Predictably Republicans, Tea Partyers, Ayn Randians and Social Darwinists are going off the rails and into meltdown over the ACA being confirmed both legal and Constitutional by the Supreme Court.
The focus of their inconsolable rage and grief is primarily the mandate, rejected under the Commerce clause but affirmed under taxing authority. We're hearing of defiant Governors, calls for armed insurrection, rage at the Supreme Court, etc.
In the midst of the pre-decision discussion this am, Howard Dean appeared on Morning Joe and said something that I felt was monumental and that may provide a way out of this upheaval and morass.
What exactly did he say?
He said that the mandate didn't matter. That the mandate was of no consequence. That that the ACA could work even if the mandate disappeared. He said this based on his experience with healthcare reform in Vermont
What do we actually know about the mandate right this minute?
We know that it's an illusion because if someone doesn't purchase health insurance under the mandate they will have the penalty of a fine(tax) which has no collection process. The penalty for not buying insurance will be similar to parking your car all day in front of a broken parking meter in a town with no meter maids. A mandate with no teeth is just like no mandate at all.
Howard Dean's point was that uninsured people who can afford insurance on the exchanges will buy it, mandate or no mandate. He said, and I agree, that people WANT health insurance and will buy it if they are able to. The mandate is a stick when a carrot was all that has ever been necessary.
The flashpoint of the Republican rage, the mandate, is over something that is completely extraneous, distracting and ultimately non-existent in the first place. Since we're not going to enforce it anyway, why couldn't President Obama and the Democrats simply say,
"You know what? We don't need a mandate. We could have one, the Supreme Court says so, but on further reflection, we really don't think it's necessary. You guys can stop foaming and take off the three cornered hats. We're gonna go ahead with the good laws like no PEC exclusions, the exchanges, the subsidies and if eligible individual Republicans choose not to save their own lives or that of their employees, we're okay with that."
Imagine the Republicans stopped mid-froth. Imagine them losing all of their "The Democrats are taxing you secretly" BS. Imagine them having NOTHING to say except, "we don't want you to have the option to buy affordable healthcare."
Does anyone really believe that Republican individuals and small business owners would deny themselves actual affordable healthcare where none has existed before? Would they simply stand by and watch Democrats and businesses owned by Democrats offer benefits? Hardly.
The vast majority of Americans love Obamacare, they simply don't know it because of the incredible obscuring smokescreen of the mandate -
Most Americans Oppose Health Law But Like the Provisions
Most Americans oppose President Barack Obama's healthcare reform even though they strongly support most of its provisions, Reuters/Ipsos poll showed on Sunday . . .
A glaring exception to the popular provisions is the "individual mandate," which requires most U.S. residents to own health insurance. . .
Sixty-one percent of Americans are against the mandate the issue at the center of the Republicans' contention that the law is unconstitutional,
The ACA is the baby, the mandate is the bathwater. Throwing out the bathwater still leaves us with a rosy, smiling baby. I believe that my solution of voluntarily ditching the mandate makes a lot of sense.