I almost started putting up Christmas decorations yesterday. I thought that I had been transported back in time to December 24th of 2009 based on what I was seeing and hearing in news reports. You may recall that was the day that Congress took an early morning vote to approve the Affordable Care Act. As House Speaker Nancy Pelosi so perfectly summed up back then, they “had to pass the bill to find out what’s in the bill”.
That was pretty much the same message we are getting this week from Republicans in Congress as they get ready to vote on a bill that would repeal the ACA. Nobody has any idea how much the measure is going to cost–or even save–taxpayers. There are no numbers on how many high-risk insurees will have to switch to state insurance pools in order to lower rates for those without pre-existing conditions. And no one has figured out yet how much premiums on older folks that require more medical care will go up once restrictions on their rates are lifted.
The very same GOP Congressmen that mocked Pelosi for her stupid comments are making almost the same ones now. And all that does is make the ACA repeal look as rushed, misinformed and short-sighted as the original vote putting it into place. We don’t even know if all of the financial and economic time bombs hidden within the bill have been pushed back to affect the markets after President Trump completes his potential 8-years in office so he can just walk away like President Obama did with his law’s hidden disasters.
You should remember that the December 24, 2009 Congressional vote was followed by the November 2nd, 2010 popular election that saw many of the Democrats who had no idea what they were voting for swept out of office in a landslide that eventually led to the election of a reality show host as President six years later. Could the GOP be sowing the seeds for a very short-term win today–that will lead to similar disastrous results on November 6th, 2018?
I guess they have to pass the bill to find out.
