President Readies Obamacare Handouts to Soften Repeal Support

After the Supreme Court ruled that Obamacare was constitutional, President Barack Obama immediately started to tout parts of Obamacare that people like, such as the provision allowing parents to keep their children on their health insurance plans until they are 26 years of age. 

Obama had good reason to do so, for as people start to receive “benefits” from Obamacare, they will be less likely to want to give up those benefits. Once those provisions are locked in, it will be more difficult to repeal the legislation. Much of Obamacare — including that mandate that Chief Justice John Roberts decided was a tax to uphold the law — has yet to be implemented, and that is why Obamacare must be repealed before those provisions kick in in 2014. 

And for Obamacare to be repealed, Republicans intent on a “full repeal” must win races across the board at the national, state, and local elections in November of 2012, making this November’s elections one of the most critical in the country’s history. 

Here are some important dates ahead:

July 11, 2012:  — House of Representatives Will Vote to Repeal Obamacare 

July, 2012: Insurance Companies Send Rebate Checks to Consumers

According to the White House’s website, “Consumers will get rebates if their insurance companies do not spend “at least 80 percent of their premium dollars on medical care and quality improvements.” When people receive rebate checks, they will inevitably view the law a bit more favorably after receiving a tangible benefit. 

August, 2012: Additional Preventative Services for Women Covered

In August, Obamacare will impact women voters; most insurance plans will cover “preventative care services for women — including well woman visits and contraception.” Obama will then exploit this to rev up his phony “war on women” rhetoric with the help from a complicit mainstream media. 

October, 2012: Electronic Medical Records Become Implemented 

A provision in which some medical records get converted into electronic form becomes effective. 

November 6, 2012: Election Night — A Referendum on Obamacare 

If Obamacare has any chance of being repealed, Romney has to be elected president, or any repeal bill would be vetoed by Obama in his second term. More importantly, though, the Obamacare repeal has to get to a potential President Romney’s desk. Since, through reconciliation, 50 Senators would be needed to repeal, the Senate races become even more important in light of the Supreme Court’s ruling, as Breitbart News editor Ben Shapiro explains. 

But the national races will not be the only ones that are important. All state-level races now will be equally important, because states now have the option to opt out of some health exchanges in light of the Supreme Court ruling. Basically, the federal government cannot threaten to take existing monies from programs that are already in place if a state does not join a new program, like the healthcare exchanges. The decision to opt out of these exchanges will be ferociously debated at the local level, and that makes the election of conservatives intent on repealing Obamacare at the state and local levels as important as electing Senators, Representatives, and a President who intend to do the same on the national level. 

Here is a good Associated Press breakdown of where every state currently stands on healthcare exchanges. 

January 1, 2013: States Get Additional Medicaid Funds

States will now have access to additional funds “to provide preventive services for people with Medicaid.”

January 1, 2014: The Heart Of Obamacare Becomes Law If Not Repealed 

Obamacare as we know it becomes effective:

Insurance companies are banned from discriminating against anyone with a pre-existing condition, and from charging higher rates due to gender or health status. In addition to the ban on lifetime dollar limits, insurance companies can no longer impose annual dollar limits on health benefits. …

… Consumers who don’t have coverage through work can use Affordable Insurance Exchanges, one-stop marketplaces where consumers can choose a private health insurance plan that fits their health needs and access the same kinds of insurance choices members of Congress will have. 

In addition, tax credits also kick in  to some middle class families and Medicaid is expanded to include a family of four with incomes of up to $29,000.

Simply put, once these provisions get locked in, it will be nearly impossible to repeal much of the law. And that is why the 2012 elections — on all levels — are so important. They may be the last and only chance for a full repeal of Obamacare.