Historical Views

[Guest]

Do you think there was as much venom spewed or political rancor at the time Franklin Roosevelt had the Social Security system put into place - or when Lyndon Johnson had Medicare put into place - as we have with the Affordable Care Act?

[Guest]

Do you think there was as much venom spewed or political rancor at the time Franklin Roosevelt had the Social Security system put into place - or when Lyndon Johnson had Medicare put into place - as we have with the Affordable Care Act?

Sort of involved in something now, so have not checked my facts, but if memory serves me BOTH of these were put together by a somewhat bi partisan committee. Actually, again from memory there were some different versions of the medicaire bill, but they were then merged together to form the law.

Open to criticism in my historical memory, but I do not think folks realize how one sided, and secret the events were leading up to the Affordable Care act. That and the public disfavor compounded by the pay off to LA to get the votes to pass has made this law unpopular.

[Guest]

Ok, really need to go but just thought it important to add that I think the Democrats had overwhelming majorities in both the House and Senate, thus buying votes was not necessary

[Guest]

Do not forget that FDR "packed" the Supreme Court with Democrats.

[Guest]

Ok, really need to go but just thought it important to add that I think the Democrats had overwhelming majorities in both the House and Senate, thus buying votes was not necessary

I wonder even with the majority, if they played similar games within the party and was there a need for back room deals to get the votes.

[Guest]

I wonder if they read the bills before they passed them?

[Guest]

A few things here. FIRST....

"Social Security and Medicare were originally enacted more easily and with a modicum of bipartisan support, because in 1935 and 1965 Democrats not only controlled the White House but had overwhelming majorities in both chambers of Congress. In contrast, ObamaCare barely made it through Congress in 2010, given thin Democratic majorities. Amid extreme partisan divides along ideological lines, it faced all-out Republican opposition.

• In April 1935, only 15 of the 102 House Republicans voted against proposed legislation for the Social Security Act, while 81 voted in favor. House Democrats were 284 in favor and 15 against (because, back then, some conservatives were in the Democratic Party). The pattern of support was similar in the Senate, where only one Democrat and five Republicans voted against the 1935 act (although closer divisions had occurred on earlier votes about crucial
amendments, making it clear many Republicans disliked the idea of old-age insurance).

• After the landslide Democratic victory of November 1964, Medicare also received overwhelming support, even though about half of minority House Republicans and 17 out of 32 Senate Republicans voted against the legislation establishing Medicare and Medicaid.

• By contrast, in March 2010, the House barely passed the Affordable Care Act by 219 to 212, with all 178 House Republicans voting against. These numbers underline the exacerbated partisanship in Congress and, more generally, the lack of consensus surrounding this reform."

https://www.scholarsstrategynetwork.org/sites/default/files/ssn_basic_facts_beland_on_the_politics_of_obamacar e.pdf

Understand, the Affordable Care Act embodied a lot of what Republicans had supported and pushed for, but this act was not only very unpopular with the american citizens and even with the Democratic Party it was difficult to get the votes required. It also had a lot of money opposed to it...like the American Medical Association.

I think most folks do not understand the acrimony in Washington and the finger pointing going on by BOTH sides. For example, the financial crisis was still ongoing and blame being passed around. Republicans wanted an investigation into one of the major causes of the mortgage problem...Country Wide....they were loud in proclaiming that there needs to be investigation. The Democrats simply ignored them and finally actually locked Republicans out of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee room to keep them from meeting when Democrats aren’t present.

Democrats lock Republicans out of committee room | TheHill (http://thehill.com/homenews/house/63941-democrats-lock-republicans-out-of-committee-room)

All of that was preceeded by the Democrats actually sneaking out of a meeting to discuss this scandal investigation. This is a link to the video that caught them and was of course shown on Hannity show. That angered the Democrats in being caught and they locked out the Republicans.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qa8aGs-SLe4

Public option was an issue and to add to the acrimony, President Obama mislead even his own party and made a few secret deals behind closed doors with insurance industry.

"Behind the scenes, however, Mr. Obama and his advisers have been quite active, sometimes negotiating deals with a degree of cold-eyed political realism potentially at odds with the president’s rhetoric."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/13/health/policy/13health.html?_r=0

The abortion issue became also central and President Obama tap danced within his own party on that issue in regards to passing this bill.

BOTTOM LINE...and there is so much more on the background, but the acrimony at the time, the lack of any attempt to involve anyone but who was controlled, the lack of Republicans pushing this publicly because much, CERTAINLY NOT ALL, of this bill came from Republicans before Obama even was in the Senate.