Krugman: "the attack on Obamacare depended almost entirely on lies" which are now unsustainable.

[pampango]

Greg Sargent notes that the midterm election, which was supposed to be a referendum on Obamacare, isn’t looking at all like that in practice; Republican ads denouncing health reform have been dwindling month by month.

The reason is fairly obvious, although it’s not considered nice to state it bluntly: the attack on Obamacare depended almost entirely on lies, and those lies are becoming unsustainable now that the law is actually working. No, there aren’t any death panels; no, huge numbers of Americans aren’t losing coverage or finding their health costs soaring; no, jobs aren’t being killed in vast numbers. A few relatively affluent, healthy people are paying more for coverage; a few high-income taxpayers are paying more in taxes; a much larger number of Americans are getting coverage that was previously unavailable and/or unaffordable; and most people are seeing no difference at all, except that they no longer have to fear what happens if they lose their current coverage.

In other words, reform is working more or less the way it was supposed to (except for the Medicaid expansion in non-cooperating states).

Many of us argued all along that the right’s chance to kill reform would vanish once the program was actually in place; the horror stories only worked as long as the truth wasn’t visible. And that’s what seems to be happening.

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/08/19/beyond-the-lies/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=1&

[PearliePoo2]

1. Now..get rid of the insurance companies.

They're a bunch of fucking, middle-men parasites with their hand out that do NOTHING for your "care".
NOTHING.
I hate them.

[Doctor_J]

2. We just gave them the entire enterprise. That wouldn't have happened if there were any

thoughts of "getting rid of them". And they take your bloated costs and return them as bribes to your congress and your president. That way your don't have to worry about writing your "representatives" - they won't py any attention to you anyway

[pnwmom]

5. We didn't give the large Medicaid expansion to the insurance companies, much less

"the entire enterprise."

The law included funds for Vermont (and any other state that chooses) to set up a single payer health system, and it also is supporting the co-ops in Oregon.

[jeff47]

8. Yep, get to work.

Obamacare moves the battle for single-payer to the states.

Get to work on your state government.

[IrishAyes]

9. No argument there.

[Cha]

3. HAHA.. that's exactly what so many of us said would happen! thank you, Paul Krugman

mahalo pampango

[IrishAyes]

11. Even here in RedNeckLand,

I've noticed fewer people accost me on that account, seeing as how this state is refusing expansion. Maybe a dim light bulb's turning on for them. They still jump me for other things, but not the ACA so much anymore.

And I'd almost swear one lady looked at me with a hint of approval last week at church.

I'm still waiting for a certain electrical job to get done at home before I send my next letter to the newspaper, though. The electrician I need is a real teabagger. Needless to say, he'll only be working in the rear bottom half of the house, the part that encloses the 1848 slave cabin and my present laundry/storage area. I wouldn't let him in the rest of my house anyway, and he'd croak if I did; I just looked around the living room and office, and counted 4 pictures of President Obama; one of the first inaugural dance with Michelle, one with Lincoln, one smaller family photo about 4 years old, and one of his baby pictures. Not teabagger friendly territory.

[Cha]

12. yeah, just think after all these years Obamacare is finally a non starter because it's WORKING.

Your teabagger electrician would faint away in pure hate and disgust!

IrishAyes~

[IrishAyes]

13. Well, even worse he'd refuse to do the work in the back.

And I'm not about to change things just to pacify him.

The main reason he's willing to do the work, from what I can figure, is because he's the substitute Adult Sunday School teacher and he caught some flack from other quarters too when he popped off in class about how much he HATED Barack Obama! I tweaked his nose for it as gently as possible, but I think he might've heard from someone else too.

Like his wife. He already got in trouble with her after he leered at another woman AT CHURCH! and said bad things when their spouses weren't present although I was. While he tried to cover his ass with claims of 'just joking' the lady was still horrified and I'm sure she told her husband, because for the next couple of months he went around with a real hangdog look. When I walked past him after the incident, I muttered "Close but no cigar." The only reason I want him to do the electrical work is because he needs to show my handyman how to do that sort of thing, and the only reason the electrician will do it is because I bet his wife's making him.

Believe me, he'll be out of here as fast as possible. And the handyman can't come again until after his regular summer construction job phases out.

[Cha]

4. Oh yeah, and Thanks Obama!

[IrishAyes]

14. Amen to that.

I send my thanks to the WH for all he does.

[n2doc]

6. He's being optimistic

If the Senate falls to Republican control, the games will begin again, and I don't know if the President will be able to veto all the different attacks on it. . And those lies have been effective in keeping the ACA approval rating down.

[Doctor_J]

7. I don't think it's going anywhere

The insurance lobbyists have told congress to shut the hell up. They realize that this is the best they're going to do, and will never let it go away lest we get a real healthcare system that cuts them out. There might be some huffing and puffing and futile shows about repealing it, but it's not going to happen.

My copays went up by a factor of 10 this year, so I'm skipping preventative care to avoid giving my grandkids' inheritance to an insurance CEO so he can buy a 5th home. Hopefully I'll make it to Medicare, but if not my plan is to go quickly and at home.

[Historic NY]

10. My experience with wingers is they start with the same criticisms..

of Obamacare, go on saying how much it costing them, blah blah blah...when you ask so why didn't you choose another company from the exchange they get tongue tied. One guy was bemoaning seasonal help weren't hired this season. He get a pension has his and his wifes medical, has medicare but chooose to pay for two other policies. When you ask why he was spending money when he didn't have to, no answer except Obamacare is bad. They are so tied up in disinformation they don't even know.