Obamacare repeal, take two

by | Apr 21, 2017 | Editor's Blog, Obamacare | 4 comments

It seems the so-called “repeal-and-replace” bill for Obamacare is still alive. A few weeks ago, Republicans in Congress embarrassed themselves by failing to implement the issue they told voters was their top priority. Most observers thought the issue was dead, at least for the time being. Now, it appears to be making a comeback, depending on who you talk to.

Donald Trump, desperate for a major policy victory in his early presidency, told reporters this week that he still wants to pass a repeal bill before moving to tax reform. He reportedly told Members of Congress that he wants a bill passed before the end of his first 100 days, which is coming up next week. Rep. Mark Meadows, head of the House Freedom Caucus, says a deal is close. Last month, HFC members were largely responsible for scuttling the deal pushed by Trump.

Under the new plan, states would be able to get waivers from Obamacare requirements to offer plans with much less coverage and stricter requirements. In other words, pre-existing conditions will come back into play. In North Carolina, almost 4 million people have some kind of pre-existing condition, that includes almost 350,000 who get insurance from the Obamacare exchanges who would either lose insurance or pay dramatically higher rates.

Social media seems skeptical that the deal will get through the House, much less the Senate. While the new bill would attract support from HFC members, it might lose support from more moderate Republicans. The agreement would still kick a lot of people off insurance rolls and would allow for plans that have very limited coverage, leading to more families going bankrupt over medical bills. At a time when the GOP is worried about the political environment heading into 2018, that’s a risky proposition.

Republicans desperately need a win soon. They’ve got control of both Houses of Congress, the presidency and the Supreme Court and yet have gotten very little accomplished since Trump took office. With that much power, blaming the Democrats makes them look incompetent and is not a believable argument.

Unfortunately, the GOP ran on bashing Democrats without offering any details to their policies. They promised to repeal Obamacare immediately. They didn’t tell Americans that their replacement ideas would cause people to lose insurance, cost more money and offer less coverage. Trump was going create more jobs than ever before by kicking out immigrants, voiding NAFTA and slashing regulations. Instead, the most recent jobs report indicates the economy is slowing and seasonal employers like North Carolina farmers fear they won’t have the workers they need to make money.

Hanging their first win on Obamacare repeal is a risky proposition. However, after seven years of promising to the end the program, failing to repeal it is, too. Republicans are going to have to figure out which bitter pill they want to take: the one that kicks millions of people off of insurance and almost certainly alienates most moderate and swing voters, or the one that angers their Tea Party base that believed the election would end the health care program that made them an electoral force.

4 Comments

  1. MyTurnNC

    I would like an explanation of how it can be Constitutional to turn the implementation of the GOP proposed health care law to the states.
    These are life and death matters, not consumption choices. If the federal government spends our tax money on citizens’ health care, shouldn’t every American receive the same level of care? Why should citizens in poor states suffer worse care or get very little care when other citizens get much better care? Or citizens in states controlled by opposing interests?
    States’ rights end when the rights of American citizens are threatened by them.

  2. Thomas Hill

    The time is ripe for the Democrats to offer a simple version of the public option and get enough moderate Republicans to join in to pass the bill. They need to name it Trumpcare, and the Donald will sign it if the polls show that it has national support, regardless of what he said previously. Forget Meadows and the phony Freedom Caucus.

    As for Meadows himself, the majority of WNC voters outside the city of Asheville simply do not care what his background is so long as he smiles, tells everyone he has their back, and has a big R by his name on the ballot. The Repugnants have done an outstanding job of smearing the Democrats as an out-of-touch, far-left, God-hating group that kills little babies and laughs about it. That’s the reality, and is the reason why DINO Heath Shuler did not run again in 2012 after Asheville was gerrymandered out of the 11th District.

    BTW, Lan — Meadows put his plush, behind-the-gates residence in Highlands up for sale some time ago, and has reportedly moved into a condo in West Asheville. He stated that he wants to be nearer to the AVL airport because of his frequent travel to DC. Does that sound to you like someone who is thinking about stepping down? Then, maybe, he just wants to live closer to you Democrats in Asheville. 🙂

  3. Walt de Vries, Ph.D.

    Congressman Meadows is going to have to eat his words that a Trumpcare deal is close. I have yet to read or see any reputable commentator or legislator predict anything but another disaster for repeal and replace. Bad policy is still bad no matter how you dress it up or rewrite it, and most House Members know it. And, if they don’t, the Members of the U.S. Senate sure do.
    What do you suppose Trump has promised Meadows to produce another likely health care legislative failure? Again, in record time–before Trump’s first hundred days are up?
    And, what happened to the House Freedom Caucus to give Meadows the authority to bargain and make a deal with Trump for this
    shoddy public policy? It must really be lonely to be that far out front on this Trumpcare deal. I guess masochism is its own reward. Perhaps, Meadows is thinking of retiring from congress and begging for a position in the Trump administration? Others have done so. In any event, his legislative strategy and policy positions need a lot more thought. Election to congress does not endow you with omnipotence, permanent survivability or extraordinary wisdom. It may just mean, as Lan Sluder suggests, Meadows like other North Carolina congresspersons, comes from a GOP gerrymandered district.
    No matter how old I get, I am astonished at politicians who cannot learn from history that most of their mistakes have been made many times before they got into public office.
    But, we shall see when the Congress interrupts its year-long “recess” to return to “work.” My bet is that Trumpcare 2.0 will fail–as it should.

  4. Lan Sluder

    Mark Meadows, shown in the photo at the top of this commentary, is the U.S. Congressman representing the western-most district in the state. It was gerrymandered to split the progressive Asheville/Buncombe County vote, and it has given Meadows a safe platform for promoting the extremist views of the so-called Freedom Caucus.

    What many of Meadows’ constituents don’t know, however, is that Meadows was born in France (his father, from Arkansas, was serving in the peacetime U.S. military), and his mother is from Tennessee. More significantly, Meadows grew up in Florida and went to school and college there. As an adult, he moved to the tony tourist town of Highlands (known as Palm Beach and buckhead North), opened a restaurant but soon went into something more profitable — developing and selling land to Floridians and out-of-staters. He now lives in the wealthy enclave of Cashiers (appropriately pronounced CASH-ers) and is a real estate developer and super slick salesman.

    Most of us who were born and raised in the mountains — my family came here in the early 1800s — are not all that happy with our mountains being sold to rich Floridians. Their mountaintop and mountainside homes have ruined the views, and they’ve driven up prices so that local people can’t afford land or homes.

    Now Meadows is a leader in the extremist group that wants to take away health care from working people, poor people and many of the middle class, while giving tax breaks to big pharma and the wealthy.

    As a native Tar Heel born in Asheville and a resident of Buncombe County, I am going to spend some of my hard-earned money to be sure that people know who Meadows is, what he stands for and why he isn’t the right person to represent Western North Carolina. Personally, he seems like a decent enough guy for a real estate salesman, but he doesn’t speak for most of the true North Carolinians in the mountains.

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