What “both sides”?

Sorry, Trump’s immediate backing of Rinocare and his take it or leave it attitude makes him just as responsible.

Who are the big money donors who are pressuring the pubbies to retain ObamaCare?

Walk away , let ACA fester and become even more putrid and then come back with a stronger bill. In the meantime enact a blanket amnesty/waiver from the ACA to ensure it crashes and burns that much quicker.

I don’t care what happens as long as the ACA crashes... then we enact reforms one at a time and let the free market return.

This episode demonstrated that the pain of Obamacare has not yet surpassed the pain of doing a deal. For the Democrats, that means agreeing to sit down and work with Republicans for the good of the country. For Republicans, it means setting aside their ideology and nevertrumpish notions and buying into the 3-step process for repealing and replacing, which is what Trump ran and won on. Not “just repeal”.

Trump believes that Obamacare will collapse, which I interpret to mean that it will continue to inflict more pain. When that pain reaches the hallowed halls of Congress, there will be a deal. Or there will be new Congressmen, and depending upon their party affiliation, the deal that follows may be good or bad.

President Trump has chosen to attempt to rescue a democracy doomed by a majority population of fools. Obamacare is a time bomb, it is exploding. DJT has done his best. Maybe the only real takeaway from this is to understand that the ‘progressives’ have so screwed up the country, and everything they’ve touched, that THERE IS NO EASY FIX.....?

The problem with being a fool is that you’ll never know it......And sadly, a nation of fools is doomed to self-implode.

Disagree.

The man has no choice but to try and work with the endless douchebaggery we have populated the congress with.

He’s got a real hard task ahead of him.

People are purchasing unqualified Plans directly from the insurance carriers at considerable savings compared to the Obamacare qualified plans.

One must ask oneself why the democrats allowed the carriers to offer these unqualified Plans under O-care? Then people are taxed the penalty at tax time for NOT being covered under a qualified plan.

This causes adverse selection - which drives O-care premiums up. So the carriers make money on the “underground” markets, and dump O-care. If O-care was to truly work, democrats should have legislated that carriers to only sell the O-plans. Creating a healthier insurance pool. Carriers either played in the O-care market or get completely out and go sell property & casualty insurance. If democrats wanted O-care to truly work they would have mandated that everyone had to purchase in the O-care market. No waivers for government, union or employer plans.

But oh no, democrat/communists put the burden on the back of the middle class.

Repeal O-care, destroy the monopolies with insurance carriers and healthcare providers and set the market truly free.

It was a lose-lose when they set a deadline.

Do the majority need anything more than a catastrophic plan given the ridiculous deductibles? Paying $200 for a doctor's visit wouldn't bother most rather than pay a fine or ridiculously priced insurance.

Let's face it....Obamacare is really about getting EXISTING Medicaid patients (and everyone else) on a list....a list that tells me about their income, bank accounts, assets..and will seize assets as needed to fulfill payments.

The man has no choice but to try and work with the endless douchebaggery we have populated the congress with.

He’s got a real hard task ahead of him.

*************************

Agreed. God bless him.

One of the few CFP articles I have absolutely disagreed with.

Trump bet on the wrong horse.
Ryan stiff armed him.
Ryan is bought an paid for.
We pay the price.

Trump is looking like a bumbling amateur or he duped us into backing him.

Are you self-insured? Are you paying premiums? Do you need health care?

I can answer yes to all three and I can’t afford to pay any more for any less. Letting it crash and burn on the backs of people like me is not right.

One of the main reasons I supported the Republican party this last election was healthcare.

Obamacare was between $550 and $650 per month depending on deductable. I thought Trump, who I thought was a bit off the wall, was still going to do something about the healthcare bill because $10,000 - $11,000 per year if I got sick was outrageous. ($6,600 to $7,800 to stay healthy is also outrageous.)

The Republican health care bill as it stood was garbage. It wouldn’t reduce the cost of Obamacare at all but just allow Obamacare to last longer with respect to the budget.

Unless the Republicans mandate cross state line health insurance, the price will never come down. The politicians in each state make too much in donations to care about people in their state.

Unless the Republicans mandate pharmaceutical companies to slash their prices, the healthcare price will never come down. The politicians in each state and at the federal level make too much in donations to care about people in their state.

Unless the Republicans mandate to stop outrageous attorney lawsuits just to settle out of court because it is cheaper, the cost of healthcare will never come down. The politicians in each state and at the federal level make too much in donations to care about people in their state.

I do not blame Trump but I blame the swamp in Congress. They did nothing to help me and although I never heard of the Freedom Caucus but I think they did the right thing to say the healthcare bill was junk.

Republicans in Congress showed that there is no difference between them and Democrats. My votes for the next election will change unless I can afford healthcare by that time.

I don’t care what happens as long as the ACA crashes... then we enact reforms one at a time and let the free market return.

Just curious does that include ending Medicare, Medicaid and all the other FedGov run healthcare programs? VA hospitals, WIC, TriCare?

I saw this thing on Drudge (think it's still up there) that 74% of babies born in New Mexico make use of Medicaid to do so. (No wonder it's a blue state.)

It's not all that unique though. In 24 States, 50% or More of Babies Born on Medicaid; New Mexico Leads Nation With 72%

My gut feel is that VERY VERY few people share your enthusiasm for a true Free Market in health care. If not an outright majority, a huge minority of citizens (and all illegals, I suppose) have come to rely on Government Health Care. Included in this are all the retired people, as well as people planning to retire and counting on Medicare paying for their healthcare.

The system we had prior to the creation of Obamacare, while perhaps less odious than the current one, was certainly no where near being a free market.

For instance, Neidermeyer, the good Freeper JenniferAmI is looking for continuing government intervention in Health Care Market, not a pure free market system:

Unless the Republicans mandate pharmaceutical companies to slash their prices, the healthcare price will never come down. The politicians in each state and at the federal level make too much in donations to care about people in their state.

I think the days of arguing Randian principles against the factualy existence of a highly government controlled market place just make Conservatives look out of touch.

One reason Trump won was that he didn't run on the Paul Ryan channeling "Club for Growth" platform, unlike both McCain and Romney, who did.

I don't have the answer, but I'm pretty sure it's not "going back to the Free Market" which hasn't existed since 1965. The truth is we have *no freaking idea* how to get there at this point, nor what the results would be. It would be a complete *leap of faith*, and we would be gambling with people's lives.

The man has no choice but to try and work with the endless douchebaggery we have populated the congress with.

Well put. I completely agree.

I am not impressed with Ezekiel Emanuel being in the room with Paul Ryan and the POTUS to discuss this matter as occurred last Monday.

Emanuel met with Donald Trump before that on two other occasions.

Its not good to have “Mr. Death Panels” in the room.

Sarah Palin was opposed to this fiasco from the start.
I notice she doesn’t have a job in the government now.

Repeal O-care, destroy the monopolies with insurance carriers and healthcare providers and set the market truly free.

And what of Medicaid? Most of the additional people covered under O-care got that way by getting access to Medicaid? You gonna dump them out of the program and not replace it?

Can we really have a"Truly Free Market" as you call it, when the government is the biggest provider of health care?