Here are some recent comments about the implementation of the Affordable Care Act in Georgia and around the country, focusing on controversial components such as the expansion of Medicaid and glitches in the Healthcare.gov website:
"The problem is Obamacare … and we're doing everything in our power to be an obstructionist. I'll be real honest with you. I'm not going to do anything in my power to make this law successful. Now, I'm not going to violate the law. And I'm fulfilling all my responsibilities. But I'm not going to do anything to try to enhance its success. I'm here to protect the consumers of the state of Georgia. This is not working out the way it was supposed to. There's so much uncertainty. These products are going to be phenomenally expensive. Buckle your seat belt after Jan. 1, because you're in for a surprise. It's not the Affordable Care Act, I can assure you of that." — State Insurance Commissioner Ralph Hudgens (AJC Sept. 8)
"The insurance commissioner is supposed to serve the people and not the Republican Party. It's an opportunistic attempt to do everything he can to defeat Obamacare and not serve the people of Georgia." — Georgia Senate Minority Leader Steve Henson (AJC, Sept. 8)
"No one who is battling so intensely for their lives should also simultaneously have to battle for-profit insurance companies. And it seems totally unconscionable that politics should play such a strong hand from (ACA) being fully enforced in Georgia." — Elizabeth Hartley Filliat, 70, a retired teacher who lives in Alpharetta and who described the state's delaying tactics as a "matter of life and death." (AJC, Sept. 8.)
"Georgia cannot afford the billions of dollars of new expenses over the next decade and beyond that expanding Medicaid would entail. The governor of Georgia can't and won't print money or deficit spend. The (Obama) administration has refused to work with Republican governors on a workable path." — Brian Robinson, spokesman for Gov. Nathan Deal (AJC, Sept. 13)
"It all paints a devastatingly ugly picture of the truth behind Obamacare: an unholy alliance of government agencies and corporate heavy-hitters working together to foist on the American people a government takeover of the U.S. health care system. And while they're at it, they'll be enjoying a big payday, which of course will provide more money to make campaign donations." — Virginia Galloway, state director of Americans for Prosperity Georgia. (AJC, Aug. 29)
"First, let me say a word about the underlying irrelevance of startup troubles for new government programs. Political reporting in America, especially but not only on TV, tends to be focused on the play-by-play. Who won today's news cycle? And, to be fair, this sort of thing may matter during the final days of an election. But Obamacare isn't up for a popular referendum, or a revote of any kind. It's the law, and it's going into effect. Its future will depend on how it works over the next few years, not the next few weeks." — Paul Krugman, New York Times columnist (AJC, Oct. 5)
