Byrne Robotics: King v. Burwell: Obamacare Before the Supreme Court

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Topic: King v. Burwell: Obamacare Before the Supreme Court (

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David Miller
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Joined: 16 April 2004
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Posted: 25 June 2015 at 8:37am \| IP Logged \| 1

Hooray. I'm an insulin-dependent diabetic. After losing my employer coverage, I spent more than $100,000 from 2008 to 2013, and that was with an individual policy I was eligible for through a loophole in COBRA. The open contempt Republicans have shown people like me has been discouraging. One right wing facebook "friend" said I "scored" under Obamacare, because that's exactly what diabetes is. A "score."

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Joe Zhang
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Posted: 25 June 2015 at 9:00am \| IP Logged \| 2

Yay! The good guys win, for once.

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Joseph Gauthier
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Posted: 25 June 2015 at 11:18am \| IP Logged \| 3

Boy, I'm not going to say that this isn't a huge disappointment, but I'd be lying if I didn't admit that I feared the potential political fallout from a court decision that left a portion of obamacare consumers with access to taxpayer provided subsidies, and others without. So yes, along with the pain, I do feel a touch of practical relief; I have little faith in a voting population so vapid as to allow for the election and reelection of our current president, and I don't believe they would have given the time or thought to parse the "Republicans stole your healthcare" drumbeat. This, despite the fact that Republican governors and legislators subsequent 2010 were elected for the express purpose of resisting obamacare. When you only have a person's ear for a few seconds, it's easier to say the above than to say, "Democrats deliberately wrote the law in such a way as to coerce reluctant states to participate in an expensive and largely unpopular program. Whatever pain you're feeling is the result of their willingness to use the power of government against the people."
I also feared that the uniformed voter would associate the ill effects of the coming business mandate, as well as the premium increases of the next fiscal year with the court decision, and blame the natural market brought to bare on an unpopular law on Republican governors and legislators.
While in this case, I would have enthusiastically accepted the bird in the hand, I do understand the best way, politically speaking, to kill this law is for the consumers to reject it, and for congress to put it out of it's misery.

One thing this ruling does bring into sharp relief, however, is the importance winning the Presidential election and keeping as many Senate seats as possible in 2016, with Ginsburg, Scalia, Kennedy, and Breyer all nearing retirement. Let's all hope that Republicans don't nominate Jeb! Bush and loose the election before it even takes place.

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Paul Simpson Simpson
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Posted: 25 June 2015 at 2:10pm \| IP Logged \| 4

Still, I realize there are many
problems with the law and that it will need to be
amended.

************************

I agree with your points.The problem is that politicians don't admit they need to amend a law as big as this.Then if they do it may not change it for the better.

Edited by Paul Simpson Simpson on 25 June 2015 at 2:15pm

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Mark Haslett
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Posted: 25 June 2015 at 3:10pm \| IP Logged \| 5

Joseph: So yes, along with the pain, I do feel a touch of practical relief; I have little faith in a voting population so vapid as to allow for the election and reelection of our current president

***
As opposed to the genius tickets of McCain/Palin and Romney/Ryan? The "vapid" voters are hardly the proper target for your ire.

What real options for common sense have any political parties fielded since... Ronald Reagan?

America is fumbling toward solutions as best she can. Partisan hyperbole is one of the sharpest stones in her shoe.

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Jozef Brandt
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Posted: 25 June 2015 at 3:43pm \| IP Logged \| 6

Regardless if you are for Obamacare or not, the problem with this ruling (and the previous one) is that the majorities in the court re-wrote the law to make it legal. A penalty thus becomes a tax. (Even though the government insisted it wasn't a tax at almost every turn) "from state exchanges" becomes "not from state exchanges" (Even though the architect of the bill insisted it was at every turn).

Scalia's dissent was pretty on the point. It might not be a ruling you agree with next time when the justices make stuff up. That's the real dangerous precedent here.

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David Miller
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Posted: 25 June 2015 at 4:42pm \| IP Logged \| 7

Scalia is a proponent of "original intent," but only in cases where he wants to reach a conservative outcome. As Robert noted in the majority, the intent of the ACA was clear.

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Steven Myers
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Posted: 25 June 2015 at 5:02pm \| IP Logged \| 8

The lawsuit was about gutting a program for purely political reasons over not dotting an I. (Or close to that.) Costs od healthcare continue to rise, but now we have more people with coverage, which should help. The problem is there's no way for individuals to afford heath care by buying it themselves. It's too expensive, and the people who need it the most are the sickest and least likely to have a means of making money. That's one reason why we need to do what the rest of the civilized world has done and nationalize the system.

Single payer!

To paraphrase a bit Colbert once did:
Why don't you have a job? I'm too sick.
Why don't you go to the doctor? I don't have the money.
Why don't you get a job? ....

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Jeremy Simington
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Joined: 10 April 2011
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Posted: 25 June 2015 at 8:23pm \| IP Logged \| 9

JOSEPH GAUTHIER: I have little faith in a voting population so vapid as to allow for the election and reelection of our current president..

Jesus H. Christ on a crutch. Forgot about terrible presidential candidates and moronic veep choices for a second and instead recall the "salad days" of George W. Did Obama not start enough wars for you? Not waste enough trillions of dollars? Not tell enough lies to the American people about weapons of mass destruction? Not invade enough countries based on lies? Not cost enough American lives in wars? Not implement polices that create even more wealth disparity? Not put enough idealogues on SCOTUS to result in corporations being declared people? Give me a fucking break.

Edited by Jeremy Simington on 25 June 2015 at 8:24pm

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Matt Reed
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Posted: 25 June 2015 at 9:11pm \| IP Logged \| 10

I wish there was a "like" button right now. Preach it, Brother Simington!

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Joe Welsh
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Joined: 19 April 2004
Posts: 197

Posted: 26 June 2015 at 1:49am \| IP Logged \| 11

Wow, Now we uphold laws because of what we think they meant, not what the actual text says.

Obviously, I am against the ruling as I am against the actual law. I know that I'm in the minority here.

Also to make myself clear, I know we need to have a way to cover people who really cannot afford health insurance or have been turned down because of pre existing conditions.

But....

The Affordable Health Care Act is wrong. It's a tax, SCOTUS ruled it so. Now if you cannot afford to pay the tax, you can get a subsidy. right?

I can't pay my income 2014 taxes this year, can I get I subsidy to pay it?

Not a good example? Ok. How about this example. 5 families in your town cannot afford their home because their credit is bad and cannot get assistance. Your Town government decides that because you have good credit and a good job that you should be taxed an extra $95 a month to help the the 5 families keep their home. The slogan is "Everyone needs a place to live"

Gonna argue that one? Ok, than maybe this one will convince you. There are a lot of illegal drivers driving cars without insurance, shouldn't you be okay with the insurance company charging you, a good driver, who pays his premium, extra to cover those who don't? Do you happily pay the extra charges every month, or do you grouse that it's not right to charge you for people who can't or wont?

Listen, I am a conservative Republican (the devil incarnate :) ) Still, I refer to the president as President Obama, and I refer to the law as the the Affordable Heath Care Act. I respect that is hard to be President, so even though I disgree with him, I still respect the office.

I invite debate. If you can reasonably disagree with me and not call me names or call my ideas idiotic or dismiss me because of my political affiliation than I will engage with you. I have had my mind changed by thoughtful discourse.

As always, all opinions expressed are my own.

Thanks,

Joe Welsh

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Marc M. Woolman
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Joined: 17 April 2008
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Posted: 26 June 2015 at 2:01am \| IP Logged \| 12

Healthcare for all, is the absolute best thing taxes
could ever be used for. Better than raising armies, or
any other major function of government.

Healthcare is a universal human right.

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