Show of HandsShow of Hands

Zod July 3rd, 2013 12:29am

Is the recently announced one year delay in the implementation of the employer healthcare mandate an admission that some aspects of the ACA are unworkable, or is it just a political ploy looking ahead to the 2014 elections?

51 Liked

Comments: Add Comment

thebarr
07/03/13 10:05 am

Absolutely both. It's a political ploy BECAUSE the ACA was poorly conceived, and the havoc it will cause will hurt the Dems in 2014.

Reply
wabajaber1 Bible Belt
07/03/13 9:28 am

How about both or neither? Terrible question.

Reply
jenks76 Western Kentucky
07/03/13 9:15 am

It's both. They know the law is flawed and needs to be fixed but don't want to deal with it until after the mid-term elections.

Reply
azilla100 newyork
07/03/13 8:57 am

General zod! It's me the annoying chick who kept calling you a super villain

political Georgia
07/03/13 8:56 am

Democrats know it is unworkable. That is why they do not want the 2014 senate elections to be about ACA.

Reply
jchristianreed South Carolina
07/03/13 8:14 am

I would think a bit of both. The last thing that Democrats want is people feeling the effects of Obamacare when they're trying to regain the House.

Reply
Think Lovin Life
07/03/13 9:11 am

Ha ha regain the House ... I think it's more like ... hold onto the Senate so as to not humiliate the lame duck in the White House.

happywifey Maryland
07/03/13 7:56 am

Sad but its a huge mandate that cant be met. It will eventually be phased out and I consider myself to be fairly liberal.....

Reply
ladyniner81 people suck
07/03/13 7:37 am

I know this health care system is a mess, but I have a feeling this whole thing is gonna blow up in their faces. I hope it's just the skeptic in me. Because I'm sick and tired of dealing with this racket called big pharmacies and health insurance.

Reply
Think Lovin Life
07/03/13 9:13 am

Well the government has only complicated things significantly.

Explain why O'care added an onerous tax on medical devices, like pacemakers to help pay for the mess of O'care!

hgeichel Pennsylvania
07/03/13 7:25 am

I like Obamacare. It finally does something to help our broken healthcare system. The GOP had 30 years to fix it and as soon as someone actually does it everyone cries socialism! Take a chill pill

Reply
hgeichel Pennsylvania
07/03/13 7:34 am

By the way, my father is a doctor and he agrees with me. He's even a Republican!

Gunfighter
07/03/13 7:03 am

ACA will be remembered as one of the worst pieces of legislation to ever be put into law.

Reply
TiltonAllStarz Outside Ur Comfort Zone
07/03/13 6:37 am

A piece of garbage, tattooed on our children's backs, using ink made of vomit.

Damn you, hard left liberals.
You owe my children an apology.

Reply
TiltonAllStarz Outside Ur Comfort Zone
07/03/13 6:40 am

I swear to God, I believe it was designed to fail, on purpose, to create an ACTUAL health crisis to usher in a single payer system in the future. I believe that with every fiber of my being.

hgeichel Pennsylvania
07/03/13 7:33 am

So the answer to the rising cost of healthcare is to just do nothing then?

TiltonAllStarz Outside Ur Comfort Zone
07/03/13 7:50 am

No.
But it damn sure wasn't the ACA.

jdlinn
07/03/13 6:13 am

Bad question... Both answers are correct.

Reply
reader5673
07/03/13 5:13 am

My husband is a small business owner and we have been told that a year from now, small businesses won't be able to afford health care for their employees. This is bad for America on so many levels. Think the economy is bad now - just wait!

Reply
louanne Westland
07/03/13 6:21 am

My best friend is a small business owner and he and I talked about it. He said it isn't that bad, but he may have a different lifestyle then you.

kellyw The Mississippi Delta
07/03/13 7:17 am

You've been told that by whom?

Nukimo NC Dreaming of Far Away
07/03/13 4:09 am

The ACA could work if it was kept as a Single Payer Plan & we bypassed the Greedy Insurance Companies/Middlemen/skimming B-tards! And stopped the War Machine..There's plenty of $$ to pay for Free Quality Healthcare For All! No Waiting or Lines!

TomM
07/03/13 4:32 am

It's not free, it's just paid by someone else

mac007 Mars
07/03/13 6:02 am

With the national debt being what it is where is all this money you're talking about?

ScreenNameInUse
07/03/13 6:23 am

If we could stop the war machine - I would want *my* money back - not just allocated to some other rabbit hole of government spending.

TomM
07/03/13 7:00 am

Even completely removing the department of defense would only cut the deficit in half.

jmatsby
07/03/13 2:18 am

With a delay in the small business healthcare exchange it only makes sense to delay the employer mandate. So I'd say it's closer to unworkable, but only because it's not ready.

Reply
elianastar Gab.ai FreeSpeech
07/02/13 11:53 pm

The nine most terrifying words in the English language: "I'm from the Government. I'm here to help you." ACA isn't about healthcare; it's about tyranny, power, control. ACA isn't affordable; this most recent delay in implementation only symptom.

Reply
elianastar Gab.ai FreeSpeech
07/02/13 11:56 pm

Only thing more terrifying than ACA is the fact we'll have to deal w/IRS rather than our Dr - providing, of course, we can find one willing to continue practicing healthcare. What we've got here, ladies & gents, is a royal SNAFU. (Look it up)

elianastar Gab.ai FreeSpeech
07/02/13 11:59 pm

ACA is unworkable, it was political in the beginning, will be political when it draws final breath, & only hope the political system has is that WeThePeople will be as gullible & ignorant as we've been the last 16+ & let them get away w/ploy. VOTE!!!

magnum
07/02/13 11:03 pm

If the ACA were a car it would be recalled before it make it off the assembly line. The execution of ACA is just embarrassing for this administration. Hospitals are laying of thousands and company's are firing workers they suddenly cannot afford.

Reply
duster399
07/02/13 10:43 pm

Answer : Both

Reply
rebelfury76
07/02/13 10:36 pm

Get ready folks, another government screw up...hang on.

Reply
lando
07/02/13 10:03 pm

Neither? The questions framing doesn't have a "positive" side. Both answers assume a negative reflection of the ACA. Either it's politics for an election or unworkable are not opposites but answers leading to a bias opinion.

Reply
corino Utah
07/02/13 10:21 pm

You think the ACA is a good thing?

anarchy GET OFF MY LAWN
07/03/13 3:43 am

The question's framing doesn't need a positive side. They've delayed the mandate citing complaints that it's too complex for small businesses to be in compliance and need another year. Thats just a fact. Cant get around it. The question is...

anarchy GET OFF MY LAWN
07/03/13 3:49 am

..."whats the motivation?" Are they inept or a bunch of snakes? I think they're well aware this thing will be a disaster and want to hold onto house and senate seats so it doesn't get defunded...but i guess it's possible they're just stupid.

jstahl Build that wall
07/03/13 4:48 am

Anarchy, everything this administration does begs the question "are they inept or corrupt?" I'm not sure which answer is worse, but there is enough of a pattern at this point to conclude the latter.

corino Utah
07/03/13 9:53 am

Oh there is the third option: "it's just really hard."

anarchy GET OFF MY LAWN
07/03/13 10:02 am

How can it be "really hard?" This was te end all-be all of healthcare bills! Remember? So friggin good they didn't even have to read it! The pages, we were told, oozed with genius solutions to our TERRIBLE, EVIL private healthcare system!!!

lando
07/03/13 10:05 am

It's just a bias- by- design question to feed into the logic that ACA is bad. Listening to business owners to ensure it works is a responsible solution. It doesn't help that Repub's are slowing its development and in turn making harder to implement

anarchy GET OFF MY LAWN
07/03/13 10:09 am

ANYTHING that slows, delays, kills or defunds this gawd-awful monstrosity of a bill is a good thing.

Sincerely.
A healthcare professional.

lando
07/03/13 10:13 am

@anarchy what kind of healthcare provider are you? My clinic is prepared for the influx of new patients and my staff is on board.

anarchy GET OFF MY LAWN
07/03/13 10:29 am

I'm not an HCP. I'm on the supply side...specifically orthopedic sales. ...and this bill is raping me and my doctors. These claims that it will reduce costs are laughable.

anarchy GET OFF MY LAWN
07/03/13 10:30 am

I'm not arguing that changes didnt need to be made, but this was the absolute wrong way to go about it.

lando
07/03/13 10:36 am

But where are the alternatives? We need a universal health care system in this country. The Repub's aren't offering any solutions and its despicable that our country doesn't have health care available. It's not perfect, but hopefully after the...

lando
07/03/13 10:38 am

Obstruction stops we can move to fix it and not dismantle it and maintain our overpriced care. Health care should be regulated and when it's not we get our "free market" discriminatory care system.

snacks East Bumfart
07/02/13 9:48 pm

Do they think we're that stupid to believe them?

Oh wait...democrats believe anything they are told by their great leaders.

Reply
Think Lovin Life
07/02/13 10:34 pm

Snacks it worked in 2012, didn't it? Why shouldn't the Democrats continue to believe the lie?

Mattwall1
07/02/13 10:50 pm

Really, I disagree with much about Obamas policies if u go to much of the nation the GOP policies, the bible and whatnot r all "holy" writ

duey in a fools paradise
07/02/13 9:18 pm

Its both, I'm sure the president has heard from people in his party that might be vulnerable that they really don't need this failure hanging over them at election time. Costs are way to high and if enough young folks don't opt in it will fail.

Reply
SugarShaq
07/02/13 10:24 pm

but it's ok to hang this failure on the country after the elections.

SugarShaq
07/02/13 10:26 pm

but for obama it's ok to hang this failure on the country after the elections.

potatochip howdy
07/02/13 8:41 pm

What happens in Washington that isn't politics???

Reply
Diogenes Not Biden It
07/02/13 8:06 pm

Both. That's what happens when you don't allow sufficient time to read a bill, especially one as important as mandatory healthcare. This bill has already proven itself "UN"affordable.

Reply
jstahl Build that wall
07/03/13 4:49 am

And then they go and pass a 1,200 page immigration bill without reading it. Unbelievable.

Zod Above Pugetropolis
07/02/13 7:49 pm

I voted "politics" mostly because I don't think the employer mandate is unworkable, but I'm torn because as Tony mentioned, the individual mandate stands, and it's the bigger elephant in the room. Maybe they'll delay that too, closer to the election.

Reply
mrjtp
07/02/13 7:55 pm

You always ask questions with both negative responses? There could be several other, more likely answers.

Zod Above Pugetropolis
07/02/13 8:02 pm

The other likely answer is the Treasury Department statement: "We have heard concerns about the complexity of the requirements and the need for more time to implement them effectively." In other words, some aspects are unworkable at this time.

akrealist a log cabin in the woods
07/03/13 8:20 am

Good point, Zod. I wonder what folks will think when they are paying the fine (tax) individually, without the coverages being available in the exchanges.

kehvn Towson, MD
07/02/13 7:42 pm

The real question should be... Is it acceptable???

Especially those who say "just politics."

mcdkm Houston
07/02/13 7:30 pm

Obama realized that once it takes effect and everybody sees what a disaster it is he would get decimated in the mid terms. This way he doesn't have to clean up his own mess, it's the next guys problem.

Reply
Sacnerd Sacramento
07/02/13 8:45 pm

Very true. Ideally the Reps would gain control of the Senate and we could repeal it. Then my fellow Democrats could soul search and remember the party they once were.

TempName14 Everywhere but nowhere
07/02/13 8:03 pm

So, they say they're delaying a year to accommodate the requests of businesses, not because as Max Baucus puts it, "I just see a huge train wreck coming down....?"

You accept the statement at face value?

RJ1969 SoCal
07/02/13 8:06 pm

No, but it's an official statement. A good place to start to consider Zod's question.

TempName14 Everywhere but nowhere
07/02/13 8:24 pm

Baucus is a democrat and he voted for the bill, and he's leaving office. Somehow his statements about the program seem more believable to me, especially as it relates to the pragmatic task of implementing it.

TempName14 Everywhere but nowhere
07/02/13 8:29 pm

Oh. Nice "appeal to authority" by choosing a fox source. I do the same by using NBC and huff post links. :-)

jstahl Build that wall
07/03/13 4:53 am

If they really cared about what businesses thought, or the people, they would strike down the whole thing, not just delay it a year. Nice try, treasury department, but you fail.

KimberlyT717
07/02/13 7:16 pm

Both! And thank god for it!

Reply
Think Lovin Life
07/02/13 7:06 pm

The government is incapable of admitting that with each of their social experiments they've failed. The fact is that the cure is worse than the disease!

Reply
chickencookie disgusted
07/02/13 7:16 pm

Everything Obama gets involved with has been a disaster and the health plan will be the biggest disaster of all.

badattitude no place like home
07/02/13 7:20 pm

Chicken is right. He's an utter failure.

TomM
07/02/13 7:06 pm

I find it interesting 80% of Democrats vote politics. To me that says they would rather throw Obama under the bus than criticize Obamacare.

Reply
Think Lovin Life
07/02/13 7:10 pm

No, I think it says that the can't admit that O'care is unworkable.

TomM
07/02/13 7:22 pm

Think, to me that's pretty much the same as I said.

Think Lovin Life
07/02/13 7:58 pm

Tomm ... I agree that both are similar, but being incapable of admitting that "O'care is unworkable" is not the same as "throwing MrO under the bus".

Democrats are typically incapable of admitting that they failed at anything.

SugarShaq
07/02/13 10:28 pm

I think they don't care if its politics. They don't care if our country is in ruin. As long as they "win"

kellyw The Mississippi Delta
07/03/13 7:25 am

Or, they're choosing the less negative answer because they don't agree with the premise of the question.

Tell me, have you stopped beating your wife?

TomM
07/03/13 8:42 am

Kelly my point was I am surprised the less negative answer for the democrats was to say it's politics, which to me, is to criticize Obamas politics.

dustbunny
07/02/13 7:04 pm

www.thenewstribune.com/2013/07/02/2663151/police-man-left-pig-wearing-sweatpants.html?storylink=rss

Just read this article today, the British healthcare system is failing and we're headed that way.

Reply
dustbunny
07/02/13 7:07 pm

And I think it's partly unworkable details but mostly theatrics to help the next clown get elected.

dustbunny
07/02/13 7:08 pm

Or who knows maybe Bama is realizing he but more than he can chew.

RJ1969 SoCal
07/02/13 7:24 pm

I guess I just don't understand how a story about a pig wearing sweatpants in a hot car has anything to do with this topic.

dustbunny
07/02/13 7:26 pm

Hahahaha!! Oops, that's a good article too but not the one I had in mind obviously...apparently my copying and pasting is failing as well. Here:

m.guardiannews.com/society/2013/jul/02/nhs-tameside-hospital-manchester-reports

dustbunny
07/02/13 7:27 pm

It doesn't RJ, but thinking about a pig wearing sweats is kind of funny, not that he was left in the car of course.

RJ1969 SoCal
07/02/13 7:29 pm

I agree. Only, I wish there was a picture to go with the article.

Think Lovin Life
07/02/13 7:01 pm

One is the cause (unworkable O'care) and the other is the effect (Just Politics) as (Democrats are scared spit-less that if its implemented, they'll lose in 2014).

Reply
elianastar Gab.ai FreeSpeech
07/02/13 11:38 pm

This. It is both. If it was anywhere as great as it has been touted, all these delays & exemptions & financial arm-twisting by Sebelius wouldn't be necessary. By this point, they'd be laughing in all naysayer's faces about how well things are going.

mstt
07/02/13 7:01 pm

Don't you mean the Unaffordable Care Act?

Reply
Rosebud Ohio
07/02/13 6:59 pm

Oh that's hard... it's both.

Reply
zanoeg Union County, NC
07/02/13 6:59 pm

Looks like most everybody says both. I agree with them.

Reply
coaxkid Northern California
07/02/13 6:38 pm

This question is similar to... Is it true you quit beating your wife? Both answers are wrong.

Reply
PeppyHare Do a barrel roll
07/02/13 6:35 pm

Both. Last thing you want is a disaster on the during an election.

Reply
Arkansas123 Neoconservative
07/02/13 6:34 pm

Even Obama knows the employer mandate would drive up unemployment and destroy the economy.

Reply
Think Lovin Life
07/02/13 7:02 pm

Yet without the employer mandate, the only ones being penalized for this terrible law are the working families.

SugarShaq
07/02/13 10:30 pm

But he wants to destroy the country. Anyone who has not seen 2016 about obamas book needs to

CTYankee!!! Connecticut
07/02/13 6:28 pm

It is both, but the reason behind the move is all politics

Reply
paidert1 Columbus, Ohio
07/02/13 6:26 pm

Hmmm.. This is one of those times where I answered and then changed my mind after reading the comments... It's both.

Reply
pinkyusuck The Carribean. I wish.
07/02/13 6:24 pm

It's both. It's unworkable, and because they know that it's unworkable, they're trying desperately to hoodwink the American people about it, so that we won't hand them their asses next year.
Bad news, they're getting their ass handed to them anyways.

Reply
davidwhite1 Building it Bigger
07/02/13 6:24 pm

ACA=America the new home of the 29 hour work week.

Reply
pinkyusuck The Carribean. I wish.
07/02/13 6:26 pm

Right? It's already starting and it will likely get worse.
Most folks will have to spend more time and money on transportation to a second (or third, or fourth) job just to pay the bills, on top of now having to foot the whole bill for insurance.

pinkyusuck The Carribean. I wish.
07/02/13 6:27 pm

Sounds like a great plan to help the middle class, doesn't it? :S

swjboucher Just Run
07/02/13 6:47 pm

I hope the government has a plan and a safety net to help us.

Think Lovin Life
07/02/13 7:04 pm

SWJ ... I couldn't disagree more! I hope the government DOESN'T try to help us from this mess. I hope they simply admit that they have failed and should stop meddling.

swjboucher Just Run
07/02/13 6:23 pm

It's all politics

Reply