GOP Is Not Working on Obamacare Replacement Says Senator

Republicans have not settled on a replacement plan for Obamacare and have yet to start seriously working on one according to a GOP senator. The promise to repeal and replace the unpopular health law was a major cornerstone of the Republican platform in last year’s election.

“To be honest, there’s not any real discussion taking place right now,” Senator Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) told the Huffington Post on Tuesday.

When asked when he thought Republicans would start seriously working on an alternative to Obamacare, Corker said, “I have no idea. I’m not on a committee that deals with this ... but I don’t see any congealing around ideas yet. And I think it’s fine that we take our time. I thought the The Wall Street Journal editorial today was dead on. I mean, we’re dealing with something that is very important, very complicated. It’s explosive if not handled properly, and we should take our time and do it right.”

Coming three months after the election, it is a bit disconcerting to hear that Republicans in Congress have not even started working on a replacement bill. After years of Obamacare’s skyrocketing premiums, rising deductibles and shrinking networks, Americans are impatient to fix the health insurance problem. While it’s understandable that there was no plan in November because no one thought the Republicans would take control of the federal government, it is not unreasonable to expect that a plan should be coming together after a quarter of a year has passed.

The lack of a plan seems to be more a result of Republican disorganization than a lack of commitment to repeal. Republicans disagree over whether a replacement plan is even necessary as soon as Obamacare is repealed. Some, such as Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), feel that a replacement could come after the repeal has passed. Others, such as President Trump, argue that repeal and replacement should occur simultaneously.

In fact, some Republicans have presented replacement plans already, but the plans differ in details and none has the full support of the party. The author of one such plan was Rep. Tom Price (D-Ga.), who has been nominated by President Trump as the new Secretary of Health and Human Services. The process of crafting a replacement bill may speed up after Price’s confirmation.

President Trump campaigned on an immediate repeal of Obamacare, but recently downplayed expectations of swift movement on the health care law. “Obamacare doesn’t work. So we are putting in a wonderful plan. It’s statutorily … takes a while to get. We’re going to be putting it in fairly soon,” Trump told Bill O’Reilly in an interview last weekend. “I think that yes, I would like to say by the end of the year, at least the rudiments, but we should have something within the year and the following year.”

The president’s comment that the Obamacare repeal process might extend into 2018 were overshadowed by his defense of Vladimir Putin in the same interview.

Although Republicans appear to remain committed to repeal of Obamacare, but they are no longer committed to doing it quickly. That may come as a shock to Republican voters who voted for a fast change.

Originally published on The Resurgent

Two prominent Democrats contract foot-in-mouth disease

Yesterday was a bad day for Democrat oratory. Perhaps driven to mushmouthedness by the recent 24-hour talkathon in advance of yesterday’s confirmation vote on Betsy DeVos, two prominent Democratic congresswomen put their feet in their respective mouths on different subjects.

First, Nancy Pelosi apparently flashed back almost two decades to the year 2001. Rep. Pelosi (D-Cal.), speaking in a press conference covered by Fox News, said, “While it's only been a couple of weeks since the inauguration, we've seen nothing that I can work with President Bush on.”

While Ms. Pelosi may be confused about who the president is, she isn’t confused about her opposition to all things Republican. While some Democrats have hinted that they might be open to deals with Mr. Trump on infrastructure spending programs, for Ms. Pelosi, apparently the fact that President Trump has an (R) after his name is sufficient to merit total opposition, just as it was for President Bush.

In yesterday’s second example of a Democratic gaffe, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Cal.) erroneously accused Vladimir Putin of making moves in Korea. “The fact that he [Trump] is wrapping his arms around Putin, while Putin is continuing to advance into [pause] Korea,” Waters said on CSPAN, “I think that he is leading himself into that kind of position where folks will begin to ask: 'What are we going to do?' and the answer is going to be, eventually, we've got to do something about him.”

Waters may have been thinking about Crimea or Ukraine, which are half a world away from Korea, but phonetically similar. Putin’s Russia has annexed Crimea and is sponsoring an insurgency in Ukraine. Of course, given Mr. Putin’s penchant for expansionism and the fact that North Korea considers Russia one of its best friends, maybe Waters knows something we don’t.

Pelosi and Waters continue in the grand tradition of congressional Democratic oratory that includes Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) who once expressed concern in a committee hearing that the large number of military personnel on Guam might cause the island to “tip over and capsize.” Johnson’s statement stands as the most amusing clips of a congressional hearing that I have ever seen.

Even with their misstatements, in deep blue California Pelosi and Waters probably don’t have to fear that their seats might be in jeopardy. Rep. Johnson made his statement, undoubtedly one of the dumbest things ever said in Congress, in 2010. He is still serving his district today.

Originally published on The Resurgent

Third of Americans Don’t Know That Obamacare and Affordable Care Act Are the Same Thing

The big discussion in politics over the past eight years has been Obamacare and the Affordable Care Act. The law has been central to four congressional and two presidential elections. It has remade the US health insurance industry and expanded the role of the federal government into the private sector as nothing else has. Now a new poll shows that a third of Americans don’t even realize that the two terms mean the same thing.

The Morning Consult poll of 1,890 adults found that a total of 35 percent of respondents thought that the two terms referred to different laws or did not know if they were different. Seventeen percent thought that the terms were completely different and 18 percent were just totally clueless.

Further, 45 percent did not realize that the ACA would be repealed if Obamacare was repealed. This group includes 32 percent who did not know and 12 percent who thought that the ACA would remain in place if Obamacare was repealed. This would be a neat trick since, as most of us know, the ACA and Obamacare are the same thing.

The Medicaid expansion was particularly confusing. Almost 40 percent were not sure if repealing Obamacare and/or the ACA would affect Medicare. Sixteen percent thought that Medicare would be unaffected and 23 percent admitted that they had no idea.

The official name of the legislation passed by Barack Obama in 2010 is the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.” This unwieldy name is often shortened to the “Affordable Care Act” and abbreviated “ACA.” It is even more often assigned the derisive nickname, “Obamacare.”

Part of the ACA was an expansion of Medicaid to Americans between the ages of 18 and 65 who earned less than 133 percent of the federal poverty level. The Supreme Court ruled that states could not be compelled to expand their Medicaid programs and 19 states declined to do so. A repeal of the ACA would mean that states that expanded their Medicaid programs would lose the federal funds that pay for the extra coverage.

Republicans scored best with 72 percent being aware that Obamacare and the ACA were one and the same, but only 47 percent knew about the effect of repeal on Medicaid and private insurance subsidies. Seventy-nine percent of Democrats realized that repeal would close the federal checkbook.

The groups that fared worst were 18-to-29-year-olds and people who earn less than $50,000 annually. This is ironic because outreach to these two groups was the primary goal of a $684 million ad campaign by the Obama Administration.

In particular, the “young invincibles” were needed in large numbers to offset the cost of enrolling large numbers of older and sicker Americans, who would need no encouragement to sign up for federally subsidized health insurance. The failure to convince the healthy 18-to-29-year-olds to pry open their wallets and purchase an expensive health insurance plan was a prime reason for Obamacare’s failure to contain costs and establish profitable marketplaces.

If it isn’t discouraging enough to realize that, after eight years of public debate and federal advertising, people still don’t know what the Affordable Care Act is, then think about this: These same people vote. Not only that, but it is the moderate, uninformed voters that actually decide elections since neither party has a natural majority.

Originally published on The Resurgent

Obamacare enrollments decline as GOP ponders next move

Seven years ago next month was the passage of the Affordable Care Act. With President Trump and the Republicans in Congress vowing to repeal President Obama’s trademark legislation, there is some doubt as to whether Obamacare will see its seventh birthday. With signups for the program falling and insurance companies leaving its marketplaces, Obamacare seems to be dying a slow death even without a formal repeal.

According to CNN, federal Obamacare enrollments were down from last year by 400,000. Only 9.2 million people signed up at healthcare.gov which handles Obamacare registrations for 39 states. Last year, 9.6 million people signed up at the site.

Eleven states and the District of Columbia run their own exchanges so figures for the entire country are not yet available. A total of 13.8 million people were expected to sign up nationally. CNN reported last month that 11.5 million people had signed up as of Dec. 24, an increase over the previous year at that point.

Backers of the health law blamed a decision by the Trump Administration to end advertising for the Obamacare enrollment for the uninspiring finish. The Trump Administration placed the blame on a 25 percent premium increase and a 28 percent decrease in the number of participating insurance companies.

Last August, Aetna announced that it was withdrawing from the Obamacare exchanges while Humana and United Healthcare sharply reduced their presence. A Washington Times report found that almost a third of counties would have only one Obamacare insurance company available. The lack of options for many consumers would mean restrictions on networks and choice of doctors. For example, Molina Healthcare excludes Cedars-Sinai Hospital, a prestigious Los Angeles facility, from its networks to cut costs. Only about a quarter of Obamacare insurers were profitable last year.

“Obamacare has failed the American people, with one broken promise after another,” Matt Lloyd, spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services, told CNN. “We look forward to providing relief to those who are being harmed by the status quo and pursuing patient-centered solutions that will work for the American people.”

Obamacare has not lived up to its promises. President Obama touted the Affordable Care Act as “universal coverage for all Americans” and said that it would reduce health insurance costs for American families. The law failed on both counts. While the US uninsured rate did decline under Obamacare, it remains at almost 11 percent according to Gallup survey. CNN noted that the average health insurance premium has increased by about 50 percent over the past eight years. Additionally, higher deductibles on current plans mean that consumers pay even more out of pocket.

With the uncertainty of a possible repeal or reform, many large insurers are weighing their options for next year. Politico reports that the Trump Administration is considering proposals to limit enrollment outside the open enrollment period and increase costs for older Americans. A major factor in rising premiums and falling profits has been adverse selection as Obamacare enrollees have turned out to be both older and sicker than predicted.

“We saw very little of the young and healthy,” Sherri Huff, a consultant and former health care coop official, told Modern Healthcare.

Ironically, recent polling has shown an increase in Obamacare’s popularity. A CNN poll from January showed a small lead (49-47 percent) for those who favor the law for the first time since its passage. Even this poll shows that 55 percent would support repeal if a replacement can be enacted simultaneously. Polls by Rasmussen and Fox News confirm that Americans want a replacement for Obamacare before a repeal. The polls agree that majorities don’t want the Affordable Care Act in its current form and they don’t want to go back to the 2009 status quo.

In spite of Obamacare’s flaws, Republicans face two problems with its repeal. First, is the estimated 30 million people who could lose coverage if Obamacare is repealed. Some of these people could find insurance elsewhere in a restructured market, but others are uninsurable and like their Obamacare plans. Public opinion would not allow Republicans to simply eliminate coverage for millions.  

President Trump has already promised an expansion of health insurance coverage. “We’re going to have insurance for everybody,” Trump said last month. “There was a philosophy in some circles that if you can’t pay for it, you don’t get it. That’s not going to happen with us.”

Finally, there is the structural problem of 49 Senate Democrats who can filibuster a replacement bill. While Obamacare can be repealed via a majority vote in a budget reconciliation, the same way it was passed, but if it isn’t simultaneously replaced Democrats will have an opportunity to block later legislation that requires 60 votes for cloture. Currently, Republicans have not agreed on a replacement plan.

This double bind means that Republicans run the risk of alienating a large part of the country no matter what they do. Either they anger the conservative base by not acting immediately on a repeal or they act rashly and possibly cause even more problems for the Americans and their health care.

Originally published on The Resurgent

My brush with history: Performing for President Reagan

Ronald Reagan (National Archives)

On President Reagan’s birthday, I recall when I had the opportunity to see the man who would one day be recognized as one of America’s greatest presidents.  The year was 1986 and President Reagan had just cruised to a landslide 49 state re-election victory over Walter Mondale.  I was a freshman trombone player in the Hart County High School Bulldog Marching Band. 

We were a high school band from a small town in Georgia, but we had a big reputation. When President Reagan came to Atlanta to campaign for Georgia’s Republican junior senator, Mack Mattingly, the Bulldog Band was asked to perform at the rally.

In those days, the Democratic Party was still a viable force in Georgia.  In fact, most local elections in my home town did not even feature a Republican candidate.  The majority of these elections were settled in the Democratic primary with the general election being a mere formality.  On top of that, President Reagan had vanquished Georgia native (and the only president from Georgia) Jimmy Carter in 1980.  President Reagan was not popular with all of my classmates.

The campaign meeting was a large political pep rally at the Omni.  The band played from our repertoire of patriotic songs, although aside from the Star Spangled Banner I can’t say that I remember exactly what.  At some point, both President Reagan and Senator Mattingly spoke.

My fifteen-year-old brain, though interested in history and politics even then, was simply not programmed to pay attention to political speeches.  The only memory that I have of what President Reagan said that day was a joke that he told.

The joke involved a minor auto accident.  The police were called and, while they waited, the drivers began to talk.  No one was injured, but both were somewhat shaken.  One pulled a bottle from his car and offered it to the other to soothe his nerves.  The second driver took a swig.  They talked a bit longer and the first driver offered the bottle again.  The second driver took another swig.  When the police arrived and asked what happened, the first driver replied, “It wasn’t my fault.  This fellow’s been drinking!”  The Gipper told it better than I do.

Unfortunately, in 1986 Georgia returned to its Democratic roots.  Mack Mattingly, who had gone to Washington in the 1980 conservative victories that sent Jimmy Carter back to Plains, lost to Democrat Wyche Fowler.  Mattingly went on to become President Reagan’s Assistant Secretary-General for Defense Support for NATO in Belgium at a time when the possibility of a Soviet invasion of Western Europe was still a very real possibility.  He also served as President George Herbert Walker Bush’s ambassador to the Seychelles. 

The meeting with Reagan was my most direct meeting with the executive branch, but it wasn’t the last.  In 1992, I overflew a meeting in Athens featuring Al Gore.  I was in a vintage 1946 Piper J-3 Cub and Gore was holding a rally for Democratic candidate Bill Clinton on a downtown street. In those days before the TSA and Homeland Security, there were no restrictions on overflying political meetings.  If someone tried that today, they would probably be arrested if they weren’t shot down.

In 2002, I was at Emory Hospital in Atlanta where my brother-in-law was receiving a kidney transplant from his father.  By chance, on the same day, President George W. Bush was coming to Emory to deliver a speech.  I didn’t see Dubya, but I did see his limousine from an upper story window as it pulled into the hospital. 

The only connection that I have with President Obama is that I was flying through Washington-Dulles airport as a corporate pilot a few days before his inaugurations in 2009 and 2013.  In 2009, the general aviation ramp was packed with business jets and the general aviation terminal was equally crowded, not only with flight crews and passengers, but with vendors selling Obama souvenirs.  There were fewer jets and supporters in 2013. Today, some of those corporate aircraft are starting to reappear and the private aircraft ramps are getting a little busier.

I’ve even seen Donald Trump in person. As a corporate pilot, I used to use the same hangar that this helicopter was kept in at Teterboro airport in New Jersey. We would frequently park next to his Boeing 727, and later his 757, at LaGuardia airport in New York and West Palm Beach, Florida. On one occasion, I even snapped a picture of The Donald as he walked between his limo and his jet.

It was years after my encounter with President Reagan that I truly began to appreciate his greatness.  The book The Great Inflation described how President Reagan and Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker eradicated stagflation that had plagued the nation throughout the 1970s in a few short years.  I was too young to remember the ravages of inflation first hand, but the high unemployment and stagnant growth of the 1970s are similar to the economic woes we face today.  The economic doldrums of the 1970s also have the same cause as today’s economic problems:  government attempts to control and manipulate the economy.

President Reagan’s conviction that low tax rates and simplified regulation would lead to prosperity led to the one of the longest sustained periods of economic growth in American history.  Where the 1970s were a decade of “malaise,” the 1980s became a decade of optimism, wealth, technological innovation, and, of course, ‘80s music.

The economy was not the only area in which President Reagan changed the course of history.  The 1970s had been a decade overshadowed by Vietnam and America’s abandonment of its ally.  America was viewed as weak by its adversaries around the world.  Arab nations punished the US for standing by Israel by launching an oil embargo and raising the price of oil to the unheard of price of $11 per barrel on other nations.  I do remember sitting in long lines to get gas.  The communists were on the march in Afghanistan, Asia, Africa, and Central America.  In Iran, a revolution deposed the Shah and installed the Ayatollah Khomeini while the American embassy staff was held hostage.

President Reagan changed much of that.  President Reagan made it cool to love America again. 

Much of the change in attitude came from the Gipper’s pervasive optimism and humor.  Much of it was also due to the fact that he backed up his words with action.  President Reagan revitalized the American military and freed one country, Grenada, from communism with direct action by American soldiers.  American aid and advisors went to other countries such as Nicaragua, the Philippines, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Afghanistan.

The American struggle against Islamic terrorism was just starting and President Reagan fought back.  In 1983, a suicide bomber killed 241 US Marine peacekeepers in Beirut, Lebanon.  In 1986, President Reagan ordered an airstrike on Muammar Gaddafi’s Libya in retaliation for support of terrorists. Terrorist bombings, kidnappings, and hijackings were commonplace.  Americans were targeted, but not on US soil.

The hallmark foreign policy triumph of President Reagan’s tenure was the fall of the Soviet Union.  The US military buildup, including the experimental Strategic Defense Initiative (also known as “Star Wars”), was something that the Russians could not keep up with.  In particular, SDI forced the Soviets to come to the negotiating table.  The Berlin Wall fell in 1988 and the Soviet Union officially ceased to exist in 1991.  Both were after Reagan left office, but he was one of the prime architects of the victory, along with British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Pope John Paul II.  Just a few years earlier, in Jimmy Carter’s presidency, Soviet communism had seemed unstoppable. 

In the twenty-two years since he left office, Reagan’s mystique has even reached the Democrats.  President Obama is on record as admiring President Reagan.  Every Republican candidate are compared to President Reagan, but few measure up.  Reagan’s policies of economic and political freedom would work as well in the twenty-first century as they did in the twentieth (or the nineteenth for that matter), if they were put into practice. The problem is that most politicians just can't stand to let go of their power and control.

Originally published on The Resurgent

Here are a few of President Reagan’s words of wisdom:

• Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves.
• Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged.
• Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.
• A people free to choose will always choose peace.
• Government is like a baby. An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other.
• Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.

Republicans are breaking with Donald Trump

As President Trump’s missteps mount, some Republicans are starting to distance themselves from the two-week-old administration. The president has made many controversial moves including the temporary immigration ban, the newly contentious relationships with Mexico and Australia, Trump’s defense of Vladimir Putin and, not least of all, his attacks on the judges who ruled against his immigration Executive Order. One of the most high-profile Republicans to break with President Trump is Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

Over the weekend, McConnell told CNN, a network that Trump Administration officials no longer appear on, that he disagreed with the president on several important points. McConnell said that he didn’t want to “critique the president’s every utterance,” but then offered his critique on several recent utterances.

Responding to Mr. Trump’s defense of Vladimir Putin, Sen. McConnell offered unequivocal condemnation of the Russian president. “He [Putin] is a thug. He was not elected in a way that most people would consider a credible election,” McConnell said. “I don’t think there’s any equivalency between the way the Russians conduct themselves and the way the United States does.”

McConnell also disagreed with Trump’s angry tweets attacking judges who overruled his immigration ban. “I think it’s best not to single out judges for criticism,” McConnell said. “We all get disappointed from time to time…  but I think it’s best to avoid criticizing judges individually.”

Mr. McConnell also expressed a lack of support for President Trump’s call for an investigation of alleged voter fraud during last year’s election. “I don’t think we ought to spend any federal money investigating that,’’ McConnell said. “We ought to leave that at the state level.”

State elections officials have found no evidence of massive fraud in the election. Even the White House seems to be quietly allowing the voter fraud claim to die without President Trump’s promised investigation.

Some Republicans started to break with Trump after his immigration ban was unveiled. Representatives Charlie Dent (R-Pa.) and Justin Amash (R-Mich.) took issue with the Executive Order’s broad reach that prevented legal residents and green card holders from reentering the United States. In Politico, Rep. Dent described a family of Syrian Christians in his district who had immigrated legally, “yet were detained at the Philadelphia International Airport and then forced to leave the country as a result of the Executive Order. This family now faces the uncertain prospect of being sent back to Syria.”

President Trump’s minimizing of Vladimir Putin’s murderous history has inspired more Republicans to take a stand as well. Senators Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fl.) condemned Trump’s comment that, “We have a lot of killers… You think our country is so innocent?”

Not all Republicans are breaking with the president though. On CBS, Vice President Mike Pence denied that Trump had established a moral equivalency between Russian authoritarianism and the United States. ““I simply don’t accept that there was any moral equivalency in the president’s comments,” Pence said. “Look, President Trump throughout his life, his campaign, and in this administration has never hesitated to be critical of government policies by the United States in the past. But there was no moral equivalency.”

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) has also been hesitant to directly criticize President Trump since the election. In spite of their policy differences, Ryan has taken the middle road by couching his criticism of the president is very specific, factual terms.

Speaker Ryan told NBC, “This president is hardly the first one to express frustration with the judicial branch. What's important is his administration is complying with the ruling and taking the proper steps to resolve the issue quickly. This is our system of divided government, and I'm confident that when the process runs its course the order will be upheld.”

Originally published on The Resurgent

Next Trump Executive Order May Revise Visa Program

Donald Trump isn’t done with immigration. In spite of the criticism that the president has taken over his Executive Order establishing a temporary ban on immigrants from certain countries last week, the Wall Street Journal reports that the next step may be a move to restrict work visas for skilled employees.

A draft of the order received by the Journal instructs the government to reexamine and prioritize several different visa programs to protect “the jobs, wages and well-being of United States workers.” Leaders at tech companies fear the Order is aimed at reducing legal immigration through the H-1B visa program.

Many industries, but tech companies in particular, make use of the H-1B visa program to bring skilled workers into the United States. H-1B visas require applicants to have a relationship with their prospective employer, the job must be a specialty occupation, typically requiring a bachelor degree or higher, and the applicant’s field of study must be in the same specialty field.

At the same time, legislation in Congress proposed by Senators David Perdue (R-Ga.) and Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) would reduce legal levels of immigration. The bill would restrict the numbers of visas for refugees and extended family members as well as eliminating the “diversity lottery” that grants visas to applicants from underrepresented countries.

CNN reports that there are at least two bills in Congress that would reform the H-1B visa program as well. Many in Congress would like to make the visas more expensive and complicated for companies to use. The number of visas available might be restricted further as well.

For years, the US has had a shortage of domestic students graduating with degrees in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Only about 14 percent of undergraduates enroll in STEM fields. According to Georgia Tech, only about 40 percent of degrees earned by men and 30 percent of degrees earned by women in 2015 were in STEM.

More and more of graduate degrees in STEM fields are going to foreign students on student visas. If these students cannot get a work visa that allows them to stay in the US after graduation, they must leave the country and work for companies that compete directly with American businesses.

H-1B visas are capped at 85,000 per year, but there are an estimated 500,000 high-skilled IT and computer jobs that are unfilled according to Blake Irving, CEO of GoDaddy.com. Irving writes that these so-called “genius visas” are vital to the US economy because of the lack of qualified American workers and warns of “serious consequences for US-based tech companies’ ability to hire elite global talent” if the Trump Executive Order is signed.

“To be clear,” Mr. Irving wrote, “the entire US economy is at stake with this draft order and tech leaders need to speak out on its dangers.”

Originally published on The Resurgent