rancor it causes.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Wait, how would single-payer dismantle Medicaid and Medicare? Single-payer is Medicare for all, no?

[AggregateDemand]

Wait, how would single-payer dismantle Medicaid and Medicare? Single-payer is Medicare for all, no?

Single-payer and Medicare are the same in the world of watered-down political talking points. In the real world, single-payer and public-option are shocks to the system. Shocks create strange bedfellows, like Great Society liberals, non-profits (AARP), and corporate insurance companies working together to scupper single-payer and the public option. Furthermore, the economically viable version of single-payer would hopefully not work anything like the corrupt, inhumane largesse of Medicare.

Most of the problems we face today result from a battle within the Democratic Party over social policy. Failed Medicare and Medicaid vs single-payer. Failed Welfare, SNAP, etc vs. universal income. Failing defined-benefit social security vs. defined contribution social security.

Republicans will only help neo-liberal Democrats when they show signs of intelligent life. To date, Democrats have only attempted to replace the terminal cancer with something worse.

[King]

A poll sponsored by a health insurance company found that a majority of Americans support a health insurance mandate? Shocking!

#unskewedpolls