Republican Legislators Can't Keep Healthcare Talking Points Straight

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by: Colorado Pols

State Sen. Jimmy Smallwood

As you may have heard, President Trump and Congressional Republicans would like to repeal Obamacare…except that they have no idea what to do for a replacement plan. Here in Colorado, GOP lawmakers have their own proposal to tank the State Health Exchange, part of a nonsense plan that would rely on the Affordable Care Act to pick up the slack at a federal level (of course, the ACA may or may not continue to exist under the current Congress).

As John Frank of the Denver Post reported earlier this week, state Sen. Jim Smallwood is leading Republican efforts to repeal the state health exchange. Take a look at how he explains the GOP rationale here:

Sen. Jim Smallwood, a health insurance broker, is leading the effort to repeal the state exchange, a move that would send Colorado residents to the federal marketplace to buy insurance. The bill is not expected to advance through the Democratic-led House, but the GOP is rallying to the cause.

The freshman Republican lawmaker from Parker is adamant that his bill is not a political statement or “a vendetta against President Obama.” [Pols emphasis] Instead, he argues, the measure is designed to save the state money by eliminating a tax break for insurance companies and preventing future fees on health care plans…

…”There appear to be some obvious failures systemically within the gut of our state-based exchange, and my thought was, would the same thing happen if we were on healthcare.gov?” Smallwood said in a recent interview.

According to Sen. Smallwood, local efforts to eliminate the state health exchange have nothing at all to do with partisan rancor over Obamacare.

State Sen. Owen Hill

Except…well, that’s not what state Sen. Owen Hill says in an Op-Ed for the Colorado Statesman this week:

It won’t be easy, but Republicans have promised the American people a better way on health care, and our state and national leaders must deliver. [Pols emphasis]

Voters have elected a Republican majority in D.C., expecting them to repeal Obamacare…

…I’m proud that my fellow Republicans in Washington are determined to fulfill their campaign promise to repeal the ACA. But this is no mere public policy debate because real people’s lives and jobs are on the line. The GOP Congress and President Trump must also keep another of their campaign promises — to do right by American workers — if they want this repeal to truly improve the lives and health care of the American people.

When Republicans in Congress repeal Obamacare as they have pledged, they must make sure to replace it with a fair and free market where the government plays by the same rules as the rest of us. This means paying fair market value for health care services. Washington D.C. has mismanaged Medicare and Medicaid for years, forcing the rest of us to pick up the tab in other ways.

Republican legislators are saying two totally different things in response to concerns about trying to eliminate the state health exchange. Sen. Smallwood says this has nothing to do with the ACA and that his bill would allow the federal insurance market to pick up the slack for Colorado. Sen. Hill says this has everything to do with the ACA and is hopeful that there won’t even be a federal marketplace for healthcare sometime soon.

This entire exercise is completely idiotic, so perhaps it’s no surprise that the State Senate Majority can’t even keep their talking points straight.

9 thoughts on “Republican Legislators Can’t Keep Healthcare Talking Points Straight”

Moderatus says:

February 9, 2017 at 12:06 pm

People were not dying in the streets in 2009. Let's just go back.

Repeal and to hell with replace.

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1. Curmudgeon says:
  
  February 9, 2017 at 12:15 pm
  
  "Let's just go back" is kind of your answer for everything, isn't it?
  
  Progress always wins out. It can be delayed, but it never stops.
  
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2. unnamed says:
  
  February 9, 2017 at 12:35 pm
  
  Moldy. Maybe you should listen to stories about how the ACA saved lives. Then again that probably wouldn't change your mind. Such as it is with a piece of genetic waste such as you are.
  
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3. JohnInDenver says:
  
  February 10, 2017 at 9:28 am
  
  Moderatus –
  
  People weren't dying in the streets (any more than they do now). But there were a sizable number dying at home due to treatable diseases or complications from injury who did not pursue treatment because they did not have coverage.
  
  Worse, in my opinion, are the number of people who were pushed into lifelong debts or bankruptcy.
  
  if Republicans cannot fulfill their promise to "replace with something better," they own the consequences. Estimates are: up to 45,000 early deaths each year, a return to lifetime caps and high risk pools, and more business for bankruptcy courts.
  
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4. taterheaptom says:
  
  February 10, 2017 at 9:42 am
  
  Damn lazy kids staying on their parents plan! When I was a boy, kids died all the time! Make room for someone else is what I say!
  
  If people want pre-existing conditions (like being female! who would ever…?) covered then maybe they ought not get sick to begin with! GOP Healthcare: Get Sick, Die Quick! Repeal & Repent!!!
  
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Davie says:

February 9, 2017 at 12:39 pm

Owen Hill's mama must have dropped him on his head as a child.

"Free and fair market"? You mean where transparent prices based on actual costs for products and services are available? Where customers can shop around and choose just the products and services they want, when they want? Where competition among doctors, hospitals and clinics ensure that prices stay low?

Yeah, that perfectly describes our healthcare market for the last couple of centuries before that Muslim-Kenyan Black Guy took over…

Moddy is also suffering from a cranial rectal inversion.

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1. unnamed says:
  
  February 9, 2017 at 1:48 pm
  
  So is a cranial rectal inversion a pre-existing condition?
  
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  1. Davie says:
    
    February 9, 2017 at 3:04 pm
    
    Yep, and if Moddy has any sense, he'd get it fixed before ACA is repealed and he's left flapping in the wind.
    
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mamajama55 says:

February 10, 2017 at 4:36 am

Our GOP state legislators should really pop out of their news bubbles once in a while to check out what's going on around the country with ACA protests.

* Jason Chaffetz being bombarded with questions about the GOP's "Better Way" wink-and-a-smile replacement for actual health insurance , and, like our brave Marine Coffman, fleeing the hordes of angry, questioning constituents at his own town hall.

In frigging Salt Lake City, Utah.

And to answer Moddy's "People weren't dying in the streets" claim about pre-ACA health coverage:

Yes. Yes, they were.

Maybe not in the streets, but in hospital ER and Urgent Care rooms, in nursing homes, in quiet bedrooms and on the job across the country…

According to the Families USA study, between 20,000 and 45,000 Americans died each year as a result of being uninsured.

In Colorado alone, 588,000 people stand to lose their health coverage because of ACA repeal. The state's economy will take a $33 billion hit from lost Medicare funds.

We already know that it isn't caring or compassionate to seek to roll back health care progress; but it also just isn't politically smart. GOP reps should take notice.

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