Byron York:
Given the Affordable Care Act’s multiple crises in its first month of implementation, there’s no way President Obama and his fellow Democrats could be having a good time right now. But imagine if, instead of passing national health care legislation with only Democratic votes in 2009 and 2010, the president had won even a little Republican support for his health scheme. What if Obamacare had passed with ten GOP votes in the Senate and 30 or 40 in the House? If that had happened, the program would still be a mess, but Obama’s political problems would be far less serious.
If Obama had 10 Republican senators and 30 or 40 GOP representatives on his side, those lawmakers would be invested in the program’s success. And the GOP would be effectively divided on Obamacare, instead of solidly united. Some Republican lawmakers would likely favor approving additional money for implementing the troubled program, or perhaps favor holding off on vigorous oversight for a while, or at least not attacking 24-hours-a-day. Instead, Obama is facing a solid wall of Republican opposition.
There’s a story about First Lady Hillary Clinton’s attempt to pass a national health care plan back in 1993 and 1994. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, the old Democratic senator, told her that such far-reaching legislation had to pass with a really big majority to make sweeping changes in American life. “They pass 70-to-30, or they fail,” Moynihan told Clinton, according to a recent account by Todd Purdum in Politico.
Back in 1993, the Senate had 57 Democrats, meaning a major bill would have needed 13 Republican votes to pass Moynihan’s test. As it turned out, Clinton ignored Moynihan’s advice and her health care scheme went down in flames.
In 2009 and 2010, Barack Obama had an edge Clinton didn’t have: three more Democrats in the Senate. That 60-vote total gave Obama a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate and the opportunity to pass national health care with only Democratic votes. (With 256 Democrats in the House, passage there was a done deal.) But Obama’s Senate supermajority was fragile and fleeting. As it turned out, Democrats had the briefest of moments in which they could pass such a far-reaching law by themselves. And even then, the troubled supermajority was unable to deliver the kind of broad support Moynihan felt necessary for such consequential legislation. This is from a piece I wrote in late 2010:
Obamacare is the product of a brief moment of total Democratic dominance in Washington. Key to that dominance was a 60-seat, filibuster-proof Senate majority. It wasn’t a sure bet for Democrats; despite victories in 2008, the party’s hopes for that majority depended on the defection of formerly Republican Sen. Arlen Specter and the outcome of a contested race in Minnesota. After a controversial recount, Al Franken became the 60th Democratic senator on July 7, 2009, giving Democrats an unassailable edge.
Very good point about how isolated Dems are on ObamaCare.
It is their baby alone.
No Republicans helped birth it.
Republicans tried over and over to get rid of it.
Now, I have know loads of MDs in my life and most of them reeked liberalism.
That’s to be expected since they long to help people above and beyond mere good Samaritanism.
So, it came as a shock to me to read that in NY state (a liberal paradise) only 23% of doctors will accept patients from the ObamaCare exchanges!
Also another 33% haven’t decided if they will or not.
ADD to that those doctors who said they were participating in Obamacare, their cited reason was they “had to” because of existing contracts with insurers or medical providers.
The State Medical Society said only one-fourth of doctors in the state who participated in the survey actually chose to join the Obamacare exchange plan
Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/oct/29/new-york-doctors-flee-obamacare-i-plan-retire/#ixzz2jFuOhGww
And what will doctors get paid for seeing a patient on an ObamaCare exchange policy?
Only 23% have even an inkling.
77% have no idea.
In Kentucky people who sign up on ObamaCare exchanges are informed that all their doctors are in one place in the state. Sure, it’s a fairly small state, but that can be one heck of a long drive when you’re sick!
‘Under the health care law, EVERYBODY WILL HAVE LOWER RATES’, better quality care and better access.’
– Nancy Pelosi, ‘Meet the Press’, 1 July 2012
‘No matter what people say about whether they like their plan or not, their plan was not going to be their plan. EVERYBODY’s PREMIUMS WERE GOING UP.’
– Nancy Pelosi, The Hill, 30 October 2013
@Mully: It amazes me that Piglosi and 0-blama tell out and out lies and then try and correct themselves after they get what they want and the damage is done!! Disgusting!!
@Common Sense:
We tend to want to believe what are actually lies, because it’s what we want to hear. It’s the siren song of politicians regardless of party. Denial is the first reaction when faced with reality and with many politicians followed by more lies. Obama in Boston is a prime example of that.
The party on this healthcare mess is just getting started.
http://health.usnews.com/health-news/hospital-of-tomorrow/articles/2013/10/30/top-hospitals-opt-out-of-obamacare
Mully
YES
how mny times did we all answer to someone, telling something unbelieveble,
no you’re kidding me, it’s too crazy to be true,
the other answer, OH YES IT’S TRUE, HE SAID IT, I HEARD IT,
and those lies stick to so many who believe the liar
bye
Obamacare would not have passed if it had been marked as a revenue bill, (which has a higher majority vote requirement for passage). That’s why the Dems kept claiming that the individual mandate penalty was not a tax.
When Roberts decided that it WAS a tax, he should have also thrown it, out because it was not passed via Congress’ own rules regarding tax bearing legislation.
Ditto
HI,
IF THE HIGH COURT doesn’t DO HER JOB,
WHO CAN THE PEOPLE DEPEND ON,
BYE