The GOP braintrust (Kevin Lamarque/REUTERS)
The Affordable Care Act became law one year ago this week. Some of the already implemented provisions mean:
- If you are a young adult, you can now stay on your parents' health plan until your 26th birthday, if you do not have coverage of your own.
- If you are among 4 million eligible small businesses, you can receive tax credits if you choose to offer coverage to your employees – covering 35% of the cost of coverage.
- If you are a child under age 19, you can no longer be denied coverage by an insurance company for having a "pre-existing condition."
- Your insurance company can no longer place a lifetime limit on your coverage. Such limits have caused some families to declare bankruptcy.
- If you are a senior, you will now be receiving a 50% discount on brand-name drugs if you enter the Medicare Part D "donut hole" coverage gap – a discount that grows until the "donut hole" is closed in 2020.
- You can no longer be dropped from coverage by your insurance company simply because you get sick.
All of which, of course, Republicans have to see undone. To that end:
The top Republicans in the House and Senate are "celebrating" the one-year anniversary of President Barack Obama's health care law by deriding his "broken promises" and vowing to push ahead with efforts to derail the law's implementation.
In a joint op-ed in the Cincinnati Enquirer and in separate videos posted on YouTube that echo the piece, House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell say they are fighting for "full repeal" of the Affordable Care Act and the introduction of "common-sense reforms" by Republicans.
None of those "common-sense reforms" have actually been put into legislative form yet, or coalesced into a real reform package, or maybe the dog ate the homework. Anyway, that's just details.
"The fog of controversy has now cleared, but contrary to the confident predictions of some, the contents of this law are even worse than anyone expected," they write in the Enquirer. "And that's saying something."
The law, they say, "adds up to more costs and burdens for employers and small businesses in the middle of a tough economy, at a time when we need to end the uncertainty and help them begin hiring again." At the same time, they say, it will also cost more for the federal government and families. These "broken promises" and more add up to "why so many Americans continue to support a full repeal."
Many Americans do continue to support a full repeal, but they're all Republicans. A whole raft of polls since the bill was implemented have shown pretty consistent small majorities for keeping the legislation and strengthening it, including a new one from CNN that Dave Weigel writes about: "Overall, 43 percent of people oppose the law because it's 'too liberal,' but 13 percent oppose it because it's 'not liberal enough.' So 50 percent of voters are either fine with the law or want a more liberal bill, to 43 percent who want it gone because it's too socialistic."
And every poll shows that Americans are far more concerned about jobs and the economy than going back and tinkering with something that's already been done. But what the American people think apparently doesn't matter any more.