While most of the press, the progressive establishment and even some traditional conservatives have watched Trump in horror, his base has watched him with satisfaction. He’s building the wall, banning Muslims, and rounding up illegals, just like he said he would. Those voters don’t believe the charges of Russian interference and don’t care about the emerging kleptocracy since they believe the system has been rife with corruption for years.
Now, the Republicans have opened Pandora’s Box. They’re taking on health care. Clearly, they didn’t learn much from the Obamacare fight in 2009. The GOP has been bashing the program for seven years and promising to replace it when they got in power. They never said what they were going to replace it with.
Now we know. The GOP plan cuts taxes for the wealthiest people while increasing costs on the people who can least afford it—what Republicans call “freedom.” Millions of people will be priced out of the insurance market and millions more, especially older people, will see their premiums increase.
That’s not what Trump promised. He told Americans that he would make health insurance cheaper while reducing costs and expanding coverage. His advisor Kelly Anne Conway said that nobody would lose coverage under Trump’s plan. Yesterday, in what seems to be a particularly tone deaf statement, Vice-President Mike Pence said, “If you like your Obamacare, you can keep it.” Republicans bashed Obama relentlessly for his statement, “If you like your plan, you can keep it.” Expect to hear Pence’s statement again.
So far, the roll out of the so-called “repeal-and-replace” plan has been a disaster. The House Freedom Caucus rejected it outright and without support of its members the bill is probably dead. Democrats, of course, panned it. Right now, there are not enough votes in the House to pass it.
Repealing Obamacare, not Russia or the emoluments clause, might lead to Republican losses in 2018 like it did for Democrats in 2010 in the wake of the ACA and in 1994, when reform failed under Bill Clinton. Voters tend to vote on self-interest. If they’re about to pay more for insurance or lose it altogether, they’ll blame the party in power. Obamacare expanded access to care to health care to 20 million or so more Americans. Stripping it away will come with a political cost.
It’s more than just increasing the cost of health insurance or taking it from people who have it. It’s lying that will ultimately bring the GOP down. They’ve been telling Americans for seven years that the ACA is awful and that they would offer something better. Now, they’re proposing a program that will cost more for many people and become unaffordable for others, all without providing better coverage.
Republicans forget that Obamacare came about because of rampant dissatisfaction with the healthcare system. They’ve used criticism of the Affordable Care Act as a political tool without ever developing a viable alternative. Now, they face an angry Tea Party base that wants full repeal and a populist group of Trump supporters who will feel betrayed if they can’t get something better than they’ve got.
As Trump said last week, “Who knew health care could be so complicated?”
Thomas Mills is the founder and publisher of PoliticsNC.com. Before beginning PoliticsNC, Thomas spent twenty years as a political and public affairs consultant. Learn more >
Most of you are living in some kind of dream world and you won’t wake up. Democrats lost the election and lost it badly. Obamacare, ACA, or whatever you want to call it definitely contributed to the loss. That convoluted, bloated, cobbled together, incomprehensive, and frankly ridiculous law has done more for the Republican party than anything since the Civil War.
The only saving grace the Democrats have is the Republicans don’t get it either. If they did, they would simply repeal it.
Most people who wanted health coverage before Obamacare had it. And it was better and cheaper. This country had the best health care in the world pre-Obamacare.
Obamacare has not helped my family, it has hurt it by greatly increasing our cost or health care. I vote for what I believe helps my family and vote against what I believe hurts it. Obviously many in the country do the same and will continue to.
Well, to tell a Southern secret, the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act did more for the Republican party anything else. That’s when the South started to turn and turn it has. And ACA/Obamacare was instituted by a Black President. Its not hard to see the lay of the land on this policy objection, is it?
That’s an awful lot of adjectives you used there Morris. So if you don’t mind, what is, “…convoluted, bloated, cobbled together, incomprehensive, and frankly ridiculous…” about the law? What is so bad that Republicans see red to ensure healthcare coverage for the people of this country?
Think positively!! A large number of the impoverished who will be ineligible and left to fend for themselves are the very same intellectually challenged voters who put Orange Marmalade in office. Sadly they won’t be able to put 2 and 2 together. But they will none the less feel the brunt of their hatred, bigotry, and ignorance.
Yeah, except Twitler will somehow figure out how to put the blame on the Liberals/Democrats, and these morons will eat it up.
To me, it appears the bill is DESIGNED to fail. They’re trying to push it thru – why? Some other blogs are asking the same question. The conclusion some are drawing is to have it rejected so that they can continue to bask ACA. Be interested in any thoughts that way.
BTW: So Sanford plan pushed by Meadows and the Freedom Caucus is here:
https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/1072/text
it is the full thing minus the CBO numbers. I wonder if Ms Nunn could peruse and comment?
Ms. Munn did read it. Much of it, as I assume you know, is “repeal Section XYZ” and cannot be deciphered without referring back to the Section being named. I no longer have a copy of the ACA, and have zero intention of doing what is required. I can tell you that it relies on HSAs to somehow give people choice, but of course, that assumes one has the funds to put into an HSA. It repeals the requirement that health insurance policies cover a list of essential health benefits, keeps the prohibition on refusing coverage to those with pre-existing conditions as long as one has been continuously insured, allows for selling health insurance across state lines (an issue that state insurance depts will contest, and one which seems at odds with the Freedom Party’s insistence on primacy of states rights). Sen. Paul claims it will lower costs for younger people and emphasized in some statements that older people are sicker and should pay more, which this plan will do. Apparently he has difficulty with the basic concept that insurance is designed to have large numbers of different people in different circumstances share risk. Sorting people into age groups negates that, and even a group of younger people will have some very sick people.
The legislation also creates the option to establish something called “Association Health Plan: which seems to be another way of creating groups. Not sure how that improves anything nor exactly who or how such groups get created. I can guarantee from my experience that creating a group is a complicated and hard endeavor, and likely to be doubly so when dealing with small businesses since some have high risk jobs, some very low, some have people with known ailments and family histories that bode poorly from a health standpoint — the list of problems is enormous and everyone who has no risk jobs, employs only young people, and believes they are all healthy never wants to pay for any risk associated with the others. Satisfied?
Quick question Norma. As the resident expert, do you know if the prohibition on HSA’s will remain so disallowing the roll-over of these accounts year to year?
I’m not a HSA fan either. I think it’s a way for account holders to gather guaranteed capital for additional capital investment. And while they’re investing it and making money, the people have their money tied up and government is missing revenue since it’s deducted as pre-tax.
But Republicans seem to love them.
Sorry, I don’t know but the legislation removes limits on the amount that can be contributed, and provides a “non-refundable tax credit of $5000 per year.” Senator Paul was quoted somewhere as saying that everyone could now have an HSA. (“to boost people spending their own money.” I found that to be a typical elected official’s blithe unawareness that tax revenue belong to me and thee, and we have voted that they have permission to spend them.)
Based on the lack of any limits on the amount to be contributed to an HSA, my guess is that if the limits are not entirely removed, they are certainly greatly increased somewhere in this legislation. In any case, your rationale for not liking them is still valid, if not more so.
They only hated the ACA because it was called Obamacare. The Republican Congress and their money men used Obama’s race to make people who benefited from it hate it. Race is visceral and tends to override the intellect.
The so-called “replacement” is a joke. A very bad one. I ran an insurance program for several thousand people for several years, and have handled health insurance for myself and my family members for decades. I also actually read the ACA legislation in draft form and the long ago Hillary plan. I have a bit of knowledge. Apparently more than the GOP idiots who wasted seven years voting to repeal the ACA, but never bothered to figure out how to do better. Being told you will now have a choice of insurance plans is a a cruel “promise” if you can’t afford to pay for that choice. As for the tax credit part of this nonsense, one has to be paying taxes for a “credit” to be of any value. Most of those on Medicaid and many on the ACA don’t have enough income to pay taxes. Sheer lunacy and nasty, brutish, smug crap are inadequate words for this proposal — and after seven years of complaining, this is what they come up with! Heaven save me from ideologues.
I submitted the Sanford plan as pushed by Meadows. With your expertise, I ask that you look at it and comment about its viability as an alternative to 1072.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/1072/text
What frauds these Republicans are! For seven years they have bashed Obamacare. For seven years they said they could do it better. Fat chance. Many Republicans claim to be Christians. Christianity I know extends the hand of help to the less fortunate. These Republicans extend only greed and Robin Hood in reverse. God have mercy on them! And on us!