Here’s the latest saga of Candy vs. Sandy – Rep. Miller
against Rep. Levin – in the increasingly bizarre congressional debate over
Obamacare.
650 partisans at Monday’s Macomb GOP Lincoln Dinner that she is on guard to
protect them from Obamacare. She didn’t mention that the Affordable Care Act
will presumably affect virtually no one in that audience, except in a selective, positive way.
Instead, the congresswoman stuck to the party talking
points.
“A bill I co-sponsored would get the IRS out of the
business of enforcing Obamacare,” she told the crowd. “We … need to put an end
to the IRS getting your personal health information. I mean, some of this stuff
is just crazy.”
when they purchase a private health care policy on the Obama exchanges – no different
than the corporate and individual requirements for countless other tax breaks.
Beyond the stringent HIPAA law that provides widespread
privacy of individuals’ medical information, Miller should have known that
Obamacare did not engage in a radical rearrangement of confidentiality rules
between patient and doctor.
In contrast, Levin, the ranking Democrat on the powerful
House Ways and Means Committee, issued an opening statement at today’s
committee meeting that blasted the GOP for spreading misinformation about the
ACA health care reforms and attempting to block its implementation every step
of the way.
“At every turn, Republicans have chosen
the path of disruption. And as is so vividly on display this week, at every
turn, Republicans have sought to deny the Obama administration funding needed
to implement the Affordable Care Act.
“If Republicans were really interested
in the implementation of Obamacare, they might know that in the 13 states that
have already published preliminary premiums for marketplace coverage, Americans
will be able to purchase insurance at a price that is on average 20 percent
below what the Congressional Budget Office estimated.
“In New York, insurance
rates in the marketplace are set to be half the price of what is currently
available. And that is without taking the tax credits into account, which
will further lower the effective premium for many families.”
Imagine that: The introduction of free-market
competition in the health insurance marketplace, combined with tax cuts for
individuals, has led to affordable rates.
in the Affordable Care Act’s implementation,” continued Levin, a Royal Oak
Democrat who represents most of Macomb County, “they would inform their
constituents that a simple three-page application awaits single Americans purchasing
insurance on the exchange. And that neither the Internal Revenue Service nor
the Department of Health and Human Services will have access to medical records
or other personal health history.
“Instead, we see scare tactics and other
misguided efforts to convince constituents that applying for health coverage
will be time-consuming and cumbersome.
“But we have long known that
Republicans have no interest in ensuring that Americans understand what even
Speaker Boehner himself has acknowledged is ‘the law of the land.’ Their only
interest is to misinform, misconstrue and mislead the American public about the
Affordable Care Act.”
Norm Ornstein, a political analyst who
has earned a reputation over decades as an objective bipartisan observer of
Capitol Hill, wrote this week that the maniacal GOP attempts to obstruct
Obamacare, a hyperpartisan effort that includes the top Republican leadership,
is unprecedented and spinning out of control. To read his historical
perspective, click here.
UPDATE: The tax-writing Ways and Means Committee is one of the most powerful panels on Capitol Hill. Comprehensive tax reform, if it goes anywhere, will get started at Ways and Means.
So, in response to the House GOP plan to hold a 40th vote today to repeal Obamacare, the House Dems came up with a chart.
have held more committee hearings on the Affordable Care Act in the last
month than the total number of bills they have taken up for consideration during the first seven months of 2013.
Chad it is great that New York, CA and other states with outrageous insurance rates will see a benefit in lower rates. What about the rest of the country? Why don't you tell us what will happen to their rates? You accuse Candy of not telling the whole story and you turn around and do the same thing.
Mr Selweski, August 2, 2013 3:56 PM
If the affordable care act is so good for everyone why do the IRS union employee's want to opt out? If it is so efficient of a Healthcare plan, why did Mr Obama illegally declare an extension until 2015 for BIG BUSINESS? But the individual little folk's must comply by 2014. The bill was designed behind closed door's without any Republican input. That's how Communist China operate's.
A Proud Conservative Macomb County Republican,
Charlie Hustle Pillivant