They’ve tried to repeal it over 50 times. Now they’ve finally managed to get a real Bill to his desk. And they’re so proud of themselves:
-- After dozens of failed attempts to undo President Barack Obama's health care law, the GOP-led Congress will finally put a bill on the president's desk Wednesday striking at the heart of his signature legislative achievement.
The Affordable Care Act now provides an estimated 17.6 Million Americans with health insurance and health care coverage, according to the Department of Health and Human Services (figures as of September 2015). What the Republicans would do for those 17.6 million people once their insurance was taken away from them has never been made clear, either because they have no idea or because they simply don’t care:
There is currently no GOP alternative to Obamacare. Asked why Republicans went ahead with this repeal bill without first putting forward an alternative, Ryan told reporters "just wait."
“Just wait.” If the American people had waited for the Republican Party, 18% of the entire US population would still be uninsured. That number has dropped to 11.9% thanks to this law the GOP wants the President to eliminate. Apparently Republicans think it’s a great idea to have as many Americans as possible going through their lives without any health insurance:
Ryan hedged when asked whether the House will ever vote on a replacement to Obamacare. Ryan has pledged that the House will come up with its own plan this year — something the GOP has repeatedly promised but failed to do in the nearly six years since the law's enactment. He said details such as whether it will actually come to a vote have not been determined.
"Nothing's been decided yet," Ryan said
Not content with taking away Americans’ health insurance, the same law the GOP wants the President to sign would completely strip all funding of Planned Parenthood, which the GOP has convinced itself does nothing but permit women to obtain safe, legal abortions:
The bill would also terminate the roughly $450 million yearly in federal dollars that go to Planned Parenthood, about a third of its budget.
Of course taking away this organization would also result in a nationwide epidemic of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease, but again, Republicans don’t care :
However, abortions are actually not a big part of what Planned Parenthood says it does — 3 percent of the services it provided last year were abortion-related, according to the organization's annual report.
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The overwhelming majority of Planned Parenthood's services involve screening for and treating sexually transmitted diseases and infections, as well as providing contraception.
Unfortunately for the GOP, as Paul Krugman writes, elections really do have consequences:
Speaking of Obamacare, that’s another thing Republicans would surely have killed if 2012 had gone the other way. Instead, the program went into effect at the beginning of 2014. And the effect on health care has been huge: according to estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of uninsured Americans fell 17 million between 2012 and the first half of 2015, with further declines most likely ahead.
So the 2012 election had major consequences. America would look very different today if it had gone the other way.
There is no way President Obama is going to sign the GOP’s bill into law, and they know it:
“Since both House and Senate Republicans know President Obama will veto the bill, this is nothing more than government by temper tantrum," said Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, a health advocacy group. "If it were real legislation, this unprecedented action would constitute the largest take-back of health care coverage in our nation's history."
If you're fortunate enough to have health insurance through your employer, try this little exercise. Just imagine how you’d feel if one day that benefit was just taken away, because someone felt the expense would be better served by giving the multimillionaires who owned your company a huge tax cut. Then when you complained, your boss turns to you, smiles, and says, “we don't care."
Congratulations. You’ve just seen the future under a Republican President.