Not only did Obamacare survivie the transparent, radical-right-wing planned attack that was dragged all the way to the Supreme Court, for the second time (I might add), it was smacked down by two of the SCOTUS Judges on the right, John Roberts and Anthony Kennedy, making it a 6-3 decision. Obamacare triumphs, conservatives lose and the American people, especially those who are living on liver dialisis or chemotherapy, which is paid for by Obamacare, also win.
The case was a pretty desperate attack. The right-wing think tank, The Competitive Enterprise Institute, funded the lawsuit, King v. Burwell, looking for people who would fight against universal healthcare with a well-funded campaign, yet could only come up with a Vet already eligible for healthcare under the VA, and 3 people so close to Medicare Eligibility, that 2 were eligble by the time the case was heard. One of the “plantifs” didn’t remember signing up for the case and another has lied about her address. The fouth plantif was not without contraversy of her own, but it was enough to allow the case to reach the Supreme Court.
The entire case hinged on whether or not a poorly written section of the law, which implied that the states would be in charge as opposed to healthcare.gov. The barely lucid “plantifs”, represented by a massive conservative pro-corporate entity, argued that they had the right to not have healthcare because they had read the 1000+ page law and found a loose wording entitled the states that didn’t comply with the federal law to deny them subsidies to pay for the coverage they were arguing was too expensive. In other words: 4 idiots became conservative pawns that would have thrown 6 million people getting federal subsides to help pay for their insurance into the frying pan (and eventually the fire).
Thank the heavans, it lost! It is a massive defeat to the multi-national, often foreign-owned corporations that exploit the hard working people of this country who give a life of service and far too often die broke and in dispair.
Though, this may be of conservative design. They went into this all gung ho. Then the reality that the Republican Party hasn’t presented one comparable alternative, and couldn’t even come up with one fall-back plan for the millions of people on Cancer treatments, dialysis and other life saving methods they could not have afforded before the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). This led the Republicans of late to begin to fret about what would happen if the law was overturned. Millions of people dying isn’t exactly a good campaign bumper-sticker, now is it?
Fow now, the people are safe and Obama gets to see Obamacare, aka the Affordable Care Act, survive his term. Though even better, we get a better healthcare system. I know it sucks to be forced to get health care, but I started getting sick in my 20s and health insurance saved my live at aged 26. Without it, my gallbladder would have ruptured and I would have been dragged to an emergency room, forced to have previously avoidable envasive insurance and saddled with a massive bill that I probably would not be able to pay, meaning YOU would have to pay for it.
Preventative Care is the way to avoid expensive emergency room visists that cost us all a lot of money. So sorry libertarian argument, but when you harm yourself and don’t cover the other end, you ARE harming others, namely, MY wallet. Obamacare has so far been a success, slowing healthcare costs, insuring virtually every American citizen (we’ll get to the immigrant issue another day) and bringing peace of mind to millions of people. I have healthcare through my employer, yet my prescription drug costs wend down from around $20 to 5$, and as I have an HMO, which is way smarter than a PPO if you don’t like deductables or are rich, I have actually seen an improvement in my care! Even though the company was forced to switch plans, I was able to keep my same doctor.
The election coming up will be crucial to the future of this law. Republicans should just “let it go” but they won’t . Today, House “Speaker” John Boehner said: “Republicans will continue to listen to American families and work to protect them from the consequences of Obamacare.” Meaning, they will continue to ignore the American people and fight to protect the corporations that wish to get rich off the profit of their demise.
I prefer Obama’s statement:
“Today, after more than 50 votes in Congress to repeal or weaken this law, after a presidential election based in part on preserving or repealing this law, after multiple challenges to this law in front of the Supreme Court, the Affordable Care Act is here to stay,”
Of if you would prefer, the statement of the Republican appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, John Roberts:
“Congress passed the Affordable Care Act to improve health insurance markets, not destroy them,”
I will always contend that a Single-Payer system is better, as it works in every other industrialized nation, costs less and is loved far more by it’s citizens. I will also continue to fight for at least a “Public Option” which would create a government plan like the ones the same tea-bagger Congressfolk recieve and than hypocritically fight against.
They claim socialism is bad because it subsidises laziness, yet the previous medical system has worked like a giant Research and Development system for the entire world, subsidsed by the American people, who also subsideized emergency room visists by people, both legal and illegal, who could not pay their bill. The system was broken and Obamacare is all that could be achieved in a Congress owned by a corrupt corporatocracy.
Even that was too much of a service to the hard-working people of this great nation. That is why, today is a great day for the people of America!
It’s time to start working the system and bringing the fight!