AUGUSTA, Maine — Democrats in Maine hailed the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision Thursday to uphold the Obama administration’s landmark health care law as a victory for consumers, while Republicans sharpened their attacks on the federal law by calling it an unprecedented tax increase.
State political leaders on Thursday were starting to assess the impact of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision and the four members of Maine’s congressional delegation took sharply different tones in their reactions to the court’s ruling.
Democratic Rep. Chellie Pingree cheered the Supreme Court’s affirmation of the health care law and said it means members of Congress can get to work on improving the law’s imperfections.
“I think it will move us forward, and we’ll continue to tweak it along the way,” Pingree, who would have supported a public health insurance option as part of the reform law, told the Bangor Daily News. “We had to get over this hurdle of the Supreme Court challenge to even be able to go back and talk about how we improve it.”
But Sen. Olympia Snowe, Maine’s retiring Republican senator who participated in early negotiations on the reform package, called for the law’s full repeal and said it will “impose an onerous tax” on Americans who will be required to purchase health insurance as a result of the law’s individual mandate provision.
Snowe was among many Republicans to use the court’s finding that the mandate was valid as a tax to call the health care law a tax increase. She also requested late Thursday that the Congressional Budget Office produce a new estimate showing the health care law’s long-term budgetary impact.
“The court accurately describes the individual mandate as a tax, which Americans can ill afford, especially at this time of continued economic peril,” she said in a statement.
Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican, and Democratic Rep. Mike Michaud took more measured responses to the Supreme Court ruling, with Collins urging Congress to “work together to change the law substantially,” and Michaud saying he’s glad the court decision provides “the certainty Congress and the American people need” on whether the health care law is constitutional.
In Maine’s capital, reaction split largely along party lines, with Democratic lawmakers saying the Supreme Court decision directly preserves health insurance coverage for thousands of Maine residents and Republicans criticizing the ruling while also trying to draw some favorable news from it.
Gov. Paul LePage, in a statement, called the health care law “an enormous tax” and said, “Washington, D.C., now has the power to dictate how we, as Americans, live our lives.”
But Attorney General William Schneider, who signed on as a plaintiff in the case against the Affordable Care Act, noted that the court decision “protected the States’ rights and prerogatives” by ruling that the federal government can’t penalize states for not expanding Medicaid programs that fund health insurance for low-income residents.
Health and Human Services Commissioner Mary Mayhew said that was a sure sign Maine’s request for a waiver to scale back Medicaid coverage would be approved.
Democrats, however, had a different read.
“I think that this act being upheld has protected the health care for a very large number of people in Maine who would otherwise be going to the emergency room or be facing very difficult health situations,” said Rep. Sharon Treat of Hallowell, the ranking Democrat on the Legislature’s Insurance and Financial Services Committee.
But Treat lamented that Maine might have missed its chance to set up its own health insurance exchange. Under the Affordable Care Act, states need to have insurance marketplaces in place for small businesses and individuals by 2014 or they have to accept a federally designed exchange.
Republican lawmakers this spring approved a law that delayed much state action on the insurance exchange until after the Supreme Court ruling. Under the health care law, states need to be on track for having their exchanges certified by January 2013, and Maine was among three states that had mostly stopped work on their exchanges.
“It’s pretty unfortunate that the Republican majority spent the past two years fighting the Affordable Care Act and pretty much frittered away time we could have used to design our own exchange,” Treat said.
A Maine Bureau of Insurance spokesman said Thursday that staff still were reviewing the Supreme Court decision and it’s too early to know what the impact will be on Maine’s insurance exchange.
While Democrats cheered the court ruling as a victory for consumers, Rep. Jonathan McKane, a Newcastle Republican, said insurance companies are the constituency that should be cheering the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the individual mandate portion of the health care law.
“This is an incredible boon to insurance companies,” he said. “They’ve got to be happy in the boardrooms of Wellpoint and Anthem.”
Legislative Republicans in Maine last year passed a health care reform law of their own that allows Maine residents to purchase health insurance from companies licensed in other states. The law also allows insurance companies more flexibility to charge different premiums based on the health care services customers use and where they live.
McKane said any success that reform package has in lowering health care costs would be outweighed by the federal health care law.
“We’re still going to see the beneficial effects, but they are going to be far overshadowed by the negative effects of the Affordable Care Act,” said McKane, who sits on the Legislature’s Insurance and Financial Services Committee. “We’ll keep moving ahead, and we’ll see how it turns out.”
Thursday’s Supreme Court decision is sure to have an impact on the debate in Maine’s U.S. Senate race. Democrat Cynthia Dill and independents Angus King and Steve Woods, who support the health care law, praised the Supreme Court decision while saying more work needed to be done on health care reform.
Dill called the Affordable Care Act “a much needed law that provides basic health care to Americans where the free market failed to,” and King said he hoped Congress would “proceed in a spirit of cooperation rather than partisanship.”
Republican Charlie Summers said he was disappointed by the court ruling. “I, like most Americans, do not believe the federal government has the right to force anyone to purchase a product.”
Summers called for expanding tax breaks for families and individuals as a way to make health insurance more affordable.
It’s a good day for Americans and a bad day for the other group.
You are so wrong. If you think its great I’ll send you my tax bill so you can pay it!
I don’t get it, you want personal responsibility .This is why many of the T people are against welfare, but when the health law makes more people responsibe for paying for their health insurance, you hate it.This is no different from having to have auto insurance so, if there is an accident, the person resonsible pays.
Not the same as auto insurance. You don’t have to drive do you? No you don’t. However you do need to breathe. So you cannot even compare the two. And yes I want personal responsibility, however you know darn well that you and I will foot the bill no matter what happens and how the heck are people going to pay a fine when they can’t afford insurance anyways?
I’m so glad somebody else actually “gets it”. Thank you.
How about this – not everyone drives, but everyone will need health care at some point in their lives. We’re already picking up the tab for people without health insurance. Let’s have people actually pay for it.
You will still pay for it if people don’t have it. Why can’t you people see this. If you go to the ER they cannot turn you away. And on top of that if you can’t afford to pay it….hmmm where does that money come from. You and me!
Right, but if everyone is mandated to have it, then we don’t pay for it anymore. They pay for it. Everyone is responsible for their own healthcare. Right now, people go to the ER and we pay for it. This is the amazing thing about all this – with the mandate, they will be covered and they will pay for it themselves. What’s a conservative not to like? Personal responsibility. Everyone will need health care. Everyone should make sure they’re covered so they can pay for their own damn health care.
You can’t see the forest because of the damned trees, can you?!?
The individual mandate FINANCES the entire mess! The whole point of forcing people to buy in, is that the amount of their premium payments will be far more than the amount of services they consume… Thus holding up the entire house of cards!
but that can’t be right.. almost all those who support this bill , at least that have posted here, are positive that , now they pay for folks who can’t or won’t.. and that they will see a drastic reduction in what they pay for insurance when this new bill kicks in.. …………. gee.. wonder if that’s why the democrats never told them the truth.. that this is a tax and that there is no savings for them and that they were wrong in the first place.. the cost of this bill is going to be enormous.. someone is going to pay for it.. if it’s the gov’t well then it’s your money they are using.. ’cause they make no money.. they just collect your tax.. health care tax.. the one that is not a tax.. and it will be MORE than what you are paying now… and it will keep going up and up and up and up.. why.. ’cause that is what taxes do and that is what big gov’t does.. but you know what DB04953, I think they will like it anyway… it’s just the way they are built ..DNA perhaps
I’ll let Mitt Romney explain it: http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/06/romney-acknowledges-his-healthcare-plan-imposed-a-tax-in-08/
I keep hearing the same song.. that you are somehow paying for someone elses health care.. show me how much you are paying and how you are paying.. and then tell me what is your expectation on how much you will save when this new bill takes affect … please.. my take is that you will save nothing and you will not be able to show how much you pay for someone elses health care.. it’s a pie in the sky argument.. doesn’t work.. the only thing you got right is that every one needs health care… i agree.. absolutely no one who gets sick should have to stay sick.. so..please respond with how much you are paying for someone elses health care… please
You’re arguing both sides of the issue. People will need medical care and if they don’t have insurance and/or can’t pay, those of us who have insurance and pay taxes are going to pay for them anyway. At least under the ACA, we’ll get something out of them.
no you won’t… I cannot believe how most of you have missed the point here… if it were just about the money , there would have been no reason for this bill in the first place.. but it’s not.. it’s about power and control.. if it were just about the cost of health care, which is what the problem is, than it is fixed by taking control or tort re form, regulating health insurance providers, reeling in the FDA and big Pharma, reduce the relationships between congress and insurance and big pharma .no more lobbyist from any of these companies.. no more inside deals from either of these companies and a complete total re do for the FDA… those are where the costs are and congress and the democrats barely scratched the service on any of these important costs issues.. this bill will be very very expensive the way it is written… so expensive that there is no way that the level of excellent health care could possible stay the same.. Doctors all across the country are bailing out and the number of future doctors will drop drasitcally.. .. your parents, will not be treated in the future for what they would be treated for now.. remember those death panels, the ones the democrats said didn’t exist.. well they do exist.. they just call them something different .. cost cutting panels or something.. they will decide who gets what treatments and it will be based on life span expectations vs costs.. folks this bill is not even close to what you think it is… so leave the celebrations on the curb for the moment.. and say a silent prayer for your country
Responsibility is getting up off the couch and paying into the Insurance pool like every other responsible adult!
I know that the Teapublicans want individual responsibility!
It starts with YOU!
Not the other guy!
I have a full time job thank you very much!
Oh ya, Do you have a full time job that pays for your health insurande
I have a full and a part time job; my husband is fully employed. Because I am unable to get insurance, my husband picks up the tab for both of us at a cost of almost $6,000 a year in premiums. You don’t want to know what his employer pays for the two of us, but it totals about $22,000 a year – for two healthy people. Neither of us have diagnoses which need medication. But no matter what insurance you carry, EVERYONE should be paying a form of a co-pay, even if it’s a buck – something should come out of everyone’s pockets, and that’s not happening. So what do we do as the taxpayers? I’m exhausted thinking about ways to fix it. But I will tell you one thing: there is absolutely no reason someone on state insurance should be going to the ER at noontime for a cold – then back at 5PM because you’re not feeling better. If they had a co-pay of $50 for an ER visit, they’d seek help at their doctors, not have the priviledge of wasting money at the local ER that the rest of us do not have.
I normally would’t be inclined to agree with a post like this but it does cost me a minimum of $160 after my federal BC/BS insurance benefit, that I pay out of pocket for, just for walking care. Plus, the copay, and the prescription copay. F me.
Bravo! Well said.
Most of the people that aren’t paying now, still won’t have to pay.
No it’s not our responsibility to pay for lazy mooching deadbeats who continue to want a free ride. If they want healthcare get a job and have them pay for it. Just because they want to get everything handed to them without them earning it well too bad. Americans and Mainers don’t have the money to support these lazy mooching deadbeats anymore. We shouldn’t be forced to pay for a National Version of Dirigo because that is what this program is. If this Healthcare Program is such a great thing why does only 22% of folks support it huh Dlbrt explain that one. Because everyone knows its an abysmal failure that will become a boondoggle to taxpayers and a destructive force on our economy.
I was called a Lazy Deadbeat once!
I was on my third consequtive 16 hr shift of wich I volunteered for filling in for another.
I would get out paint the house for four hrs , and sleep for four hr’s and then return for duty.
The fourth day I was told that my relief called out and I was now forced to finish his shift and I fell asleep at work at about the 22 hr of being awake!
Lazy, Deadbeat!
It’s all a matter of perspective isin’t it!
Your premise is flawed. If the individual mandate was about getting people who are consuming services, but not paying for them, to start paying for them – then it wouldn’t be so important in the first place! The supporters of the Affordable Care Act specifically NEEDED the individual mandate to be upheld, so that those funds, fom people who would otherwise opt out of the system, would finance the REST of the mess.
In other words, you have your thinking backwards. You want to force people to buy into a system to pay for services consumed by others.
Let’s just be honest about that, Comrade.
If you don’t have a car, you don’t need auto insurance. But every living person does have a human body. So you do need health care. Why should those of us who pay our premiums be forced to subsidize those who use our health care facilities and don’t pay for the care? It’s no secret that health providers charge the rest of us more to cover the uninsured. And it’s no secret that insurance companies won’t allow people into insurance pools unless they get their coverage through employers. All that will change now.
so, I guess you are expecting your health insurance payments to go DOWN.. right ? and the difference is that disgraceful amount you say you are paying for someone elses health care who doesn’t have insurance .. right ?
You don’t have to go to the hospital either but I suspect you would if you got sick right? So whats wrong with asking you to pay a small protion of your bill so the rest of us can afford health insurance to.
It isn’t the same as auto insurance. I don’t HAVE to buy auto insurance. Fortunately, SCOTUS ruled correctly on this. It’s not an interstate commerce issue…it’s a tax, just what it should be.
You do if you want to register your vehicle and drive.
If and only if. I don’t have to have a car or drive. I am fine with my government setting such a condition to drive. They should not be setting conditions for me to breathe. My government is here for me; I am not here for it.
Most people have to drive to get to their jobs or healthcare that they can’t afford if they’re not covered at work.
That’s a very fine line. in today’s world, unless you live in NYC or San Francisco, if you want to participate in the modern economy, you do need a vehicle.
That is true but there is no law requiring it. Which is why the healthcare wasn’t held up under the commerce clause but as a TAX. And you know what… taxes can change. :)
I dunno Cheesecake. We needed some healthcare reform big time. It’s a plan both McCain and Romney supported just a few years ago. Am I comfortable with the mandate? (probably not on a purely constitutional level, and I hope you know my comments enough to know that is very important to me).
But in all, I think it’s good for our country. The only thing that worries me is that it didn’t go far enough: I support a single payer system; these insurance companies don’t need to exist in their current form.
I currently don’t carry health insurance. So, my insurance bill will go up. If I do then end up in the ER, Cheesecake, you can afford to send me flowers, because you and the other tax payers won’t be paying my bill.
That has to be better than what we were doing.
Should we amend it? Yes. with a single payer system.
If there were more people like you, people that actually pay their bills, we wouldn’t need obamacare!
And don’t worry, I’ll send you flowers!
Not true, and less true the more public transportation improves.
I live in Bangor and don’t own a vehicle and participate in the modern economy.
The annual cost of owning a vehicle adds up to about 90 one-day car rentals.
We need to push back against the car-as-necessity-for-everyone mindset.
You have to look in to who finances the Tea Potty, then you will understand. They just do what they are told.
Like Obama is a Soros drone?
That strikes me as better than being a Limbaugh drone.
At least Limbaugh isn’t a Communist attempting to buy the American government.
I agree with you. He is a capitalist making you pay him for the american government. He’s selling you what you want to hear. You are paying him to make yourself feel smart instead of thinking for yourself.
Ouch.
I don’t pay him a nickel. Where do you get off with a statement like that?
It’s so much better that the red white and blue Koch brothers buy the American government. The country’s new slogan: “American government, bought and paid for by American businessmen.”
At least they aren’t communist.
You’ve no idea what a communist is. In fact, you’ve no idea about what you are speaking. The right depends on the half educated, like yourself, to further their elitist cause. You are a pawn of the wealthy. God save us from folks who think like you. “Think”? No thinking involved. I mean, god save us from folks who believe as you do. We need americans, not Koch clones.
And how is it you can determine what I know and don’t know?
I read your reply. You’ve a hang up on the word communism. It’s a buzz word for you. No thought involved.
Good generalization. I’m glad to see you have me pegged in a few short posts. I have always yearned for that level of insight.
Are you for real. That is one of the stupidest statements I’ve ever seen written down.
They are against the free riders, unless its them!
No the problem is the freeriders including yourself think everything should be handed to you on a silver platter. Most folks work and earn their keep and way in life. But Liberals think we should all just sit on the couch collect welfare than have the Nanny State imposed on them. Not going to happen because people only take it for so long then we get angry and revolt.
You ASSUME alot!
I have worked 40 + unbroken years on average of between 50 – 60 hrs holidays, Weekends, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Sometimes on continuous shifts around the clock even above 24 straight hrs. I unselfishly raised a large family putting them before me and without any handout. All the while I was most certainly aware of that “invisible” hand helping me. Those who came before me, the engineers, the doctors, lawyers, buisnessmen and laborers alike who pioneered this country and made the opportunities that where available for me. I gladly and without remorse paid my Taxes.
Then one day I became severly disabled .
I paid my taxes without even a wimper and yet you call me a free rider , you think that I want to just sit on a couch and take a free ride!– Greed, selfishness and callousness insults me.
Yes,- I do believe that the government should help out those less fortunate, who can’t fend for themselves.
The reason being is that this IS a civilized society, those who are successful owe the system some gratitude for their successes. They could NOT have done it without the help.
Every time you turn your lights on or ride down the highway in that marvelous machine the automobile , and every breath that you take because some doctor worked diligently to cure diseases that surely would have taken your life at a young age I suggest you rethink your Vile hatred for those less fortunate than you!
You didn’t do it alone!
And –One day it may be you!
And, our auto premiums are out of sight and the insured pays for the ones who aren’t. That probably won’t happen with obamacare though. Oh wait, that’s exactly the way it will work.
It is totally different. I should not have to pay more taxes to for the medical care of some fat, faux-disabled slob on Social Security who just had a heart attack after 20 years of pizza and internet gaming. This law does nothing to encourage those that drive up insurance costs to get off their butts and live a better lifestyle.
The lazy will just continue to propagate, and drive up healthcare costs for all Americans, allowing us to be broken down to the point where only Marxism can restore the government and the country.
Since you don’t have insurance we have been paying for you. Now you will need to pay your own way.
Oh I do have insurance! Nice try though! And for the short time that I didn’t have it I never once went to the doctor or the ER!
You Should have tryed no Insurance with Lukemia.
You might have a different outlook!
Get up off the couch!
Pay it yourself like every other American!
I do!
Good, now you will pay less. What’s your beef?
Really how did Dirigo Health work for you??. The same program here in Maine that was supposed to insure most Mainers and be self insuring and paying for itself. All it did tax people to death from their policies to other taxes it only covered 15,000 at its peak and was bleeding money all the time costing Taxpayers over 200 million dollars. It ended up creating some of the highest insurance rates in the country here in Maine. This will do the same it will eventually raise the debt to more than $20 Trillion dollars, most states will opt out of it through medicaid and people will get tired of the taxes on it. The fact is I give this program 2 years tops then you will see folks getting outraged on it.
? Is english your first language? And I quote: “All it did tax people to death from their policies to other taxes it only covered 15,000 at its peak and was bleeding money all the time costing Taxpayers over 200 million dollars.” Sounds like Rush speak to me. I’ve no idea what you are saying and I doubt you do either.
Nobody is going to raise your taxes. You will either keep the insurance you have now or buy a policy if you don’t have one. The premiums will go to the insurance company. The only difference is the premiums will be called a “tax”. It’s no different from calling a corporation a “person”.
my guess is the corporate free speech/election super PAC decision will be revisited within the decade.
Go ahead ,we are already paying your healthcare bill.
An another country heard from!
LOL
I’ll send mine along with yours…
We were sold a bill of goods. Obama, Pelosi, Reid, and Sebelius repeatedly said this was not a tax, yet that is the only way this can be sustained constitutionally.
The government lawyer lost his argument that the mandate is legal under the Commerce Clause. Roberts et al said “NO” to that argument, falling back on the govt’s coercive power to tax. A small but very significant victory, otherwise this decision would have enabled Congress and the White House to force anything down our thoats anytime they wanted to.
Here is a salient quote from Justice Roberts’ decision that perhaps illuminates his thinking the best:
”
It is not our job to protect the people from the consequences of their political choices.” Basically, Roberts fell under the spell of the elites, and decided to punt this issue to November.Vote Romney! Repeal Obama/Pelosicare!
Soooo, Mitt Romney Healthcare= Good, Obama Healthcare= not so good? LOL
Fact: Romneycare has created the highest premiums in the country. They both stink. However, before Obama/Pelosicare, an American could still reside in this country without such coersion by moving to another state.
Vote Romney! Repeal Obama/Pelosicare!
{ Fact: Romneycare has created the highest premiums in the country. }
Whats that tell ya!
Don’t vote for Romney!
You said it is a fact. Let’s see your proof! i think Mass has highest premiums because of the number of claims. Let’s see your proof.
Ask! Dannyboy !
My post was HIS Quote!
wonder who is going to pay for all those illegals to have insurance!?
Obama stated that the healtcare bill would not create any new taxes. So far it has been revealed that they are all kinds of hidden costs not previously told to the people & many more to come. Now we are being told that this entire bill is a tax, which Obama’s lawyers also argued for before the Supreme Court. So far, all I see is one lie after another from Obama. He, along with Pelosi, Reid & every single member of Congress that voted for this healtcare bill, sight unseen, should be voted out. Also, notice that Congress exempted themselves from this bill. We need to vote all incumbants out for the next several elections & let the politicians know that they work for us & not themselves.
If healthcare wasn’t so damned expensive it wouldn’t matter.
Think it was expensive before, just wait. You ain’t seen nothin’ yet!
I couldn’t agree with you more entirely. I support an incumbent reelection rate of zero percent for the next six years. 100% turnover is required, in Congress and in the Oval Office.
If you already have insurance then you don’t get taxed. Only those who don’t will have to pay the tax.
And when they don’t we pay it for them! Why don’t you liberals see this!
Why are you arguing both sides of the fence? You just posted earlier about people not being turned away from the ER and all of us paying for it. Now your arguing against those people being required to have insurance? Make up your mind!
Those people will still not pay. That’s the entire point of the mandate. Force people who would opt out, BECAUSE THEY AREN’T CONSUMING THE SERVICES, to pay in – to pay for the services of “the collective.”
It’s a fallacy to think that there are legions of people out there who willingly forego medical insurance and just go use the E.R. anyway. My point is, those people still won’t be forced to buy insurance under the new law. They’ll be paid for by forcing OTHERS to buy insurance they don’t want or need. The bottom feeders still won’t be paying for what they are consuming.
Let’s just be honest about this, Comrades.
Only those without insurance will have to pay the Mandate tax, we will all be paying the other 21 taxes the law has hidden!
If you think this will not cost you in some way, you’re delusional.
It doesn’t matter if it is a “tax” or not- some taxes are beneficial. What most of us pay in taxes is far less than what we pay for fuel or food every year.
Oh, well THAT makes it all better then!
Do you realize that the Affordable Healthcare Act was modeled after a bill that Mitt Romney championed in Mass? Because if you do, your statement seems father foolish, if you don’t… well now you do, and your statement seems foolish. How is it “Obamacare” again?
I like to call it Robomney care my self. When both were in positions of leadership on health care they both came up with the same solution, But some how it’s different now…
Osama Bin Laden is dead, Gm is Alive, and Everybody has Healthcare!
OBAMA 2012
Well, not everybody, that would be a single payer system. But the other two things are 100% correct.
OPPPSSY!
Everybody has ” Access ” !
Well everyone already has “access”, but this law was not designed to cover everyone, and no one, aside from people who oppose it, have ever said so.
So I see your “oppssy!” and raise you a “look a squirrel!”
Read the Bill—- Prexisting Conditions no longer exclude you!
Bang—–I shot the squirrel!
LOL
Shoot all the squirrels you like. You are still incorrect in thinking this bill was ever going to cover every one.
AH HA! YOU SHOT A SQUIRREL!
A TAX ON YOU!!!!!
You don’t set very high standards, do you!
I cant clip the ears of a squirrel at 200 yards!
Running!
elites like Mitt Romney. While Mitt is trying to take away healthcare from everyday citizens, his horse is doing very well in the dressage competition.
dressage? isn’t that like horse cotillion? horses in tutus? Romney not elite? please!http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/17/us/politics/horse-co-owned-by-ann-romney-earns-a-spot-on-the-olympic-dressage-team.html
Is obama a member of the elite? If he wasn’t before becoming God, is he now?
I’m still a little hazy on that point.
i must have missed the deification.
Actually, it’s a great day for Mexicans. Americans… not so much.
A good day for Americans? The largest tax EVER. A law that infringes on EVERY citizen forcing them to buy a product or pay a penalty. A law that will make many employers DROP healthcare all together. This is your idea of good?
Be careful what you wish for you just may get it..
Stop listening to right wing nonsense. No employer will have to forego having healthcare insurancefor their employees. That, in fact, will not change. Where do the republicans come up with such silliness?
Can’t have it both ways, folks. The liberals sold this monstrosity in large part by screaming at the tos of their lungs that “IT’S NOT A TAX! IT’S NOT A TAX! IT’S NOT A TAX!”
And, they had to shove it through on a technicality after Massachusetts clearly sent Scott Brown to the Senate specifically to stop this train in its tracks. (60 – 1 = 0, in our Senate.)
Now the Supreme Court has pulled the curtain back and forced us to see what ought to have been plainly obvious from the beginning. This is an enormous, immense new SOCIALIST ENTITLEMENT program financed ENTIRELY by an enormous, immense new TAX.
Let’s just be honest about that, Comrades.
Looks like I will be dropping my coverage for all my employees, so there goes your argument!
sad day for American ethics.Good day for thieves.
Some thieves are not happy, the Koch brothers aren’t.
At least they earned what they recieve.
And they had so much money left over from their earnings they bought every Republican in Congress.
They used their own money they earned not mandated from workers.Like every other waste program the left does it is done through lawyers.
They inherited their billions, and managed to keep most of the money, not exactly earned though, was it. Maintaining status quo is not exactly reaching for the stars.
Don’t tell me the law requires that the thief profession gets insurance now
The thieves are the Republicans and their corporate bosses. Finally, the little guys get something from the Supreme Court. Those of us who have preexisting conditions can no longer be denied coverage; insurers can no longer impose lifetime limits on health care on new policies; those of us who have children with pre-existing conditions can purchase health insurance for them; those who have adult children in school or working for employers who do not provide insurance can keep them on our policies until age 26; those with diabetes and other serious illnesses will not be dropped from insurances policies; women will no longer be charged extra for insurance; the list goes on. For those who want to know about the real Affordable Care Act not the one that FOX, Republicans Teapartiers, and timjy are lying about, check out the website: http://www.healthcare.gov/law/index.html. The law and how it impacts providers, insurers, and the insured is covered there.
Oh Republicans/Tea Partiers, you can whine all you want about repealing it. The SCOTUS has ruled.
Unfortunately, Jon McKane is correct in saying this is a boon for insurers, because the United States will not truly be a civilized nation until we have health CARE for all. NOT health INSURANCE. Big difference.
Well good, you can whine when Obama gets beat in a landslide in November!
Keep dreaming, sweets.
Really, must be a liberal if that’s all you can come with during some of the most important times in American history.
If united Americans for a better country are called liberals, count me in.
I am a liberal on most/many social issues such as health care. Why should the “rest of us” pay for those who choose to not have health insurance then use the emergency room when something goes wrong?
If you really think that you’re not going to pay anymore for these people to use the ER then you are nuts!
I prefer my own vision of the future not yours.
Because you know I’m right. I see the abuse of the system every day.
who is going to pick up the tab on the illegals healthcare?
Get your thinking straight. Read the information available to you. The reason the mandate is so important, is that it finances the entire mess. In other words, it will generate more in revenues from those people who would otherwise opt out, than the cost of the services/claims consumed by those same people.
Put it another way… The people who are consuming, but not paying, will still be there either way. They still won’t be forced to pay. Others, however, will be.
Carefully read what I wrote and you will see that is what I said.
This election just became about Obamacare. Have you seen those poll numbers lately? The American people are widely and wisely opposed to this massive overeach of federal power.
Obama is going to lose by percentage points in the double-digits.
Did you forget that “Obamacare” was modeled after “Romneycare” in Mass?
Actually I have heard Obama make reference on tv when he was in Portland during a rally that Obamacare is like Dirigo Health here in Maine. We all know how much of a success Dirigo Health is here in Maine. It was a failure here just as NOBAMACARE will be nationally.
I was taking about ROMNEYCARE. You remember Mitt Romney, (Republican presidential candidate), passed it while he was governor of Massachusetts.
Don’t delude yourself into thinking the Massachusetts law was the brainchild and masterpiece of Mitt Romney. You need to consider the circumstances. He was a GOP Governor in the bluest of blue states (80% of the Legislature members of the opponent party).
It’s been the law in Massachusetts for a few years, why isn’t there anarchy in Massachusetts because of this terrible law???
So not true. Not even close.
Very close, very close
How is it different Einstein?
I’m glad you liberals get away with the name calling. It’s so much fun when you’re backed into a corner!
Your hero Mittens is the one backed into a corner! Romneycare was good for Massachusetts and now it the law of the land.
Romney is incomPETent:
http://www.dogsagainstromney.com/
It’s your hero Mitt Romney that’s backed into a corner. He brought Romneycare to Massachusetts and NOW it’s the law of the land. Thank you Mittens!
There is some real numbers coming up in november that you are not going to embrace, but united americans have always produced a better America than the conservative group that can’t see past their own driveway.
Crapola
is that why we have over 50% on entitlements. nice jobs progressive pickpockets
Keep dreaming. Come November you will have a nightmare!
When most Americans find out what is in the law, and don’t listen Fox news, they become in favor of it. And besides, Romney already doesn’t have the electoral votes to win.
HAve you looked beyond your nose? The polls clearly show that Americans want something done about health care, health costs, etc. After the din of the decision calms down, you will see a pulling together of political opinions around agreements on the health problems.
Fortunately for Obama, his supporters aren’t shallow single issue voters.
Sorry! Romneycare V/S ObamaCare
The Etch a Sketch always leaves residue traces!
We had all better hope that Obama is defeated at the ballot box come November because if he isnt we will see another civil war in this country. I dont say that in any wishful or hopeful way. This is a sad day for EVERYONE in this country. Just imagine what happens when the GOP takes over congress and mandates you must own a gun and pass a gun-safety test or pay a $10,000 fine…errrr tax. Or it mandates you must say the Pledge of Alligence on a daily basis from memory. While my examples may sound silly to you, this is now within the powers of the Feds. They can dictate that we do anything they wish now, for better or for worse. Today our freedom was defeated. That is what happened. This wasnt a victory for anyone except the Federal government, and anytime they win we all LOSE.
Unlike you, the typical Mainer and most Americans are not sitting on the extreme edges. Because OUR Constitution worked against your wishes on this issue, you want to hot trot to Boston or wherever in hell you want to go!
You do not speak for the “typical” Mainer nor do you speak for the American people. If you did you would realize that 2/3rds of the American people do NOT want this law. Instead you sit on your high horse and act as though you are some sort of hero for supporting tyranny. Well Im here to tell you that one way or the other we will defeat this law and its proponents. Today went against us but November 6th will not. And on November 7th we will start mandating YOUR behavior against your rights and wishes. The SCOTUS has opened the door for us to regulate your X-box, your I-phone and your liberal B.S. Maybe we’ll start by mandating a $5000 fine/tax on all abortions. Maybe a $10k fine if you cant pass a random drug screening. The possibilities are now endless. Be very careful what you wished for because the flip side of the coin means we can mandate what you do in your private life now as well. And as unfair as that is, maybe you deserve a taste of your own medicine. Come January when we control the House, Senate and White House we might just go “mandate crazy” and there wont be a thing you can do about it.
I NEVER said I spoke for anyone. However, your rant underscores exactly what I said, “the typical Mainer and most Americans are not sitting on the extreme edges.” I worry not about the paranoic concepts you worry about. This is a democracy. Come November both you and I will see what the Mainers and rest of Americans feel. They won’t though base their vote on one law. I predict they will re-elect President Obama! For sure he will get my vote.
This used to be a democracy. The problem is you are so short-sighted that you cant see the fact that all of us, conservative and liberal, lost our rights in this ruling. The government can now charge you for anything it wishes and call it a “tax” and its legal. You incorrectly assume that your side will always be the party in power, but I am telling you that when we take the power back the ability to “mandate” will still be there. I dont support “mandating” anyones behavior because its against our way of life, but todays decision allows which ever party is in control to dictate your behavior to you. That is a loss for all of us, but you are too busy gloating to be able to comprehend that.
Where where you when Ronald Reagan “Mandated” that Hospitals couldn’t turn away patients who couldn’t afford treatment?
Your protests may have stopped this whole debacle in the first place!
Thank you for pointing out that you really ARE that uninformed!
“You do not speak for the “typical” Mainer nor do you speak for the American people.”
And neither do you. Come on down off of that soap-box before you hurt yourself.
1.76 trillion Likes!
86’d
Hahahahahahahahaha! What are you gonna do, bang a drum and sing us to death?
There is already a war on- a war against the middle class- perpetrated by the wealthy elite that pump billions into Republican war chests.
So obama is part of the wealthy elite wanting to pump billions into Republican was chests??? After all, he’s now responsible for the largest tax on the middle class in the country’s history!
I see you listened to Glen Beck today….
CommieHippieLefty
Now thats a funny handle!
Well said! But don’t expect the obama disciples here to understand that.
I hope you’re right, but now I’m not even sure if I’ll be voting for him! I hope there’ll be popular independent!
I hope not. That’s what happened in the Gore/Bush election (although I wouldn’t call Nader wildly popular).
Everyone is entitled to their own opinions but I am pleased this passed. As for the possibility of President Obama getting voted out this November…well…tell me what Governor Romney would do for the uninsured under his presidency. Be specific please.
Well then I will say the same to you, you can pay my tax bill when it goes through the roof. And I have no idea what Romney will do. At least I can admit that. When you have the senate that says oh we will just have to pass it and see what happens, before being read, well you do the math. But of course the Democrats can do no wrong. What a joke and bad day for the American people!
Both the President and the Democratic leaders have said today that there could be parts of the law that need tweaking. The overhaul of the healthcare system is a work in progress.
If your friend stood in front of you at the Pharmacist’s fishing out his checkbook to write a $1,000 check to pay for his Cancer medication, what then?
By the way, he was Democrat and an insured Democrat, who had worked 12 and many more hours a day all his life. His check was just part of that portion of the bill, not paid by his insurance.
Gone now. But there are many more like him, struggling to pay their staggering insurance rates each month, along with that portion of their bills not covered by the Co-Pay.
When the state arbitrarily slashed 68,000 from the DHHS benefits there were many struggling each day to stay alive.
How can anyone – especially Americans, who pride themselves as “compassionate conservatives,” live with themselves?
Congress is provided with the finest National Health Medical Care anywhere in the world. It all comes with a $200,000 annual salary, with many fringe benefits. People who are also blessed with riches beyond the reach of working people have no need for any revised health care plans. Such plans are also considered detrimental to their stock earnings from their investments in medical and pharmaceutical manufacturing.
Apparently, the Supreme Court of the United States believes that such a plan is needed in this country. There are many who are richly endowed, who will concur.
I love it when you tea-baggers get delusional! Remember these numbers: Obama 326 electoral votes, Romney 212.
I’m so happy that all you have is to call us names. Must be nice to think you’re right all the time!
When you promise a November landslide defeat for the President, given all the current polling data showing a 3% lead in the popular vote and a larger lead in the Electoral College for President Obama, I have no more accurate word for your post than “delusional.”
You must be looking at all the liberal poles, cause last I checked they were dead even at 46% each!
Check out politico’s web site. They are far from liberal.
The word is “polls.” Check out RealClearPolitics which summarizes the current average of polls at 3.6%, including a Fox poll showing the President leading by 5%. Is Fox a “liberal pole” in your inimitable phrase?
Boy you must be stretching, I’m so sorry I misspelled something. I know you’re perfect and never make a mistake. You must get all your news from comrade Chris. Boy those liberal networks have you so brainwashed! Maybe he can send a tingle up your leg as well, and then you can listen to Andrea Mitchell spout off her fat mouth!
I don’t watch TV and have no idea to whom “comrade Chris” refers. I do rely on reliable sources, such as RealClearPolitics, and I presume you would accept the reliability of a Fox News poll showing a 5% lead for the President. You are dead wrong that the polls show an even race but lack the courage to admit a mistake. Thus you lash out at imagined enemies.
Man, you didn’t even respond to what he actually posted showing numbers by non-liberal outlets; and all because your hair is on fire and you think the sky is going to fall down to extinguish it.
Poles? Hmmmm.
90% of politicians think the Electoral College is for teaching politicians.
Mitt Romney is not Electoral College material.
Who thinks they are right. On this issue, I know I am.
Be careful for what you wish for keeping Obamacare is only supported by 22% of the country. All this will do is get the Conservatives and Independents energized who haven’t been excited about this candidate. Now that they have an issue that folks are against it will be bad news for NOBAMA. Just as Gay Marriage here in Maine will energize us 53%ers to come out and vote against that and Democrats.
By a huge majority, Americans support doing something for the uninsureds, actually it is insured who will also benefit by not paying the uninsureds emr room visits. You can quote all the individual polls you want, there are components of the law that most Americans believe in. Worried about November? Not me!
I agree- the popular vote could be close- but not the electoral- and that’s what matters.
What Majority the Liberals??. Most think healthcare is not an important issue right now. The Majority of Americans want jobs, tax relief, tax cuts and welfare program reforms.
Cite the poll.
Most polls I have seen indicate that some of the criticism is from the left: that we should have had a single payer system rather than subsidized private insurance. Once one factors out those who say the ACA didn’t go far enough, it polls 50/50 with remaining voters.
Your buddies at “MSNDC” were talking about it today that only 22% want to keep the law on the books. Chris Matthews, Andrea Mitchell , Ed Schultz and Rachel Maddow all nearly had a heart attack today wondering why Americans don’t support this law and this president. All Liberals better take their blinders off because the guy stinks. He has no clue on how to do anything. He hasn’t told the truth on any of the issues. He continues to want to spend our money without checks and balances. It’s time the Liberals get a clue that we want jobs and tax relief not socialism.
Bin Laden is dead, GM and Chrysler are alive, we’re out of Iraq and we’re getting out of Afghanistan. Americans have a choice this year and no electoral college prediction anywhere shows Romney winning.
” Obamacare is only supported by 22% of the country.”
Once the country understands it, they will! It will take awhile for them to come out of the propaganda induced daze!
In the meantime,—–Obamacare is Law,
get over it!
Actually most of it doesnt become law until 2014. Thats because it takes ten years of taxation to fund seven years of Obamacare. Even a liberal should be able to figure out that isnt sustainable.
Actually several components are ALREADY being implemented – kids staying on parents insurance til mid-late 20s, no company can deny insurance to people who have medical problems, etc. Canada has it and they are very “sustainable.”
Have you looked beyond your nose? The polls clearly show that Americans want something done about health care, health costs, etc. After the din of the decision calms down, you will see a pulling together of politicians and tweeking of the law to bring around agreements on the health problems.
Maybe you should put down the kool aid. Really that’s why nearly 70% of the country want this law gone and only 22% want to keep NOBAMACARE. It tells me NOBAMACARE is not important to Americans that the economy is the top priority. But Liberals who have their heads in the sand and are too busy sailing in their sailboats (like John Kerry) that they put the Economy on the backburners. Well they have 5 jobs reports starting with next week because with the economy tanking , stock market tanking Nobama could be on his way out. Which would be music to all American’s ears.
All the polls have them in a statistical dead heat, when does this landslide start actually showing up somewhere?
What a terrible day this has to be for all of our radical right tea party parrot friends. First thing today the SCOTUS hands President Obama a victory by declaring the cornerstone legislation of his first term as being constitutional. As if that wasn’t bad enough for our radical right tea party parrot friends it was learned later today that Lance Dutson aka The Grand Wizard of the Maine Heritage Policy Center will be giving up his ceremonial robes and leadership of the clan of MHPC’s highly paid political operatives to take on the task of running “Lockstep” Charlie Summers’ soon to be failed bid for the US Senate.
Lance is leaving Maine Heritage Policy Center? Maybe Naran will take his place!
Do you really think that MHPC would make a woman, and I am assuming that Naran falls into that category, The Grand Wizard? Actually it might be fun. Imagine all of these right wing nutcases having to take their orders from a woman. LePage would go off the deep end.
Good point, I forgot how much Republicans hate women with power.
BS!
Yep, there is a LOT of BS coming out of the Maine Heritage Policy Center!
He’s not leaving, he is just stepping down until Summers loses, and then he will be back.
What I want to know though, is when Summers does lose, with roughly 22% of the vote, will Lance and friends finally figure out that the majority of Mainers do not want the MHPC “way of life”?
I doubt it.
Once President Obama is re-elected, Summers trounced, and the Democrats regain control of the Maine House and Maine Senate, the gnashing of teeth and rending of garments is going to be deafening.
What the Supreme Court did today was kind of give our radical right tea party parrot friends a little jolt just to prepare them for when the tea party experiment is put to an end by the voters in November.
It was more than a jolt. It was a firm push off the cliff of the first lemmings to reach it.
Then the US and the State of Maine will really fall!
You must miss those days of George W. Bush: two wars, a terrorist attack of which he was warned but did nothing, a natural disaster that he handled terribly and the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.
HA HA HA. He was warned huh? You must love those wonderful lies! Just like Bill Clinton could have had Bin Laden but he was to busy playing golf! And I fought in those wars and am glad we did what we did. what have you done for your country?
The presidential daily briefing for August 6, 2001 was captioned: “Bin Laden determined to attack U.S.” This came out in the 9/11 report.
President Clinton launched a missile strike on Bin Laden’s camp in Afghanistan, just missed nailing him, and was roundly critiqued by your party for trying to distract the nation from the supposedly “important business” of Monica Lewinsky. President Obama finally brought the villain to justice. I will match my service during the Viet Nam War with anyone’s service during any other war.
Clinton had Obama in Sudan and chose not to take him.
I don’t believe President Obama has ever been to Sudan.
I thought the discussion was who had opportunities to prevent 9/11. Pardon me.
I think he was trying to correct your mistake, since you said “Obama” and not “Osama”, which I am sure was just a slip-up.
You and the rest of the Libs can celebrate acting like you have won something. But you have won nothing. The fact is I wouldn’t celebrate if I was the Libs. I would be worried instead if I was the Libs. Because we have 5 more jobs reports coming out before the election with the first coming out next week. If the report is weak showing little gain in terms of jobs and the unemployment rate is going up that celebrating will turn into being petrified. Obama is one of the most unpopular presidents in our lifetime all he has done is turn our country into a path of socialism. Which is typical of Liberals/Democrats all they care about is buying votes and worrying about the next election. Well people have had enough of his agenda they are tired of his buying votes when he hasn’t done anything. They are tired of the class warfare that Obama and the Democrats are playing. Americans are also fed up with bailing out everyone including Chellie Pingree’s Multi Billionaire Wall Street Hedgefund Husband. They want results and this president hasn’t given us any. Just that repulsive goofy grin and smile of his.
Darkcat are you now telling us you are hoping that the unemployment rate will go up? That is really what you are hoping for isn’t it? You really don’t want things to get better for America or Americans if it hurts the chances of a right wing tea party parrot getting elected. It wasn’t that long ago Darkcat that you were hoping to see gas prices hit $5 per gallon. Honestly I really can not think of anything that is more un-american then wanting to see people lose their jobs or have gas prices go so high that most people couldn’t afford them just so your favorite politician would have a better chance at winning. Anyone who cheers for and hopes that bad things happen to our Country and her people , as far as I am concerned, is committing treason. Darkcat is hanging still the penalty for treason in this country? If it isn’t it should be. Tell you what Darkcat you keep hoping for the worst for our Country and her people. I will keep seeing the best in America and Americans and feel secure that America’s best days are still ahead of her. Becareful Darkcat you don’t want to stick your neck out too far. It might end up with a rope around it. That is really what traitors deserve.
Nice try with the Maine Democrat Party talking points. $5.00 a gallon gas stop with the lies and other BS. If you actually read people’s post . I along with others on here have been complaining constantly about how everything is going up under this president. He is doing it so we can support his radical left wing policies that will make us all poor. If this president is doing such a good job why is he having trouble beating the worst Republican that Republicans could ever nominate. The fact is this president is an abysmal failure. The guy is a joke and its pathetic we have to keep talking about this loser. He has taken our country to new lows. He panders to ever group he can to buy votes because he knows he can’t win on his agenda. Because he is like all Democrats they have no accomplishments. They have to win on fear , lies and deceiving folks. If he ran against a real candidate he would lose by 20 points. The fact is time is coming to a close on this bum the sooner we can kick him to the curb the better off we will be.
Darkcat you don’t have to tell me how you have been constantly complaining about our President. That is all you have done since he took office. That and blame King and Baldacci for everything that is wrong with our State, either actually or perceived. Now you are trying to say it was democrats who were all cheering for $5 a gallon gas. You have a nerve to call anyone a liar after you try to peddled that bull. We all understand that it is more important in your world for Obama to fail then it is to see the US succeed. The whole idea of not caring who gets hurt as long as Obama looks bad is to me treasonous.
Osama Bin Laden is dead, General Motors is Alive, and All Americans have access to Healthcare.
Obama 2012
Did you mean John McCain? I know its a real difficult name to spell and all but suddenly Im not suprised your dumb enough to vote for Oblamer again.
Well, Mr. Republicantread, if you read and comprehended the story, the STATE rep (who is also mine) is JON McKANE.
And if you want to talk spelling: Look at yours: you’re not your; it’s not its and I’m not Im.
Sheesh.
Don’t you love how quickly and succinctly irony can kill the heart of an argument?
Um, SCOTUS ruled that the mandate fee was a tax. They didn’t vote on obamacare being constitutional. Congress can enact taxes, they can also repeal taxes. Actually, a tax must originate in the House, and obamacare started in the Senate, but soon none of that will matter. We already have healthcare for all. Now we have some paying for everyone else!
Or didn’t they teach you that in school?
Why don’t those who are so against it channel their anger against the powers that responsible for the high price of food, fuel, and healthcare? The lobbyists and the people who pay them want the status quo until the middle class is totally sapped dry.
There are 100 lobbyiest for every congress person in DC
That is not what this law is and your statement exposes your absurdity.
A majority of those who opposed the mandate, when pressed for a reason why, either misinterpret it or cannot explain why at all.
The mandate is a VERY conservative policy that ENDS the free rider problem.
This is what conservatives have been asking for. That is of course until……Obama was for it.
Well said. Most don’t know how it benefits them.
or what it will cost them.
Very little. The tax is always cheaper than the cost of actually buying insurance.
I told you six months ago that the Affordable Care Act would be found constitutional. You should listen to me.
I am telling you now: President Obama 326 EV; Governor Romney 212.
Oh yes you are the all knowing!
Thank you. I look forward to educating you. I recognize it may prove difficult.
You crack me up! I wouldn’t listen to you if you were the last person on the planet!
So, while you are cupping your ears, who’s hands are blinding your eyes? No one has hands on your mouth, though, it seems.
But not because of the Commerce clause as you claimed. Have you been doing your reading today?
It was found Constitutional because the Court including liberals decided it was under Congress right to levy taxes and specifically NOT under the Commerce Clause. Not even Obama or Verrelli made that argument, in fact they ran from the notion. This was a victory for Conservatives on several levels beyond the actual law which for now is policy. This means that the power Congress has under commerce clause has been reduced and restricted. States will have more power. That new power was further enhanced by the Medicaid decision. Those that favor strong government regulation lost today.
In addition this decision gave conservative a rallying point to back Romney. Both Conservatives and moderates fear the health care law. In winning the Democrats have lost and will continue to over the next decade at least in Supreme Court decisions.
My post of ages ago predicted a 6-3 vote upholding the ACA on the basis of both the commerce clause power and the taxation power. You suggested that the entire ACA would be found unconstitutional. While mine was not a perfect prediction, I gently suggest that I was more right than you were.
As this Court was packed with five conservative Republicans, this is an unqualified victory for both the President and the constitution.
I have read the decision, but it appears that you have not. The commerce clause/necessary and proper clause argument was adopted by all four Democratic appointees.
I also listened to the oral arguments. Verrelli advanced the taxation power as an alternative basis and the brief clearly advanced that argument as well.
I doubt that the limitation Roberts expressed for the commerce clause will have any lingering applicability, as health care is so sui generis. Similarly, I am not sure that the spending power limitation has much practical effect. It only means Congress cannot condition spending policies it has already made on compliance with future legislation. I suspect that Medicaid will ultimately become an exclusively federal program, which will diminish state control.
Finally, as the odds are high that President Obama will be re-elected, it is highly likely that he will choose the replacement of one or more of the remaining five Republicans on the Court. Thus, the Federalist Society influence on the Court will finally begin to fade. For that we can all be thankful.
If I recall correctly I based my inaccurate prediction under the commerce clause, 5-4. Taxation was not something I considered one way or the other tbh. If you were honest 2/3 or more of Verrillis argument centered on the commerce clause.
Agreed that Verrilli focused on the commerce clause, but he made both arguments. I was aware of the taxation argument from day one, but I doubt the chattering classes on CNN, MSNBC or FOX were.
I always thought the taxation argument was unbeatable. The first or second Congress, which had many founders among its members, placed a tax on merchant seamen and their employers to fund hospitals for them. The tax on those who don’t buy insurance is the same as the Medicare tax on employers and employees.
“but I doubt the chattering classes on CNN, MSNBC or FOX were”
Actually, Lawrence O’Donnell had been expounding on the taxation argument for weeks.
Thanks for that information. I’ve never bothered to subscribe to cable TV, but it doesn’t surprise me that, if any newsperson got this right it was someone on MSNBC.
Not true at all!
There is nothing in this bill that ENDS free rider problems. Have you read it? It’s full of subsidies…..who pays for subsidies??? NOT the people who are benefiting from them!
Subsidies are in the bill but so are many cost reduction mechanisms. Right now you are paying for every person who shows up at the ER without coverage through higher rates. Sadly for you, you do not understand this law or what you are paying for now.
You as well as most Americans will learn in time. In a decades time, this law will be heralded as the most loved and significant law to be passed in decades.
Workers paying for bums health care is a free ride. I have already recieved three increases thanks to the thief in chief.Iwas forced to provide less and more expensive coverage for my business partners family and mine. Just so the party of pick pockets can get votes from bums and illegals. You want to cover their insurance great! do not force it on someone who believes in true american values. Not a gaggle of pickpockets that will stop at nothing to buy votes. Let the layoffs begin watch the tanking economy.
A friend of mine who owns a business said her insurance for her employees went up 30% and her employees deductables went up under Lepages insurance changes in state. It had nothing to do with Obamacare
What we have had is workers and all insured paying for free riders. This law helps to compel them to pay their own way. You would be for this law if you were not blinded by your partisanship.
Just watch how much our insurances rates will sky rocket in the coming years. I bet they at least double in 3 years.
They do anyway. What’s the point?
why would they?
How much have they increased in the last 3 years?
I use to pay nothing for soup to nuts health care coverage. Now I pay $60 a week, $2500 deductible, $6000 for family. Doctor’s don’t even give a sh$%. I am abandoning traditional health care, choosing alternative and feeling much better.
We need to rise up in this country, take better care of ourselves, avoid going the doctor, let big pharm keep their crappy drugs.
There are a lot of Dr. Feelgood”s in this country. Hopefully this will ferret them out
You mean they didn’t in the last 3 years?
Alot of people dont know or dont care that the heavy charges the hosp charges against youre insurance is because of uninsured people with no heath care. Thats one of the biggest reasns for health care. And has a citizen I feel that everyione should pay their share. (Dem)
I am a veteran living on SSDI who has opted out of medicare and gets medical help at the VA. I do not have a service connected disability. Can anyone tell me how this will affect my monthly check. Will I now need to opt in to medicare. This would be about 11% of my monthly income. Any helpful feedback will be appreciated
If you are on SSDI, don’t you already have Medicare?
If one is getting SSDI they have to be on it for two years to become eligible. For some, the pending period out-lasts the two year wait period and are granted Medicare when they are granted SSDI.
Who ever instructed you to opt out of Medicare in the first place gave you really bad advice; unless you planned on never taking it, ever. Each year that you don’t take it after it is first available to you, you are hit with a penalty, compounded by each year. So once you do ask for it you will have to pay the premium plus the compounded penalty for each year you opted out. There are State and federal programs to help you pay the premium, if your SSDI is under $1723 a month, you’ve been duped. You could have had this premium paid for you. I think it sucks that people do not know enough about the benefits they are entitled to while on SSDI or SSI or at retirement age, a lot of people get really bad advice and follow it.
I have too much pride for that. I’ll keep working and supporting them. Just like I always have.
In all honesty, I believe that we have all been subject to grand theater in epic proportions. This is what the insurance industry wanted all along. This is what the powers that be behind the scenes wanted. All this posturing on the part of the Republicans is for show.
The law, IMO, didn’t go far enough in that the insurance companies should have been cut out of the picture altogether.
And, would love to have archives of Reader Responses from the days when Social Security was enacted and from the days of Medicare enactment. The TP-ers of those days would be posturing as they are now — with nothing in hand to support their whines and false claims!
you silly goose, both programs you mentioned are running out of money. Much like a chain letter, someone will be left holding the bag. Whether it’s the Government dipping into it, the crush of baby boomers retiring etc the trust fund will run out of money without significant reform.
the stay home bums will just vote to take more from earners to cover their entitlement addiction.
Wait for iiiitttt…. OK, let the POLARIZATION BEGIN!!!
Don’t you mean let it continue?
Yesterday all we heard from the radical right tea party parrots was how “Obamacare” would be overturned by the Supreme Court. Today when the erroneous first reports claimed that the Court had ruled against the individual mandate the tea party members in front of the Supreme Court we cheering and chanting about how, “the constitution won”. As soon as the word spread that the Court had upheld the Affordable Care Act in its entirety the radical right quickly switched to how they would repeal Obamacare. For all of you die hard tea party parrots sooner or later you have to understand one thing. You lost. America didn’t lose. Americans didn’t lose. What lost today was a flawed ideology favored by the few who have and do not care a damned about those who do not. November is coming and then we will, with our votes, put an end to this failed tea party experiment.
Keep telling yourself that and come out of fantasy land!
Hey common, try this on for size OBAMA WON.
Not for too much longer!
You are probably right common. After he wins in November I doubt you will ever see Obama’s name on a ballot again.
The u.s lost
So he won this round Lib. But he isn’t winning on the economy now is he LOL . With the stock market going downward, investigations on Solyndra and Siga ongoing, unemployment going up, food costs going up etc.. With the next jobs report coming out sometime next week I would be scared if its a bad report. The Liberals better be worried because all this victory does is fire up the base. It also fires up Conservatives and us Independents like myself who are fed up with Obama and Democrats. Americans are tired of the partisanship and inept lack of leadership coming from this Socialist that we would vote for the first bum off the street if we could just to get rid of him. He is that bad. Most think that it might be 2010 all over again now since this decision is out. That is not good if it does turn out that way for Dems. Because they want real solutions and we haven’t gotten that from this president and if he is re-elected we won’t get any of that either.
So the Supreme Court rendered its decision around 10:15 am this morning and already you can tell us what the vast majority of Americans think. Darkcat you are so full of the leavings of the male member of the bovine class that it is amazing. I know you would really, really like to see it be 2010 all over again Darkcat. Fortunately the voters won’t make that mistake again. Oh and Darkcat you keep trying to tell us you are an independent, but yet everything you post mirrors right wing talking points. Tell you what Darkcat you keep hoping for bad things to happen to America and Americans. I will hope for positive things to happen to America and Americans.
Really Lib your the one calling yourself conservative but talking the Democrat Talking Points. I am not the one defending Obama, Angus King , Baldacci and attacking Lepage you are. I have stayed on message from DAY 1. The Liberals are all in fear because they know this ruling its going to fire up all of the Conservatives, Tea Partiers and us Independents who want this president gone. If this law is what Americans want why did the folks on “MSNDC” Chris Matthews, Rachel Maddow, Ed Schults, Andrea Mitchell and Co. get so angry that only 22% of Americans want to keep this law. We will tell you why because we don’t want this rubbish. We want Jobs, Tax Relief, Freedom, Spending Cuts, Lower Gas Prices and Gas with No Ethanol in it , Welfare Cuts booting majority of everyone who is on it off. That is what Americans want not turning this country into the next European Socialist State. But of course Liberals have no idea about what America wants all they care about is making us really poor and filling the pockets of their voting blocks.
I am calling myself a conservative??????? You have finally gone over the cliff haven’t you? I would really like to have you show me where I have ever referred to myself as a conservative. You just make up this crap as you go don’t you Darkcat. I suppose the next thing you will do is accuse me of being a Paul LePage supporter.
Staying on message, there is something to be boasting about. Staying on message means that you are receiving the signal and not thinking for yourself. Congrats to that.
thieves and bums won today.
If they would get t0 know how the law protects them they would come to like it- unless they are so blinded by their hatred of the President that it clouds all reason.
Unfortuantely it doesn’t matter what is done. Some people have their mind made up and no matter what the facts are they won’t see beyond the retoric they have been fed. As soon as the decision was made public the doom and gloom started. There may be things that need to be changed but at least its a start.
This is a real victory of the forces of decency over those who think that human nature must be selfish and cruel. It is cruel that 50,000 Americans die for lack of health insurance, and that at least a hundred thousand people a year mortgage their homes to pay for medical care–
But now that vast sickness in the core of our society is going to be healed. And we can all say we are more caring, more ethical, more noble human beings, not merely concerned about hoarding our own stash.
It is a great day for the struggle for the good, and moving humanity forward into equality and fairness.
You keep telling yourself that and when your flat broke come talk to me next January 1!
dweller no offense intended but you and your ilk by and large are weak, and will most likely have to be taken care of the rest of your lives. As I mentioned in an earlier post, many lack either the confidence or are unwilling to take care of themselves and are drawn to the socialist message…those truly who need help tend to get it in this country. If this law stands after November, we will indeed be a socialist republic. Our country will travel the same road that the Europeans traveled and like them, this nation will collapse. Enjoy your victory for now that joy will be short lived.
Posted by a man who hasn’t the least idea of what socialism means.
Just because you call it socialist doesn’t mean it’s bad.
“you and your ilk by and large are weak, and will most likely have to be taken care of the rest of your lives. As I mentioned in an earlier post, many lack either the confidence or are unwilling to take care of themselves and are drawn to the socialist message”
This is a compelling argument. I wonder how many people that subscribe to this way of thinking never get sick with diseases that crop up for no good reason.
Do these once strong warriors become part of the meek poor souls, or while battling things like Alzheimer’s or Cancer do they keep their self imposed warrior status while being taken care of for the rest of their lives?
I ponder that sometimes, because people with money often think that because they “planned right” and were “masters of the universe” they are immune from bad stuff happening, and when bad stuff does happen, and they run out of money where do they turn?
It would be funny, if it weren’t so god damn sad.
Lets not get ahead of ourselves yet. Not a done deal till 2014. A lot can happen till them. I have to say I did feel good about the decision. I would still like to see the party lines come together to work out a solution that is mutual to all of the American citizens. As long as we are putting teeth marks in each others necks, we as a county will suffer. Only time will tell about this health care bill and no amount of conjecture will change that. As you saw with the Supreme Court decision. I, like the rest of the country got this wrong. I thought sure they would strike it down. I’m glad I was wrong.
I thought it would be upheld, even after oral argument in March, by a 6-3 vote. I am disappointed that Kennedy joined the riff-raff on the right.
I worked 31 years at the same job with same company for a very small pension with the upside that I have medical coverage provided until medicare kicks in and then my insurance becomes my secondary insurance. Now I see my previous employer dropping my insurance when medicare kicks in forcing me to pay for secondary insurance. I wish the government would stay out of our business, why oh why does the federal government think they need to manage my life? Manage those that don’t want to manage theirs or can’t, but do not manage mine….
You see your former employer doing this, but is that doom and gloom, or did you actually get correspondence that said, if Affordable Healthcare Act were deemed constitutional, that we would drop you?
Until they actually do, you might as well worry about the Mayan’s being right about the end of the world, it would amount to the same wasted energy.
with company’s dropping coverage for retiree’s all over the country I can tell you it will not be long…thanks obama
Quite the opposite, timjy, Now that you have to buy insurance I don’t have to pay to cover your emergency room bill.
Not true at all!
Well, yes it is not true at all, today. But in 2014, very, very much true.
and if timjy doesn’t have the money where does it come from?
No Southbound22 – you will still have to pay to cover the unpaid emergency room bill for those who prefer to pay the piddly tax being charged AND you will have to pay for the subsidies in place so that the health insurance premiums can be kept excessively low.
So when the deficit hits 20 trillion by 2016, I can’t wait to see who the Democrats blame then!
I can’t afford to buy insurance.I get it paid for half the year.Come 2014 I still won’t be able to afford to buy it.
Yay! We are almost exactly like Europe! Oh wait…
We should be so lucky to have an economy that was even half as good as Germany’s
heath care insurance is not a good deal and now it a really bad deal giving its a law!tax the rich leave us middle class alone.see you at the voting poles
Then join other Americans to work for single payer health care. Remember, the current bill was the GOP’s idea, the President just tried to be bipartisan–and look how the GOP has treated their own plan!
I honestly don’t know why the Obama admin hasn’t been just repeating, daily, that the bulk of this law is what the R’s suggested when slaying “Hillarycare”. It would seem to be a no-brainer.
so.. with obamacare, just as has existed before… an HIV positive illegal immigrant that makes it into this country cannot be asked about their status, will probaBly get a driver’s license and enjoy the benefits of free medical care. What has changed is that John or Jane Doe who speak english, obey the law and pay their taxes… and choose not to purchase health care will either be fined or have their wages garnished by the IRS. Will the illegal have to purchase insurance?
This is truly madness!
“Choose not to purchase” you mean PAY for their own health care. Are you saying the only way you can fool someone into opposing health care is by being deceptive? Oh, well, that is the #1 GOP Dirty Trick®, isn’t it?
Get a life! Stop trying to excuse your beliefs on the big booger “illegals.”
the only reason I am against this is the Mandate part, I am sick of the government interference in our lives, don’t tell me I HAVE to buy insurance (yes, I have insurance and NO it isn’t Mainecare) don’t tell me what I can and can’t eat, drink, smoke, whatever, this used to be a free country, now it’s just a nanny state. I am for personal responsibility but will someone (serious question) please tell me how this helps with the welfare drain? those that don’t work will still be on Mainecare (or whatever their equivalent is) and that will be paid for with our tax dollars, how does this bill stop that?
No one will force you to have health care, relax! What this law means is that if you DO, you won’t be able to stick other taxpayers with your bill by refusing to pay for your health care by buying insurance.
but if I choose not to buy health care then I have to pay a penalty tax? so, in a sense, I’m being forced to pay one way or the other. Most people that I know don’t have insurance because they make too much money to get Mainecare but can’t afford to buy their own policy. I don’t see how they can afford a penalty tax either. It doesn’t really matter what I think, I’m just frustrated with the eroding of our freedoms, and yes, this is just one more nail in that coffin. But, I will admit, I don’t have a solution either, but mandating it just seems very very wrong to me, if we were indeed still a free country (which really, we are not). Now, if this means the Insurance companies will have to lower their ridiculous premium costs then maybe that will help, but I kinda doubt that is how it will go. And, where does it end? If they can force you to buy health insurance what else are they going to be able to force you to buy….
So, then, you are all about personal responsibility, right up to your own front door, eh?
If you “choose” not to get health insurance, then I truly hope you then “choose” not to seek treatment for an illness without this ins, otherwise you are forcing others to pay your way.
Choosing nothing, is still a choice.
Did the CBO take into account all the illegal aliens Obama just granted amnesty?
Not a single one was granted amnesty. A two year work permit is not amnesty.
If you think that’s all it will be then you are very delusional!
You are changing tenses, having proclaimed initially that amnesty had just been granted, but now claiming it will be granted. It is hard to take you seriously. I don’t suffer fools lightly.
Why because I’m right?
You are as right as a broken watch: twice every 24 hours you show the correct time.
Today Jun 28, 2012 at roughly 4:41pm you are incorrect, as Obama has not granted any illegal alien Amnesty. Sorry, play again.
Well if you’re going to have your hair on fire with outrage, at least have the facts straight, Obama did not grant amnesty to anyone, at all.
How about truth in advertising? Call it “Romneycare.”
Move America Furward:
http://www.dogsagainstromney.com/
blame it on Bush I don’t care… that’s the typical tagline isn’t it?. Just wait and watch what happens to the deficit.Will the last EBT, WIC, LIHEAP, MaineCare stooge turn out the lights!
Its gonna rain- Blame Bush
Romney Sux, but Obama is worse-
2 comments have to be approved by the liberal BDN. Must be nice to talk trash about the tea party, the republicans and conservatives. This paper and web site is a joke and unreal!
Why are you reading and writing on it then?
The joke is on them, more than 72% of Americans are not happy with ObamaCare
Maybe they can all join Rush and move to Costa Rica:
“…if this passes and it’s 5 years from now and all this stuff gets implemented – I’m leaving the county. I’ll go to Costa Rica.” -Rush Limbaugh
Start thinking about when enough people just start saying No…!
Start thinking what happens when these same people gather in force, and I’m not just talking about a sit-in— If you watch the world news, you can imagine just how far sideways this could become…!
You mean like the people who are tired of corporations buying politicians and elections and the wealthy not paying their fair share?
no i mean like citizens in other countries that have gotten real ugly
That’s what’s gonna happen when enough people get tired of corporations buying politicians and elections and the wealthy not paying their fair share.
its gonna happen a lot sooner to politicians that support this bs
don’t hold your breath.
id be happy to be wrong
They’ve gotten ugly because austerity measures aren’t improving the economies. Economist are saying all the time that simply cutting government spending isn’t enough. There has to be an increase in income as well.
Costa Rica doesn’t want him either.
Most people don’t know what is in the law- all they listen to is talking points.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoE1R-xH5To
They know, do you..?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a61fPIgJfgs
We know that freedom is being subverted, do you…?
You get your news from Youtube?
no, that was liberal news, and you get yours from your glorious commie leader
I’ve never read the Maine Heritage Policy Center news website, never, ever.
Stop wasting your time here then. Plenty of other websites out there to complain on.
Sorry but I have to tick off you liberals! It’s so fun. Just sick and tired of the double standard. But hey if Obama gets a free pass from the media why shouldn’t you?
“Conservatives say if you don’t give the rich more money, they will lose their incentive to invest. As for the poor, they tell us they’ve lost all incentive because we’ve given them too much money.” – George Carlin
I miss George.
Just think democrats, you also get to pay for all the illegal aliens! Must make you all very proud!
But King & Dill are soooo much better than Charlie Summers… (not)
I don’t like them either!
yeah, but the problem is, so do the rest of us…
You think people abuse the system now, wait until this kicks in!
Comrade Obama will regulate it, good care for select party representatives and the typical nothing for the rest….
Per the Washington Post calculator, I just discovered that if I don’t purchase insurance for my family of 4 by 2014, I would be forced to pay a penalty of only $2,035!!
Goodbye health insurance, hello tax that is 20% of what I currently pay!! Then I can buy insurance after I go to the hospital and have them pay for it. This Obamacare might work for me after all!
Thank Comrade Obama, Comrade Michaud, Comrade Pingree, Comrade King, & Comrade Dill….
As I remember the communists helped over throw the fascists. They’ll probably need to do it again.
You must have a good memory, but what we have been witnessing in the past couple of years, is when a society gets pizzedoff enough, they get real ugly, real quick.
Um, why would you be going out to find other insurance, or for that matter, not paying for insurance, if you already have it. I only ask since you don’t have to. Unless this: “Goodbye health insurance, hello tax that is 20% of what I currently pay!!” isn’t your declaration of already paying for health insurance.
It sounds like you are mad, just to be upset.
And the pace quickens in the march toward socialism.
Try and enforce it…… :-P
Good luck. You will see how “easy” it is.
Let me get this straight. We’re going to be “gifted” with a health care plan we are forced to purchase and fined if we don’t, which purportedly covers at least ten million more people, without adding a single new doctor, but provides for 16,000 new IRS agents, written by a committee whose chairman says he doesn’t understand it, passed by a Congress that didn’t read it but exempted themselves from it, and signed by a President who smokes, with funding administered by a treasury chief who didn’t pay his taxes, for which we’ll be taxed for four years before any benefits take effect, by a government which has already bankrupted Social Security and Medicare, all to be overseen by a surgeon general who is obese, and financed by a country that’s broke!!!! ‘What the hell could possibly go wrong?’
BRILLIANT POST! And right on the money, darlin!
The law was just upheld this morning. There is no plan in place yet to administer Obamacare as a tax. Yet already you’re convinced the IRS will hire 16,000 new agents.
Yes it is called entitlements for votes.
The GOP alternative to “Obamacare is:
DON’T CARE
You can’t pay for health care?
DON’T CARE
Don’t have a job with benefits?
DON’T CARE
Gonna lose everything to care for your wife/child/parent?
DON’T CARE
Have a pre-existing condition?
DON’T CARE
Have to make a choice between meds and food?
DON’T CARE
let the layoffs begin.
Once people finally see the UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES it will be too late! Private companies will be gone soon. Than people will have no choice but to be on the Governments plan. Next we are going to see behavioral mandates! If the government can subsidize it, it can be regulated too. Ride your bike “oh not without the proper safety gear” “Your thermostat can not go above 70” “Better eat healthy” Or we will “tax” you because we can now. We see in our “system” you are over weight and putting a burden on our “health care system, go to the gym or face a fine, jail or both”.
It has been proven today our justice system is corrupt! With this ruling it shows that government can make us do anything as long as they call it a tax.
Today I will mourn a country I love because it is now the “New North American Union”. Just like the european one where government has their hand in every aspect of your life.The Poor will stay poor and the rich will stay rich because we all know they will do a run and stash their money somewhere else. And middle class well we will now officially be one paycheck behind sleeping outside.
Wow. That is some crazy Bat-spit, no fact-to-back-up-your-insanity, pandering BS.
This is madness this is outrageous, I could feel my freedom being sucked right out of me after this ruling. My taxes are gonna sky rocket, there’s a Muslim in office, we’re all gonna die!!! OH MY GOD!!!!…………………Seriously people, it’s not THAT bad.
Obama is NOT a foreign born socialist giving away free healthcare. That would be Jesus Christ.
I was being sarcastic in post. Jesus was one of the earliest examples of a socialist. See, it’s not as evil as people make it out to be! All people care about is money. Is that really the Christian way?
Money may be the husk of many things but not the kernel. It brings you food, but not appetite; medicine, but not health; acquaintance, but not friends; servants, but not loyalty; days of joy, but not peace or happiness. ~Henrik Ibsen
So this is the Change Obama promised-
Not jobs
Not economic development
Not pull out the troops
Not when he will fix the deficit-
No, Obama & his ilk- Palosi, Michaud, Dill, King & Pingree are goint to-
Raise taxes to pay for ObamaCare
Fast-track the Quimby National Park
Jail those that refuse, or are unable to participate in ObamaCare
Start filling those slots on the death-panel committee’s
Create new anti-gun legislation
Hey Forest you forgot GITMO… I can’t sleep at night thinking what the French must think of us and our evil detention center at Gitmo. Where’s the outrage! Gitmo, Patriot Act, War – Man they are funny! Faux drama.
i wonder whe went crying to bdn
Pal do you make enough money to pay income tax?
yeah, do you
Obama is NOT a foreign born socialist giving away free healthcare. That would be Jesus Christ.
I guess you missed the group chanting Obama is a god,,, you must have missed that one and the one of him getting stoned in college.
I dont like Romney, but Obama will completely put the USA under
So Romney will only put the country half-way under?
unfortunately its coming down between the lesser of two evils, but at least romney wont give in to quimby
I always thought that Obama and Quimby were in cahoots.
Obama was stoned in college? Wow. That is just amazing. Bush liked his coke, and drove drunk in Kennebunkport and crashed into a hedge. None of these things made him a better or worse president. Bush Sr was probably the last POTUS this country will ever have that didn’t smoke pot. (can you guess who the first one was that did, I’ll give you a hint, he’s on two forms of currency.) Time to put on our big boy pants.
ok, not obama, michaud, king, or dill because they are anti-gun, pro quimby and pro obamacare—need another reason…?
Please point me to one, singular piece of legislation, or proposed legislation that is anti-gun.
If Obama or Michaud were going to go after your guns they would have done it after the Gabby Giffords shooting; they simply didn’t and your sky isn’t falling.
A single piece- ok, how about the old US M1-Grand’s blocked from returning back into the US, or the legislation that is still being pushed about ammunition.
The “fact” is that the NRA, that has many conservative Democrat members in both the House & Senate that gave Obama an F on gun rights….!
I hope my insurance rate goes down.
But, I will be surprised if lower middle class and working poor people will benefit from this.
Remember the “tax” only applies to those with income. Non-working poor already have the safety net (lovingly referred to by bloggers as welfare people).
Just wait for the mandated electric vehicle from Obiemotors .It is coming freedom lost today.
The above will never happen but for some reason folks like you think it will. Freedom was not lost today at all but you are free to keep thinking it was.
Wait until some of you dems get the great news granny will not be recieving the meds she needs.Because some illegal needs it.
Why do you think that’s great news?
Breaking news: Conservatives planning to leave U.S.; but can’t find Wealthy western democracy without universal healthcare!
That decision adds 30 million people to Medicare. No wonder the Dems are happy.
Maybe it is better keep people healthy. That’s what health care does.
It’s time for the Republicans to stop whining and use the money the Federal Government gave them to set up our state’s health insurance exchanges. Whah! Whah! Whah! NOW GET TO WORK.
ptkitty2 days ago
SEVENTY-TWO HOUR COUNTDOWN TO “OBAMACARE” BEING FLUSHED DOWN THE TOILET.Tick-Tock, Tick-Tock…..You Democrats starting to get nervous yet?
So ptkitty, who is nervous now?
If President Obama came out in favor of oxygen, Republicans would suffocate themselves.
That is the funniest thing I’ve read all day.
Actually the democrats just suck the brains out of our children and call it pro-choice.
The RepubliCAN’T Party:CAN’T govern
CAN’T plan a war
CAN’T tell the truth
CAN’T stop spending
CAN’T stop pampering the rich
CAN’T stop corporate welfare
That, man, that doesn’t even make sense.
Want to try again? I would really like to know what Democrats do to our children…
….
You should have heard Rush today. He gave me a few good laughs more than once. I’m going to tune into the Howie Carr show right now for the fun of it as well.
….
the problem is that it has been Mandated you HAVE to buy into it, or they will apply a penalty tax. If they can mandate this, where does it end? If you honestly believe this is the end to it then, in my opinion, you are not thinking clearly.
Such as? And please don’t parrort what Rush said today because it will never happen.
Kevin, that is the problem, such as…. who’s to say? and if the supreme court say’s they can mandate us to buy anything then they can do it again, there is nothing that say’s they can’t. I know people need insurance, and I know it’s a problem, but the government is supposed to be working for us, and that is long gone, mandating we buy something is not the sign of a free society, it pains me to watch our freedom get eroded bit by bit. And no, I don’t like Rush either…
And you have yet to give me an example, but all the one’s I heard today are nothing but silly nonsense that will never happen. The sky is not falling today and it will not be falling a year from now.
You also do not have to purchase anything. Granted you will have to pay a tax for not doing so but I have no problem paying the tax if I choose not to purchase healthcare.
I can’t give you an example because my crystal ball is in the shop… but seriously the point is, it could be ANYTHING, there is nothing to say otherwise, once they get the American Sheeple used to the government being able to mandate you buy something it’s just a matter of time before they come up with something more, I can’t help it, I believe in personal liberty and with the Patriot Act, the NDAA and now this?? I am dreading where we are heading as a country, the future doesn’t look to bright to me….
Again, you are not being mandated to purchase anything. Not sure why you keep saying you are, when in fact you are not.
I highly doubt Congress is going to start passing crazy tax laws considering they could have been doing it all along. So why would they start doing it today?
As for the future, don’t worry. All will be fine.
so if it isn’t mandated how do you justify them charging a Penalty Tax for those that the government thinks should be able to afford insurance? Not caring that in all actuality they may not be able to afford it at all, in case you haven’t noticed most people in Washington DC aren’t exactly in tune with the average american these days or our budget. And what if they can’t pay the tax?
First, nothing can happen until 2014 and in the coming months or over the next year you will find out all the answers.
As for the tax on someone that can afford it but refuses to, I have no problem with that.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrYRai1pGXM&feature=share
You might want to get up to speed, that part of the bill never made it past the Senate floor, in a misleadingly titled clip, right on the side-bar of your clip at the :15second mark the interviewer frames his question about penalties by saying that jail time was not in the bill…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Wxei4leyqM&feature=related
….
What a frigging sin, Forcing the American people to buy anything means we can mnow to be forsed to buy any damn thing the Feds want to makes us buy.
Be careful what you wish for, it WILL come back and bite you on the Butt.
Every man of age used to have to own a flint, a musket and ammunition, per the federal government.
And since the people who mandated that were some of our founding fathers, I think you need to take a second look at the sky, its not falling, it isn’t even shaking.
The two are in no way related.
The Militia laws were for defence, a Constitutionally required purpose.
Obamacare is the continual increase of Federal power over the Rights of the people.
One right, one wrong.
The GOP is a bunch of sore losers. Now that the Affordable Care Act is constitutional, do they really think it’s going away? Republican governors, including LePage, should apologize to all of us for wasting our tax dollars to fight Obamacare. I bet they’ll forget about the tax dollars they wasted and focus their rhetoric around calling Obamacare a tax.
The Obamacare model was Romneycare which Romney proposed as a mandated model in Massachusetts a few years back. Here is what Romney said at the time: “With regards to the individual mandate, the individual responsibility program that I proposed, I was very pleased that the compromise between the two houses includes the personal responsibility mandate. That is essential for bringing the health care costs down for everyone and getting everyone the health insurance they need,” Romney said.
Amazing that Romeny could sign a law that mandated the purchase of insurance or in lieu thereof a paymant of a penalty but when Obama used the same mandate model, it became outrageous. Romney was for it before he was against it. It is not a perfect system, but the status quo is broken and some effort has to be made to cover those who are uninsured. The real question is whether you believe some level of health care coverage should be an entitlement to everyone. The rich have it, members of Congress have it, those who are in urgent need but can’t pay for have it at the ER. If you think not, then I hope when you qualify for Medicare you will decline it and act on your beliefs. We are a better country with the attempt to make health care available to all.
Let me see if I have this straight. Republicans don’t want Maine to have health insurance exchanges where Maine people can compare and shop for health plans. Republicans want Maine people to be able to purchase health insurance from companies licensed in other states so that they can compare and shop for health plans. How is this different?
I’m sure Representative McKane knows that Wellpoint is Anthem. Maybe Wellpoint/Anthem might not occupy such a powerful position in Maine with the insurance exchanges.
Outside of the Courts actual ruling, the most important issue that we see coming from the ruling is the entire Republican Party giving the finger to our Supreme Court as they do every day to ALL of us who don’t agree with their gestapo logic. Whether it’s a vote or court ruling they continue to oppose the will of the people. Republicans are truly the ones who are the un-Americans in this equation.
This bunch of crooks will be known for the largest deficit in history .Now the biggest job killing tax hike ever.Should be thanking the SCOTUS for electing Mitt.
“””” Obamacare will drive insurance rates up, tax Maine employers and
threaten the viability of our private insurance market,” he said in a
statement.””””
Why are the Republicans saying this when all an insurance company can charge is set by this ruling.. All an insurance c0ompany can charge is 80 cents on a dollar must go to health services and 20 cents can go to administrative costs how will that jack up the prices? It is supposed to lower prices that’s why they have to send out reimbursement checks.. Business will have to pay more cause now they are mandated to carry insurance on their employee’s.. This is a good move, It is about time we take back our country from the big corporations and give it back to the people.. This is a first move towards the democracy we are supposed to have..
I have a full and a part time job; my husband is fully employed. Because I am unable to get insurance, my husband picks up the tab for both of us at a cost of almost $6,000 a year in premiums. You don’t want to know what his employer pays for the two of us, but it totals about $22,000 a year – for two healthy people. Neither of us have diagnoses which need medication. But no matter what insurance you carry, EVERYONE should be paying a form of a co-pay, even if it’s a buck – something should come out of everyone’s pockets, and that’s not happening. So what do we do as the taxpayers? I’m exhausted thinking about ways to fix it. But I will tell you one thing: there is absolutely no reason someone on state insurance should be going to the ER at noontime for a cold – then back at 5PM because you’re not feeling better. If they had a co-pay of $50 for an ER visit, they’d seek help at their doctors, not have the priviledge of wasting money at the local ER that the rest of us do not have.
The “buy insurance or else” or healthcare mandate, idea came from the ultra right wing Republican propaganda machine known as ,The Heritage society. The mandate was enacted in Massachusetts by Flipper Romney
It was supported by the Republicans until the Democrats caved into their demands and included it in the new healthcare law . It is hypocritical for Republicans to act offend now.
A week from now Flipper will try to take credit for it. You can count on it as sure as the sun rises and sets.
Interesting that when 65% of the people didn’t want this when Obummer care was run down our throats so many are now jumping onto the band wagon. I get a kick out of the “61%” bumper stickers kvetching about Lepage when a more important item was run through the congress legally but without a majority of the “represented” agreeing. So now we have a bill that was “legally” enacted and “legally” defended in the Supers. But the majority still doesn’t like. Interesitng, huh?
There are some things I like about this, and some I do not. I do not agree with people having to purchase insurance or else be penalized. I think health insurance is something that everyone should be entitled to as long as they are a citizen of the U.S.
Comrades, we are making good progress towards our worker’s utopia! We still need to eliminate greedy capitalist insurance pigs altogether and let our government administer all health care equally for everyone.
I’m not sure what the workers will be doing? All the jobs will soon be in China so what’s the point? But we will be needing your help to defeat the fascist who masquerade as the Republican Party.
Bad day for America and freedoom.
So do the illegal immigrants have to pay now?
The ones who voted for it don’t know what’s in the bill.
Do you?
A couple extra thousand per household won’t kill anybody. Give up food and gas.
Maybe 3- 5 thousand. If you make 40000. Fat cats that make 50K will get hammered.
But Sen. Olympia Snowe, Maine’s retiring Republican senator who participated in early negotiations on the reform package, called for the law’s full repeal and said it will “impose an onerous tax” on Americans who will be required to purchase health insurance as a result of the law’s individual mandate provision. Now we know why she retired.
Some of the folks thought they got some free stuff here. They will be paying huge taxes from here on….forever. For less than nothing. Glad I don’t work anymore….
Maybe now Wal-mart and Mardens will pay their share and get their employees off mainecare.
I am an independent and believe in fiscal responsibility. That is why I believe that the republicans are way off base. There is true wisdom in the saying an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. That is why I believe that the health care reform introduced by President Obama is the least expensive way of paying for health care. As it stands now, people who cannot afford to go to a doctor go to an emergency room, a much more costly way of obtaining health care. Because they cannot pay, that cost is paid by everyone else who goes to the hospital in either increased hospital bills or by increased premiums in the insurance costs. It would be so much less expensive for everyone to pay a “premium” or a tax for preventative health care costs for people who cannot afford to pay. There are several reasons to reject the republican’s position. In the long run, this is the least expensive way to maintain the health of everyone and of everyone’s pocket book.
I’m sure we can expect to see the Republicans in a last act of desperation soil their drawers in defiance of a President who they’ve vowed to make a one term President. How’s that all worken’ out kids?
This is a lot better than I was lead to believe. Go figure……
So many folks believe what they are told and never research the facts. Finally the Insurance companies are going to be held accountable. Of course, the very rich will launch a campaign to fight this. Plus ,they are going to punish Medicare fraud. Can you imagine ? I don’t believe in the party structure, only the person of merit and I could care less what party they are in. From all I read, this is a good thing for everyone. Now, Mitt had stated he wanted to privatize social security. Old George Rommey took American Motors into Bankruptcy and almost did it to The State of Michigan when he was Governor as I was living there and will never forget. Yes, I know that they haven’t done much better. I pick and choose and this, from what I have now reviewed and read is not a bad thing and it seems we all win, with it.
I wonder how many of the 13million people that get their rebate checks in Aug from the Ins companies will still hate this bill?
A rebate seemed to work ok for Bush II.
Now that this law has been passed, Your taxes will be at 75% of your gross income. So how do you like that. now that government can make you buy insurance. This does not lower the cost of all the tests that dr’s want to take. A blood test will now cost you $1200. Your insurance only pays $50, You pay the rest out of pocket. THIS IS WHAT YOU ASKED FOR, THIS IS WHAT YOU GET.
The sky is falling, the sky is falling, run chicken little, run
With such a sensible, well reasoned statement such as “Now that this law has been passed, Your taxes will be at 75% of your gross income”. I am sure that you have something to back this claim up with?
Only thing that Pepe Lepage and the GOP is upset about is that THEY are not the ones calling the shots…They have been treating us like their own little private group of slaves for decades and now the American people want something back. They are tired of working so hard only to not have any health care or any money to put food on the table. The middle class and poor are getting angry and its the GOP and the Wall Streeters that will soon be the ones to pay when the smart American people vote their greedy butts OUT of office.
I’d agree with it more if it was an actual tax hike! Why force certain people to buy something you can legitimately tax everyone for?? Oh, Myyyy!!
Why do some posts get posted without moderation, and some require moderation.. way to be consistent!
Gringos get posted without moderation, Banditos require moderation.
Which is why Canadians come across the border for their healthcare, if they can.
How many? You’ve got a link to some statistics????????????????????????
…
Couldn’t disagree more entirely.
Thanks to obamacare, you will now pay more so that coverage can be
given to those who the Government deem worth of free coverage. In fact,
premiums have already begun their rise, and the law hasn’t even been
implemented yet!
But the mandate is only a small part of this abortion, folks. This was
nothing more than the largest tax hike in America’s history! According
to the CBO, 1.76 TRILLION DOLLARS over the next 10 years! 20MILLION will
lose their employee sponsored healthcare as companies large and small
decide to let their employees fend for themselves! Look at Jackson Lab
in Bar Harbor as a good example – each year they raise the employees
‘contribution’ while they lower coverage!!!
Time and space does not allow going into all the new taxes obamacare
levies, but be prepared for the consequences! You think medical
procedures and tests are expensive now? Wait until all the Medical
Device taxes kick in. That X-ray or MRI price is about to double! This
abortion must be paid for, and taxes is how that will be accomplished!
If Nancy Pelosi had bothered reading the bill before she voted on it,
she would know that! But then, being a Democrat, she never met a tax
she didn’t love!!! Like she said, “WE have to pass it to find out what’s
in it.” Well, now we will find out, and when we do, hold on to your
wallet!
Are there some things worth keeping? Sure! But overall, this abortion
will mean that unemployment will continue to remain high, as companies
put off hiring while they struggle to comprehend the impact the new law
will have on their businesses. Other businesses will be forced to drop
their coverage for employees altogether, and some may even decide to
close! Inflation will rise as new taxes kick in, and it will become
harder to get in to see a doctor as the market is flooded with more
patients seeing fewer doctors. (Ever been to a DMV office? Imagine that
with a few million more customers in line in front of you!)
I will go out on a limb here and state that all those that support
this monstrosity have either not bothered to read it, so they have no
clue what’s in it (like Pelosi), or they think they will be getting
something for nothing! I ask them, how much are you willing to pay for
this, because we will ALL pay, and pay dearly for obamacare! So, how
much? $500 more a year? $1,000 more a year? $2,000 more? Try $2,400 more
a year MORE THAN YOU DO NOW for a family making around $30,000 a year!
Still sound like a good deal? No? Too bad, pay up or we’ll TAX you!
“But I’m young, I’m healthy. I don’t think I need health insurance yet.” Tough shit, pay up or we’ll TAX you!
Still not concerned? If nothing else, imagine our new Socialized
Health Care System will now be run by whom? The IRS! What kind of
brain-damaged imbecile thought up that brain fart? Oh yea, obama!
The SCOTUS decision yesterday did two things;
1. It proved once and for all, for all to see, that obamacare is nothing more than a TAX – the largest in history!
2. It motivated the Right like nothing (not even their purported racist hatred of obama) could!
As Roberts wrote, ‘It’s not our job to save the country from it’s political decisions.’
Thank you Justice Roberts for showing us the way, that the only way
to eliminate obamacare and replace it with a REAL alternative that
doesn’t destroy everything good with our healthcare system (and what’s
left of our economy), is to replace obama!
We CAN do that! We Must do that! We WILL do that!
One party rammed obamacare through Congress. One party care repeal and replace it!
It IS a tax hike! Or are the Dems too stupid to read the decision?
LOL – it will be loved by those who get to pay next to nothing for their insurance or nothing at all. While I and millions other support it financially. Just because my income is higher than the majority of the population of Maine DOESN’T mean I should have to fork out more to support those who make less or don’t make anything at all.
I don’t mind my tax dollars, etc going to help people out who are temporarily in a bind….I do mind it going to those who EXPECT everything for nothing.
{ Summers called for expanding tax breaks for families and individuals as a way to make health insurance more affordable. }
Tax breaks only go to the employers, more available income to employees only translates to no raise’s this year!
If these cheepskates wont pay for the insurance they surely wont pay more when they know you are taxed less.
It’s a proven fact. When they gave payroll tax breaks the employers held back on raises!
Amusing echoes of “Impeach Earl Warren” in the calls for impeachment of the Supreme Court justices who voted for this.
You youngsters probably don’t know it, but the Warren court handed down a lot of the Civil Rights and desegregation rulings . . .
The State of Maine already is managing health care and now the FED is going to & TAX your income. 100% SOCIALISM.
THE GOOD NEWS – By November OBAMA will not be re-elected unless 30 MILLION Illegals all vote once or twice apiece for OBAMA. THIS has been happening already in NY, NJ, CALIFORNIA, etc.
Yippee skippee, the democrats won the battle. The citizens will now pay. The 1% penalty tax will be enought to hire another 50000 government employees as they get larger and larger. Actually the government should issue an IPO like facebook did and trade as stock on the Dow Jones. After 6 months it will transfer to NASDAQ and a year later as it trades under 5ocent it will get de listed. CEO Barack O and VP of Marketing Pelosi…
Maine Democrats cheer the biggest tax hike in American history!
Yup, that sounds about right.