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Tuesday, July 11, 2017

Rascovar: Repealing Obamacare is Hogan’s conundrum

By Barry Rascovar
For MarylandReporter.com


Though he’s a Republican, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan must pray each night that his fellow Republicans in Congress fall flat on their faces in their concerted efforts to wipe out Obamacare and replace it with a vastly inferior health care safety net.

Hogan quietly voiced opposition to House and Senate “repeal and replace” bills in a statement he had issued in Annapolis while on an overseas trip.

He’s trying hard to avoid offending Maryland Republicans who support an immediate repeal of the Affordable Care Act. Yet he’s acutely aware of the harm, and human pain, such a move would have on hundreds of thousands of Marylanders.

Maryland is in a unique situation when it comes to the “repeal and replace” movement. Ending Obamacare could place this state’s entire hospital system in jeopardy. Hospitals in the Free State stand to lose a staggering $2.3 billion in Medicare and Medicaid payments if Obamacare abruptly ends.

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7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Begs to question...a hit piece that further destroys Hogan....or more prove he's a RINO....

Anonymous said...

Or perhaps the Governor is a moderate Republican, as am I. Good governance must compromise and horsetrade to get the people's business done. A little moderation is sorely needed in this country on both sides of the aisle.

Anonymous said...

This piece goes against all other reports I've read. Medicaid and medicare spending was scheduled to increase at a very steep rate, but that rate was slowed down, not in any way stopped or reversed. So, the "millions" who won't be getting bennies are the ones not currently getting them now. How is that "losing"?

Anonymous said...

Hogan is a RINO, but far better than what we could have had with 8 more years of Democrats.

Anonymous said...

Obama has to go but it doesn't need end completely overnight it can be phased out with a definite date for it's complete removal,in the mean time its replacement can be phased in.

Anonymous said...

Medicare has absolutely nothing to do with "Obamacare", which is unsustainable as insurers losing money, even while increasing monthly premiums, and maintaining high($5000 in many cases) deductibles, are leaving the market. Insurance companies cannot pay out more in benefits than they take in in premiums, in this era when they have no safe place to invest collected premiums for a reliable return.
What is needed ii control of the inflated costs of services--why should an MRI cost 10 times more here than on the same GE machine in Europe or Japan? Why if you have no insurance can you be charged more than people who do for the same ER visit or other service-and not be able to know whether you can afford it until you get the bill? Neither ACA nor Republican replacement schemes address why health care costs have gone from 4% of domestic spending to 20%-
Bring back "major medical"--aka "hospitalization", and let's go back to paying for routine predictable health care out of pocket--the docs could charge less if they didn't have to hire a full-time billing/insurance clerk. Some of my generic meds cost more when bought "with" my insurance than the no-insurance $4 a month deal at Walmart! End the unaccountable health care monopolies. Read USC 15!

Anonymous said...

This article is the biggest crock..so much of it is not true. and it all goes to the sky is falling, the sky is falling we dont have health insurance..we are all gonna die. what a crock...you cant miss what you didnt have. Many are paying for insurance that they cant use because they cant afford to go to the doc. The deductible is so high they know they will have to pay that bill out of pocket, so they dont go unless its dire. so give me a break. This is just another hit piece attacking our Gov an those that want a repeal and replace of that bill. We were all lied to by Obama and his cohorts in order to get it passed to begin with, That bill did nothing to lower healthcare cost. If anything most of us saw triple cost jumps if not more. Most of us are not that stupid. But it was a nice try!