Let's not forget who helped write the Affordable Care Act.
Last edited Mon Sep 30, 2013, 09:14 PM - Edit history (1)
Long before they hung the name "Obamacare" on the bill, House Republicans insisted on a seat at the table for laying the foundation of the Affordable Care Act. It's odd that we don't hear about that anymore.
What began as a single payer system akin to Medicare soon became a watered down parody of itself as Republicans (and more than a few Democrats) bowed to their campaign funders, the insurance companies. Republicans insisted that instead of Hillarycare, the new reform be modeled after Romneycare with a mandatory participation clause. That made insurance companies very happy to hear they would enjoy an increased customer base in the near future.
I still remember the shock when every single one of the House Republicans voted no on the bill. I was in disbelief, as were so many here, that Republicans would shun a bill they worked so hard to craft in their own image. By the time it was delivered, it featured every wet dream a Republican could hope for except maybe tax cuts for Exxon.
To hear the GOP now, you'd think this Obamacare was shoved down their throats by a cruel dictator intent on supreme power. It's like it fell from the sky in the dust of a visiting comet as Republicans suddenly woke up one morning and discovered a health care law still smoking in a crater in their back yards.
Unlike the Tea Party, I wasn't born in 2009, and I still remember how Obamacare came to be, and someone should remind them.
On edit: This was the first of what would become a five year pattern of betrayal when Obama reached across the aisle to get legislature passed.
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I tend to upset a fair number of people here, so I appreciate that.
