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You are here: Home / Anderson On Health Insurance / The ACA will be back at court next fall

The ACA will be back at court next fall

by David Anderson|  March 2, 202010:02 am| 86 Comments

This post is in: Anderson On Health Insurance

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Supreme Court says it will hear Texas v. Azar in its next term, solidifying the ACA as a major 2020 campaign issue and setting up a third major ruling on the law before the justices

— Mary Ellen McIntire (@MelMcIntire) March 2, 2020

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Reader Interactions

86Comments

  1. 1.

    germy

    March 2, 2020 at 10:06 am

    And Kavanaugh will have his revenge!

  2. 2.

    the Conster

    March 2, 2020 at 10:06 am

    I’m on Nancy Pelosi’s social media team, and get to listen in on conference calls.  This was one of the featured topics on the last call – that the Speaker and Dem leadership want SCOTUS to rule before the election, so that everyone – insured and insurers – know what the healthcare landscape is before the election, but if they delay the ruling until after the election, then the fix is in.

  3. 3.

    PenAndKey

    March 2, 2020 at 10:07 am

    Their tactic is transparently “re-litigate the law until we find an excuse to throw it out”. They’re not even pretending that their goal is repeal and replace at this point. And all while claiming they’re trying to defend pre-existing conditions patients and people facing lifetime caps because they know it’s electoral suicide. And yet here we are.

  4. 4.

    Marcopolo

    March 2, 2020 at 10:12 am

    Yeah, but when does the decision come down? Before or after the election? That case from TX which the SC could be hearing right now and which would have lead to a decision later this year before the election was put on hold, I assume by the R leaning members of the court who were counseled that repealing the ACA just before the election might cause problems for Trump’s re-election.

  5. 5.

    David Anderson

    March 2, 2020 at 10:13 am

    @Marcopolo: Argument would be in either October or November.  Decision would be Spring 2021

  6. 6.

    David Anderson

    March 2, 2020 at 10:14 am

    @germy: Assuming no changes to the composition of the court, the likely ruling is 5:4 for the ACA with perhaps a slight cut that the individual mandate is now unconstitutional BUT it is 100% severable so half a page of the ACA is tossed at most.

  7. 7.

    Chris Johnson

    March 2, 2020 at 10:15 am

    @the Conster: Well THAT’s interesting. Please continue to share anything you feel you can. Right now I’m watching Pelosi closely for signs of what’s going on. Never knew you were that kind of insider.

  8. 8.

    Eolirin

    March 2, 2020 at 10:21 am

    @David Anderson: Let’s hope Ginsburg remains in good health…

  9. 9.

    Marcopolo

    March 2, 2020 at 10:22 am

    @David Anderson:That’s what I thought. The R appointees on the SC are playing politics with cases that might actually show that Republicans want to get rid of the ACA prior to the election.

  10. 10.

    Anya

    March 2, 2020 at 10:23 am

    @David Anderson: Are we sure Roberts will stick with his decision? I am never sure with these conservative SCOTUS.

  11. 11.

    Omnes Omnibus

    March 2, 2020 at 10:24 am

    @Marcopolo: Why?

  12. 12.

    the Conster

    March 2, 2020 at 10:30 am

    @Chris Johnson:

    Yes, it’s been an interesting experience to listen in while she gets various activist groups to report directly to her about what they’re seeing and doing on the ground while no one is paying attention.  She’s in complete command of the agenda, and the legislative initiatives they’re pushing.  The last call was about impeachment and Iran – having “two eyes on the two I’s” as she said.  This subject came up as a result of the Texas circuit court decision, and she mentioned this strategy of getting SCOTUS to fast track a review.  IIRC, she said it’s a sophisticated strategy above her pay grade to explain, but, it’s coming out of a concerted, coordinated effort of House Counsel and state AGs.

    As Pelosi said, this next election, like the 2018 blue wave, is going to be another health care election and Dems can’t fuck this up by screaming about repealing and replacing Obamacare like the GOPers do.

  13. 13.

    Marcopolo

    March 2, 2020 at 10:31 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: The SC had already passed once on taking up the Texas case.  If they had agreed to put it on the docket then, the chances for a decision prior to the election would have been higher.  They also have had the option to do an expedited hearing on the case which they have not done.

    Honestly, though, we have to assume that Chief Justice Roberts & the other R SC appointees do not live in a vacuum, that they are in regular contact with Republican party strategists–Mitch McConnell anyone?), and that they have been lobbied to keep the ACA out of the headlines until after Nov. 2020 as a decision before then would have been bad for Trump as well as their Senate & House candidates.

  14. 14.

    the Conster

    March 2, 2020 at 10:38 am

    Related:

    These are the Dem AGs in court fighting to preserve your healthcare.

    https://twitter.com/DemocraticAGs/status/1232477251096072192

  15. 15.

    Omnes Omnibus

    March 2, 2020 at 10:40 am

    @Marcopolo: Oddly enough, I understand the mechanisms by which the Court can choose when to take up a case.  I was asking why Republicans would want a decision overturning the ACA prior to the election.

    ETA:  Or did I misread your comment?

  16. 16.

    Marcopolo

    March 2, 2020 at 10:44 am

    @Omnes Omnibus:Oh, if you thought I was saying that either my writing was not clear or you misread me. I agree there is no way that R’s wanted a decision on the ACA prior to the election.  It’s an awkward sentence.  Probably should have moved “prior to the election” to right after show:

    The R appointees on the SC are playing politics with cases that might actually show that Republicans want to get rid of the ACA prior to the election.

  17. 17.

    Chris Johnson

    March 2, 2020 at 10:46 am

    @the Conster: I’ll buy that. All the more as people watch coronavirus approach, while being unable to do anything about it for lack of money.

    I do hope ‘health care election’ doesn’t become ‘everybody loves their health insurance’ but I suspect she’s way smarter than that. Leave that shit to the Republicans, and get in Democrats who can build on what we painfully acquired.

  18. 18.

    Mnemosyne

    March 2, 2020 at 10:49 am

    Since I do not trust John Roberts in any way, I’m assuming this will be used as a fun new way to kneecap an incoming Democratic president by blowing up ACA only a few months after they take office.

  19. 19.

    debbie

    March 2, 2020 at 10:52 am

    @the Conster:

    Then the smart thing to do is assume they will kill it and run on that. Along with Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare.

  20. 20.

    debbie

    March 2, 2020 at 10:53 am

    @the Conster:

    Has she stopped Trump-related hearings? It’s seemed awfully quiet lately.

  21. 21.

    Barbara

    March 2, 2020 at 10:54 am

    @Mnemosyne: No, I would say the opposite.  If I had to speculate, it’s that Roberts may feel quite annoyed at the Texas judge who decided to use an incredibly novel theory to obliterate a law that he had already upheld.  I won’t go into the ins and outs of it, but Congress has had many chances to repeal the ACA, and instead has made legislative changes.  The lower court is basically ruling that Congress “accidentally” or “unintentionally” repealed the whole thing after it had repealed only a small part of it.  It’s a completely nutso ruling.  If Roberts goes for it and a Democrat is in office, look for overwhelming pressure to enact M4A, because it would not just upend the exchange coverage, but Medicaid expansion.  Just in time for one of the most severe threats to public health that we have seen in our lifetimes (vying with HIV for potential impact on health, but probably much worse in terms of economic impact).

  22. 22.

    guachi

    March 2, 2020 at 10:57 am

    I’m not a fan of M4A but if the ACA is blown up then M4A is the only way I can see to avoid it being destroyed again. Unless the Republicans want to take down Medicare, too.

  23. 23.

    hitchhiker

    March 2, 2020 at 10:58 am

    I remember the day trump had the entire Republican house conference over to yuk it up in the sunshine, celebrating their great victory of repealing Obamacare. The photographs of the party leadership grinning with trump on that day have always seemed like campaign ad gold to me.

    I’m in geezer territory now, but I was a suburban mom. A soccer mom. I drove a minivan and taught school and organized carpools, the whole 9 yards. The district was red for all that time, with moderate, quiet Republicans voting nevertheless as told by their leaders.

    It flipped in 2018, and it’s one of their targets now. The new generation of moms are, if anything, MORE tuned in to questions of paying for healthcare. Unlike us back in the day, they’re stuck in the gig economy with monthly student loan payments. They need the ACA to function.

    We have a ton of evidence that the Republicans are willing to risk it — that they’re truly poking sticks into it for the fun of it instead of trying to make sure people aren’t in danger of going bankrupt over a bad diagnosis.

    We have all of them on camera promising to get rid of the ACA, we have them celebrating when they were halfway there, and now we have their court case before the SCOTUS, poised like a snake to truly fuck things up. It’s horrifying. If Pelosi et al can’t message around that set of facts, there really is no hope.

  24. 24.

    burnspbesq

    March 2, 2020 at 11:01 am

    @the Conster:

    These are the Dem AGs in court fighting to preserve your healthcare.

    Several of those folks would make excellent successors to Barr. I especially like Maura Healy from MA.

  25. 25.

    catclub

    March 2, 2020 at 11:02 am

    @Marcopolo: That’s what I thought. The R appointees on the SC are playing politics with cases that might actually show that Republicans want to get rid of the ACA prior to the election.

     

    Yeah, there was a Slate column on just this: GOP judges slow-walking anything that might hurt Trump or GOP, and expediting all the judgements that help him – or keep his IRS records out of the public hands.

  26. 26.

    randy khan

    March 2, 2020 at 11:02 am

    I totally read this as Roberts trying to get it decided after the election so that it isn’t an election issue. Of course, if the Dems aren’t stupid about it (and I would say the likelihood they’re going to be stupid about is close to zero), it will be an election issue anyway. After all, the Trump Administration has bought into the underlying theory of the case and is on the side of the Republican Attorneys General who brought it.

    FWIW, a general rule on the Supreme Court taking cases is that they don’t take cases to affirm the court below, but to reverse. It’s only a rule of thumb, though, and so I wouldn’t assume anything about what Roberts – who clearly is the swing vote – will do.

  27. 27.

    the Conster

    March 2, 2020 at 11:03 am

    @Chris Johnson:

    No one knows more about the landscape of the politics of health care than the Speaker.  It’s what got her the majority.  I don’t know who remembers what, but shortly before the mid terms I started noticing how many GOPers were lying about pre-existing condition coverage, after McCain had saved the ACA and its pre-existing coverage provision from going down in flames.  It was brazen lies too, including Trump who of course lied about it.  People in the districts noticed the lies too, because they were showing up at the candidates town halls demanding answers.  She had told all the candidates to hammer health care, they did, and they won.

    She wants that to happen again.  It’s the one issue that breaks through the lies.

  28. 28.

    catclub

    March 2, 2020 at 11:06 am

    @the Conster: These are the Dem AGs in court fighting to preserve your healthcare.

     

    and unlike when they grant Trump expedited hearings, they don’t do it for Democrats. They are playing keep away for Trump and the GOP.

  29. 29.

    Jeffro

    March 2, 2020 at 11:11 am

    ACA:

    1. Dems should indeed run as if it’s going to be destroyed.
    2. Dems REALLY need to point out that almost every GOP official in America is lying about “protecting those with pre-existing conditions” (see also Hawley, Josh)

    OT:

    1. Top two stories in screamin’ big headlines on Fox News dot com right now: “Bernie poised for BIG win”; “Bernie is UNSTOPPABLE”.  Hmm…so much love for a ‘democratic socialist’ :)  Hopefully the non-Bernie candidate will run hard on the very simple message: “why go with trumpov’s and Fox’s favored candidate???”
    2. Very excited about voting in tomorrow’s VA primary!
  30. 30.

    Bill Arnold

    March 2, 2020 at 11:14 am

    @Mnemosyne:

    Since I do not trust John Roberts in any way, I’m assuming this will be used as a fun new way to kneecap an incoming Democratic president by blowing up ACA only a few months after they take office.

    Directly threatening the lives of large numbers of people is seldom a good idea. Second amendment, no insurance premiums means money unspent, very large numbers of aggrieved people, etc. (I am noting this as an advocate of non-violent solutions.)

  31. 31.

    Citizen Alan

    March 2, 2020 at 11:16 am

    @guachi:

    Unless the Republicans want to take down Medicare, too.

    Narrator: The Republicans want to take down Medicare too.

  32. 32.

    catclub

    March 2, 2020 at 11:20 am

    @Citizen Alan: They want to take it down but also not leave their fingerprints all over the murder weapon.    … tricky.

  33. 33.

    PenAndKey

    March 2, 2020 at 11:21 am

    @Bill Arnold: I definitely agree with @Mnemosyne. I don’t trust Roberts, at all. And you’re right, this is a direct threat to people’s lives. Between my parents and my son being threatened with the return of pre-existing conditions clauses and lifetime caps I take this personally, and the GOP’s stance on this topic alone has split my extended family in half and made half of us nearly rabidly anti-GOP. The other half? They’re Trump die-hards who get pissed when I call them out for their IGMFY attitude and point out that the people they vote for are a threat to their own family. The ACA isn’t a campaign slogan; it’s a powder keg.

    Robert’s knows all this. The GOP should know this too, but here we are.

  34. 34.

    Duane

    March 2, 2020 at 11:28 am

    @debbie: Absolutely right. Beat Republicans over the head with “taking your healthcare away” like it was as good as done. It’s  what Republicans are trying to do so make them own it.

  35. 35.

    Martin

    March 2, 2020 at 11:29 am

    Hearing this against the backdrop of Covid will be interesting.

    Epidemiologist colleague now thinks there are multiple thousands of cases in the US after the latest count. Now suspects other nations will place a travel ban from the US due to widespread refusal to test.

  36. 36.

    Martin

    March 2, 2020 at 11:31 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: Decision will be after the election, but arguments likely before.

  37. 37.

    debbie

    March 2, 2020 at 11:33 am

    @Duane:

    We should make M4A our own nuclear option. Take away the ACA and you’ll get M4A. Period.

  38. 38.

    Richard Guhl

    March 2, 2020 at 11:35 am

    My hunch is that John Roberts is sick of this nonsense and wants to be done with it. He has already affirmed the ACA twice, and there’s no reason to think that he’ll suddenly change his mind. If he did, he’d get no credit from the right and a furious reaction of Democrats on the left.

    I foresee a 5-4 vote upholding the law.

    Roberts cannot be unmindful of the possibility that, should the Democrats take control of Congress, they wouldn’t hesitate to strip the Supreme Court of its power of review in certain classes of cases as is allowed in Article 3, Section 2, paragraph 2.
    He may push the envelope, but he has to know the danger of going too far.

  39. 39.

    Martin

    March 2, 2020 at 11:36 am

    Regarding voting tomorrow, CA and other states with massive early voting may not be affected, but with Pete out, and to a lesser degree Steyer, everyone just got a little boost to their chances of hitting the 15% threshold. Bernie isn’t consolidating the Dem base so much that there were too many non-Bernie candidates preventing many of them from hitting 15%. That got a little better.

    There’s got to be massive pressure on Amy to drop. I don’t see Super Tuesday helping her much either. I say the same for Warren based on results, but she’s at least got money to spend. We’ll see if it helps.

  40. 40.

    Omnes Omnibus

    March 2, 2020 at 11:37 am

    @Martin: Thank you, great legal scholar.

  41. 41.

    James E Powell

    March 2, 2020 at 11:41 am

    Every time the supreme court is in the news, I want to find a Nader voter and a Stein voter and smash their heads together, like Moe Howard.

    What’s it going to take to convince non-right wingers that the supreme court is more important than things like speeches to Goldman Sachs or a vote in favor of a bad criminal justice bill or some other “disqualifying” act?

  42. 42.

    Martin

    March 2, 2020 at 11:42 am

    @debbie: If the US keeps fucking up it’s Covid response, then M4A gets closer to reality.

    Look at the arguments against M4A. It isn’t really that people dislike it. It’s that they dislike the process of dismantling the current system. That’s the key impediment. Lacking a sustained bombing campaign to remove the existing health care apparatus, Covid may do much of that for us. Either the feds are going to  have to bail out the industry enough to get people to ask why we should  suffer through this intolerable mix of both high costs plus taxpayer bailouts, or they won’t be bailed out and they’ll start failing under a set of costs that aren’t baked into premiums,  particularly if the cost of testing/vaccines aren’t subsidized.

  43. 43.

    Martin

    March 2, 2020 at 11:49 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: I can read a website:

    A Term of the Supreme Court begins, by statute, on the first Monday in October. Usually Court sessions continue until late June or early July. The Term is divided between “sittings,” when the Justices hear cases and deliver opinions, and intervening “recesses,” when they consider the business before the Court and write opinions. Sittings and recesses alternate at approximately two-week intervals.

    …

    The Court maintains this schedule each Term until all cases ready for submission have been heard and decided. In May and June the Court sits only to announce orders and opinions. The Court recesses at the end of June, but the work of the Justices is unceasing. During the summer they continue to analyze new petitions for review, consider motions and applications, and must make preparations for cases scheduled for fall argument.

    While the court can certainly deviate from this, I don’t see any possibility the case will be heard in Oct and a ruling handed down prior to the election. This isn’t an urgent matter like Bush v Gore.

  44. 44.

    James E Powell

    March 2, 2020 at 11:50 am

    @debbie:

    We should make M4A our own nuclear option. Take away the ACA and you’ll get M4A. Period.

    When Republicans argue that M4A ,or anything like it, will give free health care to blacks and immigrants, and it is certain that they will scream that message, the majority of white people will oppose it.

    When the bankers crashed the economy, they blamed black people, then elected right wingers who promised to be cruel to poor people and to impose austerity on everyone else. What makes anyone think they won’t respond the same way to a pandemic? Remember how people reacted to AIDS?

  45. 45.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    March 2, 2020 at 11:50 am

    @Martin: People don’t want to give up what they know to instead go to the DMV to see a doctor*.

    *This is how Republicans will paint any single payer proposal.

  46. 46.

    the Conster

    March 2, 2020 at 11:54 am

    @debbie:

    That makes no sense with this court.  SCOTUS will get rid of Medicare before they’ll pass Medicare for All.

  47. 47.

    Martin

    March 2, 2020 at 11:58 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Right, which is why the failure of the existing system, in some form, is likely a necessary precursor. Say what you will about the DMV, they don’t go bankrupt and leave you without.

  48. 48.

    the Conster

    March 2, 2020 at 11:58 am

    @James E Powell:

    I don’t understand how anyone can still look at the history of progress in this country and think that white people are going to do the right thing?  Sure, they love their own government programs, but as soon as they see anyone brown or black enjoying the same benefit they do, they vote against big government and for GOP.  They don’t want their hard earned tax dollars going to *those lazy people*.  No one wants to hand over 1/6 of the US economy to government.

    This is the best article I’ve ever read about this.

    https://www.forbes.com/sites/chrisladd/2017/03/13/unspeakable-realities-block-universal-health-coverage-in-the-us/#c82d78a186a6

  49. 49.

    Kent

    March 2, 2020 at 12:01 pm

    Democrats should be running every damn campaign on the premise that Republicans are taking away their health care and leaving them WORSE off than they were before the ACA.  Every damn ad should be talking about that

    If the GOP doesn’t like it they can accelerate their damn SCOTUS ruling and affirm the ACA once and for all BEFORE the election.  The fact that they aren’t doing that give away the game.

  50. 50.

    Ruckus

    March 2, 2020 at 12:04 pm

    @Marcopolo:

    Do you have any doubt that they want to get rid of it? And will do it in a way to best, at least, not hurt their chances of reelection? When in the last 3 or more decades have republicans not done whatever they can to screw the most people at the bettering of the fewest?

  51. 51.

    Ohio Mom

    March 2, 2020 at 12:11 pm

    On a personal note, it is with relief that I note that I entered the promised land of Medicare coverage today.

    I really do feel that I have reached a special place where I will always have at least some coverage (yes, I know the Republicans will always have their knives out for Medicare but I feel there is safety in the large number of faithful voters in my new cohort).

    On the topic of the post, the older I get, the deeper my appreciation for how f*cked up this nation I live in is.

  52. 52.

    Ruckus

    March 2, 2020 at 12:17 pm

    @Richard Guhl:

    I think the possibility that you are correct is reasonable, given the history there. Republicans have been going completely freaking crazy the last few years because they got what they wanted in a president, someone to dismantle the most helpful parts of the federal government, by design or by incompetence. They’ve got nothing else so they chose incompetence to get the job done. I doubt seriously that they see this as a death march, to anyone but their “enemies.” They have proven not to be all that bright, just highly delusional. And it’s not money, they have lots of money, and the people giving it, really, really want what they are paying for.

  53. 53.

    Ohio Mom

    March 2, 2020 at 12:21 pm

    The Conster @48: That IS a good article. I think I will bookmark it.

    Funny that it ran in Forbes, and amusing to think of the reactions of the typical Forbes readers when it was first published. There must have been an outbreak of cognitive dissonance across the country that week.

  54. 54.

    Kelly

    March 2, 2020 at 12:29 pm

    @Ohio Mom:

     

    @the Conster:

    Not sure if you’ll find that article on his new site but here’ where Chris Ladd posts now

    https://www.politicalorphans.com/

    https://twitter.com/chrisaladd

  55. 55.

    the Conster

    March 2, 2020 at 12:29 pm

    @Ohio Mom:

    Written by a white guy and former Republican.  It’s as honest as it gets.  I went to buy “Dying of Whiteness” last weekend but it’s $35 and I just couldn’t bring myself to spend that much to depress myself further so I got a pedi instead.  :-)

  56. 56.

    Humdog

    March 2, 2020 at 12:30 pm

    @Ohio Mom: Happy Birthday

  57. 57.

    the Conster

    March 2, 2020 at 12:31 pm

    @Kelly:

    Yes, I read him.  He’s right on.  Here’s his take on Sanders being run by Russia – much longer than Trump has been, btw.

    https://www.politicalorphans.com/sanders-is-the-kremlins-second-favorite-candidate/

  58. 58.

    zhena gogolia

    March 2, 2020 at 12:38 pm

    @the Conster:

    I loved this comment on that article:

    Indeed. If someone who is decent and humane is a Russian agent, so be it. Perhaps he can use the new dictatorial powers of the presidency to actually right some of the wrongs perpetrated by the fascists and ultra-capitalists throughout the last 50 years.

    I am plunging back into panicked despair about BS.

    ETA: I would disagree with the author’s contention that it was very difficult for an American to visit the Soviet Union in 1988.

  59. 59.

    trollhattan

    March 2, 2020 at 12:40 pm

    @Eolirin:

    I want her within ten paces of a sink at all times. French-milled soap? Yours for the asking, Justice.

  60. 60.

    Ohio Mom

    March 2, 2020 at 12:44 pm

    Hum dog @56: Thanks! Though my birthday isn’t for two more weeks. One of her many bits of Medicare trivia I learned in the past few months is that it starts on the first day of your birthday month.

  61. 61.

    pamelabrown53

    March 2, 2020 at 1:01 pm

    @Ohio Mom:

    Congrats! Love being on Medicare such an emotional and financial relief after years of self-insured$$$. Did you have difficulty selecting a gap or supplement policy? So much to choose from!

  62. 62.

    different-church-lady

    March 2, 2020 at 1:01 pm

    We’re all going to die, and nobody’s going to have any health insurance.

    Proove me wrong.

  63. 63.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    March 2, 2020 at 1:21 pm

    @zhena gogolia:

    I would disagree with the author’s contention that it was very difficult for an American to visit the Soviet Union in 1988.

    I agree, Cuba was a bit more difficult, you’d have to go though Mexico and not getting your passport stamped.

  64. 64.

    Martin

    March 2, 2020 at 1:25 pm

    @zhena gogolia: My grandmother visited 3 times. She was just a tourist. Harder than other places, but not objectively hard.

  65. 65.

    Ohio Mom

    March 2, 2020 at 1:33 pm

    Pamelabrown53 @61: The shock of just how confusing choosing among Medicare plans is, well it was a shock. As was finding out how much it all costs. Still, it’s forever, even with my various pre-existing conditions.

    I just wonder how addled really oldsters manage to navigate the system.

  66. 66.

    schrodingers_cat

    March 2, 2020 at 1:34 pm

    Amy Klobuchar is suspending her campaign and endorsing Joe Biden

  67. 67.

    jeffreyw

    March 2, 2020 at 1:34 pm

    JUST IN: @amyklobuchar is flying to Dallas to join Vice President Biden at his rally tonight where she will suspend her campaign and endorse the Vice President.— Ed O'Keefe (@edokeefe) March 2, 2020

  68. 68.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    March 2, 2020 at 1:37 pm

    @schrodingers_cat: Once Pete was gone…

  69. 69.

    Baud

    March 2, 2020 at 1:40 pm

    @schrodingers_cat: Wow.  I hope that doesn’t mean Bernie is going to win Minnesota.

  70. 70.

    Orange Is The New White

    March 2, 2020 at 1:40 pm

    What’s it going to take to convince non-right wingers that the supreme court is more important than things like speeches to Goldman Sachs or a vote in favor of a bad criminal justice bill or some other “disqualifying” act?

    @James E Powell:  Nothing, man.  You’re just playing the corporation’s game by voting for the corporate party.

    In seriousness, this makes me weep.  I’ve been hearing this shit from the left since I was old enough to know what politics was.   This is, for whatever reason, a problem that the Right just does not have.

    Am re-reading Shirer’s “Rise and Fall of the Third Reich” and one of the critical factors in Hitler’s coming to power was that, even though he only had, at his peak, 37% of the vote and could have been easily stopped at that point, the other 63% of Germans absolutely refused to work together, all convinced that they and they alone were the right people to be in charge of Germany and everyone else was just as bad as Hitler.  Sound familiar?

    Shirer goes so far as to term it the true great moral failing of the German people.  Because it made everything else that Hitler said he would do possible.

  71. 71.

    Ohio Mom

    March 2, 2020 at 1:40 pm

    Zhena @58: Biden’s good result in SC and Buttigieg dropping out have made combined to make me a little less anxious about BS. Don’t know if this lovely calm will last but I am enjoying it for now.

    I  am sad that Warren isn’t doing better but as long as she stays in, I figure she has to be pulling voters from Bernie. And her attacks on Bloomberg are very enjoyable.

    ETA: Klobuchar dropping out just makes this all realer.

  72. 72.

    Chyron HR

    March 2, 2020 at 1:41 pm

    @zhena gogolia:

    Indeed, perhaps someone ushered into the presidency by a cult of personality can use the dictatorial powers of the office to (checks notes) oppose fascism.

  73. 73.

    Immanentize

    March 2, 2020 at 1:42 pm

    On the Supreme Court and the ACA — It won’t be decided before the election, but unless something really weird happens, it will certainly be argued in early October.  Much national presidential race focus will turn to that argument.

  74. 74.

    schrodingers_cat

    March 2, 2020 at 1:43 pm

    @Baud: The crucial difference from the last time is that it is primary not a caucus this year. BS doesn’t do as well in primaries as he does in caucus states.

  75. 75.

    Baud

    March 2, 2020 at 1:43 pm

    @Immanentize:

    Yep, and the Trump administration will have to tell the Supreme Court to gut the whole thing before the election.

  76. 76.

    Immanentize

    March 2, 2020 at 1:46 pm

    @Baud: Like I said this morning, Klobuchar just couldn’t let Buttigieg last longer in the race.  I thought she’ld tough it out til tomorrow.  This stirs the pot for sure.

  77. 77.

    Immanentize

    March 2, 2020 at 1:46 pm

    @Baud: unless something really funky happens….

  78. 78.

    zhena gogolia

    March 2, 2020 at 1:47 pm

    @Chyron HR:

    the logic is unassailable!

  79. 79.

    Immanentize

    March 2, 2020 at 1:50 pm

    Jes sayin’

    Warren is the only woman left in the primary.*

    * Not willing to count T.G.

  80. 80.

    frosty

    March 2, 2020 at 1:53 pm

    @Ohio Mom: It took me at least a month to figure out that a PA MedAdvantage plan wouldn’t cover my MD doctors. No one would confirm that the out of network benefits would apply. So we went with Medigap, which was probably best anyway considering how much traveling we do.

    Long story short: yes it’s complicated and not free.

  81. 81.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    March 2, 2020 at 1:53 pm

    @Immanentize: Funkytown!

  82. 82.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    March 2, 2020 at 1:54 pm

    @frosty:

    it’s complicated and not free.

    That’s not what the guy with the bird said.

  83. 83.

    Immanentize

    March 2, 2020 at 2:10 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: I must admit, I love that song.  Thanks!

  84. 84.

    Missouri Buckeye

    March 2, 2020 at 2:25 pm

    @Jeffro: If was so sickening during the 2018 campaign to watch Hawley lie through his teeth saying “I will never take away your healthcare” while as MO AG he was signed onto the lawsuit to do just that.

  85. 85.

    debbie

    March 2, 2020 at 3:45 pm

    @Immanentize:

    Nina Totenberg insists you can predict the outcome by listening to the arguments.

  86. 86.

    Mai naem mobile

    March 2, 2020 at 4:58 pm

    @Ohio Mom: if you’re going the supplement route remember you’re stuck with the supplement you pick initially. After that you have to go through underwriting.I had no idea about that when I did the leg work for my moms supplement and it’s been okay but a coworker who went on Medicare and went the supplement route told me that. My mom went on Medicare pre-Part D so I don’t know if things have changed but the AARP plans didn’t impress me. I’ve forgotten the exact numbers but the drug coverage covered something like $1000 max but cost $800.

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