Tuesday, June 09, 2015

King v. Burwell

Daniel Marans [daniel.marans@huffingtonpost.com], at the Huffington Post, wrote a small piece on Obama's statement about the Supreme Court accepting to hear the challenge to the Affordable Care Act as presented in the case of King v. Burwell.  Under the wording of the subsidy provision of ACA -- which means "6.4 million people in 34 states will lose their subsidies, leaving many unable to afford insurance." [Health Care Reform Efforts Throughout History]

This appears to be the research and history as he found it.  In my two books, which referenced the history as Republican based, I started with Reagan's Privatization, Marans doesn't mention that, but does mention COBRA. 

Regardless of minor details, it is clear that the Health Care initiative is largely Republican with clear Democratic acceptance.  Exactly who opposes it? 

Well, Russian Revolution was in February 1917 -- that allowed for the haters to begin asserting that Health Care was "SOCIALIST"... an argument which they still use today.  Granted, the Haters hate and trust that their audience has never read the Bible, therefore do not know that Health Care without means testing is a Mandate imposed upon all "TRUE" Christians. ... SAINT PAUL’ S JOKE -- Jesus was a

Socialist.  Therefore to rant against Socialism is to rant against the basic requirements of being a follower of Jesus.  PLUS Jesus mandated that, if you use the money, you pay the taxes (Look at the face on the coin, and "Render unto Caesar that which is Caesars").

If we are in the Revelation Era -- 2000 years after the era when Jesus walked the Earth and the Hebrew Temple stood in Jerusalem -- which we are ... then Judgment Day, if such is a real thing, will fall hard upon the Right-Wing Allegedly Christian, but clearly ant-Christ, Modern Republican [Tea Party or Conservative] Party.

Fortunately, it appears you are only doomed if you are a “Conservative Abrahamic” [Conservative right-wing Christian,  Israelite Hasidim, or Jihardist Moslem] – secular and Atheistic individuals who care about their neighbor and actually obey the Golden Rule, as defined by Hillel, Jesus and Mohammed, seem to be assured survival.

1912
Former President Theodore Roosevelt champions national health insurance as he unsuccessfully tries to ride his

progressive Bull Moose Party back to the White House.
[Russian Revolution allowed opponents to label this "SOCIALIST"]

1935
President Franklin D. Roosevelt favors creating national health insurance amid the Great Depression but decides to push for Social Security first.

1942
Roosevelt establishes wage and price controls during World War II. Businesses can't attract workers with higher pay

so they compete through added benefits, including health insurance, which grows into a workplace perk.

1945
President Harry Truman calls on Congress to create a national insurance program for those who pay voluntary fees.   The American Medical Association denounces the idea as "socialized medicine" and it goes nowhere.  [AMA members also overcharge the poor and uninsured, and seems to be another group which values DEATH OVER LIFE , even though their job and oath is to save lives.]

1960
John F. Kennedy makes health care a major campaign issue but as president can't get a plan for the elderly through Congress.

1965
President Lyndon B. Johnson's legendary arm-twisting and a Congress dominated by his fellow Democrats lead to

creation of two landmark government health programs: Medicare for the elderly and Medicaid for the poor.

1974
President Richard Nixon wants to require employers to cover their workers and create federal subsidies to help everyone else buy private insurance. The Watergate scandal intervenes.

1976
President Jimmy Carter pushes a mandatory national health plan, but economic recession helps push it aside. 

1986
President Ronald Reagan signs COBRA, a requirement that employers let former workers stay on the company health plan for 18 months after leaving a job, with workers bearing the cost.

1988
Congress expands Medicare by adding a prescription drug benefit and catastrophic care coverage. It doesn't last long. Barraged by protests from older Americans upset about paying a tax to finance the additional coverage, Congress repeals the law the next year.

1993
President Bill Clinton puts first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton in charge of developing what becomes a 1,300-page plan for universal coverage. It requires businesses to cover their workers and mandates that everyone have health insurance. The plan meets Republican opposition, divides Democrats and comes under a firestorm of lobbying from businesses and the health care industry. It dies in the Senate.

1997
Clinton signs bipartisan legislation creating a state-federal program to provide coverage for millions of children in families of modest means whose incomes are too high to qualify for Medicaid.

2003
President George W. Bush persuades Congress to add prescription drug coverage to Medicare in a major expansion of the program for older people.

2008
Hillary Rodham Clinton promotes a sweeping health care plan in her bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.   She loses to Obama, who has a less comprehensive plan.

2009
President Barack Obama and the Democratic-controlled Congress spend an intense year ironing out legislation to require most companies to cover their workers; mandate that everyone have coverage or pay a fine; require insurance companies to accept all comers, regardless of any pre-existing conditions; and assist people who can't afford insurance.

2010
With no Republican support, Congress passes the measure, designed to extend health care coverage to more than 30 million uninsured people. Republican opponents scorned the law as "Obamacare."

2012
On a campaign tour in the Midwest, Obama himself embraces the term "Obamacare" and says the law shows "I do care."

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