The Democrats are continuing to stick Americans with bills for Obamacare – only this time, it’s the hospitals and doctors who are sweating.  Quick background on this: as most of you know, the Obamacare nonprofit co-ops are largely living up to the adjective, if you define ‘nonprofit’ as ‘literally burning money in a pile on the ground.’  They’re collapsing left and more-left*; and the bankrupt ones are running into the problem that, well, they have no money, which means that they can’t pay their bills.  Tautological, nu?

Now, as Politico noted, states have healthcare industry-supported guaranty funds that cover situations like these… normally.  Except that some states’ guaranty funds don’t cover HMOs, and apparently most of the co-ops were created as HMOs**. States potentially on the hook? Kentucky, Louisiana, Nevada, New York, Oregon and Utah.  Healthcare companies and the relevant state bureaucracies are right now having an exquisitely anxious and dread-filled holiday season; because if those outstanding claims aren’t actually eventually paid, then a lot of hospitals and doctors in those states are going to take an absolute bath.

This is the important thing to understand: hospitals and doctors are in trouble right now because of the Democrats. The Democrats decided to shove socialized medicine down all our throats.  Not the Republicans.  The Democrats decided to bribe insurers and prop up the entire rotten co-op system with a permanent ‘temporary subsidy.’  Not the Republicans.  The Democrats decided to lie about how finally stable the whole thing is.  Not the Republicans.

I have no intention of taking any blame, either individually or collectively, for this debacle.  Blaming the Republicans for our horrid crime of insisting we don’t spend money that we don’t actually have is like blaming the surgeon for the gangrene. Cleaning this mess up is, in fact, going to be as painful as all get-out.  That’s why we fought Obamacare until the final black-out.  We knew that it was going to fall apart.  This was all inevitable, and none of us wanted any part of it.

So I’m sorry if this is going to hurt.  But that’s a sympathy-sorry, not a I-did-something-wrong-sorry.  For that I recommend that you try getting a Democrat.  Not that any of them will ever, ever, ever admit that they did anything wrong…

Moe Lane

*’Collapsing left and right’ would imply that my side of the debate has any responsibility for this inevitable dumpster fire.  Which we do not.

**Why weren’t Obamacare state co-ops set up in a way that would make them eligible for guaranty funds?  Gee, I don’t know why.  Perhaps you should ask a Democrat.