Chris Wallace, Fox News, June 15, 2015 edit
A box displayed by Fox TV during the Ryan/Wallace interview:
- 16 Million people have gained Health coverage,
- Costs have risen at the slowest rate in 50 years;
- Up tp 129 Million people no longerr are at risk of losing coverage.
“For all the complaints, we’re five years into Obamacare and Republicans have still not come up with a coherent plan that will ensure that all of those millions of uninsured people will get coverage,” Wallace said at the conclusion of an interview with Paul Ryan.
Congressman Sander Levin, (D-MI), June 12, 2015 edit
- @ A Ways and Means Committee unscheduled Obamacare bashing hearing held by Chairman Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI).
- Levin's reply:
"What's busted is not ACA but your attacks on it, endless attacks," Levin said calmly and deliberately. "Never coming up with a single comprehensive alternative all these year. So you sit as armchair critics while millions of people have insurance who never had it before. Millions of kids have insurance who would not otherwise have had it. People who have preexisting conditions no longer are cancelled or can even get insurance. The donut hole is gone. Millions of people in lower income categories are now insured through Medicaid, millions and millions and millions. Cost containment is beginning to work. The increase in cost net rate is going down. And so you are livid because it is getting better. That's why you are livid. ... And the states that are denying their citizens further coverage under Medicaid, are essentially telling people, well get lost when it comes to health care. ... And you have a governor, Mr. Chairman, who is running around this country talking about the evils of health care when millions of people are benefiting from what happened. ... Your frustration is millions and millions and millions of people are benefiting, and have health care when they did not before."
President Obama challenges Supreme Court to do the right thing edit
6/08/15 G7 press conference in Germany.
"Under well established precedent there is no reason why the existing exchanges should be overturned through a court case," President Obama said. "It has been well documented that those who passed this legislation never intended for folks who were going through the federal exchange not to have their citizens get subsidies. That's not just the opinion of me. That's not just the opinion of Democrats. It's the opinion of Republicans who worked on the legislation. The record makes it clear. Under well established statutory interpretation, approaches that have been repeatedly employed not just by Liberal Democratic judges but by Conservative judges like some on the Supreme Court. You interpret a statute based on what the intent, meaning, and overall structure of the statute provides for. And so this should be an easy case and frankly, it probably should not even have been taken up."
SC Make-up edit
- Kennedy doesn’t like the notion that the federal government would compel states to set up their own exchanges or lose subsidies. Roberts will probably agree.
- Alito/Scalia/Thomas would probably argue that the moon is made out of green cheese if they thought it would hurt Obama;
- Sotomayor/Breyer/Kagan/Ginsberg will, of course, vote to uphold Obamacare.