Sen. Lisa Murkowski says she supports GOP efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate, the Alaska Republican wrote in an op-ed for a local newspaper Friday. "I have always supported the freedom to choose," Murkowski wrote in her op-ed for the Daily News-Miner, an Alaska newspaper.
"I believe that the federal government should not force anyone to buy something they do not wish to buy, in order to avoid being taxed."
Murkowski's renewed support for repealing the mandate — after repeatedly opposing her party's Obamacare repeal bills this year — may be a boon for Senate Republicans' tax legislation, which includes mandate repeal and is expected to be taken up on the Senate floor next week.
A spokesperson for Murkowski told POLITICO that the comments should not be construed as support for the tax bill, which does not yet appear to have sufficient support to pass the chamber.
“Senator Murkowski said on Friday that she will be reviewing the work of the Finance Committee over the Thanksgiving holiday and plans to look at the entire package before coming to any conclusion on the legislation," the spokesperson said.
Murkowski gained some national prominence, and the undying support of the Alaska people, when she was a "no" vote on the GOP plan to repeal and replace Obamacare.
However this time around apparently she is choosing oil over healthcare.
Courtesy of Think Progress:
Murkowski was a key vote in stopping repeal of the Affordable Care Act earlier this year, but there’s one crucial difference this time around: repealing the individual mandate is tied to the Republican’s tax bill, which also includes legislation opening up the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for drilling.
Murkowski has supported opening portions of the refuge to development for years, though her efforts have been met with little success. This most recent push — which would require only a simple majority to pass — might be Murkowski’s best chance to accomplish a long-held goal.
Murkowski knows full well that doing away with this mandate would undermine the solvency of the program, and result in higher premiums and fewer people being insured.
Courtesy of HuffPo:
By 2027, absent a mandate, the number of Americans without coverage would rise by 13 million, while premiums would be up an additional 10 percent, according to the most recent assessment by the Congressional Budget Office ― although the CBO is currently re-evaluating its model, and Republicans say the agency wildly overestimates the mandate’s effects.
Senator Murkowski made a promise to the people of Alaska, and whether she admits it or not, she just broke it.
And she has just now made herself vulnerable in the next election cycle.
Lisa's corporate handlers are buying her out - man it's gonna suck for her having to look over her shoulder all the time if she follows through on this ...
ReplyDeleteNope, she knows Alaskans will always vote for her.
DeleteEven senility doesn't disqualify a federal politician in Alaska. Lisa is there for as long as SHE wants to be. That's why she needs to be managed.
Call her office.
She is not going to change. The only way we can 'change' her is to vote her out of office. We need new blood in D.C. from Alaska...Don Young should go too - as well as the "Ohio" guy last elected from Alaska! Damn, but our voters are idiots!
DeleteInteresting excuse.
ReplyDeleteIn NY we have to buy car insurance, homeowners insurance.
The government doesnt mind bailing out people that go bankrupt.
Medical debt is the number 1 reason people declare bankruptcy in the US.
Why dont republicans care about Americans?
because they are a bunch of psychopaths. studies have shown that people who rise to the top in politics and companies tend to be so because their are cold blooded reptiles who feel nothing about any thing but themselves. democrats on a whole as less ruthless. Obama is a real person. trump is not. you can blame his parents.
DeleteThe fix was in when they gave her the ANWR drilling. Her profile in courage days are over.
ReplyDeleteMurkowski assuredly does NOT represent Alaskans and hasn't for years! (except for the first people of our state on occasion).
ReplyDeleteShe is in absolute cahoots w/Trump and matches and supports him perfectly in being dishonest. I have never voted for the woman and never will! Had her pegged years ago.
Wise up Alaskans and do not reelect the woman when she next comes up for reelection. She came very close to not being reelected last go around.
Lisa Murkowski Says She’s OK With Killing The Health Insurance Mandate
ReplyDeleteProjections suggest millions will lose coverage; the Alaska senator says she simply wants to allow choice.
...By 2027, absent a mandate, the number of Americans without coverage would rise by 13 million, while premiums would be up an additional 10 percent, according to the most recent assessment by the Congressional Budget Office...
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/lisa-murkowski-health-insurance-mandate_us_5a14e2c4e4b03dec8248f563?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009
Contact her local office and tell her staff the GOP tax plan is a joke. It will hurt many more Alaskans than it will help.
ReplyDeleteShe needs to get the boot. I thought she understood what the ACA means to Alaskans and millions across the country, but she doesn't. GOPrs attach a slogan like free choice to it and there she goes, clip-clop, clip-clop. Following along.
ReplyDeleteShe's as inept as was her father, Frank! Comes by it naturally I guess.
ReplyDeleteif there was some way of getting the oil without damaging the land. but there isn't. maybe they should spend their time and money finding ways to do no harm, first. the land, the animals, are far more important than oil but these people don't see that.
ReplyDeleteYep, there gos Alaska. It will be a waste land in 10 years.
DeleteEvery American should be calling her office, not only Alaskans. This is a typical Murkowski shiv.
ReplyDelete907-271-3735
Her 'mailbox' is fuking full, but the automated answerer also said 'thanks for calling' ..
DeleteYou can also email her through her web site. Her vote hurts all of us.
DeleteExactly! This beautiful land will be destroyed by greed.
DeleteWho $nookerD who?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.politicususa.com/2017/11/22/trump-putin-devastated-facebook-announces-tool-people-russian-content.html
She saved Obamacare. Now she’s poised to destroy it.
ReplyDeleteTax or health care reform?
...Repealing the individual mandate may sound harmless, but as the Kaiser Family Foundation’s Larry Levitt said on Twitter: “it’s the mechanism that allows guaranteed coverage for pre-existing conditions.”
The three-legged stool, a metaphor often used to describe how an insurance marketplace works, explains why the individual mandate is so necessary:
The first leg: Insurance companies are required by law to provide health plans to anyone who pays for it — no matter the person’s medical history.
Second leg: To ensure the marketplace isn’t exclusively made up of sick people — which can be very expensive for insurers — put in place a penalty to incentivize people to purchase care.
Third leg: Include financial assistance to make insurance more affordable for enrollees.
Every leg is important; every group in this arrangement — insurance companies, federal government, and patients — needs to do its part. This is why without the mandate, the Congressional Budget Office estimates 13 million will be without insurance by 2027.
https://thinkprogress.org/how-one-gop-senator-went-from-saving-obamacare-to-being-ok-with-undermining-it-f5f23f9eeaa4/
So this three legged stool, is actually forcing people to pay for others' health care. Exactly what those who tout the ACA claim will happen if people are allowed to not have health care. "We don't want to pay for you uninsured people's health care!" Well guess what, they don't want to get health care because they don't want to subsidize your health care either.
DeleteWhat???????????
DeleteI plan to contact my home insurance and mortgage companies and say I don't want to pay premiums. After all, I've never had a claim on my policy. Why should I pay for people who smoke in bed, don't have smoke detectors, build their homes in fire prone forests?
Delete-a person who doesn't understand how insurance works
Your house insurance protects the bank you have your mortgage with. It's required to get a loan. Auto insurance does the same thing and also protects others if you screw up and damage their property or god forbid injure or kill them. If you own your house outright, you are not required to have insurance. It's a choice. With auto insurance, you are not required to have comprehensive insurance if you own your car outright. You are only required to have liability insurance in case you cause damage to someone else. See how that works? You are not forced to have insurance for damage you may do to yourself.
DeleteChoosing oil over healthcare. Who would have thunk it? Open up the Alaskan Wildlife Refuge to drilling! Let's destroy the Grand Canyon, too! Sure there's something under Mt. Rushmore!
ReplyDeleteGood GOD.
You forgot Yellowstone Park.
DeleteI am so sick of hearing about AK and oil.time to figure out other sources of income.
DeleteShe claims she doesn't want the government telling people they have to buy health insurance, but I haven't heard her complain about taking federal subsidies for the state.
Good news is enrollment is way up,maybe Jimmy Kimmel convinced some of the morons that they are signing up for trumpcare!
Tens of thousands with outstanding warrants purged from background check database for gun purchases
ReplyDeleteTens of thousands of people wanted by law enforcement officials have been removed this year from the FBI criminal background check database that prohibits fugitives from justice from buying guns.
The names were taken out after the FBI in February changed its legal interpretation of “fugitive from justice” to say it pertains only to wanted people who have crossed state lines.
What that means is that those fugitives who were previously prohibited under federal law from purchasing firearms can now buy them, unless barred for other reasons.
Since the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) was created...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/tens-of-thousands-with-outstanding-warrants-purged-from-background-check-database-for-gun-purchases/2017/11/22/b890643c-ced1-11e7-9d3a-bcbe2af58c3a_story.html
Fine then,Lisa.Tell your dead beat constituents who decide not to buy insurance to pony up for their own care and stay out of the hospitals.Don't go crying to the Federal government for more tax dollars from Dem states where people do have insurance,on top of bankrolling Rep states.
ReplyDelete3:47, The worry isn't about those who choose not to buy insurance, costing the system money somehow. The worry is, that without those healthy people who have little use for insurance, it will cost those with medical issues more for their coverage. Because the healthy people are supporting this system and paying for the care of people with health issues. Sort of the opposite of how you are trying to paint this.
DeleteYou paint is as everyone having to support those without insurance instead of how it actually is, forcing the young and healthy to pay for everyone else's health care. Now, who are the dead beats?
Have you made complaints about the cost of your required car insurance? No? Those who drive safely and don't have accidents and use their seatbelts,get no tickets,etc,are subsidizing those who don't.Do you own a home? Have insurance? Those who are careful and keep brush away from their home,use smoke detectors,and are otherwise good stewards of their home are subsidizing the rates of the clown down the road with debris piled next to their house,a fire waiting to happen with oily rags near a heat source,no fire detectors,etc.Have you lobbied your senator to make your other insurances besides healthcare up to whether you feel like purchasing it or not? I still say that people who choose to not buy insurance,then head off to the hospital that is required to care for them anyway,thus driving up the rates of those who do buy insurance,are deadbeats. Are you one? Did I hurt your feelings? Do you want to not carry insurance because you think nothing will happen to you? If it goes through and you drop yours,I hope you don't get pregnant,have a child,get in an accident,get a major illness,or merely get high blood pressure,diabetes,or even cancer. I've done all of those things,and I have always had insurance .I remember getting a bill from a hospital stay in NJ,on the bill was an added surcharge that I had to pay,not covered by my insurance,for caring for "uninsured patients" "those healthy people who have little use for insurance" get older,get sick,get injured,get pregnant,have families.Grow up.
DeleteYea,well have you ever thought those that are old and sick,were once young and healthy,paying for others healthcare?
DeleteThat is how insurance works.
OJot? "” LaVergne tweeted. “I’ve heard the Greedy Goldmans talk about money a thousand times since they came on my radar screen in July, but only heard them mention that poor, dead kid Ron a few times.”
ReplyDeletehttp://crooksandliars.com/2017/11/ol-lawyer-calls-goldman-family-greedy
No insurance? NO EMERGENCY ROOM!
ReplyDeleteIn my state I have to have car insurance. I have to wear my seatbelt. I have to have home insurance since I have a mortgage. Because of that if I smoke or own a Rottweiler or German Shepherd my premiums would be higher.
Fuck the alt right snowflakes. It’s the ACA or single payer Universal. Suck it up, join every other civilized “adult” country in the world and PICK ONE and stop whining.
Until there’s a bill that doesn’t hurt the middle class, the mandate needs to be abolished because most people can not afford tb current costs.
ReplyDeleteDamn the Replican party to hell. Fucking Trump and the Russians are turning this into another RUssia. I hope Donnie chokes on a bone today.
ReplyDelete