Affordable Care Act (AKA Obamacare)

[MrSaigon]

So I may be wrong about the insulin patents. These are just the first of the several patents to expire for each. Also, I guess there are unique laws about bio-drugs or some such thing in the U.S. that could be a problem as well.

Or maybe I'm not:
http://www.pmlive.com/pharma_news/mylan ... ics_463683

[pioneer98]

The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Hobby Lobby, that they don't have to provide certain forms of birth control as Obamacare had mandated. The knee jerk reaction is that this is a big blow to Obamacare, but then read this:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi- ... 1433.story

In the majority opinion, Alito indicated that employees could still be able to obtain the birth control coverage via an accommodation to the mandate that the Obama administration has already introduced for religious-affiliated nonprofits. The accommodation allows health insurance companies to provide the coverage without the employer being involved in the process.

Seems to me like this will potentially just make part of Obamacare bigger and more entrenched. But this accomodation is also being challenged in court, so I guess we'll see.

[IMADreamer]

Score another point for the oligarchs.

[pioneer98]

"I want government to be small. I don't want the government to force me to take care of certain needs my employees have. I want the government to take care of those employee needs for me. But remember: I want small government."

[ghostrunner]

"I want government to be small. I don't want the government to force me to take care of certain needs my employees have. I want the government to take care of those employee needs for me. But remember: I want small government."

I'm not sure that fits many people. Small government people would probably prefer that people get their own insurance, or none at all. I also don't think most Catholic institutions would have an issue with the government providing free healthcare, even if it included birth control.

[pioneer98]

"I want government to be small. I don't want the government to force me to take care of certain needs my employees have. I want the government to take care of those employee needs for me. But remember: I want small government."

I'm not sure that fits many people. Small government people would probably prefer that people get their own insurance, or none at all. I also don't think most Catholic institutions would have an issue with the government providing free healthcare, even if it included birth control.

I was only referring to the Hobby Lobby people, but yeah, you are probably right. They probably want to provide fewest employee benefits they can get away with under the law, just like the Bible says.

This is a microcosm of the debate over the insurance mandate. Employers like Hobby Lobby want to keep the old employer-based system, which didn't force them to provide insurance...so they can save some dollars and not provide health insurance to employees. The fact that so many employers got cheap and only wanted to hire employees with no benefits is part of the reason we are in this mess, though. We still might have needed a big government policy change to curb costs but it's possible the mandate might have been unnecessary (or if nothing else, less painful) if a lot more people already had decent health insurance through their employer.

The real issue here though is that employers probably shouldn't have to provide these kind of benefits. I think Obamacare is the first step on a long road to making health insurance a separate thing from employment.

[heyzeus]

Good news yall, I've registered myself as a corporation. It's my sincerely held religious belief that GRB must be burned to the ground, thus exempting me from any pesky laws prohibiting me from doing so. Prepare to suffer. I mean, prepare to enjoy the FREEDOM.

[docellis]

[IMADreamer]

I think it's a slippery slope. It could pave the way for something like "Hobby Lobby being a Christian organization feels the Muslims should die and therefor we will not allow them in our store." Substitute Muslims with anything you like black people, Jews, Athiest, Cubs fans, whatever. It seems like this opens the door for lots of discrimination.

[pioneer98]

I have to wonder if the ruling would have been the same if Hobby Lobby were owned by Muslims. The cry would have been "Sharia law!!!" We can't even let Muslims open a mosque in NYC without whining about it. I can only imagine the outcry if we found out they were discriminating against employees in the name of religion.