Healthcare Catch-All | GOP seeking a plan

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Mulberry Heel said:
Trump hates Obama with a passion and he knows that Obamacare is Obama's signature achievement, so of course he's simply got to destroy it and he's been pushing for that since he first took office in 2017. He was thwarted in his first term by John McCain and by the simple fact that he had no plan to replace it and thus couldn't sell abolishing the ACA even to most Congressional Republicans. But here in his second term his control over Congress and all parts of the government is far stronger and he believes he can finally do it. And they've learned from their mistakes in his first term in the sense that they'll come up with some crappy plan that likely won't work but which they think they can sell and that will be their excuse to finally eliminate it. And all so Dear Leader can have the satisfaction of striking another blow at Obama.
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It does need to go. It’s shit. The problem is there is absolutely nothing they can produce to replace it with after twice having total control.
 
I do find it amusing that Trump is smart enough to see the coming bloodbath if they don't put out new subsidies and the purists in Congress are like," no we must kill the ACA while we can" so then Trump is like "ok, let's kill the ACA."

Feel like I woke up in bizarro world
 
Republicans are screwed on healthcare.

There are 3 ways to lower costs:
- regulate pricing
- increase the pool (mandated coverage or expanded Medicare)
- eliminate guaranteed coverage for for folks with pre existing conditions.

I think Pubs would prefer #3 but it would be enormously unpopular. The other options aren’t in the R wheelhouse.

Expanded HSAs would be a disaster. People would abuse the system and find ways to use those funds on personal items, food, and in many cases drugs.
 
Callatoroy said:
It does need to go. It’s shit. The problem is there is absolutely nothing they can produce to replace it with after twice having total control.
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The main reason it is “shit” today is that the Pubs have spent many years chipping away at the ACA taking every opportunity to cripple it. The biggest blow (but not the only) was when the SCOTUS ruled to kill the very small payment everyone would pay into the system to keep it solvent and sustainable and prices low. That worked but now it’s all held together with duct tape. The only rational solution is Medicare or Medicaid for all supplemented with private insurance (like every other developed country on earth) but Pubs would rather us all go bankrupt due to medical debt for shitty coverage .
 
Callatoroy said:
It does need to go. It’s shit. The problem is there is absolutely nothing they can produce to replace it with after twice having total control.
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The ACA isn't "shit" - it is insurance reform which was instrumental in slowing the healthcare cost inflation curve. The sharp inflation we are seeing for 2026 premiums is nearly irrefutable proof the ACA in whole worked. What we have now is not "Obamacare."
 
IMO, America's healthcare system is simply on an unsustainable path, and is likely going to implode at some point as soaring premium costs and declining insurance coverage, combined with the GOP's gutting of Medicaid and other government healthcare assistance, will simply leave a majority of the population with no healthcare whatsoever, which will cause a national health/medical crisis of unprecedented proportions. Eventually even Republicans are going to be forced, kicking and screaming, to come up with something workable or face a blowback at the polls from the 65% of the population that aren't in the cult, and maybe even a few that are in it. In a sane world we would just adopt a system similar to what the rest of the world uses - say, like Australia's Medicare, which is similar to ours but covers everyone and not just people 65 and over - but given the likely resistance from health insurance companies and the GOP who knows what we'll get. But I do think the system as we've known it simply isn't going to last much longer, as the rising prices are making it increasingly unaffordable for more and more people, including most middle-class people.
 
I'm not sure we will see changes any time soon. We've been on an unsustainable path for so long it's hard to call it unsustainable. And between GOP demagoguery and the healthcare industry pumping millions into the political system, it seems the most likely outcome is nothing happens.
 
p5mmr9 said:
I'm not sure we will see changes any time soon. We've been on an unsustainable path for so long it's hard to call it unsustainable. And between GOP demagoguery and the healthcare industry pumping millions into the political system, it seems the most likely outcome is nothing happens.
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What's changed is the gutting of Medicaid and the premiums are rapidly rising for many people - to cite just one example many teachers here in NC saw their premiums double or even triple just this year, and they got no raises from the legislature. And they're hardly the only ones. How much longer are those people going to able to afford healthcare if the premiums keep soaring like that? I do think we're nearing a breaking point, not just for poor people, but for many middle and even some upper-middle class people. When large numbers of people start dying from lack of decent healthcare, and they will, then I don't think this system will survive in its current form. I do think change is coming whether the powers-that-be want it or not.
 
I am not suggesting the system works well or that premiums aren't rising at an incredibly high rate heading into next year. My point is that we've been on an "unsustainable path" for decades and the proverbial "breaking point" has always been right on the horizon. Change will not come because the electorate continues to be fooled by GOP demagoguery and sophisticated gaslighting by the healthcare industry. Will people lose insurance? Yes - no doubt. Will be people die because of this issue? Also, no doubt. Will these problems force change? They haven't up to now...I don't see why the future will be any different.
 
Mulberry Heel said:
IMO, America's healthcare system is simply on an unsustainable path, and is likely going to implode at some point as soaring premium costs and declining insurance coverage, combined with the GOP's gutting of Medicaid and other government healthcare assistance, will simply leave a majority of the population with no healthcare whatsoever, which will cause a national health/medical crisis of unprecedented proportions. Eventually even Republicans are going to be forced, kicking and screaming, to come up with something workable or face a blowback at the polls from the 65% of the population that aren't in the cult, and maybe even a few that are in it. In a sane world we would just adopt a system similar to what the rest of the world uses - say, like Australia's Medicare, which is similar to ours but covers everyone and not just people 65 and over - but given the likely resistance from health insurance companies and the GOP who knows what we'll get. But I do think the system as we've known it simply isn't going to last much longer, as the rising prices are making it increasingly unaffordable for more and more people, including most middle-class people.
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There is zero doubt about your point. Medical cost and insurance cost are increasing at an unsustainable rate.

There is no other solution but cost containment, which Medicare and other single payer systems provide. 60+% of our bankruptcies are due to medical debt. The next highest country is at 15%. How our corporate government and media have convinced many in our country that tying health insurance to an employer and paying 5 figures and premiums and another 5 figures annually in exposure is better than paying an extra 4k in taxes for a health systems will go down as one of the biggest swindles in our country's history.
 
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