Displaying 631 To 660 Of 2,270 Comments What If? The Affordable Care Act and the Supreme Court Sally, I’ve heard that wordsmithing before and quite honestly I don’t know if there is anything to it. All I know is that the Act specifically calls for a tax penalty of the greater of $95 in 2014 or 1% of income, with several exceptions for Native Americans, incarcerated individuals, religious objections, financial hardship, etc etc etc. » Posted By funksands On March 26, 2012 @ 8:15 pm Murph, good summary indeed. The answer to your main question: “Can the ACA survive without a mandate?” is the answer I was scanning around for this morning on the inter-tubes. I ran across an article by Aaron Carroll. He is a Dr. and Vice-chair of health policy and outcomes at the University of Indiana Pediatrics Dept. He also writes for the Incidental Economist (my fav. healthcare blog) His piece talks specifically about the mandate and whether or not the ACA could survive. His take? Sure! “We don’t need the mandate. What we need is something that helps us avoid adverse selection and the death spiral. That could have been accomplished with a tax credit. Instead of penalizing those who don’t buy insurance, the government could have raised everyone’s taxes a bit and then returned a credit to those who bought insurance. This is totally constitutional and isn’t much different than the tax deduction many of us already enjoy by purchasing insurance. The government could also set a waiting period for those who choose to opt out of the system. If they can’t get in until a number of years later, many people won’t want to take the chance they might get sick in the interim. They would be more likely to buy insurance. Why weren’t these plans enacted instead? Well, for one reason, the mandate works better than penalties or waiting periods. The other reason is political. It was hard enough to pass the law without attaching a “tax.” So Congress went another way, and now it potentially pays the price.” He goes on to say that all of this doesn’t matter anyway, because if it was the mandate that people actually cared about we could fix it. Instead the mandate is merely the portal to argue about the entire law. Personally I think the SCOTUS will uphold the provision. I think some of Scalia and Alito’s past rulings are favorable to it, and I think Roberts is really worried about the taint of what Citizens United has meant for his court and will bend over backwards for a make-up call (as cynical as that sounds). » Posted By funksands On March 26, 2012 @ 7:10 pm Sally, how fitting for the candidate who is waging war on humans. » Posted By funksands On March 21, 2012 @ 8:07 pm KT, that’s it totally! » Posted By funksands On March 21, 2012 @ 8:04 pm As the GOP distances itself further and further from it….[img]http://www.redbrick.dcu.ie/~train/Reality-WorstGameEver.jpg[/img] » Posted By funksands On March 21, 2012 @ 8:03 pm http://www.redbrick.dcu.ie/~train/Reality-WorstGameEver.jpg » Posted By funksands On March 21, 2012 @ 8:02 pm Gingrich[img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/65/Happy_fun_ball.jpg[/img] » Posted By funksands On March 21, 2012 @ 7:56 pm Huffington Post Openly Launches Campaign to Attack Obama As a level 3 moderator and close confidant of her majesty, you couldn’t be more wrong about her! The glistening drops of poison that drip from her delicate fangs nourish and sustain us all in these dark times! “If it bleeds, it leads” has been a respected keystone of fine journalism for at least 1000 years! Shame on you!! » Posted By funksands On March 19, 2012 @ 9:04 pm A Psychiatrist’s Perspective on Obama: “His work is not done. Our need is still real.” Murph, I think this is why we are seeing this blizzard of awful legislation recently. They know that their time is short, so they are passing everything they can knowing that once the tide recedes some it will still be there after they are gone. This in turn leaves tools behind for future right-wingers to get a claw-hold on. » Posted By funksands On March 18, 2012 @ 5:52 pm Nada, zip, zilch. No signs, no energy, no enthusiasm. » Posted By funksands On March 18, 2012 @ 5:32 pm PL? Hmmm may have to puzzle on this one. Welcome welcome! » Posted By funksands On March 18, 2012 @ 2:16 pm Murph thanks for this. What a nice find at the caucus! The doctor makes very good points. Obama has bought us all a little space to breathe again. That’s very valuable when the everything else around us seems to be moving with more volatility. As CLady mentioned below, his calm and cool demeanor couldn’t be more at odds with the challenges he faces. I’ve always viewed Obama as a bridge back to sanity and reality, back to more liberal policies. While he may not be a “liberal” he is laying the groundwork for long-term dynamic changes that we didn’t have to go through another Great Depression to stimulate. » Posted By funksands On March 18, 2012 @ 2:11 pm GOP Politics – Winning at Any Cost Murph,the main reason big banks aren’t lending is because they don’t have to. They’re lending to the federal govt. and getting a risk-free 3%. Until that changes, why bother lending to anyone else? Mid-sized and smaller banks and lenders are the ones doing the grunt work in America right now. » Posted By funksands On March 16, 2012 @ 1:02 pm Nirek, thanks so much. Good to know that your brother seems to be doing well in “rehab”. Maybe a blue state makes it easier for Republicans to reform. 🙂 » Posted By funksands On March 17, 2012 @ 11:16 am Thanks KT, I really appreciate it. Trust me, I can’t figure out why seemingly well adjusted, intelligent people can support them either. I keep falling back on the only thing that makes sense to me: They have too much at stake. They’ve built an entire world view and belief system based on lies and half-truths. To admit to themselves that everything they’ve believed in re: the GOP was bullshit is just simply too much to allow. So they bury it, nod their heads and keep cheering for the team. I’ve voted Republican many times. Almost always on a local level, a few times on the state level, but never on a national level. And for the most part I’ve felt pretty good about those votes. But they are getting rarer and rarer the older I get. » Posted By funksands On March 17, 2012 @ 11:15 am I’m really interested to see what your experience is like, especially as someone who is not of the body. Good luck! » Posted By funksands On March 17, 2012 @ 11:11 am Ad, I think you made the point in your recent article about the GOP winning at any cost that they’ve made it into a game. You are so right. Fans of their team don’t switch loyalties easily and usually pass down their team preference to their children and grand-children. What the GOP has done for most of their base is to create enemies. Liberals, the poor, unions, secularists, gays, immigrants, brown people are all subject to the same treatment. “They’re out to get you. They believe in weird things, they want your money, your guns, your freedom, your daughters, your bible, your land, your marriage, your country. Its not you, its them. Resist!” As long as others are “enemies” rather than just people with different opinions and backgrounds, there is little likelihood of compromise. The only thing you can do with an “enemy” is defeat them or surrender to them. » Posted By funksands On March 17, 2012 @ 11:10 am Carmen, thanks so much! I suspect that you are right. Texas is probably a tad different than the suburbs of Seattle. 🙂 » Posted By funksands On March 17, 2012 @ 11:02 am Kes, they do seem on their back foot. There was a lot of hand-wringing about Romney and his ability to go toe to toe with the President. What’s interesting is that they also view him as incompetent and over his head. What does that make Romney? There is a lot of disenchantment with the current crop of mouth-breathers and con-men. » Posted By funksands On March 17, 2012 @ 11:01 am Sally my GOPPTSD seems to be wearing off. You are absolutely correct, there was no specific reasons listed that Obama was destroying the country, he just is. Its easier that way. » Posted By funksands On March 17, 2012 @ 10:59 am Thanks Kalima! I’m not sure how hazardous my duty really was, but I’ll take the credit if you are giving it! » Posted By funksands On March 17, 2012 @ 10:57 am Thanks Choice, one additional benefit of preparing for the caucus (yes I studied for it 🙂 ) was that I did become much more familiar with the candidates platforms. Its astonishing how empty and vacuous they are. Then fast forward to the caucus itself, there was almost ZERO discussion of the candidates points of view. The conversations revolved around Obama, current events and state issues. That tells me that there isn’t much interest in what the candidates have to say, but simply debate over who can beat the guy in the White House. Garbage in / garbage out. » Posted By funksands On March 16, 2012 @ 1:20 pm Sue I toggle the wrong button in reply to you. I imagine you are correct that my experience would be much different somewhere else. And as I mentioned in the article, my sample size was admittedly small. I must admit I am motivated to do something like this again. I thought it was a tantalizing glimpse of answers to a puzzling problem. Then again, there may be no answers, only more bullshit. » Posted By funksands On March 16, 2012 @ 1:16 pm Murph, it was mine as a “Gingrich Supporter” » Posted By funksands On March 16, 2012 @ 1:03 pm The End of Right Wing Talk Radio??? Murph this IS great news. It’s interesting to listen to some lefty talkers. They are very pleased that Rush is getting his just desserts. They are also very very nervous about how this will impact them. » Posted By funksands On March 10, 2012 @ 7:32 pm Can’t do that while you are sniffing coke. I’m not implying anything, but there’s always a little less snow in Alaska when the Palins are in town. » Posted By funksands On March 10, 2012 @ 7:15 pm LIVE BLOG – Super Tuesday 2012 Another piece of Ohio news: Jean Schmidt lost tonight in her primary. 🙂 She was truly an awful person. » Posted By funksands On March 6, 2012 @ 9:32 pm Ugh. Sorry I brought it up. 🙁 » Posted By funksands On March 6, 2012 @ 9:17 pm Sally he likes it that way. Don’t judge. » Posted By funksands On March 6, 2012 @ 9:13 pm Double-tap. » Posted By funksands On March 6, 2012 @ 9:07 pmComments Posted By funksands
The government could charge a penalty for those who choose to wait before buying insurance. This is how Medicare Part D works. It also incentivizes people to buy in right away, and it’s also perfectly legal.
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