Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Delay Obamacare A Year - What Would Be So Bad?

Yesterday, right up until the deadline, the House of Representatives submitted at least three continuing resolution bills to the Senate that would have funded everything in the government except for the Affordable Care Act.  As promised by Harry Reid, each of the bills was rejected and returned to the House.  

The first bill called for the delay of Obamacare for one year.  The Senate rejected it and sent it back to the House for changes.

The last bill called for the delay of the individual mandate for one year (in the same manner the mandate was delayed for businesses) and for Congressional staff not to receive subsidies to pay for their healthcare insurance so they would be no different than the average American.

Reid and the Democrats in the Senate refused to even consider it.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) floated a one-week spending measure to give the chambers more time to workout their differences.  But that idea was also rejected by Reid.

Speaker Boehner's last move was to propose a bill calling both houses to conference in an effort to resolve differences and reach a compromise.  This morning Senator Reid and the Democrats rejected that as well.

So who, exactly, is causing the problem here?  The President says the Republicans refuse to negotiate. Harry Reid says the Republicans refuse to negotiate.  The mainstream media says the Republicans refuse to negotiate.  Yet the Republicans sent three bills and a call for conference to the Senate and the Senate rejected every one of them.  And the President has stated firmly that he will veto any bill that makes any changes to Obamacare.  And the Republicans are the ones unwilling to negotiate?

The last bill that called for delaying the individual mandate for a year made perfect sense.  The President unilaterally delayed the mandate for businesses for a year - something that is most likely illegal - and he has given waivers to thousands of companies, unions and campaign contributors.  He has unilaterally changed the implementation of the law in several ways (still illegal from a Constitutional standpoint).  So what's the big deal in delaying the individual mandate for a year except that he'll lose all that "revenue" (tax money) from penalties charged to those who don't want to buy healthcare insurance through Obamacare.  And if the exchanges and web sites to purchase Obamacare coverage aren't working correctly, as has already been stated, then are people going to be penalized for not buying coverage even if it's not possible for them to do so?  It would seem that's the case.

Obamacare has been a lie from the beginning.  The President stated it would lower costs, that your current coverage would not change or increase, and that every American would be covered.  According to the Congressional Budget Office the cost of healthcare will increase and nearly every citizen who purchases health care coverage will see an increase, some as dramatic as 70%, in their individual costs.  And there will still be about 30 million people who do not have coverage - which is what it was before Obamacare.

I'm still having trouble understanding the blind faith some people have in Obamacare... and in Obama himself for that matter.  While the House and Senate were going back and forth over the continuing resolution over the weekend, and the real possibility of a government shutdown loomed ever closer - the President went to the golf course.  Apparently the possibility of his government shutting down just wasn't that big of a deal to him.  

Hope you had a good game, Mr. President.  Just think - there are a bunch of federal employees out there who can go golfing this week now because they won't be going to work.  I'm sure they are ever so grateful to you for that time off.

Oh - and it's your fault.  You and Harry Reid.

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