This is the thing that gets me

[thewayne]

"It's not working...If you want people to get health insurance, the best way for them to get health insurance is to get a job."
—Sen. Ted Cruz, two days before the exchanges open

The law was passed, regardless of whether the RNC tried to participate. It was challenged at the Supreme Court level and survived. President Obama was reelected with the Affordable Care Act being a centerpiece of the campaign, meaning it passed a nationwide referendum. Portions of it are already in effect and have lowered health insurance costs, getting some people rebates from their insurers.

And this one part, the exchanges, don't open until tomorrow. And they exist solely for people who do not have health insurance. People who have insurance don't have to mess with them unless they want to.

Meanwhile, the mantra is that we MUST repeal the ACA. But they're doing the same thing that Mitt Romney did during the Presidential campaign last year: we have to eliminate all of these tax loopholes, but I'm not going to tell you which ones. The ACA is terrible legislation and we've got to repeal it and pass something better, but we're not going to tell you what we're going to replace it with.

I think the Republican's biggest complaint is that one part of the ACA that is in force right now is the part that limits profits to health insurers. Now insurers must spend 80% of money coming in on providing service, this is what has generated refunds because the companies have been paying their executives too much.

I'm not against capitalism, but when it becomes pure greed without concern for the rest of the community, that's too much. I remember Elizabeth Edwards on The Daily Show not long before she died talking about her problems getting treatment for her cancer, and she was the wife of a U.S. Senator. She became a healthcare activist after digging and finding out that 2/3rds of her premiums were going to executive compensation.

Ben & Jerry's ice cream used to have a policy that the CEO was limited to seven times the salary of the lowest paid employee. Once the two of them sold the company and eventually left, that rule went away. I understand some Japanese car companies had a similar rule. Can you imagine the CEO of General Electric having such a limitation?

Comments

[silveradept]

Things would be so much better if we could enforce limits on executive pay as a factor of the lowest-paid employee. Might mean salaries went up as a consequence.

But, Senator Cruz, it is working. The people notice that it's working. If that galls you, perhaps you should pay attention to different people.

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

Bill Maher ran a segment during the last election cycle called Messages From The Bubble, and that's part of the problem. The RNC is in a sort of echo chamber: they hear themselves, they hear the pundits, and they hear voters who only listen to the pundits. It's self-amplifying, and since it's aligned with what they think and feel, they don't listen to anything outside of that circle.

And along those lines, the budget deficit has been steadily declining for the last few years, but all you hear about is 'gotta reduce the debt!' and 'out of control spending!' even though most of that debt was piled on by the prev Prez who started two wars without setting up how to pay for them.

[silveradept]

Yep. A self-reinforcing feedback loop. One that even can ignore reality and fact in its quest for an ideal.