Awww...Paul Ryan Can't Haz Cheeseburger? "That brings the total to nine..."

[Miles Archer]

Anxiety about repealing Obamacare without a replacement got a lot more visible in the U.S. Senate on Monday evening, as a half-dozen Republican senators called publicly for slowing down the process.

It’s not clear how strongly these senators feel about it, or whether they are willing to defy party leadership over how and when efforts to repeal Obamacare proceed.

But at least three other GOP senators have now expressed reservations about eliminating the Affordable Care Act without first settling on an alternative. That brings the total to nine ― well more than the three defections it would take to deprive Republicans of the majority they would likely need to get repeal through Congress. And the restlessness isn’t confined to the Senate. Members of the House Freedom Caucus on Monday evening issued their own call for slowing down the repeal process.

At the very least, these developments suggest that taking President Barack Obama’s signature domestic policy off the books is unlikely to go as smoothly or as quickly as GOP leaders once hoped.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/gop-senators-obamacare-repeal_us_587445d4e4b02b5f858acad3?tlxcq6djbmc0afw29

[Guilded Lilly]

1. RESIST!!!RESIST!!!RESIST!!!! n/t

[DetlefK]

2. Can the Republicans somehow back out of their promise to repeal the ACA?

[11 Bravo]

3. You just asked if Republicans could lie to the American people and ...

in the process break a campaign promise. Rhetorical question?

[monmouth4]

5. Bwahahahaha, I can hear you saying this...LOL..

[Sherman A1]

4. Just emailed both my Senators

about the ACA and the need to take time to make revisions that make sense and do not bankrupt the public or the Treasury.

[Dustlawyer]

6. Glad to see pressure is working, keep it up!

If they somehow still repeal without replacing we need to collect stories of people kicked off their healthcare. Each and every death in a Republican District should then be publicized as that Representative's. They should be made to own each and every one!!! Tell the people that the Republican Congress turned out to be the Death Panels they accused the ACA of being!

[watoos]

7. Repealing Obamacare will kill jobs

My daughter works for a medical device corporation out of Pittsburgh and she tells me that hospitals aren't spending any money because of the fear of Obamacare being repealed.
I live in Alabama, halfway between Philly and Pittsburgh, and I blog on a local red wing web site. The locals are so gleeful that Obamacare is going to be repealed. When I tell them that if Obamacare is repealed we will go back to uninsured people showing up at the emergency room with our local rural hospitals having to eat the costs. When I tell them that repealing Obamacare may very well cause the loss of some of our largest employers, our hospitals, I don't get a reply.

[hatrack]

8. Doesn't Matter: All Trump Has To Do Is Order Treasury Not To Pay & Whole System Falls Apart

Cross-Posted from Daily Kos:

CSR = Cost Sharing Reductions
APTC - Advance Premium Tax Credit

EDIT

In other words, a Trump administration could come in the office on January 20 immediately directing the treasury secretary to not make the February 1 payment for CSR (and only pay the APTC) that month.

This would be devastating in two different ways.

First, it would immediately cut off Cost Sharing Reduction payments for perhaps 6-7 million people starting in February. This is the financial assistance to people below the 250% Federal Poverty Level who are enrolled in Silver exchange policies which covers a large portion of their deductibles and co-pays.

Even more nightmarish, however, is that under this scenario, the "exit clause" appears to give the carriers the contractual right to terminate existing policies immediately. As in, not 12/31/17, but January 31st, 2017...just 11 days after Trump is inaugurated (and, as it happens, the last day of the 2017 open enrollment period).

As noted, this could be Trumped (hah!) by state laws disallowing such terminations, and depending on the wording of the contracts, they might only be allowed to kill off Silver plans; I'm not sure how that works. But either way, this would make a situation which is already a disaster into a true catastrophe for millions of people.

EDIT

Please link and read the Twitter dialogue following this section, from people in the insurance industry. It provides additional details on just how quickly things would disintegrate, with insurers abandoning whole states and regions as fast as possible.

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/1/9/1618530/-WARNING-Trump-could-potentially-destroy-the-ACA-on-1-20-without-Congress-having-to-lift-a-finger

[Orangepeel]

12. All Trump cares about is making himself look good

There are likely ideologues around him that really want to destroy this system, and he might listen to them. But if he can leave things alone and blame Congress, why wouldn't he?

My bet (hope) is that he'll do some minor tweak and then claim credit for saving the whole system.

[mtngirl47]

9. Take action!

Find a Rally to save Healthcare in or near your home town this Sunday, 1/15/17

Call both of your Senators and express your opinion about repealing Obamacare without a replacement.

[bdamomma]

10. K&R

[Skittles]

11. translation

these goose-stepping cowards are having second thoughts now that they are hearing from rabidly angry constituents, including stupid assholes who voted for Trump

[grantcart]

13. The American people are being fooled again.

There is not going to be a repeal of the ACA. They will make a big show for the nuttery crowd but in the end they will show that they tried and tried and tried but could not get it done.

In 6 months they will come up with some cosmetic changes and some important fine tuning changes that both Democrats and Republicans (and doctors and hospitals) think is useful and then they will take credit for "saving the ACA". Having spent so much effort resisting the insane part of the GOP the country will be relieved that a more "moderate" and "rational" GOP actually is in control.

Of course the changes that are going to be made are ones that could have been done years ago with a simple voice vote, but it would have deprived the GOP of a rallying cry. In the meantime they will find some other petard to raise to incite their masses and create fear.

It is getting rather tedious.