I fully expected the Affordable Care Act to be gutted by the Supremes. The surprise on it being upheld was that Roberts cast the deciding vote instead of Kennedy. Then I thought, "No", the other four are political animals that vote mostly for the Republican agenda, and much could be said for Roberts, but maybe he's not just a Republican hack, but a corporate hack. After all Citizen's United is his trademark decision. The sticking point for Affordable Care was the individual mandate and this is a gold mine for the health insurance industry. All those 20 and 30 somethings that gamble on good health and forgo insurance will now have to buy in and that spells Billions if not Trillions in the next decade or two.
Obama has his victory, but it might prove pyrrhic. The Republicans will use the individual mandate as a stick to beat him over the head and Roberts gave them the ammunition by calling it a tax. After all they are the no-tax party. The progressives were secretly hoping it would be overturned so they could push for a single payer system, but without sixty-one votes in the Senate that would be nothing but wishful thinking.
This will make for an interesting election season.
2 comments:
That's a good point. Haven't seen anyone else point that out.
Still, I think it vindicates Obama, who can now say for sure he accomplished something big domestically in his first term. And I think most people are just tired of the whole health care debate now, so I figure it will end here.
My guess right now is that Obama will get re-elected and not much will change in the House and Senate, so we can look forward to at least two more years of gridlock.
The one thing the Dems have to do is use the nuclear option and end the filibuster so something can get done. This was something the Repubs threatened to do so Bushco could get their crap passed.
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