Ryan plans to force ObamaCare Repeal before anyone realizes what he's doing

[Attorney General, LGC Speaker, and Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/obamacare-repeal-delay_us_5862a42be4b0eb586487380d

It's almost as if he knows that ObamaCare needs to stick around in part, but doesn't want to admit it for political reasons.

[Saint Milei]

Ryan is a moderate republican. I would not be surprised if he actually liked Obamacare and supported much of what Obama did in office privately.

[President Johnson]

Ryan is a moderate republican. I would not be surprised if he actually liked Obamacare and supported much of what Obama did in office privately.

LOL

[Cashew]

Ryan is a moderate republican. I would not be surprised if he actually liked Obamacare and supported much of what Obama did in office privately.

LOL

[JA]

Ryan is a moderate republican. I would not be surprised if he actually liked Obamacare and supported much of what Obama did in office privately.

LOL

The guy who enthusiastically reads Ayn Rand is a "moderate Republican." Amazing

[Doimper]

Ryan is a moderate republican. I would not be surprised if he actually liked Obamacare and supported much of what Obama did in office privately.

LOL

[The_Doctor]

They can't repeal ObamaCare without huge backlash. There's zero way to do the conservative way of ObamaCare without spending a lot of the same amount of money to do the same thing.

[Saint Milei]

Ryan is a moderate republican. I would not be surprised if he actually liked Obamacare and supported much of what Obama did in office privately.

LOL

The guy who enthusiastically reads Ayn Rand is a "moderate Republican." Amazing

His voting record is not consistent with enthusiastically reading Ayn Rand.


Yes, he is a moderate Republican

[Roronoa D. Law]

They can't repeal ObamaCare without huge backlash. There's zero way to do the conservative way of ObamaCare without spending a lot of the same amount of money to do the same thing.

They could blame Obama and Hillary.

[Deblano]

Ryan is a moderate republican. I would not be surprised if he actually liked Obamacare and supported much of what Obama did in office privately.

Pragmatic =! Moderate

[The_Doctor]

They can't repeal ObamaCare without huge backlash. There's zero way to do the conservative way of ObamaCare without spending a lot of the same amount of money to do the same thing.

They could blame Obama and Hillary.

They could try. It won't fly. Why? Big Pharma won't let it, for one. They got huge benefits from the deal that Obama struck with them to get support for the law. Upending the law and creating uncertainty for the insurance market is not something these people will tolerate - and they are extremely well heeled and connected in Washington.

Second, look at this map. Pennsylvania, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota, Arkansas, Kentucky, West Virginia all have Medicare expansions that could go poof. Their rural pro-Trump communities are poor - and they vote Republican.

Were the Midwest to lose their Medicare expansion, their communities would probably not ... take it well. Or at least, they would start revisiting their opposition to the Democratic Party before long.

There's also the whole myriad web of benefits, like kids staying on their parents' health insurance until age 26, and so on. The kids may not vote Republican, but their parents do. And if Mommy and Daddy get socked with a huge healthcare bill because the little sprog got a health scare, Mommy and Daddy who voted for Trump might revisit the idea.

So, Tom Price is the opening move by Trump to negotiate a deal. The end deal will retain ObamaCare more or less, with some reforms. Mostly healthcare costs leveling and expanding the power of the states to negotiate their Medicare expansion with the Feds.

Every major benefits expansion in this country has taken, minimum, decades to even talk about reform, let alone repeal. This is why 2012 was the key year to repeal the law. You needed to do it while it was still an idea in most people's minds.

Bottom line, the law will stay on the books, it will not be weakened substantially, and the GOP will become the party that covertly supports ObamaCare to save their electoral hides.

[Saint Milei]

Ryan is a moderate republican. I would not be surprised if he actually liked Obamacare and supported much of what Obama did in office privately.

LOL

The guy who enthusiastically reads Ayn Rand is a "moderate Republican." Amazing

His voting record is not consistent with enthusiastically reading Ayn Rand.


Yes, he is a moderate Republican

The voting records of House Speakers/Senate Majority Leaders are generally skewed to the center because they tend to not vote on most bills.

His voting record before House Speaker was moderate.

[The_Doctor]

I'm gonna die laughing when the GOP establishment, with Trump or Pence out in front, spins keeping the law and spins the reforms as major. "OMG guys, we allowed the states to expand the work requirements for the law! WE DID IT!"

Meanwhile, the mandate stays (in one way or the other) and a riskier prediction: the Medicare expansion quietly becomes acceptable to the red states, now that a Republican Washington will covertly bless the law. I don't expect many takers, but again, I can see some sort of movement to adopt it by a few red states, like Utah. I would be intrigued by TX and FL.

[RINO Tom]

Ryan is a moderate republican. I would not be surprised if he actually liked Obamacare and supported much of what Obama did in office privately.

LOL

The guy who enthusiastically reads Ayn Rand is a "moderate Republican." Amazing

His voting record is not consistent with enthusiastically reading Ayn Rand.


Yes, he is a moderate Republican

It says a lot about what actually drives you politically that you'll label PAUL RYAN as a "moderate Republican," but DONALD TRUMP is A-okay in your book.  We all knew what was driving many people's "conservatism" in the first place, but it is sad to see it exposed as so ugly during the Trump era.

[Hermit For Peace]

They can't repeal ObamaCare without huge backlash. There's zero way to do the conservative way of ObamaCare without spending a lot of the same amount of money to do the same thing.

They could blame Obama and Hillary.

They could try. It won't fly. Why? Big Pharma won't let it, for one. They got huge benefits from the deal that Obama struck with them to get support for the law. Upending the law and creating uncertainty for the insurance market is not something these people will tolerate - and they are extremely well heeled and connected in Washington.

Second, look at this map. Pennsylvania, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota, Arkansas, Kentucky, West Virginia all have Medicare expansions that could go poof. Their rural pro-Trump communities are poor - and they vote Republican.

Were the Midwest to lose their Medicare expansion, their communities would probably not ... take it well. Or at least, they would start revisiting their opposition to the Democratic Party before long.

There's also the whole myriad web of benefits, like kids staying on their parents' health insurance until age 26, and so on. The kids may not vote Republican, but their parents do. And if Mommy and Daddy get socked with a huge healthcare bill because the little sprog got a health scare, Mommy and Daddy who voted for Trump might revisit the idea.

So, Tom Price is the opening move by Trump to negotiate a deal. The end deal will retain ObamaCare more or less, with some reforms. Mostly healthcare costs leveling and expanding the power of the states to negotiate their Medicare expansion with the Feds.

Every major benefits expansion in this country has taken, minimum, decades to even talk about reform, let alone repeal. This is why 2012 was the key year to repeal the law. You needed to do it while it was still an idea in most people's minds.

Bottom line, the law will stay on the books, it will not be weakened substantially, and the GOP will become the party that covertly supports ObamaCare to save their electoral hides.

Thank you. Very informative post that makes a lot of sense.

[The_Doctor]

They can't repeal ObamaCare without huge backlash. There's zero way to do the conservative way of ObamaCare without spending a lot of the same amount of money to do the same thing.

They could blame Obama and Hillary.

They could try. It won't fly. Why? Big Pharma won't let it, for one. They got huge benefits from the deal that Obama struck with them to get support for the law. Upending the law and creating uncertainty for the insurance market is not something these people will tolerate - and they are extremely well heeled and connected in Washington.

Second, look at this map. Pennsylvania, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota, Arkansas, Kentucky, West Virginia all have Medicare expansions that could go poof. Their rural pro-Trump communities are poor - and they vote Republican.

Were the Midwest to lose their Medicare expansion, their communities would probably not ... take it well. Or at least, they would start revisiting their opposition to the Democratic Party before long.

There's also the whole myriad web of benefits, like kids staying on their parents' health insurance until age 26, and so on. The kids may not vote Republican, but their parents do. And if Mommy and Daddy get socked with a huge healthcare bill because the little sprog got a health scare, Mommy and Daddy who voted for Trump might revisit the idea.

So, Tom Price is the opening move by Trump to negotiate a deal. The end deal will retain ObamaCare more or less, with some reforms. Mostly healthcare costs leveling and expanding the power of the states to negotiate their Medicare expansion with the Feds.

Every major benefits expansion in this country has taken, minimum, decades to even talk about reform, let alone repeal. This is why 2012 was the key year to repeal the law. You needed to do it while it was still an idea in most people's minds.

Bottom line, the law will stay on the books, it will not be weakened substantially, and the GOP will become the party that covertly supports ObamaCare to save their electoral hides.

Thank you. Very informative post that makes a lot of sense.

Thanks. The kabuki theater begins.

[Badger]

Ryan is a moderate republican. I would not be surprised if he actually liked Obamacare and supported much of what Obama did in office privately.

LOL

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Ryan is a moderate republican. I would not be surprised if he actually liked Obamacare and supported much of what Obama did in office privately.

LOL

That would make Ted Cruz a centrist, Donald Trump a Social Democrat, Lisa Murkowski a Socialist, Joe Manchin a Maoist and Evan Bayh a Khmer Rogue. I don't think there's any term to describe John Bel Edwards.

[FDRfan1985]

Paul Ryan is disgusting.  I'm going to just assume the worse for people who are on Medicaid, or some type of assistance and that the Gop are going to rip away.  Half of the country hates them apparently.

[Saint Milei]

Ryan is a moderate republican. I would not be surprised if he actually liked Obamacare and supported much of what Obama did in office privately.

LOL

The guy who enthusiastically reads Ayn Rand is a "moderate Republican." Amazing

His voting record is not consistent with enthusiastically reading Ayn Rand.


Yes, he is a moderate Republican

It says a lot about what actually drives you politically that you'll label PAUL RYAN as a "moderate Republican," but DONALD TRUMP is A-okay in your book.  We all knew what was driving many people's "conservatism" in the first place, but it is sad to see it exposed as so ugly during the Trump era.

What does Paul Ryan being a moderate, and me believing Trump to be ok have to do with anything?

[FDRfan1985]

I been finding articles about  Democrats  defending Medicare and Obamacare ,but  none about Democrats defending Medicaid from being turn into block grants.

Are Democrats  planning to sacrifice Medicaid just to save Medicare and Obamacare?