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House Republicans used a motion to recommit yesterday to remove the individual mandate from the Affordable Care Act, but failed by a 230-187 margin. Joseph Cao (R-LA) was the only Republican to vote against the provision, while 21 Democrats voted for it.
The motion to recommit allows the House minority, at the end of a vote, to add a change to the underlying bill, without giving notice on the nature of the changes until minutes before the vote. It has been used by the Republicans to create embarrassing votes or make ideological statements. Occasionally the motions to recommit pass, as happened with the COMPETES act (a science and technology bill) a few weeks ago, but House Democrats figured out a way to deal with it on a second pass without having to accept the weakening parts of the motion.
It’s interesting that the House Republicans quietly took aim at the individual mandate. This was a point of contention for Republicans and progressive Democrats alike during the health care debate. Supporters of the Affordable Care Act counter that a lack of a mandate will raise premium prices, as insurance companies would respond by increasing costs to hedge against the risk of customers signing up only when they get sick. They claim that individual premiums would rise by 40%.
However, 21 Democrats still voted for it. And what that shows is that the danger to the Affordable Care Act is less repeal than a gradual assault on individual provisions, one by one. The subsidies are probably most at risk, since they have to be affirmatively approved. But expect House Republicans to continue to attack provisions like the individual mandate as well, perhaps even with eventual success, if this vote and the expected gains in November are any indication.
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The “Not Voting” Reps. seem to be the ones who are running for Re-Election. How curious? Maybe they see the hand writing on the wall.
“The subsidies are probably most at risk, since they have to be affirmatively approved.”
I don’t think this is true. I think the subsidies for buying health insurance on the exchanges are mandatory spending (not discretionary spending that must be appropriated). There is other discretionary spending in the bill that a possible future Republican-controlled House may not appropriate, but I don’t think they can touch the subsidies without passing a law to do so.
Dennis Kucinich voted to to kill the effort to cancel the individual mandate…..
allow me to repeat myself…
Fuck You Dennis Kucinich – What did you Really Get for Selling us out, you piece of shit?
Thank you for the post David,
Health care for the poor, the sick, the infirm, the aged of our society.
If you are a Repuke, you do not want any of that happening. Just so you get your healthcare taken care of by the taxpayer, all is well.
We cannot afford a Republican victory taking over either the House or the Senate in the Fall.
Jeez, we need to get rid of the DINOs too.
“They claim that individual premiums would rise by 40%.”
Which will happen with or without the individual mandate.
The mandate is really the heart of reform. Without it, we get a ban on denial for pre existing conditions, the right to to keep your kids on your employer paid policy until they are well into adulthood, and what else? That’s about it. But throw in the mandate and suddenly you get 50 million people all in favor of Medicare for all, and at least half of them might actually even vote that way. They should have made it take effect immediately.
This was for show.
If they really cared about attacking the mandate, they would do it — as they were — at the state legislative level.
That is until the Chamber of Commerce said they were happy with the bill and stopped funding ALEC’s efforts to push state legislation. After that, almost every single state bill went kaput.
GOP kabuki. They know it won’t pass, and even if it did Obama wouldn’t sign it, so now they can all go out and campaign on it. It’s their version of “Medicare prescription drug price negotiation” in 2006.
I suspect that the premiums would rise by 40% by getting rid of the mandate is a bit of smoke. The real reason the Ds mostly stood firm was that this was the easiest thing for the Rs to pick off. A few of the Yeas voted against the bill. The mandate and the negative effects of this bill have yet to become obvious. When that happens one group is going to get the blame.
Perhaps Cao will suggest that some of the proponents fall on their swords to pay for their failure.
Just within the last week or two there was an article about states pleading for help with Medicaid costs that are dragging state budgets into the red. No help appeared forthcoming but somehow Medicaid is supposed to absorb 10-12 million new enrollees when HCR finally kicks in.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/07/state-budget-cuts-medicaid_n_603842.html
I would much rather place a bet that Republicans and deficit hawks will find a way to gut health care reform than place a bet that democrats will ever try to fix what’s wrong with it.
Yep, all about staking out their positions to the voters. Of course they now get to claim they made an honest effort to fight something they were for before they were against, without actually having to be honest.
The rise of the TROJAN HORSE, Bill Clinton now Obama
The art of the trojan horse Destroy from WITHIN.
Obama, Rahm, a lot of corporate dems, are set on destroying the progressive agenda of Democratic Party.
When one remembers Bush and looks at the tea party one realizes quickly why Trojan Horses like Obama were recruited to hamper the rise of the Progressive Base and their agenda in the USA. The elites knew progressive would take over DC, if a real progressive ran for president in 2008, so they created OBAMA the Trojan Horse.
Clinton lied his way thru the democratic party to give us NAFTA, (Nafta destroyed the MIDDLE CLASS, UNIONS = MIDDLE CLASS AMERICA)
Obama lied his way thru 2008 to give us a Health Care Scam
Obama, Rahm and the corporate Dems hate everything Progressive
Public Option Obama hates
Drug Importation Obama Hates
Excise tax on Union Health Care Plans Obama Likes
Individual Mandate Obama likes
Obama and Rahm main target is to destroy the power of the progressives in the House of Representatives.
Obama and Rahm attack on Unions was intentional.
Obama and politicians who work for the elites know the conservative agenda of Reagan died with Reagan, to keep the idea of a conservative agenda alive the elites
created Fox News
created a Trojan Horse name Bill Clinton to destroy Unions and the Middle Class
created a trojan horse name Obama to stop the rise of the progressives.
The Obama that now lives in the White House never would have won in 2008. The elites knew this, so Obama lied his way thru the 2008 campaign.
The ELITES know the USA is a progressive nation, once you have 10% of population controlling and owning 90% of the wealth of a nation, the idea of the USA conservative nation dies quickly.
THE CEO BP gave us a picture of how OBAMA and Corporate Dems think today, “they call us the SMALL PEOPLE”
Jane,
Is DFA completely in the ‘veal pen’?
Is that why I don’t hear a cheep out of them about the Health Care and SSN cuts Obama wants to make?
I remember the defense DEanFA put on. We were tireless. What gives?
A large majority of Americans are against this abomination of a “health care bill” which makes people pay more for less and keeps us paying 10 times more than we should have to for drugs because Pharma bought off the Democrat party.
They cut Medicare and now people like my dad with Parkinson’s can’t see a neurologist because they lose money now when they see Medicare patients.
November will end Democrat rule and deservedly so.
What you are missing, is the fact that the GOP would have voted for the same Bill.
The OBAMA health care Bill is a photo copy of the Bob Dole health care bill.(Bob Dole is a republican, OBAMA even said it is the Bob Dole Health Care Bill)
Welcome to the greatest Kabuki Trick ever!
You can vote Dem or Gop it does not matter, the elites are controlling the game.
Obama the trojan horse supported and championed the Bob Dole Health Care Plan, Bob Dole is a republican, this is not the Ted Kennedy Health Care Bill
I agree that the Republicans would be no better, but we expected the Democrats to actually help people and they stabbed us in the back to get their corporate Payola.
A pox on both houses.
With dual citizenship I compare what is called “Health Care Reform” in the states with what the French have available to them and I can’t help but laugh. The U.S. public has been played for chumps again but they don’t seem to mind with the few exceptions of those that bother to pay attention.
What happens when and if they hold another vote sometime after Election Day in November…say, the day after the new Congress is sworn in next January?
Once Obama and his WH Morons realize that they have lost the base, don’t you think he will opt out of running for a second term Anybody ???
I did this in April 2009… thought you might like it
http://willyloman.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/the-obama-horse1.jpg
I had an interview today for a job for a Hospital company in our area. You can always tell whose making $$ by how the offices are decked out. It was all rare woods , marble and fancy art and fresh flowers. These folks are living large.
Their base? Their “base” is Goldman Sachs, BP, GE (MSNBC NBC), Wal Mart, Citi Group, Coca Cola, Shell, Humana, Blue Cross, Lockheed Martin, ect. ect. ect.
why would they lose their base?
I designed and installed a 60 foot long, 14 foot high waterfall for Heathways. The entire thing was Italian tile on the surface under the running water and we made the entire structure out of pure stainless steel.
It was beautiful… and loud. You would be surprised how loud that waterfall was…
They are living like kings these days
Be fair, BC only asked for a 39% rate hike this year.
“Once Obama and his WH Morons realize that they have lost the base, …”
Obama brought 15 – 20 million new voters into play in 2008. It seems that he and his political director think he can hold onto that voting block and that that block will offer a reasonable replacement for the base. And as has been shown so many time before, the base always folds and comes back to the democratic party.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/13/magazine/13midterms-t.html
I agree, this was all for show. The Republicans WANT an individual mandate because it results in more money for the health insurance industry (another corporate group they are fond of). They “act” otherwise because they know people are not happy about it and can use it against Democrats now.
From your link at NY Times:
THAT should have been our epiphany moment if not before.
I don’t know what I’m missing, but good on the GOP for trying to get rid of this horrid mandate to force we the people to buy something from the private sector.
And a pox on every Dem who did NOT vote to support this GOP effort!!!
Yep. Dem’s missed a chance to get rid of that POS portion of HCGiveaway.
Stupid, ya can’t fix it.
How do you go with the mandate being an ugly enforcement on we the people, a mandatory enforcement, to it being the reason for medicare for all? I’m not following that.
And I asking about this reform you speak of, where is it actually, in what was passed?
I don’t see any reforms, for the most part. None that would hold insurers or providers accountable in any way.
Is there a unicorn in there, too, I’m missing?
For show or no, the dem’s missed a GREAT chance to do away with the hated mandate, and put Obama on the hook to sign it!!!!!
Blown chance, IMHO.
Nothing there I’d argue against.
He’s not going to opt out.
He’s going to be told by the Dem Party he’s a one termer.
Might have been the plan all along.
Because he’s gonna cost the Dem’s a WHOLE lot of grief between now and ’12.
And between now and ’10.
Watch for HRC to resign her post as Sec State and begin to run for ’12, because The Party asked her to.
These are different times, there’s no jobs, the Gaza Flotilla and support for Israel is waning amongst the public, the Gulf Spill is fascist crony capitalism and government hand in hand.
The NEW voters are already disenfranchised with Obama and the Dems, and the base (us progs anyway) are REALLY disenfranchised.
There ARE no voters to make up the loss of us progs, if we withhold our votes for the Dems.
We start in ’10, and by ’12 we’ll have options to vote for another party . . and frankly, if the GOP wins it all for another 8 years, I don’t really care anymore, it’s bad enough now and not going to get better under the dem’s.
The sooner the GOP topples it all, and our system collapses, the better, as far as I’m concerned anymore.
Cuz it’s unsustainable, and my life and my wife’s are NOT gonna get better no matter WHAT happens.
It’s all unsustainable. It must crash and burn, and short of a miracle, none of us can save any of this in the next 20 years. Not one iota. It must collapse to change for the next generation.
Ability to not buy insurance was the only cost-control provision before the HCR bill. I hope Republicans bring back at-least that one cost-control provision before people suffer a lot due to forced buying of sub-standard insurance at whimsical inflated prices.