Repeal, Replace, Delay, Disgrace

Senators Alexander and Corker
Senators Alexander and Corker
Looks like the new GOP majority in the Congress isn’t going to wait any time to take on their hated Obamacare. Once upon a time it seemed like cooler heads had prevailed. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) said it could take years to both repeal and replace the President’s signature healthcare law.

Tennessee’s Jr. Senator (in stature and tenure) Bob Corker has been saying repeal now replace when we get to it for some time. Now it seems Lamar! has relented, saying he could support repeal without a replacement plan immediately.

What that repeal might look like is hard to know, since House Speaker Paul Ryan’s plan to “privatize” or “voucherize” Medicare looks a lot like Obamacare.

As for how that might impact Tennessee, 187,000 people are likely to lose coverage after Obamacare repeal. Its a disgrace that Alexander and Corker would even consider dumping these people with no alternative in sight. But that’s exactly what they’re doing.

From the May 2016 Vanderbilt Poll
From the May 2016 Vanderbilt Poll
It doesn’t matter that 53% of Tennesseans approve of Obamacare, or something better according to a poll in May of 2016 conducted by Vanderbilt University.

With the Repeal part of the train already gaining steam, what’s the “replace” caboose doing? Apparently it hasn’t been built yet. Despite 6 years and over 60 votes to repeal the healthcare bill, the GOP leadership in the House hasn’t seen fit to come up with their own plan.

So repeal/replace may become repeal/delay/replace…which seems like a good way to lose momentum.

Let’s hear it for governing GOPERS!

Maybe now that they run 2/3 of government, they will come up with a replacement plan…but I doubt it. Just like abortion, Obamacare has been a powerful foil for Republicans to run against. And with tight margins in the Senate, it’s possible no vote will gain enough support to make it past both houses of Congress…which keeps their foil in place for 2018.

Either way, they’ve got it in their sights right now. This new improved and martinized “establishment anti-establishment GOP led government” has to show the faithful they’re serious about making their lives shittier by making it harder for them to get access to healthcare.

The GOPers have been plenty serious when it didn’t matter (their vote would be vetoed). Lets see just how serious they’ll be now that its down to nut cuttin’ time.

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