The John Batchelor Show

VIDEO: Unaffordable Care

February 18, 2015

Tuesday  17 February 2015  / Hour 1, Block C:    Avik Roy, Manhattan Institute & senior editor, Forbes.com, in re: King vs Burwell  (King: head of HHS; Burwell: many states complaining about ACA and the requirement that they set up their own exchanges).  Arguments due in early March.  King can win, or Burwell can, or there's a compromise.  If King wins, then five million people lose their coverage; six months to 18 months to set up exchanges.  We’ve seen this president make up all sorts of law/legal rationales; I believe that Plan A for the Administration is that  . .  .    I've read leftist supporters of ACA say that no workaround exists.  I still think that there's a greater-than-zero chance that the WH will come up with a challenge.  JB: And recreate the same battle we've seen for the past five years?  AR: True, need to have a bridge so people don’t lose coverage . . . Burr, Hatch, Upton Unveil Obamacare Replacement Plan. Today, U.S. Senator Richard Burr (R-N.C.), Senate Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), and House Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) unveiled the Patient Choice, Affordability, Responsibility, and Empowerment (CARE) Act—a legislative plan that repeals Obamacare and replaces it with common-sense, patient-focused reforms that reduce health care costs and increase access to affordable, high-quality care.  In contrast with Obamacare and its government-centered mandates and regulations, this bicameral proposal empowers the American people to make the best health care choices for themselves and their families.  [more]  -- means-tested subsidies. If you give everyone a tax credit . . . My own plan: gradually phase out the subsidies – as is, you can get a subsidy but if you go ten cents over a limit you lose everything, which discourages b[people from earning more.  . . .  Switzerland gives you the tax credit, it gradually phases out, and if you’re middle class you're expected to buy your own health care.