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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsRepublicans Are In a Full Blown Panic as the Affordable Care Act Grows More Successful
Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening another entity through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction and as a rule saboteurs attempt to conceal their identities to avoid the consequences of their actions; unless they are Republicans. Since January 2009, Republicans have gone to great lengths to sabotage President Obamas attempts to save the economy and they made no attempt to conceal their identities. In fact, Republicans reveled in the publicity they received for killing jobs and obstructing economic recovery, and their racist supporters cheered them on every step of the way regardless the damage they wrought to the economy and other Americans. Still, President Obama prevailed and saved the economy, created millions of jobs, cut spending to their lowest levels in over 60 years, and set reform in motion to give 30-million Americans access to basic affordable healthcare that Republicans are still attempting to sabotage.
There are several reasons why Republicans are escalating their attempts to sabotage the Affordable Care Act, and none are more important to their survival as their inhumane supporters opposition to other Americans well-being. It is not to say that Republicans would love nothing more than to deny 30 million Americans basic health insurance for the sole purpose of seeing them infirm and suffering, because that is, in and of itself, a primary Republican goal in sabotaging the ACA. In fact, they were brutally frank that, by their libertarian standards, healthcare was a divine privilege reserved for Americans who could afford astronomical premiums just to stay healthy, but there is more driving their machinations to derail the ACA than simple conservative inhumanity.
Regardless the ACA will give the insurance industry about 30-million new policy holders, there are provisions in the law that Republicans despise because their industry donors lost free-rein to gouge policy holders and rake in obscene profits. In fact, there is a direct correlation between the renewed frenzy to sabotage the health law and industry profits that drives Republican opposition. The secret trigger in the ACA that pushed early Republican opposition was the so-called 80/20 rule that required insurance carriers to spend 80% of premiums on real healthcare or write rebate checks to policy holders for amounts they did not spend. Republicans rushed to defend the industry that railed at the idea of only reaping 20% profits. The second trigger is that competition inherent in healthcare exchanges in states that embraced the health law has reduced premiums substantially. For example, in New York, premiums are set to fall by roughly 50%, and in California, this authors premiums fell by about 40% after 17 years of perpetual increases and that does not include rebate checks that began rolling in last year according to the 80/20 rule. It is the health laws success stories like these that have Republicans in a panic and it is the third reason they are going all in to sabotage the ACA; it is successful.
Republicans hoped beyond hope that the law would fail giving them the opportunity to portray President Obama as a failure, but between ending pre-existing conditions, keeping children on their parents policies until age 26, the 80/20 rule, and free-market competition resulting in lower rates, the law is a success. That it reduces the nations deficit and creates jobs is just too much for Republicans to bear and has elicited a multi-faceted, last ditch effort to sabotage the law that a long-time conservative stalwart considers unprecedented and contemptible. Norm Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative belief tank, recently assailed Republican leadership for going to extreme measures to damage the possibility of a smooth rollout of the health reform plan. Ornstein railed at Republicans guerrilla efforts to cut off funding, dozens of votes to repeal, abusive comments by leaders, attempts to discourage states from participating in Medicaid expansion or crafting exchanges, threatening letters to associations that might publicize the availability of insurance on exchanges, and now a new set of threatsto have a government shutdown, or to refuse to raise the debt ceiling, unless the president agrees to stop all funding for implementation of the plan, to do everything possible to undercut and destroy its implementation to benefit politically from all the resulting turmoil is simply unacceptable, even contemptible. That the effort is spearheaded by the Republican leaders of the House and Senate takes ones breath away. It is noteworthy that Ornstein joined Thomas Mann last year to assail Republicans for creating Washingtons dysfunction and inability to govern, but to directly criticize the GOP leadership is remarkable and too long in coming.
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http://www.politicususa.com/2013/08/11/republicans-full-blown-panic-affordable-care-act-grows-successful.html

Scurrilous
(38,687 posts)
Rosa Luxemburg
(28,627 posts)
pampango
(24,692 posts)... the so-called 80/20 rule that required insurance carriers to spend 80% of premiums on real healthcare or write rebate checks to policy holders for amounts they did not spend. Republicans rushed to defend the industry that railed at the idea of only reaping 20% profits. The second trigger is that competition inherent in healthcare exchanges in states that embraced the health law has reduced premiums substantially. For example, in New York, premiums are set to fall by roughly 50%, and in California, this authors premiums fell by about 40% after 17 years of perpetual increases and that does not include rebate checks that began rolling in last year according to the 80/20 rule. It is the health laws success stories like these that have Republicans in a panic and it is the third reason they are going all in to sabotage the ACA; it is successful.
Thanks for posting this article, n2doc.
Rosa Luxemburg
(28,627 posts)uponit7771
(92,826 posts)Wednesdays
(20,492 posts)I Googled "FUDr" and the only things I could come up with were "Friends of the Upper Delaware River" and "floxuridine."
"Fuck You, Damn Republicans"?
"Falsely Underwritten Dalmation Reviews"?
"For Uncle David's Repository"?
"Feeling Utterly Devious Retroactively?"
winter is coming
(11,785 posts)Wednesdays
(20,492 posts)I was also thinking it might have had to do with Lolcats or something.
winter is coming
(11,785 posts)AnotherMcIntosh
(11,064 posts)to solve homelessness.
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)since the mentally ill will, I assume, be able to get some assistance through the plan. Am i wrong about that?
another_liberal
(8,821 posts)I hope the Republicans pay a price in November, 2014, for this obstructionism in the face of Americans' needs.
Peacetrain
(23,916 posts)

millennialmax
(331 posts)People will always remember who to thank. HA!!!
krawhitham
(4,984 posts)pampango
(24,692 posts)million Americans.
Still, Brian Beutler has a good point here: the long delay in implementation made Obamacare hard to campaign on, because people had no experience of how it works in practice. Republicans could tell all kinds of lies, promulgate all kinds of misconceptions, and if the laws defenders tried to refute these claims, well, who was telling the truth? Remember how Medicare was going to destroy American freedom?
But now the reality of Obamacare is just months away. It may have a rocky start, especially in red states where the local government is doing all it can to disrupt the implementation, but pretty soon many Americans will have first-hand knowledge of how the system really works. And if Massachusetts is any guide, theyre going to like it a lot.
Hence Obamas new confidence and the desperation of the GOP.
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/08/11/the-power-of-incumbency-health-care-edition/?_r=1&
TexasTowelie
(120,592 posts)Responding for reference to respond to the right-wingers in the future.
Cartoonist
(7,579 posts)Someone said that if the Dems gave America better health care, then the Republican party is finished. They have to destroy it to save themselves. They may survive 2014, but by 2016 America will realize that the ACA is a good law and that the GOP will be as dead as they fear.
They could avoid extinction by cooperating with the Dems on health care, jobs, and the environment, but they don't seem to be able to reform their party.
rurallib
(63,702 posts)who was Newt's head of staff (or whatever) at the time.
Cryptoad
(8,254 posts)Educated yourselves and after OCT 1 ,,Get out and volunteer to help people signed up to ACA. Many of the people who will benefit most from ACA are going to need help getting signed up!
Turbineguy
(39,009 posts)If you buy a car that gets better gas mileage your gasoline consumption goes up- right?
Egnever
(21,506 posts)Cause you know they dont want him getting credit for it.
I find it hilarious that they put that name on it to try to demonize it and it is now so firmly entrenched that it will end up with the net effect being he gets all the credit for it when people figure out they like it.
bloomington-lib
(946 posts)BumRushDaShow
(151,998 posts)
Rain Mcloud
(812 posts)which they hope will sabotage the ACA and this also sets the stage for Rand Paul and the Libertarians in Human Suits to lead the minority in the senate and then pResident in 2016.
Or so I surmise to be the plan,anyway.
cheapdate
(3,811 posts)SomethingFishy
(4,876 posts)but maybe if we can get a freakin Dem congress in 14 we can strengthen this thing. It's a step in the right direction and Obama should be applauded for getting the damn thing through.
Anything that pisses off the right makes me smile.
Scurrilous
(38,687 posts)
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)bravenak
(34,648 posts)They should have never started calling it obamacare. People are liking it more everyday. Now I notice them trying to call it the affordable care act. By its name. Ha ha ha ha ha! Ha!