Hacker News Reader

Hacker News

Comment by Tepix | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

Tepix

> if your solution requires perpetual majority control

I think once universal health coverage is established, it amounts to political suicide to try to take it away again.

View on HN

Yep. Nobody has repealed Medicare, for example

Social Security is another great example.

I don’t think “political suicide” exists anymore.

We still have Social Security for now. Entitlements are sticky for better or for worse.

Social Security in its current form will be gone within two years. Instead you will be required to pay a contribution (just as you are now) but the money will be managed by a private company who will charge fees and provide no guarantees. Current retirees will get to keep the current arrangement, everyone else will be moved to the privately managed Social Security option.

Is this based on something real happening within 2 years, or just a continuation of the 30 year sentiment that social security will be gone before my generation will get access to it?

People have been saying this forever. It will never happen. Republicans and Democrats alike love Social Security. All that needs to be done to fix it is raise the cap.

We're talking about healthcare, so you're essentially claiming that the reason the GOP has failed to repeal the ACA despite numerous opportunities is because they actually like the policy, not because they're afraid of the political fallout. Can you elaborate more on when and why you think that happened?

We still have Medicare, Medicaid, and social security. Even though each program has been weakened, none of them have been abolished and they can all be restored.

Heck, we still have SNAP, even though it's almost universally hated by republicans.

The Republicans have gone through two Trump terms now promising to repeal Obamacare and can't do it

It doesn't exist for politicians who hitch their wagon to Trump and MAGA; their base rewards loyalty. For everyone else, political suicide is still very much a thing (see the various conservative republicans who've chosen to go against Trump over the years and have been cast out in favor of new loyalist challengers).

> It doesn't exist for politicians who hitch their wagon to Trump and MAGA; their base rewards loyalty.

These are the same ones who currently would be able to repeal the ACA tomorrow if they felt like it. You're essentially asserting that the reason they aren't is that they like the policy, and I don't think it's crazy to expect more justification for a claim like that if you want people to find it compelling.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com