More than four months after their triumphant vote to scrap the Democrats' healthcare reform law, House Republicans have yet to fulfill the second part of their campaign pledge to "repeal and replace" the legislation.
Republicans say healthcare has taken a back seat to issues like the debt ceiling and Medicare reform but stress that they have a number of reform proposals up their sleeve.
"Our focus right now is on repealing all of ‘Obamacare’ and pieces of it where we can," said Rep. John Kline [R-Minn.], the chairman of the Education and Workforce Committee, one of three panels with jurisdiction over the health policy. "And then we're working on spurring the economy and getting America back to work with jobs.
“The replacement pieces for healthcare are still on the table,” Kline said, “but we're not pushing them right now because we've got a full plate with other stuff."
God, we're busy with other stuff and things guys, okay?! We just haven't had a chance to get to the "replace" part yet!
Perhaps their "full plate with other stuff" includes Paul Ryan's budget, which again, is another "repeal" scheme without the "replace," as Paul Krugman aptly notes:
I’m seeing many attempts to shout down anyone making this obvious point, and not just from Republican politicians. For some reason, many commentators seem to believe that accurately describing what the G.O.P. is actually proposing amounts to demagoguery. But there’s nothing demagogic about telling the truth.
Start with the claim that the G.O.P. plan simply reforms Medicare rather than ending it. I’ll just quote the blogger Duncan Black, who summarizes this as saying that “when we replace the Marines with a pizza, we’ll call the pizza the Marines.” The point is that you can name the new program Medicare, but it’s an entirely different program — call it Vouchercare — that would offer nothing like the coverage that the elderly now receive. (Republicans get huffy when you call their plan a voucher scheme, but that’s exactly what it is.)
Medicare is a government-run insurance system that directly pays health-care providers. Vouchercare would cut checks to insurance companies instead. Specifically, the program would pay a fixed amount toward private health insurance — higher for the poor, lower for the rich, but not varying at all with the actual level of premiums. If you couldn’t afford a policy adequate for your needs, even with the voucher, that would be your problem.
But Democrats are meanieheads for using "Mediscare" tactics and WHAT IS THEIR PLAN FOR MEDICARE, HUH?! And it's "premium support," you jerks, which is like, totally not a voucher!
The Republican policy on healthcare across the board is that you should pretty much fuck off and hope for the best. Anyone who argues something to the contrary is lying to themselves. They are consistent on this across the board - they want nothing more than to dismantle Medicare, Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act, and any other piece of legislation that provides coverage not dictated by the supreme wisdom of the free market Jebus and the invisible hand.
The Republican policy on healthcare across the board is that you should pretty much fuck off and hope for the best. Anyone who argues something to the contrary is lying to themselves. They are consistent on this across the board - they want nothing more than to dismantle Medicare, Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act, and any other piece of legislation that provides coverage not dictated by the supreme wisdom of the free market Jebus and the invisible hand.
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