South Dakota's implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act proceeds apace. Rep. Kathy Tyler (D-4/Big Stone City) notes one more way that President Obama's health care reform act is helping South Dakotans:
A few weeks ago, a desperate lady called me about her insurance issues. Her husband is retired and had spent his savings on insurance for her since she lost her job during the recession. He is eligible for Medicare. She now has a part time job, but there’s no money for insurance for her. She is not currently eligible for Medicaid: they are not parents and own a small home. There might be an answer for her on the horizon.
The state recently announced that about $554,000 in federal funding is being made available to six South Dakota health centers so they can help uninsured people find health insurance coverage under the federal health overhaul law. The City of Sioux Falls Health Department, 605-367-8760, is one of the centers eligible for the grant money along with the Community Health Center of the Black Hills in Rapid City, Horizon Health Care of Howard, Prairie Community Health of Isabel, Rural Health Care of Fort Pierre and the Union County Health Foundation of Elk Point [Rep. Kathy Tyler, "A Quiet Week," Kathy's Corner, 2013.05.13].
Hey, arch-conservatives! Protesting at abortion clinics isn't much fun in South Dakota, since there's only one place to do it and our extremely low official abortion rate suggests most South Dakota women seek their abortions elsewhere. If you're a conservative looking for someplace to shout, you should pick up your ObamaCare signs and picket the six health centers listed above that are promoting the Daugaard-Rounds agenda of implementing the PPACA... because you know darn well that Governor Daugaard and candidate Rounds and President Obama aren't just trying to help people being squeezed by the economy and the absurd costs of health care. They're trying... well, why should I write your copy for you? Get on it, conservatives!
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/05/13/irs-scrutiny-went-beyond-tea-party-criteria-broader-than-thought/
Just remember, the IRS will be the enforcer of ObamaCare!
Well, Michael, Cory and et all: we will have to wait and see if anyone can "afford" the "Affordable???" Care Act. I seriously doubt many in my wage class can and that will be where the law's fate will rest. It's impossible to drain blood from a turnip.
I can actually see Congress repealing this after a year or two of it not working out.
then what's the solution G-Man and Mike-Fox News? Really?
Owen, it's about whether this law will really work. If people can't afford it, then, I fail to see how it can last. I can now see, however, it being repealed after it fails to work.
If they are wise, the Republicans could use this very issue for a comeback (if the ACA turns out to be a huge flop after enacted in 2014). If I were the Democrats, I wouldn't be so eager to embrace the ACA. I would wait and see if it really is going to work. If Democrats embrace this plan and it flops bigtime since our economy is already on shaky ground, then, the party of the Donkeys is putting its entire credibility on the line. Of course, we will have to wait and see until the law is actually in place by 2014 and...then...we will have to wait until 2016 to see how much damage has been done.
"If people can't afford it, then, I fail to see how [Obamacare]
can last." and "
Progressives have a lot of ideas for how to improve Obama Care, including how to fix any effort by the health insurance industry to make it unaffordable. One of the fixes to the unaffordability problem is to enact a public option. As soon as the health insurers have to compete rather than collude, they will have to get efficient, stop giving themselves seven figure salaries and six figure bonuses, and lower premiums. The idea that Obama Care is going to be repealed ain't gonna happen when everyone can see how these health insurance executives are stealing all the premium money and not
Actually G-Man I think this will work and again if you don't think it will what do you want to replace it with? I think it's a fair question.
Donald, the President wanted the public option, remember? But, the powerful insurance lobby ensured the public option would not be in the law and the President dropped the idea under pressure from those bought and paid for by the lobby. If the public option did not pass then, how is the public option going to pass anytime in the future?
No public option & no one can afford this. It fails...
Ron Wyden will be replacing Max Baucus as chair of Finance.
That's correct Larry. It's Oregon's turn at bat.
By the way: it's Ory-GUN. LOL Before I left South Dakota last Spring, everyone wished me well in: Ore-GONE.
G-Man, by no means will I remain wedded to a failing policy just because Barack Obama signed it. You're right, if it doesn't work, we will need to change it. If it flops miserably, Dems will be in a tight spot.
But instead of focusing on politically-motivated repeal, we should get together and say, o.k., it's a step in the right direction; now what other things do we need to do to level the playing field, reduce the power that hospitals and insurers have to take advantage of citizens, and create a fairer system within the reform framework we're building? But the GOP won't do that. They will remain wedded blindly to a failing status quo (which results in the highest first-day infant death rate in the industrialized world) rather than admit the free market doesn't work in health care and help us create a more just, sustainable system of paying for health care.
Cory, if your Party does what you will wisely do and becareful on this, then, they will keep their credibility. As you have already explained very well, the Republican Leadership and many members seem to stay beholden to the huge corporate and financial interests. That is why your party's credibility is so, so, so important to maintain because we will need a huge counter balance to the K Street crowd for the forseeable future.