Sponsored Content




Intermarkets' Privacy Policy
Support


Donate to Ace of Spades HQ!



Recent Entries
Absent Friends
Bandersnatch 2024
GnuBreed 2024
Captain Hate 2023
moon_over_vermont 2023
westminsterdogshow 2023
Ann Wilson(Empire1) 2022
Dave In Texas 2022
Jesse in D.C. 2022
OregonMuse 2022
redc1c4 2021
Tami 2021
Chavez the Hugo 2020
Ibguy 2020
Rickl 2019
Joffen 2014
AoSHQ Writers Group
A site for members of the Horde to post their stories seeking beta readers, editing help, brainstorming, and story ideas. Also to share links to potential publishing outlets, writing help sites, and videos posting tips to get published. Contact OrangeEnt for info:
maildrop62 at proton dot me
Cutting The Cord And Email Security
Moron Meet-Ups

NoVaMoMe 2024: 06/08/2024
Arlington, VA
Details to follow


Texas MoMe 2024: 10/18/2024-10/19/2024 Corsicana,TX
Contact Ben Had for info





















« Shoot or Don't Shoot? | Main | Judge Orders That Proceding Against Dzhohkar Begin, and Reads Him His Miranda Warning, And Then Dzhohkar Stops Talking »
April 25, 2013

Re: Good News/Bad News

In response to Drew's post:

There's a whole 'nother side to the story about how conservative members forced House GOP leadership to pull the bill defunding HHS' Obamacare implementation slush fund.

Former guestblogger Ben Domenech wrote about it in this morning's Transom and he's given me permission to excerpt it here:

The Cantor-sponsored shift would’ve accomplished a couple of political goals: it would’ve bolstered a high-risk pool based approach to pre-existing conditions, which has generally been favored on the right, and it would’ve hampered Sebelius’s ability to shift dollars around at whim without going back to Congress for approval. ...

As they tend to do, however, fiscal conservatives split on Cantor effort. It was opposed by the Heritage Foundation, the Club for Growth, and “Tea Party leader” Brent Bozell. Redstate announced it would be scoring the vote. They described the step, in insulting fashion to anyone who understands the policy involved, as an Obamacare “fix”. This is absurd at best and outright false at worst, and it is unsurprising to see that the tactic had its largest fandom among those most likely to be knee-jerk anti-leadership in every respect. The federal high risk pool is already a temporary measure which expires in 2014: “fixing” it by shifting these funds around is like putting a larger bandaid on cancer.

This type of strategic idiocy has been the mark of conservatives throughout the process of Obamacare’s passage and implementation, so expecting them to be smarter now is probably too much to ask. Whatever the motives of the conservatives who opposed this measure, they have accomplished the following ultimate goal: they’ve made leadership less likely to take up any possible wedge legislation on implementation; they’ve missed an opportunity to bolster the argument that Republicans care about pre-existing conditions; and, most importantly, they’ve made it easier for Sebelius to implement the law, protecting her flexibility to pour money into signing up more young and healthy people into the exchanges to mitigate premium shock – which, as I’ve explained before, represents the final opportunity for at least partial repeal.

I agree with Ben. Conservative health policy used to recognize that there is a problem getting health coverage for high-risk health care consumers with preexisting conditions. The old idea was to let everyone else get insurance through the market, with a small, subsidized high-risk pool for the limited number of folks with preexisting conditions who can't find or afford insurance in the market. Now, I'm not sure what conservatives want.

This plan was to take Sec. Sebelius' implementation funding, which she's been using as a slush fund to pay for all kinds of things (remember those TV ads) to make the Obamacare rollout happen smoothly. That funding would be moved over to the high-risk pool that expires in 2014. I thought seeing that the Obamacare rollout is a disaster is something conservatives would want.

This was a good plan. It showed that Republicans were serious about addressing actual healthcare problems and it was another step on the way to repeal, which conservatives claim to want. Now the GOP has egg on its face, and I can't help but wonder if conservatives want that more than they want Obamacare gone.

The Transom is Ben's daily email newsletter. It is absolutely worth the price of subscription. A sample can be viewed here, if you'd like to take a look.


digg this
posted by Gabriel Malor at 12:30 PM

| Access Comments




Recent Comments
weft cut-loop[/i][/b] [/s]: "[]i[Some statins cause both short term and long te ..."

torabora : "Pro-choice Democrat marylin lands gives anti-abort ..."

Ciampino - Was I going upstair when called?s or downstairs: "426 Posted by: Braenyard at March 28, 2024 01:09 ..."

Braenyard: "I'm overtime, y'all have a good evening. ..."

RickZ: "[i]Didn't think Kennedy would pick someone that nu ..."

mikeski: "[i]Pete Buttgiggity to sport a smug look on his fa ..."

mikeski: "[i]The original Siamese Twins, the Bunker twins, w ..."

Ciampino - Tabasco to the fartclam: "515 And some national fake day, a Tranny Day of W ..."

Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come: "[i]509 Ramadan lights will be on display in centra ..."

raimondo: " Pro-choice Democrat marylin lands gives anti-abor ..."

Braenyard: "Didn't think Kennedy would pick someone that nuts. ..."

Ciampino - Another communist?: "Robert F. Kennedy Jr. VP pick Nicole Shanahan help ..."

Recent Entries
Search


Polls! Polls! Polls!
Frequently Asked Questions
The (Almost) Complete Paul Anka Integrity Kick
Top Top Tens
Greatest Hitjobs

The Ace of Spades HQ Sex-for-Money Skankathon
A D&D Guide to the Democratic Candidates
Margaret Cho: Just Not Funny
More Margaret Cho Abuse
Margaret Cho: Still Not Funny
Iraqi Prisoner Claims He Was Raped... By Woman
Wonkette Announces "Morning Zoo" Format
John Kerry's "Plan" Causes Surrender of Moqtada al-Sadr's Militia
World Muslim Leaders Apologize for Nick Berg's Beheading
Michael Moore Goes on Lunchtime Manhattan Death-Spree
Milestone: Oliver Willis Posts 400th "Fake News Article" Referencing Britney Spears
Liberal Economists Rue a "New Decade of Greed"
Artificial Insouciance: Maureen Dowd's Word Processor Revolts Against Her Numbing Imbecility
Intelligence Officials Eye Blogs for Tips
They Done Found Us Out, Cletus: Intrepid Internet Detective Figures Out Our Master Plan
Shock: Josh Marshall Almost Mentions Sarin Discovery in Iraq
Leather-Clad Biker Freaks Terrorize Australian Town
When Clinton Was President, Torture Was Cool
What Wonkette Means When She Explains What Tina Brown Means
Wonkette's Stand-Up Act
Wankette HQ Gay-Rumors Du Jour
Here's What's Bugging Me: Goose and Slider
My Own Micah Wright Style Confession of Dishonesty
Outraged "Conservatives" React to the FMA
An On-Line Impression of Dennis Miller Having Sex with a Kodiak Bear
The Story the Rightwing Media Refuses to Report!
Our Lunch with David "Glengarry Glen Ross" Mamet
The House of Love: Paul Krugman
A Michael Moore Mystery (TM)
The Dowd-O-Matic!
Liberal Consistency and Other Myths
Kepler's Laws of Liberal Media Bias
John Kerry-- The Splunge! Candidate
"Divisive" Politics & "Attacks on Patriotism" (very long)
The Donkey ("The Raven" parody)
Powered by
Movable Type 2.64