Health Care Reform Gearing Up - Page 40

Sorry if I misread you then.

David Frum and I agree on at least one thing: Rush Limbaugh, Fox News and Sarah Palin control the Republican party.

So we're finally voting on HCR (for the umpteenth time) Uhhhh.... GO AYES!?

come the fuck oooooooooooooooooooooon

Of course you do, because, if you can’t afford healthcare, the government will be providing subsidies for you.

While this bill may not significantly impact healthcare costs, it’ll definitely make health insurance far more affordable to those who either had no access to, or could not afford, the insurance that was available to them prior.

Who didn't vote? Poonbags.

I'm calling it right now -- we'll see some Tea Party fringe calling themselves Seven Votes.

So it's done?
Finally

are the Chinese here yet guys I can't tell

Hey, this illegal Mexican immigrant just knocked on my door saying I have to take him to the emergency room.

And every single one of these yahoos clapping about "protecting life" better be against the death penalty.

I guarantee you they aren't.

I have to admit, I didn't think this would happen. More than a handful of congressmen just did what they believed was the "right" thing to do, even though it will almost certainly end their political careers ... at least for the short term.

Which kind of makes me wonder how bad things are, cause we must be near the end of days for legislators to act so determinedly against their self-interest.

I didn't know you spoke Mexican, Richard....

But hey, turn him in. At the very least we can harvest his organs. That can offset the cost of his treatment.

As with everything, this will neither be the worst or best possible outcome. It won't destroy our health care system, but it will certainly have a negative impact upon it. Was it necessary to try to do some kind of reform? Without question, yes.

Someone above said this was a baby step. A baby step that the CBO says will cost a trillion bucks over ten years, and no goverment entitlement program has ever come in at budget estimates.

I do wonder if the people saying the government stipend money coming to help pay their insurance thinks that money is coming from leprecauns. That money comes out of the economy somehow, and that will mean we'll all be paying more for less.

But hey, there ain't no party like a Democratic party. They'll feel the negative impact of this horribly run voting process as long as they felt the aftermath of the Civil Rights votes of the Sixties.

Someone on the Republican side of the House yelled "Baby killer!" at Stupak while he was speaking.

Seriously? That is hilarious.

It's pretty hilarious that you think you know exactly how things are going down in November. You may not want to jump to conclusions here...

I don't know how to feel about -- health care reform's fruition is a long time coming, but I just think it's a bad bill.

I don't think it's so much about health care as how Obama wants to be remembered. And I voted for him.

At worst it'll end up being a massive waste of spending, a.k.a. Medicare.

no wait there's a Chinaperson right now


no wait she's Korean nevermind

Well, it's done.

+ 1

Yeah? Citations?

Huh? A program that people love and basically works is a massive waste of spending? You sure you voted for Obama?

So, when America survives this horrible socialist utopia, what's gonna be the next idiotic conservative meme?

HEY! CONSERVATIVES! Your weaknesses are showing.

What was it that we passed again, guys?

Free federal abortions for single-mother Eskimoes, I think.

oh cool Jewel will be elated

Yes, it works and people can get their free diabetes shoes, but there's a MASSIVE amount of useless spending involved with the program. Medicare spending is projected to cost over $1,000 billion by 2020, and it's going to continue to receive massive inflation due to the unemployment number. Medicaid, itslef, is going to have a $500 billion tag.

and we've just passed a bill that's going to add close to a trillion on to those numbers.

Fox News will be ablaze.

The Democrats handed the GOP the thing they'll run against in 2010. On the other hand, John Boehner handed his future campaign opponent several minutes of footage of Boehner looking angry, throwing papers around, and screaming "NO WE CAN'T!" So it's hard to say who won the horse race tonight.

Yeah, 'cause they've been all about fiscal conservancy lo these many years now.

Pretty much every conservative headline Monday morning:

PASSAGE OF THE HEALTH BILL SPELLS DOOM FOR OBAMA

Had the bill failed:

FAILURE TO PASS THE HEALTH BILL SPELLS DOOM FOR OBAMA

Beck will be telling people to build bunkers and load up on soup. "Set your DVRs!" Most Fox talking heads will have books out by the end of the week.

Money's no object when it's used to kill brown people.

Amazing to be living through this momentous moment in U.S. history.

BTW, wonder if anyone is helping Rush Limbaugh pack his bags?

The Daily Show is going to be hysterical this week.

Costa Rica, right? Did he ever find out that they have universal health coverage there?

I'm fairly certain Costa Rica has universal health care. Afterall, they're known as the "Switzerland of Central America."

It's pretty hilarious that you don't realize that voting for, or against, an incredibly polarizing piece of landmark legislation isn't going to cost a few folks their jobs.

Nah, he covered his fat ass by saying that if this bill led to the eventual socialist empire that he assumed it would, then he would move to that all-American conservative island country that has no standing military and also has universal health care.

How does the child sex tourism in Costa Rica stand up against the high standard set by Thailand? Rush has standards, you know.

Good point, but I think the female-centric Thai child sex trade throws Limbaugh off his mark.

For all the flack Rush gives Obama, I'm surprised he wants to move to a country led by a minority.

Hopefully this socialized/communist utopia can grant Limbaugh all the Oxycontin he wants.

Team America Fuck Yeah! So happy right now.

Everyone's got numbers, man. Unless they're the CBO's then I wouldn't put too much faith in them. That said, I'm not familiar with the bill so I won't presume to know too much.

FireDogLake took the CBO numbers and made this handy chart.

I wouldn't be surprised if this bill winds up being challenged in front of the Supreme Court. What if they render it unconstitutional? Conservative judges have never liked the Commerce Clause.

Conservative judges have always sided against too much Congressional power when it comes to the Commerce Clause. They've been against rational basis review from the get out and they'll continue to rail against it with this court. That being said, there's no way this does not not hold up. The sheer fact that health care is 1/6 of the economy forces the judges' hands that its a "commercial" bill.

In United States v. Lopez, Chief Justice Rehnquist himself admitted that Congress can regulate commerce. The only problem with the law in question in Lopez was that it did not regulate commerce directly. Same goes for the Court's majority opinion in United States v. Morrison. There was too much distance between the argument the government made and the impact of the bill itself, which did not directly impact commercial activity.

I cannot see how a similar case could be made with this bill. This health care reform bill is by definition a commercial bill. It deals with the elimination of commercial provisions (pre-existing conditions) placed by commercial entities (health insurance companies).

I could see an argument claiming that this kind of legislation violates the police powers of the states, which would be a violation of the 10th Amendment, but the Commerce Clause argument almost always trumps that one.

Congrats America! At least this is a beginning!

Oh, there's no doubt the Commerce Clause allows Congress to pass health care legislation. I can see how an individual mandate as a part of that legislation may prove problematic, however. With this bill it is not just economic activity that is being regulated, but inactivity. Does the Commerce Clause allow the federal government to regulate such inactivity? I think it's a pretty fair question, and I don't have the case law to say one way or another.