• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I did not have this on my fuck 2025 bingo card.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

If you are still in the gop, you are either an extremist yourself, or in bed with those who are.

If America since Jan 2025 hasn’t broken your heart, you haven’t loved her enough.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

Republicans: “Abortion is murder but you can take a bus to get one.” Easy peasy.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

Republicans in disarray!

Optimism opens the door to great things.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

We need to vote them all out and restore sane Democratic government.

I might just take the rest of the day off and do even more nothing than usual.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.

Republicans do not trust women.

“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

“woke” is the new caravan.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

In my day, never was longer.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Today’s gop: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

Conservatism: there are people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

Mobile Menu

  • Seattle Meet-up Post
  • 2025 Activism
  • Targeted Political Fundraising
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • COVID-19
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • 2025 Activism
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • Targeted Fundraising!
You are here: Home / Anderson On Health Insurance / Still a BFD

Still a BFD

by David Anderson|  March 23, 20239:56 am| 55 Comments

This post is in: Anderson On Health Insurance

FacebookTweetEmail

On this day in 2010, @BarackObama signed into law the Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act: a shining achievement that presidents had strived toward for more than a century.

Today, and every day, Democrats are working to ensure that health care is a right – not a privilege. pic.twitter.com/vBbA3dRIZc

— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) March 23, 2023

 

In 2018, I was grabbing a beer with a friend, colleague and co-author.  We were shooting the shit and wondering when our ACA line of research would become boring — useful but boring work that is part of the general background.  We went through a few scenarios and figured 2025 was the earliest, 2028 was the most likely point where our research agenda would transition to the “mating habits of Northwest salmon” level of general public interest.  This is good knowledge.  It informs policy and has billion dollar impact but it is background information.  I still think 2028 sounds reasonable.

But today, let’s celebrate a BFD.

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: « Thursday Morning Open Thread: Ramadan Kareem!
Next Post: North Carolina passes Medicaid Expansion »

Reader Interactions

55Comments

  1. 1.

    JPL

    March 23, 2023 at 10:01 am

    I still have my BFD shirt.   Thanks, Joe, for calling it what it is.

  2. 2.

    OzarkHillbilly

    March 23, 2023 at 10:02 am

    A BFD that has garnered 3rd rail protection in a surprisingly short period of time.

  3. 3.

    bbleh

    March 23, 2023 at 10:02 am

    Almost certainly saved MY life, so I’ll raise a toast.

  4. 4.

    Matt McIrvin

    March 23, 2023 at 10:09 am

    This is what gives me hope that eventually, COVID boosters will be normalized. The Eye of Sauron moves on to something else as its object of fascination.

  5. 5.

    rikyrah

    March 23, 2023 at 10:12 am

    CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP

  6. 6.

    JCJ

    March 23, 2023 at 10:13 am

    Shouldn’t the mating habits of Northwest salmon be a topic reserved for Balloon-Juice After Dark?

  7. 7.

    BellyCat

    March 23, 2023 at 10:13 am

    @Matt McIrvin:The Eye of Sauron moves on to something else as its object of fascination.

    Such as putting children back to work (as long as they aren’t transgendered or gay).

  8. 8.

    WaterGirl

    March 23, 2023 at 10:13 am

    @Matt McIrvin: That will only happen if or when not getting the vaccine is no longer a badge of honor, proof of membership in the “superior” tribe.

  9. 9.

    Anonymous At Work

    March 23, 2023 at 10:17 am

    Whenever have the mating habits of Pacific wild-caught salmon ever been mundane?
    Add in the COVID disruptions and you have a few more years of research, especially if California and/or Intermountain in Utah succeeds in starting up generic drug manufacturing.  I can imagine a researcher wanting to know if such an event is correlated with an uptick in cirrhosis and early deaths among insurance executives.

  10. 10.

    sab

    March 23, 2023 at 10:17 am

    @bbleh: I am with you on that. ACA probably saved my life when I knew that I could indeed seek medical care without bankrupting the household. I had been ignoring warning signs for years because there was no point in looking for treatment I couldn’t afford.

  11. 11.

    The Lodger

    March 23, 2023 at 10:21 am

    I think Oregon Public Broadcasting has already run a series on the mating habits of Northwest salmon.

  12. 12.

    Baud

    March 23, 2023 at 10:28 am

    I’m here for that hot salmon-on-salmon action.

    ETA: I wonder how green balloons work underwater.

  13. 13.

    David Anderson

    March 23, 2023 at 10:33 am

    @Anonymous At Work: those are good questions that I’m not particularly interested in chasing down.

  14. 14.

    Ken

    March 23, 2023 at 10:34 am

    I may be mis-remembering, but doesn’t salmon mating resemble the ACA politically as well?  That is, about 70%-80% of the human population in the Pacific Northwest prefer the salmon and would like to get rid of some of the dams that block the fish, but the Republicans are locked into a pro-dam stance by Cleek’s Law?

  15. 15.

    CaseyL

    March 23, 2023 at 10:37 am

    @Ken:

    Probably mostly right – but the PNW also gets a lot, maybe most, of its electricity from hydroelectric.

    I think the next dam most people want to have removed is on the Snake River, which is currently the center of controversy precisely because of the salmon run/hydro electricity conflict.

  16. 16.

    Chief Oshkosh

    March 23, 2023 at 10:48 am

    @BellyCat: Nah, it’s my morning kink.

  17. 17.

    MisterDancer

    March 23, 2023 at 10:48 am

    Unexpected good side-effect of the right-wing knee-jerk astroturned fight against the ACA — the recent WY Supreme Court decision to review the abortion ban in the state (and allow abortions to continue in meantime) was based upon an anti-ACA Amendment to the State’s constitution.

    Talk shit, hit yourself.

  18. 18.

    New Deal democrat

    March 23, 2023 at 10:49 am

    Still a BFD, but a word of caution nevertheless: The ACA survived Supreme Court scrutiny by a 5-4 margin only after Roberts changed his vote. With Ginsburg replaced by Barrett, there are probably now 5 votes to throw it out.

    What’s that, you say? It’s settled precedent now???

  19. 19.

    p.a.

    March 23, 2023 at 10:52 am

    @New Deal democrat:

    Point taken.  Wonder if there’s anything out there working its way to the Roberts Calvinball Court?

  20. 20.

    TaMara

    March 23, 2023 at 10:53 am

    And a big thank you to Obama, Pelosi and those who put their careers on the line to pass it. As a small business owner (coincidence, I went out on my own 13 yrs ago, too) this is the only way I could afford health insurance.

  21. 21.

    gene108

    March 23, 2023 at 10:55 am

    @bbleh:

    Almost certainly saved MY life, so I’ll raise a toast.

    Same here.

    Obamacare allowed me to weather a period of prolonged unemployment and still have health insurance.

  22. 22.

    azlib

    March 23, 2023 at 10:59 am

    @New Deal democrat:

    I believe the ACA is too embedded in the economy to be overturned. The disruption to insurers as well as medical providers would be enormous.

  23. 23.

    lowtechcyclist

    March 23, 2023 at 11:09 am

    @MisterDancer:

    Very interesting!  From your link, here’s the text of Article I, Section 38 of the Wyoming Constitution:

    (a) Each competent adult shall have the right to make his or her own health care decisions.  The parent, guardian or legal representative of any other natural person shall have the right to make health care decisions for that person.

    (b) Any person may pay, and a health care provider may accept, direct payment for health care without imposition of penalties or fines for doing so.

    (c) The legislature may determine reasonable and necessary restrictions on the rights granted under this section to protect the health and general welfare of the people or to accomplish the other purposes set forth in the Wyoming Constitution.

    (d) The state of Wyoming shall act to preserve these rights from undue governmental infringement.

    Denying abortion access would certainly strike me as the sort of “undue governmental infringement” that the state of Wyoming is required to preserve the rights in (a) and (b) from.

    ETA: It would also seem to give Wyoming parents the right to authorize gender-affirming care for transitioning children of theirs, and physicians to provide such care, without fear of repercussion.

  24. 24.

    laura

    March 23, 2023 at 11:12 am

    Thanks Obama! If not for the ACA, we’d be paying north of 26 large yearly to stay on my former employer’s plan. And with the IRA subsidies, monthly premiums were $200. Spouse just graduated to Medicare, so the subsidy adjusted to $400 for me alone. It’s still a huge bargain and peace of mind until I age up to Medicare. Thanks Obama and Biden/Harris!

  25. 25.

    Fake Irishman

    March 23, 2023 at 11:16 am

    @New Deal democrat:

    But two big challenges since have been turned back even in a much more conservative court. Still plenty of bears in the woods, but it has proven surprisingly resilient.

  26. 26.

    Fake Irishman

    March 23, 2023 at 11:18 am

    @p.a.:

    Probably a few having to deal with mandatory provision of some services that are currently in Reed O’Conner’s courtroom in Texas. Results could be bad, but not a death sentence to the ACA; also there are ways around adverse results that Dave pointed out a few weeks ago here.

  27. 27.

    Fake Irishman

    March 23, 2023 at 11:19 am

    @MisterDancer:  Ohio has one of these too.

  28. 28.

    lowtechcyclist

    March 23, 2023 at 11:19 am

    @azlib:

    I believe the ACA is too embedded in the economy to be overturned. The disruption to insurers as well as medical providers would be enormous.

    I wish that were the case.  But as we can see from the GOP games with the debt limit from 2011 to the present, there are many in their caucus who would cheerfully blow up our economy to own us libs.

    And we have the example of Britain, which you’d think would have been too economically embedded with Europe to do something as crazy as Brexit.  But they did, and it’s been an economic disaster.

    Our right wing thinks that if we have economic collapse or civil war or whatever, they’ll get to rule over the ruins, and that’s all that matters to them.

  29. 29.

    Kelly

    March 23, 2023 at 11:21 am

    @CaseyL: The 4 lower Snake River dams produce 933 megawatts out of the 14,400 megawatts Colombia Basin dams produce. They are primarily navigation dams, a bit of flood control. The barge traffic could be shifted to rail. The power is most valuable as easily dispatched peaking power which is kinda handy as more wind and solar comes on line. In comparison Hells Canyon dam, upstream of the 4 lower Snake dams produces 1167 megawatts. There’s very little talk of taking it out. The biggest PNW dam, Grand Coulee on the main Columbia produces  a massive 6609 megawatts.  The 8 dams in the Willamette River basin produce less than 400 megawatts.

  30. 30.

    Jesse

    March 23, 2023 at 11:29 am

    Currently in Seattle. Salmon research, of any kind, is welcome.

  31. 31.

    PaulB

    March 23, 2023 at 11:32 am

    The ACA allowed me to retire three years earlier than I otherwise would have been able to. Even better, the expansion of the subsidies has saved me thousands of dollars. For me, personally, it has indeed been a BFD.

  32. 32.

    Jesse

    March 23, 2023 at 11:32 am

    @lowtechcyclist: This is pretty modern language for the Wyoming constitution. Were people saying “health care” in the 1880s?

  33. 33.

    Old School

    March 23, 2023 at 11:49 am

    @Jesse: That amendment was added in 2012.

  34. 34.

    M31

    March 23, 2023 at 11:55 am

    I did some salmon research recently by making a paste of mustard and honey and using it to stick chopped pecans, breadcrumbs, and parmesan to the salmon before roasting in a hot oven

    results indicated that increasing salmon populations is a good thing

    so pull those dams down, for science

  35. 35.

    Ohio Mom

    March 23, 2023 at 11:59 am

    The ACA has not directly benefit anyone in my little family and yet, because I am a decent person (I don’t think that is too outrageous a self-compliment), I was thrilled to see it signed into law and continue to celebrate its existence. When I think of the reasons I am proud to be a Democrat, the ACA is high on the list.

    In other news, I just went to open the garage door and discovered that the spring had sprung and I (all of us) are stuck in the house. Such is the price paid for our suburban car-centric lifestyle. The repairman is due in a few hours so maybe by supper time we’ll be able to get the cars out of the garage.

  36. 36.

    Geminid

    March 23, 2023 at 12:02 pm

     

     

    @Jesse: There is an effort by Alaska Representative Mary Peltola and Congressional allies to amend the Magnusen Act so as to tilt the balance in Northwest fisheries management away from the commercial trawler interests and towards smaller inshore fishing outfits as well as Native and subsistence fisherman. That could have a positive effect on populations of salmon and other fish in the Pacific Northwest.

    Big Trawl is a powerful industry, and Peltola and company face a tough battle. She seems a very persuasive woman though, and is very knowledgeable in this area. Rep. Peltola and her allies may well push this measure through the next Congress.

  37. 37.

    New Deal democrat

    March 23, 2023 at 12:09 pm

    @azlib: “I believe the ACA is too embedded in the economy to be overturned. The disruption to insurers as well as medical providers would be enormous.”

    For comparison: “I believe *that abortion and reproductive health care are*  too embedded in the economy to be overturned. The disruption to insurers as well as medical providers would be enormous.”

    ETA: Not criticizing; just calling it out for your consideration.

  38. 38.

    Baud

    March 23, 2023 at 12:11 pm

    @New Deal democrat:

    The abortion stuff is horrible, but it’s effect on the overall economy is negligible.

  39. 39.

    Argiope

    March 23, 2023 at 12:16 pm

    @Baud: That’s actually something I wish David and colleagues would investigate.  There are lots of possible downstream economic implications to this.  What happens when nurses and doctors get fed up and leave the restrictive states?  Some will, though others wil do the boiling frog thing.  Lots more special needs babies coming who will require millions of dollars of support that has to come from someplace.  Which is not a bad thing except when their parents do not actually want to continue those pregnancies and give birth/parent.  And then those folks get pulled out of the labor market.  Brain drain in red states as young people move to where reproductive rights are secure and pregnancy is safer.  Nowhere near the impact of the ACA, but not negligible, maybe.

  40. 40.

    lollipopguild

    March 23, 2023 at 12:26 pm

    “IT”S (still) ALIVE”

  41. 41.

    New Deal democrat

    March 23, 2023 at 12:28 pm

    @Baud: My point is that widespread horrible consequences have not been the slightest deterrent to this Court so far (see, also, gun violence).

  42. 42.

    Baud

    March 23, 2023 at 12:36 pm

    @New Deal democrat:

    Yeah, but this Court cares about corporations and the economy.  If it were just people dying, the ACA would be as good as gone.

    No guarantees, but I don’t think it’s an analogous situation.

  43. 43.

    lowtechcyclist

    March 23, 2023 at 12:41 pm

    @Argiope:

    Lots more special needs babies coming who will require millions of dollars of support that has to come from someplace.

    Hell, there’s far too little support already for those parents who ‘win’ the lottery of finding themselves with a special needs child.  We really need to do some serious work as a society to reduce the load that those parents face.

  44. 44.

    Anya

    March 23, 2023 at 12:42 pm

    It’s a BFD. Those who are against justice and progress are eventually defeated.

    you know it’s becoming normalized because no one is calling it Obamacare anymore.

    I was on my parents platinum coverage for 3-years so a personal win.

  45. 45.

    Geminid

    March 23, 2023 at 12:43 pm

    @New Deal democrat: So far this Court has struck down only one gun law. That was a New York state measure regarding concealed carry permits, and the reason given was the discretionary aspect of the permitting regime. There are other, broader challenges working their way through federal courts, so we will see how hostile this Court is to gun safety legislation. Right now I think it’s an open question.

  46. 46.

    Baud

    March 23, 2023 at 12:46 pm

    @Geminid:

    And Heller.  That was striking down a gun law.

  47. 47.

    Geminid

    March 23, 2023 at 12:53 pm

    @Baud: Yes, Heller. I thought that Scalia’s opinion in Heller was actually favorable to gun regulation in general. There have been a lot of gun safety laws passed since then that are still standing, including six gun safety the Virginia General Assembly in early 2020

    But I was speaking of this particular set of Justices.

  48. 48.

    Ruckus

    March 23, 2023 at 12:53 pm

    @Anonymous At Work:

    I can imagine a researcher wanting to know if such an event is correlated with an uptick in cirrhosis and early deaths among insurance executives.

    Only if you consider they might, and I do mean MIGHT start considering the people who hand over all the bills over the people that collect a rather handsome level of compensation for doing almost as little as possible for those bill payers – their customers.

  49. 49.

    StringOnAStick

    March 23, 2023 at 12:55 pm

    The ACA let us retire 3 years earlier than65.  Husband is now on Medicare and I will be in July.  Thank you ACA for the huge gift that affordable (with subsidies) gave us!

  50. 50.

    Ruckus

    March 23, 2023 at 12:58 pm

    @azlib:

    That doesn’t mean the money hoarders still don’t want to end it because it takes away some of their pompous arrogance of being the people that get actual medical care, while all the peons suffer. Also it might just impact their bank accounts by a few cents….

  51. 51.

    Ruckus

    March 23, 2023 at 1:20 pm

    @Ohio Mom:

    I have owned a business with employees and we paid health care insurance for them because it was a lot cheaper for us to purchase a policy that covered everyone than to pay them enough to purchase their own. And yes I got the advantage as well. It was a welcome benefit for all. But the ACA makes it a lot better for everyone, even those who do not directly benefit. When we all have better health because we can actually afford it, it changes the entire population.

    This country is about money, freedom to have a lot of it and freedom to have none. I know that is a bit out there as a concept but think about all the things that money buys and all the things that not money does not, and health care is one of those. And health care affects all of us. Think about the last 3 yrs and a disease that is very highly transmittable and kills, that we are still living with. What if the vaccine cost $100 or $200/dose? How many people would have not gotten it, not because they thought that horse medicine would be better, but because they couldn’t afford it?

  52. 52.

    Matt McIrvin

    March 23, 2023 at 1:24 pm

    @azlib:

    I believe the ACA is too embedded in the economy to be overturned. The disruption to insurers as well as medical providers would be enormous.

    SCOTUS justices who are true believers don’t necessarily care. But Republican politicians would pay.

  53. 53.

    Anonymous At Work

    March 23, 2023 at 1:28 pm

    @David Anderson: Be a good excuse to spend grant money to fly out to SLC and California.  But yes, that would be a big task.
    I am looking forward to reading preliminary results from that analysis, whomever does it.  Generics are the ultimate stick for insurance companies, PBMs, and sock-puppet PBMs (looking at you, Optuum RX)!

  54. 54.

    Anonymous At Work

    March 23, 2023 at 1:31 pm

    @Ruckus: Generics would mean that executive compensation suddenly gets a lot smaller and the executives could not afford the same quality of hookers and blow as they once were.  As a result, many turn to cheap alcohol, like Johnnie Walker Blue.

  55. 55.

    Chris T.

    March 23, 2023 at 3:34 pm

    @CaseyL:

    I think the next dam most people want to have removed is on the Snake River, which is currently the center of controversy precisely because of the salmon run/hydro electricity conflict.

    That may be the case, but it’s the three Skagit River dams that have been in the news here a lot. (For non-PNW-ers, that’s pronounced “SKA-jit”, not “skag-it”, and “Skajit” rhymes with “gadget”.)

Comments are closed.

Primary Sidebar

On The Road - Albatrossity - Flyover Country Spring 2
Image by Albatrossity (5/18/25)

Recent Comments

  • m.j. on Sunday Morning Open Thread (May 18, 2025 @ 9:05am)
  • JPL on Sunday Morning Open Thread (May 18, 2025 @ 9:04am)
  • JPL on Sunday Morning Open Thread (May 18, 2025 @ 9:02am)
  • Shalimar on Sunday Morning Open Thread (May 18, 2025 @ 9:01am)
  • JPL on Sunday Morning Garden Chat: An Established Perennial Garden in Chapel Hill, NC (May 18, 2025 @ 8:59am)

PA Supreme Court At Risk

Donate

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year
View by Past Author

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
War in Ukraine
Donate to Razom for Ukraine

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

Meetups

Upcoming Ohio Meetup May 17
5/11 Post about the May 17 Ohio Meetup

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Links)
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Posts)
Fix Nyms with Apostrophes

Hands Off! – Denver, San Diego & Austin

Social Media

Balloon Juice
WaterGirl
TaMara
John Cole
DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
Betty Cracker
Tom Levenson
David Anderson
Major Major Major Major
DougJ NYT Pitchbot
mistermix

Keeping Track

Legal Challenges (Lawfare)
Republicans Fleeing Town Halls (TPM)
21 Letters (to Borrow or Steal)
Search Donations from a Brand

PA Supreme Court At Risk

Donate

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2025 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!