Like most programs progressives foist on the poor, it hurts them. Yet it makes them clients of the Democratic party....dependant on the State and their new "masters'.
The Oregon Health Care Study experiment, the gold standard of research, showed conclusively showed being on Medicaid was WORST than having no insurance or being self-insured. There are numerous other studies, such as the UVA study, that showed this effect various surgical procedures. Again, it shows the Left would harm the poor just for more power over economic interest. Of course, the Left ignores science and research......
Make no mistake, the Left REAL purpose is nationalized economic sectors they 'hate', be insurance or oil companies, NOT to help the poor or sick.
http://www.nber.org/oregon/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3071622/
The Oregon Health Care Study experiment, the gold standard of research, showed conclusively showed being on Medicaid was WORST than having no insurance or being self-insured. There are numerous other studies, such as the UVA study, that showed this effect various surgical procedures. Again, it shows the Left would harm the poor just for more power over economic interest. Of course, the Left ignores science and research......
Make no mistake, the Left REAL purpose is nationalized economic sectors they 'hate', be insurance or oil companies, NOT to help the poor or sick.
http://www.nber.org/oregon/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3071622/
4
Well, we know where the NYT and its loyal minions fall on this debate. Frankly, we knew it long before the first GOP vote was cast. So lets try to maintain some composure and wait for the Senate to respond since the final version of "TrumpCare" will be significantly different than this one.
And lets all try to remember that ObamaCare was hardly the unprecedented success that those on the left would like everyone to believe.
And lets all try to remember that ObamaCare was hardly the unprecedented success that those on the left would like everyone to believe.
1
Trump voters who lose their healthcare will still support him until they die from lack of health insurance.
29
This analysis confirms my suspicions that Paul Ryan is Voldemort's evil twin.
21
The article ends with an unsupported assertion: "Above all, the bill cuts health benefits for the poor, the middle class, the elderly and the sick, and it funnels the savings to tax cuts for the rich." Seriously? How so?
3
""". Above all, the bill cuts health benefits for the poor, the middle class, the elderly and the sick, and it funnels the savings to tax cuts for the rich"""
And that is exactly why they tried 3 times,because they knew full well that without scrapping ACA there would be no "Rob Peter to pay Paul" follow the money my friends and soon you will find out that the greatest motivator for DJT to become president IS so he can funnel as much capital as possible to the big wigs, mark my words
And that is exactly why they tried 3 times,because they knew full well that without scrapping ACA there would be no "Rob Peter to pay Paul" follow the money my friends and soon you will find out that the greatest motivator for DJT to become president IS so he can funnel as much capital as possible to the big wigs, mark my words
11
We need to make the Republicans OWN "Dumpcare" and show the very real damage they are about to inflict on America. Reminders need to be relentless, in terms everyone can understand, especially in the Districts who have supported these heartless officials.
11
HAAAAAAAAAAHAAAAAA......Go Trump go!! I will vote for you again, maybe multiple times! Bye, Bye Obamacare!
Tax cuts, mostly for the rich, by cutting off medical care, mostly for the old and poor.
They should be embarrassed to be so openly the party of selfish plutocrats.
They should be embarrassed to be so openly the party of selfish plutocrats.
10
So, it is now after the heartless revenge, hate, racist, driven members of the House have voted to do in the ACA.
I sort of thought this would happen, just like the hijacked election and the hijacked Supreme Court. These events are very serious attacks on the basics of Democracy. In a way I think they had to happen in order for the 45% of the eligible voters who were not concerned enough to take the few hours of time to vote to get the message.
I am personally sort of angry with these people. I have no data on who the people are that did not vote. I see not voting as a self centered kind of ignorance about responsibility and participation in one's own welfare.
We get the kind of government that we deserve, somebody said that.
It appears that the events of ignorance that have emerged from the Trump maladministration have ignited the people. This is Good. I hope that the "resistance" of which even Hillary has said she is a member, will, not just reach out, but will talk straight to theses brothers and sisters who are too busy being busy to be concerned about their own liberty. We need to educate and encourage these folks to help.
I sort of thought this would happen, just like the hijacked election and the hijacked Supreme Court. These events are very serious attacks on the basics of Democracy. In a way I think they had to happen in order for the 45% of the eligible voters who were not concerned enough to take the few hours of time to vote to get the message.
I am personally sort of angry with these people. I have no data on who the people are that did not vote. I see not voting as a self centered kind of ignorance about responsibility and participation in one's own welfare.
We get the kind of government that we deserve, somebody said that.
It appears that the events of ignorance that have emerged from the Trump maladministration have ignited the people. This is Good. I hope that the "resistance" of which even Hillary has said she is a member, will, not just reach out, but will talk straight to theses brothers and sisters who are too busy being busy to be concerned about their own liberty. We need to educate and encourage these folks to help.
19
Trump and his sycophants claim that "pre-existing conditions" are "covered" in their health bill; that they are taken care of "beautifully." The point of Obamacare is that insurance companies have to treat people with pre-existing conditions THE SAME WAY as people without pre-existing conditions. That's what protected them. The Republican bill establishes a Rube-Goldberg apparatus GUARANTEED to treat people with pre-existing conditions differently. That may look beautiful to someone like Trump, but to those of us with cancer, it's pretty ugly.
29
Can somebody tell me WHY the GOP always includes tax cuts for the wealthy in every bill they write? Is there any non-cynical reason?
25
Can somebody tell me WHY the people who vote republican don't ask this same question?
1
No there is not . It puts more money in most people's pocket. With the money that I make, ($25,000) I hardly notice the amount extra I get. Rich people are the ones who REALLY make out..
1
Nope, there is no non-cynical reason.
cyn·i·cal
ˈsinək(ə)l/
adjective
1.
believing that people are motivated by self-interest; distrustful of human sincerity or integrity.
2.
concerned only with one's own interests and typically disregarding accepted or appropriate standards in order to achieve them.
cyn·i·cal
ˈsinək(ə)l/
adjective
1.
believing that people are motivated by self-interest; distrustful of human sincerity or integrity.
2.
concerned only with one's own interests and typically disregarding accepted or appropriate standards in order to achieve them.
5
The goal was a tax break for the wealthy, financed by less health care for the masses. The administration is fulfilling its promises to its friends, and they believe there is nothing the rest of us can do about it. This administration has no fear of sick and old people who make less than 75k/year, whose sinful lifestyles have caused them to have pre-existing conditions.
If we survive this bout of legislative Ebola, the shock of it will bring us a step closer to universal single payer, but what an indictment of the Republican Party that we have to take this route to get there. History will not look kindly on them.
If we survive this bout of legislative Ebola, the shock of it will bring us a step closer to universal single payer, but what an indictment of the Republican Party that we have to take this route to get there. History will not look kindly on them.
22
The irony here is that the ACA was closely modeled on RommeyCare in Massachusetts. The Congressional Democrats did so to attract Grand Old Pirates support for the program by mimicking the GOP plan. Given their disdain for the ACA, as shown by today's vote, we should just begin to switch over to Medicare for All. Since the party of Brutality, Cruelty, and Bigotry obviously opposes health care for middle, poor, and destitute Americans we should use it to take back the House next year first. And then just go to an American version of single payer. Like Medicare for all.
We tried to see it half way with this people to no avail. Now. Take no prisoners and move up to a cheaper, better, proven plan.
We tried to see it half way with this people to no avail. Now. Take no prisoners and move up to a cheaper, better, proven plan.
16
Emergency room care is totally inadequate. It is there to take care of emergencies, maybe with being admitted for a day or so until stabilized. Then what happens if you have no insurance? What if the emergency visit resulted in a diagnosis of liver cancer. You have no insurance so are told they can't do anything else for you. No long term care. No ongoing chemotherapy. No radiation therapy. Just go home and let the disease take it's inevitable course. Then back to the ER when the pain and suffering is so extreme it drives you into collapse. Then you are admitted back into the hospital where you mercifully pass after your liver explodes along with having a simultaneous heart attack. Think this scenario doesn't happen? It exactly describes what happened to my best, but unfortunately uninsured, friend a few years before Obama care was the law. Oh, I forgot. She must have been a bad person who led a bad life, according to Republican philosophy and reaped what she sowed. These are truly evil people.
Thank you, Mr. Leonhardt. Very informative. Two thoughts come to mind:
(1) Some years ago, I got cellulitis in my foot. Had to go to the emergency room. Had to sit and wait. Rather than sit in the waiting room (where an indescribably awful TV show was running), I had myself wheeled out into the hallway. There I sat. I saw a lady walking in the door. A somewhat elderly African-American lady. She came up to the man at the desk.
"My back's been bothering me," she said. He looked at her. "Okay, ma''am," he said. "Please take a number and sit down." Which she did.
Health care in action. They can't turn you away from the emergency room. To which I say (especially considering today's House vote)--"THANK GOD!"
(2) What is it about "the rich"? I am still (believe it or not) a registered Republican. Please don't ask me why. And my goodness! what happened--in God's name, what happened?--to the moderate (let alone liberal) Republicans of yesteryear. Gone gone gone, I fear. But what IS it? I ask you--about "rich people"? I look at today's Republican leadership and it seems, that's all I see. This never-ending solicitude, this anxious concern for--"the rich"?
Makes me think of the Doonesbury cartoon (oh! a number of years ago).
"Sir, the rich are still hurting."
"I know--I know! I hear their cries."
Will someone please enlighten me? Seems to me, they're doing okay as it is.
(1) Some years ago, I got cellulitis in my foot. Had to go to the emergency room. Had to sit and wait. Rather than sit in the waiting room (where an indescribably awful TV show was running), I had myself wheeled out into the hallway. There I sat. I saw a lady walking in the door. A somewhat elderly African-American lady. She came up to the man at the desk.
"My back's been bothering me," she said. He looked at her. "Okay, ma''am," he said. "Please take a number and sit down." Which she did.
Health care in action. They can't turn you away from the emergency room. To which I say (especially considering today's House vote)--"THANK GOD!"
(2) What is it about "the rich"? I am still (believe it or not) a registered Republican. Please don't ask me why. And my goodness! what happened--in God's name, what happened?--to the moderate (let alone liberal) Republicans of yesteryear. Gone gone gone, I fear. But what IS it? I ask you--about "rich people"? I look at today's Republican leadership and it seems, that's all I see. This never-ending solicitude, this anxious concern for--"the rich"?
Makes me think of the Doonesbury cartoon (oh! a number of years ago).
"Sir, the rich are still hurting."
"I know--I know! I hear their cries."
Will someone please enlighten me? Seems to me, they're doing okay as it is.
You can get a study to prove almost anything. My daughter wrote a paper proving, with the help of physics, that the earth was really flat. Other class members asked how they could join The Flat Earth Society. She had to explain that the paper was just to show that anything can sound true depending on how its premise is presented. What's Interesting about the health care vote is that there was not a single democrat vote for the bill There was also not a singe democrat who was willing to help write it. In the senate they will have another chance to participate. Will they or will they see their role as destroyers. If the last, are the doing that to help citizens or just to increase their power by gaining seats on their side of the isle. In the house, twenty republicans voted against the bill. In the senate will even one democrat be willing to work with the republicans to write a better version. Let's hope so.
You don't need a college degree to figure out that this bill will only increase disability claims, ER visits and hospitalizations, all of which cost Americans and insurance companies mone money that preventative, basic medical care. The only aspect of this bill with any hope of reducing healthcare and insurance costs is that it may essentially deprive the elderly, sick and disabled of their lives.
Under the deceitful guise of "fixing" an imperfect but functioning system, this bill is nothing more than an artifice behind which the wealthiest Americans, and the depraved Republican Congressmen that 1% evidently control, seek to increase their wealth and power at the expense of the sick, elderly and disabled.
Every single article blaring out the news of this legislation as a "replacement" for the ACA should prominently be pointing out that it is merely an expensive and shameful attempt to increase the wealth and power of the wealthiest Americans at the expense of the millions of people in the "99%" whose lives and livelihoods are dependent on basic medical coverage, and to con healthier and younger Americans into believing their elected representatives are doing something honorable on the people's behalf.
That con is a very disturbing, and very important story.
Under the deceitful guise of "fixing" an imperfect but functioning system, this bill is nothing more than an artifice behind which the wealthiest Americans, and the depraved Republican Congressmen that 1% evidently control, seek to increase their wealth and power at the expense of the sick, elderly and disabled.
Every single article blaring out the news of this legislation as a "replacement" for the ACA should prominently be pointing out that it is merely an expensive and shameful attempt to increase the wealth and power of the wealthiest Americans at the expense of the millions of people in the "99%" whose lives and livelihoods are dependent on basic medical coverage, and to con healthier and younger Americans into believing their elected representatives are doing something honorable on the people's behalf.
That con is a very disturbing, and very important story.
17
They just passed it in the House. Now it goes to the Senate, gets modified, in conference, back to the House and Senate for final passing. Let's see how really cruel the Republican Party has become. Should be interesting at least, and deadly for tens of millions of Americans.
7
It is hard to believe that polititians that represent us would knowingly vote for things that are actually contrary to our best interests, only to please the president and this president has shown us that he does things with malice. Why would you want to destroy something that is working for the vast majority of people in the united states, when the only purpose is to destroy what our previous president had done...... wow....I bet they go to church on sundays....hyprocrites
10
Shameless - so mean spirited and so many middle, lower income people hurt, and they're to ones who vote these Republicans into office.
I'm a 50 something white guy and I'm talking about you 50 something white America. Go figure.
And with anything Republican/ GOP, the wealthy get a big tax break!, paid for by creating pain and suffering for middle, lower income people who don't have an army of lobbyist to protect them.
Yes that's you white America.
When will you stop voting against you and your family's own best interests?
Unbelievable and quite sad.
I'm a 50 something white guy and I'm talking about you 50 something white America. Go figure.
And with anything Republican/ GOP, the wealthy get a big tax break!, paid for by creating pain and suffering for middle, lower income people who don't have an army of lobbyist to protect them.
Yes that's you white America.
When will you stop voting against you and your family's own best interests?
Unbelievable and quite sad.
15
If republican House and Senate members thought they received major pushback BEFORE, just wait till they here from people like myself! Loss of my insurance and subsidy will mean an end to my monthly immunoglobulin infusions. Without them, my doctor has assured me I will be dead within six months to a year. But I likewise, will assure those who voted for this piece of trash, that I will be physically confronting at least one of them. They might want to consider that a man with nothing to lose, might very well do anything. Unless they plan to never travel in public again, they might want to consider the potential consequences to their political future (to say nothing of their own personal safety.)
7
Obamacare repeal just passed with which Donald Trump's promise of providing "BETTER HEALTHCARE at MUCH LOWER COST" trick was bought by the Republicans some of whom showed a little heart. But no. They just wanted to have their way as they won the presidency and the Congress. Now they can gloat.
Though the conventional wisdom says it won't pass in the Senate I have a feeling that, as nobody expected a Trump presidency, the Senate will pass a modified version. Then in a Conference, something very similar to the House bill will pass and the president will sign it.
Unlike they couldn't get rid of Social Security & Medicare the beneficiaries of Obamacare are perceived as a give away to people who are too lazy & refuse to work. They tend to vote a lot less often, unlike seniors. This may well be the end of affordable healthcare to Americans. Healthcare cost will continue to rise. Medicine prices will continue to skyrocket. A reversal to this most stupid development will not happen until a Younger, White FDR/Reagan-like "Bernie Sanders," a man, comes to the forefront.
Though the conventional wisdom says it won't pass in the Senate I have a feeling that, as nobody expected a Trump presidency, the Senate will pass a modified version. Then in a Conference, something very similar to the House bill will pass and the president will sign it.
Unlike they couldn't get rid of Social Security & Medicare the beneficiaries of Obamacare are perceived as a give away to people who are too lazy & refuse to work. They tend to vote a lot less often, unlike seniors. This may well be the end of affordable healthcare to Americans. Healthcare cost will continue to rise. Medicine prices will continue to skyrocket. A reversal to this most stupid development will not happen until a Younger, White FDR/Reagan-like "Bernie Sanders," a man, comes to the forefront.
10
Unless healthcare is seen as a "human right" nothing will change. In the rest of the world that is how it is, everyone has access and private insurance is also available to supplement what the government does not offer (some dental and vision procedures etc.). However the main diference is the perception that access to healthcare is a basic human right
7
Single payer health care paid through taxes and eliminating insurance companies is the only rational method of financing health care. It fairly distributes costs, has no opt-out, is less costly and it insures everyone. The only reason not to do it is to guarantee profits for the insurance industry. There is a part of the American psyche that believes that the poor should suffer for being poor; that poor schools, poor health, care and poor diet are an incentive to strive to be rich. It is secular Calvinism and it works for the rich by keeping the poor in their place. America was built on slavery and cheap immigrant labour. The new slavery is the permanent underclass.
South Africa turned to private industry to supply drinking water to it's citizens. Business put in wells with meters. You had to pay up front to get water. People couldn't pay so they got water from polluted rivers and lakes with predictable consequences - a cholera epidemic. Providing essential services through the profit motive is immoral. America's health care system is immoral. Trump's health care plan is immoral squared.
South Africa turned to private industry to supply drinking water to it's citizens. Business put in wells with meters. You had to pay up front to get water. People couldn't pay so they got water from polluted rivers and lakes with predictable consequences - a cholera epidemic. Providing essential services through the profit motive is immoral. America's health care system is immoral. Trump's health care plan is immoral squared.
60
Well, that and to ensure insurance related jobs persist. Remember that if we switch from our current insurance system to single payer half a million Americans will find themselves out of work. That's not a small chunk of people and you gotta figure they're going to try to keep their jobs.
Mr. Chapman: Well said.
4
Just to be clear here (because the author of the Op-Ed wasn't), the left is now arguing that RomneyCare is bad (note that no one uses that term) . So RomneyCare is good if leftist propaganda demands it (e.g., to pass the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in 2010) and RomneyCare is bad if leftist propaganda demands it (to argue keep PPACA). But doesn't PPACA work the same way as RomneyCare?
2
The author wasn't saying anything about MassCare, except as graduated costs hitting working poor and middle class people drives them to drop coverage. So as the AHCA cuts subsidies and forces more folks off of Medicaid, we're back to the old days of uncompensated ER care for colds, flu and poorly controlled diabetes and hypertension which should be managed in an office practice. Trump and his friends at Trump National (now that Mar a Lago is offseason) will be celebrating their anticipated tax breaks this weekend, just like he told folks at the 21 Club shortly after the election.
6
So Orangeaid squeaks by in the House, and here's a republican reaction:
"Representative Vicky Hartzler, Republican of Missouri (stated), 'We’re proud of this product.'"
I understand that people have differing opinions, but does the Party of the Koch's not understand that white people will be hurt by this, not just the black, Hispanic, Asian, and immigrant populations they loathe and despise?
Oops! Answered my own question: this isn't a health care bill, but another tax cut for rich, mostly white folks.
"Representative Vicky Hartzler, Republican of Missouri (stated), 'We’re proud of this product.'"
I understand that people have differing opinions, but does the Party of the Koch's not understand that white people will be hurt by this, not just the black, Hispanic, Asian, and immigrant populations they loathe and despise?
Oops! Answered my own question: this isn't a health care bill, but another tax cut for rich, mostly white folks.
14
You have hit the nail on the head. Humans being the quirky little units we are the only deep learning we acquire is through some kind of deep pain, like putting your hand on the "Hot stove" of the ACHA. Saving people from themselves only denies them this crucial learning experience.
7
Trumpcare is no care at all disguised as action.
8
Thank God for the Senate.
8
In order to place a checkmark in the win column of your Toddler-in-Chief, many politicians sold their soul to the devil today. This choice may come back to haunt many in the years to come.
This health care debate is truly a puzzling one for me. Although our Canadian health care is not perfect, I don't ever worry about or wrangle with insurance companies about health issues. If I am sick and need medical care, I am covered. And believe me (I am now sounding like your president), I have had much experience with conditions that have required medical assessment, treatment, and follow-up. I count my lucky stars I live in a country where health care just is.
This health care debate is truly a puzzling one for me. Although our Canadian health care is not perfect, I don't ever worry about or wrangle with insurance companies about health issues. If I am sick and need medical care, I am covered. And believe me (I am now sounding like your president), I have had much experience with conditions that have required medical assessment, treatment, and follow-up. I count my lucky stars I live in a country where health care just is.
15
If any government supported a few thousand individuals who inflicted as much harm on as many Americans as do our own Republicans in office, we would send in the troops and the bombs to take them out.
18
why is the USA the only advanced country that is populated by people that are so selfish, ignorant and greedy as to deny health care to all of its citizens?
20
Using advanced to describe the US as a country is misguided.
11
Other countries do not have Republicans?
Does it matter? A foundational component of the House Freedom Caucus is Baptist eschatology. They welcome the apocalypse.
11
I was disabled by accidents in 2014. One WC, the other an mva where the car I was in was rear-ended. The employer and the motorist both believe that the other is responsible. My care has been paid by major medical and out of my own savings. My employer of 25 years fired me rather than craft a position. I went from 6 figures to 30k ssdi income.
We went on Obamacare for the last half of 2015. I bought a platinum plan $1600/mo. No subsidies.
2016,both covered through marketplace. silver HMO, tiered. $1300/mo plus $1600 to MDVIP (Annually) (MDVIP, frugal networks, separate fee) Zero federal income tax. a refund becuase subsidies exceeded premiums. tho disabled my wife and I are working age. Insurance modest but ok. I have Tier 5 (Specialty) drugs,not well covered by the plan but drug companies provide free to low income.
2017 I started medicare. SSDI was reduced $134/mo for part b. Part D costs additional. With me out of the enrollment my wife must now pay $71/mo for the same marketplace coverage that she had for free before despite no change in premium and no income of her own. Additionally the drug manufactures exempt medicare recipients from charity plans because the coinsurance is too high.
Obamacare provides better coverage to working age americans of low income than the plans seniors have to pay for. I was/am disabled but that is not a requirement. In 2016, I actually got paid to accept free marketplace coverage.
This is absurd and cannot continue.
We went on Obamacare for the last half of 2015. I bought a platinum plan $1600/mo. No subsidies.
2016,both covered through marketplace. silver HMO, tiered. $1300/mo plus $1600 to MDVIP (Annually) (MDVIP, frugal networks, separate fee) Zero federal income tax. a refund becuase subsidies exceeded premiums. tho disabled my wife and I are working age. Insurance modest but ok. I have Tier 5 (Specialty) drugs,not well covered by the plan but drug companies provide free to low income.
2017 I started medicare. SSDI was reduced $134/mo for part b. Part D costs additional. With me out of the enrollment my wife must now pay $71/mo for the same marketplace coverage that she had for free before despite no change in premium and no income of her own. Additionally the drug manufactures exempt medicare recipients from charity plans because the coinsurance is too high.
Obamacare provides better coverage to working age americans of low income than the plans seniors have to pay for. I was/am disabled but that is not a requirement. In 2016, I actually got paid to accept free marketplace coverage.
This is absurd and cannot continue.
3
They can call their bill anything they like but it is not health care. It is the opposite and, as such, a cynical disgusting political maneuver, nothing more.
A typical Republican bill that has only one goal, to make everyone else as miserable as their ignorant, hypocritical mean-spirited base.
Another word for them? Christians.
A typical Republican bill that has only one goal, to make everyone else as miserable as their ignorant, hypocritical mean-spirited base.
Another word for them? Christians.
13
The main reason for any Republican bill is tax cuts for the wealthy and for big corporations. Period.
2
Why is the federal government involved in healthcare at all? I see a lot of posts here about how this is just the evil republicans giving tax breaks to the rich.....ummm and you think that ACA didn't funnel millions and millions to the rich either? You think democrats are good people who care about the poor and middle class? Democrats are the 1 percent! we are clearly living in two different dimensions. It's time for peaceful Balkanization in the US! "Un-Join or die!"
3
Sorry, Gerard, but the ACA was not designed to give money to the wealthy like this AHCA plan. In fact, the AHCA started off with the mandate that the wealthy be given a break. The ACA was designed to cover the most people possible.
4
Well, the House has done it. It's repealed.
Much cheering on the floor, and singing of "Na, na, na, hey, hey, goodbye." Not sure if that's directed toward ACA, or the thousands of people who will ultimately pay the price for this.
Stay classy, GOP.
Much cheering on the floor, and singing of "Na, na, na, hey, hey, goodbye." Not sure if that's directed toward ACA, or the thousands of people who will ultimately pay the price for this.
Stay classy, GOP.
6
Shame on them. Each and every one of them that voted yes on this bill will get thrown out of office. They are monsters.
9
Culling the American population is one way to go. First voter suppression, proclaiming that money is free speech, and putting Trump in the White House with the help of Comey and Putin.
24 million Americans lose their healthcare? No problem. The right to life party doesn't really stand for the right to life if it is expensive or inconvenient or if that same money can be funneled over to the 1%. Death watch now.
24 million Americans lose their healthcare? No problem. The right to life party doesn't really stand for the right to life if it is expensive or inconvenient or if that same money can be funneled over to the 1%. Death watch now.
8
This is just a way to transfer the middle class 401k's to the for profit health care industry.
7
How do you figure, annajoy
If the 5/4 House enactment ends up law, more than 5,000,000 people in the U.S. who were forced to buy a policy from for-profit health insurers (presumably what you mean?) this year that was so bad they could not use it will not have to pay that money to the for-profit health insurer next year. How's that good news for the insurer?
If the 5/4 House enactment ends up law, more than 5,000,000 people in the U.S. who were forced to buy a policy from for-profit health insurers (presumably what you mean?) this year that was so bad they could not use it will not have to pay that money to the for-profit health insurer next year. How's that good news for the insurer?
1
Listening to Trump preach about God and prayer as he works with the GOP to destroy health care for the least among us says something about Trump's and the GOP's true religion and it certainly has nothing to do with Jesus' teachings.
12
We can never fix the system without acknowledging a key, major problem at the fundamental level - there is ZERO attempt to control the cost of care through either of the traditional methods we have used in our economy to do so - marketplace competition or government price controls. the players in the health care industry, many of them private for profit companies, pharma, hospitals, doctors do not compete with each other for customers on a cost basis. they do not price their services and products based on their customers' ability to pay; instead we have somehow allowed them to set the prices they hcarge based on their own perceived need with the understanding that "someone else" will ultimately pay for it. employer, insurance company, bankrupt family, or the federal government. health care is a giant, essential sector of the economy, but the only one where we have exempted the companies involved from the laws of capitalist economics. We do not allow for markets nor do we insist on government price controls as we do in every other case of monopoly or lack of consumer choice such as utility prices. To suggest that the market exists through the existence of health insurance is absurd - the insurance companies do little to set fees and product prices and are a deliberate facade created by the industry to deflect the high prices and profits. looking to insurance companies to provide value in health care is like ordering a big screen tv from amazon and blaming ups for visa bill
5
The Republicans (and some democrats) do not believe government should guarantee health care as a right of citizenship. They are paid for this opinion by the huge industry lobbies that have torpedoed national health care since the Depression.
The necessary result of market-driven, for-profit health care is that poor people die of treatable injuries and illness, and middle-class people can become poor if anyone gets sick.
One of the reasons we ordained the constitution was to promote the general welfare. Congress is clearly focused on something else.
The necessary result of market-driven, for-profit health care is that poor people die of treatable injuries and illness, and middle-class people can become poor if anyone gets sick.
One of the reasons we ordained the constitution was to promote the general welfare. Congress is clearly focused on something else.
10
Such comments display the acute necessity of teaching children how markets work, how competition and trade lowers prices and produces jobs and prosperity. Denouncing the profit motive evinces ignorance. Nasser's National Charter included free education and healthcare. Did that work out? Not everyone who opposes subpar socialistic medicine, which is what actually exists in most European states, does so for reasons of wickedness or avarice, or because they're shills.
https://douthat.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/22/why-not-medicaid-for-all/
This was a never-ending theme of the entire Sanders campaign: denounce greed, as if such a human propensity can be extinguished by the power of the State or by a wizard's wand. Pillorying the profit motive, and rash fixes like price controls, will end in calamity. Granting the many demerits of the AHCA, the ACA isn't functioning properly and "more money" cannot forever be the solution for dysfunctional government programs. Aligning premiums with risk will bring down prices. Can risk pools and other state-based programs adequately deal w/ preexisting conditions?
In any case, I hate to see the younger generation of Democrats turn to socialistic solutions for every single problem and, in Clinton's words, "turn our backs on what built the greatest middle class in the history of the world." While there is nothing sacred about centrism, I find something quite fatuous about both fanciful libertarianism AND "democratic socialism."
https://douthat.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/22/why-not-medicaid-for-all/
This was a never-ending theme of the entire Sanders campaign: denounce greed, as if such a human propensity can be extinguished by the power of the State or by a wizard's wand. Pillorying the profit motive, and rash fixes like price controls, will end in calamity. Granting the many demerits of the AHCA, the ACA isn't functioning properly and "more money" cannot forever be the solution for dysfunctional government programs. Aligning premiums with risk will bring down prices. Can risk pools and other state-based programs adequately deal w/ preexisting conditions?
In any case, I hate to see the younger generation of Democrats turn to socialistic solutions for every single problem and, in Clinton's words, "turn our backs on what built the greatest middle class in the history of the world." While there is nothing sacred about centrism, I find something quite fatuous about both fanciful libertarianism AND "democratic socialism."
And yet the Scandinavian countries manage a very nice blend of capitalism and socialism, with democracy. Hmmmm.
If people in the European states who have that healthcare do not think it is "subpar", why do you? Oh, right. The rest of your argument does not work unless you start off by claiming it is bad....
The reality is that the other first world countries have come to the conclusion that universal healthcare is better than what we have. And, their people like it that way.
The reality is that the other first world countries have come to the conclusion that universal healthcare is better than what we have. And, their people like it that way.
3
The GOP wants to give the 400 highest earners a 7 million dollar a year wet kiss. To Republican lawmakers, that is all that matters, no how many people are left uninsured or dead.
There is precisely zero truth to the "better" arguments being made by Republicans. Simply put, you can't take trillions (over time) out of health care spending and expect the poorest and sickest to make it up out of their generous saves. Lots less money spent on health care means lots more sick and prematurely dead people. More unfunded emergency services mean worse emergency services and fewer hospitals that can provide them.
There is precisely zero truth to the "better" arguments being made by Republicans. Simply put, you can't take trillions (over time) out of health care spending and expect the poorest and sickest to make it up out of their generous saves. Lots less money spent on health care means lots more sick and prematurely dead people. More unfunded emergency services mean worse emergency services and fewer hospitals that can provide them.
11
Some times you have to go through purgatory before you find salvation. I think health care for all Americans is destined for this path. The republicans will pass their outlandish bill. Their constituents will observe first hand how horrible it is and then in four years a new administration and congress will take over and introduce the USA to what every civilized society in the world has come to realize - single payer health care.
9
Don't count on it.
3
Does anyone else remember the (fake) outrage from the Republican party, about how they couldn't finish reading the Affordable Care Act before it was time to vote? Here, there isn't even a bill to read! Let alone a score, yet. And yet they are in such a rush to do what is likely deadly harm to millions of Americans -- all to hand Trump a "W." They all deserve a big "L" after their names, come 2018. For shame.
10
They don't care about Americans. They only care about rich people and insurance companies . And they also want to screw around with people fortunate enough to have insurance through their employers to boot? The CRAZY part is that many of these jokers will be re-elected.
7
Just briefly reading the abstract, discussion and conclusions of the study cited by Leonhard, it is clear that the study makes no comparison to trumpcare specifically (Leonhard states that it wasn't compared to CBO estimates). Without a direct analysis, including a new CBO analysis, it is unclear and speculative as to how the current iteration of the repub bill would compare to the MA experience under obamacare. Without a direct analysis of hard data under trumpcare, Leonhardt is engaging in (political) speculation at best. Not at all surprising given his political bias. He simply does not want a political defeat for obamacare, no different than repubs wanting a political win. And according to the cited study, obamacare wasn't getting the job done either with regards to healthcare subsidies for low-income people in MA. Just more anti-repub screed and nothing more. Same old story from Leonhardt. But it feeds the democrat masses. Medicare for all, please. It's the only reasonable solution, but it will cost everyone.
13
I am willing to pay that tax for fair and mostly equal treatment for all Americans.
9
When you are about to change a program in a way that may well harm millions of people, the onus is on you to have some information of its effect. It is not the same as replacing a program that objectively appears to be having some success, in spite of your party's efforts, with something slapped together to contain a tax cut for the rich. And yes, Medicare for all.
6
Have you worked on Medicare for all? If yes, then which party do you think likelier to achieve it?
3
The Freedom Caucus and Republicans supporting this current piece of "so called" legislation should be ashamed that they are so un-Christian. They have truly shown us who they are and it's time to clean them out of Washington DC. Do you need to see more cruelty before you vote for a kinder , gentler America. The time to resist is now. Call you Representative today.
4
The Politics of Spite.
9
Oh and your side isn't without spite? Don't act like you don't hate us. It's our time to rule now, and if the pendulum does swing to your side, don't you worry, millions of us will resist like you do. We will judge shop against executive orders we don't like, our governors and state legislatures will nullify leftist laws we don't like, and most importantly, like you, we will not recognize and leftist leadership as legitimate authority over us. We will remember everything you are doing to us.
1
I hope Trump's climate change policies don't find their way to your beautiful state. When they do, our side will welcome you.
So, I take it that you do not like health care. Currently in France, I pay about 1/20th/yr of my medical payments (insurance and extra charges) that I paid in the States and receive far better health care. This covers much of Europe - I have seen Greek, Italian, English and Danish hospitals up close and personal, too, what with friends and relatives scattered about. USA does great at dramatic stuff - auto accidents -which means paramedics and rapid responders; and interestingly, geriatric care. With just about anything else, the Europeans benefit, which incidentally can be seen in the better stats for mortality/disease, lifespan and children's mortality relative to the USA (Check OECD). On the environment, the USA used to be ahead and now it is so far behind that even China will catch up within a decade – or two; a scary thought given its extent of air & water & soil pollution. So I suppose that leftist concepts that protect kids from lead, wildlife from lead bullets (and nasty poisons and steel traps), people from eating arsenic in chicken meat, or pesticide-laden food products will be the good stuff for revenge. You fight for the right to be poisoned? Fine. Yet others may wish to differ and wish not to be poisoned. How will you square that -- like cigarette smoke? Who is doing what to whom then? Moreover, a lot of pesticides/herbicides and toxins (from plastics to industrial waste) not only kill bees; they also promote neurodegenerative effects. Will you remember even?
2
Republicans--"the Penny-Wise and Billion-Dollar Foolish Party."
5
The photograph is telling. What you have is exactly what you expect from a bunch of old, rich white guys who don't want or need what the bill pretends to provide (except for the tax cut) and don't give a tinkers damn for anyone who does.
8
But the reality of counties without insurers and plans without providers is once again ignored.
4
Another consideration for constituents of representatives like Tom MacArthur - a multimillionaire framer and aggressive advocate of the previous Republican bill - is that he would have left the - albeit unacceptably paltry - additional $8 billion that they have now added to their proposal on the table. Indeed, Mr. MacArthur, a former insurance executive has proven to be as inept a negotiator as his apparent mentor, so-called President Trump. Can you imagine if they seriously put their efforts into improving the existing law,rather then enriching themselves with obscene tax breaks on the backs of our fellow hard working citizens?
5
I was treated for malignant melanoma in 1977. Fortunately for me, it was at such an early stage I required no chemotherapy and no radiation, because at that point in time there was no treatment for melanoma other than surgery for removal and hope for the best.
Fast forward 40 years. Still cancer free. No recurrence of the melanoma, no other cancers, not even relatively benign basal cell carcinoma. But since there was that one instance 40 years ago, I have a pre-existing condition, so ANY cancer treatment is expensive or non-existent. In the intervening years, I had a C-section when I gave birth to my daughter, and had gestational hypertension. I'm allergic to tree pollen, fragrance additives in soap and detergents. Oh yes, and I'm menopausal. I have all my original equipment (except for that spot on my neck where the melanoma used to be) and no bionic joints or valves, but I'm a walking death trap, according to the new so-called health bill. And there are a whole lot of other people out there just like me, and we vote. If we live that long. Maybe that's what the House is counting on.
Fast forward 40 years. Still cancer free. No recurrence of the melanoma, no other cancers, not even relatively benign basal cell carcinoma. But since there was that one instance 40 years ago, I have a pre-existing condition, so ANY cancer treatment is expensive or non-existent. In the intervening years, I had a C-section when I gave birth to my daughter, and had gestational hypertension. I'm allergic to tree pollen, fragrance additives in soap and detergents. Oh yes, and I'm menopausal. I have all my original equipment (except for that spot on my neck where the melanoma used to be) and no bionic joints or valves, but I'm a walking death trap, according to the new so-called health bill. And there are a whole lot of other people out there just like me, and we vote. If we live that long. Maybe that's what the House is counting on.
10
I guess we're going to see whether Mitch McConnell actually has any concern for the average American.
6
He doesn't!! Just his power.
7
My 89 year old husband is all for this bill and the tax cuts to follow because he has Medicare and an AARP supplemental policy. What he fails to realize is that when the insurance companies don't have as many people paying for policies the cost of his supplemental insurance will go up and he could even lose it because of "preexisting conditions. That would mean only 80% of his medical bills would be covered by his Medicare and he has many! Also, any tax benefits we might have will be eliminated by the non-deductibility of real estate taxes and the cost of medication we will have to assume for our daughter with MS when she can no longer get coverage! And I know an amazing number of other people who have adult children with health issues.
11
House Republicans are voting for the terrible healthcare bill for political reasons only. Trump promised to repeal the Affordable Care Act and replace it with a Republican plan right after he was elected. Republicans are AFRAID of Trump. This fear is the ONLY reason for passing this awful healthcare bill. Republicans are acting COWARDLY.
3
I have been terrified for my two disabled children, one is 5 and the other is 6, who both receive healthcare benefits from Medicaid. Thankfully, my oldest has these benefits which have significantly improved his condition and returned years lost with him in the past. He is thriving and happy, he is starting to be more active at school and his teachers are proud of his changes. My youngest has a life-shortening genetic condition that requires daily specialty medications that we could never afford if it wasn't for these benefits. His health has been improving over the last few months and we have been making great progress, but this back and forth in our political system has me worried that my son will be denied these life-sustaining medications and he will die. My children are smart, kind, friendly and always thinks of others. They chose to clean up hiking trails for Earth Day and are team players in our local soccer league. They help their grammie plant flowers and their daddy plant vegetable gardens. My oldest says someday he wants to be a scientist. My youngest wants to be a music teacher and a dentist. This afternoon, the fate of my children's health and lives are in the hands of politics. I love my children dearly .... I want to believe that there are people out there looking out for the best interests of Americans like my boys, I just hope that the politicians that have been put in charge of representing us remember that.
7
I suspect that a lot of people that get their insurance through their employers think that these changes do not affect them, and perhaps for that reason don't care. Those folks should think again. With such a huge number of people dropping out of the insurance market, but many of them still requiring the emergency health care referred to, insurance companies will have to shift those costs somewhere. Guess who is most likely to foot the bill? Welcome to higher premiums for everybody.
7
Premiums have already been going up what are you talking about?!
1
He's saying they will go up again, and faster than if ACA was left alone.
5
The Republicans are in a no win situation. If they pass this flawed health care bill they will cost millions of Americans to lose their benefits which will antagonize not only those losing their coverage but also those millions who will view this as a craven political move. They will lose votes and their seats in congress no matter which way they go. They are being shortsighted if they think this will be a political win if they pass this bill. Forget about the buffoon in the WH who only cares about a win no matter who it hurts. He is a nonentity at this point.
The only and true reason they want to pass this bill is because they refuse to accept the AHA is a much better solution that was implemented by Obama and they had nothing to do with it. If they had been the party that passed the AHA we would be hearing boasting and posturing about their success.
Pass Medicare for everyone and get it over with. This will make the whole country happy.
The only and true reason they want to pass this bill is because they refuse to accept the AHA is a much better solution that was implemented by Obama and they had nothing to do with it. If they had been the party that passed the AHA we would be hearing boasting and posturing about their success.
Pass Medicare for everyone and get it over with. This will make the whole country happy.
4
You seem to be confusing a feature for a bug.
"the bill cuts health benefits for the poor, the middle class, the elderly and the sick, and it funnels the savings to tax cuts for the rich"
Yeah. That's the point.
"the bill cuts health benefits for the poor, the middle class, the elderly and the sick, and it funnels the savings to tax cuts for the rich"
Yeah. That's the point.
12
I'm watching at least 30 GOP members of the House getting canned at the ballot boxes even as I write this.
Their majority will be gone if the Dems can get out the vote in 2018. I'm seeing poor people in wheelchairs being pushed into churches to vote because their GOP representatives eliminated their insurance. I'm seeing interviews with the leaders of the AARP on CNN blasting Trumpcare to shreds.
I'm seeing California move to a single payer system!
Good-bye Majority!
Their majority will be gone if the Dems can get out the vote in 2018. I'm seeing poor people in wheelchairs being pushed into churches to vote because their GOP representatives eliminated their insurance. I'm seeing interviews with the leaders of the AARP on CNN blasting Trumpcare to shreds.
I'm seeing California move to a single payer system!
Good-bye Majority!
5
The House leaders are aware that this bill if passed on to the Senate will surely die. The point is to be able to tell their supporters that their promise to repeal & replace has been kept. They are so dishonest.
Democrats and others who think that Republicans will be unable to get their health care legislation enacted are deluding themselves. Much more likely is that all of the Republican Senators will be put in a room, and their leaders will say something to the effect that: We are going to have a $600 billion tax cut with not one penny of it going to anyone who makes less than $250,000 per year, and you are giving us grief over things like how many or how few people are going to be uninsured and funding Planned Parenthood? When put that way all the Republicans will likely fall in line and the bill will pass both houses..."
https://seekingalpha.com/article/4067359
https://seekingalpha.com/article/4067359
5
Either way, it is going to be a repeat of 2006 in 2018.
1
Single payer is, and always has been, the answer.
7
The real motive of Republicans is to have no insurance for the poor. They prefer that poor go to Emergency room for treatment and otherwise suffer for chronic diseases and die. Of course this is unacceptable to say this openly. So they have to go through the charade. Step 1. Decry Obamacare as a sociaist tool against the rugged individuism and free market principles of this country. Step 2. After demonizing Obamacare, when you have fooled enough people to vote you into power, make sure that Obamacare fails by cutting its blood supply like killing the individual mandate and defunding/refusing medicaid expansion. Step 3. Propose a useless alternative (see main objective). Step 4. If step 3 fails, go back to step 3.
You get what you vote for.
You get what you vote for.
8
Unless we can get big money out of politics, this type of bill that destroys millions of lives will continue.
7
You completely miss the point, objective facts don't mean anything to the GOP ghouls in congress.
They don't believe in helping people that can't afford adequate health care coverage. 99% of them just don't have the backbone to come out and state the obvious. It's kind of like Trump's hair, everybody knows it's the dumbest thing they've ever seen on a human being but don't have the guts to say it out loud.
Those studies could be handed down from Moses on stone tablets written in god's hand and it would have the same effect, none.
We finally need to absorb the lesson that no study will ever change their minds.
If you aren't completely disgusted when you look at Paul Ryan's perpetually smirking, arrogant face as he talks about ripping away healthcare for millions of people then you just will never get what this is all about.
They don't believe in helping people that can't afford adequate health care coverage. 99% of them just don't have the backbone to come out and state the obvious. It's kind of like Trump's hair, everybody knows it's the dumbest thing they've ever seen on a human being but don't have the guts to say it out loud.
Those studies could be handed down from Moses on stone tablets written in god's hand and it would have the same effect, none.
We finally need to absorb the lesson that no study will ever change their minds.
If you aren't completely disgusted when you look at Paul Ryan's perpetually smirking, arrogant face as he talks about ripping away healthcare for millions of people then you just will never get what this is all about.
10
The Republicans don't care! Their voters don't care! The president doesn't know anything or care! Any questions? Return to sentence one. And when the sick and dying realize what has been done to them, remember this: the people in power don't care!
6
Just musing. Could we have the current ACA in states that voted against Trump and the new ACA in the states that support Trump? Better yet, make it counties. That way, the folks who support Trump can properly suffer the consequences.
7
No.
Even in the 'states that support' Trump there are millions of people who do NOT support him.
Even in the 'states that support' Trump there are millions of people who do NOT support him.
There is a part of me, the worst part perhaps, that wants the fools who voted for Trump to suffer. They would indeed suffer under this healthcare proposal, as many of them are middle/working class. The only problem with this vengeful logic is that so many underserving others will also be hurt along with them. However, until the Trump voters personally feel the damage they have wrought, they will remain steadfast in their support of this foolish and ignorant man. Whatever happens, regardless of the outcome, is sad and potentially dangerous.
5
The individual mandate penalty is what needs to be upped - I would argue somewhere around $2500. This should get most 26-40 individuals into the mix - and thus create the market that insurers would want to compete over.
Of course, expanding Medicaid would be a good idea too.
That should about do it.
Of course, expanding Medicaid would be a good idea too.
That should about do it.
4
Perfect or Nothing.
The US healthcare bill is only $2.6 Trillion a year. A paltry one-sixth of our entire economic output. A real bargain by any standards.
Unless Republicans attain perfection, there is no reason to monkey with a system that is the envy of the world.
The US healthcare bill is only $2.6 Trillion a year. A paltry one-sixth of our entire economic output. A real bargain by any standards.
Unless Republicans attain perfection, there is no reason to monkey with a system that is the envy of the world.
2
It will be much better. And much cheaper. Much, much better, and much, much cheaper. And it will be easy!
Well, it turns out it's hard, but nobody knew!
Well, it turns out it's hard, but nobody knew!
10
One thing that needs to be discussed by the left in this debate is what is the GOP's real goal. It's not about making Obamacare better, or getting a few more conservative votes for the current plan - which are their talking points. The GOP's plan is really to make it unworkable so they can later claim that it fell under its own weight. They want to neglect it to death, then say "see, we tried, even threw billions of dollars at it." They will then blame it on Obama, "see, we told you so" will be what they say. In sum, they are setting it up to die slowly while seeking plausible deniability.
65
They also want all that money as a tax giveback to their investor/supporters during the next big round of legislation.
5
I think they want to just move in and take over Obamacare, remove that burdensome name and claim it as their own. The most poisonous thing about it is that charismatic name. There must be no traces left of the Obama presidency. The old white men have spoken . . .
2
There may be another obstacle to the success of Trumpcare and that is the people that Republicans have to face when they take this next 11-day break and return to their districts.
5
The attitude of the Republicans is that they are going to repeal Obamacare come hell or high water. The consequences don't really matter. This is an emotional thing for them, reasoning doesn't enter into their reckonings.
Oh, and they won't let special interests sway them. Only the special interests they are ignoring are health experts and medical groups whose special interest is in preserving medical care for those who need it.
Oh, and they won't let special interests sway them. Only the special interests they are ignoring are health experts and medical groups whose special interest is in preserving medical care for those who need it.
11
If the good Lord has wanted us to be healthy - he would not have given us Trump: go forth and multi.die
5
Republicans are busily working to sentence America, including their own voters, to misery, preventable deaths, and bankruptcy to give a few of their plutocrat friends a tax break and legally entrench their belief that being unhealthy and/or not rich are moral failings. Believing lies and fake news doesn't cure disease or heal injuries, but that is what millions will be left with if this goes all the way; maybe Jesus can pitch in a few miracles to cover the gaps. Is this winning? Because to me it looks like selling people's health and lives so a few already rich people can get richer.
10
and so the health care companies will enjoy record profits while the quality of care provided nosedives
it won't happen in a republican controlled legislature but i believe the right way to fix this is not single payer, but to declare health care a utility and for the legislatures to control the range of prices and force justification for the increases in prices that the health care, health care device and pharmaceutical companies charge
Please, for all our sakes
it won't happen in a republican controlled legislature but i believe the right way to fix this is not single payer, but to declare health care a utility and for the legislatures to control the range of prices and force justification for the increases in prices that the health care, health care device and pharmaceutical companies charge
Please, for all our sakes
2
Please, we must vote out these greedy monsters in 2018.
The future of our nation depends on it.
The future of our nation depends on it.
6
24,000,000 people losing health insurance wasn't enough for the granny-starvers in the GOP Freedom Caucus - or for the GOP and 45, generally. They wanted more people to be deprived - and more to die - http://news.harvard.edu/ gazette/story/2009/09/new-study-finds-45000-deaths-annually-linked-to-lack-of-health-coverage/.
The GOP really is a Death Panel.
The GOP really is a Death Panel.
12
Why is it that the repulsives are so stingy with health care and everything else, that would help the population. I know, lining their own pockets is paramount and making certain that those who vote for them suffer. Hopefully those voters may come out of their cloud and vote for their own well being. Get out and vote. Get rid of the repulsives who are doing a scorched earth maneuver.
6
So this Republican-dominated congress dragged their feet for 8 months about funding Zika research and mosquito control in 2016, Republicans would force a woman who was infected with Zika in her early pregnancy to have the child, then deny the parents access to affordable health insurance for their disabled child due to a preexisting condition and/or reduce Medicaid benefits if they were eligible....
119
Exactly!!! A perfect example. They care about you only until you are born and then you're on your own.
4
You covered a lot of bases here. Thank you. An honest and historic look at heartlessness is too rare.
3
There is an undiscussed cost to the uninsured that is frequently overlooked when someone says, "Well, they can just go to the emergency room and get treated." That's half true, but the other half of the truth is that the emergency room bills them at "list price" for a simple visit that would cost radically less if they had insurance and sought their care at an "urgent care" facility or a private practice. The bill is crazy-high, and the uninsured who don't pay it get harrassed by debt-collection firms that results in more problems, including bad credit reports, court dates, legal expenses and default judgments. Emergency room care is a very expensive alternative to health insurance.
60
Even the insured are in grave danger in the emergency room. If those caring for the patient are not on the patient's health insurance plan, they sky's the limit on their bills, and those debts fall to the patient. The system is about to get far worse for ALL of us. Jesus wept. Democrats vote.
4
Colorado changed this unfair practice via state legislation via Senator Irene Aguilar. Charging patients more because they are uninsured makes no sense anymore than does the practice of charging based on what kind of insurance one has. We will have to build in as many pieces as we can at state legislatures to battle the damage of the current federal administration.
2
This is just Round 1. It is quite likely that lowering rates for the young, and allowing them to opt out, will be claimed as great improvements during next year's runup to the Nov election. If the Reps hold the Senate, it's a home run. Any short-term economic good news will be treated as proof of their accomplishment. If the numbers "look good," and they can convince enough voters of the "success" of their changes, no matter how bad it is in the long run, or for the sick, they might get to the magic number of 60 in the Senate. THAT's their grand slam. If they do, Ayn Rand Ryan will severely restrict/destroy Obamacare, Medicare, Social Security, EPA, and we'll look back at 2017 wistfully.
44
Yeah, there's a sucker born every minute. And all of them are American voters . . .
1
From the end of WW2 to the election of a Republican Tea Party Congress in 2014, most public evaluations of policy focused on the public interest, at least as one party or the other understood it. If it couldn't be justified that way, it couldn't become law. But now we seem to be in a new era, in which "the public interest be damned" is the real motto. I have tried hard to find what public interest gets served by killing Obamacare, depriving the poor of contraception and abortion services, eliminating health requirements for school lunches, de-regulating environmentally dangerous activities, and so forth. I understand the preference of some for devolving all but military responsibilities to the States, but in their triumph only God will be able to help the residents of Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and other such States if they must depend entirely on the tender mercies of their political leaders.
7
The United States government is completely broken. Sensible legislation which the majority of Americans support is no longer important. The only thing that matters is political wins. Please just give all of our taxpayer money back to the states to use instead of passing it out to the 1% at the expense of the rest of us.
7
You think statees are better?
1
Yes, the blue states are.
1
It’s insane that our society can tolerate having a class of “working poor” patients, who often have one or multiple part time jobs and have difficulty affording their health care, that looks with envy at the treatments and benefits available to Medicaid patients. It’s past time to have a basic single-payer option. For everyone. Then go on and fight about however you want to assemble supplemental private options.
At its core, this is a giant tax cut disguised as a health care bill.
At its core, this is a giant tax cut disguised as a health care bill.
25
"Nathaniel Hendren of Harvard, the paper’s third author, said that the Republican proposal would effectively end enrollment in the insurance markets for families that make less than $75,000 a year." Do people realize what an absurdly high bar this is? Median household income was about $56,500 in 2015. Implementing this bill shows that GOP backers are fine with a system in which only a minority of families can afford health insurance. Only the US can be callous and myopic enough to let unrestrained market forces dictate health care access.
9
If the study is anything like the 2016 election polling; it is totally incorrect.
1
2016 polling was pretty accurate. Projected Clinton margin of 3-4%, actual margin was 2%, within the margin of error.
Yesterday, former Illinois congressman and conservative radio personality Joe Walsh unwittingly capsulized the GOP's true feelings about government-subsidized health care: "Why should I pay for someone else's health care?"
To profit from the misfortune, illness, or lack of education of our citizens is unethical. Our current healthcare system is constructed to do nothing else but create financial gain for all participants with the exception of the patient. See "An American Sickness" by Elizabeth Rosenthal. Our education system is headed down the same tawdry path as health care. Single payer health care and high quality public education will allow our society to prosper. The current path will lead to ruin.
The mission from day one, it would appear, that Trump's hidden agenda was to wipe Obama's presidency and legacy off the face of this earth. What one criticism heaped upon him by President Obama set his time bomb off? I guess the answer in view of Trump's self obsessive personality is, all of them. His base were ill advised and didn't watch what they wished for. It still hasn't sunk in because I surmise it's true that no one wants to be told when they were wrong. What's sadder is that the republicans in both houses are on board. What does that say for them? Incidentally, health care paid by companies started to be taken away from employers for a few years now and the only saving grace were the regulations of the Obama Affordable Care Act that prevented insurance companies for being what insurance companies have always done. Make the small print so small most couldn't or wouldn't read it. I'm still shaking my head over what I read several months ago where insurance companies are blatantly refusing to pay death benefits and that has reached the billions mark. People are in financial trouble because of it. Some can't pay mortgages, funeral expenses, etc. Authoritarianism should be checked by Congress instead it's promoting it. For a few days I thought they all had a rude awakening. I was fooled and I'm ashamed I let my guard down.
7
The recent frenzied dance of the House Republicans has nothing to do with the well-being of Americans, but to obscure what they are really doing; mainly throwing millions who recently acquired coverage through Obamacare back out on the streets and opening fresh wounds in the polity for the insurance companies to infest.
Can we call their bill, if it becomes law, Trump-nocare?
Remember, everybody—the enemy is not health care providers, or government, or even the insurance companies. The real enemy is the Republican Party, and what it has become since the 1980’s.
Think about that when you vote in 2018., for every office, at every level.
Can we call their bill, if it becomes law, Trump-nocare?
Remember, everybody—the enemy is not health care providers, or government, or even the insurance companies. The real enemy is the Republican Party, and what it has become since the 1980’s.
Think about that when you vote in 2018., for every office, at every level.
7
This is all about appearances.
Trump needs to appear to have “won”.
Congressional reps need to appear to be tough and fulfilling campaign promises of past 8 years.
They all need to appear to be a united force.
But God help you if you appear to need health care.
Trump needs to appear to have “won”.
Congressional reps need to appear to be tough and fulfilling campaign promises of past 8 years.
They all need to appear to be a united force.
But God help you if you appear to need health care.
13
The promise to repeal the ACA, on day one, and replace it with something much, much better, cheaper and will be beautiful and grand was washed into the swamp Trump promised to drain.
The GOP, and the "president" have little initiative to provide something that will meet the promise that Trump made to his supporters who must realize by now they were willing rubes in Trump's classic bait and switch side show.
Not all of those organizations and experts can be wrong when they state the costs will be much higher and the population of uninsured will soar.
With this version of "Trumpcare", those affected should pray they do not become ill or have preexisting conditions as your fate will have been sealed.
And lastly, come 2018 and beyond, remember who sold you down the river.
The GOP, and the "president" have little initiative to provide something that will meet the promise that Trump made to his supporters who must realize by now they were willing rubes in Trump's classic bait and switch side show.
Not all of those organizations and experts can be wrong when they state the costs will be much higher and the population of uninsured will soar.
With this version of "Trumpcare", those affected should pray they do not become ill or have preexisting conditions as your fate will have been sealed.
And lastly, come 2018 and beyond, remember who sold you down the river.
8
A continuing stream of unbelievable gall, vindictiveness, and sabotage of President Obama's legacy. The GOP is going to regret this.
I'm utterly disgusted by what our country has become. The despicable, heartless GOP have no concern for the constituents they "represent" yet their ignorant constituency keeps re-electing them. They are denying affordable life saving medical care to thousands of people. What is wrong with them? More-so what is wrong with the people who elect them?? Are they so hate-filled that they care nothing for the welfare of our fellow brothers and sisters? I am beyond rage and just numbed by the despicable "policies" of the trump administration. How many kicks to the teeth will his supporters take before they declare enough?? He has broken all his campaign promises, starting with jobs and ending with his affordable healthcare that will cost less and offer better services. How many lies will his rabid supporters defend?
I hate trump, all of his administration and every vicious republican elected official. They are vile, a cancer on our nation. I am ashamed and embarrassed to be an America even though, through my vote, I am not responsible. Our government no longer even pretends to serve the needs of the people, it's drunk with the power of destruction and serving their masters- money, corporations and greed. Each day I believe we have seen the worse, that we could sink no lower but, yet, we do.
My heart breaks for those who are facing medical issues with fear that they will no longer be covered. Palin sneered of ACA death panels. Yet she is silent and complicit. Evil monsters all.
I hate trump, all of his administration and every vicious republican elected official. They are vile, a cancer on our nation. I am ashamed and embarrassed to be an America even though, through my vote, I am not responsible. Our government no longer even pretends to serve the needs of the people, it's drunk with the power of destruction and serving their masters- money, corporations and greed. Each day I believe we have seen the worse, that we could sink no lower but, yet, we do.
My heart breaks for those who are facing medical issues with fear that they will no longer be covered. Palin sneered of ACA death panels. Yet she is silent and complicit. Evil monsters all.
16
Bottom line is that republicans only care about themselves. They claim to be the "moral majority" and be Christain. The problem is that their actions go against everything Jesus taught. Jesus taught us to look after the sick and poor. Republicans want to kill them off. Can't wait until they meet their judgment by the one they claim to follow.
8
A lot of poor republicans will be in the ER with the rest of us. That should right things by the midterms, if this dog doesn't die in the senate. Looks like the town halls were a joke.
4
Does anyone think Trump really cares how many Americans will die on his watch from lack of healthcare? What does that have to do with him?
4
Forget death panels, today we have the death house: how many must die ?
4
If this isn't class warfare, I don't know what is.
Telling 30 million people losing their health insurance "let them eat cake" is madness.
Don't these fools understand what they're playing with?
"Apres moi, le deluge."
Wake up GOP.
Telling 30 million people losing their health insurance "let them eat cake" is madness.
Don't these fools understand what they're playing with?
"Apres moi, le deluge."
Wake up GOP.
6
Its not just the pre-existing coverage that should be included. Obama has 10 essentials under ObamaCare that are pre-conditions for providing health care, how much does TrumpCare have?
6
If PR and misrepresentation delivered good healthcare, the Republic party's plan would be yuuge.
It may have made a good attack weapon, but as a governing strategy it fails miserably. We shall now see if the public will get fooled again in 2018.
It may have made a good attack weapon, but as a governing strategy it fails miserably. We shall now see if the public will get fooled again in 2018.
3
Academic paper indeed.... One must traverse 45 pages to get to "conclusions".
Thank you David for doing the summarization step.
Let me suggest we start teaching that step to these researchers.
Thank you David for doing the summarization step.
Let me suggest we start teaching that step to these researchers.
Actually some of us prefer to have evidence supplied to support conclusions drawn. The absence of that is manifested by the buffoon on the White House.
2
thank you for pointing out my lack of clarity.
Yes, we want the evidence. And yet it's helpful to summarize, for example an executive summary at beginning, in addition to providing such evidence.
Yes, we want the evidence. And yet it's helpful to summarize, for example an executive summary at beginning, in addition to providing such evidence.
1
In a research journal, your example of a short summary does appear at the beginning of the article, and is called an "abstract". It is very useful for getting a quick sense of the article that you may read in its entirety later.
Totally disgusted! And powerless to stop them.
Yes, but that $8 billion is money reserved not for poor people, but for rich people to siphon off.
So it will buy the Republican votes.
So it will buy the Republican votes.
4
The Republican Death Act will kill tens of thousands of Americans - just to provide billions in tax cuts for the super rich.
The Republicans are the real terrorists.
The Republicans are the real terrorists.
6
SHAME!
It's not the Republican Party. It's the Rich Party. That's what the R stands for.
4
I'm outraged by what the republicans in congress are doing. I'm more outraged by people repeatedly voting for these cunning snakes into Congress. You are NOT pro-life if you support people who couldn't care less about people dying on streets because of the lack of proper health care.
One of the more abominable and shocking ideas (though little these days shocks me, not when it comes to this administration and its craven enablers) to rear its ugly head as part of the current push for the excrescence now known as GOPcare (thank you, M.L. Chadwick), is the notion, as voiced by more than one Republican, that people with pre-existing conditions don't deserve affordable health care because they haven't lived good lives. I'd like to personally invite those legislators to meet my partner who has been a non-smoker, a rare imbiber, and a healthy contributor to the cultural life of America all his adult life and who suffers from non-diabetic neuropathy, which has compromised his ability to work and means he lives with pain in his extremities (some times unspeakable, always unpredictable pain) day in and day out, and tell him face to face that he deserves this condition; or to sit down with my nephew, one of the finest and healthiest-living people I know, who has been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's at the age of 57, possibly triggered by injuries he suffered as a high school athlete, and explain to him how it is he doesn't deserve affordable health care. And then I'd like these callous, cold-hearted Republicans to visit the graves of friends I know, non-smokers all, who succumbed to lung cancer and look their families in the eyes and lay out their point of view and the rationale that led them to this conclusion. Heartless says it all.
3
Tax cuts for the rich. That alone may be the big driver for this terrible bill. Why do the rich need another tax cut? The GOP have no shame or they are so far out of touch they all have to walk in lock step to get the wealthy more dollars. Tax reform isn't enough extra money, they need to get more through health care. Despicable.
4
This is what happens in a democracy when the majority of voters are ignorant cowards. "Proud to be an American" is only the stuff of nostalgia now.
6
I don't understand Americans. Seriously, why are there no mass demonstrations, tires burning, roads blocked? In the most oppressive countries in the world, two things bring people out into the street: hunger and threat to theirs, and their children's, lives. Try to tell the French or the Italians that tomorrow they won't be able to go to a doctor, and you'll see a country burn. Even Brexit was largely fueled by the lie that the money paid to the EU would go to the National Health Service instead. Here a bill is going to pass that will make your autistic child become an intolerable burden on you until, in desperation, you'll decide to kill him and yourself; that will make that lump in your breast fester until cancer eats you up alive; that will cause you to cough out your lungs and vomit blood until you die in agony. And what are you doing about it? Feeling satisfied that you don't have to pay for "other people's health care"?
7
It's so ironic that these same members of Congress who rant and rave in opposition of abortion and (in that argument anyway) give full throated support to life, can turn around and so callously sentence people to death by "repealing and replacing" the ACA. I'd like to hear a few of them explain themselves....
4
This is the email I sent to a Republican representative in my state but who does not represent my district.
I am in your state, though not in your district.
The Trumpcare bill coming up for a vote is monstrous, appalling, and a disgrace to our fellow Americans. It has nothing to do with making healthcare better. It is purely about a "win" for the president. How horrific, to throw millions off healthcare to nurse a sick ego.
I know you may not care about my opinion because I am not in your district. If you ever want to run for state-wide office, though, I will remember what you do today.
Please, please, please do what's right. Thank you.
I am in your state, though not in your district.
The Trumpcare bill coming up for a vote is monstrous, appalling, and a disgrace to our fellow Americans. It has nothing to do with making healthcare better. It is purely about a "win" for the president. How horrific, to throw millions off healthcare to nurse a sick ego.
I know you may not care about my opinion because I am not in your district. If you ever want to run for state-wide office, though, I will remember what you do today.
Please, please, please do what's right. Thank you.
5
Is there not a law that says that any elected official who passes a law that harms people can be impeached? They all need to be fired. VOTE in 2018!
4
The people who support these Republican politicians at election time are not only cutting off their nose to spite their face, they are short-sighted. Very few of us live a long healthy life - emphasis on healthy. Life turns on a dime. You think you're healthy one day and the next you find out you have cancer, or heart disease, or diabetes, or a detached retina or any number of other common diseases. It will happen to each and every one of us. And when you get the bad news, the Republican plan is designed to kick you when you're down. And, I can tell you it is a wallop. For example, a visit to the ER and an overnight stay in a hospital will costs thousands. That's dirt cheap compared to cancer treatment, a heart attack or stroke. Three million people with diabetes need insulin and other drugs which can easily cost over $10,000 per year. Anyone who thinks that it can't happen to them are willfully ignorant.
People who have good common sense and critical thinking skills are being terrorized by short-sighted, self-serving idiots. That's plain wrong and members of Congress are supposed to save us from our worst impulses. Instead they exploit the ignorant and stupid for their own political aggrandizement.
People who have good common sense and critical thinking skills are being terrorized by short-sighted, self-serving idiots. That's plain wrong and members of Congress are supposed to save us from our worst impulses. Instead they exploit the ignorant and stupid for their own political aggrandizement.
4
The Republican unhealth plan just widens further the gap between rich and not so rich. They are creating the civil unrest they work to suppress with every policy they enact from ACMA to every anti-worker bill being pushed through.
Forget the clown in the Oval Office who only came to the party to make fun of the nice guy who came before him. Let's see who is laughing at the end of his act.
Forget the clown in the Oval Office who only came to the party to make fun of the nice guy who came before him. Let's see who is laughing at the end of his act.
5
House members who vote for this disaster of a bill will not be able to hide from their angry constituents. It will almost certainly get much worse for them once the CBO issues its rating. Their political careers will be in great jeopardy for the sole purpose of giving an ego massage to Trump. Pathetic! The 2018 midterm elections can't come soon enough.
3
The people voted for these R's and they deserve the results.
5
I didn't vote for him. Do I still deserve it?
1
The true measure of the awfulness of what the Republicans are doing is that despite their claims they are in fact exempting themselves from Trumpcare. The separate bill that would force them to obtain insurance under its policies must pass not only the House but the Senate, where it will require sixty votes--which it will never get. So they have cleverly exempted themselves from the vast evil they are perpetrating on the rest of us.
Get out and vote next year, people. These people should be branded with a huge T on their foreheads and made to live out their lives in shame. They are cruel and sadistic and greedy and beyond redemption.
Trumpcare is legalized mass murder.
Get out and vote next year, people. These people should be branded with a huge T on their foreheads and made to live out their lives in shame. They are cruel and sadistic and greedy and beyond redemption.
Trumpcare is legalized mass murder.
3
I agree with OldMan, here's the list of phone #s to call. https://www.contactingcongress.org/?link_id=2&can_id=b95cf2a821e6888...
1
Billy Long looks like a heart attack/stroke waiting to happen.
Hope he has good insurance!
Hope he has good insurance!
The Republican bills is dishonest. The Congressmen who go on TV and agree that, yes, we now have covered those with pre-existing poor health, well no, we have not.
AND YOU ARE LYING, because you can't be so stupid that you don't understand what is going on.
AND YOU ARE LYING, because you can't be so stupid that you don't understand what is going on.
4
Hopefully, this will kill mostly Republicans.
5
So, was Jill Stein worth it?
5
Republicans hate you and want you to die (and make a profit on it). It's that simple.
5
Why is this in the Opinion section instead of the News section?
4
Trump care is a sham just like everything else Trump and his ultra wealthy cronies want to impose or take away from the American people. How could so few people in three states have been so stupid to bring so many millions down with them?
3
The problem is that Trump supporters do not get their news from the NY Times or the Washington Post or any other "reasoned" source. They get from Rush Limbaugh, Hannity and their ilk and the consistent lies and distortions of our President and his ilk.
5
Remember those Death Panels we used to hear so much about? They apparently exist as the House Republicans.
9
This op-ed is filled with data, facts and reality. Since when has truth persuaded the GOP to do anything? It's all politics and "keeping the promise" they made to their constituents to repeal and replace Obamacare, even if the replacement is worse than ACA. Ironically, the people most negatively impacted will be those who voted for them. Bigly.
5
If it passes watch Trump do a victory dance spouting fake facts about the new law.
4
Are there any ethical Republicans?
5
The answer to that question has been known for at least 16 years.
4
After reading tis article you don't have to guess why math proficiency has gone downward in the US
Here's an example of inability to communicate a math concept:
"The Massachusetts law subsidizes health insurance for lower-income households, and does so via four different income categories. Everyone in a category — for example, a family of four earning between $44,700 and $55,875 a year — would pay the same price for insurance.--- A family earning less would pay less, and a family earning more would pay more.
This system creates what economists call a “discontinuity.” People who have only slightly different incomes pay very different prices for an insurance plan. A family earning $44,701 could pay a couple of hundred dollars more per year than a family making $44,699---"
until the very end and after a hundred words finally we get what mr. Leonhardt wanted to express. As note aside, "discontinuity" is a word appropriated from math language, and this one is of the third kind. Plus people are very savvy of the whole concept as they applied it every year when filing a tax return whose rate is divided... by bracket of income!
Now, this whole experiment set in Mass has no meaning since it depends:
- where you put the dividing income
- how many people belong to those income brackets
- it's known people tend to pay low prices
So, concentrating more on rigorous analysis and less on people's award would benefit enormously the comprehension of an interesting subject.
Here's an example of inability to communicate a math concept:
"The Massachusetts law subsidizes health insurance for lower-income households, and does so via four different income categories. Everyone in a category — for example, a family of four earning between $44,700 and $55,875 a year — would pay the same price for insurance.--- A family earning less would pay less, and a family earning more would pay more.
This system creates what economists call a “discontinuity.” People who have only slightly different incomes pay very different prices for an insurance plan. A family earning $44,701 could pay a couple of hundred dollars more per year than a family making $44,699---"
until the very end and after a hundred words finally we get what mr. Leonhardt wanted to express. As note aside, "discontinuity" is a word appropriated from math language, and this one is of the third kind. Plus people are very savvy of the whole concept as they applied it every year when filing a tax return whose rate is divided... by bracket of income!
Now, this whole experiment set in Mass has no meaning since it depends:
- where you put the dividing income
- how many people belong to those income brackets
- it's known people tend to pay low prices
So, concentrating more on rigorous analysis and less on people's award would benefit enormously the comprehension of an interesting subject.
1
I have zilch confidence in most politicians. As rule, I think they're self-interested and power-hungry -- and wouldn't know a morally right (from bad) action, if it kissed them in the face. I think they care about their constituents only to the extent that they car about votes, and that, for the sake of votes, they willingly lie as a matter of course, thereby selling their constituents and their families (don't tell me men in politics don't lie to their wives) down the river.
I offer this admittedly personal appraisal just to give a sense of how some Americans feel about the politicians who drive government policy and legislation. Come acknowledges feeling "mildly nauseous." I feel sick to my stomach, and have since Nixon -- pretty much continuously.
With respect to health care in this country, I haven't seen one US politician take a truly principled stand. I haven't even seen one of them acknowledge the truth -- that, generally speaking, our health care system stinks to high heaven.
Ultimately, we, the voters, are responsible for this god-forsaken mess.
I offer this admittedly personal appraisal just to give a sense of how some Americans feel about the politicians who drive government policy and legislation. Come acknowledges feeling "mildly nauseous." I feel sick to my stomach, and have since Nixon -- pretty much continuously.
With respect to health care in this country, I haven't seen one US politician take a truly principled stand. I haven't even seen one of them acknowledge the truth -- that, generally speaking, our health care system stinks to high heaven.
Ultimately, we, the voters, are responsible for this god-forsaken mess.
2
The driving force behind the House bill is the extinction of Obama's legacy. Not because Obama was a Democrat or a progressive, but because he was our first BLACK president. Let's call today what it really is: an exercise in racism.
5
"America First" has become "Me First."
4
Just another birthday gift for Fat Cats returning their hard earned money. Jimmy Kimmel's child and all other children with "pre-existing conditions" are not as important than any billionaire's or multimillionaire's money. No, the AMA's assessment is not as important as the millionaire's fund. Republican's don't just hate Obamacare because they are racists and they can't stand having anything Obama did, but also because the extremely wealthy are all they care about.
Welcome to what has become of America because James Comey thought that speaking about Clinton's e-mail and concealing Trump's campaign investigation of collusion with Russia was less catastrophic. Wrong James. And you are responsible, at least as much as Putin.
Welcome to what has become of America because James Comey thought that speaking about Clinton's e-mail and concealing Trump's campaign investigation of collusion with Russia was less catastrophic. Wrong James. And you are responsible, at least as much as Putin.
3
Not to worry. Our President doesn't fancy reading and most of the front men for corporate America, namely the Republican Party, have an entirely different agenda than most Americans.
2
The political ads the DNC can run of all the GOP 'yea' votes will be the death knell for all those so-called representatives who voted to assist in the suffering of their constituents.
4
The NY Times' lead photo regarding Trumpcare is certainly telling. Decisions effecting millions of working class and poor in this country regarding their health care are being lead by a bunch of very wealthy, old white men. Those same decisions will not impact the health care coverage of those wealthy old white men one iota.
And this is democracy?????
And this is democracy?????
Perhaps the Republicans can turn our empty shopping malls into concentration centers for those of their followers whom their god has chosen to punish with illness.
3
I think a neighbor has it right when she calls Republicans willing to ignore facts and hurt so many people as just plain EVIL.
3
All this says to me that a one-payer system is more necessary than ever before.
This Congress and Senate are Robin Hoods in reverse.
They steal from the poor and give to the rich.
Anyone for a petition to take away their health care that we pay for?
Can the NYT start this petition? Maybe the ACLU. It seems discrimination to me when because people do not fit the profile of the people Congress is choosing to support with their tax proposals.
Where is the real Robin Hood when you need him?
This Congress and Senate are Robin Hoods in reverse.
They steal from the poor and give to the rich.
Anyone for a petition to take away their health care that we pay for?
Can the NYT start this petition? Maybe the ACLU. It seems discrimination to me when because people do not fit the profile of the people Congress is choosing to support with their tax proposals.
Where is the real Robin Hood when you need him?
2
Even the ER argument is fallacious. The ER is only responsible for stabilizing a patient. After that, any care is the responsibility of the patient or guardian. If youfall into a diabetic coma, the ER will get you back on your feet and without any further treatment. The idea of preventative care, which is the ACA, is missing from the GOP's plan. Like most shortsighted Republicans, they can only see as far as the next vote and have not idea how to begin a long term, systematic program that pays dividends down the road even if tomorrow is a bit more expensive. And the health care debate is not the only policy for which they are shortsighted.
93
The pack rat will take any small glittering item and store it away with their massive stash of other glittering things. They believe in a trade, so they leave you with something, but it's always worthless to you, like pack rat droppings.
8 billion dollars was a glittery enticement that was enough to lure some in the rapid and breathless effort to scrap healthcare. True to their nature they have left us with something....and guess what it is?
At least the pack rat is amusing in its furtive and obsessive hoarding instinct. The rats who represent us are not amusing.
8 billion dollars was a glittery enticement that was enough to lure some in the rapid and breathless effort to scrap healthcare. True to their nature they have left us with something....and guess what it is?
At least the pack rat is amusing in its furtive and obsessive hoarding instinct. The rats who represent us are not amusing.
1
Millions have to suffer to massage the ego of a megalomaniac narcissist. This is not about policy, it is about "the win".
3
These "republican legislators" look like pig-people to me.
2
Trump should be ashamed.
GOP & billionaires will do whatever they want. Those most harmed by this watch FOX 'news for idiots' & hear Obamacare is 'socialized medicine.' They don't understand.
In the 60s & 70s, millions faced w/ being drafted to Vietnam hit the streets & stayed there. But war is more visceral & dramatic than destroying affordable health care. Journalism isn't dramatizing the coming impact.
But this is war waged on we the people.
Nothing compares to war as metaphor to motivate us to oppose the destruction of Obamacare. Can't afford surgery, pre-existing condition endangering your child, declaring bankruptcy? That's personal suffering/private tragedies played out behind closed doors.
War is suffering on a large public scale. Going bankrupt over medical bills or dying of untreated diabetes is a small private tragedy.
But this is war.
Those in film, advertising, PR could design, fund & present a huge public health campaign showing Trumpcare destroying the stability of our country, devastating our economy, ruining public health, 1 sick parent or 1 decimated family at a time. This is war. It hasn't been effectively presented so everyone understands & fights the political & moneyed interests attacking us.
"Farenheit 9/11" took W apart. Talent should step up & create a campaign for network & cable showing what destroying affordable health care does to America. It murders the common good.
Maybe then everyone will 'get it.' They don't 'get it' yet.
GOP & billionaires will do whatever they want. Those most harmed by this watch FOX 'news for idiots' & hear Obamacare is 'socialized medicine.' They don't understand.
In the 60s & 70s, millions faced w/ being drafted to Vietnam hit the streets & stayed there. But war is more visceral & dramatic than destroying affordable health care. Journalism isn't dramatizing the coming impact.
But this is war waged on we the people.
Nothing compares to war as metaphor to motivate us to oppose the destruction of Obamacare. Can't afford surgery, pre-existing condition endangering your child, declaring bankruptcy? That's personal suffering/private tragedies played out behind closed doors.
War is suffering on a large public scale. Going bankrupt over medical bills or dying of untreated diabetes is a small private tragedy.
But this is war.
Those in film, advertising, PR could design, fund & present a huge public health campaign showing Trumpcare destroying the stability of our country, devastating our economy, ruining public health, 1 sick parent or 1 decimated family at a time. This is war. It hasn't been effectively presented so everyone understands & fights the political & moneyed interests attacking us.
"Farenheit 9/11" took W apart. Talent should step up & create a campaign for network & cable showing what destroying affordable health care does to America. It murders the common good.
Maybe then everyone will 'get it.' They don't 'get it' yet.
3
Michale Moore's documentary "Sicko" was a very chilling comparison of the US healthcare system as compared to other countries' systems.
The GOP obsession with repealing what they derisively labelled Obamacare is not about healthcare. Their attack actually is a political resurgence of America's racist history from the day the country was founded, right through the Civil War, through the Civil Rights era, down to the the hateful polices of the GOP and right wing politicians and voters of today.
It is because Obama has black skin color, otherwise known as a negro, who in their racist view of the universe, shall never succeed at anything, and anything a negro does can not be any good, and therefore should not be permitted to succeed. Success by the negro must be repressed, according to their fearful, supremacist outlook. So, there is what the Obamacare fight is about. The bottom line is that we are witnessing class warfare, blatant racism, and ongoing callous depravity in our society, falsely disguised as American idealism, when it at its core it is an attack on the possible success of the first American negro president, who in their view should not, and could not ever succeed.
It is because Obama has black skin color, otherwise known as a negro, who in their racist view of the universe, shall never succeed at anything, and anything a negro does can not be any good, and therefore should not be permitted to succeed. Success by the negro must be repressed, according to their fearful, supremacist outlook. So, there is what the Obamacare fight is about. The bottom line is that we are witnessing class warfare, blatant racism, and ongoing callous depravity in our society, falsely disguised as American idealism, when it at its core it is an attack on the possible success of the first American negro president, who in their view should not, and could not ever succeed.
4
If you are poor or so-called middle class, you are inconsequential and therefore expendable. We did not buy a ticket for this train wreck of ignorance. This so-called president is a life long crook and moron yet the GOP continues to support their Frankenstein in order to continue their campaign of selective ignorance while Mother Nature prepares to Bat Last.
4
Why isn't it called trumpuncare?
1
Like a slap in the face.... stumpy is showing us the meaning behind 'make America great again....'
It means kill the Indians for their land..... bomb Vietnam into generations of pain.... enslave those reintroduced to the chains of a neo-feudal system....
Plenty of jobs for slaves who will die young, but not before they reproduce, while we wait for the robot-servants to emerge to massage the vulgar humanoids of greed and mendacity....
Ivanka.... so, so pretty.... but only fools are blinded by the surface..... stumpy counts on fools for his wealth and his power....
She's just another of his tools..... poor child....
It means kill the Indians for their land..... bomb Vietnam into generations of pain.... enslave those reintroduced to the chains of a neo-feudal system....
Plenty of jobs for slaves who will die young, but not before they reproduce, while we wait for the robot-servants to emerge to massage the vulgar humanoids of greed and mendacity....
Ivanka.... so, so pretty.... but only fools are blinded by the surface..... stumpy counts on fools for his wealth and his power....
She's just another of his tools..... poor child....
3
This is getting way out of hand! congressional republicans need to be stopped now! They're so high on their own kool aid they are ignoring facts, mathematics, common sense, and their predominately Christian morals!
I consider this faux health care bill attempted murder, plain & simple. They KNOW what is going to happen to many of us & they just don't care. Some of the more brazen ones attacked Kimmel on twitter over his comments regarding his newborn son's heart condition and insurance coverage. What kind of evil and disgusting person slams someone who's just gone through an ordeal like that? Why a congressional republican of course!
These people pledge their allegiance to the wealthy, not the our flag or anything it stands for.
It only took republicans 8 years to initiate 2 wars (1 illegitimate) costing thousands of American lives and billions (if not trillions) of dollars and simultaneously blow up our economy causing millions of Americans to lose their jobs and homes. Then they had the audacity to pledge to thwart Obama before he even took office culminating in denying him a SCOTUS pick. They gerrymandered themselves into office forever & gave us Citizen's United. They want you to think they aren't slimy white nationalist, misogynistic beasts. But, their support of a lying, cheating Russian/Putin loving snake oil salesman who'd throw his own mother under a bus is proof positive of who and what they really are. It's not Hillary who needs to be locked up! Any questions?
I consider this faux health care bill attempted murder, plain & simple. They KNOW what is going to happen to many of us & they just don't care. Some of the more brazen ones attacked Kimmel on twitter over his comments regarding his newborn son's heart condition and insurance coverage. What kind of evil and disgusting person slams someone who's just gone through an ordeal like that? Why a congressional republican of course!
These people pledge their allegiance to the wealthy, not the our flag or anything it stands for.
It only took republicans 8 years to initiate 2 wars (1 illegitimate) costing thousands of American lives and billions (if not trillions) of dollars and simultaneously blow up our economy causing millions of Americans to lose their jobs and homes. Then they had the audacity to pledge to thwart Obama before he even took office culminating in denying him a SCOTUS pick. They gerrymandered themselves into office forever & gave us Citizen's United. They want you to think they aren't slimy white nationalist, misogynistic beasts. But, their support of a lying, cheating Russian/Putin loving snake oil salesman who'd throw his own mother under a bus is proof positive of who and what they really are. It's not Hillary who needs to be locked up! Any questions?
2
The Republican 'brand' will forever be tarnished , if the House GOP manages to pass this bill to appease their POTUS- who is the worst polling POTUS ever ! the rats are following their Monstrous Pied Piper down to the dungeons..... the Republican brand is forever tarnished!!!!
2
Do you mind,if I label a lot of American's as idiots.Like their "dear leader" who is "idiot" number one. And clinically insane to boot! Universal Health Care occurs in every other Western industrialized country---dah! It doesn't take a "rocket scientist" to realize that it is a tremendous benefit to "all" of those people! Myself,I am a three year cancer survivor. Many tests--MRI'S---CAT-SCANS--X-RAYS and BLOOD WORK. 4 operations---over 2 months in hospital.My bill,at the end of all that medical care----A BIG FAT ZERO.IN AMERICA I WOULD BE BANKRUPT AND DEAD! IDIOTS!!!!!!!!
3
Let us hope passage of this monstrosity will hang a heavy weight about the necks of every Republican who has worked to pass it and those who vote for it.
They need to be reminded of this every day between now and the midterms.
They need to be reminded of this every day between now and the midterms.
4
Fine....pass it and then the Republicans and Trump can kiss their re-election bids good-bye.
3
Sarah Palin, bless her heart, got it right: there will be 'death panels' under Trumpcare. And, it will not be pretty.
3
I have to recommend this just because you use that wonderful Southern expression, "bless her heart."
1
Handy Checklist for House members to confirm trump*CARE's quality before voting "yes" on it. These come from Mr. Trump who surely knows trump*CARE's intricacies, right?
_____trump*CARE covers EVERYONE!
_____trump*CARE "will cost a fraction of what the ACA costs"
_____trump*CARE will cover all pre-existing conditions
_____trump*CARE isn't just a cash grab for the rich
_____trump*CARE demonstrates that the House GOP actually cares
about their poor and minority constituents.
_____trump*CARE isn't just a vendetta against Obama.
Till a House member can answer "yes" to all six, trump*CARE isn't a reform in health care, which America now approves of more than Congress and no vote is necessary.
*Don't
_____trump*CARE covers EVERYONE!
_____trump*CARE "will cost a fraction of what the ACA costs"
_____trump*CARE will cover all pre-existing conditions
_____trump*CARE isn't just a cash grab for the rich
_____trump*CARE demonstrates that the House GOP actually cares
about their poor and minority constituents.
_____trump*CARE isn't just a vendetta against Obama.
Till a House member can answer "yes" to all six, trump*CARE isn't a reform in health care, which America now approves of more than Congress and no vote is necessary.
*Don't
3
Rise up all you who voted for this man who will take your Healthcare away from you..........dont you get it you have been bamboozled by the Hollywood image of
Trump...why in Gods name would people in Middle America vote for someone who has never gone to Church.....been married Multilpe times cheated the Government and doesn't give a hoot about the Poor who need their Healthcare.
He is pocketing Millions daily with the name brand he pushes, for his Hiers..what an ego trip.......
Trump...why in Gods name would people in Middle America vote for someone who has never gone to Church.....been married Multilpe times cheated the Government and doesn't give a hoot about the Poor who need their Healthcare.
He is pocketing Millions daily with the name brand he pushes, for his Hiers..what an ego trip.......
2
This pretty much sums up the difference between the new GOP on healthcare and the rest of us (including many Republicans). Their ruse of a bill should be called TheyDon'tCare.
2
I am horrified but not surprised at how this has played out. My OWN representative, Mr. Fred Upton, played the media like fools. Just two days ago, he stood up on the floor of the House and stated his opposition to the legislation, due to his heartfelt concerns about preexisting conditions. Strangely, he faced no backlash from his party leadership. They seemed happy with his little speech. I wonder why? Could it be because it was all a game? SO concerned that he offers a pittance the very next day, the Washington Post declares him to be "influential," he gets invited to the White House to get more attention for himself, and then betrays his voters as well as the rest of America with his flip to a YES vote. We in west Michigan could see this coming a mile away. Mr Upton is all about power and this legislation is all about wins over policy. The Republican Party has become the party of "we don't give a damn." And MY representative OWNS this legislation. Too bad our local newspaper refuses to publish letters to the editor that talk about national politics. We have no local voice to express our frustration.
3
Health care isn't a issue of the Right or the Left. It isn't a problem of Republicans or Democrats. It is a basic human need and, compared to the rest of the world, we continue to come up with "solutions" that leave us in the Stone Age. The only sensible thing I can recall anyone saying over the past 9 years is that we just need to keep lowering the Medicare eligibility age until everyone is on it. I have been a nurse for 40 years. I don't give a damn about insurance executives or orthopedic surgeons making less money, and I object to pussyfooting around these real reasons why we haven't implemented this solution.
4
It seems clear that there are three goals of the Republican House with respect to passage of a healthcare bill:
1. Claim victory in "repealing and replacing" (although in reality only "changing") the ACA.
2. Provide tax breaks to wealthy individuals and businesses.
3. Make the consequences to the healthcare market and individual citizens the responsibility of the states. I.e., not themselves.
Notably absent is any demonstrated concern to improve healthcare overall in the United States. As they will very likely pass the bill today without any knowledge of the consequences (no CBO or other analysis will be performed before the vote), they may succeed in these goals, provided the yet to play out Senate action leaves the bill fundamentally intact.
1. Claim victory in "repealing and replacing" (although in reality only "changing") the ACA.
2. Provide tax breaks to wealthy individuals and businesses.
3. Make the consequences to the healthcare market and individual citizens the responsibility of the states. I.e., not themselves.
Notably absent is any demonstrated concern to improve healthcare overall in the United States. As they will very likely pass the bill today without any knowledge of the consequences (no CBO or other analysis will be performed before the vote), they may succeed in these goals, provided the yet to play out Senate action leaves the bill fundamentally intact.
2
The Congressional house passing the health care bill illustrates our disconnected government. It illuminates their need for short-term partisan victories and obscures the purpose of their positions.
These are American elected representative voting on legislation that was published less than 48 hours ago, remains un-scored by the CBO and has not been examined by those most impacted.
WHY?
When will representatives actually represent their constituents?
When will they begin protecting the people and not their positions?
This style of governing only frustrates the population and continues to disenfranchise the voters.
These are American elected representative voting on legislation that was published less than 48 hours ago, remains un-scored by the CBO and has not been examined by those most impacted.
WHY?
When will representatives actually represent their constituents?
When will they begin protecting the people and not their positions?
This style of governing only frustrates the population and continues to disenfranchise the voters.
5
The health care debacle in the U.S. reminds me of what Winston Churchill famously may or may not have said: Americans can be trusted to always do the right thing, but only after exhausting all other possibilities. It's time we find the courage and political will in the U.S. to establish health care for all, universal coverage that is, yes indeed, administered by the government, with a 'public option' feature and a single payer designation. Socialism? Demanding that insured citizens pay for the non-insured is socialism. It's time for a public option, and the benefits it will produce.
2
They just lie! The ACA is NOT a government healthcare system. It is just a financing of the same healthcare system and the Republican plan is simply taking the financing away for that same bloated healthcare plan for their first tier tax cut for the wealthy. Period. Do not be confused.
3
Republicans representatives think individuals have not rights under the social contract, only for follow the rules of the society we have the right to health care, education, and liberty to live in peace with others. If robots are able yo make the things necessary for the humanity what excuse they will have to catalog as denigrate the society pay for the minimum each individual need to live with dignity.
2
The Trump/Ryan Plan, if it gets through the House would still have to get through the Senate, would cooler heads prevail?
In any case, the extreme irony, seeming lost on the poor, working and middle-class Trump supporters, especially in the red states is that these are the people who would be hurt most, though none of us would be untouched.
In the event of it's passage, I suspect Trump and the G.O.P. would find a way to blame it's damage on President Obama or the Clinton family and the Trump base would believe it! (We've seen this again and again.)
Call it willingful blindness, call it cognitive dissonance, call it "The Uneducated" or call it what you will, in the long run, this is the more serious problem with long term ramifications the worst being the dissolution of the U.S. as a democratic republic. I shudder to think that this is the direction the U.S. will take in the 21st century.
In any case, the extreme irony, seeming lost on the poor, working and middle-class Trump supporters, especially in the red states is that these are the people who would be hurt most, though none of us would be untouched.
In the event of it's passage, I suspect Trump and the G.O.P. would find a way to blame it's damage on President Obama or the Clinton family and the Trump base would believe it! (We've seen this again and again.)
Call it willingful blindness, call it cognitive dissonance, call it "The Uneducated" or call it what you will, in the long run, this is the more serious problem with long term ramifications the worst being the dissolution of the U.S. as a democratic republic. I shudder to think that this is the direction the U.S. will take in the 21st century.
2
Preexisting conditions are NOT rare, unusual, or a special circumstance. Preexisting conditions are an ordinary part of life and become inevitable as we age. To propose a “special fund” to care for these regular events is deceitful and ensures added inconvenience, obstacles to access, and is disruptive to the ordinary flow of medical care. It means added bureaucracy, inevitable delay, and represents one more attempt by this Republican congress to shift wealth to themselves and disempower the rest of us. Reject this sham proposal, borne of political pathology and designed to be destructive.
4
The Republican Party is well funded, ruthless and destructive.
The Republican Party has put the lives of our children in the hands
of the National Rifle Association since the 1960's.
The Republican Party wants to force your teenage daughter to have
an unwanted baby - one million per year in the U.S.
The Republican Party caused the U.S. Economic Collapse.
The Republican Party is well funded, ruthless and destructive.
The Republican Party has put the lives of our children in the hands
of the National Rifle Association since the 1960's.
The Republican Party wants to force your teenage daughter to have
an unwanted baby - one million per year in the U.S.
The Republican Party caused the U.S. Economic Collapse.
The Republican Party is well funded, ruthless and destructive.
Calls to congress could have helped
but liberal pundits wasted time talking about weird trump tweets
(why do we still pay attn to trump tweets ? all they do is distract us; it is impossible to tell if the tweets have any basis in reality, so they should be ignored)
far as i can tell, the liberal media bears some blame here
but liberal pundits wasted time talking about weird trump tweets
(why do we still pay attn to trump tweets ? all they do is distract us; it is impossible to tell if the tweets have any basis in reality, so they should be ignored)
far as i can tell, the liberal media bears some blame here
1
The corporate owned media is not liberal. They lean the way those who fund them lean, and more and more, that comes from the right.
The GOP healthcare bill will introduce everything that the GOP cried would happen with the ACA/ Death panels, higher premiums, less people insured and higher costs for all as people go back to using Emergency Rooms instead of wellness visits to their PCP. $8 million is a paltry addition to offset all those who will be left uninsured, or are high risk patients when 24 million could be left without viable, affordable health insurance. It is nothing more than smoke and mirrors to line the pockets of the rich and cut the healthcare of those who need it most; and to say that the GOP were able to repeal the ACA and "beat Obama." It is shameful, petty, and above all heartless.
2
This bill is proof that the GOP is not pro-life. They are just pro-birth.
1
It also puts the lie to their repeated reverence for "Christian values."
Too bad Dante isn't here to add another circle of hell just for these disgusting, hypocritical people.
Many Americans will die because of what these people vote to do today. We will all know someone who will be directly impacted by this. Let's remember that in 2018 and beyond.
Too bad Dante isn't here to add another circle of hell just for these disgusting, hypocritical people.
Many Americans will die because of what these people vote to do today. We will all know someone who will be directly impacted by this. Let's remember that in 2018 and beyond.
1
“Most low-income people aren’t willing or able to pay much for health insurance,”
Since able-bodied low-income people have chosen that lifestyle they should follow the rule: You make your bed, you lie in it. To have others subsidize their healthcare is immoral, especially when middle-class families are struggling to make ends meet themselves. Tax dollars should be used for productive policies not reinforcing negative life choices.
Since able-bodied low-income people have chosen that lifestyle they should follow the rule: You make your bed, you lie in it. To have others subsidize their healthcare is immoral, especially when middle-class families are struggling to make ends meet themselves. Tax dollars should be used for productive policies not reinforcing negative life choices.
Do the House Republicans know what they are doing as the rush lemmning-like to end Obamacare and replace it with Trumpcare? Their eight (8) year hissy fit over Obama's presidency and desire to eradicate all traces has them in a corner when it comes to their governing. Do they realize that drastically reducing healthcare coverage for millions of American voters will result in a political backlash in the 2018 mid-term elections and the end of their political careers.
Political payback is a cruel mistress with no tolerance for abusive legislators passing punitive laws that destroy lives.
Political payback is a cruel mistress with no tolerance for abusive legislators passing punitive laws that destroy lives.
2
Sad to say, there will be no backlash in the 2018 election. Science has not yet discovered an anti-stupidity drug.
1
I hope the Trump supporters who feel they have been left behind are paying attention, because it's happening again, this time engineered by their hero and a craven republican-led congress. All hope is gone folks, and you did it to yourselves. You can't blame Obama for this one, nor Hillary Clinton, nor the Democrats. You and they own it. Have a nice day.
3
Pointing out how catastrophic this will be to millions of people has absolutely no effect on these Republicans and their hard-core followers. They actually want this country to become a more dog-eat-dog, desperate kind of place. They think that kind of "competition" would be good and they would be fine with all those "losers" dying if they can't keep up. Those terrible consequences are their intention. We have to stop trying to pretend they are normal compassionate human beings and just defeat them any way we can.
21
Through all the endless ACA repeals over the years I have never stopped wondering why the right has no appetite to work with the left to repair or make it better. In a nutshell the ACA is OBAMA CARE. The word OBAMA for the right is the eight hundred pound gorilla in the room. Never mind that health care next to air, water and food is probably the most important need for all people. Virtually everyone will be in need of it at some time or other. Some earlier, some in later life. Trump and the right are doing everything they can to maximize gains for the rich at the expense of everyone else's health.
The right in essence are forcing the lower classes into an either or situation that will ultimately result in a lower quality and shortened life span for them. These are disgraceful and disgusting people who seem to have no ability to put compassion before profits. They are akin to ruthless despots with no regard for anything but power and wealth.
The right in essence are forcing the lower classes into an either or situation that will ultimately result in a lower quality and shortened life span for them. These are disgraceful and disgusting people who seem to have no ability to put compassion before profits. They are akin to ruthless despots with no regard for anything but power and wealth.
14
The conservative con game is hitting the wall. One can lie only that much....
But you don't understand. The rich get tax cuts, isn't that the most important thing?
13
Are the Republicans capable to doing any thing right in favor of the public or they just want the public to vote for them.
7
The Republican pathos has completely taken over its host, the people. "The pathogen toxoplasma gondii spends part of its life in a cat’s gut, then spreads to mice via cat droppings. It invades their brains and causes them to behave fearlessly towards cats – quickly returning the parasite to a cat’s gut and completing its life cycle." Debora Mackenzie, New Scientist.
Gondii of the People now controls the White House, the Senate, the House of Representatives, the Supreme Court, the state legislatures, the governorships, the healthcare system, the economy and most of the media.
Its frightening to see the American people running to their deaths.
Gondii of the People now controls the White House, the Senate, the House of Representatives, the Supreme Court, the state legislatures, the governorships, the healthcare system, the economy and most of the media.
Its frightening to see the American people running to their deaths.
8
I hope that some Democratic Representative reads the summary of the Massachusetts study into the Congressional Record.
The "rush to vote" Republicans must be held accountable for killing their fellow Americans with their right wing ideology.
The "rush to vote" Republicans must be held accountable for killing their fellow Americans with their right wing ideology.
11
I wish there was a newspaper that would provide a point-by-point comparison of the most recent Republican plan with Obamacare. Is that too much to ask?
4
The NYT has exactly that. I read it last night and was exactly the kind of detailed, important information the media should (but rarely does) provide. Probably best to search the health section. It has an accompanying bar graph graphic which might help you find it.
4
It's on the darn front page of the Times today, and has been printed regularly. With updates. And footnotes.
1
I do not get the hard, paper version of the NYT, but rather the electronic version. It seems that stories which appear in the paper version sometimes appear later in the electronic version, or are perhaps well camouflaged. But thank you for pointing out where I could look to re-review. It seems like the Republican version of this Trumpcare bill changes minute to minute.
Trumpcare will result in 20+Million Americans losing their healthcare.
To what purpose?
Funding a windfall tax break for millionaires and billionaires.
The Republicans who will vote for this abomination are beyond despicable,
starting with Speaker Ryan.
To what purpose?
Funding a windfall tax break for millionaires and billionaires.
The Republicans who will vote for this abomination are beyond despicable,
starting with Speaker Ryan.
11
This is repeal of Obama care with no real replacement. This bill is the system we had before.
Political theater is political theater. All of this is designed to give the SCP a "win" and then to be able to gin up the case that the "Democrat" party is to blame for "blocking" the SCP.
4
Please understand that emergency-room care is NOT free. Hospitals cannot refuse to provide emergency medical care, but they make every attempt to collect for that care. And the price charged may be higher than that for insured patients. Hospitals may even sue people with incomes of less than $25,000 per year and threaten families with financial ruin. For details on this issue, see http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/07/opinion/carroll-emergency-rooms/ and http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/25/business/debt-collector-is-faulted-for...
9
Trouble is in the end Hospitals raise costs to make up the shortfall because a percentage of people don't pay their bill. In the end people who have insurance get higher premiums.
2
I would like to see the media grill the GOP bent on passing this bill on their understanding of insurance and the spread of risk via community pricing. It is untenable that the supporters of this bill aim to segregate the healthy from the sick for the very purpose of NOT spreading the risk and premiums. Imagine applying this logic to education: low IQ --> no schooling, high IQ --> private school and guaranteed higher education.
It is the GOP outlook that is a primary driver of the divisiveness in the country. They want to divide on race, color, ethnicity, wealth, and now health status.
It is the GOP outlook that is a primary driver of the divisiveness in the country. They want to divide on race, color, ethnicity, wealth, and now health status.
6
Billy Long should be ashamed of himself. He's selling out on this issue, which is extremely important to constituents in his 7th district. I would hope that if this insane version of a health "care" bill ever becomes law that he would be turned out roundly next year.
3
Seriously, name one social program that the Republicans have improved.
6
Healthcare & education are not market commodities. In a market, where the only value is can one person afford to pay for what another is selling, you have a perfectly amoral system. For selling cars, it works because both supply & demand are elastic. If you don't like this year's prices, you can walk away & get a few more years out of your current car - or buy a used one.
Healthcare, education, and other essential services are inelastic. Demand is ALWAYS there because it is a "need," rather than just a "want." Turning human essentials into mere market commodities devalues our higher human values and reduces everything to something to make money from. "Free" market economists tell us that the market is the most utilitarian way to distribute goods & services based on willingness of consumers to pay for them. It ignores the ability to pay for them in its calculus, & that is its fatal flaw when you extend it beyond buying & selling widgets. Economic magazines after every disaster denounce price-gouging laws & say, if you want to sell a bottle of water for $200.00 & somebody is willing (and able) to pay that much, "the market has set the value."
The Right wants to replace democratic values with market values in every area of life (the Cato institute calls this right-wing libertarianism "anarcho-capitalism"). In Russia, capitalism replaced Marxism. In the US, capitalism is replacing democracy.
My one question to those who believe this: "How much does it cost to buy a friend?"
Healthcare, education, and other essential services are inelastic. Demand is ALWAYS there because it is a "need," rather than just a "want." Turning human essentials into mere market commodities devalues our higher human values and reduces everything to something to make money from. "Free" market economists tell us that the market is the most utilitarian way to distribute goods & services based on willingness of consumers to pay for them. It ignores the ability to pay for them in its calculus, & that is its fatal flaw when you extend it beyond buying & selling widgets. Economic magazines after every disaster denounce price-gouging laws & say, if you want to sell a bottle of water for $200.00 & somebody is willing (and able) to pay that much, "the market has set the value."
The Right wants to replace democratic values with market values in every area of life (the Cato institute calls this right-wing libertarianism "anarcho-capitalism"). In Russia, capitalism replaced Marxism. In the US, capitalism is replacing democracy.
My one question to those who believe this: "How much does it cost to buy a friend?"
198
This is a very insightful comment. Allow me to take it one step further: when you put my body on the market, what do you call that? Prostitution? Slavery? My body is not for sale.
Obviously money has to be involved in health care because the people who provide it deserve to make a living (and deserve to more than most of us). The facilities and therapies have to be paid for. But this is not a "market". It's a different aspect of the economy, the part that we support in order to be a community and a nation instead of a bunch of squabbling, warring individuals fighting over resources.
Obviously money has to be involved in health care because the people who provide it deserve to make a living (and deserve to more than most of us). The facilities and therapies have to be paid for. But this is not a "market". It's a different aspect of the economy, the part that we support in order to be a community and a nation instead of a bunch of squabbling, warring individuals fighting over resources.
1
Capitalism replaced democracy a long time ago.
The reason that no nation, including the wealthiest can allow markets to set the prices of medical care indefinitely is that demand for medical care is inelastic. Demand for a good or service is inelastic if a percentage increase in price results in a smaller percentage decrease in the quantity demanded. Basic economics tells us that sellers facing inelastic demand will continuously raise prices until prices reach the elastic portion of the demand curve. Consequently in every developed country in the world, all goods or services with inelastic demand have their prices regulated by government. Medical care in the USA being the only exception.
Health care is one of the very few things for which the sellers face inelastic demand. The prices of all other goods and services facing inelastic demand in the USA are regulated by government. Retail electricity service providers face inelastic demand. Consequently, their prices are strictly controlled by all governments worldwide, including the USA.
The inelasticity of retail electricity is obvious. If an electric utility were to triple retail service prices, people might be a little more careful about turning off the lights. Turning off their refrigerators? Watching less television? Not likely. Thus, tripling the price would result in only a small reduction in kilowatt-hours sold. Almost all other goods and services are price elastic. That includes non-medically necessary elective cosmetic..."
http://seekingalpha.com/article/1647632
Health care is one of the very few things for which the sellers face inelastic demand. The prices of all other goods and services facing inelastic demand in the USA are regulated by government. Retail electricity service providers face inelastic demand. Consequently, their prices are strictly controlled by all governments worldwide, including the USA.
The inelasticity of retail electricity is obvious. If an electric utility were to triple retail service prices, people might be a little more careful about turning off the lights. Turning off their refrigerators? Watching less television? Not likely. Thus, tripling the price would result in only a small reduction in kilowatt-hours sold. Almost all other goods and services are price elastic. That includes non-medically necessary elective cosmetic..."
http://seekingalpha.com/article/1647632
1
I'm beginning to feel the blame and guilt for my disability again.
2
A Republicsn rep, I didn't catch his name, was giving an interview where he was describing people who are currently not sick as doing things right, doing the right things to stay healthy. Like good people are healthy and bad people get sick.
Do Republican really believe this? Or is this just marketing to troglodytes?
Do Republican really believe this? Or is this just marketing to troglodytes?
3
How do they use this type of justification when it comes to children? Did all of those babies born with birth defects make "wrong decisions" in utero?
It's because they're rich and perfect. Didn't you know that? They have so much to teach us about being healthy. Just be rich and you'll be ok.
That congressman was Mo Brooks of Alabama. Like so many in the GOP, a paragon of wisdom and empathy.
They don't have the guts to pass a Public Option and we knew all along that this Congress cares more for insurance companies than the American people and now we know how much they care - $8B - enough to keep maybe half a dozen hospitals running in the whole Country.
1
As a physician with a health policy background, I have been developing greater and greater rage at the Republican and other forces that would savage the highly conservative and very modest Affordable Care Act.
Our country spent 3.205 trillion dollars on health care in 2015. That is more than the next ten countries combined. It is 47% of what the world spends on health care.
Everyone agrees that we waste one trillion dollars per year on health care. This one trillion dollars are nothing more than pure waste. Both the left and the right agree on this.
In this light, 8 billion dollars is pocket change. It is nothing more than a loin cloth for the Republicans to hide behind as they savage the nation.
In 2010 we spent thirty billion dollars on drug advertising. It is undoubtedly more now.
The Republican Congress is nothing more than first class passengers on the Titanic shouting at the rest of us from their lifeboats: You can do it.
I vow to do everything to boot these self serving beneficiaries of tax paid Cadillac insurance plans out of office in 2018, 2020, and 2022 as long as I am alive.
Bohdan A Oryshkevich, MD, MPH
Our country spent 3.205 trillion dollars on health care in 2015. That is more than the next ten countries combined. It is 47% of what the world spends on health care.
Everyone agrees that we waste one trillion dollars per year on health care. This one trillion dollars are nothing more than pure waste. Both the left and the right agree on this.
In this light, 8 billion dollars is pocket change. It is nothing more than a loin cloth for the Republicans to hide behind as they savage the nation.
In 2010 we spent thirty billion dollars on drug advertising. It is undoubtedly more now.
The Republican Congress is nothing more than first class passengers on the Titanic shouting at the rest of us from their lifeboats: You can do it.
I vow to do everything to boot these self serving beneficiaries of tax paid Cadillac insurance plans out of office in 2018, 2020, and 2022 as long as I am alive.
Bohdan A Oryshkevich, MD, MPH
12
Please do, and get everyone you know to do so as well. If ever there were a need for turnaround, this is is.
1
Yes. I would add Democrats made this vote possible by not standing behind their own legislation in 2014. Obamacare ' good as it is, is too complicated for too many voters. They heard ”affordable" and though their premiums and co-pays and deductibles would go down. When they didn't, they elected Trump, who promised his replacement would be much better and much cheaper. Alas, all that glitters is not gold.
This is the moment for universal healthcare in the form of Medicare for All. Democrats should be saying: You don't like Trumpcare? Think insurance is too complicated, too expensive, too restrictive? Know anyone on Medicare who'd rather have private insurance?
HR 676 has 62 co-sponsors. If it had 4 times as many, it would be law.
This is the moment for universal healthcare in the form of Medicare for All. Democrats should be saying: You don't like Trumpcare? Think insurance is too complicated, too expensive, too restrictive? Know anyone on Medicare who'd rather have private insurance?
HR 676 has 62 co-sponsors. If it had 4 times as many, it would be law.
1
It was 29.9 dollars in 2005 and not in 2010. I was so outraged that I did not want to waste time checking my number. But fact checking is becoming a lost art.
Wow! Charts and graphs and studies and CBO scores, etc. etc. etc.
Isn't everyone tired of talking about this? I know I am.
Shouldn't we just be done and go with single payer?
Isn't everyone tired of talking about this? I know I am.
Shouldn't we just be done and go with single payer?
7
Any way you want to slice and dice it, it's still about getting rid of anything that has President Obama's signature on it. Trump and almost all of the other Republicans in the House and Senate don't care and are not concerned so much about health care as they are to wipe the ACA off the books and bury it 6 feet under. It is very sad their pure hate for President Obama blinds them from any action that is in the interest and common good of so many Americans.
2
You're exactly right. I had the misfortune of hearing a bit of Rush Limbaugh the other day talking to an angry caller. They were enraged over the budget compromise - particularly that the Democrats were claiming victory.
When Rush's inarticulate caller couldn't put words to why he was mad, Rush offered, "we voted for Republican to beat the Democrats, right!"
"Exactly!" came the response.
When Rush's inarticulate caller couldn't put words to why he was mad, Rush offered, "we voted for Republican to beat the Democrats, right!"
"Exactly!" came the response.
A lifelong Republican, I called the office of my Congressman Richard Holden to advise him that if this bill passes I shall never again vote for a Republican. This follows my email of yesterday to his office to state my reasons for being so vehemently against this piece of legislation, no less the underhanded way the leadership is trying to get it passed. So sad, my party of choice is following the lead of the very stupid and fraudster inhabitant of the Oval Office.
I urge others who share this view to do likewise. Writing in this space is fine but expressing one's concerns to those who will vote today is by far the better option. Not that I think my lonely voice will make a difference but at least my voice is heard. I trust that Tammy who took the message when I called his Raleigh office will give it to him.
I urge others who share this view to do likewise. Writing in this space is fine but expressing one's concerns to those who will vote today is by far the better option. Not that I think my lonely voice will make a difference but at least my voice is heard. I trust that Tammy who took the message when I called his Raleigh office will give it to him.
343
I applaud your message. However, I live in California where my leaders share my opinions. My messages to Jackie Speier and Diane Feinstein are usually to thank them for their efforts. I am very proud to live here and probably will retire here even though we have high taxes, as I would fear for my life in many of the low tax states.
1
OldMan, a very good point. I'm in a similar situation - a Republican who could well vote Democratic if this thing passes. The problem with writing in the NYT is that it is perceived to be a liberal anti-Trump, Democratic Party paper and, as a result, the people in power probably don't read it. We need to call our Congressmen directly.
1
Be honest. What has the republican party done in the last 40 years to benefit you or the majority of Americans who don't sign 6 figure checks to their election funds?
1
This fetish for killing Obamacare by the GOP and their willingness to drive a stake into the health care coverage of millions of citizens is SICK. And they're gleeful about it.
GOP motto is "Do Harm."
GOP motto is "Do Harm."
8
It amazes me that the GOP got away with casting Obamacare as the worst thing to happen to this country since slavery. The reversal of that legislation couldn't be clearer in demonstrating that the audacity of Obamacare was to increase the tax burden of the very wealthy. As the GOP-led house pushes a plan that will literally visit hardship (both financial and physical) on millions of American in exchange for relieving the "suffering" of the super rich, it further amazes me that Americans, even some who will be harshly impacted, will cheer their actions.
8
If the day comes that we are willing to deny any human being emergency care, we need to close the doors on this experiment with democracy, apologize for the centuries of fits and starts, and excuse ourselves from planet earth.
5
Ah yes, another piece of good data from a well-crafted study.
If only that mattered to this administration and Congress.
If only that mattered to this administration and Congress.
7
"The only things that can keep it from becoming law — and harming millions of Americans — is the United States Senate."
The odds are long. I agree. This statement might not be entirely true though. Start phone spamming your Congressional Representative. Obviously, some are already voting no and others don't care what you think. However, the Republican margin for victory is already thin and an overloaded phone bank sends a very clear message. They won't give voters the courtesy of a town hall so tie up their office staff with your opinion instead. With effort, you might just instill enough fear of voter retaliation to change some minds.
The odds are long. I agree. This statement might not be entirely true though. Start phone spamming your Congressional Representative. Obviously, some are already voting no and others don't care what you think. However, the Republican margin for victory is already thin and an overloaded phone bank sends a very clear message. They won't give voters the courtesy of a town hall so tie up their office staff with your opinion instead. With effort, you might just instill enough fear of voter retaliation to change some minds.
4
Passing this bill to give this bumbling fool of a President a win is ludicrous at best. Frankly after reading this article, it is high time to get the politics out of health care and remove it from the for-profit sector. We need a National health care plan. If wealthy Republicans and Democrats want to purchase concierge plans for high end health care, fine make that available.
7
The question that must be asked in every story and interview regarding health care changes - will a person with health insurance, again be in a position to go bankrupt to pay for health care bills or not?
3
Health care should be available to all of our citizens at an affordable cost. It is in our national interest.
Who are these people who think otherwise? What will members of Congress tell the voters back home about why they worked against the common sense needs of each and every family?
A political victory? To what benefit? So a person can keep their membership in some kind of Washington club? Who cares. Really.
Who are these people who think otherwise? What will members of Congress tell the voters back home about why they worked against the common sense needs of each and every family?
A political victory? To what benefit? So a person can keep their membership in some kind of Washington club? Who cares. Really.
3
For Republicans, "winning" seems to require an all or none, scorched-earth result. I have seen several House Republicans interviewed recently and their "talking point" is that they ran on ACA repeal and therefore intend to do so. They didn't seem to care when President Obama won two majorities and don't seem to care that Hillary Clinton got more votes than their candidate.....they claim the mandate to wreck the ACA. It is beginning to look like any and all Republican "wins" will leave the "battlefield" littered with countless real victims of their cruelty and rage! But they have to "WIN" no matter the cost.
5
The mailbox for my Representative is full, and waiting to leave a message for another leads to a disconnect. Republicans wish to avoid the anger of their constituents that might derail the new disaster called AHCA.
6
Obamacare is failing largely because of the high overhead and profit margins of the FOR-PROFIT health insurance industry. The solution is to eliminate the parasitic insurance industry middlemen and move to a single payer system.
Removing the mandates of Obamacare (pre-existing coverage etc) and returning more control to the insurance companies who are beholden to their shareholder profits and not the welfare of patients defies logic. The usual Republican retort of who do you want controlling your healthcare - your doctor or the government is nonsensical. The real choice is between the for-profit insurance industry who serve their bottom line or the government whose sole obligation is to the welfare of the population.
Removing the mandates of Obamacare (pre-existing coverage etc) and returning more control to the insurance companies who are beholden to their shareholder profits and not the welfare of patients defies logic. The usual Republican retort of who do you want controlling your healthcare - your doctor or the government is nonsensical. The real choice is between the for-profit insurance industry who serve their bottom line or the government whose sole obligation is to the welfare of the population.
8
Americans need to rethink how they define "personal responsibility."
To a lot of Republicans and Republican-minded Americans accepting responsibility means taking responsibility for yourself and assuming no responsibility for others as they are expected to take responsibility for themselves as well.
To Democrats and other like-thinking Americans, accepting responsibility means taking responsibility not only for oneself but for others too. The Democratic standard is not only a much more demanding one, but one more aligned with traditional religious values.
As a people we need to decide whether we believe in taking responsibility for others or for ourselves only. That ultimately is the distinction between Republicans and Democrats and between Republican health care and Democratic.
To a lot of Republicans and Republican-minded Americans accepting responsibility means taking responsibility for yourself and assuming no responsibility for others as they are expected to take responsibility for themselves as well.
To Democrats and other like-thinking Americans, accepting responsibility means taking responsibility not only for oneself but for others too. The Democratic standard is not only a much more demanding one, but one more aligned with traditional religious values.
As a people we need to decide whether we believe in taking responsibility for others or for ourselves only. That ultimately is the distinction between Republicans and Democrats and between Republican health care and Democratic.
7
Unfortunately, Republicans and their supporters are not friendly with academics. Today, it is easy enough for elected officials to to yell, "liberal academics" while their constituents chant Make America Great Again in the background.
Anti-intellectualism and republican hatred for everything Barack Obama stood for created a polarized congress with little interest in the good of the people.
Anti-intellectualism and republican hatred for everything Barack Obama stood for created a polarized congress with little interest in the good of the people.
5
This is crazy; all these shenanigans just to protect our blessed insurance agencies, protecting profiting off illness. Just give us single-payer already, like the rest of the developed world has!
Or, we can continue to be uniquely dysfunctional--in healthcare, in gun policy, in infrastructure, in our electoral system, etc...
Or, we can continue to be uniquely dysfunctional--in healthcare, in gun policy, in infrastructure, in our electoral system, etc...
Thank you for this intelligent and clearly written piece that gives more useful information than the flurry of rather shallow political analyses, even in the NYT, that have come out in recent weeks. And, fittingly, the information is from academics whose primary training is in thinking clearly (remember that?).
So it's clear the losers under this Trumped up bill will be the economically and medically vulnerable among us. Let's have an analysis of who are winners will be. I think I can guess, but let's say it out loud, again and again.
So it's clear the losers under this Trumped up bill will be the economically and medically vulnerable among us. Let's have an analysis of who are winners will be. I think I can guess, but let's say it out loud, again and again.
3
When Obamacare was first voted on, no one commenting here had a clue as to what it actually meant, as Speaker Pelosi so immortally intoned, "We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it".
I do not for a minute think that anyone commenting here has any idea what Trump's healthcare bill will really entail.
But that never stopped the left from being sure they know what is best for the rest of us.
I do not for a minute think that anyone commenting here has any idea what Trump's healthcare bill will really entail.
But that never stopped the left from being sure they know what is best for the rest of us.
When poor and sick people don't have insurance, they go to emergency rooms for help, and end up costing all the rest of us a LOT more. Remember, republicans? It is not rocket science. Everyone has to be insured, end of story.
6
Americans are about to get the most delicious piece of chocolate cake. Believe me.
6
Health Care isn't a nicety it is a necessity. The current health care plan being proposed by Congress conveys how powerfully the many of the people we have elected to represent us are being driven by immorality and greed. I remain disgusted by the heinous lack of moral character of many of our political leaders. It is time for American Citizens of all communities and cultures to raise their voices and let their Congressional Representatives know that WE THE PEOPLE will not stand for this. It is a travesty that WE THE PEOPLE will not accept. And every one who has a family member or neighbor who is dealing with diabetes, cancer, autism, epilepsy, asthma or mental illness better stop and take the time to reflect upon how this bill will impact their lives or the lives of human beings they love. We may currently have politicians in office who are behaving like spoiled insensitive tyrants BUT we do not have to tolerate this behavior. We need to clearly communicate that WE WILL NOT TOLERATE THIS BEHAVIOR.
5
One thing that becomes increasingly obvious in this debate is the absence of a real alternative. The ACA is a badly flawed, market based for profit system. It's main virtue is that it is better than the GOP alternatives.
But how do both of these plans compare to Medicare for All? We don't really know because the Democrats won't support that option. So the GOP plan is a blatate tool to pay for tax cuts for the rich. But the ACA is a plan designed to funnel enormous profits to insurance companies, drug companies and a host of for profit medical providers.
What is left out of both plans is the welfare of the American people. There is a reason why no other industrialized nation in the world uses either of these approaches. This debate is one more example of how failed our democracy has become.
I guess no one will listen to us until instead of showing up at the ER we wheel our sick and dying into or local congressional office, where we will promptly be thrown out and arrested.
But how do both of these plans compare to Medicare for All? We don't really know because the Democrats won't support that option. So the GOP plan is a blatate tool to pay for tax cuts for the rich. But the ACA is a plan designed to funnel enormous profits to insurance companies, drug companies and a host of for profit medical providers.
What is left out of both plans is the welfare of the American people. There is a reason why no other industrialized nation in the world uses either of these approaches. This debate is one more example of how failed our democracy has become.
I guess no one will listen to us until instead of showing up at the ER we wheel our sick and dying into or local congressional office, where we will promptly be thrown out and arrested.
1
It is so painful to watch this "debate" on how to solve the healthcare insurance "problem" when most modern countries have already figured out the best way. There are examples of nicely functioning wheels all around our politicians, yet they are debating how to pull a wagon smoothly on four square boxes.
If we want affordable health care for everyone then we need to cut out the middlemen (insurance companies) and make sure everyone pays according to their ability into the pool (yes, taxes). Those two things are required or no plan will work well. No one gets the "freedom" to opt out just like no one gets the "freedom" to opt out of paying for roads, national parks, public schools, wars, or Ivanka's skiing adventures.
When one considers the evidence in front of us the only conclusion is that the Republican politicians are either the most intellectually stunted people on the planet or they are just plain nasty and don't mind hurting people.
If we want affordable health care for everyone then we need to cut out the middlemen (insurance companies) and make sure everyone pays according to their ability into the pool (yes, taxes). Those two things are required or no plan will work well. No one gets the "freedom" to opt out just like no one gets the "freedom" to opt out of paying for roads, national parks, public schools, wars, or Ivanka's skiing adventures.
When one considers the evidence in front of us the only conclusion is that the Republican politicians are either the most intellectually stunted people on the planet or they are just plain nasty and don't mind hurting people.
5
If the Trump/Ryan/Meadows Do Not Care About Your Health Bill passes, I hope the voters remember the Republican House Members who cast their votes to deny coverage to millions and ,in particular, imperil millions of people with pre-existing conditions when they run for re-election in 2018. The vote is being taken before the Bill has been scored because the republicans know that if the public had the opportunity to learn about its many flaws it would not pass. But what is most egregious is that this vote is being taken to help Trump/Ryan/Meadows save face. Apparently, saving face is more important to the Republicans than our health care coverage.
3
After five decades as a physician-scientist watching political figures so often ignore facts in favor of fantasy, you insistence on bringing facts and good science back into the chaos of health care is a welcome breath of fresh air.
I suppose we should all just be "persistent" and "keep working" as two current political figures have reminded us. But, as you point out, the numbers are available to tell us just how much human tragedy is embedded in the withdrawal of health care from so many families.
Thank you.
I suppose we should all just be "persistent" and "keep working" as two current political figures have reminded us. But, as you point out, the numbers are available to tell us just how much human tragedy is embedded in the withdrawal of health care from so many families.
Thank you.
6
Given rising life expectancy, declining birth rates and health costs that are increasing 2-4 times fater than inflation, there is no way private health insurers can survive. Let's go to a single payer system like most or al countries that have better health statistics than us have once and for all. There is absolutly no other alternative.
5
I believe this article errs in suggesting that hospital emergency rooms act as free health clinics. They do not. Anyone who goes to an emergency room must be treated whether or not they can pay. But the indigent patient still gets billed. Patients who can't pay file bankruptcy, which pushes the costs on to others and puts a drag on the economy.
I work as a bankruptcy legal assistant. Last year, I filed a case for a couple whose baby died a few days after birth. They were left with $84,000 in medical bills. Only in America can this happen.
I work as a bankruptcy legal assistant. Last year, I filed a case for a couple whose baby died a few days after birth. They were left with $84,000 in medical bills. Only in America can this happen.
3
The great American tragedy. Our nation, with great ocean buffers could have been a paradise, but we were sold a bill of goods that said we must police the world so corporations can continue to profit. Corporations have no loyalty to any nation. Our people on the other hand, now have health insurance after decades of fighting, and thanks to Obama. Now the GOP want to take it away, or make it unaffordable so CEO's can make millions of people's misfortune. How can anyone continue to believe in a system that marginalized its citizens, while protecting bloated salaries of health insurance CEO's. Truly disgusting and unworthy of our support. The rest of the industrial democracies have already dealt with this issue. When you add to this injustice profiting off of students who are trying to educate themselves, we're ultimately on the way out as a nation worth defending.
2
I managed a guy, a few years back, who insisted I do not give him a raise because that would disqualify him for certain State benefits (stay at home wife, with two little children). It was a shocking reality that a driver of staying underemployed would be how unaffordable it would be to actually make a little more money. This article speaks to that well.
And, the good news is, this guy eventually qualified for a new role/promotion, which gave him a $15K raise, taking him out of the working poor. That said, he and his family still struggle.
And, the good news is, this guy eventually qualified for a new role/promotion, which gave him a $15K raise, taking him out of the working poor. That said, he and his family still struggle.
2
This is quite an informative study. I share this column widely and will make calls to Congress. Unfortunately, facts and data are not playing a role in decision of GOP MoC. Very few actually know what is in the bill, let alone understand it or it's impact. They've abdicated their responsibility abd won't even wait for a CBO score. Restructuring 6% of the economy so they did something is a moral failing.
Passage of this bill is only about those more draconian Reps and their supporters doing as promised - and a much-needed "win" for Drumpfy's ego. Period. This Emperor has no clothes. I wonder if enough people will discover this so that we can save ourselves.
Collecting health insurance premiums through the tax code like Medicare is the fairest way to protect everyone and ensure the CEO and janitor cleaning the office at night have equal access to the medical community. Access to medical care is simply another word for bankruptcy unless a family is wealthy or well-healed. Others simply suffer in silence, out of sight and out of mind of greedy people who believe we're better off alone. Single collection of premiums like Medicare not single payer is the key to protect every American. We provide free, public education to the rich and poor, why not for medical care? Government could let quasi-governmental agencies medical payments with the requirement they accept all applicants and place them in a single risk pool, a system that allows people to see any doctor accepting new patients and be admitted to any medical facility their doctors recommend. We still have time to get it right.
The Republicans are replacing a Yugo with a bicycle with no wheels. All the time, effort and money wasted on Trump 2 should have gone into either fixing the ACA or finding a way to implement single payer.
This bill is a power grab by the Republican Party. There is no Populism in this process since it ignores what folks were saying in town halls across the US. Today is America's "Let Them Eat Cake" moment.
This bill is a power grab by the Republican Party. There is no Populism in this process since it ignores what folks were saying in town halls across the US. Today is America's "Let Them Eat Cake" moment.
1
Much coverage of late has concentrated on the Republican "plan" getting through the House. If passed, focus will be on what the Senate will do with it. However, the ultimate question about whatever comes out of all this jerry-rigged legislative face-saving is how the resulting plan will smell to those many who are affected and, hence, how voters generally will respond. I'm guessing that the response will be largely negative (let's see what kind of numbers scoring produces) and, if so, the plan will become the Democrat's strongest weapon in 2018 and beyond.
Before the ACA I was rejected for health insurance because one time I took an anti-fungal medicine. My sister was rejected because she had breast cancer 15 years previously.
I could not afford a high risk pool in CA and when I moved to WY not only could I not afford it, but there was no longer enrollment in their high risk pool.
Pre-existing doesn't mean necessarily what one might think. Separating 'high risk' people out, which is probably anyone over 40, will not work. And if you are healthy now and then at 30 get breast cancer, will they drop you or raise your rates willy-nilly?
The Republicans are rushing to make themselves look great for repealing the ACA instead of thinking about the people their bill affects. 'Letting the Market forces' dictate cost is what was going on before the ACA. They are fooling no one.
I could not afford a high risk pool in CA and when I moved to WY not only could I not afford it, but there was no longer enrollment in their high risk pool.
Pre-existing doesn't mean necessarily what one might think. Separating 'high risk' people out, which is probably anyone over 40, will not work. And if you are healthy now and then at 30 get breast cancer, will they drop you or raise your rates willy-nilly?
The Republicans are rushing to make themselves look great for repealing the ACA instead of thinking about the people their bill affects. 'Letting the Market forces' dictate cost is what was going on before the ACA. They are fooling no one.
2
Beyond reshaping the individual health insurance market, the version of the Obamacare repeal plan that House Republicans intend to vote on Thursday could have major implications on employer plans and may even make consumers in the large group market vulnerable to a weakening of the current law’s consumer protections, health care experts have suggested.
Karma for the oblivious.
Karma for the oblivious.
"Above all, the bill cuts health benefits for the poor, the middle class, the elderly and the sick, and it funnels the savings to tax cuts for the rich." For Republicans in Congress, that's not a bug, it's a feature.
6
The people who are for this bill have not had to deal with the frustrations most of us are forced to deal with when we or a family member require medical care that is more than a brief visit (and even that can cause problems). There is no reason that any person suffering with a chronic illness should be forced to ration the medication she requires to keep functioning. There is no reason that any patient should be forced to choose between paying for a prescription, a check up, a needed test and for life's other necessities. Other countries see to it that all their citizens and residents can receive medical care and they keep the rest of their country going as well. Only in America and other failing countries do we see medical care as a luxury while we are allowing our infrastructure to fall apart and economic inequality to squander people's chances of improving their lives.
Perhaps the GOP sees health care as a privilege to be earned but other countries do not. Those countries have better outcomes for their populations than America does even for its rich.
Perhaps the GOP sees health care as a privilege to be earned but other countries do not. Those countries have better outcomes for their populations than America does even for its rich.
3
Mr. Trump called the ACA a "disaster," and now republicans are coming up with a health care plan even far worse. The United States remains one of the only advanced industrialized democracies in the world without universal coverage. Republicans do not even want to discuss this option at this critical time. it looks like even some Americans do not want it. I do not understand the reasons. Is it a cultural problem? A survey conducted by the International Social Survey Program found that a lower percentage of Americans believe health care for the sick is a government responsibility than individuals in other advanced countries like Canada, the U.K., Germany or Sweden. Are Americans less compassionate than citizens of those countries? Very sad. It is time for universal health care. We still have 35 million Americans without insurance, we need to join the rest of the industrialized world. We are the only major country on Earth that doesn’t guarantee health care to all people as a right.
11
As a Massachusetts Democrat, I'm grateful that Trump will force our Republican governor to resume the responsibility of Romneycare, since we can then return to a Dukakis era. And we won't need Brexit as an incentive to stay out of our Southern neighbors as they go broke.
11
You forget to throw in the kitchen sink. What about the coal miners and the space program?
And other features of the bill make things even worse than outlined here. Those on employer provided health care will be allowed to opt out of many kinds of care, including preventative care (which also holds costs down by addressing problems when they're easier and cheaper to treat).
This applies, I assume, to Medicare as well, and so American seniors who felt they were covered well now will lose some of their most important cost savings.
This applies, I assume, to Medicare as well, and so American seniors who felt they were covered well now will lose some of their most important cost savings.
He, let's have a legislative victory and call the plan terrific. Plenty of time before people figure that out. In meantime Trump will lie about it as it were no tomorrow.
14
Single payer.
Why is the United States the only industrialized country that can't get it right?
There are a dozen countries that handle their people's needs superbly.
I suggest that we stop the car and ask them for directions.
Why is the United States the only industrialized country that can't get it right?
There are a dozen countries that handle their people's needs superbly.
I suggest that we stop the car and ask them for directions.
38
The TrumpNoCare bill is intended to be cruel and punitive. It strips over 24 million of health insurance to fund tax cuts for the rich. It isn't a coincidence; it wants to teach the poor, sick, elderly, and those with preexisting conditions that their lives matter little. It's not a policy; it's punishment.
19
You give our so-called president too much credit. I would say he is doing this only for his wallet. He's too unintelligent to understand the consequences. No, it's the GOP in congress: Their behavior I would totally concur with your view.
I am both livid and deeply sad at the same time--livid at the Republican party and deeply sad for the millions who will suffer from the implementation of this foolish, greedy and selfish implementation of the Republican philosophy of "each man is out for himself." This isn't about what will happen to me--I am well off enough to afford good health care. It's about what will happen to so many others.
Yes, I'll call my representative one more time this morning (various lists have him "on the line"), but it seems hopeless. Republicans are in power, and they seem to have the vote.
i used to love being American. No longer. I'm ashamed. The country that I once loved has turned into a very, very ugly place.
Yes, I'll call my representative one more time this morning (various lists have him "on the line"), but it seems hopeless. Republicans are in power, and they seem to have the vote.
i used to love being American. No longer. I'm ashamed. The country that I once loved has turned into a very, very ugly place.
50
I feel the same. I no longer understand, respect, or love this country. I hope the knuckle-dragging white men (and women) who voted for trump are the first to suffer. I feel sorry for my children and grandchildren. They don't deserve this.
The only thing cheap about this Trumpcare bill is the shallow political victory for the House Republicans and the President. They can then blame the Democrats and the Senate for its ultimate demise. Once again, they have chosen short-term, hollow goals and agendas rather than true leadership and meaningful action. One thing is certain in the Trump Administration: there are no principles to uphold or promises to keep. This ship is run on blather, ego and misinformation.
13
Another job-killer from Trump. First he froze federal staff hires, then he has left hundreds or more federal positions unfilled, then he proposed to cut the budgets for all socially responsible federal agencies, now he is killing jobs in health care, along with the unfortunate people who will either die or go bankrupt because of it. There is nothing, nothing good about this administration or its Republican enablers. Shame.
23
Trump voters will feel the effects the worst. Rural hospitals are highly dependent on the expansion of Medicaid, and the Republican bill will still slash $880 billion from Medicaid. The expansion helped rural hospitals serve 62 million Americans. http://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/news/hundreds-rural-hospitals-alrea...
In Georgia which did not expand Medicaid, rural hospitals continue to close at an alarming rate. In emergencies such as strokes, there is not always the luxury of driving 20 to 40 miles for medical care.
Sad.
In Georgia which did not expand Medicaid, rural hospitals continue to close at an alarming rate. In emergencies such as strokes, there is not always the luxury of driving 20 to 40 miles for medical care.
Sad.
7
The problem for Republicans who are voting for this new law is that none of them have ever been really poor, and have had to day after day make hard decisions regarding a dwindling supply of money.
We aren't talking about extreme poverty, but just living above poverty is hard, very hard. When you live paycheck to paycheck, life is a continuing series of stresses.
That is probably why so many people we have known who have worked in social service are Democrats. They actually know these folks. And know their hardships.
So Republicans end up being cruel. And this new law is nothing short of cruel.
We aren't talking about extreme poverty, but just living above poverty is hard, very hard. When you live paycheck to paycheck, life is a continuing series of stresses.
That is probably why so many people we have known who have worked in social service are Democrats. They actually know these folks. And know their hardships.
So Republicans end up being cruel. And this new law is nothing short of cruel.
22
Let's hope this health-denial bill which is really a totally con to gut health care for the sake of tax cuts for the healthy and wealthy dies in the Senate. But, with Machiavellian Mitch McConnell, he of the "nuclear option," I'm not that sure. We may be faced with states like Massachusetts once again having to provide health care on their own. Perhaps these true blue states can form a Trans-American Health Care Compact creating their own insurance market. With both California and New York alone that would be large enough to work. That may be our only hope of saving health-care denial for all but the rich from ruthless red state Republicans.
10
MA and CA and NY can create their own insurance markets. CA can keep it's fuel economy regulations and end up with cleaner air. Better quality of life for all comers! And then CA can build a wall around itself and make Kansas pay for it.
Since the reference to "states rights" is being bantered around I like the idea of state sponsored single payer, Please see if we can't get Oregon in on that plan also.
"... and it funnels the savings to tax cuts for the rich. That is the reason, the only reason for the "We Don't Care Health Care Plan". It is indeed, as we've seen for the last decades, the only reason for Republican existence, well then there are those pesky women's and minority freedoms that have to go, and gay marriage, and public land, national parks...
5
The bottom line of everything that the Republicans do is to take from the poor and give to the rich. Everything. It's that simple.
Everything. Laws, regulations, mergers, all with the same goal: strip what money you have left and funnel it to the wealthy.
Everything. Laws, regulations, mergers, all with the same goal: strip what money you have left and funnel it to the wealthy.
11
Of course this bill is bad for health care. But that is not the purpose of the bill, despite whatever lies come out of Paul Ryan and other Republican's mouths when their lips move. The real purpose of this bill is tax cuts, by repealing the tax increases on the highest incomes that were part of the ACA. And those tax cuts will then set the table for further tax cuts later in the year. So keep your eyes on the ball, which is tax policy, not health policy.
It appears that the added $8 billion to address the issue of preexisting conditions is a fig-leaf to cover the naked cruelty of AHCA. It gives Republican representatives the ability to day things like: it's not our fault if you lose coverage because of your preexisting condition. It's not our fault if your premiums go up so much because you're older that you end up losing coverage just when you need it most.
Will Americans be fooled by this strategy?
Will Americans be fooled by this strategy?
11
Some Americans will indeed be fooled , but many more will suffer needlessly from physical or mental health disorders, or simply die. The Freedom Caucus crew certainly don't care -- they have very good insurance that nobody will take away and, in any case, they will be laughing all the way to the bank
Especially astonishing to me is the callousness being displayed toward the elderly. Maybe those House members think they will not age and perhaps they do not have elderly parents who may be drastically hurt by the ghastly changes to Medicare and the cutbacks to Medicaid, which covers so much nursing home care.
Especially astonishing to me is the callousness being displayed toward the elderly. Maybe those House members think they will not age and perhaps they do not have elderly parents who may be drastically hurt by the ghastly changes to Medicare and the cutbacks to Medicaid, which covers so much nursing home care.
1
I live in Massachusetts, and it turns out that people really value super cheap health insurance that delivers fantastic healthcare at all income levels. I am not trying to be sarcastic here. This is the real problem for health insurance markets. I cannot begin to tell you how many times I have heard some say, "I pay a lot for insurance, and I don't even use it". So, healthy people especially feel they are getting cheated, and even some unhealthy people who are paying very little for healthcare and are being treated for expensive conditions complain that they are paying too much. 98% of Mass residents have health insurance highest in the nation, and higher than many European countries that have universal coverage. The Massachusetts Experiment also proves one critical fact and that is we all want phenomenal healthcare with life saving/extending drugs, and we loathe to pay for any of it. Or, we feel that "The Rich" should pay for it all.
4
The "pro-life" party is only pro-life until the baby is born. After that you're on your own kid because health care is not a right but a marketable commodity and if you can't afford it, tough luck. No matter how much Republicans dance around the subject and deny what every other civilized nation has already proved: a single-payer Medicare for all system provides cheaper and better quality care than any market-driven plan devised by Ryan and his ilk. Just look at child mortality and adult longevity rates for the OECD. Or visit Canada. Health care per person in the United States costs three times as much as in other advanced economies with worse results.
17
Since they are eliminating the requirement that maternity care be covered, it is obvious that they don't really care about the fetuses as much as they used to! Our local hospital just hired a nurse-midwife, obviously to cover those patients who can't afford an ob/gyn. Soon we may see witch doctors as presumably they would be cheaper!
Once again we have a prime example of how the Republican Party likes to keep the Lower Class wanting, down and out, pushing them to the side-marginalized and not at all in the mainstream. The Republican Party has a history of keeping those who tend to vote for the Democrats in harms way, thus always fearful, never feeling secure enough to believe they matter, resulting in their slipping away quietly into the night.
5
If you think this has anything to do with pre-existing conditions or copays or insurance you are fooling yourselves.
This bill has to be signed so the 800 billion it steals from Medicaid can be given to the billionaires in the tax break bill. Why do you care about the merits or failings of this bill? Congress and Trump don't.
This bill has to be signed so the 800 billion it steals from Medicaid can be given to the billionaires in the tax break bill. Why do you care about the merits or failings of this bill? Congress and Trump don't.
"Nathaniel Hendren of Harvard, the paper’s third author, said that the Republican proposal would effectively end enrollment in the insurance markets for families that make less than $75,000 a year."
Obviously the critical thing Republicans will need to do next is to defund and ban government agencies from doing any follow up research to determine the effects of the law. That way there will be no political consequences. Problem solved!
Obviously the critical thing Republicans will need to do next is to defund and ban government agencies from doing any follow up research to determine the effects of the law. That way there will be no political consequences. Problem solved!
8
What we must remember and always make clear is that we are not part of any horse trading by anyone on any subject, whether it's Trump, the House or the Senate.
1
Anyone who thinks that Trump will do anything other than make the rich richer and the poor poorer has had their eyes closed. Everything he has done so far has benefited the rich (mainly himself and his family) and has hurt the average American. People who approve of him are dangerous fools.
9
Republicans are trying to pull off a massive fraud before information, such as in this study or another CBO analysis, become known to enough Americans.
Another very recent study demonstrated that even if Republicans devoted the full $13 billion per year in their bill to high risk pools, it would still be $20 billion per year short of covering the cost of enrolling only 10% of those who need high risk pools.
https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/healthcare/news/2017/05/02/43169...
Republicans don't have a replacement for Obamacare. They are now just trying to blow a fraud by Americans so they can get a several hundred billion dollar tax cut for those with taxable incomes above $250,000 who have significant investment incomes. That is what this is really about.
And cam those rich people afford to pay the extra 4.7% tax to fund Obamacare? Yes, between 2009 and 2012, when that extra tax took effect, incomes of the top 1% increased by 35%. They can afford it. During that same period, incomes of 99% of Americans only grew by 0.8%.
We can't afford the huge increase in premiums that will result from the Republicans health care "plan".
https://thinkprogress.org/the-1-percent-have-gotten-all-the-income-gains...
Another very recent study demonstrated that even if Republicans devoted the full $13 billion per year in their bill to high risk pools, it would still be $20 billion per year short of covering the cost of enrolling only 10% of those who need high risk pools.
https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/healthcare/news/2017/05/02/43169...
Republicans don't have a replacement for Obamacare. They are now just trying to blow a fraud by Americans so they can get a several hundred billion dollar tax cut for those with taxable incomes above $250,000 who have significant investment incomes. That is what this is really about.
And cam those rich people afford to pay the extra 4.7% tax to fund Obamacare? Yes, between 2009 and 2012, when that extra tax took effect, incomes of the top 1% increased by 35%. They can afford it. During that same period, incomes of 99% of Americans only grew by 0.8%.
We can't afford the huge increase in premiums that will result from the Republicans health care "plan".
https://thinkprogress.org/the-1-percent-have-gotten-all-the-income-gains...
7
President Obama's healthcare plan provided millions of Americans with healthcare who were previously uninsured.
President Trump's healthcare plan will eliminate healthcare insurance for millions of Americans currently insured.
That is the essential difference between Obamacare and Trumpcare.
Why do the Republicans hate so many of us American citizens?
President Trump's healthcare plan will eliminate healthcare insurance for millions of Americans currently insured.
That is the essential difference between Obamacare and Trumpcare.
Why do the Republicans hate so many of us American citizens?
8
What an insult to reason and common sense; we now have political prostitutes in this republican-controlled congress ready and willing to vote against the very same constituents that put them in office. How unrepresentative. These House republicans have forgotten the function of government, to serve its citizens as best they can, but especially those most vulnerable. This is a dereliction of duty, and 'gratis' cruelty. Since when have we become so petty, in such a wealthy country...albeit with a huge maldistribution (inequality)? That crooked lying Trump is shameless, it seems in his nature, and that Ryan lacks spine, true; but how about the rest, not able to think for themselves...and do the right thing?
6
I would have thought the 4 Einsteins in the photograph would look much happier considering they had just solved the health care problem for a mere 8 billion dollar add on covering all 50 states over 5 years. Who knew it would be so easy.
2
Yesterday Mayor De Blasio said that passing this bill will take healthcare from one million people in New York City. A million people in ONE CITY.
Republicare is what needs to be labeled, so the blame rests squarely where it should. Why are the Democrats so incapable of seizing the opportunity to take back the Congress in 2018 that the Republican Party is offering them?
Republicare is what it needs to be labeled, so the blame rests squarely where it should. Why are the Democrats so incapable of seizing the opportunity to take back the Congress in 2018 that the Republican Party is offering them?
Possible silver lining: the results of this will be catastrophic enough to finally bring single-payer to our country.
2
The Republican plan is a bonanza for me and other very affluent Americans. I already have and earn lots of money, and now the Republicans want to give me a big tax cut. I should be elated, so why do I feel nothing but visceral disgust?
5
Of course people who are having their health care/insurance paid for by other people are screaming, marching, and writing in blogs. People who receive a subsidy from Obamacare are by definition welfare recipients.
From the old saying...you don't want to watch sausage and laws being made...this health care bill, whatever its final form, takes a long time to debate and shape. I believe it is just being rushed through to show that Republicans can do it...but, to me, it is not fully thought out, and should be put back in for discussion and shaping.
From the old saying...you don't want to watch sausage and laws being made...this health care bill, whatever its final form, takes a long time to debate and shape. I believe it is just being rushed through to show that Republicans can do it...but, to me, it is not fully thought out, and should be put back in for discussion and shaping.
Trump and Ryan. King John and the Sheriff of Nottingham. I am beginning to think this is all about how to set up a land grab that can't be undone. They will have the money, the land and the law on their side. It will of course fall apart, but they will be gone and be rich or richer. Smirking all the way. Us peasants will be living in the forest, if they haven't annexed that for development.
1
GOP already has annexed or tried to privatize the forest/public lands for exploitation, oil and fracking; killing all wildlife for sport (Trump's son killing lovely prairie dogs for bloodlust - wow, a small funny and cute mammal, that sure took courage). Getting rid of endangered species act, and today, Trump is letting churches become political, but retaining their tax-free status. Robin Hood used to fleece the fat Bishops. Trump is in the equivalent pockets of the Bishops and the mercenaries, like King John. At the time, I think London resisted (urban America) and the aristocrats got their charter (1016) to share power, the beginning of the Parliamentary system.
Anyone can find "data" to prove anything. At least the bill being proposed has been read by all involved, which is much more than can be said for Obamacare.
Most moderate Republicans consider this a 'free' political gift for their 'Trumpets'. They see worse individual midterm consequences voting against this draconian bill than there be would for it. Assuming their moderate constituents will have short-term memory, and that the Senate will modify TrumpCare sufficiently to make it reflect ObamaCare without sending it back to the House for approval, they are gambling that they are politically safe. The battle begins.
71
"..Democrats and others who think that Republicans will be unable to get their health care legislation are deluding themselves. Much more likely is that all of the Republican Senators will be put in a room, and their leaders will say something to the effect that: We are going to have a $600 billion tax cut with not one penny of it going to anyone who makes less than $250,000 per year, and you are giving us grief over things like how many or how few people are going to be uninsured and funding Planned Parenthood? When put that way all the Republicans will likely fall in line and the bill will pass both houses..."
https://seekingalpha.com/article/4067359
https://seekingalpha.com/article/4067359
1
60 % of bankruptcies are caused by medical bills--destroying families, businesses and lives. We pay twice what countries with universal single payer health insurance pays--and our health system is now routinely cited as a cause for our poorer outcomes.
An example: we have 2-3 x's maternal deaths than any country in the EU--and our death rates are rising unlike theirs.
But--let's be honest. Trumpcare is not about healthcare or our nation's best interests. It is solely about what the GOP thinks it can get away with for large tax cuts for the wealthy. And it is about Party loyalty above all--even to a President who shows no loyalty either for them or our nation.
An example: we have 2-3 x's maternal deaths than any country in the EU--and our death rates are rising unlike theirs.
But--let's be honest. Trumpcare is not about healthcare or our nation's best interests. It is solely about what the GOP thinks it can get away with for large tax cuts for the wealthy. And it is about Party loyalty above all--even to a President who shows no loyalty either for them or our nation.
325
They hide behind the new standard line: "This is what the voters sent us here to do". Hope the T voters have Mom's or Gramma's room ready when the MedicAid faucet is closed.
The answer, although the GOP doesn't want to hear it and the health care industry would fight to the death to prevent it, is single payor universal access health care. And we needn't be paying more in taxes: what we currently pay in premiums could be used for this. We wouldn't have co-pays, deductibles, out of network charges, facility fees, lab fees, and denials of legitimate claims. We wouldn't be threatened with collection agencies, doctors wouldn't be requiring us to sign payment agreements, hospitals wouldn't be sending us outrageous bills, and doctors and hospitals wouldn't have to hire people to deal specifically with insurance companies.
I do not understand why receiving needed health care in America has to be so difficult or expensive. In fact the ACA was an opportunity for the industry to change the way it functioned. They decided not to. The CEOs of these companies decided that their pay and perks were sacred, that overcharging for medications, devices, and spending more on market research was better than serving the patients. The health insurance industry made it more difficult for patients to receive treatment when and where they needed it. Hospitals added on facility use fees and everyone figured out how to line their pockets at our expense. Other countries treat health care as a right. We ought to be doing the same thing instead of letting health insurance and the GOP play judge, jury, and executioner.
I do not understand why receiving needed health care in America has to be so difficult or expensive. In fact the ACA was an opportunity for the industry to change the way it functioned. They decided not to. The CEOs of these companies decided that their pay and perks were sacred, that overcharging for medications, devices, and spending more on market research was better than serving the patients. The health insurance industry made it more difficult for patients to receive treatment when and where they needed it. Hospitals added on facility use fees and everyone figured out how to line their pockets at our expense. Other countries treat health care as a right. We ought to be doing the same thing instead of letting health insurance and the GOP play judge, jury, and executioner.
4
This plan has staggering cuts in aid for the handicapped and elderly - throwing it to the states, which guarantees Republican states will defer to insurance company political donors. This will devastate and bankrupt any family with a disabled child or needy elderly adult - or - force them to see horrible suffering among loved ones. All to give more tax breaks to the richest. Absolutely sick and disgusting policy.
300
There is a great political lesson for all of us here and it shows us the wisdom of our Founding Fathers. House members generally only look out for their own districts while Senate members have to represent the entire State. You don't have to be a political scientist to know this. They teach this in grade school. What they don't teach is Personal Reality! When something directly effects you or your family, you generally listen more closely to the fine details. This Massachusetts study is wonderful because it's based on Reality. Whether you're a Democrat or a Republican, you can and should make your voice heard now.
127
Republicans seem to have a hard time with reality. You know, reality has a well known liberal bias.....
Who could have imagined that reality could be so hard.
No great victory here for founder's wisdom. If it were, the US would have been among the first and not the last to adopt universal health care. A review of German health care law was first submitted to Congress in 1893 ... that's right, 124 years ago.
1
So the answer to preventing poor people from deciding to stop paying for insurance and opt for emergency care is to give them free insurance? Wouldn't the better answer be to deny them emergency care or simply provide them with the bare minimum of care. Another outcome we have learned is that when we provide someone with free health they consume more than they need. Regardless what the law is it will always be gamed by someone.
2
no, the answer is to make the insurance more affordable to them. Better yet, change the system to single payer. Introduction of small fees for medical visit could fight excessive use of. meical care,
1
Your last assertion is not actually true. The data suggests what when people are provided with sufficient care and more so adequate preventive care - costs to down.
1
"Wouldn't the better answer be to deny them emergency care."
Not in a country that I'm a citizen of.
Wealthy people game the system for billions of dollars annually and that's dismissed as being shrewd. A few folks on the bottom take advantage of a system that the vast majority of recipients use because they have no other choice and the the response is to let all of them bleed to death outside an ER.
Not in a country that I'm a citizen of.
Wealthy people game the system for billions of dollars annually and that's dismissed as being shrewd. A few folks on the bottom take advantage of a system that the vast majority of recipients use because they have no other choice and the the response is to let all of them bleed to death outside an ER.
4
I'm always amazed at how heartless our Republicans in the Congress seem to be. It doesn't seem to bother them that their version of the health care bill will drive up the cost of insurance to the point that millions will be unable to pay for it and will end up without health insurance. Out of one side of their mouths they want to control spending in order to reduce the budget deficit. On the other hand, they will vote in favor of tax cuts for corporations and for the wealthy, which will drive up the budget deficit dramatically.
Jason Chaffetz, knowing that people with pre-existing conditions will likely see their health insurance premiums skyrocket if they can get insurance at all, had surgery on the pre-existing condition of his foot prior to the probable passage of the House bill.
Fred Upton is a multi-millionaire who can't relate to the difficulties of families trying to get by on annual incomes in the $20,000 or $30,000 or $40,000 range.
And, yet, voters will continue to send far-right-wing Republicans to office in spite of this. For many it's equivalent to shooting themselves in the foot.
Jason Chaffetz, knowing that people with pre-existing conditions will likely see their health insurance premiums skyrocket if they can get insurance at all, had surgery on the pre-existing condition of his foot prior to the probable passage of the House bill.
Fred Upton is a multi-millionaire who can't relate to the difficulties of families trying to get by on annual incomes in the $20,000 or $30,000 or $40,000 range.
And, yet, voters will continue to send far-right-wing Republicans to office in spite of this. For many it's equivalent to shooting themselves in the foot.
42
I could not agree more. Well said.
It would be a stretch to think that members of House "Freedom" Caucus ilk give two hoots about the data presented in the paper linked in the essay under discussion. People presume--with decreasing frequency--that the issue is the best way to reform health insurance and attendant care for the nation: it is not. This is a partisan grudge match, tied to persistent anger over the ACA and President Obama himself.
Those conservative representatives publicly stipulate that they are fulfilling a political promise, that this is what they were "elected to do." Such nonsense. That so many Republican House members are willing to go along for the ride is a disturbing, but predictable, outcome. Large majorities of US citizens are far more thoughtful than their House representatives. Those majorities include more centrist Republicans and independents that want to repair existing difficulties.
We can hope the Senate does its job and slows things down. We can hope that they do not behave in a manner we see in the House. We can hope the Senate will be able to leave old partisan grudges off the negotiating table when it comes to repairing the infrastructure of our long-ailing health care system.
Those conservative representatives publicly stipulate that they are fulfilling a political promise, that this is what they were "elected to do." Such nonsense. That so many Republican House members are willing to go along for the ride is a disturbing, but predictable, outcome. Large majorities of US citizens are far more thoughtful than their House representatives. Those majorities include more centrist Republicans and independents that want to repair existing difficulties.
We can hope the Senate does its job and slows things down. We can hope that they do not behave in a manner we see in the House. We can hope the Senate will be able to leave old partisan grudges off the negotiating table when it comes to repairing the infrastructure of our long-ailing health care system.
8
Opponents of the latest republican health care plan need to find a way to explain the plans problems to as many voters as possible. The President's supporters seem not to fully understand the impact of Republican policies on their lives and so are seduced by the excitement of a very talkative and active demagogue. Nonetheless, if given the facts in a clear way, the Trump supporters are not stupid and will understand. the trick is to get past the noisy nonsense and provide the truth, and such clarity of message from the opposition is just not there yet.
13
Unfortunately we live in a country where 20% of all adults still believe the Sun revolves around the Earth. Our mean IQ is 100, which means that half the electorate is below that. More Americans believe in astrology, ghosts, ufos, or that Elvis is alive and working as an Elvis impersonator in Europe than believe in evolution.
"Men are so simple and yield so readily to the desires of the moment that he who will trick will always find another who will suffer to be tricked."
-- Nicolo Machiavelli
"To argue with a man who has renounced his reason is like giving medicine to the dead."
-- Robert Ingersoll
Most people have never even been trained in the techniques of critical thinking (it is not something we are born with). They are not swayed by facts, especially facts that contradict their long-held emotional prejudices or ideologies. This is a perfect example of what logicians call the Confirmation Bias, the inability to see anything that does not confirm what they want to believe. Facts that contradict belief are merely to be ignored, derided, or discredited through Ad Hominem attacks.
The Community of Reason will never understand why the Community of Faith is immune to facts & will continue to try to prove things with facts & logic that have as much chance of affecting the Community of Faith as arguing with a three-day-dead mackerel.
"Men are so simple and yield so readily to the desires of the moment that he who will trick will always find another who will suffer to be tricked."
-- Nicolo Machiavelli
"To argue with a man who has renounced his reason is like giving medicine to the dead."
-- Robert Ingersoll
Most people have never even been trained in the techniques of critical thinking (it is not something we are born with). They are not swayed by facts, especially facts that contradict their long-held emotional prejudices or ideologies. This is a perfect example of what logicians call the Confirmation Bias, the inability to see anything that does not confirm what they want to believe. Facts that contradict belief are merely to be ignored, derided, or discredited through Ad Hominem attacks.
The Community of Reason will never understand why the Community of Faith is immune to facts & will continue to try to prove things with facts & logic that have as much chance of affecting the Community of Faith as arguing with a three-day-dead mackerel.
2
The only thing one really needs to know about this Trump-Ryan catastrophe of a health care bill, is that they are willing to sacrifice the very people whom they vowed to protect, and by this I refer not only to Americans, but particularly, coal miners.
For if there were any segmnent of American society prone to work-related devastating medical pre-conditions, it would be them.
It's bad enough that House Republicans are willing to sell out their own constituency, but to do it so effortlessly and without any sign of remorse, only makes their clear-cut plan to maintain political control at all costs, all the more heimous.
For if there were any segmnent of American society prone to work-related devastating medical pre-conditions, it would be them.
It's bad enough that House Republicans are willing to sell out their own constituency, but to do it so effortlessly and without any sign of remorse, only makes their clear-cut plan to maintain political control at all costs, all the more heimous.
24
They also have exempted themselves from the pre-existing clause.
4
I believe that a provision has already been passed to cover the 20,000 miners and their families' health costs; think it was part of the bill to continue funding the government through the fiscal year.
The miners will be fine. Th rest of us, not so much.
The miners will be fine. Th rest of us, not so much.
At some point those ignorant folks have to realize that they are continually voting against their interests. Until they do, it's going to be tough on them.
1
Your insight is right on. Our current system spends roughly 30 cents on the dollar administrating this unorganized and unwieldy system of care. Tweaking it will not bring us where we need to be to improve access and lower cost. Another little known fact is that we have less doctors and visit them less often than most other OECD countries with national health care plans. They all figured out that removing financial obstacles to care is the right move. It is time for us to follow suit.
10
Other reports have shown even more stark consequences for this Republican bill: 36,000 people will die every year because they will lose their healthcare. But the Republicans don't care a whit about them. All they care about is the trillion dollar tax cut they want to gift to their donors. This bill isn't about providing better healthcare at all.
Blame Comey for giving the election to Trump. He has certainly earned the nation's contempt for his historic bad judgement. But first, blame the SCOTUS decision for Citizens United, which unleashed the torrent of dark money that went to pay for the politicians who are now bringing this horrific bill forward.
Blame Comey for giving the election to Trump. He has certainly earned the nation's contempt for his historic bad judgement. But first, blame the SCOTUS decision for Citizens United, which unleashed the torrent of dark money that went to pay for the politicians who are now bringing this horrific bill forward.
19
I find it fascinating that when it comes to increases in Military spending, you won't get a peep about costs from Republicans. When it comes to things like Healthcare, Public TV and Radio, Food stamps, there never seems to be enough money in the budget. Obamacare is flawed because there are no cost controls in place. The market still gets to determine price. In order for us to really solve the health care issue, we need some sort of universal coverage which, yes, we are going to have to pay for. But don't we pay one way or the other anyway?
13
Give the Republicans the choice between providing health insurance for millions of Americans and funding a windfall tax break for millionaires and billionaires and they will choose the latter every time.
The Republican Party's core concern is serving the rich.
I don't know why they despise the rest of us, but they obviously do.
The Republican Party's core concern is serving the rich.
I don't know why they despise the rest of us, but they obviously do.
13
I lived in and around Manhattan for many years & worked as a contract software engineer on Wall Street for decades. Trump was a joke to them & a third-rate conman. After the first few years of ripping everybody off, nobody on the Street would lend him a dollar and no local contractor would risk bankruptcy by trusting any contract he signed & inevitably broke. In his many public appearances, he divided people into "winners" & "losers." The Manhattan billionaire elite he was so desperate to be accepted by (but never really was) were "winners," while ordinary people (who were not lucky enough to inherit a business & fortune from dad) were "losers." He had NO compassion for losers (until he needed their votes & pulled the same snake oil salesman con job on the voters he used to sell Trump University).
Voltaire remarked: "The comfort of the rich depends entirely on an abundance of the poor." Everybody judges their own and others' merit by some yardstick that favors them. With some it might be talent, intelligence, knowledge, or other values. Among the truly wealthy it is the money you have & and the class into which you were born. Among the American Brahmins, even self-made millionaires are contemptuously referred to as "nuveau riche." They look down from their "superior" position & see everybody else as less than them, less than human. All many of them did to "earn" their status was pick the right womb to be born from.
Voltaire remarked: "The comfort of the rich depends entirely on an abundance of the poor." Everybody judges their own and others' merit by some yardstick that favors them. With some it might be talent, intelligence, knowledge, or other values. Among the truly wealthy it is the money you have & and the class into which you were born. Among the American Brahmins, even self-made millionaires are contemptuously referred to as "nuveau riche." They look down from their "superior" position & see everybody else as less than them, less than human. All many of them did to "earn" their status was pick the right womb to be born from.
1
So to get a "win" for Trump, to let Trump keep a campaign promise, the House Republicans are going to push through a vote on a bill which does serious harm to a huge swath of the american citizenry. What is wrong with this picture? All of these people remind me of Ebeneezer Scrooge: "Are there no poorhouses? Are there no prisons?"
God forgive me for saying this, but I hope every single Republican who votes for this atrocity of a bill finds himself / herself with a serious healthcare issue. They may not have to pay because of their excellent GOVERNMENT-FUNDED healthcare program, but they need to experience some of the physical and emotional pain they are so willing to inflict on millions of others.
God forgive me for saying this, but I hope every single Republican who votes for this atrocity of a bill finds himself / herself with a serious healthcare issue. They may not have to pay because of their excellent GOVERNMENT-FUNDED healthcare program, but they need to experience some of the physical and emotional pain they are so willing to inflict on millions of others.
17
This will never, ever happen, but to get Congress to do their jobs properly would require a compensation package that more closely reflects the difficulties the average citizen in this country faces. They absolutely should be made to purchase healthcare insurance on the markets they are hobbling. Want to buy insurance on the open market? You, your spouse or child have a pre-existing condition? Sure, we'll give you coverage! It might cost a little more...This concept should extend to every aspect of their compensation. No more retirement program; you finance your own retirement with a 401K, taken from your own pay.
12
I totally understand how (and not why) Republicans create and pass bills that favor the rich either by reducing rules for their businesses or just plain tax cuts because most people are not directly affected. Lower income folks just do not know or care.
But now Republicans are going to substantially change most moderate and low-income families with the proposed health care law. Do they think people will not notice? Families on the lower scale of income watch and debate their purchases,,, do I have enough money for gas?,,, subway fare?.... proper food? No family will pay the premiums if they are 25%, 50%, 100% 500% of what they make a year.
It seems to me that the Republicans are going to "walk the plank" into a shark infested water. This seems to be able to change many voters minds.
But now Republicans are going to substantially change most moderate and low-income families with the proposed health care law. Do they think people will not notice? Families on the lower scale of income watch and debate their purchases,,, do I have enough money for gas?,,, subway fare?.... proper food? No family will pay the premiums if they are 25%, 50%, 100% 500% of what they make a year.
It seems to me that the Republicans are going to "walk the plank" into a shark infested water. This seems to be able to change many voters minds.
5
The Republican's latest attempt at wrecking the ACA appears to be a part of the continuing Republican "War on Retirement" - the current bill that is to be voted on today not only would discourage those over 50 from early retirement but will also raid the Medicare trust fund - hastening its demise and requiring it to be "reformed" in the same manner as the ACA - and once that is done, Social Security will be next. The idea is to discourage anyone from retiring - thereby expanding the labor pool and decreasing wages.
7
There is no Medicare trust fund to raid. It is just a number representing how much one branch of the government borrowed from another branch of government. (Though somewhat fraudulently, these loans were treated as income in the budget and used to reduce the deficit.)
And then there's age discrimination in hiring...if you're over 50 you can't get a job... If only all those old people would just die, there'd be more for everyone else.
1
It doesn't matter that it's a bad bill. It matters that it passes so Trump gets a checkmark in the win column. That is the goal. All the people cheering him while he's trying to push through a bill that will harm them in a tremendous way shows that kind of country we have become.
Didn't some republican rep say in a column yesterday that he's getting tons and tons of calls from his frightened constituents, yet he is voting for the bill? That says it all right there. Fasten your seat belts, folks. It's only going to get worse and as long as there are thousands willing to show up at rallies and cheer for their own demise, it will just continue. It's the frog in the warm water thing.
Didn't some republican rep say in a column yesterday that he's getting tons and tons of calls from his frightened constituents, yet he is voting for the bill? That says it all right there. Fasten your seat belts, folks. It's only going to get worse and as long as there are thousands willing to show up at rallies and cheer for their own demise, it will just continue. It's the frog in the warm water thing.
7
It pays to remember that the GOP isn't about legislating for anything resembling the public interest. It is about the ideological game of scoring goals fom talking points.
The kicker in the legislaion now making its baleful way onto the House floor is that the $8 billion "sweetener" is an authorization, not an appropriation. We can bet that any actual appropriation of funds will be but a fraction, if anything at all, of the $8 billion promised at the point of sale. This is how GOP social legislation works. Always has; always will.
Today's legislative agenda is all smoke-and-mirrors, bait-and-switch. A cyncal Republican leadership knows this full well. The American public is being played for suckers, and suckers is what we've determined ourselves mindlessly to be.
The kicker in the legislaion now making its baleful way onto the House floor is that the $8 billion "sweetener" is an authorization, not an appropriation. We can bet that any actual appropriation of funds will be but a fraction, if anything at all, of the $8 billion promised at the point of sale. This is how GOP social legislation works. Always has; always will.
Today's legislative agenda is all smoke-and-mirrors, bait-and-switch. A cyncal Republican leadership knows this full well. The American public is being played for suckers, and suckers is what we've determined ourselves mindlessly to be.
10
Democrats have cited increased insurance coverage as demonstrating the success of Obamacare. That more poor folks get coverage is what many conservatives see as the disaster of Obamacare. The reaction to the current proposal seems to have been predictable.
3
The driver for Republicans is tax cuts. They hope to cut $ for the ACA in order to pay for tax cuts for the rich without the need for 60 votes in the Senate.
7
Call your representatives NOW. They are serious. Politics is more important than your life to them, and they will only behave responsibly only if they fear the political consequences of repeal.
4
I really think it's best now to let the Republicans pass their bill and take ownership of healthcare away from Obama and the Democrats. If the Republicans don't pass their bill, they'll focus their energy on sabotaging Obamacare. This will be just as bad for the American people as the Republican bill will be, but it will also be bad for the Democrats as the Republicans will blame Obamacare for the problems. If the Republicans pass their bill, however, they will own what they've broke. And as people get increasingly angry, maybe there's hope that we can elect a Democratic Congress and start moving along the path to the healthcare plan we really need: single payer.
10
Damage?
Run our government like a business. Like Wells Fargo. Like United Airlines.
Businesses throw away the non-profitable people, the sick, the old, the less talented. They shower money on the most powerful and richest, regardless of how little they actually contribute.
It is not only Trump, it is the GOP Congress that America keeps electing over and over. This is what our country voted for.
Run our government like a business. Like Wells Fargo. Like United Airlines.
Businesses throw away the non-profitable people, the sick, the old, the less talented. They shower money on the most powerful and richest, regardless of how little they actually contribute.
It is not only Trump, it is the GOP Congress that America keeps electing over and over. This is what our country voted for.
8
While it's true that Republicans won elections by demonizing ACA, as they feared the bill grew increasingly popular and the provisions that affect everyone with insurance from whatever source have become interpreted as rights whether or not the people being served realize it. This explains why even in countries like our that flip from liberal to conservative according to voters that have some form of government involved health care, not one politician from either side ever proposes destroying the system that exists.
One would think that the Republicans would have done enough research and paid enough attention to the changing climate to at least try to come up with fixes to the system, not a reversal, but no, they couldn't stand the idea of having to change a once successful message, and worse, even with the open and loud blow back today are barreling ahead in their wrecking machine based on faith based nonsense that should their ideas be implemented will cause huge disruptions , not just for patients but the entire health care system. There's a reason why every huge interest group in the industry has come out against this plan, not to mention the number of citizens screaming at town hall brawls. This plan is a disaster and will cause many.
Just because they sold a slogan doesn't mean that the product will be appreciated. Time for the GOP to throw out the sandwich board and their execrable plan.
One would think that the Republicans would have done enough research and paid enough attention to the changing climate to at least try to come up with fixes to the system, not a reversal, but no, they couldn't stand the idea of having to change a once successful message, and worse, even with the open and loud blow back today are barreling ahead in their wrecking machine based on faith based nonsense that should their ideas be implemented will cause huge disruptions , not just for patients but the entire health care system. There's a reason why every huge interest group in the industry has come out against this plan, not to mention the number of citizens screaming at town hall brawls. This plan is a disaster and will cause many.
Just because they sold a slogan doesn't mean that the product will be appreciated. Time for the GOP to throw out the sandwich board and their execrable plan.
1
It's going back the way it was. If Republicans don't care about people, they should care about the hit to the economy that will ensue when we see a steeper rise in costs. It will all be on their heads.
4
What kind of 'study' was this ? And what are the lessons?
There is no 'science' in politics nor sociology nor economics nor history nor philosophy nor theology. There are way too many variables and unknowns that preventing carefully controlled double-blind tests that provide repeatable routinely predictable results.
Science is the currently best natural explanation based upon the best currently available natural data information. Science is always provisional and refutable.
An economist once suggested that 'from each according to his ability and to each according to his needs' should govern humane civilized values and interests. A moral sage philosopher offered a golden rule of treating your fellow human beings as you would want to be treated. That same sage's most beloved were the poor, the sick, the imprisoned, the naked, the starving, the thirsty and the despairing.
That Donald John Trump no care for the health of his fellow human beings is self-evident. There is no need for any old science nor new study to reach that inhumanely evil conclusion.
There is no 'science' in politics nor sociology nor economics nor history nor philosophy nor theology. There are way too many variables and unknowns that preventing carefully controlled double-blind tests that provide repeatable routinely predictable results.
Science is the currently best natural explanation based upon the best currently available natural data information. Science is always provisional and refutable.
An economist once suggested that 'from each according to his ability and to each according to his needs' should govern humane civilized values and interests. A moral sage philosopher offered a golden rule of treating your fellow human beings as you would want to be treated. That same sage's most beloved were the poor, the sick, the imprisoned, the naked, the starving, the thirsty and the despairing.
That Donald John Trump no care for the health of his fellow human beings is self-evident. There is no need for any old science nor new study to reach that inhumanely evil conclusion.
1
I keep trying to understand who benefits from the GOP bill and I can't. It's surely not the GOP leadership, which will lose another few million voters who have been to tolerant of outrageous behavior up until now, but won't appreciate the personal peril this bill will put them in. It can't be rank-and-file GOP representatives, whose constituents will eviscerate them once the outcome of this policy is felt in the home districts.
It can't be the Evangelicals, who, one would think, will have to answer to their god eventually for turning away the sick. It must be dawning on some of them by now what a crime is being committed in their names.
It's not obvious what business sector benefits from more uncertainty in the health of the populace -- surely not the insurance companies whose customers are required by the ACA to buy a version of their product with a minimum price/performance standard.
It truly seems to be a bunch of ideologues who read Rand at some point when they still had pimples, and think they have found their calling in making the United States the Sparta of the modern world. They get the best health care in the world courtesy of their government or think tank job, or maybe they are self-insured "donors" who believe a portion of their fortune needs to be spent teaching the rest of us fiscal discipline because we didn't anticipate the downside of failing to be rich like they (or their daddies) did.
It can't be the Evangelicals, who, one would think, will have to answer to their god eventually for turning away the sick. It must be dawning on some of them by now what a crime is being committed in their names.
It's not obvious what business sector benefits from more uncertainty in the health of the populace -- surely not the insurance companies whose customers are required by the ACA to buy a version of their product with a minimum price/performance standard.
It truly seems to be a bunch of ideologues who read Rand at some point when they still had pimples, and think they have found their calling in making the United States the Sparta of the modern world. They get the best health care in the world courtesy of their government or think tank job, or maybe they are self-insured "donors" who believe a portion of their fortune needs to be spent teaching the rest of us fiscal discipline because we didn't anticipate the downside of failing to be rich like they (or their daddies) did.
8
When people in poverty get adequate healthcare, when pregnant women get good prenatal care, when babies and children get routine checkups, studies show that infant mortality and maternal death at birth are significantly reduced. As mothers and their babies have healthier lives, the birthrate also drops. Money can be better spent on the children that are alive; maybe going to school to improve the lives of the entire family. Families become more sustainable and our world benefits by the fact of less resource consumption. It's a sorry joke when Republicans talk about "rearming the military" with another 54 billion. We have outspent all other countries in military spending (much more than Russia and N. Korea combined). If the Republicans are all about market forces and cost containment, neither seem to apply to military spending. Then why treat healthcare coverage any different? Unless they are willing to do their job of cost examination across the board, then forget the tax cuts and apply the money to support healthcare for all. The military has enough of the budget...
1
It is clear that republican congressmen have no interest in the health of their constituents. There attitude is shocking, when one thinks of our history. Jimmy Kimmel is right, the majority of us believes that decent healthcare should be a right, equal to life, liberty and the pursuit if happiness. My congressman, who is supporting this bill, is an arrogant, selfish, "deplorable" man, who rarely votes the interests of his constituents. Until we can turn these "robber baron" sycophants out, we are stuck in this mess.
4
"The Republican proposal would effectively end enrollment in markets for families making less than $75,000 per year." This statement clearly defines GOP health care strategy which is to gut universal health care in any form.
3
Not to worry. We've had 6 years of ACA repeal from the house when they were safe in the knowledge that the bills were DOA on Obama's desk; now they're struggling just to pass the buck to the Senate where it is just as dead, even if they invoke the ultimate nuclear option by eliminating the filibuster completely. But because Republicans hold both Capital Hill and the White House, the threat is real and therefore the blowback from constituents will be a lot stronger. House Republicans might be passing this bill now to avoid pressure when they go home on recess, but they've opened the floodgates on their Senatorial colleagues.
5
"Discontinuity" also affects patients in finding a doctor or dentist to even take them. Many providers won't see you if you have Medicaid as they don't think they get paid enough to spend their time on you.
3
"In the name of a political victory for themselves and Trump, House Republicans may now be on the verge of passing the bill anyway. The only things that can keep it from becoming law — and harming millions of Americans — is the United States Senate."
This one sentence says it all for me. House Republicans are not working for you or me; they are working for a "win", pass it on to the Senate and then blame Democrats when it doesn't pass. It has nothing to do with increasing access to decent healthcare for the citizens of our country. I have been listening to the spin all morning...one after another representatives parading through the morning talk shows crowing about the wonders of the healthcare bill. What they don't know is that I will be getting ready in a few minutes to go take care of the very people this bill will harm the most...and no matter what the vote is today my team and I will continue to take care of the most vulnerable in our state. We have no choice and neither do the people we serve on a daily basis. I wish they would come to my workplace for a day.
This one sentence says it all for me. House Republicans are not working for you or me; they are working for a "win", pass it on to the Senate and then blame Democrats when it doesn't pass. It has nothing to do with increasing access to decent healthcare for the citizens of our country. I have been listening to the spin all morning...one after another representatives parading through the morning talk shows crowing about the wonders of the healthcare bill. What they don't know is that I will be getting ready in a few minutes to go take care of the very people this bill will harm the most...and no matter what the vote is today my team and I will continue to take care of the most vulnerable in our state. We have no choice and neither do the people we serve on a daily basis. I wish they would come to my workplace for a day.
3
We are watching Trump and his allies trade $1 trillion in tax breaks for $1 trillion in health care cuts. I understand that it will take something in the range of $380 billion to fund pre-existing conditions, so the $8 billion will not cover all Americans. Remember that the number one reason that Americans went bankrupt was from the inability to pay for catastrophic health care. This bill brings us back to that sharp, harsh fate. Fifty percent of Americans have pre-existing health care conditions. I did not vote for these changes. Did you?
5
I for one refuse to pay health insurance for Congressman Billing Long, pictured to the far right, because he obviously is a high-risk case for hypertension and diabetes. Oh, but we actually do pay for Mr. Long's health insurance because we pay him, and he then pays for insurance for himself and wife Barbara (who, in a recent photo, may also be exhibiting pre-existing conditions). At age 61 Billy is years away from Medicare (too bad) and thus still under our care. His lifestyle is just to risky for me, so I pass on further payments. Hope it all works out for him.
4
Arguing that poor and middle class Americans will be forced out of the health insurance market carries no weight with Republican Congress men and women. That their constituents may suffer is not their concern. They are only interested in the bottom line of healthcare insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, banks, and large investors who donate to Republican campaign coffers. Every other need takes a back seat to those interests. If a few more citizens die because of a lack of care, or lose their properties in bankruptcy to pay off medical bills, what's the big deal? Poor people deserve what they get, don't they?
"But many poorer families choose E.R. care over taking money from their stretched budgets for health insurance.
The Republican health bill wouldn’t raise people’s costs by only a small amount, either. It would force many low-income families to pay hundreds or thousands of dollars more for insurance — and most of them would likely respond by not buying insurance"
This is a rather interesting choice of words.
So the author thinks that people *choose* E.R. over taking money to pay for insurance, while the republican health bill will*force* them to pay more.
That is how aloft and out-of-the-real-world a liberal-minded article can be,and how disconnected it is when the only sensible remark is on the award-winning authors of the study, to clear the way of any political bias, as if that would be enough.
The Republican health bill wouldn’t raise people’s costs by only a small amount, either. It would force many low-income families to pay hundreds or thousands of dollars more for insurance — and most of them would likely respond by not buying insurance"
This is a rather interesting choice of words.
So the author thinks that people *choose* E.R. over taking money to pay for insurance, while the republican health bill will*force* them to pay more.
That is how aloft and out-of-the-real-world a liberal-minded article can be,and how disconnected it is when the only sensible remark is on the award-winning authors of the study, to clear the way of any political bias, as if that would be enough.
1
Republican politicians have little respect for the "unworthy". If those people lose insurance it is their own faults for not having jobs with benefits, living unhealthy lives or choosing not to have insurance. To provide cover for their harsh judgements the Republicans throw a few cake crumbs and keep their eyes and actions on their own wallets and their contributors profit margins.
3
Once again, though I loath the thought of any of our citizens having to suffer as a result of this proposed change in healthcare, I am glad the GOP is still intent on doing so. Together with the proposed tax "reform" proposal, these two changes will make abundantly clear to any thinking citizen exactly what the GOP stands for, and to whose interests it is truly dedicated. Will it be enough? I have my doubts. Currently our culture is so divided, demagogues so successful in fanning the flames of hatred, paranoia, and racism, perhaps nothing short of an existential threat to our nation can force us to recognize our common interests. But it is now obvious that millions of Americans can only see truth when it causes personal pain, so I say bring on the pain, and soon. Let's get this over with.
10
Having lived through the RomneyCare initiative, a few thoughts about RomneyCare and ObamaCare.....
1. Like ObamaCare, RomneyCare was centered on getting people signed up, cost be damned. Just sign everyone up and we will figure out the funding later! So, here in way-to-the-left Massachusetts, it was a political gesture more than anything. It was a way for the Republican Governor to show that he had a heart, something that if often questioned about Republicans.
2. I take issue with the idea that it was set up as an "experiment". Experiments have alternative scenarios and "what-ifs" and the idea of unintended consequences in place. And in situations like grabbing this much of an economy (the ObamaCare grabbed 1/6th of the US GDP and cost at least $1T) those running the experiment take common sense and human nature into account. Neither RomneyCare nor ObamaCare seemed to do that. If they had they wouldn't have been so surprised that young people think that they are invincible, that they can duck as much of a healthcare "have to" as they can. Better to take the penalty and not fund the sick old people who use more health care dollars.
3. Experiments are not based on lying to the electorate or consumers or constituents. Hmmmm, maybe that's not correct. It's politics, even when it's health care. And since health care DOES eat a giant amount of the country's wealth, the lies are bigger. Case in point, Jonathan Gruber from MIT. Read it!
1. Like ObamaCare, RomneyCare was centered on getting people signed up, cost be damned. Just sign everyone up and we will figure out the funding later! So, here in way-to-the-left Massachusetts, it was a political gesture more than anything. It was a way for the Republican Governor to show that he had a heart, something that if often questioned about Republicans.
2. I take issue with the idea that it was set up as an "experiment". Experiments have alternative scenarios and "what-ifs" and the idea of unintended consequences in place. And in situations like grabbing this much of an economy (the ObamaCare grabbed 1/6th of the US GDP and cost at least $1T) those running the experiment take common sense and human nature into account. Neither RomneyCare nor ObamaCare seemed to do that. If they had they wouldn't have been so surprised that young people think that they are invincible, that they can duck as much of a healthcare "have to" as they can. Better to take the penalty and not fund the sick old people who use more health care dollars.
3. Experiments are not based on lying to the electorate or consumers or constituents. Hmmmm, maybe that's not correct. It's politics, even when it's health care. And since health care DOES eat a giant amount of the country's wealth, the lies are bigger. Case in point, Jonathan Gruber from MIT. Read it!
Everyone should call their senators and congressmen and women to explain to them why a vote for this bill will prevent millions of Americans from getting healthcare coverage.
15
As the Trump-Ryan Republicans continue their infernal attempts at further sabotaging our imperfect Union, these lines from Churchill most immediately come to mind:
"do you worst, and we will do our best".
The best antidote for Republican political dominance is Republican governance. Like their new leader in the White House, the Republicans are now the party that destroys everything they touch.
"do you worst, and we will do our best".
The best antidote for Republican political dominance is Republican governance. Like their new leader in the White House, the Republicans are now the party that destroys everything they touch.
30
Special ed kids whose physical therapy, even feeding tubes are paid for now -- aren't going to just "go to the emergency room."
This is cruelty, plain and simple. For tax cuts for the rich.
This is cruelty, plain and simple. For tax cuts for the rich.
66
The good news: We have health care!
The bad news: You can't afford it.
The bottom line: Don't get sick.
The bad news: You can't afford it.
The bottom line: Don't get sick.
35
Or we can call it the Republican Pray You Don't Get Sick Plan.
Aww. Who cares about all 'those' people who will do without health insurance. They don't matter. What matters is all those rich folk that will finally get some tax relief from being citizens of the 1% class and above. Now those folks are important. Courtesy of the Grand Old Pirates: the party of Cruelty, Brutality, and Bigotry.
41
Elections have consequences. If this bill becomes law, Americans who thought they were going to get better insurance at a lower cost will find out that for many it's more expensive, perhaps prohibitively so. And for those with pre existing conditions who believed that Republicans would cover those conditions, they're going to find that they can't get insurance or that what they can get is much more costly.
In a rational world, Republicans would pay a steep price for doing this. But in the world in which we live, republicans will probably convince their voters that it's all Obama's and Hillary's fault. And Democrats--bless their souls--will likely not do much to convince voters otherwise.
In a rational world, Republicans would pay a steep price for doing this. But in the world in which we live, republicans will probably convince their voters that it's all Obama's and Hillary's fault. And Democrats--bless their souls--will likely not do much to convince voters otherwise.
30
What are the consequences of a Fixed Election?
The RNC is in deep collusion with our enemies.
You do not value the truth if you are republican, or believe in Democracy, or really understand the word Justice. And it would be almost impossible to be "Christian" and republican at the same time.
The is one thing you are, without a doubt if you are republican...you are a lying hypocrite.
The RNC is in deep collusion with our enemies.
You do not value the truth if you are republican, or believe in Democracy, or really understand the word Justice. And it would be almost impossible to be "Christian" and republican at the same time.
The is one thing you are, without a doubt if you are republican...you are a lying hypocrite.
The silver lining if this bill passes (and let's hope it doesn't because it's so bad for so many Americans) is that it will mean the Republicans unequivocally own health care and all its warts. No more trying to deflect blame to Obama. Whatever happens—no matter how bad it is—Trump and the Republican Congress will own the mess.
39
But how many in Trump Nation will notice other than feeling smug that they got rid of something else Obama did?
The bill isn't supposed to "work". It was never supposed to "work". It was, & is, supposed to provide a fig leaf of cover for politicians cutting taxes for their wealthy donors, &, in the case of many tea party & "Freedom Caucus" (freedom from liberty, I guess) to play to the basic racism of their supporters because "we" will stop paying for "those people".
Here, in New Jersey, we have 3 Republican Congressman committed to voting "NO" because they know that this bill will have catastrophic effects on New Jersey. One is an adamant "YES" because...well, there's got to be one. Then there's Rodney Frelinghuysen, Chair of Appropriations. In 22 years, he only bucked the leaders twice, once on SOPA, & the 2nd time on the first (non) vote due to 1000s of voters calling, emailing, & at his HQ. He also knows that despite winning handily in Nov, with Trump's election, he's now a SERIOUS target for both Indivisible, & the DNC. (Trump lost the district).
So he's been marked "uncommitted" & "leaning YES" because, I'm guessing, the leaders are pushing him HARD to vote YES & may have threatened to take his chair, while constituents are pushing just as hard for a NO vote.
So Cong. Frelinghuysen is waiting to see which way the wind is blowing. If it CLEARLY will pass, or clearly will fail, the leaders will give him a pass to vote NO. If it's close, he'll put his neck in the noose & vote YES putting party & chair over his district and New Jersey.
Here, in New Jersey, we have 3 Republican Congressman committed to voting "NO" because they know that this bill will have catastrophic effects on New Jersey. One is an adamant "YES" because...well, there's got to be one. Then there's Rodney Frelinghuysen, Chair of Appropriations. In 22 years, he only bucked the leaders twice, once on SOPA, & the 2nd time on the first (non) vote due to 1000s of voters calling, emailing, & at his HQ. He also knows that despite winning handily in Nov, with Trump's election, he's now a SERIOUS target for both Indivisible, & the DNC. (Trump lost the district).
So he's been marked "uncommitted" & "leaning YES" because, I'm guessing, the leaders are pushing him HARD to vote YES & may have threatened to take his chair, while constituents are pushing just as hard for a NO vote.
So Cong. Frelinghuysen is waiting to see which way the wind is blowing. If it CLEARLY will pass, or clearly will fail, the leaders will give him a pass to vote NO. If it's close, he'll put his neck in the noose & vote YES putting party & chair over his district and New Jersey.
28
Warren Buffett said, "Through the tax code, there has been class warfare waged, and my class has won, It's been a rout."
With Republican control of both the legislative and executive branches, the shift in the tax burden from the rich to the middle class that Warren Buffet describes as having been "a rout", will likely become an outright massacre.
Today the top 3% of households pay about 50% of Federal taxes and the rest of the 97% pay the other 50%. In 1969 the top 3% of households paid 75% of Federal taxes and the rest of the 97% paid only the other 25%. In computing those figure the government correctly attributes the corporate income tax payments to the households who own shares in the corporation. It is quite possible that the Republicans may be able to have the top 3% of households pay only about 25% of Federal taxes and the rest of the 97% pay the other 75%.
The one certain thing that can be predicted is that the Republican controlled congress will enact and President Trump will sign is elimination of the estate tax. This literally could be called taking from the millionaires to give to the billionaires. Estates under $5.49 million are now totally exempt from the estate tax. Billionaires are not as able as mere millionaires to employ various strategies to avoid estate taxes. Repealing the estate tax will give billions to a fraction of the top 1%, which will ultimately have to be made up by the rest of the taxpayers..."
https://seekingalpha.com/article/4067359
With Republican control of both the legislative and executive branches, the shift in the tax burden from the rich to the middle class that Warren Buffet describes as having been "a rout", will likely become an outright massacre.
Today the top 3% of households pay about 50% of Federal taxes and the rest of the 97% pay the other 50%. In 1969 the top 3% of households paid 75% of Federal taxes and the rest of the 97% paid only the other 25%. In computing those figure the government correctly attributes the corporate income tax payments to the households who own shares in the corporation. It is quite possible that the Republicans may be able to have the top 3% of households pay only about 25% of Federal taxes and the rest of the 97% pay the other 75%.
The one certain thing that can be predicted is that the Republican controlled congress will enact and President Trump will sign is elimination of the estate tax. This literally could be called taking from the millionaires to give to the billionaires. Estates under $5.49 million are now totally exempt from the estate tax. Billionaires are not as able as mere millionaires to employ various strategies to avoid estate taxes. Repealing the estate tax will give billions to a fraction of the top 1%, which will ultimately have to be made up by the rest of the taxpayers..."
https://seekingalpha.com/article/4067359
3
Yeah, in New Mexico we have two emphatic no's (both Democrats) and one emphatic yes, a Republican evangelical troll from the southern and eastern (Texas) part of the state. His (Pearce) district will kick off about 20-30,000 people off health care immediately, but then they are mostly "those people". This is the "We Don't Care Act" plain and simple.
1
Why can't the American people have the exact same health care plan that our elected reps have and have for life? We want their health care plan! I am also impressed by the "christlike" rhetoric these people speak>
47
I forget who the member of Congress was, but he kept going on about how he was on Obamacare and hated it. I thought he must be lying, because his income was too high, but it turns out members of Congress were given the option to be on Obamacare. So it seems there may be no one plan members of Congress have. Does anyone reading this know the facts about what kind of health insurance members of Congress have and how good the coverage is?
2
They were mandated to have ACA care for selves and staff, though they are free to have whatever they want to pay for supplemental health care as they can afford it. That is really what they wanted repealed.
Now, who knows?
Now, who knows?
1
From Factcheck.org
"..starting Jan. 1, 2014, House and Senate members, and their staffs, can only obtain employer-subsidized, private coverage through the exchanges established under the ACA. The exchanges, or marketplaces, were designed for those who purchase their own insurance and small employers. For a full discussion of current health insurance options for members of Congress, see the 2015 Congressional Research Service paper “Health Benefits for Members of Congress and Designated Congressional Staff.” Over the years, we’ve seen false claims that Congress was somehow “exempt” from the health care law. But, in fact, the law places this additional requirement on Congress that doesn’t pertain to other Americans with employer-provided health care."
"..starting Jan. 1, 2014, House and Senate members, and their staffs, can only obtain employer-subsidized, private coverage through the exchanges established under the ACA. The exchanges, or marketplaces, were designed for those who purchase their own insurance and small employers. For a full discussion of current health insurance options for members of Congress, see the 2015 Congressional Research Service paper “Health Benefits for Members of Congress and Designated Congressional Staff.” Over the years, we’ve seen false claims that Congress was somehow “exempt” from the health care law. But, in fact, the law places this additional requirement on Congress that doesn’t pertain to other Americans with employer-provided health care."
Every republican interviewed about health care during the last several weeks has made the statement, "We were elected to repeal Obamacare." That was true - until the people realized that they had been lied to and what was being called Obamacare was really the health plan they were on, or the one their kids were on, or the one that kept their parents from having to eat crackers so they could afford their medicine. The people don't want this. They've had a chance to think about it, yet the republicans are going to ram it through. Why? Because it's more important to them to keep big pharma happy than to watch their constituents suffer.
“Have they no refuge or resource?” cried Scrooge.
“Are there no prisons?” said the Spirit, turning on him for the last time with his own words. “Are there no workhouses?”
The bell struck twelve.
“Have they no refuge or resource?” cried Scrooge.
“Are there no prisons?” said the Spirit, turning on him for the last time with his own words. “Are there no workhouses?”
The bell struck twelve.
60
This quote from Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" of 1843 is really chilling and really fits. Scrooge repents when he sees a vision of the results of his cruelty and greed. The predictable death of Tiny Tim who needs food and medical care he is not going to get under Scrooge's "health care plan" is enough to wring tears from the hardest heart--until now.
This is classic bait and switch. It appears to me that Trump & Co. are not in the least interested in providing meaningful legislation to cover healthcare for all Americans. All they want is to go to their districts on Friday, and Mar-a-Lago, and bloviate about how they kept an election promise. Not one of them will feel the effects of what they are attempting to do here.
Then when (hopefully) the Senate refuses to pass this patchwork excuse for legislation, the party of "no" will cue the blame machine ... blame Obama ... blame Democrats ... blame the failing New York Times and all the other fake media. It is enough to make a person, in the words of James Comey, "mildly nauseaus".
And if it does pass, my condolences go out to those thousands of people whose only healthcare option will be provided in emergency rooms, and to the American taxpayers who will be footing the bill. It is not healthcare; it is sick care.
Then when (hopefully) the Senate refuses to pass this patchwork excuse for legislation, the party of "no" will cue the blame machine ... blame Obama ... blame Democrats ... blame the failing New York Times and all the other fake media. It is enough to make a person, in the words of James Comey, "mildly nauseaus".
And if it does pass, my condolences go out to those thousands of people whose only healthcare option will be provided in emergency rooms, and to the American taxpayers who will be footing the bill. It is not healthcare; it is sick care.
102
And millions will be filing for bankruptcy in the not too distant future.
1
What really drives the craziness of the GOP attempts at health insurance legislation? Is it mainly Trump's desire to destroy anything done by Obama? Or is it the GOP's craving for tax cuts that is behind this mess?
I get that Trump doesn't bother to understand the details of health insurance. But what is the excuse of Ryan et al.? This whole effort at health insurance "reform" seems to me to be Congressional malpractice that benefits no one but the rich who get the tax cuts, and maybe some insurance companies?
I get that Trump doesn't bother to understand the details of health insurance. But what is the excuse of Ryan et al.? This whole effort at health insurance "reform" seems to me to be Congressional malpractice that benefits no one but the rich who get the tax cuts, and maybe some insurance companies?
82
What really drives the GOP is the promise made and the fear that no change in the national health care law will lose millions of votes. The promise of a better national health care law drives Republicans to do anything whether better or not. Better is not the rule; keeping the promise is the driver.
1
President Trump and members of his administration made statements indicating that they favored tax cuts for the middle class rather than the rich. The closing Trump advertisement in the election railed against a supposed cabal of international elite financial figures who were claimed to be causing America's decline. It pictured financier George Soros, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, and Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein as the prime villains. Trump's inaugural address also reiterated the populist theme that the day of revenge against financial elites has arrived.
Democrats and others who think that Republicans will be unable to get their health care legislation are deluding themselves. Much more likely is that all of the Republican Congress members will be put in a room, and their leaders will say something to the effect that: We are going to have a $600 billion tax cut with not one penny of it going to anyone who makes less than $250,000 per year, and you are giving us grief over things like how many or how few people are going to be uninsured and funding Planned Parenthood? When put that way all the Republicans will likely fall in line and the bill will pass both houses..."
https://seekingalpha.com/article/4067359
Democrats and others who think that Republicans will be unable to get their health care legislation are deluding themselves. Much more likely is that all of the Republican Congress members will be put in a room, and their leaders will say something to the effect that: We are going to have a $600 billion tax cut with not one penny of it going to anyone who makes less than $250,000 per year, and you are giving us grief over things like how many or how few people are going to be uninsured and funding Planned Parenthood? When put that way all the Republicans will likely fall in line and the bill will pass both houses..."
https://seekingalpha.com/article/4067359
2
The Republicans serve the rich and have only ill disguised contempt for the rest of America.
1
News media needs to put Trump and his surrogates on the hot seat every time, day in and day out. Play his campaign words where he said " he was going to make healthcare better and more affordable"; he wouldn't let people "die in the street"; everyone would be able to afford plans with great coverage. Then make them defend what they're now signing on for. It's not so hard. Plus emphasize who actually benefits from this shell game
22
This bill isn't about improving healthcare, as the Republicans claim. It's about trying to score a political victory by duping the American people into thinking that they now have a better system of healthcare when they've actually made it worst. Judging by last November, many Americans may be duped again.
38
Charts and graphs, and a teacher with a long pointer. "This is how much you are paying now for healthcare. (Point to the other chart) "And this is how much you will pay for healthcare under Trump's new plan." Run the ad day and night, until everyone has seen it 100 times. The average person is not following this debate the way NYTimes readers are. Short words, short ads, over and over again until everyone "gets it."
70
Exactly. George Soros, are you listening?
Call it GOPcare. That way, when Trump's supporters figure out how badly they've been harmed, those who live to tell the tale will associate the legislation with the Republican Party as a whole, not just with its current snake oil salesman-in-chief.
43
Or more to the point: Trump-nadacare.
It captures the spirit of this bill and, for that matter, the entire Trump platform (well, the nebulous cloud of mean-spiritedness that stands in for a Trump agenda, that is).
It captures the spirit of this bill and, for that matter, the entire Trump platform (well, the nebulous cloud of mean-spiritedness that stands in for a Trump agenda, that is).
Yes. Why should it be called "Trumpcare" when he's had so little to do with crafting it? He hardly even knows what's in it!
Good luck at the ER, if you need to be admitted. Its out the door as fast and as soon as possible.
18
Hospitals don't admit from the ER anymore. Instead, they put patients in "observation" status, sometimes for days or even weeks.
Data AND history show that trickle down doesn't work either, but for some weird reason, we keep having to return to it. Some people believe placing a little pyramid next to their bed will keep them from growing facial hairs. Makes no sense.
27
18.7 million individuals choose to either pay the tax penalty or seek a waiver from the IRS. That is a very large chunk of the 40 million Ocare was promised to insure.
They choose not to, and despite a mandate the government failed to force them into an insurance pool. And therein lies the fatal flaw in Ocare.
This week Aetna announced it was pulling out of Virginia and Iowa.
They choose not to, and despite a mandate the government failed to force them into an insurance pool. And therein lies the fatal flaw in Ocare.
This week Aetna announced it was pulling out of Virginia and Iowa.
6
The penalty for nonparticipation was simply not high enough to produce the full result intended.
The Virginia Republican legislature has done everything in its power to undermine any positives in Obamacare.
1
And this bill is better how?
1
As I recall, hospitals were closing their emergency rooms in order to avoid footing the bill for people without insurance. That solution was not working either!
36
When I was living in California, I had to go to emergency although I found out it was a minor issue, and they would not take anyone who did not have health insurance - period. This has been going on for years, but there is this myth out there that everyone has to be covered. Not at private hospitals. I sat there seeing really sick people being turned away. Then I did feel sick. This is the Republican caused future, a future that hopefully Trump Nation will notice.
1
The Trump administration seems bound and determined to drive the country into regression. Regression for anyone that isn't a member of the wealth class. I am glad to see that those who are in need of nothing will be able to continue their gains at the expense of those who have little. Those who will be forced to suffer simply because quality health care will no longer be within reach. I have not heard any sort of forecast as to the additional potential health costs of environmental regression. A return to yesteryear is hardly a good thing for anyone living at the bottom tiers of society. Apparently the bottom feeders are considered expendable by Trump and the wealth class oriented right.
27
I wonder if the poor, the sick, the middle class, and the elderly--who are not covered by their employer or a government insurance plan--are a large enough group for legislators to care about?
34
Well for the Republican legislators the answer has been, and continues to be: "We don't care. Too bad."
Unless you are wealthy the Republicans don't care about you. Regardless of the populist rhetoric at election time Republican actions speak far louder: we don't care.
I think there are simply a lot of "Joe Six Pack Republicans" who are convinced that they are part of the wealthy group that the Republicans care about. And even when evidence exists that they are not they explain it away. The picture here in the other piece is a perfect representation of those that the Republicans care about.
Unless you are wealthy the Republicans don't care about you. Regardless of the populist rhetoric at election time Republican actions speak far louder: we don't care.
I think there are simply a lot of "Joe Six Pack Republicans" who are convinced that they are part of the wealthy group that the Republicans care about. And even when evidence exists that they are not they explain it away. The picture here in the other piece is a perfect representation of those that the Republicans care about.
1
Nope. They don't have enough money for campaign contributions to matter to this Congress. Even if most get voted out in the next election, the elderly GOP members on the government gravy train for all these years will think, fine, it's a good deal, I have my lifetime pension and health benefits, and a big pile of money that I didn't have to do much to earn over the years. Who cares if my name is next to death and destruction in future history books. I want my goodies from the 1% now, thank you.
Irony, right? That is irony, correct? Otherwise...
Is this really any surprise from the good folks whose first order of business this year was to vote to eliminate the independent Ethics Office? They don't listen to any group who represents the health industry, or even care to. These republicans have no heart, no mercy and no ethics except to their wealthy keepers.
139
Reply to Caroline in MI
Elimating the Ethics Committee on the first day of this administration says it all!
Elimating the Ethics Committee on the first day of this administration says it all!
All I can say is the roll call of those republican congressmen and women who vote "Yay" for this abysmal, thoughtless and heartless piece of so-called legislation should be made public immediately so that the hard work of getting them out of office in 2018 can begin tomorrow! The system is broken folks and only we can fix it.
261
I share Concerned MD's leadnings but to clarify:
a) It will be made public immediately. You can probably watch it live too on CSPAN.
b) If the system is broken then that kind of implies that it can't just be fixed with the mid-term elections. The broken aspects of the system are the undue power and influence of health insurers and pharmaceutical companies, as well as the Republican rhetorical machine that frames votes like these not as rational considerations of pros and cons to the american people, but about grossly misrepresented ideological crusades against 'socialism' or against the evils of anything Obama might have done because... well because Obama, right?
To fix this requires recognition of these structural power imbalances and the strategic devices used by Republicans to actually fight against those. Not just lets vote them out, but lets vote for those who will address and challenge these issues
a) It will be made public immediately. You can probably watch it live too on CSPAN.
b) If the system is broken then that kind of implies that it can't just be fixed with the mid-term elections. The broken aspects of the system are the undue power and influence of health insurers and pharmaceutical companies, as well as the Republican rhetorical machine that frames votes like these not as rational considerations of pros and cons to the american people, but about grossly misrepresented ideological crusades against 'socialism' or against the evils of anything Obama might have done because... well because Obama, right?
To fix this requires recognition of these structural power imbalances and the strategic devices used by Republicans to actually fight against those. Not just lets vote them out, but lets vote for those who will address and challenge these issues
1
A Congressman who says to a father who tells the story of his newborn son's near death "your sad story doesn't obligate me or anyone else to pay for health care".
That's the crux of the matter, isn't it? Do you hear that story and agree, everyone born with a preexisting condition should have the right to life and decent healthcare, or do you think the tragedies and misfortunes of your fellow citizens are tough luck and shouldn't cost you any money? Maybe you even think they deserve it for not living right. The Republican's Darwinist view of healthcare was on full display this week.
Are you willing to see people die to save a buck in taxes? I don't have ACA insurance, but watching the torment inflicted on my fellow citizens who are listening to these debates in terror to see if they will lose their insurance when in some cases their lives hang in the balance sickens me. Reading their comments at the Times should be an education in compassion.
The views of the so-called "freedom caucus" who were so instrumental in shaping this legislation in its current, cruel incarnation are, frankly, brutal. Pre-existing condition? Your loss! Is this really the best America can do?
That's the crux of the matter, isn't it? Do you hear that story and agree, everyone born with a preexisting condition should have the right to life and decent healthcare, or do you think the tragedies and misfortunes of your fellow citizens are tough luck and shouldn't cost you any money? Maybe you even think they deserve it for not living right. The Republican's Darwinist view of healthcare was on full display this week.
Are you willing to see people die to save a buck in taxes? I don't have ACA insurance, but watching the torment inflicted on my fellow citizens who are listening to these debates in terror to see if they will lose their insurance when in some cases their lives hang in the balance sickens me. Reading their comments at the Times should be an education in compassion.
The views of the so-called "freedom caucus" who were so instrumental in shaping this legislation in its current, cruel incarnation are, frankly, brutal. Pre-existing condition? Your loss! Is this really the best America can do?
976
It seems quite a few conservatives have convinced themselves that if you have health problems it must be your own fault. The other day one of the GOP members said if people have preexisting conditions it means they weren't living right. He apparently never heard of genetic conditions, which one does not get to choose. The contortions of the GOP trying to persuade themselves that a society has no responsibility to help its poorest members is extraordinary, especially when we consider so many in the GOP call
themselves "Christians." Would Jesus push for the tax cut for the rich, knowing it will harm the poor?
themselves "Christians." Would Jesus push for the tax cut for the rich, knowing it will harm the poor?
2
The cruel quote is from a tweet by Joe Walsh, who is no longer a U.S. Congressman from Illinois because he was defeated by now Senator Tammy Duckworth. Mr. Walsh only lasted one term because he was too much of a right winger and also failed to meet his child support obligations after he (and I quote) "got hit with a divorce." Republicans are willfully ignorant of the concept of insurance. I wonder if ex-Representative Walsh or Speaker Ryan have home owners insurance. When someone else's house burns down, do they wonder why they paid all of those premiums which, incidentally, provide the funds to restore the fire victim's loss?
1
I trust that you realize that even though you "don't have ACA insurance," it does not protect you from losing exemptions, like the pre-existing condition clause. Nor will the new GOP version. We ALL have huge stakes in this, whether your insurance was bought on the "exchange" or, like you AND I, our health insurance is paid in whole or part by our employees.
1
What the GOP has come up with is a form of Nazi era eugenics... If you have weak genes, you don't belong in the gene pool. While the condemned the Dems over a non-issue called death panels, they have literally put that concept into a bill.
35
Good study but you didn't need a study to prove the obvious that even a small increase in insurance premiums to people earning less than 75K will greatly diminish enrollment. It also should be easily understood that increasing access to community based care not only through increasing insurance subsidies but also through funding for community based care such as DSRIP in NY lower costs to society by reducing ED based primary care. This is political suicide for House Republicans a good thing. Joe Walsh rationalized the U.S poor performance vs. other peer nations on lower quality scores at nearly double the cost on our diversity and large urban populations. All of these peer nations have govt. paid universal care. Joe Walsh failed to mention that the states that will be hurt the most by eliminating pre-existing conditions are Red States where the % of the population with pre-existing conditions is much higher. The rural hospitals will all close as the flood of the uninsured descend on their emergency rooms. We should be moving in the opposite direction on this by increasing subsidies where needed.
9
I'm convinced that the problem with the ACA isn't the ACA, it's Republicans. I live in North Carolina, a state whose legislature was taken over in 2010 by right-wing extremists. This most livable of the southern states is in the process of being turned by these people into a coal ash-and-pig-waste-soaked wasteland populated by people whose children were raised to believe that Fred Flintstone really did walk the earth with dinosaurs because there were no public schools to teach science; one where the state university is decimated, and theocratic rule by so-called Christians is codified into law.
We are not there yet, but the legislature and former governor took their anger at a black president out on the citizens of the state, refusing the Medicaid expansion and federal money. As a result of the GOP, there is ONE insurance carrier in this state -- Blue Cross/Blue Shield. Here, if you are single/widowed/divorced with no children and you are 61, as I am, you could end up paying up to $25,000/year in premiums, deductibles, and out of pocket on top of that -- up to $50,000/year if your emergency surgery in a hospital the ambulance takes you to is out of network. And that is if you make a penny over $46,000. Under TrumpCare, BC/BS could charge me FIVE TIMES that....if they even cover me at all. Look at NC's legislature. You want to see a poster child for asking for a waiver? It's right here in Raleigh.
We are not there yet, but the legislature and former governor took their anger at a black president out on the citizens of the state, refusing the Medicaid expansion and federal money. As a result of the GOP, there is ONE insurance carrier in this state -- Blue Cross/Blue Shield. Here, if you are single/widowed/divorced with no children and you are 61, as I am, you could end up paying up to $25,000/year in premiums, deductibles, and out of pocket on top of that -- up to $50,000/year if your emergency surgery in a hospital the ambulance takes you to is out of network. And that is if you make a penny over $46,000. Under TrumpCare, BC/BS could charge me FIVE TIMES that....if they even cover me at all. Look at NC's legislature. You want to see a poster child for asking for a waiver? It's right here in Raleigh.
83
Virginia, with our Confederate state legislature, is exactly the same, killing it's own poor and disabled for weird racial and ideological reasons. Where have we seen that before?
Not the least among the perqs of being a member of Congress is the inflated sense of self-importance that comes with deciding the fates of people. The votes for Trumpcare, however, derive more from the fear of getting a nasty tweet from Trump in the next primary than from concern with Americans. TrumpCare will come to us through cowardice, not noble motives.
21
Another step backward from the Corpos.
10
Starting today when the House plans to vote on the GOP healthcare every representative that votes for this legislation must be voted out of office.
Without exception!
Anyone who voted for a representative that would knowingly vote to remove over 20 million citizens off of their healthcare plan needs to be replaced.
That goes for any party and any state.
Elections have consequences. Let the GOP know that do not represent the will of the people and starting in the 6th district in GA in June let's work to remove every member of Congress that votes yes to this plan.
Without exception!
Anyone who voted for a representative that would knowingly vote to remove over 20 million citizens off of their healthcare plan needs to be replaced.
That goes for any party and any state.
Elections have consequences. Let the GOP know that do not represent the will of the people and starting in the 6th district in GA in June let's work to remove every member of Congress that votes yes to this plan.
49
Only 17 percent of Americans think the Trumpcare bill is a good replacement for Obamacare, yet the Republican controlled House of Representatives is on the verge of passing it. How can so few wield so much power?
44
Because people don't vote, duh...
We are looking at the direct costs of insurance, and not the whole cost.
It is easy to complain that you don't want to pay for other people's care, but everyone on a company plan is doing just that. And we do it when we pay for ER care. We also pay a social price for disease that spreads because people don't go to the doctor.
But we pay for it other ways too. What is the total cost of disability because diabetes leaves someone blind or unable to work because of amputations? What is the cost of imprisonment because poverty and illness create a good environment for crime?
What is the cost of insurrection, unrest and riots?
Price is critical. A family that can afford $13K in corporate premiums cannot afford to lose the job and pay double the insurance. People cannot afford to pay more for policies than they pay for mortgages, housing, taxes or rent.
Universal care would unite all the separate markets, increase the total size of the pool and give power to reduce cost. It would reduce the cost to employ a person. It would preserve social stability. The ACA is a weak second, but it gives people an option.
It kills me that we need a study to prove the obvious - that people need access to doctors and that they cannot afford to go it alone the way we have structured our for-profit system.
The GOP needs to unwind itself from the self-inflcited anal-cranial inversion they call policy. People are dying.
It is easy to complain that you don't want to pay for other people's care, but everyone on a company plan is doing just that. And we do it when we pay for ER care. We also pay a social price for disease that spreads because people don't go to the doctor.
But we pay for it other ways too. What is the total cost of disability because diabetes leaves someone blind or unable to work because of amputations? What is the cost of imprisonment because poverty and illness create a good environment for crime?
What is the cost of insurrection, unrest and riots?
Price is critical. A family that can afford $13K in corporate premiums cannot afford to lose the job and pay double the insurance. People cannot afford to pay more for policies than they pay for mortgages, housing, taxes or rent.
Universal care would unite all the separate markets, increase the total size of the pool and give power to reduce cost. It would reduce the cost to employ a person. It would preserve social stability. The ACA is a weak second, but it gives people an option.
It kills me that we need a study to prove the obvious - that people need access to doctors and that they cannot afford to go it alone the way we have structured our for-profit system.
The GOP needs to unwind itself from the self-inflcited anal-cranial inversion they call policy. People are dying.
67
The "plan" seems to be to eliminate a certain segment of the population by allowing them to die. Too many people to care for and feed as time progresses. The natural order of things is to eventually die, so why prolong the game by allowing people who are sick to live any longer than is necessary? Good Republican Economics. Beautiful Health Care at a fraction of the cost. "Believe Me"
25
"The Republican health bill wouldn’t raise people’s costs by only a small amount, either. It would force many low-income families to pay hundreds or thousands of dollars more for insurance — and most of them would likely respond by not buying insurance."
This disaster of a plan not only guts the protections of the ACA, it returns Joe Sixpack to pre-ACA days, made worse by the high cost of medical services.
Prior to the ACA, people who couldn't afford health insurance---a huge swath of people from the unemployed to those shunned by insurance plans because of preexisting conditions--always ended up in the ER, raising overall health costs for everyone as in the end, somebody has to pay.
That "somebody" is the US taxpayer. Yet Donald Trump will go on the stump and yammer about how this "magnificent plan" will cover more people at less cost. "A big beautiful plan," as he yelled at rallies.
When reality hits--the middle class will pay more for less and might be totally priced out of the market--some people might finally realize the president is a con man.
Because Trumpcare will hit the poorest living in middle America, where healthcare was long a Darwinian system long before President Obama modeled the ACA after the Romney plan adopted in Massachusetts.
High premiums (even higher for the older and sickest), no guaranteed benefits, state opt-outs from guaranteed benefits--this isn't healthcare, it's citizen extermination.
This disaster of a plan not only guts the protections of the ACA, it returns Joe Sixpack to pre-ACA days, made worse by the high cost of medical services.
Prior to the ACA, people who couldn't afford health insurance---a huge swath of people from the unemployed to those shunned by insurance plans because of preexisting conditions--always ended up in the ER, raising overall health costs for everyone as in the end, somebody has to pay.
That "somebody" is the US taxpayer. Yet Donald Trump will go on the stump and yammer about how this "magnificent plan" will cover more people at less cost. "A big beautiful plan," as he yelled at rallies.
When reality hits--the middle class will pay more for less and might be totally priced out of the market--some people might finally realize the president is a con man.
Because Trumpcare will hit the poorest living in middle America, where healthcare was long a Darwinian system long before President Obama modeled the ACA after the Romney plan adopted in Massachusetts.
High premiums (even higher for the older and sickest), no guaranteed benefits, state opt-outs from guaranteed benefits--this isn't healthcare, it's citizen extermination.
62
Trumpcare is a very high price to pay to have GOP leaders ousted from congress. Trump voters will not vote for them and, Trump himself will say it is a "terrible" deal and that he, single-handed, will fix it.
It will cost lives of the poor, the sick and people with preconditions.
It will cost lives of the poor, the sick and people with preconditions.
22
Please note when these changes will take places. Right after the midterms and presidential elections where republicans cement their majorities
7
Are we really surprised? This "plan" is from the same people who practice voodoo economics and insist that tax cuts for the wealthy will be absorbed by our economy when GDP grows to 4.5%/year. Meanwhile the percentage of citizens living at or near Poverty increases.
45
Hey, what was that GDP growth in the first quarter, the weakest in 3 years at .7 %.
Voodoo economics are still an excuse to cut taxes on the rich. Voodoo economics are still laden with a heavy dose of Voodoo.
Voodoo economics are still an excuse to cut taxes on the rich. Voodoo economics are still laden with a heavy dose of Voodoo.
1
God help us...
30
As a young child, I enjoyed roller coasters--the thrill of falling, turning, spinning; the anticipation as the chain dragged the cars up and up to the precipice--clunk, clunk, clunk! I enjoyed it because at root I knew the thrill felt dangerous but was not dangerous--every train leaving the loading station returned a minute or so later with all its passengers.
Now imagine the roller coaster is health care and you have been advised the conservative track mechanics have been randomly removing the bolts holding the tracks in place because they need these bolts for other more important things in the amusement park. Every day more and more bolts are removed so the adjacent plutocrat's coaster can be made bigger, taller and more beautiful. YUGE!
You might not wish to ride your coaster at all, but when your train comes into the station, the bar does not release and you find you are being tied into your car and compelled to ride the now creaking circuit again.
Welcome to Trumpcare 3.0! It's the ride of your life!
Now imagine the roller coaster is health care and you have been advised the conservative track mechanics have been randomly removing the bolts holding the tracks in place because they need these bolts for other more important things in the amusement park. Every day more and more bolts are removed so the adjacent plutocrat's coaster can be made bigger, taller and more beautiful. YUGE!
You might not wish to ride your coaster at all, but when your train comes into the station, the bar does not release and you find you are being tied into your car and compelled to ride the now creaking circuit again.
Welcome to Trumpcare 3.0! It's the ride of your life!
49
The problem with having health insurance corporations decide whether to cover your
health care needs is that you must pay them before you need the service and then, unlike with a government run single payer system, if they fail to provide the promised service, you must fight them when you are sick.
Governments can be voted out of office,
but health insurance corporations plan to outlive you and actively contribute to your
demise.
Every other economically advanced country in the world has either a single payer or a hybrid public-private health system yet the US has failed to adopt world's best practice heath delivery standards in lieu of corporate-run death panels.
health care needs is that you must pay them before you need the service and then, unlike with a government run single payer system, if they fail to provide the promised service, you must fight them when you are sick.
Governments can be voted out of office,
but health insurance corporations plan to outlive you and actively contribute to your
demise.
Every other economically advanced country in the world has either a single payer or a hybrid public-private health system yet the US has failed to adopt world's best practice heath delivery standards in lieu of corporate-run death panels.
18
The VA is a single payer system, Medicare is a public-private hybrid together they cover a sizable portion of the pop.
BTW, Texas has a larger population than Australia, and we have another state with a much larger pop.
BTW, Texas has a larger population than Australia, and we have another state with a much larger pop.
1
In order to meet both of the primary goals of the modern GOP - delivering tax cuts to the rich and destroying Obama's legacy, the Republicans are about to take affordable health insurance and the accompanying access to health care away from millions. People will die. They don't care.
But in the end this may be the nail in the GOP coffin and lead this country to the only right answer to universal healthcare - single payer.
We shall see if gerrymandering and voter suppression is enough to save them from the cruel and heartless act they are about to commit.
But in the end this may be the nail in the GOP coffin and lead this country to the only right answer to universal healthcare - single payer.
We shall see if gerrymandering and voter suppression is enough to save them from the cruel and heartless act they are about to commit.
17
If the photo doesn't make you feel mildly nauseous then you have lost your soul. Ignorant grifters on the government dole looingt the treasury to pay off their masters.
The pharaohs look generous by comparison.
The pharaohs look generous by comparison.
33
I am visiting in Germany. Every acquaintance I talk to asks me "What has happened to the U.S.? You used to be an example that we all respected. How could this have happened in your country?" Or much stronger words than that. What is happening with health care and reversing the AFA is a perfect example. No one is without excellent health care in Germany. And, their standard of living exceeds ours in the US. It's too bad that more Americans don't travel ...... so they persist in the outdated notion that we are "the shining city on the hill." No, dear fellow Americans, we are fast becoming like a 3rd world country. In Germany, health care is universal. Everyone (immigrant or born German) has health care, housing , food, access to green parks and spaces, clean energy, nearly free universities. I have no respect for the Republican Congress-- they all have "gold plated" health care for themselves and their families but would deny basic health coverage to our citizens. This Congress would deny health care to millions of Americans because it was provided for us by President Obama, a black American and a Democrat. That is the shameful truth.
336
You are so right. Your observations are true not only in Germany, but also in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and on and on. Too few Americans travel abroad and, as such, have no idea how far we have fallen as a nation.
11
I have already had one of my US born children immigrate to a more progressive country where top healthcare is a right and free, and the other one is considering it. The one that has left took a hard, critical look at where the US is headed and said "no".
Eisenhower was correct, and the Military-Industrial Complex has won, leaving too little for the rest of us to enjoy a Western European lifestyle. This is compounded by the right's mis-remembering of the '50's & '60's and their total failure to recall or appreciate the global conditions that allowed for the good times. Hey: its easy to have a lot of high paying manufacturing jobs when the manufacturing base of all your competitors has been bombed out of existence and the labor your competitors need was all killed in war.
I do not understand how people, most of whom would loudly profess to be Christians, can be so mean and harsh to others. This is not what Jesus taught us. But now we know that racism (yes, the the GOP's Obamacare repeal is ALL and ONLY about racism) is truly more powerful than Christ.
Eisenhower was correct, and the Military-Industrial Complex has won, leaving too little for the rest of us to enjoy a Western European lifestyle. This is compounded by the right's mis-remembering of the '50's & '60's and their total failure to recall or appreciate the global conditions that allowed for the good times. Hey: its easy to have a lot of high paying manufacturing jobs when the manufacturing base of all your competitors has been bombed out of existence and the labor your competitors need was all killed in war.
I do not understand how people, most of whom would loudly profess to be Christians, can be so mean and harsh to others. This is not what Jesus taught us. But now we know that racism (yes, the the GOP's Obamacare repeal is ALL and ONLY about racism) is truly more powerful than Christ.
8
Same thing that happened in Germany on the 1930s. Don't tell me the Germans don't study history either.
5
I've got it. A way to pay for healthcare. Sell subscriptions to seats at Republican town hall meetings. They are about to be hotter than tickets to Hamilton!
13
This repeal health care bill may be passed with out any hearings, CBO reports or testimony from experts and others. If this Bill passes the house I hope Senate Democrats call for public hearings, and demand a report from the CBO before any vote is passed. Paul Ryan (My rep) wants the Bill passed in its current form regardless how it affects the poor or elderly.
23
You call it damage, but they don't. It is cheaper and faster to let poor die than insure them or raise the minimum wage. Likewise the disabled - it's clean-up time. Wall out brown people, shoot black people, fire the liberals. Soon America will look exactly like the picture that accompanies this article: Rich white men stuffing their pockets, like God intended.
171
I'm sure that expedient outcome would please the GOOP were it not for the reality that the uninsured don't just die. They do get care, and it gets paid for by someone, and someone makes money. A lot of it. Most of us end up indirectly footing the bill.
Gold, Jerry, gold!
Gold, Jerry, gold!
6
Thank you for citing this study. I have seen other experts also say that the CBO's estimate for the loss of healthcare might be too conservative.
The GOP's bill should be called the American Catastrophic Healthcare-- it will create catastrophes for millions. As I understand it, there is no employer mandate so companies can eliminate insurance benefits for workers. States may opt out of essential medical coverage. Those with pre-existing conditions (at least 27% of Americans) may be dumped into high risk pools in various states which may set annual or lifetime caps on coverage and may steeply increase premiums. High risk pools have never worked. The requirement that people must pay a penalty if they don't have insurance has been removed so the system will collapse anyway. The $880 billion that was to be slashed from Medicaid is still in the GOP plan. Presumably the wealthy still get almost a trillion dollars.
If Republicans vote for this and the CBO report once again shows 24 million or more Americans losing their insurance, at least the names of the death panel members would be known. Put Trump and Ryan at the top.
Never have so few rushed to take away so much from so many. Jimmy Kimmel's moving and powerful plea about his newborn son shows the cost. Multiply the possible outcome for one beautiful baby and his loving family by tens of millions of people whose own families or lives would bear the irreplaceable losses, suffering, anxiety and suffering.
The GOP's bill should be called the American Catastrophic Healthcare-- it will create catastrophes for millions. As I understand it, there is no employer mandate so companies can eliminate insurance benefits for workers. States may opt out of essential medical coverage. Those with pre-existing conditions (at least 27% of Americans) may be dumped into high risk pools in various states which may set annual or lifetime caps on coverage and may steeply increase premiums. High risk pools have never worked. The requirement that people must pay a penalty if they don't have insurance has been removed so the system will collapse anyway. The $880 billion that was to be slashed from Medicaid is still in the GOP plan. Presumably the wealthy still get almost a trillion dollars.
If Republicans vote for this and the CBO report once again shows 24 million or more Americans losing their insurance, at least the names of the death panel members would be known. Put Trump and Ryan at the top.
Never have so few rushed to take away so much from so many. Jimmy Kimmel's moving and powerful plea about his newborn son shows the cost. Multiply the possible outcome for one beautiful baby and his loving family by tens of millions of people whose own families or lives would bear the irreplaceable losses, suffering, anxiety and suffering.
14
After all is said and done, the Republicans own healthcare. They can stop blaming Obama. They are the new stewards of what happens to healthcare. And when we look at who the winners and losers are, it won't matter if you are the white, middle class, uneducated, underemployed, Midwestern, rust belt , forgotten, underappreciated, neglected, suffering, or whatever descriptive you want to use to describe why they voted for Trump. This healthcare plan will not change any of the descriptors mentioned above. Because they are not well off. And when you are feeling poorly, head to the ER. The Republicans are here to help.
18
To baldly reduce health care availability to lower income citizens so that the wealthy get tax cuts is both disgusting and immoral. How do the house republicans sleep at night? How do they look their families in the eye?
41
What evidence is there that they ever cared?
1
One former congressman said on cable news yesterday, "I shouldn't have to pay for someone else's health care."
Perhaps I shouldn't have to pay for sociopathic congressmen or their health care, which will apparently be excluded from currently proposed legislation.
They know what they are doing is harmful to other people.
The most insulting thing is watching many elected GOP officials lie and pretend to ignore the obvious consequences regarding the their new health care legislation. Those not in high risk pools run by individual states will find themselves in a high risk pool sooner or later, many priced out of the health care market. Hospital ER's will be once again responsible for those who cannot pay, driving up patient costs and insurance premiums.
It is difficult to understand the mindset of elected GOP officials. Are they such ideologues for States' Rights that they dump problems on States that are best addressed on a national level all the while ignoring human suffering or are they all just plain hateful and vengeful regarding anything President Obama had accomplished, ignoring human suffering?
Perhaps I shouldn't have to pay for sociopathic congressmen or their health care, which will apparently be excluded from currently proposed legislation.
They know what they are doing is harmful to other people.
The most insulting thing is watching many elected GOP officials lie and pretend to ignore the obvious consequences regarding the their new health care legislation. Those not in high risk pools run by individual states will find themselves in a high risk pool sooner or later, many priced out of the health care market. Hospital ER's will be once again responsible for those who cannot pay, driving up patient costs and insurance premiums.
It is difficult to understand the mindset of elected GOP officials. Are they such ideologues for States' Rights that they dump problems on States that are best addressed on a national level all the while ignoring human suffering or are they all just plain hateful and vengeful regarding anything President Obama had accomplished, ignoring human suffering?
24
In answer to your question: "...they (are) all just plain hateful and vengeful regarding anything President Obama had accomplished." There. You answered your question.
17
When the Republicans are swept away from office President Benie Sanders will work with his filibuster proof Congress to give us single payer healthcare.
10
From "Organic Farming and Gardening" magazine classified adds, late sixties and early seventies. Ran for years. Must have been a real money maker.:
Resurrected millions will farm fertile ocean bottoms when seas are removed by coming whirlwind. Startling!
Send 50 cents for details.
Resurrected millions will farm fertile ocean bottoms when seas are removed by coming whirlwind. Startling!
Send 50 cents for details.
1
We could have had that with President Hillary Clinton without having had to go through the Trump/Ryan misery. At the very least she would have improved the gaps in Obamacare and then moved to a single payer or combined public/private plan over time. Provided she wasn't stuck with Republican majorities in Congress, House and Senate...
6
“… the Republican proposal would effectively end enrollment in the insurance markets for families that make less than $75,000 a year.”
o Republican attempt to cull the herd?
“Above all, the bill cuts health benefits for the poor, the middle class, the elderly and the sick, and it funnels the savings to tax cuts for the rich.”
o For those of us currently covered by the ACA, it would be useful, from time to time, for the NYT to provide some practical articles concerning what we might be doing to try to get ourselves covered next year.
By the way G.O.P.: All of our bodies are born with pre-existing conditions. They are then immediately confronted with the most miserable pre-existing condition of them all: your greed.
We need some sort of federal ballot initiative process so voters could force Congress onto whatever health care plan they devise for us – that would instantly bring an end to these problems.
o Republican attempt to cull the herd?
“Above all, the bill cuts health benefits for the poor, the middle class, the elderly and the sick, and it funnels the savings to tax cuts for the rich.”
o For those of us currently covered by the ACA, it would be useful, from time to time, for the NYT to provide some practical articles concerning what we might be doing to try to get ourselves covered next year.
By the way G.O.P.: All of our bodies are born with pre-existing conditions. They are then immediately confronted with the most miserable pre-existing condition of them all: your greed.
We need some sort of federal ballot initiative process so voters could force Congress onto whatever health care plan they devise for us – that would instantly bring an end to these problems.
28
Really? how about voting?
This bill contains what Paul Ryan called "tax relief" for the 400 wealthiest people in the country. That "relief" would average 7 million a year. Presently these people have an after tax income of about 20 million a month. It's great that Ryan and his co-conspirators have such empathy for people in this income bracket - so much empathy that he's willing to take health insurance away from poor people to provide that tax break. These Republicans, who are exploiting the fact that they have an ignoramus Republican president, make the sheriff of Nottingham look like a generous guy.
60
Great article, David.
5
The United Nations on Human Rights warned Trump that ObamaCare repeal could violate international law . This is a Fox News headline, and also reported by W. Post and elsewhere. But strangely, I can’t find it in the Times. Yes the USA is backward vs other rich, modern civilized nations.
Trump care is baaaad and stoopid. But Obamacare was pretty inadequate also, preserving corporate profits which our taxes help pay, extremely expensive, plus confusing complicated and left out millions. But it was the best our govt could manage for We the People. Now it's practically revered, as the Gop aims to destroy it.
ACA has a halo of virtue compared to the destruction the Gop wants to wreak.
Interesting that the European right wing parties do not want to ruin their generations long health care for all. Interesting that our dominant Gop rw is much more Darwinian, cruel and profit oriented than the EU right wing parties.
And, EU parties don’t depend on big insurance/pharma to help fund US style campaigns for $multi millions both Dems/Gop need to run for office.
They have simplified, universal and lower cost coverage---for generations already. Could Mr Leonhardt write a column to give Americans insight into this contrast?
Trump care is baaaad and stoopid. But Obamacare was pretty inadequate also, preserving corporate profits which our taxes help pay, extremely expensive, plus confusing complicated and left out millions. But it was the best our govt could manage for We the People. Now it's practically revered, as the Gop aims to destroy it.
ACA has a halo of virtue compared to the destruction the Gop wants to wreak.
Interesting that the European right wing parties do not want to ruin their generations long health care for all. Interesting that our dominant Gop rw is much more Darwinian, cruel and profit oriented than the EU right wing parties.
And, EU parties don’t depend on big insurance/pharma to help fund US style campaigns for $multi millions both Dems/Gop need to run for office.
They have simplified, universal and lower cost coverage---for generations already. Could Mr Leonhardt write a column to give Americans insight into this contrast?
17
Stop calling this a Republican Health Bill. It is a Republican wealth transfer from those who can least afford it to those who don't need it, period, end of story. They promised the plutocrats their big tax cut and come hell or high water they are going to give it to them. The sad part is that they are doing it with the support of a significant minority who will be hurt the most, the white working class.
59
It's not Trump Care as Obama's health plan was Obama Care. No this is outside of the government management. This is free enterprise health care. Look at what happened to Obama Care unravel. That's what happens when government tries to manage social needs.
You are so right, get the government out of people's lives. Eliminate child labor laws. Eliminate the 40 hour work week. Bring back Jim Crow. Those were the good old days...weren't they?
9
And yet every other wealthy Western nation manages to do it, and do it at far less cost with better outcomes than our healthcare system.
10
Phoenix? Aren't you all down to one or NO healthcare providers within the ACA.
"Make America great again" apparently means make working Americans stay chained to jobs with (or without) health benefits until we drop dead of exhaustion.
34
$8 billion now...then next year it will be $7 billion...then the following year it will be $6 billion...then the next year after that...All in the name of making government smaller, and getting the government out of people's lives, and reducing the national debt. The GOP is so predictable.
8
Every Senator and Representative should remember they were elected to be public servants. As such it would be well for them to serve in the spirit of our nation's moto: "In God We Trust". As they go about their responsibilities they should bear in mind these profound and true words: "the love of money ( and they love it ) is the root of all evil." And there is plenty of that - it's called corruption. They should be ashamed that further enrichment of the wealthy so endangers the vast majority of those represent.
10
The Republican Party-not the conservative movement-at this point in history, has no brain and no heart. It exists solely to secure the military and slash the taxes of the top 5%.
36
This appears to be about to pass. Probably just as well as the Republicans were going to underfund Obamacare to the point where it failed. Better that we now have TrumpCare, so that his supporters know who to blame when increasing numbers lose their healthcare either partially or completely.
32
But don't worry, all those coal mining jobs will come back and the Trumpers will be rolling in money and able to afford health insurance.
9
When will the Conservatives understand that "personal responsibility " includes having healthcare insurance so I don't have to pay for your care when you wind up in the emergency room.?
53
The future of American Health Care with this "win" is hospitals closing, more unemployment, and fewer individuals choosing to become health care providers. The future of medicine was on edge before, but now, with their massive transfer of wealth to the wealthy with the health care dollars of the ACA, the Republicans are also perfectly poised to also eliminate Medicare and Social Security. Our nation just became very ill and economically insecure in the blink of an eye. Putin has won, and the Republicans and Trump are laughing all the way to the bank.
23
The problem with the arguments for and against, is that it is almost always in the abstract. There is no face to the problem. ( perhaps because the problem is just so massive )
Whenever a face IS presented ( say a sick child a la Jimmy Kimmel ) then there are howls from the right ( only ) that there is '' politicizing '' of the issue.
In my estimation, that is where Liberals go wrong. There should be MORE faces front and center and more heart strings being pulled.
The movie; '' The Martian '' essentially raised the same issue. How much money will be spent to save one astronaut ? Billions ? A Trillion ?
If you were walking down the street and saw a car accident, or somebody fall badly, or just someone in desperate medical need, you are going to help. You are not going to check to see if they are Liberal or republican first. You are not going to check to see if they have insurance ( although the EMTs and hospital will )
Why should offering to prioritize health care be any different ?
It should not ...
Whenever a face IS presented ( say a sick child a la Jimmy Kimmel ) then there are howls from the right ( only ) that there is '' politicizing '' of the issue.
In my estimation, that is where Liberals go wrong. There should be MORE faces front and center and more heart strings being pulled.
The movie; '' The Martian '' essentially raised the same issue. How much money will be spent to save one astronaut ? Billions ? A Trillion ?
If you were walking down the street and saw a car accident, or somebody fall badly, or just someone in desperate medical need, you are going to help. You are not going to check to see if they are Liberal or republican first. You are not going to check to see if they have insurance ( although the EMTs and hospital will )
Why should offering to prioritize health care be any different ?
It should not ...
47
You just described the problem regarding trying to discuss serious gun control legislation, too.
1
House Republicans believe that if Trump can get away with telling big lies, so can they. They will go back to their districts; look their constituents in the eye; and lie about no one losing their coverage, about it making healthcare more affordable, and about it covering preexisting conditions.
77
And since non-Republicans are not good at calling people out/hold them accountable, the damage will be lost in time and petty talks.
1
Sadly, it is proving to be true that it works.
Yes, the Affordable Care Act should be changed--to a single payer, universal health care system that citizens in the majority of developed nations already enjoy. Other than that, the Republicans are simply pursuing their typical stick it to the poor and needy agenda.
45
Single payer universal health care does seem to be the ideal solution. But recall that last year, Hillary Clinton refused to support it, giving in only to get Bernie Sanders off her back. She didn't mean it. When a Democratic nominee runs for president and won't support single payer universal health care, you know the banks and insurance companies are still in control of this issue.
1
Watching your debate on Health Care enfolding from Germany I cannot but wonder why nobody in the Republican party stands up to point out the lunacy of this new law. Why targeting the people who are in need of help? Why targeting people with pre-existing conditions? Why targeting the elderly? For me this makes no sense. Most Republicans are people who define themselves as Christians. "Love thy neighbor" is central to the Christian faith. Where did this love go? "You cannot serve two masters. (...) You cannot serve GOD and Mammon (Matthew 6:24)"
37
"Most Republicans are people who define themselves as Christians."
Yes they do but it's what they call themselves when pressed to define themselves as something. In reality none of those people are Christians as most of us understand the word. In the GOP claiming to be "Christian" is nothing but political posturing. Imagine Jesus telling them to give the wealthy a big tax cut.
Yes they do but it's what they call themselves when pressed to define themselves as something. In reality none of those people are Christians as most of us understand the word. In the GOP claiming to be "Christian" is nothing but political posturing. Imagine Jesus telling them to give the wealthy a big tax cut.
7
The GOP goal is to pass a tax cut for the wealthy. There is no attempt to pass a healthcare bill. Trump's Doofus Healthcare is a deliberate distraction from physical healthcare unless one means the healthy care to reduce taxes for the wealthy. The GOP goal is to pass healthcare plan that has two parts: 1) Don't get sick; and 2) If you do get sick, die. As Scrooge said, 'Better to reduce the excess population.' Wake me when and if the GOP ever intends to deal with the physical and mental health of average Americans.
30
Most people believe what they want to hear, so would the actual financial impact of the Republican lead effort to remove health care be a bad thing or a much overdue reality check on what partisianship is really doing to you?
1
Every country, in its own interests, should provide two things for its citizens, free at the point of delivery. These are healthcare and education. A sick, uneducated populace is unproductive. I would have thought the current US administration with its emphasis on "business know-how" would understand this.
194
The Republicans are so blinded by their determination to finally get rid of the ACA that they are willing to pass a bad bill to do it. But the debate that they've been having has been very revealing about what their priorities are as a party. They care more about tax breaks for the wealthy than they do about making sure that Americans have affordable health insurance that works for everyone including those who are poor and those who have preexisting conditions.
We really need Medicare for all Americans. In doing so the healthcare hit to our GDP would likely reduce by half. Best of all, Americans wouldn't have to file medical bankruptcy any longer.
Rather than fix what's not working Republicans are going to break the ACA. They will then blame Democrats. The fact that their constituents are protesting this plan has no meaning. They are so blinded by party loyalty they just don't care.
We really need Medicare for all Americans. In doing so the healthcare hit to our GDP would likely reduce by half. Best of all, Americans wouldn't have to file medical bankruptcy any longer.
Rather than fix what's not working Republicans are going to break the ACA. They will then blame Democrats. The fact that their constituents are protesting this plan has no meaning. They are so blinded by party loyalty they just don't care.
38
The words "party loyalty" sounds like the old Soviet system. Party loyalty is worth zero compared to human health and life. Shame on the Republicans as they hoard their excellent health care unto themselves only!
4
It's a very bad, no-good, lousy, terrible, awful bill, selfish on behalf of the wealthy, stingy on behalf of ordinary people. Death panels for the poor, in some cases.
All profits to the profiteers, another way to make America small and mean.
All profits to the profiteers, another way to make America small and mean.
118
Yes, profits over people. Not a recipe for success among the electorate but great for the 1%.
19
Syria's Assad uses gas and kills 89 Syrians, and the world is outraged.
The world says Assad is a monster.
The GOP proposes drastic cuts to Medicaid expansion and ACA subsidies, which will cause 24 million (at least) to lose health insurance coverage. Those who need prescription drugs that keep them alive will probably not survive. Aren't these men guilty of causing more deaths than Assad? Why isn't the world condemning these men as monsters?
The world says Assad is a monster.
The GOP proposes drastic cuts to Medicaid expansion and ACA subsidies, which will cause 24 million (at least) to lose health insurance coverage. Those who need prescription drugs that keep them alive will probably not survive. Aren't these men guilty of causing more deaths than Assad? Why isn't the world condemning these men as monsters?
606
Apparently using chemicals to kill your own people is monstrous; letting them die of neglect is perfectly OK with the party of Jesus.
28
The millions of people who marched against Trump world wide the day after his inauguration were saying that the Trump and the people who support him are monsters. It didn't faze Trump but make no mistake, they think Trump is a monster, in this country and around the world.
7
Really excellent point!
We are all aware of the way the House votes and to some degree the Senate as well, but most voters consider the Senate to be a more deliberative and generally more intelligent group a fact which does not escape many who hold these offices. If this is the case, like all the past attempts to repeal and replace the ACA, it too will fail.
If it passes the House as many seem to expect sailing through the Senate will be no easy task as the last thing a dignified and respected Senator, as many holding the office consider themselves, will not court the embarrassment and potentially falling blade this watered down version of obvious racism directed at our former President will bring down on their political necks.
If the men who vote to repeal and replace do not recognize the harm this measure will cause, not just to the citizenry, but also the possible destruction of their own careers, they should not be in office.
It may be we have to go through cataclysms of this sort in order to shake ourselves free of the lethargy our trust has allowed. I am confident whatever the outcome, America is waking up to the fact we are not all considered equal by those we elect to what is becoming "private office".
If it passes the House as many seem to expect sailing through the Senate will be no easy task as the last thing a dignified and respected Senator, as many holding the office consider themselves, will not court the embarrassment and potentially falling blade this watered down version of obvious racism directed at our former President will bring down on their political necks.
If the men who vote to repeal and replace do not recognize the harm this measure will cause, not just to the citizenry, but also the possible destruction of their own careers, they should not be in office.
It may be we have to go through cataclysms of this sort in order to shake ourselves free of the lethargy our trust has allowed. I am confident whatever the outcome, America is waking up to the fact we are not all considered equal by those we elect to what is becoming "private office".
21
Don't count on the Senate to save you from this Bill. The Turtle will ram it through by hook or by crook for the political win alone, regardless of what the Bill actually does to health care once it becomes law. The only up side is that the chickens will come home to roost for the Republicans in 2018 when the impact of this regrettable legal escapade becomes better understood.
60
Except that, as mentioned, the full effects won't be seen until 2020. The NYTimes and all media need to trumpet this fact, loud and clear.
So basically the people who voted for Trump and a republican congress voted for their own extinction.
176
What a brilliant way to put it! Yes, they did.
5
It would be nice if only those voters would be the one's that suffered. Unfortunately, they won't be.
12
No, there will always be people uneducated enough to vote for them again and blame their new, Republican-cause problems on something or someone else.
3
3 experts...
Next step - select 150 citizens (50 states x 3) at random from the country
Explain the amended new Republican plan to them in a simple language with actual examples. David Leonhardt can be one of the "Explainers"!
Let everybody know this group's reaction, comments, suggestions.....
President should invite these common people at the white house. He should also invite few Super-rich. He is a man of action; he would love it. Let sisterhood and brotherhood flourish in America. Let it be a role model to the world.
The rest will be history! Do you agree?
(THE America--on a roll!!)
Next step - select 150 citizens (50 states x 3) at random from the country
Explain the amended new Republican plan to them in a simple language with actual examples. David Leonhardt can be one of the "Explainers"!
Let everybody know this group's reaction, comments, suggestions.....
President should invite these common people at the white house. He should also invite few Super-rich. He is a man of action; he would love it. Let sisterhood and brotherhood flourish in America. Let it be a role model to the world.
The rest will be history! Do you agree?
(THE America--on a roll!!)
9
Obama got a whole lot of votes for the Democrats by developing a health care system that was unsustainable. Even Bill Clinton said 'It's the craziest thing in the world "
Now some legislators want to put it on a financially sound footing. For that they get accused of being bad people. Seems to me like it's the opposite.
Now some legislators want to put it on a financially sound footing. For that they get accused of being bad people. Seems to me like it's the opposite.
1
Actually it was Republican obstruction all the way down the line that made Romneycare - aka Obamacare - all we could get.
Your "sound financial footing" means, simply, all profits to those exploiting the profit side and all costs to those who can't afford it.
We need universal health care, Medicare for all, single payer, like the rest of the civilized world.
That way we wouldn't have the most expensive and some of the worst health care in the world.
Your "sound financial footing" means, simply, all profits to those exploiting the profit side and all costs to those who can't afford it.
We need universal health care, Medicare for all, single payer, like the rest of the civilized world.
That way we wouldn't have the most expensive and some of the worst health care in the world.
144
Amy
What do you know about medicine and healthcare?
Just curious.
MIMA
What do you know about medicine and healthcare?
Just curious.
MIMA
25
Actually it was very sustainable, what was needed was to make the mandate far stronger. The reason why markets are failing is because only the sick sign up for insurance. And insurance can't survive when only those that need it buy it. That is why car and house insurance is mandated, so that the cost is spread out.
The ACA knew that the mandate had to work. It was designed so that the healthy would sign up to make the insurance cost be spread out. But the mandate is not enforced and is too weak. That is the problem.
The ACA knew that the mandate had to work. It was designed so that the healthy would sign up to make the insurance cost be spread out. But the mandate is not enforced and is too weak. That is the problem.
35
Decades of being a nurse has put me over the edge in my older age. Why?
I gave it everything I had. Worked weekends, holidays, nights, days, filled in, went in on call, you name it. I took care of young, old, no matter ethnic group or culture of my patients. I worked with other dedicated nurses, doctors, physical therapists, other staff.
We were there to help heal. We were there to alleviate suffering if we could, both physical and emotional pain. For some reason something inside of us chose healthcare for a career. We're not do gooders, or better than anyone else. Sometimes we're even goofy after the coffee that keeps us going on the night shifts, but we mostly always have been tied together by compassion.
Now, today, our hearts aches as we read the news about what these Republican monsters are doing to not only our patients, but the mental anguish they are causing to all people, sick or not yet sick across this country.
They have the audacity to threaten our patients that they can only use a certain amount of money, caps, to be able to live a life. They are condemning our patients who already have cancer, or heart conditions, or neurological disease, or so many other diseases by snatching their lifelines away, blaming them for pre-existing conditions. Making monetary deals with their bodies!
I cried for joy when the ACA was signed, March 23, 2010, and every time the Supreme Court supported it.
I weep now for all those the Republicans try to kill off.
I gave it everything I had. Worked weekends, holidays, nights, days, filled in, went in on call, you name it. I took care of young, old, no matter ethnic group or culture of my patients. I worked with other dedicated nurses, doctors, physical therapists, other staff.
We were there to help heal. We were there to alleviate suffering if we could, both physical and emotional pain. For some reason something inside of us chose healthcare for a career. We're not do gooders, or better than anyone else. Sometimes we're even goofy after the coffee that keeps us going on the night shifts, but we mostly always have been tied together by compassion.
Now, today, our hearts aches as we read the news about what these Republican monsters are doing to not only our patients, but the mental anguish they are causing to all people, sick or not yet sick across this country.
They have the audacity to threaten our patients that they can only use a certain amount of money, caps, to be able to live a life. They are condemning our patients who already have cancer, or heart conditions, or neurological disease, or so many other diseases by snatching their lifelines away, blaming them for pre-existing conditions. Making monetary deals with their bodies!
I cried for joy when the ACA was signed, March 23, 2010, and every time the Supreme Court supported it.
I weep now for all those the Republicans try to kill off.
1689
Thank you, thank you. Now copy/paste your letter to all [italics] elected legislators, to your local newspaper, and make a selfie video and post on YouTube (public) ~ Thank you again and more ~
6
To MIMA,
There is no way to thank you and your colleagues enough for your devotion to the highest of all human values: the reduction of harm to fellow human beings. In so doing, you folks make it quite clear that the Republicans who would seek to destroy rather than improve Obama Care, and who see themselves as pro-life, are in fact the steely faces of pro-neglect, pro-suffering and pro-death, if we still believe language is supposed to mean something. America does indeed have its forces of darkness that should frighten us. Instead, the smiling faces of proponents of devastating social policies like Speaker Ryan seem to lull millions of citizens to sleep. Can our perpetually reforming educational system do no better than this, in helping us understand the dynamics of our own society?
There is no way to thank you and your colleagues enough for your devotion to the highest of all human values: the reduction of harm to fellow human beings. In so doing, you folks make it quite clear that the Republicans who would seek to destroy rather than improve Obama Care, and who see themselves as pro-life, are in fact the steely faces of pro-neglect, pro-suffering and pro-death, if we still believe language is supposed to mean something. America does indeed have its forces of darkness that should frighten us. Instead, the smiling faces of proponents of devastating social policies like Speaker Ryan seem to lull millions of citizens to sleep. Can our perpetually reforming educational system do no better than this, in helping us understand the dynamics of our own society?
4
I have seen and felt the compassion of nurses such as you. It made all the difference at a time of deep pain and grief. Thank you.
3
When every expert says the bill is bad for Americans, republicans still don't care. When most Americans say fix ACA, republicans don't care. When Trump has lied blatantly about keeping healthcare affordable and the "good" parts of the ACA, the Trump supporters don't care that he lied, they till flock his rallies and chant "lock her up".
This bill will affect most Americans for the worse. If it passes, we will see if the public response will make republicans care.
This bill will affect most Americans for the worse. If it passes, we will see if the public response will make republicans care.
19
Trump voters will get what they deserve! Unfortunately, they will take the rest of us with them, I fear. If they shove this down our throat like everything else they have done, I would be in favor of breaking up the USA into states that think alike!
13
I like what Nancy Pelosi said. essentially: I hope this vote is forever tatooed to their foreheads so the voters will know who to blame for their loss of health coverage. Remember this vote in 2018 - they are on the record.
Paul Ryan's message to 23 million poor & working class citizens: drop dead so I can give tax cuts to the top 1%. These people have no morality or shame.
All Ryan's gibberish about freedom just means you'll have the freedom to die, when you or a loved one cannot afford care.
These are despicable, craven human beings. How they can portray themselves as Christians is nauseating hypocrisy.
Paul Ryan's message to 23 million poor & working class citizens: drop dead so I can give tax cuts to the top 1%. These people have no morality or shame.
All Ryan's gibberish about freedom just means you'll have the freedom to die, when you or a loved one cannot afford care.
These are despicable, craven human beings. How they can portray themselves as Christians is nauseating hypocrisy.
517
We should all remember that Paul Ryan grew up on his father's Disability payments. He went to school on Federal grant money. He also lied about his marathon time. Paul Ryan is as much a liar and failure as Mitch McConnell. The difference between the two is that McConnell owns an old pick up truck and promises to keep coal mines running forever. He does not support health care for those with black lung disease; the miners don't know that. Drive through W. Virginia and meet some McConnell's voters. Avoid any road running under a pile of mining sludge; the barrier could give way at any time.
4
I wonder what the Pope would say in private to Paul Ryan? A very sinister scary guy who needs to be removed from public office asap. Good luck Paul finding employment in the private sector.
1
I cannot imagine the crushing pressure on parents with a sick child whose health might be regained at a price that bankrupts the entire family. A society that engineers situations like this is not a civilization, at least not one that can last.
101
when a child is born with a heart defect that requires immediate surgery and sometimes multiple surgeries that care required is immediate. I worked with many of these children prior to ACA. The care needed was always delayed. The surgeon may be in a different city and the hospital will want to know how the bill will be paid prior to admission. It's really sad to see a young child gradually become sicker due to delays. I hope we don't go back to "the good old days". It's heartbreaking but these politicians don't have a heart.
"The bill could cause more people to lose insurance than previously predicted and do more damage to insurance markets. The $8 billion sweetener that Republicans added to the bill on Wednesday would do nothing to change this reality."
So little lipstick, so large a pig.
So little lipstick, so large a pig.
38
The Affordable Care Act, for all its flaws and compromises, was an honest attempt to improve the health care system in the United States, including lowering the, to that point, rapidly accelerating cost of medical care.
The current Republican plan isn't aimed at improving anybody's health care. It's reason to be is strictly political: to fulfill (or pretend to fulfill) Republican campaign promises and to give the President a political "win" in a time in which he has had few of them.
When will the American people realize that they are being bamboozled by Trump and by the Republican party, both of whom seem to care little or nothing about the welfare of the people and almost everything about their own short-term...VERY short-term...political interests and advantages.
Shame.
The current Republican plan isn't aimed at improving anybody's health care. It's reason to be is strictly political: to fulfill (or pretend to fulfill) Republican campaign promises and to give the President a political "win" in a time in which he has had few of them.
When will the American people realize that they are being bamboozled by Trump and by the Republican party, both of whom seem to care little or nothing about the welfare of the people and almost everything about their own short-term...VERY short-term...political interests and advantages.
Shame.
1058
The American people have already been bamboozled by their president and congress, yet they persist...
6
"Gopcare" seems to say it all.
Good intentions (i'll be charitable) , bad reality.
"If you like your doctor/plan, you can keep it."
Decreasing healthcare costs.
How did those work out for you?
"If you like your doctor/plan, you can keep it."
Decreasing healthcare costs.
How did those work out for you?
I noticed, too, that the cut in subsidies and the elimination of expanded medicaid funding to the states occur in 2020. Just as I expected, they will attempt to hide the real impact on voters until after the midterms and next presidential election. Pure evil.
244
A Democrat gave millions of uninsured Americans health care coverage. We Democrats noticed that. Republicans also noticed it, and their corporate insurance campaign donors noticed it. Republican governors noticed it and gerrymandered voting districts to ensure a Republican majority in the House. The GOP politics of the Guilded Age is there for all to "notice". The payback will come in 2018.
3
Not if the other party gains a majority in Congress and the Senate. I don't think even The Donald (who calls himself the Dealmaker) would veto the appropriate changes .
What I find most disgusting about this new episode of overturning ObamaCare (essentially taking health insurance away from millions of Americans by making it unaffordable) is the cynicism and utter disdain of Republicans and their leadership in the House. What quashed the first episode of this saga weeks ago was many Americans attending town halls and many more contacting their Representatives, thereby embarrassing them into voting no on this abysmal bill. After this great victory, the Republican leadership just waited a short while and came up with an even worse bill to gain the support of the loonies of the Freedom Caucus. By itself, even their votes shouldn't be enough to get the bill to pass the House, but too many Americans are wrapped up in their own lives to do battle again with their Congressmen and -women like before. and he Republican leadership assumed this was going to happen. So they took advantage of us again to get their huge tax cut for the wealthy through.
Wake up America! This is going to be their modus operandi for screwing the 99%. I only pray that there are still some "moderate" Republicans left who care about the huge majority of people in our country who aren't wealthy and don't donate to politicians' campaigns and will save us from this abomination of a bill!!
Wake up America! This is going to be their modus operandi for screwing the 99%. I only pray that there are still some "moderate" Republicans left who care about the huge majority of people in our country who aren't wealthy and don't donate to politicians' campaigns and will save us from this abomination of a bill!!
14
The Republlcans don't care, although one congressman broke ranks with the charade and noted that the Republicans "are treating the health-care bill like a 'kidney stone' they just want it to 'pass'." That pretty much sums it up.
22
It has always been clear, and now even more so, that the Republican Party's goal regarding ACA was to get rid of it, not to replace it with anything meaningful. Republicans - and their constituencies - care not one bit as to how any of the 'changes' they are proposing will affect the actual people who are the beneficiaries of subsidized access to healthcare - which, by the way, ALL of us, one way or the other. IT is possible that the Senate will block this so-called bill, but it is equally possible they will not. I think it may be in the nation's best long-term interest that they succeed. It is the only way in which our country will wake up to the reality that the ONLY WAY to have real and affordable access to healthcare is via a single-payer system. Period.
610
The road to single-payer is fraught with illness and death. In the meantime, those folks in states like Oklahoma need care.
8
If this repeal is allowed to go forward, how many people will have to suffer and die during the period of "waking up to the reality" that the best access to healthcare is via a single payer system? Can we not just repair and rebrand ACA in the meantime?
1
I had trouble sleeping last night because I was thinking about what will happen if this bill goes to the Senate. There will be enormous pressure to pass something and Mitch McConnell is good at party discipline.
1
If the reputable Non Profit Health organization like Am. Med. Asc., Am Cancer Asc., Am Heart Asc., Am. Hospital Asc., and the (for-profit) AARP, etc don't support this bill, I don't know why Congress is wasting it's time on a vote for a product that won't work, unless the GOP Congress is:
1. desperate and out of control
2. malicious
....perhaps, the answer is both.
1. desperate and out of control
2. malicious
....perhaps, the answer is both.
23
"It’s been blasted by conservative and liberal health experts,...groups representing patients, doctors, nurses and hospitals."
That leaves who in the sphere of health care, insurance companies and funeral directors? Sounds about Republican. GOP, you are evil. Truly, greedily evil. You know even your constituents are warming to Obamacare. You have the chance to step up, say you were wrong and then look like badasses as you work with Democrats to fix Obamacare, and enter midterms with an unpopular President but a very popular Congress. One that served THE MASSES. Not the tiny percentage trying to get their capital gains taxes back at the expense of the lives of the hoi polloi.
That leaves who in the sphere of health care, insurance companies and funeral directors? Sounds about Republican. GOP, you are evil. Truly, greedily evil. You know even your constituents are warming to Obamacare. You have the chance to step up, say you were wrong and then look like badasses as you work with Democrats to fix Obamacare, and enter midterms with an unpopular President but a very popular Congress. One that served THE MASSES. Not the tiny percentage trying to get their capital gains taxes back at the expense of the lives of the hoi polloi.
18
What's the point of this show if the Senate can't pass it? And the theater of scheduling the vote right before members of Congress have to go home and face constituents. GOP leadership is afraid that once they hear from those angry constituents, they will change their minds.
I don't want to see anybody hurt, but I feel like the Dems win either way, here. If the GOP can't pass the bill through both houses, they look like they can't govern. If they can, the awful result shows who they really are.
I don't want to see anybody hurt, but I feel like the Dems win either way, here. If the GOP can't pass the bill through both houses, they look like they can't govern. If they can, the awful result shows who they really are.
11
The Republicans don't want to make healthcare better and more affordable for the 99%. They want to go back to the old system before the ACA, when there actually were "death panels"--the health care companies themselves ran them.
Shame on the Republicans. Can we please vote them out en masse now...?
Shame on the Republicans. Can we please vote them out en masse now...?
21
I administered benefits in a large East Coast corporation. CT had mandated care, so our insurers located their corporate offices in States with no mandates. The union branches negotiated health care benefits. The owners were old school New Yorkers who provided affordable health care plans with premiums deducted from salaries. New York subsidized health care insurance, as did Mass. Now, that has changed; employee health care benefits are no longer subsidized on the corporate level, unless mandated and subsidized. Large corporations, i.e. GE, still offer affordable health insurance. Smaller corporations do not. None of this is sustainable; there are 330,000,000 Americans. There are 435 members of Congress. Do the math.
Medicare for ALL. Want to take over congress??? That's the winner. Even in Trump states. Even the stupid realize what lack of healthcare will do to them, and their families. What have WE got to lose???
7
Hillary as the Democratic nominee in 2016 refused to support it, said it would never happen in this country, 'can't be done.' That is what the Democratic politicians (except Bernie) have been clinging to all this time. Tom Perez, just elected Chair of the DNC, parrots this.
The entire establishment Democratic Party must be chased out of power, as well as the GOP, before this will change. $$ owns all these people.
The entire establishment Democratic Party must be chased out of power, as well as the GOP, before this will change. $$ owns all these people.
How how much money do these people need? ... and at what cost to the majority of Americans? Pass this bill and then get voted out of Congress. If the electorate can rise above ignorance.
10
Call this Repub program what it is .....Insurancecare.
9
Replacing ACA with the new Trumpcare is a travesty. As a result, more people will lose their coverage, and use hospital emergency rooms when they get sick. Hospitals don't turn people away, but will be forced to increase their prices, to stay in business. Consequently, we will all pay more, one way or other. Poor ,the elderly, and people with pre existing condition will have less or no coverage. Deep down, the congress is aware that this isn't what American people want, but no doubt, they will pass it, because they have no back bone to do the right thing.
12
They will pass it because their campaigns rely on large donors: Insurance companies and big pharmaceutical companies. Until we address the cost of campaigns, we will continue to have representation by those who have pandered and compromised themselves to those corporate interests willing to pay for TV ads, travel, etc. This is the most corrupt Congress I have seen in my long lifetime; it is gerrymandered and entitled due to safe seats. It starts at the State level: governors and legislators who gerrymander voting districts to keep the people in this picture in office. The picture is disgusting and unrepresentative of the country's real demographics. Eventually these ugly old men will be gone; the voting demographics will change. None of this will happen soon enough for those about to lose affordable health care for themselves and their children. This is not a "new" GOP; this is the same GOP which was a minority Party before gerrymandering. This is the GOP who gave us a grifter in the White House.
11
Those stupid Canadians are at it again!
They're so incompetent that they managed to cover 100% of their citizens with health care. Worse, those citizens live 3 years longer!
But what should really embarrass every Canadian, they do all of that for 61% of the cost per capita we pay in the US.
You'd think they'd look across the border and see how to make healthcare work by studying the GOP.
They're so incompetent that they managed to cover 100% of their citizens with health care. Worse, those citizens live 3 years longer!
But what should really embarrass every Canadian, they do all of that for 61% of the cost per capita we pay in the US.
You'd think they'd look across the border and see how to make healthcare work by studying the GOP.
75
Right. What's more, those stupid Canadians have a population comprised of people from all over the world. Many cultures and colors. Our cultural diversity is the usual excuse for our unique American exceptionalism, and the reason we need to imprison and make miserable so many of our fellows who are the wrong color or class. Imagine how much money the Canadian 1% could make if they followed our example!
Will it take this miserably cruel Republican bill, which will kill and bankrupt unimaginable numbers of Americans before they finally wake up and do what the rest of the industrialized world has been doing successfully for years - single payer for all? It's WAY past time.
18
What's wrong with this picture? Anyone? Four old, white, safely entitled men,
conspiring to rob the masses of basic healthcare. A picture is worth a thousand words.
conspiring to rob the masses of basic healthcare. A picture is worth a thousand words.
234
I was thinking the same thing. None of them has EVER missed a meal either. Disgusting...
10
The Republican party does not care whether people have healthcare or not. As always, they believe that if you are not wealthy, it is your own fault
9
Poor folks don't vote.
So who cares?
If you don't vote, you simply do not count.
So who cares?
If you don't vote, you simply do not count.
6
“When you come to a fork in the road, take it.”
Seven plus years ago the republicans came to that fork in the road and took it.
For seven years driving down the wrong path of repeal and replace instead of making a U-turn and taking the other fork to build upon the foundation of the ACA.
Now we have a vehicle that has run out of gas being pushed in the wrong direction running people over along the way. Meanwhile the democrats have been holding cans of gas with a map and ignored.
Seven plus years ago the republicans came to that fork in the road and took it.
For seven years driving down the wrong path of repeal and replace instead of making a U-turn and taking the other fork to build upon the foundation of the ACA.
Now we have a vehicle that has run out of gas being pushed in the wrong direction running people over along the way. Meanwhile the democrats have been holding cans of gas with a map and ignored.
7
Republicans don't like folks who can't pay country club memberships. Blame it on predestination, or budget deficit fears (the biggest snake oil sale of all). Republicans don't like needy people.
9
The party that thinks government can't do anything right, is not going to govern intelligently. They've had how many years to formulate an alternative to the ACA? They're lazy, failed lawmakers with an inept, clueless leader that beautifully encapsulates the totality of their buffoonery.
The coverage will be worse, the cost will be higher, and the American people stand only to lose if these know-nothings pass any kind of law on health care. At least we can courageously kill those pesky, hibernating bears, amirite?
The coverage will be worse, the cost will be higher, and the American people stand only to lose if these know-nothings pass any kind of law on health care. At least we can courageously kill those pesky, hibernating bears, amirite?
7
That this is a terrible plan won't matter to Republicans nearly as much as the fact that it will be something liberals despise.
3
Passing a bad bill just to be able to say "we won" is just so twisted and ignorant, it's beyond words.
23
Of only those bums had the same health care they want to give us. "Health care" is fast becoming an oxymoron. Where did altruism go?
8
No problem, we can trust the wisom of the Senate, right. Oh, Mitch McConnell.
10
Trump lost face with his base big league on the spending bill: no money for his wall, no punitive action against Planned Parenthood, PBS, Meals On Wheels - if not for all the faux suspense around will he or won't he take health care away from thirty million Americans (he won't) Trump's administration would be almost indistinguishable from Obama's, a thing which makes perfect sense since Obama was the last person in the White House who knew what he was doing.
4
Eh?
1
It is disheartening to watch the thirst with which Republicans and the President are driving towards throwing people off of an important safety net. And all for what? Ideological purity and/or a check in the "win" column and/or the desire to give a windfall of tax relief to the wealthiest among us? It is equally disheartening to see how many rank and file Americans line up behind this travesty either because they are so absolutely desperate to believe lies and half-truths to spite the liberals and/or because they have so much malice in their hearts that they would deny fellow citizens even a modicum of security and/or because of their hatred of anything the previous president did because of who he was. It is even sadder to know that many rank and file Americans applaud this even in the face of cutting off their OWN noses. This country is in desperate shape. Nothing shows this more than the cruelty of what is transpiring right now.
16
I continue to stand in wonderment at Republican insistence on imposing this kind of destruction and suffering on people of modest means. What is that they are trying to establish or prove? What are the social and economic advantages of this senseless bill? Why is it so important to give more money to the wealthy, and why not, if you must, not give the tax breaks to those who need them, and who would help to propel the economy with their new capacity to spend? And, finally, when are those who are most affected by this egregious example of indifference to them realize that they are being used and abused?
13
When they are not only unemployed with no benefits or income, but without any health care for themselves or their families. ER care is expensive; if you use it, you will receive a bill, and it will be higher than any insurance premium. ER care is not free. I remember a friend in CT who went to the ER after falling on a subway platform due to a pushing crowd running for the train. His scalp was split open; he went to an ER and received a bill for $2,000 which he could not pay. The hospital used its collection agency to place a lien on the small salary he earned. That is where this Republican travesty is headed.
10
Let's be clear.:The Republican health bill is not about health. It's not about care. And it's not about insurance. It's a punitive billing system plain and simple. And it discriminates.
24
I was under the impression that the AHCA bill was designed to pass the Senate under "reconciliation," meaning that it will not need a single Democratic vote. So unless the Senate Republicans are more willing to buck their party and their President than the House Republicans, anything that clears the House will become law.
2
One of the leading "moderate" Republicans who helped formulate, and aggressively advocated this flawed bill, is Representative Tom McAuther of New Jersey, a multimillionaire former insurance company executive. If passed in the Senate and signed by Trump, it will allow insurance companies to charge more money for less coverage and give disproportionate tax advantages to the wealthiest in our country. Enough said.
111
This article is mainly polemic. It may be correct, or it may not; there's not enough specific information to tell. I cannot even tell if the current version of the health care bill is being analyzed against the author's "data." But I doubt it. Has the Times lost all editorial integrity and control in its campaign to vilify the administration?
I would suggest to ask about "integrity" your representatives in Congress first.
1
You didn't (really) say anything and yet you're holding the NYTs responsible.
2
Barefoot, maybe if the Republicans had allowed the CBO to analyze the bill BEFORE it was passed, the NYT would have more data for you! That's on the Republicans, not the NYT editorial board.
And no one needs to "vilify" this administration or the Republicans in power. The news outlets simply report what they do and say. What they are doing and saying is manifestly vile, like legalizing gun sales to people too deranged to handle their own affairs..or letting ISP's collect & sell your online data without your consent...or letting health insurers cover only the young and healthy....
When you voted in November, were those the causes you voted for? No? But those are the priorities of this administration. They vilify themselves.
And no one needs to "vilify" this administration or the Republicans in power. The news outlets simply report what they do and say. What they are doing and saying is manifestly vile, like legalizing gun sales to people too deranged to handle their own affairs..or letting ISP's collect & sell your online data without your consent...or letting health insurers cover only the young and healthy....
When you voted in November, were those the causes you voted for? No? But those are the priorities of this administration. They vilify themselves.
The Donald Trump Republicans could care less about any study that proves them wrong. The only thing that matters to them is branding and the perception that they are doing what they said they would. Any bad result from their policies is easily passed off as the fault of Democrats and the ignorant voters agree with them. Other examples of this are trickle down economics, weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, job creators, poor job growth over the past 7 years, etc, etc.
You will never change these closed minds with facts or anything else. You have to emphasize their lies and get them voted out of office, then jail them for their criminal behavior when some honest Democrats control the Congress.
You will never change these closed minds with facts or anything else. You have to emphasize their lies and get them voted out of office, then jail them for their criminal behavior when some honest Democrats control the Congress.
9
Since Republicans don't believe is science or data this study will be of no use. The only thing that will convince Republicans is when they start loosing elections and political power over healthcare. For Republicans, it's all about politics. People be dammed...
19
Trump only cares about passing any health care legislation regardless of its content and seriously harmful implication for millions of Americans, just to say that he won. What a sad and nausea-inducing man.. The Trump Deplorable Care Act must not see daylight. Complicit Congressional Republicans must be thrown out of office the next time their seats come up for vote since they are putting their own political security in office ahead of the lives of millions of Americans. Shameless, Reckless. Sad.
20
The House vote is more about the passing the buck to the Senate than doing the right thing for the people.
Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla, said, "I think people sweat these details way too much at this stage in the game."
"These details," he talked about affect the healthcare and lives of millions. I guess it is too much for the Republican House members to "sweat these details."
They are too worried about *not* getting anything done and so plan to vote something out of the House and make it the Senate's problem.
Not exactly profiles in courage!
Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla, said, "I think people sweat these details way too much at this stage in the game."
"These details," he talked about affect the healthcare and lives of millions. I guess it is too much for the Republican House members to "sweat these details."
They are too worried about *not* getting anything done and so plan to vote something out of the House and make it the Senate's problem.
Not exactly profiles in courage!
18
Trump needs a victory and the Republicans need to pass health care reform, The impact this bill will have on millions of Americans is secondary to these shallow hypocrites. Anyway, this will have no impact on Trump's special people and members in Congress and their families will get to keep their Cadillac plans. The whole thing is disgusting and craven. Trump was so upset by Assad releasing poison gas on women and children. This plan, if it is ever in-acted, will condemn untold millions to long term suffering and death. Now watch the Republicans raise the old rebel yell of states rights and create a false storyline that minimal funding of risk pools in states will cover people with pre-existing conditions. Trump and the Republicans are a perfect match when it comes to selling people a false bill of goods.
18
I'm sorry but I lived through the 1960s. Massive demonstrations and discontent did nothing to change Republican intransigence. Riots in '68, '69,70- the war did not end until 1975.
We can comment until we are blue in the face, the Times can editorialize until they run out of electrons. These guys are gonna do whatever they want in taxes, healthcare, in everything, until they are dragged out of office.
Stop pretending anything less than that will work. It won't. It's time to try something else. Something much more serious.
We can comment until we are blue in the face, the Times can editorialize until they run out of electrons. These guys are gonna do whatever they want in taxes, healthcare, in everything, until they are dragged out of office.
Stop pretending anything less than that will work. It won't. It's time to try something else. Something much more serious.
172
I also lived through the 1960s and my memory is different from yours, GarretClay. Demonstrations did change the intransigence, but the intransigence about the war was on the side of Democrats as well as Republicans. Demonstrations did change the landscape in regard to civil rights and, again, Democrats were involved even more than Republicans.
What demonstrations do is build a sense of solidarity. They are not enough and, if they get out of hand, can prompt the kind of blow-back that helped make "conservatism" what it is today.
The next step is to take political action. It needs to come with high quality public relations. People have to be willing to run for office. They have to seek out positive actions that people can understand and support.
We have a lot of problems. Transforming Republican ideology into laws will make those problems worse. Things are complicated and we have to help people understand that complexity. Learn from the Republican experiences of the 60s and 70s.
What demonstrations do is build a sense of solidarity. They are not enough and, if they get out of hand, can prompt the kind of blow-back that helped make "conservatism" what it is today.
The next step is to take political action. It needs to come with high quality public relations. People have to be willing to run for office. They have to seek out positive actions that people can understand and support.
We have a lot of problems. Transforming Republican ideology into laws will make those problems worse. Things are complicated and we have to help people understand that complexity. Learn from the Republican experiences of the 60s and 70s.
5
I agree with your conclusions and their dire implications. We have come to this.
You are so right. I also wouldn't count on Republican's voting them out of office. A large portion of Trump voters truly believe everyone is on his own and no one should be forced to help another. Hence they propose no taxes for a government operated safety net. Let charities do that work which is voluntarily funded. My Republican friends have good insurance and large incomes. They will praise this bill and certainly not see it as a reason to vote their representative out of office.
I suspect that if the Republicans pass their bill, they will find they have imploded the whole market for health insurance. Healthy people drop out, leaving the costs, which will collapse the private market. But then the rush of costs to the system from emergency care will hit the employer-based system with cascading increases. The only "bright" side to this disaster will be that single payer will probably be the only way to clean up the mess.
14
Why can't we just admit that cost is the main problem? If everybody could afford insurance after paying rent or mortgage, food, utilities and transportation expenses, college tuition and retirement savings, they most likely would. If it cost something like $200 a month for an individual and $400 for a couple or family with low deductibles, all but the unemployed and the lowest-wage workers would buy coverage. Why keep subsidizing private insurance companies trying to make private insurance "affordable" for all when we could have a public insurance plan with premiums calculated as a percentage of income, up to a point, like our Medicare and actually save money for the government? I dearly hope even the most rabid foes of "socialized medicine" will learn from this Republican attempt at repeal-and-replace that, like it or not, our government has to be involved in healthcare and the cheapest way is some form of single-payer.
14
Not only is this a bad bill but the money avialable would go to predominately red states who have already cut their tases substantially. These cuts have impacted negatively on schools, hospitals, public employees, unions and retirees. Once the moeny runs out in 5 years, those who started with pre-existing conditions, will probably still have them and these tax averse states will be in worse shape than they are now. The sick and poor have been given a temporary reprive that won't really affect their premiums and there is nothing in the bill to indicate any reduction in those premiums. Once the 5 years are up, those people will have a choice- that beloved Republican mantra. They can suffer and die.
10
Seriously, with the Republican assault on healthcare, human rights, civil rights, the environment and everything else essential to living a good life in this country, I am hoping and praying that some compassionate European and Asian nations will soon designate Americans for refugee status. At this point, even with my ancestors having arrived here in 1728 and every generation of my family having served in the military, what will be left of this country after Trump and his wrecking crew are finished? It's time to bail.
23
Agree totally. My family history in America dates back to 1643 and some of the first settlers of NYC, and (like yours) have fought/served in the military in all of this country's wars through Viet Nam (in some cases, on both sides...).
But moving back to Germany/England/Holland or joining some of our Revolutionary War exiles in Canada doesn't sound so bad, lately.
But moving back to Germany/England/Holland or joining some of our Revolutionary War exiles in Canada doesn't sound so bad, lately.
2
It is odd that this circular debate keeps coming back around to the effectiveness, efficacy and cost containment of a Single Payer Healthcare System. At what point do we get tired of debating? How much nonsense in the form of alternative "free-market" solutions do we have to listen to? How many more people need to sicken and die from neglect before we get on with it and start implementing the obvious solution?
30
The AHCA should be called the "Enabling Freeloaders Act." It enables people who *can* afford insurance to game the system by choosing not to get insurance, then sponging off the rest of us when they need healthcare due to illness or injury. Any solution that does not include mandatory participation in some form, as the ACA does, enables and encourages freeloaders. Those who do not have the financial means should get subsidies, in some form or other. The real solution is to do what the rest of the civilized world does very successfully, and that is single-payer healthcare.
23
Trumpcare Mark III, does exactly what the GOP stand for. It will ensure tax cuts which will be a transfer of wealth from the unwell to the 0.1%.
Don't get in the road of a $600 billion government gift to the mega rich. The tens of millions who will lose their healthcare and those who will die from Trumpcare, are just collateral fallout from the Presidential election.
So much winning for the 0.1%.
Don't get in the road of a $600 billion government gift to the mega rich. The tens of millions who will lose their healthcare and those who will die from Trumpcare, are just collateral fallout from the Presidential election.
So much winning for the 0.1%.
15
The latest version of the Republican Health Care bill merely puts lipstick on a pig. Millions of Americans will still lose their health insurance if the bill becomes law, while even more of us will wind up paying a lot more money for a lot less in benefits than we receive under the Affordable Care Act (aka Obabmacare), which is admittedly flawed but still better than any Republican replacement proposal to date.
13
Republican support for this bill is a truly perverse form of loyalty to "the American people." And this study proves it. Unfortunately, academic studies are nowhere near as determinative of "alternate reality" as cash from special interests. And, thanks to their inability to think beyond "winning" a battle against an imaginary enemy, among this group of blockheads, "alternate reality" trumps academic study of the facts. I can hear their response to this study now: "Those guys -professors or whatever -they don't know the American people like we do. They think they've got it all figured out, but that ivory tower stuff -- I mean they can use a lot of big words, but that doesn't mean they're in touch with what people want."
Why bother trying to argue the facts? Better to just ask every Republican in Congress with a pre-existing condition (or a family member with one) whether they would be willing to forfeit their Congressional insurance coverage to pay insurance premiums out of their own pockets and live with whatever benefits this so-called national health care "plan" provides. That will tell you about as much as you need to know.
Why bother trying to argue the facts? Better to just ask every Republican in Congress with a pre-existing condition (or a family member with one) whether they would be willing to forfeit their Congressional insurance coverage to pay insurance premiums out of their own pockets and live with whatever benefits this so-called national health care "plan" provides. That will tell you about as much as you need to know.
24
The reality is that a very large portion of Americans are ignorant. The republicans long term plans of dumbing down America has been their most wildly successful program ever and is paying huge dividends to their donor class.
188
Social scientists will be looking at sexual assault reporting rates in the coming years, though it'll be hard to control for two simultaneous factors, should this atrocious bill become law: the number of undocumented immigrants who won't report rapes because it exposes them to ICE, and the number of citizens and legal residents who don't want to lose community rating for health insurance.
Shame on the Republicans. Shame on them.
Shame on the Republicans. Shame on them.
8
It's truly sad that we have to spend so much time debating issues like this that, on the facts, are settled. It's only because of corporate and billionaire-funded ideology that there is political support for not having decades ago done away with insurance as a health care delivery system. Wealthy folks are gaming the system, and we continue to spin our wheels desperately trying to move the rigged system in another direction. There is only way to block the strategy to "fool some of the people most of the time" as a means to a permanent grip on political power. We must put an end to gerrymandering and the unfair political weight of small and often failing states by changing the Constitution. If amendment has been blocked, it's time for a new constitutional convention.
37
While I appreciate the research and analysis, this is hardly a surprise right? Keep in mind, the current disaster plan offered is actually an imprvement over what they orginally tried to get away with.
No pun intended but America is going to have to take its medicine. We elected people to run all three branches of government that do not care about the sort of careful, thoughtul, robust and apolitical analysis that the article discusses. If the GOP is presented with this report, they will simply dismiss it or counter with a report ginned up by the hacks at the Heritage Foundation.
Why? Because they start with ideology, set a goal, then craft a bill to achieve it. When done, they wrap it in talking points, marketing plans and endless lies in hopes of rushing it through before Americans can make sense of what has been done to them.
But Americans are going to really have a hard time not notcing this one. Deaths, especially of loved ones tend to get noticed. And when those deaths were totally preventable, there will be anger and recrimination. At that point, all of the lies and denials are not going to save Paul Ryan and the GOP.
THis is going to have huge consequences. Personally, I couldn't live with blood on my hands, but these folks proved long ago that they can't be shamed. But they can be held accountable.
No pun intended but America is going to have to take its medicine. We elected people to run all three branches of government that do not care about the sort of careful, thoughtul, robust and apolitical analysis that the article discusses. If the GOP is presented with this report, they will simply dismiss it or counter with a report ginned up by the hacks at the Heritage Foundation.
Why? Because they start with ideology, set a goal, then craft a bill to achieve it. When done, they wrap it in talking points, marketing plans and endless lies in hopes of rushing it through before Americans can make sense of what has been done to them.
But Americans are going to really have a hard time not notcing this one. Deaths, especially of loved ones tend to get noticed. And when those deaths were totally preventable, there will be anger and recrimination. At that point, all of the lies and denials are not going to save Paul Ryan and the GOP.
THis is going to have huge consequences. Personally, I couldn't live with blood on my hands, but these folks proved long ago that they can't be shamed. But they can be held accountable.
327
It's a mistake to thing of this bill as "an improvement" - it contains two provisions that will kill Obamacare so it doesn't matter that it gained a bandaid on the second pass. This article highlights the first, that costs are so much higher that only the very sick will sign up meaning that the amount of money coming in can't match that going out. The second subtle killer is the combination of cross-state sales and individual state exceptions to coverage requirements. This means one state can allow useless but cheap coverage for the healthy which is then available everywhere which again leaves only the very sick in the insurance pool.
The problem with the academic paper is that it's based on reality and real economics and is the work of highly qualified professors and researchers who know what they're talking about.
That kind of sober real-world approach has no business in what essentially remains as a giant Republican tax cut posing as 'health care reform', the American 'Heave-Ho' Act of 2017, the latest and greatest version of the GOP Death Panel for millions of Americans.
Republicans have not studied healthcare or tried to reduce its highway robbery business model that has made it the #1 health care rip-off in the world.
Why doesn't the allegedly pro-business Republican Party remove the healthcare bowling ball from employers and employees nationwide by reforming the system with a public option for healthcare ?
I understand...too thoughtful...too sensible...too logical.
Why doesn't the Republican Party look at successful single-payer systems in Canada, England and France (and Medicare in America) that work pretty well for 2/3 the price and consider those ?
I understand....Grand Old Profit.
Why doesn't the Republican Party just fix and smooth the ACA's rough edges and give the American people affordable universal healthcare as a basic human right ?
Because millionaires and billionaires need a few more million dollars and a few more million non-rich Americans need to drop dead prematurely in the name of 'free-dumb'.
"Take two tax cuts and call me from the morgue"
GOP Death-Funeral-Trump-Care 2017
That kind of sober real-world approach has no business in what essentially remains as a giant Republican tax cut posing as 'health care reform', the American 'Heave-Ho' Act of 2017, the latest and greatest version of the GOP Death Panel for millions of Americans.
Republicans have not studied healthcare or tried to reduce its highway robbery business model that has made it the #1 health care rip-off in the world.
Why doesn't the allegedly pro-business Republican Party remove the healthcare bowling ball from employers and employees nationwide by reforming the system with a public option for healthcare ?
I understand...too thoughtful...too sensible...too logical.
Why doesn't the Republican Party look at successful single-payer systems in Canada, England and France (and Medicare in America) that work pretty well for 2/3 the price and consider those ?
I understand....Grand Old Profit.
Why doesn't the Republican Party just fix and smooth the ACA's rough edges and give the American people affordable universal healthcare as a basic human right ?
Because millionaires and billionaires need a few more million dollars and a few more million non-rich Americans need to drop dead prematurely in the name of 'free-dumb'.
"Take two tax cuts and call me from the morgue"
GOP Death-Funeral-Trump-Care 2017
746
Single payer is not the only answer. Germany, France, Japan, Switzerland and the Netherlands all have multipayer systems that use private insurance. Payment is mostly by individuals and employers to private companies. The governments carefully regulate so that there is no price gouging. All of these countries have high quality, affordable systems.
http://www.businessinsider.com/what-can-the-us-learn-from-the-french-hea...
http://www.startribune.com/want-a-new-health-care-model-the-germans-do-i...
It is appalling that after 20+ years of debating this crucial issue our mainstream media has not informed us citizens of these basic facts. From what I can tell that may be because most journalists/pundits have never done basic research on this critical topic before opining on it.
There is no way we can make an informed choice when we are so badly misinformed. We should have been having a debate about the pros and cons of all health care models that have been proven effective (high quality, affordable, universal) rather than the simplistic, uninformed debate we have been having. That is how a healthy democracy works.
http://www.businessinsider.com/what-can-the-us-learn-from-the-french-hea...
http://www.startribune.com/want-a-new-health-care-model-the-germans-do-i...
It is appalling that after 20+ years of debating this crucial issue our mainstream media has not informed us citizens of these basic facts. From what I can tell that may be because most journalists/pundits have never done basic research on this critical topic before opining on it.
There is no way we can make an informed choice when we are so badly misinformed. We should have been having a debate about the pros and cons of all health care models that have been proven effective (high quality, affordable, universal) rather than the simplistic, uninformed debate we have been having. That is how a healthy democracy works.
5
Exactly. Republicans in Congress, conservatives across the board and Trump himself will call the research paper fake news. The upcoming CBO will be ignored and we'll have another round war drumbeats, and may be even some bombings, to distract the Ameirican public.
1
But why hasn't the Democratic Party - with great fanfare - introduced 60 bills to improve the ACA and provide a government option. Phalanxes of doctors, hospital administrators, Medical School Deans - all lining up to support the Improved Obamacare Show the granny who will be tossed out of her nursing home because Medicaid cuts. The diabetic from West Virginia who will lose benefits. The cancer patient who will now die because of a lapse of coverage. The premie with a heart condition who will never get coverage - and her family who will also lose it because they can't afford the coverage anymore. Sure the effort would be doomed. But it would show the American people which party really has their best interest at heart.
All superimposed over the grim faced mean old Republicans.
The GOP used this tactic to great success. time the Dems started to play the game too.
All superimposed over the grim faced mean old Republicans.
The GOP used this tactic to great success. time the Dems started to play the game too.
1
Jimmy Kimmel's monologue about his baby came at a
great time.
great time.
304
Yes, KImmel was very moving. But what I found interesting was the reaction by some Republicans who, when interviewed on the news, responded to the Kimmel story by callously declaring that Jimmy Kimmel should stay out of politics. Every time a Republican representative is interviewed these days, it is usually to declare that healthcare is a privilege and not a right. It doesn't get lower than that. Except perhaps to keep lying about what's in the new bill at every opportunity.
85
And there are thousands more stories like his that COULD and SHOULD be told and given the media platform Kimmel was.
13
I was thinking the same thing. Little Billy Kimmel's birth is taking on an importance beyond the great importance it already is to his family. Bless Billy Kimmel.
12
Thank you!
https://thetruthoncommonsense.com