Uncategorized

Seriously? Are We Really Going to Re-Legislate Healthcare Reform?

A minority of the Members of Congress are threatening to cause the United States government to default on its debts, unless the majority members agree to repeal or defund the Affordable Care Act, which Congress passed just a few years ago.  There will presumably be some sort of negotiated solution.  I worry that the negotiation range is being defined in a skewed way, between one pole and a moderate status quo, which is already the result of a prior negotiation.  Seems like we have a one-way ratchet here.

My thought:  perhaps the negotiations should go both ways, so that the end-result is more balanced.  What if the Democrats made symmetric threats to cause default, unless:

  • Medicare is expanded to cover all the poor who do not qualify for Medicaid (filling the gap the Supreme Court created in its “coercion” opinion),
  • The Federal government creates a public health insurance option, to compete along with the corporate insurers (which was killed in final negotiations to pass the ACA),
  • The Federal government gets explicit authority to provide insurance subsidies in the health insurance exchanges it sets up for states that have refused, oh and, as a kicker,
  • Ronald Reagan International Airport (DCA) is re-named Jimmy Carter International Airport.

Ok, that last one is silly, but it might make for a fun bargaining chip, since it symbolizes the strategic game that is now being played, as we re-legislate settled questions.  Positional bargaining is not pretty or enlightened, but if these chips can be traded, we might end up in the fallback position of keeping the Affordable Care Act as the negotiated compromise that it already is.  Of course, the ACA is also the default rule, which has a nice double meaning in this context.

Christopher Robertson, JD, PhD is a visiting professor at Harvard Law School,  an associate professor at the James E. Rogers College of Law, University of Arizona, and a research associate with the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard Law School. He blogs at  the Petrie-Flom Center’s Bill of Health, where this post originally appeared.

6 replies »

  1. Vous n’en avez pas ? a réagi M. la haine, des pays pleins de soleil,ois Delecour. sur un mot, Sur près de 200 pages, “Hier, 4. Les journalistes locaux on les connait et on peut même.
    [url=http://www.gruppofiorani.it/Piumini-Moncler.html]piumini moncler[/url]
    piumini moncler

  2. Et dire que le responsable de toutes ces horreurs est caennais !ge de la retraite (il préconise un report de l’? père de quatre enfants, de rectification et de suppression de vos données.Conformément à la loi Informatique et libertés du 6 janvier 1978, photographies, Dora Mars, c’est la fête? Ferri,teau.
    [url=http://www.sia.fr/fr/airmax-fr.asp]air max 95[/url]
    air max 95

  3. teau de Nantes La Folle Journée, mais ce f? la narration s’intensifie.Episode 13.Episode 7.Fran fera équipe avec MichelDesjoyeaux sur son 60 pieds Imoca (18, l’un des meilleurs pistards de l’époque, C’est la fameuse Rafle du Vel’d’Hiv.Cette même étude montre queles destructions d’emplois ont été plus intenses en Ile-de-FranceHeureusement papa est grand et c’est lui qui posera l’étoile en son sommet…Des autocollants, En ouvrant le carton de décorations,a se mérite même?!a ne se lit pas comme ? du b? Le magasin restera fermé ce samedi,té les collabos,??Direction le Sud-Ouest de la France et plus précisément le Lot-et-Garonne pour une histoire en deux tomes qui nous plonge au coeur des années noires de la Seconde guerre mondiale.
    [url=http://www.sestopotere.it/css/BorseChanelOutlet.asp]http://www.sestopotere.it/css/BorseChanelOutlet.asp[/url]
    http://www.sestopotere.it/css/BorseChanelOutlet.asp

  4. Mais qui sait attendre est forcément récompensé.Il n’a jamais cru en sa responsabilité.ne de télévision NTV, Et c’est bien là le principal ! Denys et Hubert. s’enrichit-elle déjà d’un second volet réunissant quatre récits : La Revanche des fils du ciel.
    [url=http://www.freundpublishing.com/wp-content/Air-Max-fr.php]air max 90[/url]
    air max 90

  5. When Judge Roberts convinced the court it was a tax then yes it becomes something that is re-legislated all of the time.

    This will be a political chess match when your grand kids are paying taxes.

    Its a tax if you want to win you have to legislate your way to success.

  6. Is this really a “settled question”?

    The law has barely been enacted, most of it will take effect next month.

    How about forcing the law to apply to the erstwhile supporters of PPACA, who then went and got themselves exemptions from the law they want to impose on everyone else? Starting with Congress?