Can the ACA survive?

[cali]

Really, the question is longer than that: Can the ACA survive the MSM, republican sabotage, and yes, its own flaws, which while they aren't nearly as major as the MSM portrays, are a fact.

A couple of things: I firmly support the ACA. I've backed it from the beginning, so hold the nonsense about how I've always been against it and I want it to fail. There are a lot of things I don't support the President on; the ACA is not one of those things.

Public support and confidence in the ACA is taking a hit. I believe that's a major part of the Repuke plan to sabotage it. And they have the handy dandy and effective aid of the MSM. Having failed to repeal the ACA, the repukes are taking a back door approach, albeit one that they've run in tandem along with their ceaseless efforts at repeal.

I completely expect to be personally attacked for posting this, but that's not addressing the op.


A CBS poll was released on Wednesday.

<snip>

The president’s signature health care law is also at a new low. Approval of Obamacare stands at 31 percent with disapproval at 61 percent, the worst figures for the law in CBS’s polling.

Only one in three survey respondents said they believe the government will be able to fix the health care exchange website by the White House’s end-of-the-month deadline, and just 7 percent said the Affordable Care Act should be left in place without any changes. Forty-eight percent said it needs some changes, and 43 percent want it repealed entirely.

In more bad news for the health care law, a separate poll also out Wednesday found that of the uninsured Americans who have visited a health care exchange website, two-thirds had a bad experience.

http://www.politico.com/story/2013/11/cbs-poll-obamacare-record-lows-100115.html

http://www.gallup.com/poll/165941/experiences-uninsured-exchanges-mostly-negative.aspx

The Massive Republican Campaign to Sabotage the Affordable Care Act

<snip>

Lost in the mix, of course, is the ongoing far-right effort to sabotage the Affordable Care Act.

I'm not talking about the myths and propaganda -- the "death panel" nonsense and the like. This is serious business: the well-financed, broadly implemented sabotage campaign designed to rig the law for failure, while also making it more difficult for Americans to receive insurance.

Sabotaging the Website

We've known for quite some time that most Republican governors refused to open health insurance exchanges in their states. 27 states don't have exchanges and therefore uninsured residents are shuffled over to the Healthcare.gov website to buy a policy.

However, earlier this month, we learned that Republican Party leadership directly urged those governors not to do it -- chiefly to burden the federal exchange with a heavier load.

Worse yet, the ACA contained zero funding for the development and implementation of the site, and there's no way the congressional Republicans would ever authorize more money for it. It's unclear why the federal exchange was unfunded in the law, but one thing's for sure, a House of Representatives that voted 46 times to totally repeal the law wouldn't have coughed up a dime to rectify the oversight.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bob-cesca/the-massive-republican-ca_b_4311424.html

GOP seeks a groundswell of opposition to Obamacare

Use any metaphor you like -- predators smelling blood, invaders storming the castle, a snowball growing in size and momentum as it rolls downhill.

All describe efforts by opponents of President Barack Obama's signature health care reforms to kill the 2010 law after the botched launch of the HealthCare.gov website provided a new opening for attack.

Critics led by conservative Republicans target the Affordable Care Act itself, not just the website woes, in hopes of creating a public groundswell of opposition that will bolster GOP prospects in next year's congressional elections.

Holding their House majority and winning back the Senate from Democratic control would increase leverage for weakening and perhaps even dismantling the reforms they despise as government overreach run amok.

<snip>

http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/21/politics/obamacare-gop-snowball/

[Nuclear Unicorn]

1. "republican sabotage"

Did we really pass a law in the teeth of their protests, without a single one of their votes and then say to ourselves, "If they start up a storm of criticism once this rolls out we're sunk"? If a major programs can only succeed so long as the opposition is complimentary and complicit what does that say about major programs?

[Puzzledtraveller]

22. or for controlling both houses..

[quaker bill]

2. It is now time that we get the news out

It is increasingly clear that the most significant problem with healthcare.gov during the rollout was a massive DDOS attack on the servers that came from tools promoted and spread from RW websites.

[Decaffeinated]

7. Really?

[quaker bill]

20. in fact

apparently there were large and coordinated DDOS attacks. It has been testified to.

The unfortunate bit is that they did not anticipate them, at least at the level observed.

How could this be a surprise?

[RandiFan1290]

3. I doubt it will survive like Bush's tax cuts for the rich

[bigdarryl]

4. Stupid question it's the law

[cali]

5. wow. not so swift response.

as if laws have never been repealed or truncated.

Note that whereas I post actual evidence and facts, you post... nothing.

[Decaffeinated]

6. It will survive... lumbering on...

Too deep down the rabbit hole now.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

21. To the exclusion of any hope for single payer

They even built an insurance company bailout slush fund into the law.

[renie408]

8. I think the better (or maybe follow up?) question is "Can this country survive?"

Somebody upthread asked if we had really passed this law in the teeth of Republican opposition only to allow it to fold when the shit hits the fan now. I don't think it has so much to do with 'us' at this point as it does with 'them'. I am not sure what 'we' can do to keep it afloat should it sink.

The question to me is how does this country survive and grow from here? If the only initiatives that are going to make it are the ones that the two sides agree on perfectly, what is EVER going to get done? How do we fix our infrastructure problems? Or take care of our citizens?

This is the first time in my entire life that I have seriously thought about getting the hell out of Dodge, but if the ACA goes down I think we are going to have to start taking some stock of things.

[customerserviceguy]

9. There are several more challenges coming across the horizon

For starters, what happens when those who do get covered for the first time start to hit doctors' offices in waves? That's going to impact the "haves", who have enjoyed rather brief waits to get in to see a doctor, and I expect the Repukes to use it as part of their divide and conquer campaign.

Also, what happens when the rubber doesn't meet the road, financially? I can envision the newly-covered having to struggle with what an insurance company pays vs. what a doctor charges, and what happens when the doctors and hospitals don't get their co-pays and deductibles as quickly from the newly insured as they do from those who get insurance from a job? Similarly, will the insurance companies decide that it's more expensive than they thought it would be to dun the newly insured for premiums, as opposed to just waiting for employers to send in premiums?

[JoePhilly]

11. Wait ... so folks who never had insurance, will turn against the law because of a bad WEB experience

... is that what one of these moron's thinks?

How many of those who want changes to the ACA want it to do MORE, not less.

This is just more panic fodder.

The ACA isn't going to be repealed.

[renie408]

12. I don't think it will be repealed. I think it will be picked to death.

IF the GOP gets their way and IF enough Dems chicken out, the ACA will be picked apart until nothing of any substance is left.

And IF that happens, what is the future of governance in this country?

[cali]

15. I think that's a possibility.

and I also think that your question is an excellent- albeit very troubling- one.

[JoePhilly]

16. Congress would have to be able to pass lgislation to that effect first.

And that's not going to happen anytime soon.

And even if they could pass legislation, you'd need a GOP President to sign it.

As millions of people start to get coverage, word will get out. Even the dopes who listen to the GOP and don't sign up will hear from their friends.

The manufactured outrage around this will die off.

[renie408]

19. This is my hope. That the web site works quick enough and well enough and

that enough people begin to get covered that everybody will eventually either be somebody who was helped or know somebody who was helped. And that it happens soon enough before next November that we actually gain some seats.

[cali]

13. How is this a response to the OP?

It's just a knee jerk response.

Yes, of course the public is swayed by the MSM and the repuke sabotage.

Can the ACA survive it? Yes. Can it still be undermined and destroyed? Yes to that as well.

Denial, as always, is alive and well on DU.

[JoePhilly]

17. Hair on fire panic, that's what is alive and well on DU, as always.

This is the war in Syria all over again.

The ACA is going to survive.

[cali]

23. yes, yes. An op, with facts and links is "hair on fire"

posting.

NO. Knee jerk refusal to discuss anything but what a resounding success the ACA is, is just denial.

And the comparison to Syria is so silly as to be breathtaking.

[Phentex]

14. Yes. It will morph and grow and thrive eventually...

it's really hard to take something away from people once they've had it. I cannot see anyone forcing people back off of insurance for pre-exisiting conditions at this point.

Is it full of holes? Yes. Is it affordable? Not for many people. But the cat is out of the bag. People are talking about it. People finally want to understand their policies and the terms and what their responsibilities are. There is no turning back on this.

[JoePhilly]

18. Exactly ... just getting people to talk about it has caused Medicaid enrollment in red

... states to surge, even though they did not expand their Medicaid programs.

Why?

Because there were lots of people in those states who were eligible but did not know it. And now, they are signing up.

People are going to get smarter about how insurance works, and become more aware about just how badly they were getting screwed before.

[cali]

24. Love you crystal ball.

and note that my OP is anything but absurd forecasting. It poses a question.

Do you understand that public perception is a major driver in American politics? It's fair to say that its THE major driver.

And public opinion can, and often is, manufactured.

[JoePhilly]

26. No crystal ball needed. That's not a prediction, its actually happening.

Enrollment in medicaid is surging in red states that did not expand their programs. People who did not know that they were elegible have learned that they are, and they are signing up. Just a side benefit of the ACA.

And if public perception was the major driver, we'd have passed stricter background checks on gun sales.

You asked if the ACA can survive. The media is pushing that question. The answer to that question is "yes, it will survive."

DU used to look at the media skeptically. Now, we apparently just dive head first into each manufactured outrage they place in front of us.

[geek tragedy]

25. It's not going to be repealed. Jeebus.

We're beyond that stage now. The cost of repeal--bringing back pre-existing condition exclusions, caps, junk policies that provide no real coverage, repeal of Medicaid expansion, cancellation of all exchange policies--too painful to happen.

[JoePhilly]

27. +1

[badtoworse]

28. I think it depends on what happens to employer sponsored plans

I've heard forecasts of 50 - 100 million cancellations occuring in 2014. Considering the reaction to 5 million cancellations in the individual market, it's hard to see how the ACA would survive if the forecasts turn out to be accurate and nothing has changed. If 1.) the website is fixed and people can easily obtain coverage in the exchanges; and 2.) the coverage obtained is at least as good and no more expensive, then the impact won't be so bad and ACA will likely survive. If not, there will be hell to pay and it will be the Democrats screaming for changes.

I'm not optimistic.