If reconciliation will be so bad for the Dems, why is the GOP against it?

[gulliver]

I guess I don't get it. The GOP's Lamar Alexander says that if the Dems use reconciliation, it will be political suicide. And he says the GOP would campaign on repealing the bill.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/2010/02/alexander-health-care-reform-a-political-kamikaze-mission-for-democrats-.html

Is he trying to save us Dems from making a big mistake? I always thought that the Republicans wanted the Dems to commit political suicide. I thought they wanted us to be kamikaze's. But now there is this mystery, because the thoughtful Senator is helping us avoid making this big "suicidal" mistake.

I guess we should thank him?

Probably, but we should still push health care through anyway. It's nice that he is trying to save us from ourselves and all, though.

Now after we pass health care, I guess the GOP will really have us where they want us. Republicans will campaign to open up the health care fight again and add the donut hole back for seniors. The Dems will just be devastated by that tactic I am sure.

Really, the GOP should try it. That can be our helpful advice to them.

[Cirque du So-What]

1. They're so compassionate, so altruistic, always looking out for our best interests

Actually, they're so transparent I can read the New York fucking Times right through their skeevy hides.

[MindandSoul]

2. Excellent question!

[TeaBagsAreForCups]

3. Touche' ....

:toast:

[Greyhound]

4. Indeed. K&R

[upi402]

5. GOP lies spread by the media = truth for sheeple n/t

[Bitwit1234]

6. Well, tell me, if reconciliation is so darn bad

why did the republicans use it so much during bush's reign.

[Mike 03]

7. Apparently, it is just a "talking point." I fell for it, until someone here posted a

good explanation of what is really going on.

The House and Senate PASSED HCR.

[applegrove]

8. They got maverick McCain to speak upon the topic of how 'scary' reconcilliation

would be if it was used. I guess independants wouldn't believe it if Palin was used again as the mouthpiece to scare independants.

[eridani]

9. Whatever you do, just don't throw me into that briar patch!

1. The large majority of people, who receive their insurance from their employer, will see no benefit whatsoever from the Plan. Most will, in fact, find their premiums rising as new requirements imposed by the Plan (e.g., the elimination of lifetime limits) raise the cost of insurance. And, of course, to their undoubted surprise, most of them will not have access to the public option, even if there is one.

2. Most provisions of the Plan will not become effective until 2013. This gives four years for Republicans to criticize the Plan, including (1) its use of cuts in Medicare reimbursements and Medicare Advantage premiums as principal sources of funding, (2) its lack of any real or believable mechanism for containing costs, and (3) its bureaucratic complexity.

3. The taxes on high-cost insurance plans, the other principal source of funding, will cause those who now have good insurance (called, pejoratively, “Cadillac” plans) to find these plans heavily taxed and their employers given a strong incentive to cut back on their benefits. Instead of reducing underinsurance, this part of the Plan will increase it! (And the rest of the plan does little about underinsurance at all.)

4. During the four years of waiting for the Plan to take effect, costs will continue to rise. By the time the Plan takes effect, costs are likely to be at least 25% greater than now. Even more people will find insurance and health care unaffordable. People will ask “What was health reform about?” The disillusionment will be great.

5. The complexity of the plan, including (1) federal rules regarding what kinds of employer-based insurance plans are “qualified,” (2) new income tax forms that will be needed to implement the individual mandate, and (3) the process of determining income eligibility for everyone, will all lend themselves to criticism and even ridicule.

Is there a way out? Not, in my view, as long as Obama sticks with this worthless and unworkable Plan. Only if we were to adopt a much simpler plan that would benefit everyone — a Medicare for All plan — would he be seen as actually addressing the problem and really offering a workable solution. Short of that, he, and all of us, are in real trouble.