Republicans Will Replace Obamacare With A Return To "Junk Policies."

[TrollBuster9090]

Simply remove the minimum care requirements under Obamacare, allowing HMOs to resume selling cheaper policies that don't actually cover you. Everything else they do will just be window dressing. That's my bet, and here's why.

Various GOP "ideas" are floating around as replacements for Obamacare, none of which would actually work. For example:

-Trump says get rid of the mandate, but keep the law banning companies from refusing people with pre-existing conditions. Duh! Without the mandate, every company would go broke.

-Paul Ryan says give everybody 'vouchers' (aka coupons). Great. Give everybody a coupon worth $5000, and overnight, even the crappiest plan will cost $5000. $5000 will become the new 'baseline.'

-Susan Colling is already suggesting "letting the States decide" whether to keep Obamacare or not. A standard Republican default position about every Federal policy (http://www.democraticunderground.com/10141675386)

-ALL the GOP reps are parroting the standard Republican talking point about letting HMOs "sell plans across State lines" which is exactly what Obamacare actually DID.

All of these things sound great to the GOP base, but would actually do nothing. It would be a freeforall again, with lots of people uninsured, and hospital Emergency Rooms picking up the bill for covering uninsured people, and passing the cost on to people who HAVE policies.

But here's what they'll end up doing: They'll implement ALL of the above as bells and whistles, which actually do nothing....and then simply REMOVE the minimum coverage regulations set by Obamacare, which will allow HMOs to charge lower premiums for what we used to call "JUNK POLICIES." Cheaper policies that don't actually give you sufficient coverage.

The reason why JUNK POLICIES were eliminated under Obamacare was because lots of people bought them, but only a few people found out they were useless when they actually needed to USE them. So...if only a few people find out they're not sufficiently covered...find out the HARD WAY....they'll be able to get away with this.

They'll be able to policy premiums "going down" due to the prevalence of cheaper junk policies that don't actually cover you. And only a few people will find that out, when they get sick.

So, that's my prediction. Any final GOP "plan" will be to simply remove the minimum coverage regulations for health insurance policies.

[msongs]

1. the media will completely allow repubs to do anything they want with hardly a peep. look at today;s

event. havent seen much media response to the baffle em with BS barrage from spicer

[uponit7771]

2. Yeap, that's about it... and let the "free market" sift the weak policies out after some people die

[Hangingon]

3. I think that there are three things that they need to cover.

Pre-existing provisions need to be covered, Children up to 26 years old living at home need coverage, And, we should eliminate the state by state market place.

There are a lot of other things buried in ACA that need to go. The requirement for computerizing the doctor's office according to the ACA plan was excessive. The computerized prescriptions should puts a barrier between the patient and pharmacy. Obviously Death Panels (under whatever name) need to go.

I did not have a "junk policy". It was a good policy. I did not get to keep my doctor. He went concierge medicine to avoid the ACA catastrophe. We were without a family physician because we could not find a doctor who would take us - Medicare and our brand of insurance. We actually filled out applications for 2 years. Goodbye Dr. Welby.

[yardwork]

5. Your post is filled with falsehoods.

There are no "death panels" in the ACA. In fact, repealing the ACA will mean the return of lifetime caps, which were death sentences.

[Hangingon]

7. I don't think I am the one who is wrong. ACA is dead and I am glad

Lobby for no life time caps.

[Skittles]

10. LOL

from repukes????

[TrollBuster9090]

8. I agree with some of what you said.

I agree with some of your first points. State by state market places should be eliminated in favor of a single, federal exchange.

Computerized medical records were not excessive. Shuffling manila folders back and forth between doctors offices is one of the biggest money-wasters in the healthcare industry.

The computerized prescriptions don't present a barrier, unless you're trying to simultaneously buy Oxycontin from ten different doctors for retail to junkies. Doctors are not inhibited from writing legitimate prescriptions for their patients by a computerized database.

And there are no death panels.

There are many things that can be done to improve Obamacare, which I'm sure Democrats would be willing to vote for. They passed it thinking they'd be able to amend and improve it as various problems popped up, but as soon as Republicans took the House in 2010 they immediately started blocking all modifications to Obamacare in the hopes that the small flaws would cause it to collapse under its own weight. You're problems with Obamacare are a reflection of that. It took the GOP several years of foot dragging before they passed a medicare fix for Obamacare.

[Baitball Blogger]

4. People are going to die because of these worthless policies.

[LandrosT]

6. The GOP's "healthcare" plan is a scam

Their plan basically tells you to not get sick. That's it.

[white_wolf]

9. I'll be honest, I have a lot of problems with the ACA, but it's better than the GOP alternatives.

For example, I don't believe in the individual mandate. I simply don't think the government should be able to force someone to buy a product from a private company. At least not without some sort of public option. That was my biggest problem with the ACA. That being said, it's still better than what the Republicans will do so I think we need to keep it. I'll be honest, I kind of expect the repeal to backfire. If the GOP gets rid of the mandate but keeps the more popular parts of the ACA then they could very well bankrupt the insurance industry. Then we wouldn't have any options but to go to single payer.

Honestly though, they've had SIX YEARS to come up with a plan and they're just starting now? I guess expecting those morons to do any real work is asking too much.

[Wounded Bear]

11. This is the heart of one of their favorite memes...

The whole bullshit about "selling across state lines" is exactly what you describe. What it really means is that your state insurance commissioner (and most states-maybe all-have those) would no longer be able to regulate what out of state companies can sell to you. This would, of course, precipitate a race to bottom on coverage and quality of policies.

Republican economics 101. Zero regulations and caveat emptor. If you die from a junk policy, you can always sue...oh wait...