The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

Some Congressional Republicans are threatening a government shutdown if Obamacare isn't defunded. The only problem with that is, no matter how tough their talk, it will be impossible to defund most of the healthcare bill. In other words, some GOP members are threatening a government shutdown to simply look tough and rile their supporters. Melissa Seeley of the Health Affairs blog explained the matter as follows: "The pillars of the law's health insurance expansion strategy-increased eligibility for Medicaid and the new premium and cost-sharing subsidies for private health insurance - are exempt from the annual appropriations process. These so-called 'mandatory' or 'entitlement' programs are permanent and have permanent funding authority. Furthermore, the Department of Health and Human Services has the ability to fund related provisions without seeking additional appropriations from Congress. For example, Federal grants to states to plan and build the ne...