moving us closer to the public option

I want one so do others but it won't happen...more likely if Obamacare fails as we get nothing. This is what the GOP wants.

We're headed there but we do need to get a BLUE House so HRC can take that next step TOWARD the public option. There's a lot of hate, anger and stupidity in America so she's gonna need time to reframe the false narrative about Ocare. I think Tim Kaine will be magical in this regard.


You have to realize most Republicans like Obamacare, such as nondiscrimination against people with pre-existing conditions. Through their haze of anger and hate they can't see that it's one of the major features of the OC law.

And they would get rid of it in an instant if they could.

Of course, without a 60 vote majority in the Senate, one might as well not have a government.

It allows both parties to hide behind the 60 rule.

We did not have a working majority in the Senate...with Kennedy ill and later Scott Brown, Lieberman and a host of conservadems. This is why the exact bill went through with no changes...it would not have passed at all if there was one change. Lieberman made sure that there was no medicare for 55 and over the bastard. Obama did the best he could...and he was the only president in 100 years who was able to. If Obamacare fails and I pray it won't as thousands will die...we will get nothing else through and to believe otherwise is to delude yourself. It was a miracle we got that.

It was the Senate...we never had a veto proof majority and the GOP decided nothing would get down without 60 votes and have stuck to that for the last almost eight years. The House saved the health plan which very nearly did not get passed. But now we must have the House...we can not pressure the gerrymandered GOP...they have no reason to work with us...in fact, it hurts them politically. We must also end the filibuster because it is unlikely we will have a veto proof majority.

i thought obamacare was evil because it was going to force all of these people to get insurance. it seems pretty lax to me right now.

If you are running a business, and you have a group who not only isn't making money, but is losing money hand over fist, you might stop selling too. The people who are signing up for ACA plans on the individual market wouldn't be charged through the nose, they would go back to not having insurance because of doing away with the ACA requirements to not deny coverage or have no life time use caps etc.

There are some structural problems with the ACA. The fines for not joining are too low, the people who did join are the sicker people who have higher than expected costs and the risk adjustment doesn't cover prescription drugs. Unfortunately we have idiots like Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell who would seemingly rather spend infinite time futilely trying to repeal the ACA than improving it.

I know it doesn't fit the narrative here, but even non-profit insurance companies are having a rough go of it. Because we didn't off-load the most expensive cases, it's hard for an insurance company to make the books balance. If we had followed more of the Netherlands approach which like the ACA requires purchasing insurance through regulated companies, we would be much better off.