For those who like part of the Affordable Health Care Act (Obama Care) but not other parts, and believe it when the republicans say they want to “Repeal and Replace,” wake up please. That is not how the system is designed to work. There is no need to repeal the entire thing. All they have to do is include in the new bill a message saying “This replaces,” or “this supersedes,” or “This nullifies” whatever part of the bill they want to eliminate.
When a politician says “repeal and replace,” they mean “repeal and forget.”
When the republicans talk about “Death Panels,” they are talking about a panel that is geared towards discussing how to save money but is forbidden by law from touching anything that goes on between you and your doctor.
Guess where the Death Panels actually are (notice no quotation marks this time, because they are real)? They are in the offices of the very insurance companies that already run the show. The companies that the republicans want to give more control too (that is what privatization is). Sadly, and this is something that new law is needed to change, “Obama Care” does not completely eliminate their ability to kill you off for profit while it funnels them millions of new customers, but it does restrict them somewhat.
Insurance companies have been making decisions for years about whether or not it is in THEIR (the company’s) best interests to allow a potentially life saving procedure for a patient.
It is the insurance companies that have set lifetime and annual spending caps on medical care. It is the insurance company’s that will convene panels to decide if a particular customer is becoming too expensive to keep alive.
So, with that said… Republicans screaming about death panels is a bunch of rubbish. It is them trying to redirect the conversation.
Is the Affordable Care Act perfect? No? Should it be repealed in mass and forgotten? Hell no. It should be trimmed, shaped, and formed, like an out of control shrubbery. What the republicans want is to toss it on the rubbish heap like a broken bicycle, or burn it off like a broken chair.
And they don’t really care if that means sending you along with it. If they did, they would not be saying “Repeal and Replace! Repeal and Replace!” They would be saying “I think we should do it this way instead,” and be pushing it through the House of Representatives where they have a majority by a landslide, and the senate where they have an opposition that is generally very cooperative when they hold the reigns of power.
Heck, not only is “Obamacare” patterned after “Romneycare,” but it is also basically the same bill that various republicans have tried to push through the house and senate a dozen times over the last decade. Now explain that in light of Republican reaction.