GOP Sen. (Vitter) Says If Elected Governor, He Might Embrace Obamacare
Source: TPM
DYLAN SCOTT JUNE 16, 2014, 3:52 PM EDT
U.S. Sen. David Vitter (R-LA), who is running to replace Bobby Jindal as Louisiana's governor in 2015, said Monday he would consider adopting Obamacare's Medicaid expansion if elected.
The Associated Press reported that Vitter said he would not be opposed to expanding Medicaid under the health care reform law, on the condition that the state improved the performance of its Medicaid system and as long as it would not negatively affect other state programs.
States pay 0 percent of expansion costs through 2016 and never more than 10 percent after that. About 242,000 low-income Louisianans have been left without health coverage because the state hasn't expanded the program. Vitter made the remarks during an interview with the Press Club of Baton Rouge.
Jindal has been one of the most vocal opponents of Medicaid expansion, even engaging in a high-profile fight with MoveOn.org over a billboard that criticized the governor for rejecting the expansion.
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Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/vitter-louisiana-medicaid-expansion-governor
ProudToBeBlueInRhody
(16,399 posts)That would explain it.
gvstn
(2,805 posts)yurbud
(39,405 posts)Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin
(107,767 posts)yurbud
(39,405 posts)Strelnikov_
(7,772 posts)Cha
(296,893 posts)challenged from their own party? I mean it's done of course.. but this still surprises me.
DonViejo
(60,536 posts)http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2014/01/21/sen-vitter-will-run-for-louisiana-governor/
Cha
(296,893 posts)Nice we won't have to see his ugly words destroying the people of Louisiana anymore. Lol if he tries to run for goprez in 2016.
Mahalo Don
tabasco
(22,974 posts)No need to read any further.
KamaAina
(78,249 posts)LynneSin
(95,337 posts)Both of them are bad for Louisana
Fred Gilmore
(80 posts)That the pukes and baggers are now raising the white flag on Obamacare? Sounds an awful like surrender to me.
Zambero
(8,962 posts)Such as:
Why did you lie to me? I enrolled and Obamacare is a Godsend!
or. My family member in Kentucky qualifies for Medicaid assistance but Republicans are blocking it in Louisiana. WTF why, Senator?
or, my insurance policy was cancelled because it didn't meet Obamacare standards, but I ended up getting a better policy for less. Why is Fox News lying about this?
or, if you abolish Obamacare like you promised you would, will my insurance company be able to cancel my coverage because of my pre-existing condition?
or, exactly what would Republicans propose in place of Obamacare? Details, please.
CTyankee
(63,893 posts)rickyhall
(4,889 posts)freshwest
(53,661 posts)That's all that needs to be said to any GOP smear on the programs. Game, set and match to Obama.
Blue Owl
(50,291 posts)louis-t
(23,273 posts)He left himself an out big enough to drive a truck through.
Grins
(7,199 posts)You had your chance but said no. Hell, most of your state said no. Wouldn't want to go against "the people".
To quote the soup Nazi: "No Medicare for you!"
SoapBox
(18,791 posts)underthematrix
(5,811 posts)sakabatou
(42,141 posts)Cha
(296,893 posts)Octafish
(55,745 posts)Huh. Didn't think he could still be in politics, yet there he sits.
hadrons
(4,170 posts)he'll consider to NOT embrace it
Jefferson23
(30,099 posts)Cha
(296,893 posts)be a win for them in 2014 and Dems would be running from it?
Jefferson23
(30,099 posts)unbearable strain of not having health care, the out of pocket costs for those with health insurance etc.
We'll make gains this year, Cha.
Stupid Jindal: May 22, 2014
snip* Republicans are kind of counting on Obamacare to bring them control of Congress in November, and I don't think they should be so confident," says Dean Clancy, a longtime Republican operative and former vice president of FreedomWorks, a conservative group that supports Tea Party candidates. "It's much harder now that Obamacare is up and running."
Chris Jennings, a health policy consultant who worked on the issue in both the Clinton and Obama administrations, agrees. "I think health reform is now feeling like more and more of an issue of the past," Jennings says. "One thing I learned from Bill Clinton is every election is about the future and not the past and what are you going to do to address it."
Republicans face two key problems using the law as a political cudgel, analysts say. One is that with millions of people now signed up for coverage, making the law go away would result in taking away something tangible for a large and growing group of voters. "So in short order it's going to be about what you lose as a consequence," Jennings says.
The second problem is with the back half of what Republicans have continually branded as a the "repeal and replace" strategy, Clancy says. "In my 20 years of following health care policy, [Republicans] have never been able to coalesce around an electorally inspiring alternative on health care."
That last point leaves them, Clancy says, "on the horns of an insoluble dilemma." On the one hand, if Republicans do offer an alternative, "it gives their opponents and some in their own ranks something to shoot at. If they fail to offer an alternative, it becomes hard for their supporters to take them seriously."
But the health care issue has not shifted entirely in the Democrats' favor either. The most found only 12 percent of respondents said the health law should be left as it is, while 18 percent said they want it repealed and replaced and 20 percent favored repeal without replacement. But as in most polls, the largest plurality, 49 percent, want the law fixed.
A poll by Politico in the those where control of Congress will be decided found more opposition to the Affordable Care Act. Close to half of those responding said they supported repealing the law. But again, a slim majority want to keep the law, with 16 percent saying it should stay as it is and 35 percent saying it should be tweaked.
Results likes led at least some embattled Senate Democrats to try to turn the tables on their Republican opponents, using their states' failure to expand the Medicaid program against them.
snip*That's necessary in part because Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, seen by many as a possible GOP candidate for president in 2016, remains outspoken and out front in calling for repeal of the entire Affordable Care Act.
"The country that won two world wars and put a man on the moon cannot, it is believed, repeal a disastrous public policy," Jindal wrote in a . "Says who? Why not?"
But finding a single alternative could be a near impossible task, Clancy pointed out in a lengthy called "Why the GOP is headed for an Obamcare crack-up."
The problem in a nutshell, he says, is that Republicans are "fundamentally divided between pro-market and pro-business factions" when it comes to health care. While they are rhetorically pro-market, he explains, they are often "functionally pro-business. They talk about patients but they worry about insurers. The special interests doctors, hospitals, insurance companies have a huge influence over both political parties. And that makes it difficult for Republicans to come together over truly pro-patient reforms."
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/05/22/314615526/gop-strategy-to-run-against-health-law-hits-snags
Cha
(296,893 posts)"Why the GOP is headed for an Obamcare crack-up." First of all they named it Obamacare! lol
Republicons are their own worst enemies. Thank you for this, Jefferson.
Jefferson23
(30,099 posts)IronLionZion
(45,380 posts)Ken Burch
(50,254 posts)ancianita
(35,954 posts)-- particularly the womens -- for four freakin' years.