Monday, March 12, 2012

If we don't get free coffee, it's like the terrorists have won

Allysia Finley makes the case for mandates in "Coffee is an essential benefit too."  I like this part, turning the contraception/religious liberty debate on its head:
Republicans might argue that requiring Mormon charities to serve coffee is a violation of "religious liberty" since the Mormon church's doctrine proscribes coffee, but this argument is a red herring. Leading medical experts recommend drinking coffee. Moreover, 99% of adults have drunk coffee at one point in their lives (including most Mormons).
The Minuteman is all in favor of the latte liberty: "Wake up and smell the (free!) coffee."  And surely the insurance companies can get behind the "free" benefit of cough drops.  After all, cough drops now means significant savings from throat surgery later.



7 comments:

adsf' said...

Institutions have been required to cover contraception in their insurance plans for many years. It's been challenged in the courts and upheld. The only change is that now they can't require a large deductible or co-pay.

On some other post here you mocked the statement by a government official that the savings in avoiding unwanted pregnancies pays for this increased cost. Your mockery of a statement of fact doesn't make it any less true.

Compare that with your ringing endorsement of a silly taffy stretching exercise comparing this with drinking a cup of coffee.

That kind of argument may resonate in the echo chamber, but elsewhere it falls flat. It's a part of the reason the GOP doesn't stand a chance in the next election cycle.

Eric at work said...

"That kind of argument may resonate in the echo chamber, but elsewhere it falls flat."

Really? You might want to read today's NY Times.

I, for one, welcome Obama's doubling-down on his biggest accomplishment/most despised policy (take your pick).

Anonymous said...

Well, in his defense, by "elsewhere" he meant San Francisco, Ann Arbor, and ....San Francisco. Did I say that already?

okjqwef said...

As you know, polls show that people don't like 'obamacare', but when asked about the individual aspects of it they like them all.

The Republicans do fine when they talk about "obamacare" (especially amongst themselves). They fall flat when they go after the individual elements (see above post).

Watching Romney trying to distance himself from "romneycare" is comical. At one time it was touted as one of his greatest achievements as governor. It still is, despite his efforts to pretend he's really ashamed of it.

Profits are up at Massachusetts insurance providers, and since 2006 Massachusetts' health status index has steadily improved, while the rest of the country's has declined.

Comedy fact. said...

People, people, we're drifting off course. Can't we get back to the original article?

The analogies are stupid, and the "satire" isn't funny.

Anonymous said...

"and the "satire" isn't funny"

It's not meant to be funny. It's intended to be derisive.

"Take my wife, she's a stupid feminazi." said...

Yeah, that's top notch stuff. Meanwhile, non-conservative comedy uses some of the other 87 keys on the piano.