...at taxpayers expense. I'm a tax payer and I happen to have a serious aversion to paying for other peoples "free" shit.
The repubs cave with some sort of face saving measure like "Down the road, we'll take a poll and if everybody in the country (every man, woman and child) absolutely hates Obamacare, then we'll defund." Then they never take the poll. Yeah, that's an exaggeration. But not by much. The republicans will cave with some sort of deal that looks good on paper, the press will sell it as a nonpartisan compromise and Obamacare will sail forth just as if none of this had ever happened. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. WTF do any of us work for a living? Far better to go on the dole.
Its common theme here that everyone seems to think going on the dole is better then actually working to make money. I know people who live this life on the dole. Its not as easy and stress free as many here make it out to be. In order for you to receive your monthly food stamps, you have to prove that you are trying to find a job. The process is a nightmare, for barely enough money to eat every month. Their section 8 housing is paid for, so they get to live in a house for very discounted rent. Sometimes its a nice house if they can convince a landlord like me to let them live there, but that usually does not happen, so they must live in a craphole ghetto. So yes, anyone here that feels like they are getting the shaft by working, feel free to go down to the welfare office and apply for food stamps.
Given our current financial situation we probably should. We're spending untold Billions (borrowed and printed) keeping the weakest of our species alive at the indisputable detriment of our specie's future. That is not how nature works.
If premiums skyrocket or if your premium is high already, I can see people cancelling their health insurance, paying the penalty which there is a cap, and getting insurance when they need it, since you won't be turned down for having a pre-existing condition. Just pray you don't have an emergency, unless someday you can obtain health insurance in 5 minutes. If you do get a large bill for a trip to the ER, pay a small amount each month over the next 500 years.
From what I've read thus far, I believe the "boomer's" are really the demographic that will take advantage of the changes. Many of them are of the age that they would fall into the "pre-existing" category and have already been priced out of the market. So they will probably sign up. OTOH, the 21-34's are already up to their eyeballs in debt and probably won't be too enthusiastic about paying even higher premiums for less coverage. If the system is designed to gouge this group to subsidize the boomer's (which I believe it is), then there will be some serious problems rather quickly. Or let's assume best case scenario, this group does decide to opt-in...then that is several hundred dollars per month sucked out of the economy and there goes the demand for some other consumer "widget".
Those poor souls. Standing in line for hours at air-conditioined welfare, food stamp, Medicaid and SS offices. Some days they probably only have a few hours to sit on the couch and watch TV. I just wish they could have a cushy job...like working in chicken processing plants or picking fruit in the sun all day. I guess those illegals and legal/seasonal workers do that work to avoid stuffy offices.
Hey if you can get good care for 28 cents on the dollar like congress and other government officials compared to the rest of the peasants then it's a great deal! Thanks congress.