People living in Rural Northern Wisconsin most affected by Affordable Care Act Subsidy Loss, but will they blame Walker?

Republicans have been attacking rural businesses and farmers for years, but their latest moves against the Affordable Care Act is especially difficult. Here's just one reminder of how bad Republicans have made it for farmers.

Wheeler Report (link is gone) Aug. 2013: Lawmakers Call for Repeal of New Wisconsin Death Tax: New law threatens financial security of family farmers and creates potential marriage penalty for seniors.

The state budget signed a month ago included several important changes to the laws giving the state power to collect money and property from families whose loved ones received Medicaid services when they were alive, including the power to file foreclosures on properties. The law changes received no public hearings. Wisconsin attorneys say changes may also prevent farming families from passing their farm onto the next generation should the parents need long-term care in the future.

Nice huh? Add killing the Affordable Care Act to the list of sticking it to rural folks who already think government doesn't help them. State Journal:

True!!!

If the U.S. Supreme Court throws out government subsidies for Americans who get health insurance through a federal exchange, Wisconsin’s rural north could be the state’s most affected region, a new report says.

Door, Iron, Oneida, Vilas and other northern counties have the state’s highest percentage of residents enrolled in the Affordable Care Act’s federal exchange, for which subsidies could be overturned by a Supreme Court, said a report issued Wednesday by the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families.

Of the state’s 183,155 residents who get insurance on the exchange, 166,142 — 90.7 percent — receive subsidies, compared to the national average of 85 percent. The average subsidy in Wisconsin is $315 a month, compared to the national average of $272.

About 14,000 people in Dane County, or roughly 3 percent of the county’s population, signed up for coverage ... other southern Wisconsin counties is 5 percent or less. But in northern counties, participation ranges from 6 percent to 11 percent ... “Losing the marketplace subsidies would push many people in northern Wisconsin back into uninsured status,” Reba Rice, CEO of Iron River-based NorthLakes Community Clinic, said in a statement.

Rubio attacks "wasteful" ObamaCare "Bailout!" CBO says it will actually save the government $8 Billion.

So Republicans managed to cut food stamps by $8 billion in the current farm bill to save the government money.

Oops, I take that back. Now they want to cost the government $8 billion in revenue and throw that away. So we're back to square one again?

That's what they call "fiscal conservatism," which is crazy and by all measurable standards, a massive failure. It's just more obvious now.

Bloomberg: Obamacare foes have been harping for the last few months on what they call the law’s “bailout” for insurance companies. Florida Senator Marco Rubio has been particularly vocal about his desire to repeal the piece of the law known as risk corridors: The provision lasts three years and applies only to companies offering plans on healthcare.gov and state-run exchanges. If those insurers pay out much more in medical claims than they anticipated when setting premiums, the government will backstop some of their losses. That’s why critics call it a bailout, even though the government offers insurers similar protection from catastrophic risks such as floods and terrorism. 

I want to note here that “risk corridors” are also a permanent part of the unpaid for Republican Medicare Part D law. Hypocritical…ya think? But they won’t remind you of that.

If insurers set rates too high and pay out much less in medical claims than they expected, they will have to pay some of that money back to the government … an incentive to be on the safe side and not price premiums too high. And it removes insurers’ incentives to recruit only the healthiest people.

Brilliant plan, isn't it. Knowing Rubio’s plan is pure idiocy, anyone want to take a chance on their own health care reform plan? Anyone?

A new budget outlook (PDF) published Tuesday (by the CBO), however, estimates the provision will cause a net gain of $8 billion over three years.

Chris Hayes proves my point below, with guest Josh Barro: