JONATHAN CHAIT MARCH 14, 2011
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Orrin Hatch explains why he supports the Affordable Care Act:
In a speech to the conservative Hudson Institute, Hatch said the GOP ideal for health overhaul would look more like the welfare overhaul of the mid-1990s. That law "took ideas from the states – not just Washington – and gave them considerable flexibility to operate their own programs," he said.
Lucky for Hatch, that ideal exists. The Affordable Care Act was based upon a successful state-level program passed by a Republican governor in Massachusetts. And a proposed amendment, support by the Obama administration, would give states flexibility to design any reform they want as long as it provides the same level of insurance coverage to the same number of people without increasing the deficit.
Unfortunately, Hatch does not seem to realize that the Affordable Care Act fulfills his criteria:
For now, however, Hatch said he recognized that the votes are not there in the Congress to repeal the entire law. "Short of repealing Obamacare wholesale, we will do so retail — through death by a thousand cuts," he said. "We will fight this until we win."
It's almost as if he automatically opposes any plan the Democrats are willing to support.
8 comments
He does oppose anything that the Democrats put up. He is being Mau-Maued by the very existence of the Tea Party.
- liberalref
March 14, 2011 at 12:37pm
"It's almost as if he automatically opposes any plan the Democrats are willing to support" Almost? Could have saved yourself 6 keystrokes there, and improved the posting.
- gwcross
March 14, 2011 at 12:38pm
And the GOP are quite capable of never actually IMPLEMENTING an "ideal" they are for. Ideally, they're for balanced budgets and smaller government and lower taxes. In reality, they've only been able to achieve the easiest of the three -- lower taxes. While blowing "balanced budgets" out of the water. And their tendency to INCREASE the size of Government is just their own dirty little secret. By the way, "Hatch Endorses ACA" is completely misleading, and factually incorrect. Sure, you got a point for "made you look!" but lost 99 points for "like Fox News would have."
- AllanL5
March 14, 2011 at 1:07pm
Jonathan is a liberal, not an ideologue, gw. He is unlike scores of commenters out here in that he possesses negative capability, that great term of John Keats. A lot of TNR denizens wish to put the worst construction on Republican actions and attribute the most malign motivations to them that they can. They are moralists and low-rent ones, at that; Jonathan is a thinker, and a superb one. I almost used the qualifier "almost" in my comment but then I blinked on it and forgot.
- liberalref
March 14, 2011 at 1:49pm
Hatch is a complete hypocrite. In 1993, he and 20 other Senators, mostly Republicans, co-sponsored the Health Equity and Access Reform Today Act (S.1770) that called for most of what is in "Obama's" Accountable Care Act. Hatch and many other Republicans are hypocrites for completely covering up the fact that "ObamaCare" is completely bipartisan and mainstream in all of its particulars. Hatch and most of the Republicans now are cowards because they are being cowed by the radical Tea Patsies. Among other provisions of S. 1770 were: • An individual mandate requiring all citizens to be covered by a health plan and Universal access to health insurance coverage, in part through premium assistance to low-income individuals who don't quality for Medicaid (ultimately up to 240% of the federal poverty line) • A mandate on employers to provide health insurance plans to employees • The formation of individual and small employer purchasing groups • Formation of a Benefits Commission to develop a standard (minimum) benefits package that any qualified health benefits plan must offer • Enumeration of state responsibilities in implementing state insurance market reforms • Certain alterations to tax law, including an excise tax for excess contributions to medical care savings accounts • Quality assurance programs, including the creation of a national health data system • Medical liability reform, including a requirement that states adopt an alternative dispute resolution method for the resolution of health care malpractice claims • Efforts to fight fraud and abuse in federal health programs • Efforts to bolster the primary care workforce • Certain alterations to tax law, including an excise tax for excess contributions to medical care savings accounts • Quality assurance programs, including the creation of a national health data system • Medical liability reform, including a requirement that states adopt an alternative dispute resolution method for the resolution of health care malpractice claims • Efforts to fight fraud and abuse in federal health programs • Efforts to bolster the primary care workforce • Requirements for qualified heath plans to meet standards of o guaranteed eligibility, availability, and renewability of health insurance coverage o nondiscrimination based on health status (i.e. eliminating pre-existing conditions) o benefits offered o insurer financial solvency o enrollment process o premium rating limitations (allowing variation in premiums based only on age and family) o risk adjustment o consumer protection
- jonsax
March 14, 2011 at 2:04pm
gwcross - You may realize this, and if so I apologize, but Chait was being sarcastic with the final "almost" line.
- Jonas
March 14, 2011 at 2:09pm
The ACA already allows states to substitute their own plans for the mandated exchanges - as of 2017. The proposed amendment endorsed by Obama would simply move the start date up to 2014.
- adsprung
March 14, 2011 at 3:20pm
Well, what does it say that if you wish to be a Senator in a Red State you are forced to become a blithering idiot, who doesn't accept science and reality or an army of other idiots will primary you?
- MikeB.
March 14, 2011 at 6:20pm