Puterbac News Network and Political Discussion Thread

[hedge]

What prompted that?

[Professor Tiger]

Hiya Doc! Welcome to PNN.

This is a safe space for you. Voltone is long gone. You can post here without fear of adipose-aphobia.

[AlabamAlum]

What prompted that?

I'm affable. Ask anyone.

[Professor Tiger]

AA, you have always been a cheerful life of the party.

And BTW, Mike Price WAS the Head Coach at Alabama.

[AlabamAlum]

You're a mouth-breathing, essentially illiterate, fucktard.

[Professor Tiger]

Hiya, Mr. Affable.

[Professor Tiger]

The House is set to vote today on the Obamacare replacement. If it passes, Trump and Ryan get big feathers in their caps. If it fails, Trump will still win.

If it fails, the Freedom Caucus people will have to go home to their archconservative districts, stand in front of their constituents at town hall meetings, and explain why they spent 8 years bitching and moaning about Obamacare, but when they had the opportunity to get rid of it, they didn't. Sure, they'll start quoting chapter and verse about this chapter and that verse. But that bewildering minutiae and gobbledygook will just make eyes glaze over in town hall meetings, followed by anger, followed by the Secret Service having to whisk them out, followed by the Freedom Caucus people being primary'd, followed by a different cast of characters to try again in 3 years.

[bluetick]

Quinnipiac Poll: Only 17% of Americans Approve of GOP Healthcare Bill - AP

Prof. those freedom Caucus guys were going to have angry people in attendance no matter what. 435 congressional districts and only 80 had a majority favoring the bill, and you have to figure those weren't big majorities.

The GOP made hay when obamacare came into being 7 yrs ago with poll numbers only in the forties. They'd kill for numbers half that much now.

[Professor Tiger]

In 3 years, when Obamacare is further into its death spiral, and the bronze plan costs $1,000 a month, after the subsidies, and the annual deductible is $10,000, what do you think its poll numbers will be?

By that time, both Democrats and Freedom Caucus Republicans will regret their ownership of that Godzilla, and beg for its repeal/replacement. If that's Trump's Plan B, then it's a pretty good one.

[bluetick]

Boehner nailed it last month when he said that repubs wouldn't repeal and replace the ACA, that they'd essentially make a couple of conservative adjustments and call it good. And that's what's going to come to pass.

Look at any healthcare premium chart going back to the 80's. The ACA barely put a dent in the trajectory, and since the mandate - a GOP idea btw - isn't working as it should, there's not enough healthy dollars to compensate for the sick ones, and mega-insurers are allowed to drop out. It's like property insurers wanting to pull out of hurricane-prone FL, only FL made them get out of all the other insurance markets as well - a severe penalty. The Feds could be doing that with the ACA - hey Humana, pull out of TN and you can no longer write Medicare supplement policies or cancer policies or life insurance or fucking anything else.
But that's where lobby "influence" comes into play, don'tcha know.

Yep, influence peddlers are the prime reason we can't get handles on SO many ways of cutting healthcare costs. Inefficiencies line the pockets of the people who have no motivation in fixing the system.

How the U.S. Can Reduce Waste in Health Care Spending by $1 Trillion https://hrb.org/2015/10/how-the-u-s-can ... 1-trillion

[Professor Tiger]

That resonates with what I think is going on. Trump may have defeated the GOP Establishment, but they are still alive and well. They are still the dominant faction in the party. And the Establishment is driven by one mission: to enable already wealthy people and corporations they become even wealthier. Nothing else really matters.

To me, it looks like the Establishment is behind the opposition to repealing Obamacare. So, for example, they don't want interstate coverage because that would promote competition and limit insurance company profits. So they oppose interstate insurance in any replacement bill. Same for preexisting conditions and lifetime coverage limits. Those provisions are costly to insurance companies, therefore the Establishment will oppose them in any Obamacare replacement bill.

And, as of right now, the corporatists (or what you call influence peddlers) seem to be winning. The Empire is striking back.

[sardis]

I always felt it is better to leave Obamacare implode on its own. Let it wither on the vine.

[innocentbystander]

They did not even bring it up for a vote.

Good. Now just repeal ACA and forget about replacement. Vote on that. If the dems are going to vote "no" no matter what, then f-ck 'em, just vote to repeal.

[Professor Tiger]

Obamacare is dead. Long live FreedomCaucusCare. It's yours now. You own it. Thanks.

::idiots::

[crashcourse]

Why does AffableAlum lie?

[Professor Tiger]

You court the legendary wrath of AffableAlum at your own risk.

You have been warned.

[bluetick]

I always felt it is better to leave Obamacare implode on its own.

Come to the front and diagram that sentence, young man.

[bluetick]

You'd think there'd be a lull after Friday's AHCA disaster, but no. Missteps, misrepresentations, and other assorted head-shakers - some big, some small, but all in the same vein. News of the health bill attempted shakedown. The blame game that followed. Trump's unfamiliarity with the bill. Kushner and Ivanka skipping the bill's run-up in favor of a CO ski vacation (DT was pissed). The prez professing support for Ryan, then tweeting supporters to watch Judge Pirro's call for his resignation. Spicer spinning another prez golf outing into a 'meeting.' Nunes getting wiretap info FROM the WH in a weak effort to exonerate the WH. The Nunes 'switch-car' skullduggery. Another Kushner-russkie meeting comes to light, and he'll have to explain this one to the Senate.

[crashcourse]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/pow ... 64e834f167

well I guess he's doing something

[Professor Tiger]

Just another day at the office.

At least the Keystone pipeline got approved somewhere in the middle of all that mess. At this point, I give an F on what he says. But I give him an A on what he has done.