These flimsy "health" plans will have Trump's name all over them. When purchasers of these plans discover, too late, that they are basically worthless, they will have Trump to thank. Obama's off the hook.
1
So, what is it we are to learn from this? Obama couldn't get anything done with Congress. Now Trump cannot either. Political beliefs aside, it seems that Congress is the "house divided against itself". It cannot, and does not function. While the executive office has changed hands, and those changes are broad, the Congress has not changed so much, and remains stalled and dysfunctional.
What, with each district standing fairly steadfastly in their own muck, and refusing to climb out, can be done to change that?
1
And the zombie issue of decent health coverage for all Americans rises again and again. Never solved, never settled, just a continual back-and-forth over an issue that affects every one of us.
The rest of the world has solved this and moved on. But since there are enormous profits being made from our current system, we are going to have to demand it of our "leaders" to get anything to change. Maybe someday they'll be forced to listen but today is unfortunately not that day.
2
Whatever it takes to Make Obama Look Bad Again, the Birther Liar-In-Chief marches faithfully ahead, continuing to tear down one of America's finest black men every day and undermining universal healthcare in the name of white spite.
"If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you." - LBJ, 1960
Hail to the Lowlife-In-Chief !
2
If we just changed the name from Obamacare to Trumpcare, do you think the President would then leave it alone?
What planet is Trump and his minions on? They can do nothing through the proper channels, so they just make things up. His environmental policies are a disaster for the US and the world. Now he is actively trying to sabotage our health system.
After watching a program on Trump's EPA, I can say that there is something missing in their DNA.
2
This is something I can support. I'm 40, eat healthy constantly, workout, lift, swim, Crossfit 6 days a week, and MAYBE visit the doctor once a year for a bad cold or flu with a prescription. That's it. And yet I'm paying $200 a month in health insurance for silver coverage at $2500 deductible. I don't need all that. Even the bronze tier is $160 a month. That's money that can go towards savings or my house.
And yet, if something were to happen, I'd still pay out the nose even with insurance.
I get no extra tax breaks for being healthy and taking care of myself. If they want healthy individuals in the marketplace, they'd better start giving me something back.
3
Never imagine you might be in an accident Mack? Maybe tear an achilles tendon in the gym that will need surgery, months of recovery, and physical therapy? If and when you receive hospital bills for items like that, you'll turn your head skyward and thank your lucky stars that you only have a $2500 deductible.
That is the idea behind insurance. I'm in my 50s and never been in a car accident, yet I don't imagine that I am immune to being involved in a car accident in the future.
9
I like my single payer plan, Medicare, which many of the sponsors of Trumph's executive order want to eliminate or downsize. What is Trumph's plan to reduce the cost of drugs? Drugs cost much more than in other countries due to the US consumer subsidizing drugs.
1
When you buy health care insurance you do not buy an outcome, you are buying that a provider will do some procedures , i.e. doc visit, hospital room, discount Rx, a machine procedure, you are not covered for best outcome, i.e. get well. In medical care there are no fore sighted guidelines only hind sighted guidelines, which are court decisions, not best medical care.
If your car won’t start, you take it to the mechanic who does valve and ring job (which could be the problem) — and charges you $2000 but it might well have been the points, or plugs, where ta good mechanic starts, this is a guideline You would not tolerate this from a mechanic but no one even questions when medical industry does this all the time.
An automobile has a manufacteror’s warranty, a human being has noe. Health is a luck of the draw, if you do not get cancer, lose a leg, or get dementia, it is because you are lucky.
You cannot predict your future health care needs, you do not know enough information , and even if you did, medical knowledge and capabilities grow at an unbelievable rate, today is qualitative different than yesterday.
If you study health care costs over the past 60 years, supply and demand has no effect on costs, costs just go up. Being healthy is just luck—FYI, at 72, I jog 4 miles a day, eat healthy, am not overweight, have had good health in my life, and had some professional experiences in health care business. My good health is still just luck.
2
If Trump wants to turnaround his 9-month to date Train Wreck of an administration, maybe he can start by initiating a new deal by calling out all the major drug companies and insurance companies to the Oval Office.
It is high time the government cut out all the inefficient fat in the bloated health care industry and begin to negotiate directly with insurance service providers and drug companies.
This could be the next logical step in taking ACA to the next level, not chipping away at it until it crumbles to the ground.
2
Wait! You mean that if I'm healthy, because I take the trouble to exercise and eat right, the Democrats think I should be penalized and made to pay the healthcare expenses of those who do otherwise and are sick, rather than being rewarded with inexpensive healthcare for myself? Really?
Gosh. No wonder Hillary Clinton lost the last election!
2
"Mr. Trump would create low-cost insurance options for the healthy, driving up costs for the sick and destabilizing insurance marketplaces created under the Affordable Care Act."
But he doesn't care. So long as it's another blow to the legacy of the Black President who insulted him in front of the Washington power elite, he'll do it, whatever the pain to anyone else.
5
Wait, doesn't Trump frequently say Obama overstepped his authority through executive orders?
How is this different?
8
Trump's actions to relax these standards prove what a vindictive, angry person he really is. His vehemence toward President Obama is matched only by his evil undermining of American health care and his disdain for the people who most need medical insurance — namely those with pre-existing conditions. He is flailing in his failure to engineer Repeal and Replace, and taking it out on those who can least afford it. One question: How exactly does having millions of uninsured sick men, women and children make America great again?
6
Mr. Trump apparently fails to recognize that he is supposed to enforce the law of the land, not undermine it. Whether it's healthcare or freedom of the press, he does not have the authority to make his own laws, yet that is what he seeks to do.
America is much worse off already under this administration, which is as unstable as Mr. Trump is.
Workers are and will be far worse off every day as he dismantles all the protections sane people have put in place over the last several decades. This new move is only the latest in the Trump attacks on the fabric of American society.
5
Where has our democracy flown.? Why is the president being allowed to crush us? When will it end? Must we leave our homes and emigrate to some other country for peace of mind? Where is the Republican Party? Why have they done nothing to salvage Democracy? Have they gone crazy with Trump? When will this end? When will we get our country backs? Never?
3
Go after the insurance companies not people.
I, too, would like to see the investment portfolios and trades of all those people standing behind him as he makes the announcement.
He makes this country sick.
2
Let me start by saying I disagree with the president using the power of the pen to circumvent the democratic process. I also disagreed with the use and substance of many of Obama’s EOs, which although numbered less than Bush’s, had more implication than Bush’s (my opinion).
Obamacare was designed to fail, or better said, it was designed incomplete with the hope that congress would complete it to a single payer system. A Republican was elected in MA to stop Obamacare – surprise?!? And then it passed anyway. It was architected by someone who said it relied on the ignorance of the people in order to pass it. And if that wasn’t bad enough, it passed without the bill seeing the light of day (or public scrutiny). Nancy promised, you will have to pass it before you see what’s in it (prophetic words). Then Trump was elected president – surprise, surprise, surprise?!?
There is an (potential) energy that builds when one is “talked over” repeatedly, whether it is the talking over is being done by the dominant egghead media, or the eggheads who inhabit the walls of Washington. This political energy continues to produce many surprises, and each surprise seems to outdo the last. Maybe it is time for the eggheads to start listening rather than talking over the people. And if you claim you are listening to the people, then it is obvious you have learned nothing about surprises.
2
How is this action not a violation of the Constitutional mandate that the President "faithfully execute" the laws of the United States, and therefore an impeachable offense?
3
It's a good thing Trump voters aren't gullible or one could expect the health insurance industry to take advantage of them with the new Trumpcare policies.
2
And Republicans not only stand by but applaud.
6
Deplorable!
We are not healthy, not safe, not secure, not financially stable, not respected, not honorable, not truthful, not respectful of our citizens (PR, USVI, women, minorities, LGBTQ), not focused, not honest, not a democracy, not statesmanlike, not governmentally stable, not trustworthy, not cautious of our enemies nor friends with our allies....
Is it what "great" looks like?
14
Let's call it what is now is: Trumpcare. Cheap catastrophic insurance for the young and healthy; skyrocketing premiums for the elderly and sick with pre-existing conditions, and no reproductive care for women. And when this whole Rube Goldberg insurance system "implodes," he won't be able to say, "See I told you so," since he'll now own it.
8
And gee there got the NYT commentors again - faming at the mouth
There are some who would be better off - like my neighbors who are 60-61 and have too much income to get any subsidies. Their income is over $65K but under $70K -- early retirees
The ACA plans here are a ghastly cost. For a Silver plan, the lowest premiums as $1400-1500 per month which is an annual average of $17400 in just premiums
Then they have a deductible of $10000 ($5000 per person).
They have to spend $27400 before the insurance pays a dime.
Then there another $4700+/- in 30% copays
ACA plan hits them for up to $32,100 a year -nearly 50% of income
Bankruptcy is cheaper and will happen anyhow if they actually need medical care because of the huge out-of-pockets
They have been buying consecutive short-term plans
No penalty for them as the premiums are 26% of their income --- and there is only a penalty if the available insurance is less than 9 1/2% of income.
Of course the NYT readers don't give 2 hoots in a high wind about that -- all they want to do is take money from the barely-middle class to give to the low income Medicaid and just-above Medicaid income crowd
4
Didn't trump almost forget to sign his "new health care" papers and pence had to tap our "dear "ol president" on his shoulder as he was leaving the room to remind him to sign the papers?
Trump is crashing.
6
"Trump Bid to Undermine Obamacare"?
Utterly unable to come up with ANY decent plan, or even ANY decent legislation, all Trump and his gang can do is "undermine" Obamacare, Obama's accomplishments, and the welfare of our nation!
7
Sabotaging a workable plan for 20+ million people. The old and sick take a hike. But there is the AARP and we are organized, so you better watch your back because lots of seniors I know won't take this lying down.
6
Could someone please share how shutting down the ACA website, not sending department officials to healthcare events, stopping funding to groups that help people enroll, and slashing advertising and promotion is going to "give great HealthCare to many people - FAST"?
Because I'm at a loss on how that's supposed to work.
4
The folks claiming that they want junk insurance, and that it's unfair to make boys pays for icky girl problems like pregnancy, need to do two things:
1. Find out what the new Hep C drugs cost, since it'll come out of their pocket;
2. Permanently abstain from sex, and marriage.
3
With the abjectly cowardly Republican Congress afraid of their shadows and criminally derelict in their responsibility to the American people and the Constitution, it appears that Trump is actually realizing his dream of being King after all.
6
Is US healthcare not bad enough already? We are rapidly becoming a feudal Lobbyocracy. The wealthy now use the lobbies instead of (as well as?) the church. I'm betting there will be some huge tax decreases on real estate investments, capital gains, inheritance, etc. How long will it take the base to realize they have been lied to? I guess Puerto Rico realizes that already. More disgusting news every day. Sad and shameful!
7
I have run out of things to say about this man. Nothing surprises me anymore.
5
Dear Americans,
Healthcare is a privilege reserved for the entitled few, not a right for you, the lowly masses.
Signed, Donald Trump and the Republican Congress
10
trump not only fails as a businessman, president, and human being but also as anything that relates to reason, moral integrity, and compassion. Once again he is extending his shill idea of great business ideas by reducing the requirements of any health insurance. Cheap these plans may be but when you need insurance because of illness or accident you will find that your policy doesn't cover anything you actually need. So, cheap monthly payments when you're healthy and at the other end when ill no coverage because you haven't paid into the pool. Brilliant!
This will be another executive order that will be once again be sued by multiple states and others. This is the epitome of what a president shouldn't be doing; acting out in anger against the very country he is supposed to protect in so many ways. He has abdicated any responsibility for every action he has taken and blamed others for everything that has gone wrong during his altogether too long time in office.
I am ashamed that he is president and ashamed that the GOP has rubber stamped everything he has asked for and has done. If he implodes NAFTA we will have no standing in the world and that will make America Last and America Irrelevant, and America Untrustworthy. Of course this includes his other odious antics: the Paris Agreement, the travel ban, the attempt to kill free speech, his horrendous treatment of women, his continuing disregard of the emollients clause, his refusal to submit his taxes and on and on.
8
With each day that passes, and acts like this taking place, it becomes more and more evident why Russia favored Donald Trump in the election.
2
As much as I think Trump is a despicable human being and even more despicable (and outright incompetent) President, and as sure as I am that his motives here are less than honorable at best, I have found Obamacare to be a band-aid solution that has ultimately left my family in even more jeopardy when it comes to our health. Fact is, all presidents of late have used executive orders, effectively become a fourth branch of Congress, and this one is probably of some help to me. Probably. I have purposely lied about my income -- yes, I've always claimed that I will earn as a self-employed person many thousands more than i actually will -- to keep my kids off the healthcare government assistance component, which, after subjecting myself and my family to this the first year of Obamacare, humiliating and demeaning, always having to fill out rafts of forms and having to deal with well-paid people who are untrained and earn their keep with my precious tax dollars. So bully for the prez, I guess, in this case. But I still think Trump deep down couldn't care less about that, and all he's really doing is trying to undermine Obama's legacy.
2
In Trump world think:
Obama uses executive order: bad, very, very bad.
Trump uses executive order: brilliant, genius, superlatives all 'round!
As they say the devil is in the details. As it is with the constant cry to repeal and replace. The Republicans want the chant of "Repeal and Replace!" to be all that people care about about with no attention paid to what the replacement actually is. Pay no mind to the details of WHAT and HOW of the replace part of that deal. I'd swear for some people if the replacement was literally "get sick and die" they'd still be cheering to Repeal and Replace.
3
The real killer is he really doesn't care at all about health care and whether the American people have it or not. He really doesn't. He only cares about the fact that he said he would get rid of Obamacare. First just like the Iran deal it has Barack's fingerprints all over it and second if he doesn't wreck it he won't be able to gloat about it and call himself a winner.
The enablers of Trump or no different than the enablers of Weinstein.
5
In the style of trump businesses, there will be a bunch of fly by night insurance companies selling “incredible deals” in health care insurance, receiving premiums, then refusing to pay medical bills of their customers, declaring bankruptcies so that the executives can give themselves bonuses, forcing health care providers such as hospitals to operate at a loss.
This will be business trump style, he will get a way with it convincing many voters that the fault is President Obama, and Congress, and he will build a third party, which will not only vote him in as president but as president for life.
trump will meet his goal of matching putin and erdogan and with a $5 billon government welfare payout to coal companies, there will be plenty of jobs for coal miners And do not worry about North Korea, trump has a bomb shelter which has a great theatre for trump to give speeches to silent films of adoring crowds and on his desk within reach of his little hands will be a button to control the volume of the applause but it will always be on loudest to keep out the sound of fake news and dying Americans.
1
We need universal health care. Capitalism in health care produces profit, not health. Look, we're 13th in the world in longevity--not good. If President Obama could have instituted what he really wanted, it would have been universal health care, no? What we call Obamacare is a compromise, and it needs to be fixed, not wrecked by the barbarians.
As a small business owner, I provided health care, even when it wasn't required to, for our employees and myself. It was okay.
But now that I'm retired, I can say that Medicare is so much better. And Medicare needs to reach the condition that supplemental plans, which many can't afford, won't be necessary.
Or...we can use our emergency rooms to treat the flu and hangnails and whatever, and continue to have the costliest healthcare in the world.
And now we have the bumpkin stumbling around with a bunch of big half baked ideas. Congress, please keep him caged.
4
Why are liberals so afraid of competition in the health insurance market? Why are liberals so suddenly disgusted by executive orders? Almost all the comments are empty Trump bashing - as usual.
1
Donald doesn't know what he's doing. But others do. He's tearing up health care, the environment, women's reproductive options, renewable energy, labor laws, civil rights protections, foreign trade alliances, national security agreements, etc.
Every crackpot idea on the far right is now national policy. And Bannon is working hard on putting the crackpots in office.
Where is the Republican Party? They are being cannibalized.
4
Why not just implement the Healthcare Plan you claimed you had that was cheaper and would cover everyone?
2
PLEASE stop calling the Affordable Care Act “Obamacare”. That is so divisive, especially at this time of an extremely divisive president.
And especially when Barack Obama was aloof and removed from the negotiations for the Affordable Care Act – off in Hawaii. [And I remember when he suddenly returned and unilaterally took single-payer off the table, precipitously, to the utter dismay of many people, myself included.]
A physician MD
1
This guy is an abject failure. All this brought to you by the man that wrote “The Art Of The Deal.” Or at least he claims he wrote it.
4
It is hard to keep with, never mind contemplate, the daily barrage of mean spirited, self destructive, irrational and downright crazy manueverings of this administration. Trump as much as told us it was coming but I for one failed to see how far reaching and existentially dangerous it would be. Congress must act now to save the country from this man.
3
If POTUS Trump actually had to take responsibility for what he is doing, I doubt he would actually undermine the ACA. He is misinformed about the ACA and too lazy to even attempt to understand it. Pathetic. Trump will own the mess even if he doesn't bother to understand what he is doing.
4
Let's just call him for what he is: saboteur. Like the bully who kicks down the sand castles other people build, the fake president takes pleasure in his nihilism. Such destructiveness simply adds to the countless other pieces of evidence for why he is so unfit to be president.
7
All those with the faux outrage over Obama signing executive orders... and low the deathly silence with this EC which will have MAJOR implications.
2
Trump and the GOP are pushing to go back to "junk" policies. Which are cheap, but don't do anything but make money for the people who sell them.
When you get sick ... which you will unless you know a way to live forever, these "junk" policies will only cover a portion of costs and the insurance companies will immediately raise rates so the policies become unaffordable. The sick are then left on their own with huge debt and bankruptcy as they desperately try to get the care they need to survive.
It's a SCAM! The president of the United States and the Republican party are knowingly selling the American people a scam! One that will lead to misery for millions upon millions of Americans. But they don't care.
The Republican party, whatever it was in the past, has now been bought and paid for by wealthy parasites who believe in Survival of the Richest. Even though a healthy citizenry will benefit them too as it limits the chance of mass illness, they don't care. They'd rather watch the people they consider beneath them struggle and die in pain and fear. I guess they figure their money will somehow protect them. Unfortunately the sickness in their souls cannot be cured by any insurance or doctor.
We need to toss ALL the Republicans out of power. They're working against us, not for us. No matter how many lies they tell, it's time to see them for what they are. It's time to leave them behind and move the United States into the 21 Century, not back into the Dark Ages of Feudalism.
2
Chuck and Nancy, I think you got rolled by Trump. I give Trump credit, he's a clever guy. Despicable, but clever. He just did an end run around everyone. No time for protestors in wheelchairs, nobody to phone (you can't get live people at the White House switchboard anymore under Trump). No time for Jimmy Kimmel to slam him on this.
Someone please tell me, what exactly did Chuck and Nancy accomplish with this guy, who Chuck thinks "likes" him?
If I sound bitter, I am. Obamacare is dead, Trump killed it.
Trump in July 2012 - "Why is @BarackObama constantly issuing executive orders that are major power grabs of authority?"
1
He knows his supporters are so dumb that they'll think that new, cheaper policy will actually buy them some health care. It won't be until they try to meet the deductible, or until they try to pick up their birth control, or have their preexisting condition treated, that the complaining will start - and they'll still blame it on Obama.
3
Trump continues to demonstrate that he knows nothing about our country's values or it's people. About the only thing he does know is how to surround himself with incompetence. He is a disgrace to our country and should be removed as soon as possible.
2
Why won't the NY Times call Trump a failure. He promised that he was going to repeal Obamacare and replace it with something better and much cheaper for everyone. He failed.
3
An executive order with no details has to be "written" by the agencies charged with implement it. Hard to see how this order will result in "real health insurance" since it would allow policies that do not cover the essential benefits and coverage for pre-existing conditions. So healthy people could pay very little for plans that cover very little.
This is what many people don't get: we may be healthy today but tomorrow we may receive an unexpected diagnosis of cancer or heart disease or we have an unplanned pregnancy. None of these medical events would be covered by these cheap plans.
So we will become a nation of sick people with untreated medical conditions, paying $30/month for insurance that covers $30/month of "treatment."
This will be one great step toward sticking it to the insurance companies. Interstate competition for insurance policies and a return to the availability of "catastrophic" plans will be an enormous hit with young people and small businesses. Ethically, it also benefits a far greater number of people in terms of cost/benefit. I will be glad to ditch my affordable family healthcare plan (with its $6,000 yearly deductible on top of the $23,000 yearly premium) for a catastrophic plan. Young people, like so many Bernie supporters, have not paid into the ACA and instead paid the IRS fine, which is one major reason the ACA is causing nationwide premiums to skyrocket as the risk pools worsen in health demographics.
2
When I was in my 20’s, I paid for health insurance that I rarely used at all, because I was very healthy. (My employer paid, too.) Now, in my early 60’s, I needed surgery to put in a pacemaker, which was paid for with that same insurance. This is how insurance is supposed to work! I am frustrating to read letters from people who complain about being “forced” to buy insurance they don’t need now. Apparently they don’t realize that they may grow older or less healthy some day.
3
Just 3 days ago the NY Times was hailing this same move: "Trump Poised to Sign Order Opening New Paths to Health Insurance".
When are you going to raise your standards NY Times? Is this move undermining insurance or "opening new paths"? The answer is obvious to many, but to those who are confused, you are NOT helping.
1
I have been in the health insurance business since 1990. This will change nothing. These morons think if a health insurance policy is cheaper in Iowa than it is in New York, they will just buy the Iowa policy while they live in New York. The Iowa health insurance company is NOT going to sell that policy in New York at the same price when they have to pay New York medical costs rather than Iowa medical costs. And these purchasing co-ops that Rand Paul keeps pushing. Been there, done that. We did that in the early 90s. It doesn't work either.
1
So, basically Obamacare isn't imploding on its own as Republicans keep trying to tell us, so Trump is going to add to the acts of sabotage the GOP has already been doing since 2009 by attempting to drive one more stake into its heart with this EO.
So many voters are oblivious to the nuances of the health care issue that Trump will probably get away with blaming Obamacare generally for the destabilization this order will cause. I mean, many didn't even realize that the great insurance they had called ACA was actually Obamacare's official name. But, this is a typical Trump maneuver.
NYTimes stories seem to have contradictory information. Previous stories have told us that the overwhelming majority of people on the exchanges get subsidies. According to these stories (prevalent during the failed Republican pushes to repeal the ACA), it is just a tiny sliver of Americans hurt by the high and rising prices on the exchanges. This genre of stories sought to portray the exchanges as a success, so why repeal when so few people were hurt by the high prices?
So now , we are being told there are so many price-sensitive customers on the exchanges that these low-cost off-exchange products will cannibailze and destabilize the exchanges.
It really can't be both situations at the same time, can it? Which version of the exchanges is the real one?
2
Trump and the regressive Republican Party are effective only in obstructing and undoing.
How long will it be before they undo the Constitution?
In just one day it's UNESCO, the ACA, and denying help to Puerto Rico. There has been no WH help for blue California.
3
If we changed the name to "TrumpCare", would he leave it alone?
3
I'm sure that all the conservatives are now going crazy because Trump is ruling by fiat through executive orders, right?
In the civilized world, say anywhere north, south, east or west of the United States promoters of such changes would be held accountable for the disastrous effects of their actions. Similar proposed alterations to Obamacare come with predictions of thousands, if not tens of thousands of unnecessary deaths. Other modern nations would put this in the realm of criminal, not political activity.
2
I wonder how many commenters have actually read this article. There are a great deal of projections and hypotheses to sift through. It isn't a "finger-pointing", "pitchfork-raising" kind of article. There are real points made and questions to be asked.
Is it beneficial to the United States to relieve small businesses of stringent insurance mandates? Should small businesses be allowed to band together in order to receive the same leniency as conglomerates? What is the cost-benefit relationship?
Should healthy people be rewarded economically for being healthy? Should ill or illness-prone people be responsible for more of the financial burden of our now-nominally-national healthcare?
These questions go beyond despising Conservatives or Donald Trump himself. Ask real questions. Read the articles.
2
Most everyone, Democrats and Republicans, agree that there are serious problems with Obamacare. The Democrats refuse to consider any changes, however. And, the Republicans are in such disarray that, even though they have a majority in both houses, they cannot agree on much of anything. At least Mr. Trump is making an attempt to fix the health insurance problem. Congress, at this point, is a fairly worthless organization. Maybe they should just stay home.
2
Trump is running the country like he ran his businesses - into the ground.
7
In my working life, I was part of a HUGE risk pool and had excellent health insurance. Now retired, it transitioned to secondary with Medicare. My wife had a hip replacement with complications and ICU time....just one bill was $246,000. (That's probably not what Medicare payed, but that was the bill.) Why should I, just because of the risk pool, get that kind of coverage and a guy doing the SAME JOB, in a small 4 man shop, without that leverage, only afford a plan that leaves him hung out to dry, or bankrupt? If you drive, you have to have auto insurance....it's the law. If you breathe, you have to have health insurance, and it can't be the type leaves you nervous if anything "bad" happens. The idea that "young healthy people" need minimal coverage is also a farce. I know such a person who just had an emergency appendectomy with complications. Fortunately, his rich brother helped him out. The labyrinthine nightmare that health insurance could become, especially if you sent it back to the states with 50 different regimes, is beyond ridiculous. Health care is an inelastic demand that requires comprehensive quality....it's not like shopping for a washing machine where even the low end washer will get your clothes clean and won't put you at financial risk. We need all of America to become that giant risk pool with the economies of scale it could provide.
3
With the money he takes out of healthcare, he can give himself a huge tax cut. And his base will praise him.
It’s good to be king.
1
So the ACA gives large employers extra freedom and flexibility to craft less costly health plans, and Trump wants to give the same ACA-defined flexibility to associations of small businesses.
How is this unfair? Why would liberals want more freedom/less cost for big business and the opposite for small business?
1
In his quest to undo everything our African American President accomplished, this man truly doesn't care about how this will impact citizens' lives. Are his supporters OK with either losing their health care or paying much higher premiums? Do they not care if they no longer can afford dialysis or chemo? This man does not have your best interests in mind.
How much more of this can the country take?
This is a life and death issue for many Americans, and to continually threaten their well-being is a form of harassment, if not outright terrorism.
Meanwhile, I invite every Congressperson, from each side of the aisle, to visit an American whose health depends on the ACA and take note of their concerns on a human level, putting politics aside. Just because Trump has no empathy, doesn't mean that all of our elected officials need to follow suit.
We can do better.
3
Finally some rational ways to help healthy folks who do the right things to obtain affordable insurance.
1
Please stop calling it Obamacare.
So this is Trump's plan that's going to be better cheaper cover more people that he spoke about during the election?
Our premium is going from $1365 to $2005 in 2018. Thank goodness my husband will be on that socialist Medicare plan next November.
2
With Congress in recess Trump and his administration are having a productive week of tweets, threats, Executive Orders and regulatory repeal. There's no one form Capitol Hills to race to the White House and try to stop the onslaught . And it's only Thursday morning.
Tomorrow will bring the first step in the revocation of the Iran Treaty, another appeasement of Israel which is the steward of US foreign policy in the Middle East.
This has all been coordinated by Kelly, Mattis and McMaster. "My generals" are really Trump's enablers. We are governed by a facist autocrat with the support of the military.
Meanwhile, in Puerto Rico people are dying because they don't have access to potable water three weeks after two hurricanes devastated the island.
All of Trump's attention should be focused on helping these people, yet today he tweeted a threat to cut off aid to them. And now this. The incompetence is alarming.
3
You know what I find so funny and laughable about the United States in general they can somehow find the money for war and destruction. But we can never come together to give out healthcare to our citizens it is downright shameful of us a nation.
5
Overall looks like a good proposal. Instead of trying to deny cheaper health insurance for the majority, the democrats should focus on how to reduce the overall cost of healthcare for the sick.
1
Today is the day of pivot - it’s now officially Republican Care - the sabotage inflicted by this Administration of the Republic is without precedent in so many ways.
2
The next phase:
People who are healthy will buy discounted (but sub-standard) insurance policies, forcing up prices in the rest of the market.
People who are not healthy won't buy those expensive policies they can't afford.
Uninsured people who are not healthy will get sicker, and die.
Trump supporters are--statistically--the least healthy people in the country.
Darwinism at its most delicious.
Vote as if your life depends upon it in 2018 -- which it does, especially if you buy your insurance on the federal exchange.
3
It's a safe bet that all of you who work for the NYT, or read the NYT, or comment to the NYT, get your health insurance via your employer or medicare. Your costs are subsidized by the federal government, and you are not bearing any of the higher costs of the ACA. You show no understanding of, or sympathy for, the middle class people who don't work for large employers and have to buy their health insurance on the individual market. If their incomes exceed fairly modest levels they do not qualify for subsidies. Their costs have tripled under the ACA, on the way to quadrupling next year. They are being forced to drop coverage because the "Affordable" Care Act has made their insurance unaffordable. The underlying cause is the intent of the ACA to make "independents" pay high premiums to subsidize the cost of the much larger much sicker pool of people who qualify for ACA subsidies, as well as the pool of very sick people with pre-existing conditions who were guaranteed coverage. Unless the ACA is changed, the only independents left with coverage will be those with high medical costs. I read the basic intent of the Trump executive order to be to create the possibility of separate risk pools for these people, which would relieve them of the impossible burden they are now being asked to bear. Whatever subsidy they would have provided should either be borne by general tax revenue or spread over the entire health insurance market, including employer coverage.
6
Actually, I do not. Me and my husband pay for our own insurance. Our premium is going from 1365 to 2005 next year. I get no subsidies. I read the NYTimes every day.
1
The president is a paranoid schizophrenic and yet
Congress has not removed him. Why! Even Nixon was removed. Where is the Republican Party? Are they all
Insane?
1
Unlike Mr. Tillerson, I do not have as dimplomatic a language to describe his boss as he did when calling him a moron. This un-affordable junk president's meanness is the equal of Republicans. Can't we send them all to an Obama rehab treatment center to help them get over the previous president?
The Republican goal is more people in debt and richer billionaire patrons. trump just hates everyone - inside and outside the White House, especially Obama and anyone with Obamacare.
2
So much for his "America first" idea.
Instead of making healthcare affordable for all Americans, as promised, Trump will now make it unaffordable for sick Americans. Whereas of course, the only purpose of buying health insurance is to be able to survive and keep your home and keep your business and your kid in college when you get seriously ill.
So start making insurance unaffordable for the sick, and you're basically destroying America's healthcare.
What a "moron" ...
1
This article was misplaced in the NY Times. It should be under Opinion.
1
The paragraph beginning with “Large employer-sponsored plans” is factually incorrect. Most employer-sponsored plans covering say 500 or more employees are self-funding the plans, not insuring them, and they are regulated by ERISA, under federal law, while small group and individual insurance plans are regulated by the states. The ACA applies to both and large employer-sponsored plans are very definitely required to provide essential health benefits. Mental health and maternity are also mandated by other federal legislation applicable to large group health plans.
1
If making larger groups for coverage cost reductions makes so much sense, then I would like to propose a group: everyone. It's called single payer.
4
The recent executive order is going to create such a mess that single payer will be the only way out. But in the interim much confusion and pain will result. Perhaps Obama intended this end result with the ACA.
Insurance sold across state lines (and there will be many, some fly-by-night) will result in providers, like now, only offering to accept plans that they have contracted with. So if you like your doctor make sure they they accept the plan that you are thinking of signing up with if you want to keep that doctor.
In this age of globalization, has any non us health care organization ever considered marketing healthcare coverage to take advantage of some of the economies that could be achieved by coverage of US residents health care in other countries? I'm not thinking "travel insurance".
1
More affordable, limited health insurance coverage for relatively healthy people who don't get insurance through their employers would be a good thing. But it needs to be done as part of comprehensive legislation that fixes what's wrong with Obamacare without destroying what's right with it.
If only Trump and Congress would spend the time and energy in trying to find a solution to the health care crisis in this country - that they do trying to destroy what little progress has been made, with no thought toward a reasonable replacement. This is not an easy fix, but it's critical that we figure out a way to offer affordable health care to all of our citizens. Other countries have done it, why can't we?
I have thought before that trade organizations, professional membership associations, and categories of small businesses should be able to amalgamate and offer group plans. This does not mean that they should be able to offer inadequate , basically worthless plans.
But the "good " plans in existence are unaffordable for most middle class individuals and families. I have 2 sisters in Texas who are in jobs which do not offer group plans. The only plans that they are being offered in the marketplace-depending upon their city and network-are about or over $1,000 a month with significant deductibles. How is this affordable ? Also the NY Times published an article about a month ago in which it stated that the average family that is self paying with no subsidy pays over $18,000 annually for their plans. In all of the cases above this is before you have used your insurance at all. This is a significant amount of money annually for an abstraction. You might as well save it for the occasion where you may need to self pay-and when it is gone refuse to pay any more to providers. They can't take your house. Also I know people who have stated that they will self pay in cash up front if they can have the much lower insurance company negotiated pricing. Hospitals do say yes.
Trump's current proposal helps very few people. When are the voters and hard workers in this country going to stand up and say that they are tired of rhetoric and smoke and mirrors and need real solutions ?
1
The next time you receive medical care like visiting an ER read the fine print that you sign for yourself or a dependent. You will see that you are responsible for paying the bill if your insurance doesn't. Here in Pennsylvania one of the state insurance commission's functions is to make sure that insurance companies that sell insurance in this state are financially able to meet their obligations. One way they do this is to require that the company is bonded so that the bond can pay if the company defaults.
The article, in closing, mentioned this risk to the consumer, but the average person does't read articles like this, The high cost of health insurance will tempt folks to buy insurance across state lines, if permitted, that is sold on TV or the internet or sold by commissioned sales people.
On the upside, when the markets implode, Medicare-for-all supporters in Congress may get some traction, especially if Democrats regain control of Congress in the 2018 midterms. Trump has already said about healthcare that "everybody has got to be covered," the government will pay for it, and it's an "un-Republican" for him to say. Democratic control of Congress may deliver the healthcare "win" Trump has said he wants. But, of course, because Trump never loses, even if these things do not come to pass, he'll claim a win by destroying the ACA and blaming Obama.
1
The article implies that the ACA really favored large businesses over small. That is very disturbing.
1
Instead of reading the tone of the voters, that the ACA is a very popular program, and waiting for Congress to work on bipartisan tweaking to improve it, Trump acts like a petulant child and pulls out his 'power of the pen'. He has an axe to grind with Mr. Obama, that's what this is.
We'll meet your pen in court, Mr. President. ACA remains the law of the land.
2
REALITY: trump trying to lower costs so saying he is undermining obamacare is unfair i.e. this is similiar to the use of lashing out when he speaks out on a subject
1
He's managing our health care system like a slumlord manages an apartment complex! I get it why the rich like this guy, but how bad does it have to get before poor Trump voters who actually need health care figure this out?
2
If only Donald Trump cared as much about the environment as he does about "giving great HealthCare to many people - FAST". My sincere condolences to all Americans who will be greatly hurt by "the power of the pen." The last time I checked, he was elected president, NOT dictator.
3
Republicans won't rest until they've ensured that health care is only for the wealthy and the healthy.
16
Let's not forget that the ACA was a gift to the insurance industry. Is it too much to ask that they hold the line and not offer these inferior products in an act of solidarity with people who purchase their plans? Well of course it is. And that is the reason we need government run single payer insurance and cut the insurance industry out entirely!!!!
8
I used to be very worried about Trump destroying health care. Now, I'm more worried about nuclear war. I only have so much capacity.
I've been wondering if I should abandon my west coast home, and take shelter further inland. But, I have two adult children and two grandchildren in harm's way (South Korea and Seattle). I wouldn't want to live in a post-apocalyptic world, especially without them.
Is this real? Am I really using my mental faculties in this type of morbid calculation? Gee, thanks all you Trump voters. And don't tell me I'm crazy, when the Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is talking about his own World War III fears.
13
My son has a serious pre-existing condition and is dependent on Obamacare. Every single time I read of another Republican attack on the ACA, my stomach cramps.
Why, why, why do Republicans feel entitled to decide who lives in health and who lives in misery until they die?
The protection of single payer is the only hope.
16
Red State Health Insurance - for those who demand nothing and get exactly what they demand. And it's cheap too!
10
Does Trump realize he was elected by people who depend on this subsidy? Rural America is about to be left in the dark, again!
8
It’s “the art of the deal”.
1
So, instead of fixing the problems, Trump has chosen to throw the system and market into exponentially more instabllity and chaos. No surprise. Unerringly goes for the worst decision.
6
"that skirt the health law’s requirements."
Are you referring to the requirements that say all policies must include pediatric dental care? Or hair transplants? Or gender reassignment coverage? You know, things I will never, ever need? Those requirements?
1
You need to gain a more basic understanding of insurance Midwest Josh. Like we all pitch in to help underwrite each other's misfortunes and risks. Women will never need prostate surgery either, yet they are going to be chipping in via their premiums to help you out, should you ever need it. Unless, of course, you can confidently predict that you will "never, ever need" that either.
And how do you actually know you will "never, ever need" hair transplants? If you are in a fire and your scalp is severely burned, you may. How do you know that someone in your family won't need pediatric dental surgery or a gender reassignment? Do you live alone with no family or friends on an island?
2
A large percentage of American children don't get adequate dental care, and most people over 65 can't afford it and don't get adequate dental care either (Medicare doesn't cover it.) For those who can afford it, Americans definitely have the whitest teeth in the world, but among the developed countries, we have the worst overall dental health.
Are those required under ACA rules?
The current system is inequitable. Young Americans earn less and owe more than previous generations. But the law says they have to subsidize older Americans. Younger people as a group already are disadvantaged. It is not fair to make them pay even more. Any subsidies should come general tax revenue. The country will suffer if you prevent young Americans from getting ahead.
1
@Walter: You talk as if no young people will ever be old themselves. Maybe they won't be, at the rate our president is going. Every old person on the planet was once young and healthy. And every young person, if they are lucky, will become old and eventually unwell. If you had some foresight, you would realize that setting up a reliable system to take care of older folks will also benefit the younger ones as they age. Believe it or not, you won't be young forever.
There are also many young people with chronic illnesses and pre-conditions. What about them? Or is it that you don't think about them, becaise they are not you? What are you going to do if you are in a debilitating accident and become unable to fend for yourself? Will you be glad that you shot yourself in the foot with your opposition to the ACA, because you didn't happen to be a direct beneficiary of it at the time?
Insurance works when everyone pays into the system and everyone is covered. We each pay for the other, and that spreads the costs out. Someday you will be glad that we older folks fought your young and nonsensical self.
1
This action is the sign of a true take charge leader, something America has not had since perhaps the days of Harry S. Truman. With a stroke of the pen, President Donald J. Trump will restore competition to the healthcare insurance industry, allowing the American people to purchase the kind of insurance they need, not the kind of insurance dictated to them by the Federalized government. I support the President. I support Trump. Thank you.
1
INSURANCE 101: It works most efficiently and most affordably the bigger the insured pool is. This isn't rocket science.
10
That's all the Republicans talked about for 8 years was to repeal and replace. America will repeal and replace them in 2018
7
It's about time. The majority of republicans ran on repeal and we now know many never meant what they ran on, John McCain. So this is another step in dismantling a bad law and offering more choices for those who can't afford the mandate as it is presently. When the government subsidizes anyone it's called welfare.
1
@Ron: "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, PROMOTE THE GENERAL WELFARE, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."
Promoting the welfare of Americans is part of what we are supposed to do. It is one of the bases our country was founded on. If we cease to promote the general welfare, we might as well cease to be a country. You could, of course, go live on an island, if you aren't willing to be a part of a real country that looks out for the welfare of its citizens.
2
I agree that the ACA is an imperfect solution to our health care crisis. However, the ACA does hold insurance companies accountable for providing a baseline level of coverage. Allowing people to purchase cheaper insurance plans that don't cover basic medical services doesn't solve any problems. It is a complete waste of money. And, yes, I do think that all insurance policies should cover maternity care. We were all born at some point, maternity care benefits all of us.
2
This issue is about generational wealth transfer from the young (and healthy) to the old(er) (and sick). Young healthy people will applaud this change since they will be able to buy lower cost, essentially catastrophic insurance that meets their needs and they will no longer be forced to pay substantially higher premiums (for coverage they will never use) intended to subsidize the coverage of others. (if you don't agree, then please poll them and publish the results)
Its important also to distinguish the cost of insurance (protection against the unknown event) versus the cost of caring for a pre-existing condition. Insurance is protection against the unknown. Its not possible to insure against a known (pre-existing) illness. Instead, what is required for pre-existing conditions is a method of paying for the expected cost of their care. This requires a pool of money separate from insurance.
Before ACA, I bought my own plan. I always purchased a high deductible plan with no drug coverage. Adding drug coverage added something like 35-45 per cent to the premium. For me that as acceptable. Just maybe, I repeat, just maybe options aren’t bad. I don’t know.
2
It's not a matter of "people who don't want or need the broad coverage provided under the ACA."
EVERYONE needs broad coverage. That's the point.
Everyone can get sick, and everyone will want healthcare when they get sick. Those without broad coverage obtain care nonetheless, or they die. Both are unacceptable; people in a decent country shouldn't die for lack of basic healthcare, and those who obtain care nonetheless are free riders on all the people who responsibly take care of their own situation by paying for their healthcare plans one way or another.
Repeat after me: Everyone needs the broad coverage mandated by the ACA, whether they want it or not.
6
"Repeat after me: Everyone needs the broad coverage mandated by the ACA, whether they want it or not."
The mandates are too broad. Far too broad. That's the problem.
The solution is single-payer universal coverage.
1
The idea that everyone needs a one-size fits all policy is precisely the sort of overweening liberal arrogance that gave us President Trump.
Why not just work on helping people with pre-existing conditions and preventing insurance companies from throwing sick people to the wolves? Those were good goals.
Making young people pay rates that are closer to those paid by elderly people or forcing single men to purchase maternity and contraceptive coverage were bad ideas.
Cannot his executive order be vetoed? Didn't the Republicans do this with some of President Obama's executive orders - with far less justification or even oversight?
2
No. The Congress can not veto an executive order.
An executive order can be blunted by Congress refusing to fund whatever agency has to carry it out. An executive order could also be challenged in court.
Not surprising. What is surprising is that Democrats didn't predict the blowback. If you raise taxes on some to provide for all, many won't like it. In this case millions saw a downside in worse and more expensive plans--yes not everyone and millions were able to get insurance. It remains a Rube Goldberg contraption. I'm a Democrat but we are nuts in the way we deal with health insurance and healthcare. I don't see a way out.
1
It's become so abundantly clear that Trump's idea of "so much winning" is just undoing his predecessors' actions. That's not winning, or leading, that's just hitting the undo button. None of this if forward thinking but I guess we should've all realized this with the key word in his campaign slogan: "again".
So much for progress in government, culture, environment, business, industry, and intelligence.
4
If Trump truly wanted to lower costs, he'd avoid providing ways for the healthy to circumvent paying into the same pool sick people pay into. The ACA is essentially designed as a cost sharing measure where the healthy subsidize the unhealthy. Since we're all guaranteed to get sick at some point or another, we'll all get our chance to take advantage of these shared costs.
Allowing the expansion of short-term and association health plans isn't necessarily incompatible with the concept of sharing costs. The easiest way to ensure healthy people didn't abandon marketplace plans for these alternatives would be to also mandate that they provide the same level of coverage. With no difference in coverage provided, these plans would essentially be melded into the marketplace, serving the same people, and thus increasing enrollment and lowering the average costs for everyone - including the sick.
However, I have the feeling Trump does not actually care about lowering costs. He just wants to kill the ACA, so I don't have my fingers crossed for these rules to do anything aside from draw healthy people out of the marketplace and hence increase the costs for less healthy folks.
3
How about mandating health? If you smoke, it will cost you a $2000 yearly tax. If you are obese, it will cost you $2000 per year. Significant taxes on all processed foods. Enormous taxes on alcohol and marijuana.
The largest component of Americans' health care bills are self-induced chronic medical problems. Why not go after the source instead of the outcome?
What is Americans' problem with eating healthily and at least walking for exercise? Honestly, we pay billions of dollars per year in health costs to satisfy our need for sloth and indulgence.
1
It seems no. 45 just hates this concept of health care and coverage so much, so very despises it, that he will do anything to destroy it. Maybe because it has Obama's name on it, maybe because he must tear apart anything that came before HIM, maybe due to ignorance or willful vile. But he approaches everything this way- trade agreements, treaties, environmental protections, etc. I'm so sad for this country which every morning faces a new way to get torn up and destroyed. Who knows how or if it will get repaired. Maybe not in my lifetime. This has been said before, but I feel it every day. I am distraught.
4
Out of pure spite, Donald Trump is deliberately sabotaging the ACA and toying with wrecking the health insurance markets. The ACA is federal law. Is it really possible that Donald Trump will be allowed to defy congress and bring the entire system crashing down? How much more must we endure from this botched excuse for a human being?
4
It seems this will never end, the assault this administration is making on health care is really endless. Years ago I was buying health insurance for me and my family in the marketplace, horrible options until I joined the Freelancers Union and i bought my insurance through them, good affordable insurance. Then Obamacare came and Freelancers had to transition to the new plan, and the ACA was good affordable insurance. Now they are going to bring back these terrible useless polices from the past which mean no coverage at all. Making America great again...
22
There is nothing rational about the Republican agenda. Sabotaging health care. Provoking North Korea. Killing Iran deal. Denying climate change. Withholding birth control. Building a wall. Suppressing voting. Reviving coal. Supply-side fantasy. More guns after mass slaughter. Banning Muslims. Criminalizing peaceful protest. Thanks, Jill Stein supporters.
7
The agenda is just that, an agenda. As long as no legislation occurs, the country is doing fantastic. I haven't noticed one thing out of place since Trump was elected, but maybe because I am at work 70-80 hours per week and the only agenda I have is enjoying time with my family on my off hours.
1
Who says the GOP can't solve our health care problems? They just developed a new medical solution - Government assisted suicide (of the program).
1
You kill Obamacare by simply enforce the law as it was originally written. No bailouts. No waivers. No exemptions or exclusions. No subsidies.
Lesson: Make laws in haste (and without bipartisan political support) and you can regret in leisure.
You mean you STILL didn't read the law ... ?
Subsidies are at the very heart of the law, and Trump is doing NOTHING here to get rid of them (he can't, precisely because they're part of the law).
And Obamacare IS Romneycare, which itself is a Republican healthcare reform plan invented by the conservative Heritage Foundation. That in itself already proves that it's pretty bipartisan.
But then there's the fact that the bill has been publicly debated on C-SPAN for more than a year, was written by a committee that contained Republican Senators until the very end, AND includes more than 200 Republican amendments. And each time, they waited to vote until the CBO had confirmed that it would indeed do what it was designed to do: to insure 20 million more Americans (= 40,000 lives saved a year), and overall slow down cost increases.
That's how you get bills passed in Congress, you see? It even got passed by the super-majority of 60 votes.
Compare that to what the GOP is doing: they write HC bills in less than a month, and put them to a vote before the CBO could score it, without any public hearings, and even before a majority in their own party could read it. Of course that's not the way to get things done in Congress ... . And as a result, they didn't even manage to get 50 votes ... (and of course, the fact that these bills would destroy the health insurance of 30 million Americans didn't help either ... ).
1
Again, let's throw old and sick people out of the boat and let them drown in high-risk pools with crushing premiums and deductibles. That's what will happen if the President takes this action.
8
How on earth is trump allowed to change or destroy anything he wants without going through Congress? They are the ones who make the laws. What is trump anyway, an imperial king? He thinks he is. Why is he allowed by executive orders to destroy the ACA, which is the established law of the land. I am so tired of the "elected" president acting like a dictator.
7
Increasing competition in the health insurance markets? The nerve of this guy!
3
Except that in this case, it doesn't increase quality and lower costs for all, it lowers quality for some, which increase costs so much for those who vitally need this kind of product that it becomes unaffordable and they die.
Any good reason to encourage this kind of "competition" ... ?
1
What a dangerous mixture to have in one individual. Ignorance, lack of empathy and a sociopathic mind. This man is trampling on all aspects of human dignity, not a day goes by that he does not insult some group of people, that he doesn't trample of some inherent rights or doesn't make me feel embarrassed for being a US citizen. hat on earth will it take to have him removed from office and committed? Are our elected official whose duty it is to keep us safe and look out for our well being going to remain oblivious to their duty and sit by idly while our country and possibly our world is driven to the abyss?
7
Why create when you can destroy?
4
Isn't Obamacare the law? How can the executive branch undermine the law?
4
You mean like not enforcing immigration law for decades?
1
Time for Trump to go- either the 25th or impeachment- that is all
9
By the end of his term we will have no country left as Trump is merciless destroying the US. Simple to favor of his alienated base, satisfy his childish and irresponsible temperament, at the cost of millions of lives ... We need to impeach this guy before is too late. #LetsSaveAmericaFromTrump
5
When millions of elderly people who voted for conman/serial sexual predator/bigoted Trump because they couldn't get past their own old-fashioned prejudices, suddenly find their healthcare rates are skyrocketing - excuse me if I sound callous - I'm going to have a difficult time feeling much empathy.
7
If ObamaCare is a horrible as the GOP claims why haven't they repealed and replaced it with the various Better, Cover More, and cheaper plans,..they've been screaming about for more than 7yrs.
Even POTUS Trump claimed/s he has a better plan, cheaper, covers everyone,..
Obama isn't stopping you from succeeding. He's chilling on a beach.
4
I am exhausted by this man's mental illness and cruelty. Everyday is another assault. It has to end.
12
Soon the country will collapse economically and yet the Republican Party has done nothing to save their party and remove Trump from office. Why!!!
3
well, if Fake president is not discharging his duties, isn't that a reason and a ground for impeachment?
5
Trump must be removed from
Office before there is a majority uprising.
11
I'm afraid the uprising will occur if he is removed. Remember who has all the guns.
1
Because, as we know, since it's got Obama's name on it, it's got to go. That's the whole point of this exercise. Donnie got made fun of at a White House Correspondent's Dinner and is now exacting his revenge for everyone laughing at him.
11
How was Trump "foiled" in Congress? He put a pathetic amount of effort into the whole debate, aside from a few moronic tweets. The real reason it failed is because the GOP majority in Congress spent zero time whatsoever working on an actual replacement for Obamacare.
13
These tactics are just plain mean. Trump is a bully--always has been, always will be--and he has finally gotten the power that he has only dreamed about. No wonder nobody likes him.
16
Red-state pundirs can now never again complain about Obama's executive orders. Let's stop with the double-standard, GOP: Either healthcare policy is approved by majorities in congress or it's not approved.
Trump is a hypocrite.
16
Of course they will keep complaining about Obama's executive orders.
Trump's war on America continues.
16
Everytime I think we have reached the bottom of the hole of stupid remarks, our cartoon-like president digs it deeper.
Does he have any comprehension of how rules and laws in our democracy works?
Perhaps tomorrow he may even forbid the sun to rise!
5
Our once Democratic government has failed. It does not matter anymore the selfish cruelty the recent Republic congress had imposed on us. They are fascist criminals and the only honorable thing to do is for intelligent Americans is to move to Europe where a few people are still stable.Many Honorable Americans have already left!
7
Like so many of his stupid ideas, this one will be stopped by a court. More taxpayer money wasted on his vanity, immaturity and truculence.
17
Trump and his Cabinet are clearly showing they don't care about wasted taxpayer money. They are the rich, priveledged upper crust who live by different standards than everyone else. "Drain the Swamp"? They ARE the swamp.
What a disaster this presidency has been so far, and it's only just started.
It seems some people commenting here do not know how health insurance works. If you have health insurance and pay a monthly premium you are paying for everyone not just yourself. This is why premiums, co-pays and deductibles go up across the board. Donald Trump apparently doesn't know how health insurance works either.
24
Insurance is to cover the risk of something very expensive occurring. It is not to cover the costs incurred by people who have high costs when they sign up, and who therefore need medical care, not insurance. That is the way all other insurance markets work, and the way the health insurance market worked pre-ACA.
1
Not sure what point it is you're trying to make. I worked at Blue Cross of Wisconsin for 10 years. I stand by my comment.
maybe someone smarter can explain this to me. Obamacare repeal failed. Twice. The law remains in effect. Now he simply plans to undermine the law? How is it, that the law isn't being enforced?
52
(Actually, repeal failed about 60 times, going back to the last admin).
I would like to have a low cost option to my family’s current health care insurance, which has been rendered virtually useless via increased deductibles and premiums the last eight years. I am a middle class taxpayer, who has actually paid higher taxes via these increased premiums and deductbiles. I voted for Obama and Obamacare because of the “promises”. It was a costly mistake. It remains to be seen whether Trump was another costly mistake. I am also amazed that the media does not make a bigger deal out of the fact that Congress receives a 75% subsidy of their Obamacare, at the middle class’s expense - it is simply wrong.
10
In real life, Obamacare insures 20 million Americans more than the previous system. That's 40,000 American lives saved a YEAR.
Overall, it also slowed down cost increases (for the federal government as well as for citizens buying on the individual market).
You cannot take these facts into account and then call it a "costly mistake".
It's just that indeed, the law simply isn't perfect, it was the best that the Democrats could do at the time, knowing that the GOP was investing millions in spreading lies about it. So yes, it still can and should be improved.
But that doesn't mean increasing premiums for people who need HC, as Trump is doing here, it means expanding the Obamacare mechanisms that allowed it to insure 20M more Americans.
A mere $110 million tax increase for the wealthiest Americans (= something they won't even FEEL) has been shown to allow people like you to get enough subsidies to make the current insurance plans affordable for you too.
So that's what Trump should do, rather than destabilizing the individual markets even more and making insurance once again unaffordable for sick people.
As to Congress: its members are part of a pool large enough to directly negotiate with insurers, so like all large businesses, they get insurance through their employer, whereas Obamacare mainly has to do with the 20% of the American people who don't get insurance through their employer and as a consequence have to buy it themselves on the individual market.
1
Is this fantasy or a lack of basic understanding? Or both? I think it is called cognitive dissonance. One must start with the basic premise that health care insurance is not a "market." The costs will be borne by someone, somehwere. Are the American people so entranced with the shell game that they fail to recognize that we have the largest and best "association" right in front of us. It is called The United States of America. Medicare for all and an all in effort to rein in medical costs is the only solution that works.
17
How quickly will his executive order be implemented? Before 2018 mid-term elections? Doubtful. He wouldn't want to do more damage to Republicans than he's already done. During his term (assuming he makes it 4 years)? Probably and right at the end. trump won't run again (even if he's able to) and this will be a wreck for whoever comes next. The only hope is that trump's order will be sloppy and technically weak, because his team is compromised of B and C players, that it's a non-starter and won't hold up to a legal challenge.
4
This reveals a singular weakness of the Affordable Care Act and is actually a good example of why it should be replaced. Had Mr. Obama been a more seasoned politician and President, he might have foreseen this possibility and preempted it.
3
I hope this can be tied up in the courts until the end of time.
Come on, Congress get with it and try to improve the ACA.
7
All the more reason for a single payer system subsidized with a progressive tax structure.
23
Use your vote to gain benefits for yourself that someone else pays for. Bankrupting democracy.
Why would I want to give up my employer based coverage AND pay higher taxes? How is that good for me?
I must first qualify this post by acknowledging that I lack the understanding necessary to really evaluate the issues the article addresses. That said, I wonder whether there isn't a legitimate clash of values here, as opposed to Donald Trump simply wanting to attack our healthcare system while strafing sick Americans in the process.
He seems to have one clear priority: The immediate financial needs of small businesses are more important than the needs sick Americans have for expensive treatments that can extend their lives and eases suffering. This is a tough position. I don't agree with it. But it's not indefensible.
As well, there may be a wider agenda: With our aging population in the throes of a chronic disease epidemic, that will persist for decades, we simple can't afford to pay for comprehensive medical care. So we shouldn't try. Many Americans will die younger and suffer more, but the monies are needed elsewhere. Again, a difficult, perhaps even heartless, position: But not one that is indefensible.
9
1. Trump promised to do the exact opposite of the two positions you're describing here, as a candidate.
2. As a consequence, he isn't even trying to defend those two positions today, he continues to defend the opposite, namely making insurance affordable to more, not less people.
3. Position two IS indefensible, as all other Western countries found a way to pay for the healthcare of their aging population (and most of the time, their elderly get BETTER and cheaper healthcare than American seniors), whereas the US is by far the wealthiest country on earth.
So what's left is position one: the deliberate decision to make healthcare unaffordable for sick people. In other words, to destroy the very essence of healthcare. You may call that a position that is "not indefensible", but in that case, I'd be curious to hear some of the arguments you'd use to defend something like that ... ?
1
The first sentence was accurate; after that, a) small businesses could always organize insurance across state lines, and Obamacare positively encourages this; b) the only "chronic disease," at play among aging Americans is called, wossname, "aging."
This latest "action," helps nothing, other than a certain President's ego.
1
This is spot on from the inner workings of the medical system. We do not possibly have the money to treat Americans' chronic problems to the level that they desire. Go elsewhere in the world and a headache is just a headache. In the U.S. it deserves a CT scan, then possibly a follow-up MRI, a neurology consult, and numerous esoteric lab tests. We cannot treat everyone like this, and 99% of it is wasteful. On top of this waste are myriad self-induced chronic illnesses from obesity: hypertension, vascular disease, obstructive sleep apnea, and type 2 diabetes -- all of which cost hundreds of billions of dollars per year to "treat". Americans spend endlessly on "healthcare" and pills, when simple exercise and diet would work better as in the rest of the world.
A question is how many members of the Trump Gang have shorted; taken long positions in put options; and/or written call options on health care companies in anticipation of the potential negative impact on their earnings. Can you say "insider trading"? Perhaps this is their primary motivation.
19
Gee, ya think anyone in the Trump Administration will investigate any illegal insider trading? LOL My money tells me that those who should be doing the investigating have already made sure they can cash in.
Trump has openly shown his opposition and disdain for American Democracy and the Constitution. We all, whether on the Right, Left or Center, must fight Trump's goal of ending American Democracy.
18
it's been said before, but it can't be repeated enough. The President and members of Congress should get the same health (or non health) care they want for everyone else.
49
Yes they should, but that would require that they think of other people less fortunate than they are, and that may be a bridge too far for most of them except a few like Bernie Sanders.
"Large employer-sponsored health plans are generally subject to fewer federal insurance requirements than small group plans and coverage purchased by individuals and families on their own. They are generally not required to provide “essential health benefits,” such as emergency services, maternity and newborn care, mental health coverage and substance abuse treatment, although many do."
This is an aspect of the ACA I was unaware of, one of the many real shortcomings with the ACA that should have been talked about but got lost in the nonsense conservatives have raged about for 8 years (the items raged about were al present in bipartisan sponsored bills prior to the ACA, e.g., the Wyden bills). It's a market distortion, plain and simple, unequal treatment, unequal regulation that makes insurance plans more expensive for individuals and small businesses not just because of stricter regulations but the lower standards for large businesses raise the costs of higher standards for everyone else. This article, however, does not talk about the WHY - I assume it is because the Obama administration did not want a bigger fight on its hands, with more politically powerful large businesses.
The solution should go in the other direction - have the same hig standards for everyone, which will raise the costs for large businesses some but lower the costs for everyone else. We'd all be better off, but that's not going to happen any time soon.
3
A move that will personally benefit me. I am a 51 year old male in great health and was paying $168 per month for healthcare before Obamacare. Now my deductible has doubled and my premium is $389 per month. But on the bright side, I now have maternity insurance in case I am the first man in history to ever get pregnant. The more Democrats fight common sense moves like this the less likely they are to ever win an election all the way down to dog catcher.
9
Yeah, I was 51 once and in "great health", too. You might want to think about the old adage "nobody gets out of this world alive" before you start spending that "windfall". Because if the repubs do to Medicare and Social Security what they're trying to do with health care, you might want to rethink your retirement.
20
And your wife has coverage in case she gets prostate cancer. It's called shared risk; that's how insurance works.
If you really want to bring up "common sense" then you must admit that the obvious best option is single payor
4
You weren't getting insurance for $168 a month; you were getting insurance for that plus what your employer paid.
Your employer increased your deductible to lower their costs, and cut the percentage that they paid.
1
Trump knows more about healthcare than any doctor, patient or insurance company, more about international relations than any diplomat and more about war strategy than any general.
He is a Colossus among men, perhaps the brightest man to live in modern times, certainly the most accomplished business person of our day and the nation is incredibly fortunate to have him as president.
(DJT thoughts to self upon awakening)
21
HILARIOUS. But.
1
Send that post to Trump, you will get a job offer for Secretary of State.
1
Forcing me to buy more insurance than I need is just another tax. I vote for the freedom to buy a "junk" car that serves my needs safely, and "junk" insurance that covers catastrophic events ONLY. I can pay for my other health expenses out-of-pocket. This is the prescription that will bring costs down for everyone.
17
Health insurance is not like other things. Nobody knows their future health costs because anything can happen to anyone at any time.
6
NO! This will bring down the cost of insurance for the fortunate few who don't really need insurance - the young and the healthy. When they leave the general insurance pool, the cost of caring for those with preexisting conditions, those who are old, and those whose ailments require long and expensive treatment will be borne only by those people, and they won't be able to get insurance. The idea of insurance is to spread risk around so that no one gets clobbered. The people who can now do without insurance, and thereby duck the cost-sharing aspect of insurance, will someday be not so young and not so healthy. Then will they realize why it was set up the way it is.
8
Who gets to define 'catastrophic event'? Your so-called insurance company. Good luck with that, it's a nice looking paper umbrella but you better pray it doesn't rain.
5
Welcome to the Imperial President.
7
I think Obama held that title for 8 years.
I'm not defending Trump but Obama did the same thing. Many times.
The tyranny of the minority.
President Obama won the 2008 election with 10 million more votes than McCain.
President Trump lost the 2016 election by nearly 3 million votes.
Tyranny from a little man, Trump, a feckless coward of a president.
26
So why is it that it takes a President and a majority of votes in both houses of Congress to pass affordable health care but only one guy's "administrative order" to screw it up?
69
Stu, you are truly misguided if you actually think that the AHCA was affordable. It crushed millions of Americans budgets and left people scrambling to find doctors when theirs were taken away. It has been nothing but a massive failure.
1
He is making it better. For the past four years my family has spent about 18K on health insurance and we are very healthy, no meds or anything out of the ordinary has occurred. This is after tax dollars which is ridiculous that a family should spend this much. I work for a small business and this is the only thing that might help us to receive benefits affordably. Trump is a chump, I'm not a fan of him, but this is one of the few good things he says he will do.
2
Because both houses of Congress have been engaging in stalemate politics since 1992?
"...Democrats and some state regulators are now greeting the move with increasing alarm, calling it another attempt to undermine President Barack Obama’s signature health care law."
.
Greeting with alarm? Not because Obamacare is collapsing in front of everyone. No, alarmed because President Trump, not nearly the cast of perfection that Obama is, deigns to fix it. Trump only took on Obamacare, because he knew if he just let it collapse, millions of people would be hurt.
.
And, That's What Happened.
5
Incredibly underinformed.
Trump is doing his best to make sure millions have no coverage.
He is trying to kill the existing with no replacement.
18
You don't know what you're talking about. The ACA is not collapsing. Do you simply repeat what you're told?
15
My guess is that you are choosing to ignore the collapse of many states, and/or the consolidation to one or two providers within states as being some kind of evidence that there is a significant problem, aka collapse. I understand disagreement on Trump's using of the pen to circumvent the democratic process, but let's at least not deny the sun rises in the east.
Trump claims to be a great and wise businessman. Of course, he is neither, given that many of his companies have failed and that he has made many of his billions of dollars by stiffing contractors and others who blindly supported his vision.
Now this business Cheat thinks he's got the perfect health-care plan -- and further, that he's the only person with enough foresight and brilliance to craft it. Of course, on the contrary, his executive order will cause the U.S.'s generally stable insurance markets to destabilize, and will shut out hundreds of thousands or millions of Americans from affordable health care -- especially those who suffer from preexisting adverse health conditions that require ongoing care: and the financial resources to deliver that care.
One more failure from a businessman loaded with failures.
One more failure from a president who keeps failing the nation.
16
Wasn't the GOP always constantly criticizing Obama for his go-it-alone dictatorial mandates? Why are signing statements strong leadership for Trump, but evil when Obama produced them? Why does the budget deficit and US debt no longer matter, when it comes to more tax cuts for the rich?
30
That is the problem with politics, both sides complain when the other side does what it wants.
I pose the same question back to you. Why was it ok for Obama, but not ok for Trump?
Alas, I think our circular logic is just a means to our ends.
As long as Donald occupies the White House the United States will have its ideals under attack and become more divided. We're stuck with him, love him or hate him, so let Donald have his way with health care. He's going to roll up his sleeves and attack the problem that even he admitted was "more complicated than anybody knew". Trumpcare will serve only the affluent, low risk, with no preexisting conditions and will drive up costs for the rest. Fine. It will seal his legacy of incompetence and help convince a large swath of his supporters what a blunder it was to cast their votes for him. There will be pain and suffering, but having him in office hurts anyway and is slowly driving us all mad.
Since he's in a problem solving mood, maybe he'll put on his hard hat, pick up a hammer, and go to Puerto Rico and fix their problems too.
7
We might share the same ideals (which tend to be human ideals), but we do not share the same ideas on how to accomplish those ideals.
Cool heads, everyone! Yes, this wrong and harmful, and we should clearly say so. But it is also another provocation designed to illicit anger and hate, which is what energizes the 37% and convinces them they are victims of a culture war. When we take the bait, we help Trump propagate hate.
Trump is destabilizing health insurance markets in any way possible. I think part of his idea is to make things so uncertain and unaffordable that if the ACA is repealed, the lack of government regulation and protections will be less painful than the chaos and costliness Trump is creating. For that reason, it is important to clearly note the damage being done and its source, every step of the way.
I did not see that the new order undoes pre-existing conditions protections. Does anyone know if that is in or out?
19
You're entire statement is based on false premises and is invalid on its face. The ACA was designed to fail. It was designed so that when Hillary Clinton won election in 2016, she could usher the US into the Single Payer system the people have been rejecting for the last 100 years. Trump doesn't have to do ANYTHING to undermine a law that is failing and will fail, guaranteed -- it's written into the law! Why do you think Obama kept having to illegally and unconstitutionally delay parts of the Un-Affordable Care Act? It's because it was failing TOO fast, and there was no way under the written language of the law it would have survived until 2016 for Hillary to offer single payer.
Over time, it's out: the whole point is to undermine the PPACA on behalf of sleazy insurers.
1
Civilized countries figured out long ago how to provide universal healthcare. What's so-called "Christian" America's problem?
For Trump, though, this isn't about providing great health care. This has nothing to do with health care. This is the vindictiveness of an infant who's been seething with anger since his predecessor dared to make fun of him in public. Donald Trump is a very dangerous man; he's driving this country towards the cliff and we're just sitting here, letting it happen.
31
Let us not forget what provoked the "making fun of" in the first place. It was Donald Trump who jumped on the birther bandwagon and took it to the extreme. It was Donald Trump who tried and is still trying to delegitimize the Obama Presidency.
He can dish it out, but can't take it from anyone. And if you're a black man or a woman, or anyone he feels is inferior to him (and that's a pretty large pool), he complete goes off the deep end.
He's worse than an infant. Infants grow out of infantile behavior.
Lower insurance costs for the healthy. That alarms Democrats?
5
If the heathy opt out of the requirements, they will have less coverage, and those who need care will have to pay more. That's how insurance works. Do you think I should be able to opt out of car insurance because I do not have accidents (at the moment)?
15
Glint - As a nurse, I've cared for plenty of "healthy" people who were hit by a car, injured playing sports, or diagnosed with cancer. "Healthy" does not mean you will never need health care. Most of us will.
4
Yes- because you're healthy now, but what about tomorrow. Who knows when they're going to be diagnosed with a life threatening/costly illness? Just as nobody wakes up in the morning and decides that "today I will crash my car"but they sure are glad that IF that happens they have that pesky insurance they were required to buy. That's why it's called insurance, dear boy. Share the cost, spread the risk. Hopefully you won't need it, but if you do you're covered.
4
Lesson learned from this Presidency: never elect a deeply insecure, incurably flawed, and monstrously unhappy person again.
23
Forget his campaign's collusion with the Russians. This guy is carrying out the Russians mission singlehandedly by wreaking havoc on our federal government and under minding everything that is good about our system. Does he really hate Pre. Obama so much that he would seek to destroy all of his accomplishments? And to think that Pre Obama is half white, I can only imagine how he would have been treated if he were black. Oh right, he would not have been elected.
Nonetheless, if Pre Obama had said or done any of the things that Trump has done or plans to do, Republicans would have begun impeachment proceedings a long time ago. The fact that this privileged, but uneducated and incompetent, white male can get away with such deplorable behavior and be rewarded is another example of white systemic racism. He needs to be stopped, and Republicans who enable him should not be rewarded with re-election.
15
Now we're finally knocking down the bowling pins and that's exactly how Obama did it.
4
I prefer not to think of my fellow Americans as bowling pins, thank you very much.
Something tells me that corporations will be very cautious about selling anything that is beyond what the law requires.
Corporations won’t be able to call on Trump to protect them from lawsuits, if they deny care that the law mandates.
7
Not corporations - - little associations of small biz owners who will get suckered into buying trash policies
2
So Trump will rally his base by telling them he single handedly overturned Obamacare. The damage will not become evident until after the 2018 elections. People will not realize what kind of coverage these association plans have until they need to use them, and then it will be too late. Cheaper plans are cheaper for a reason. Most have high deductibles, co-pays, and often only pay a percentage of medical costs. When illness or an accident strikes, is when it becomes evident that these plans provide nothing more than catastrophic coverage, and only a portion of costs will be covered. People will face enormous medical bills, and some will have to make the decision of whether or not they will have a life saving medical procedure.
Congress has let the people of this country down, and now Trump is playing king. Will no one challenge him?
22
I'm a licensed insurance agent and the whole ACA experiment has brought nothing but misery to my clients. It was designed to fail from the beginning and it started collecting taxes in 2010 and didn't cover the first person until 2013. The authors of the ACA did not understand how health insurance works, is priced, or is even sold to my clients. Anyone defending the ACA is merely parroting partisan rhetoric and clearly NOT looking at the facts.
13
I'm a US Citizen and the whole ACA experiment has brought nothing but relief to my friends and families, beginning with the ability to have one's dependents on family health insurance through age 26 (I recall at least 5 million young adults quickly benefited from this) and ending with the ending of exclusions for preexisting conditions and state-assisted subsidies based on income.
I think these are facts you may have not looked at - due to your partisan biases? (I hope not.)
11
State facts, not opinions. Who did what to who. What rule was put in place that causes harm. Are your clients complaining about the price of allowing people to opt out of coverage, or complaining that they (are among the young and healthy) have to buy coverage (and will benefit in years to come when they need medical care that costs them less because others are paying in) to make the system work better for everyone.
9
Agreed. I had an ACA-compliant insurance plan (I am self-employed and insure myself) before the ACA was implemented. I paid about $325 a month for it. Once the ACA went into effect, the premium doubled for the same coverage. Since I am fortunate to be in good health, I switched to a catastrophic plan in order to keep a similar premium (I actually pay around $25 a month more for significantly skimpier coverage)
Dear Trump,
Many of us work for companies that do not really have our well being at heart. Please do not do anything that would raise our premiums or cause us to have less coverage. We wanted change, yes. We wanted something that was better and cheaper than Obamacare. Please give us what you promised.
From a concerned citizen that pays way to much for what I have now.
10
You'll be able to go into a HSA now & save a bundle.
To ask a malignant narcissist to "do what you promised" is like asking a 3 year old to clean up his room. It is literally impossible. The combination of his warped psyche and a lifetime of indulgence and privilege ("spoiled" doesn't cover it) has created a kind of anti-decent human being., and non-voting made this monster OUR PRESIDENT.
If you stayed home when you should have voted, if you fell for the "pox on both their houses" propaganda, YOU are to blame. Make up for your error and throw every ounce of energy you can brew up to make the midterms next year the biggest rebuttal any politician ever received. VOTE!
The problem with "healthy" people, no matter how young and in great shape they are, is that they can turn into seriously ill or injured people in a heartbeat. And then their job (or their family's job) is to find a way to handle crushing medical bills and treatments that aren't covered in a low-priced "junk" policy.
A person's life shouldn't be ruined by a financial crisis when they are trying to recover from, or learn to live with, a catastrophic health event. And whatever level of treatment they eventually manage to get will undoubtedly be underwritten by taxpayers.
Single-payer NOW, to support people's health needs from the time they are in top physical condition to when (inevitably) they AREN'T.
19
HSAs are a better answer.
Only if you have that kind of money to put away. If you put away the maximum, and live a relatively low-care life (medically), you can end up with a ton of money that could help take care of a major illness. But if you can't afford to put away the max (what is it, around $5k a year?) you'll end up spending it as you put it away. And while it becomes an investment fund, wouldn't you rather invest in money to live on, rather than to hand over in huge sums to hospitals?
2
The ACA is the law of the land. When Trump takes action to impede or sabotage it, he is violating his oath of office. He does not get to pick and choose which laws he will or will not administer. That way chaos lies. He is the executive whose job is to run the country. He needs to quit tweeting, quit show boating, and do his job.
183
good luck w/that
What of the Immigration Laws "of the land"? I suppose you support every executive order 0bama signed that thwarted many "laws of the land"..
You should probably do some homework on your conclusion. Most of the ACA is left to executive action and decisions by unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats.
Long overdue, now get the full time to be 40 hours, eliminate vast things that are "essential services". The idea that insurance would ever address the desires of many to have affordable care in any and all circumstances. It could be affordable for healthy people, and perhaps some subsidy for those with serious medical issues.
7
To paraphrase -- let the poor stay sick and suffering
Nice Trumper!
3
President Trump is determined to destroy this country.
74
Putin could not have destroyed us any better.
Perhaps if NYT and others would stop referring to the ACA as "Obama's signature achievement" the President and his cohort could assess its merits and deficiencies more rationally.
15
You couldn't include the partisans on the other side, now could you? Why?? OH, they are not to blame of course, it is only "the President and his cohort."
Keep drinking the kool aid, my friend. One day it will have the desired effect, I am quite certain.
What you propose is giving in and giving up! Giving in to Trump rewards his crazy behavior. We MUST expect more from our president. This man is stark raving mad and dangerous. You don't just make it OK for him. Your suggestion would not work because he already knows that the ACA is Obamacare AND Obama's signature achievement. The biggest reason your suggestion won't work is because he & his band of misfits are incapable of thinking rationally.
1
The relentless attack by Republicans on the ACA will only lead to high healthcare costs, not lower, and will push low and middle income people to going back to using the ER as their main source of healthcare, the most expensive manner to do so. Where the attacks on the ACA by Republicans is supposed to lead is never articulated but is intended to play to their unenlightened , white base, who know nothing of healthcare financing. This is just another attack by white racists and insensitive Republicans on the black and poorer members of our society.
16
The vast majority of people do not know that the people without insurance using the Emergency room costs the rest of us an astronomical amount of money.
1
Perhaps you could cite some examples of whom 0bamacare has really helped.
Oh, that's right. I forgot, healthcare costs were dropping by 15% per year under the democrat administration.
Everywhere this man goes and everything he touches, he brings anger, frustration, despair and destruction. He has no capacity for nor any desire to improve the lives of any of us, with the exception of himself. As such, he is unfit in every way for this office. He needs to be removed and/or driven from office by any (legal) means possible.
96
Yes to you and your associates, some others are happy and just want these changes much more rapidly. And so far there are no legal means possible, so perhaps you should just adapt.
5
Ditto
Putin could not have done it any better.
Premiums increased under President Obama. While it's easy to blame President Trump, the trend of fewer companies offering fewer plans at increased rates continues from one presidency to the next. There are structural issues in the ACA that neither party wants to address.
11
Wrong. The Democrats have admitted to the problems with the ACA and have publicly stated they want to work with Republicans to fix what is not working.
23
Some do, those structural issues can only be addressed by eliminating the ACA and block granting money to the states. Insurance is not the answer, or at least not the total answer. We must cost reduce actual care, and improve actual health of our population. Not too easy to accomplish especially the health portion.
5
Just how well did block grants to Tennessee work? Your health scores are lower that the national average BTW, Tennessee gets more Federal money than it pays in taxes, yet ti condemns all the federal programs and claims that its federal taxes are going to larger states. Why should the rest of us pay for your health care?
1
I've owned a small business for 31 years. Decades ago I joined an association health plan. One of the families in the plan had a child born with catastrophic health problems. My premiums quadrupled a year later. That was the end of that.
Even if Trump's ploy weren't motivated purely by malice, it's still not a panacea.
22
Nothing is a silver bullet, now if that family had some support from government and charity your group probably would have been fine.
3
This is why risk needs to be spread over the entire population, as any rational country does.
Hey, a guy who knows nothing about health insurance markets and cares zero about what happens to actual human beings who need coverage, mucking around with a system that comprises one-sixth of our economy.
What could go wrong?
267
Do not underestimate The Don
People like elderly and children DIE?
Trump will do anything to erase Obama's programs.
The GOP leadership has deluded itself into thinking that at some point Mr. Trump will either mature into the job, or become docile and allow folks with better judgment to make Presidential decisions for him. Neither has happened, and our government operations are spinning out of control.
trump is dead set on destroying our international relationships, our healthcare, and our long term budget. His efforts with Congressional assent are undermining our society and what it stands for in the world.
For Gods sake, yesterday he went after the first amendment and our nation's news media. NAFTA, immigration, the Paris Accords, the ACA, the EPA, and our national parks are all being threaten or changed for no good reason. Congress does nothing but wait for that big tax cut they promised their moneyed backers.
America is in trouble.
70
Nobody with half a brain thinks that. He promised some things and now by whatever means possible he is going to deliver. The US is not in trouble, but rather we see some light at the end of the tunnel.
2
I'll agree with the "by whatever means possible" part of your response....legal or illegal Trump is on the take.
The light you see is a nuclear explosion, which is the last light you'll ever see.
The president doesn't want Obamacare to work so he's going to utilize "the power of the pen" to destabilize the ACA and then justify why it failed. As expected, in spite of multiple failures of Congress to repeal and replace Obamacare, the president refuses to give up his campaign to destroy Obamacare and is taking not a pen but a bulldozer to make good on a longstanding Republican platform pledge.
23
Want real change you need real action.
General Strike until this playing with the American peoples lives ends.
16
Go for it, don't expect to eat very well.
2
So spiteful is Trump of our first black president that he is willing to jeopardize the health of millions. Trump should be impeached immediately. Whoever is harmed by these measures should know the cause of illness and death is the GOP and Trump.
60
Under the Obama administration, life expediencies decreased after passage of the ACA. While I do not believe the ACA is killing people, there is little evidence to support the contention that it is improving health.
2
Correction. First *biracial* President...
1
Hoxworth: Odd, my search of the internet shows that under ACA, life expectancy edged up.
As an independent engineering consultant, I run my own business through an S-Corp. ACA has worked out exceptionally well for my firm. If the ACA gets crippled via executive orders, I'm sure we'll change plans. And fortunately, we can afford whatever is thrown at us. However, I'm having difficulty imagining poor, rural America gaining any benefit from these actions by Trump. Is rural America simply dumb, ignorant, jealous, racist or uneducated? I'll go with everything listed because nothing else makes sense.
90
Poor people have Medicaid, somehow you forgot that. And I wonder how the ACA worked for you at all.
2
Actually, “rural” America is loaded with pretty smart people. Way too smart too smart to be gulled into believing that Obamacare has worked ou t “exceptionally well” for anybody other than a lucky few...
vulcanex that is the trouble with you trump supporters, XXX says it worked exceptionally well for them, but you yell "fake news" Most of us want as many to have coverage as possible, you on the other hand seem motivated by just wanting to harm people you perceive as having it too good.
Repeal and replace trump!
27
Echoes of Trump University.
11
We get it. Trump will undo anything that a black man did no matter what a good thing it was. Trump is that racist. Should we just accept his racism and find a Plan B or should we get rid of him? I believe he should go.
22
Oh, please.
1
No, you don’t get it. That’s the problem...
1
Besides such an order being illegal, the only one to benefit would be the cons like the moron who sell policies with no coverage, are under-secured and declare bankruptcy when its time to pay claims.
8
American People, please look at what you have done. Trump is your work, don`t blame anyone else, you alone did it. Do you still think of yourselves as exceptional? Shame, shame on you.
16
He's not stupid. He's ignorant and self-centered and most of all a bully, and I would guess a rather influential bully as the legal chief executive.
5
If Congress doesn't stop Trump, he will dismantle all the progress made by this nation, and set us back at least a generation. Maybe he will set us so far back that we will never fully recover.
Trump's presidency is a case of a nation shooting itself in the foot.
74
Progress??? Having a military that has been reduced to dangerous levels? Having an insurance system that will bankrupt the federal government. Having infrastructure that is failing? What progress???
1
I actually liken it to rioting. Instead of razing Baltimore over a police brutality trial gone wrong, the country elected this brazen demagogue over frustration that Clinton "got away" with Whitewater, Benghazi, and a private e-mail server "scandal." You don't like the results? You destroy everything around you. In this case it's not buildings and businesses --- it's faith and trust in our institutions, in truth, in civility, in decency and compassion, in the NSA, the DOJ, the FBI, the main stream news media, the Congressional Budget Office, Inspectors General, science, the EPA, CEOs in favor of the Paris Accords (including Fortune 500 companies), NOAA, you name it. Trump voters have rioted against the United States!
1
Rioted against the United States? No, not true. They have raised their voices in opposition to the the crazy bicoastal radical left that has tried to tear the country apart...
1
President Trump was elected in part because he supported Republican promises to repeal and replace the ACA. Congress has been unable to pass legislation to fulfill these promises. to date.
President Trump's response is to make legally permissible and necessary changes to the ACA as did President Obama. Executive orders by both Presidents have national consequences and will have both desirable and undesirable effects, depending on point of view.
Unattenuated by executive orders, the ACA would have been recognized as a catastrophic failure from its inception, including by its most dedicated supporters. The continuing poor performance of the ACA could be rectified by legislation but that would require cooperation of and compromise by both parties, which has not been achievable.
Redesign of the ACA is necessary and will occur irrespective of which party is in effective control of the legislative and executive branches.
4
Great points but the idea that insurance could ever work to get these things done is what is incorrect. You can't do that!!!
1
Trump has no legislation to pass, because all the other portion that have been proposed by his primary adviser the FOX News do not work.
The stark difference between President Obama and Trump is that Obama was being proactive. His goal was to get more people insured. Trump's goal should be to get more Americans insured while improving ACA, not repealing it. Trump is merely reacting to President Obama not because he is a Democrat but a man of color. Republicans did not support Pre. Clinton's agenda to pass healthcare reform, but they never demonized Clinton as they have done to President Obama. You can try to justify this hateful man's behavior, but the fact remains that Trump is motivated by his personal hate for and jealousy of President Obama, which is why he has sought to rescind other Obama policies, such as those regarding climate change. So stop making excuses for Trump.
The one consistency in this administration is to empower employers over their employees lives and freedoms. The NFL, the birth control payments, and now this. Employers now have the ability to control even basic rights of their employees.
Libertarians spend so much of their time talking about government overreach but totally ignore the private sector’s attempts at economic enslavement of the general population.
13
"They are generally not required to provide “essential health benefits,” such as emergency services, maternity and newborn care, mental health coverage and substance abuse treatment, although many do."
I'd be interested in knowing what "many" means. Because employers should be forced to make CRYSTAL CLEAR to prospective employees that bills for an emergency room trip for a broken arm or their infant's 105-degree fever, or the birth of any child they might have while employed there, would be completely their responsibility.
5
Such are always pretty clear if you bother to read the documentation. Even when there was no regulation many large employers covered these things.
Gee what a novel idea, insurance premiums based on the risk that the insurer has to take providing the insurance....just like every other insurance product on the planet.
1
Exactly why the insurance industry has no business controlling our health care. Life and death should not be about profit and loss.
9
Making mere human beings the equivalent of a car or a boat or a house.
1
Unfortunately that simplistic philosophy doesn't work on an individual basis when the product, medical care, is a life-or-death necessity and tens of millions of Americans have "pre-existing conditions."
Every one of us is going to significant need health care during our lives. This is not analogous to fire or earthquake insurance, which most of us will never use.
For an insurance-based health care system to work, however imperfectly, the risk must be spread throughout the entire population.
3
Trump was giving one of his evasive comments about how many individuals would be affected by his healthcare plans, saying well some people say...He does not have a deeper understanding of insurance than he did when he declared it would be so easy to replace the ACA.
Trump's determination to destroy President Obama's legacy on everything from the environment to nuclear containment to healthcare is itself pathological.
16
The truth is nobody really knows. Think of all the estimates of several varieties about the ACA that did not come true.
1
More noise... I cannot wait for the tweet that will change the entire system.
1
When are we going to talk about the root problems, a massively overpriced health care market delivering poor results largely because of unnecessary fragmentation and perverse incentives?
9
The people who come up with these schemes, and the people who want to buy them, don't seem to realize that "healthy" is relative, and can be fleeting. Anyone, even the young, can be "healthy" today, but stricken with illness or involved in an accident, tomorrow. These short-term plans, or plans that only offer sketchy coverage are bought by people who think they'll never get sick. But, just because you're 25 doesn't mean that illness won't come calling.
This TrumpCare plan is a con. It forces people to gamble with their health and their financial future. We all want to put the blinders on and pretend nothing bad will ever happen to us, or our families. But, every day, someone, somewhere, finds out that's not true. You get what you pay for, and cheap insurance plans might end up being very expensive in the end.
9
Most accidents have other insurances. If you are injured in a car accident your car insurance pays, at work the workers comp, etc.
1
" Association health plans". Sure, Donald. Sounds about as useful and valuable as a degree from Trump University. A SCAM. Consumers may think they have actual medical insurance, but when they actually need the coverage, surprise, surprise, surprise. Is there ANYTHING this " person"
Can't spoil???? I'm very serious. Please, Trump supporters, answer.
11
It is a choice, nobody forces you to take it. And for many they don't need any insurance, they are healthy so they don't require health care.
1
" Healthy" means nothing when you're in a car accident or shot, SIR.
Who pays then???
1
Until you get that unexpected bad diagnosis tomorrow.
The Birther-Liar-In-Chief continues his personal and political passion of undermining the greatest accomplishment of one of America's greatest African-Americans as foaming white crowds cheer wildly from the country's political junkyard.
Deplorable.
127
Wrong. I would recommend you do the fact checking.
6
Birther rumor was started by Hillary - fact check before opening mouth
2
Trump, the petulant child, will do anything to get his way, especially as it applies to attempting to erase achievements related to President Obama; healthcare, protecting the environment, etc.
31
GOP failed, failed, failed and failed again to pass health care legislation so, like a bitter, angry toddler knocking over another kid's block tower, Trump will destroy ACA rather than try to shore it up.
This is very bad for America and Americans, especially many of those who voted for Trump and rely on the ACA. Sad!
Republicans this is ALL ON YOU. If you can't replace it, fix it - and I'm talking about both the ACA and our president.
55
Actually Jill, many Americans do not rely on ACA......They can't afford it or they have a very high Co-pay which makes ACA almost useless. The only Americans that could use this type of coverage, need an abortion, sex change or have a Pre-existing condition......All Uninsurable because the Risk cannot be Actuarial determined.....Medical Insurance is not a gift, it's a Business (To make Money)!!!....The Government can't afford to Provide it to all Free of Charge (Note the High Premiums and higher Co-Pay) So ACA requires everyone who has a Job to pay whatever it takes to make up the Loss for those who can't afford it (sort of like Socialized Medicine) which is Failing or has Failed in Foreign Countries.....Trump has the Right Idea, let the Private Sector, the Free Market provide Health Insurance on a Competitive basis while the Government provides Coverage for those who cannot afford even Basic Health Insurance!!!.....The Health Insurance Industry was Never Broken!!!.....They are still in Business and always will be........Good Luck....
2
@Richard Frey... I am curious... what is your yearly income? How do you purchase your health insurance? Are you on Medicare? Before the ACA my husband and I HAD purchased private sector, free market health insurance and we almost went bankrupt... our yearly costs were HALF of our income! Buy it on a competitive basis? Really? My husband has small vessel disease and we couldn't purchase other insurance because they would either not cover us or the rates were double what we were already paying! A lot of citizens rely on the ACA as they are self-employed, or their employer does not provide insurance, or they are between jobs. (Don't get me started on the ridiculousness of having employeree-provided health insurance!) We are both self-employed and the ACA was a godsend to us. Our rates before ACA were $1,800/month and they are now $400/month. And, by the way, we do not have the need for an abortion or a sex change. P.S. I'm in Pennsylvania which offers a variety of plans and I realize that every state has different plans (or lack of) and different price points... that's why, ultimately, I am for Medicare for ALL.
Medicare for all.
Solves all problems.
Covers all.
Already working.
Universal Health Care.
All should be covered.
A moral responsibility.
Cost covered by all.
Impeach Trump
Wildly irrational.
Malignant Narcissist
Where are our members of Congress?
Their responsibility to run the country.
I believe they already know it.
All they need is courage.
I pray for them all.
27
The problem, Rosemary, is that only 60% of the U.S. population over 16 (we all know how much 16-year-olds make) are employed in a country with a population of approximately 330 million, so one-half of the population (including those 16-year-olds) will have to foot the bill for the other half.
The ACA is not imploding, as Republicans love to state as fact. The ACA is being deliberately exploded with the actions of the very politicians making this claim, starting with Trump. Deplorable and unconscionable!
39
Sorry, but it absolutely has imploded for me and every other individual not receiving subsidies. That’s a lot of people who are from from rich.
4
The plan for ACA, anything else, and everything else, seems to be that there is no plan. Simply seat of the pants, how do I feel about this today sort of thought waves that are flogged as The Plan for The Thing.
Just getting tired, and scared, of all the winning.
9
Hey, Donald! You're supposed to be a businessman. Well, there's a saying in business: "You break it, you own it."
12
Obama is trump's target. That and increasing the wealth at the top. He will do it any shameless way he can. That he can do these things makes our Constitution look meaningless. The Rule of Law has been dead since Exxon Valdez.
7
He's beyond incompetent. He's spiteful as well.
41
A malicious streak is common to most wannabes. Of the seven deadly sins (lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, pride) there isn't one Trump has left out. He is truly a model for our children.
Saying that health insurance companies like Obamacare is like saying that vampires like blood. Most fundamentally, the ACA is a program to provide free or highly subsidized health insurance to favored constituencies. One of the ways it does so is by forcing disfavored constituencies -- predominantly the young, the healthy, and those who don't get health insurance at work -- into very expensive comprehensive insurance plans they don't want and may not need. In economic terms, this is a pure wealth transfer. Is it any wonder that insurance companies will fight tooth and nail to require every American to have one of their most costly policies? Is it any wonder that those who bear the brunt of Obamacare are not fans?
The sad Gestalt of American liberalism is that once an entitlement is created, any attempt to curtail or reform it will be characterized as cruel and selfish. I am a retiree (63) living without a pension, company health benefit or Medicare. I exist on money I saved during my working life. I don't smoke, maintain a normal weight and have no chronic health problems. I am forced by law to get my health insurance via the public marketplace. Only one such policy exists in my state. It costs $11OO per month for me alone and has a $6800 deductible. Call me cruel and selfish, but I would like to have a market alternative. Until one exists, I am just roadkill in the path of progressive politicians seeking votes.
6
I’m not sure I have ever read a better description of the problems Obamacare caused for so many, myself included. Because I can’t get subsidies, I am one of 7 or so million people picking up the tab for every sick and unhealthy person out there at the expense of my own healthcare. I am forced to essentially make more than a mortgage payment on a nice house for a criminally narrow provider network. I am so much worse off than when this garbage legislation started, it’s hard to know where to start.
1
Funny, I live in Casa Grande, Arizona and am also 63 and I have a plan for myself that I pay less then $500 a month. It does have a large deductible, but since I am healthy, I only have had to use my "wellness" visits which are covered. So don't know why yours is that high.
4
Short-term insurance policies are a travesty to consumers. I know this because my firm, Patient Advocators, gets the calls from people who bought them and are faced with tens of thousands of dollars in unexpected bills. Most people are not savvy enough to understand what is and isn't covered in these policies and then Murphy's law strikes (they get sick and become a consumer of health care).
Allowing short-term policies just kicks the can down the road to bad debt for doctors and hospitals and personal bankruptcy for the policy holder.
10
Short term policies are important to allow individuals to maintain at least some level of insurance while they are between jobs as an alternative to COBRA continuation. Most employees are astonished when they discover how much their employers are paying for their health insurance. Are there abuses? Yes, but it's unfair to paint with such a broad brush.
2
So the Republicans were right after all. Obamacare is nothing more than a transfer of wealth from young, healthy people who don't actually need health insurance to the old who use almost all health care provided.
We were assured this wasn't the case when it was being passed. Next thing I am going to find out is that I will not be saving $2500/year and maybe I won't be able to keep my plan.
Oh wait. I'm on my 4th plan since Obamacare was passed and I couldn't keep my doctor and my cost has increased from $6500 to over $30,000....
4
Blame the Republicans for refusing to pass the necessary and proposed tweaks to strengthen and fix the plan and instead used every means possible to undermine it. You live in the one stupid country in the entire world that fails to and refuses to provide comprehensive health care to its citizens on the false and ridiculous premise that doing so protects their freedom.
6
On the one hand, I wonder if there's a benefit in continuing to save him from himself. How can he claim "fake news" when the market becomes destabilized and he's already announced that he's the one responsible? Those who cannot get their important health needs met will know the truth.
Then again, the lives of our brothers and sisters. Our mothers. Our fathers. Our countrymen and women. Human life. Human suffering. It is hard to let go when it means letting go of our humanity.
186
Unfortunately the Republicans have demonstrated innumerable times their skill at deflecting blame and the willingness of their "base" to believe them.
8
He will blame Obamacare for the results, saying, as he has already said, that it was designed to fail after Obama left office. He will claim that any stories blaming him are fake news and his supporters and probably Fox news will agree.
A non medical person taking healthcare in his own hands - and with a presidential executive order!
Fellow nurses - it is time for our Healthcare Providers March on Washington. Who else is in? Doctors, CNA's, NP's, PA's, anyone involved in taking care of patients. Let's go! Not only contained in DC but everywhere across this country. Let our healthcare provider voices be heard. We must protect our patients and fellow Americans!
They gave us no hearings. They met in secret. And the opposition to ACA still did not survive. Donald Trump has no business dealing with the lives and healthcare of millions of Americans with his pen!
This is a man who has never gone without healthcare insurance. He has tried to demonize the Affordable Care Act however he could find a way. Now this is the latest ploy.
Anyone positively responding to this - you are being duped. You will be stuck with medical bills not imagined.
More lawsuits down the road caused by someone who has no clue. Danger.
And more people going without the healthcare treatment they need and deserve.
201
Once again, this feeble excuse for a man attempts to kick sand at Obama, no matter the suffering, deaths, and economic wreckage he leaves behind.
The most incredible truth about our country is not that we have this proudly ignorant and destructive man in the White House, but that a Congress so intent on un-leveling playing fields and on ensuring the wealthy never ever pay their fair share in taxes sits by while our country is destroyed.
I’m a nurse too. I’m in, Mima.
1
As President, Trump gets the most premier golden cadillac plan for him and his family. I hope he considers that while he jeopardizes millions of American families.
1
Wasn't it something like 26 Republican Attorney's General who sued claiming that Congress, not the President had the authority to overhaul the healthcare system?
86
Silly--it's OK if you're a republican!
4
I hope the American people take note of what is happening and reward the Republicans in upcoming elections with defeats.
111
Neil, I'd like to think so, but don't bet on it. The GOP never seems to get the comeuppance it deserves...
this is good news not bad.
You democrats lied to everyone to pass your disastrous plan and now refuse to fix it. Premiums are skyrocketing, deductibles make the insurance unusable for most as well. Trump should be rewarded for having the guts to help people when congress is clearly in the pocket of big insurance.
Every democrat and Rino needs to go.
It is time Trump takes the Obamacare bull by its horns. He will have no one else to blame but himself if the executive order does not pass. Dr. Rand Paul, US senator from Kentucky has been working with the Trump administration on allowing Americans to band together and buy health insurance across state lines. With ex-president Bill Clinton the top democrat saying Obamacare is the craziest system on earth with the increasing cost due to premium rises and deductible increases, it would be nonsense to be in denial and not do anything to fix Obamacare if not replace it with a better plan and I would not like this Trump move termed as undermining Obamacare ,but taking out of Obamacare the restrictive mandates that do not enable Americans to have a truly affordable care but instead allows out of control monopolies to choke the American people by excessive profiteering off the backs of Americans.
8
Executive orders don't go through Congress, Girish. There's NO passing anything. It's as if we had a king who decided what the laws are--executive orders bypass Congress. Everything that Trump has done has bypassed Congress and the legislative process. That's a problem. It was a problem when Mr. Obama did it, and it's a problem when Mr. Trump does it.
You don't understand what this means for healthcare. If your health is good, you get cheap insurance that doesn't pay for anything because you never use it. The problem comes when you get sick with leukemia or another cancer and that cheap plan kicks you out of it because the rules say that your cancer was an undisclosed pre-existing condition.
4
Somebody that doesn't remember insurance rates rising 10 -15 present yearly before the ACA.
6
Affordable insurance and affordable health care are two, mutually exclusive items. Take automobile insurance: You can get cheap, and you can get good. Try getting both in the same policy.
The difference is that in health care, you have no control over the future. What will make you ill next? Just the flu, or will it be a brain tumor?
At least with a car, you have some control, and can see ahead of where you are.
Additionally, auto insurance is a highly regulated industry. People are required to have some basic insurance, or they cannot register a car. And prices are regulated to some extent by various government agencies. Health care is the proverbial black box. When you have a medical procedure done, whether it be a checkup, or surgery, do you know exactly what it will cost in advance?
4
Basic, low cost, relaxed standards, easy to get. This sounds like we are importing our health insurance from China.
31
God how I wish we had a president who put as much thought into ways to build our country up, as he does thinking of ways to tear it down.
275
we do.
Since Trump took office we now have:
Lowest black unemployment in decades.
Lowest unemployment in 43 years.
Increased average family income.
a real increase in wages not seen in a long time.
lower illegal immigration.
home ownership rising again.
record consumer confidence.
rising stock market despite fed interest rate hikes.
Much more.
if you could just get past your hate and open your eyes you can see things improving.
You dems ran the country into the ground while doubling the debt.
2
You of course won't give ANY credit to Obama for creating this economic climate--no. You people want to believe Time Began when 45 was inaugurated.
"if you could just get past your hate and open your eyes..."
You would see that it was Obama who dragged this county out of the ditch that bush jr. put us into. But no.
15
Yes, and we can thank Trump for this? How has he contributed to any of these claimed improvements?
10
Well at least we would know exactly who to thank
2
Proponents of the ACA promised that the law would increase competition, instead, insurance companies have left markets and/or merged, so that in most markets, there is less competition than before passage of the ACA.
While this is tinkering around the edges until Congress can fix the damage caused by the ACA, it is a welcome announcement.
5
If the "risk corridor" payments - which were required by Law - were implemented, most of the insurance companies would have remained. Republicans now complain about a problem that they intentionally brought about.
7
Let's say who did that: Marco Rubio. He was the one who inserted legislation into an omnibus bill that took away the "risk corridor" payments. Marco Rubio--a republican.
5
There are lots of things that are required by law that are not funded. A wall on our southern border comes to mind.
The federal government simply giving money to insurance companies hides the true cost of healthcare.
1
The election of Donald Trump was facilitated by the Democratic Party's inability to related to a significant portion of the electorate (see Thomas Edsall's excellent submission today). Since the Party's leadership concentrated so heavily on identity issues, the (most important) issue - the continuation of the ACA - is now in jeopardy of being functionally negated. And, seemingly, they still haven't learned.
8
Hillary got almost 3 million more votes than 45 did. He was not elected, he was installed by Russia and people here who colluded with them.
12
Kdknyc, I'm on your side. But you (and our Party) really need to pay attention to Thomas Edsall's recent articles. Our agenda depends on winning.
There is no question that every American citizen should have health care, equivalent to what Trump and his family now have, at a cost that they can afford. If Trump doesn't destroy the economy in the next year, universal health care for everyone is something we can do. Maybe employers could contribute something, but employers should not decide what is adequate healthcare. Only a Congress that is not dependent on payoffs from the for-profit healthcare industry and insurance companies can accomplish this. Can Trump accomplish this?
97
Trump is the only one trying to do the right thing. ACA is a joke.
Pretty much all state exchanges have already failed and closed.
Many areas only have 1 choice and some no longer have any.
Costs have skyrocketed, deductables are unreasonable as well.
IT IS A FAILURE. Anyone with a brain knew it would be a disaster.
Why do you think dems said they needed their supporters to be stupid so they could get it passed?
3
Thank you
45 doesn't know squat. His only aim is to dump on anything Obama did.
He has no strategy.
He has no plan.
It was the republicans who got rid of the risk corridors--Marco Rubio specifically--to make the ACA fail. Before that it was doing well. It was SUPPORTED by the insurance industry, which means they would get new customers. But you obviously don't know any of that, being a trump voter. Which you are.
4
I am very surprised for such an advanced country like the US, you don't have universal healthcare access for your citizens. Shouldn't that be a basic rights for all citizens like in other countries.
129
Well, you know, the Founding Fathers didn't think so, and there are far too many people who feel that we should be bound by their thoughts. It is the proponents of the Dead Constitution Theory (DCT) that keep us from from moving forward. The DCT holds that no one can interpret the US Constitution given modern context.
Of course that means that we should still be able to own slaves.
Of course that means that we can own any firearm that exists.
I could go on, but now you see why the country is being held back.
9
agree entirely Thomas.....we are the only supposedly civilized country on the planet without a national health care plan....and there is only one reason we don't ...greed....the insurance lobby is very strong in this country...we already have a really good national health care system called Medicare...but you have to be 65 to get on it...no reason why it could not be open to any legal resident of the U.S......everyone pays on a sliding scale according to income.....very simple...
76
No, it shouldn't be. Healthcare is a service that you can purchase (or not) at varying levels of quality. Once you make it a right, where do you draw the line for, say, heroic interventions to save a junkie? The main issue is that hospitals are required to treat patients who present regardless of insurance coverage. Remove that obligation, and watch costs improve.
1
"In the past, some plans failed because they did not have enough money to pay their customers’ medical bills, while some insurance companies were accused of misleading people about exactly what the plans would cover." Sounds like a Trump style business to me.
43
So sad. If the President can write executive orders reversing or weakening laws, then what is the purpose of having a House of Congress and Senate? Isn't this undermining the root of America's form of government?
41
The President reversed an Executive Order written by President Obama. The provision allowing formation of AHP's has been law since 1974.
1