tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8512362.post5992439350725035535..comments2024-03-10T13:59:19.230-04:00Comments on xpostfactoid: If Republicans had created the ACA marketplace...Andrew Sprunghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601269968798865106noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8512362.post-11907634368074557302017-04-08T06:28:47.531-04:002017-04-08T06:28:47.531-04:00Thanks for an excellent post. I have been beating ...Thanks for an excellent post. I have been beating the drums on this rank instance of Republican hypocrisy for some time, to little effect I am afraid but thanks again.<br /><br />As you say, Part D and Medicare Advantage have been bailed out by cash infusions with no controversy or hesitation.<br /><br />And there is one more element of contrast. Part D and Med Advantage were not accompanied by any tax increase. All the spending has effectively been "put on the card."<br /><br />By contrast the ACA was to be paid for by actual taxes. (there was some ugly double-counting of Medicare reductions, plus taxes on insurers that just get passed on to insureds, but there were at least $35 billion a year in new taxes on the wealthy.) And boy, have the Democrats had to pay for this small fiscal honesty.<br /><br />The operative principle in Repubican health spending at least appears to be that no spending is too much when it goes to seniors, who are by definition 'deserving' -- whereas every nickel of spending on 'those people' is to be attacked, especially when it is sponsored by a President who by birth is one of 'those people' himself.bob.hertzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09686373408419885558noreply@blogger.com