Any chance we can get the lame ducks to repeal the mandate provision of HCR?

If the 'pug strategy is to take all the good parts out of the watered-down HCR bill, leaving ONLY the mandates, shouldn't OUR reps, before they leave office, do the sane thing and take away their chance to do that?

Given that the mandates were half the reason we LOST the House, why leave them in at all?

pre-existing conditions. Otherwise, premiums would be like they are in New York state with community rating but without a mandate (thousands per month on the individual market).

If the mandate is removed, the pre-existing conditions regulation would be removed at the same time. Neither is going to be removed.

Once it's determined that everyone can't afford insurance...

That's why Obama was PROPOSING healthcare reform to start with.

No additional proof NEEDED to be provided.

All the mandates did was give the Right an issue to beat us over the head with. Thanks to them, we may NEVER get a majority for any future advances in healthcare coverage in the future.

I get it.

Never say never. They said exactly the same thing about Medicare.

seems to me accusations aren't enough.

as well.

If we lost the House because we enacted the most progressive bill to pass Congress since Medicare, then the electorate is so abysmally stupid that they would put Republicans in charge after they destroyed the economy.

Oh shit...

That issue was used over and over and over again to hurt our candidates.

Clearly you've forgotten history... the opposition ALWAYS gets a bump after the other party wins the WH. Always. We've been discussing this for weeks and weeks here on DU.

We didn't HAVE to lose big this year.

Clearly party's leaders just decided to concede the House without a fight-probably because they believed the bogus Lanny Davis "Obama's better off with a Republican Congress" meme.

If we'd made "we'll FIX HCR next year with a majority" our theme this fall, we could have saved a lot of House seats.

I still call BS... sorry.

Though I understand why the electorate would reject progressive ideas. There has not been a serious progressive who intended to run for the White House, with a chance of winning, since Huey Long set out to oppose FDR. (He was assassinated). The last politician who both called himself a progressive and was considered a progressive to be elected was Hoover, and a real liberal kicked his ass...because of the economy.

Of course, Johnson was the last real liberal to be elected...and he resigend because he could not kick the ass of a anti-war candidate, which resulted in turning the White House over to Nixon.

There is not a groundswell of support for repealing "Obamacare". In fact, most people either don't want the law repealed or they want it expanded. Unfortunately, a lot of young and progressive leaning individuals (once again) failed to cast ballots in a crucial midterm election, so a lot of the people whom were "speaking" didn't have highly favorable opinions of it but they're not representative of the public as a whole. It will be harder for the Republicans to take the new law, either in whole or in part, then they may think.
Second of all, the Republicans hate ALL of "Obamacare" including the mandates- that's what they're mainly focusing on in their court challenges and legislative repeal. There is no evidence that I've seen or heard that suggests that they *secretly* love them IMHO.

As somebody else here wrote, the mandates are the structural foundation of the new health care law. Remove them and the whole thing basically just falls apart. I should add too that ANY kind of health care reform is going to include mandates, although in the case of single-payer (which I'm not opposed to at all), they'll be in the form of higher taxes.

given enough time.

Except I think (or hope) that it's not a lot, it's a small number of very vocal people. The worst thing to do was to put in a mandate and leave the insurance companies for the most part unregulated, and not to have at least a public option which would force their prices down, and of course, BHO and congress did exactly the worst thing. Since they're so in love with multiple insurance companies, but are completely unwilling to stop their sociopathic behavior, nationalize them. End the denials, bankruptcies and deaths now!

it diffuses the risk.

Now they KNOW they won't face reelection.

...our Congressional Democrats are going to hang on to it for all it's worth.

..the problem is that the dems were too pussified to make the case, they didn't stand up and fight the lies. Their lack of denial of the lies made people think the lies were true, it's pretty simple. If I accuse you of something, in front of people, and you don't deny it, how does that look? I have rw relatives that hate HCR. when pressed, they reveal their biggset fear: somebody is getting something they don't deserve> They feel that they work for theirs and somebody else is gonna get it free. That's because the dems wouldn't stand up and point out the fact that even someone without health insurance gets treatment at the emergency room, even before reform. Hospitals write off the cost as charitable giving, and inflate the cost, write it off on their taxes. what isn't covered that way is covered by passing on the cost to everyone else. That's why aspirins cost eight dollars each, etc.. So we already pay for the uninsured, but we pay too much because of the inefficient way we pay for them. HCR mandates that people have insurance. In some cases, those who can't afford the premiums will get help in the form of a tax credit. So how would you rather pay, OUTRIGHT, when someone goes to the emergency room, is charged premium hours for emergency care, and the rest is passed on through inflated prices for the rest of us, or would you rather help with their premium, and let them get their bills paid by a private insurer? Would it be cheaper to help someone pay their car insurance premiums or cheaper to just buy them a new car, and pay for whatever else property damage, damage to other cars involved, etc?

and the Republicans will have to choose between them and the insurance companies, who sure like the mandate, and won't let it be repealed.