Here’s the breakdown from Richard Mayhew at Balloon Juice
A quick look at TrumpCare 1.0
by David Anderson
at 9:02 am on March 7, 2017.
I was thinking of doing a marathon line by line read of the House bill last night but I had to be on the soccer field an hour after it dropped so I was able to be spared.
Here is the Energy and Commerce chunk of the bill. And here is the Ways and Means financing.
The interesting thing on the Ways and Means is that they kept the Cadillac Tax. They pushed it back from 2019 to 2025 but it is still there as a magic financing mechanism instead of anything else.
Here are the major points of the bill.
Legacy Medicaid would be per-capita block granted based on category of assistance spending for FY2016 as the baseline and adjusted at CPI-Medical.
Medicaid Expansion would be open through 2020 but then grandfathered. If anyone loses Medicaid eligibility for more than a month, the federal enhanced match money disappears.
Non-Medicaid expansion states get a small amount of money thrown at them quickly
Planned Parenthood and legal access to abortion are kicked hard
12/31/19 would be the end of the ACA Exchange as we know it (subsidies made skimpier in the mean time)
New plan would be age based tax credits
30% 1 year non-continual enrollment penalty
Major tax cuts for high income
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This bill would give flat, age based refundable tax credits to finance individual market purchases. In some regions, they would be sufficient to buy Bronze plans straight up. In most regions, they are grossly insufficient. In Pittsburgh (zip code 15219), the least expensive Bronze for a 64 year old is $485/month. After the flat age based subsidy, it is $151/month with a $7,150 out of pocket maximum. In Durham, NC (27708), the same individual sees a post-age based subsidy price of $646. In Anchorage (zip code 99508), the least expensive Bronze after the $333/month subsidy would cost $1,317 per month. These estimates are deliberately biased low as I am using the current 3:1 age band. As part of the repeal bill, the age band would switch to 5:1 so 64 year olds would pay signficantly more.
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RIKYRAH HERE:
Let us be clear.
1. 20 million people will lose healthcare
2. The bad old days will be back
3. You will be bankrupt once again from one illness
4. The working poor, who got access to healthcare because of Medicaid Expansion – THEY ARE SCREWED
5. Grandma and Grandpa in the nursing home paid by Medicaid-you better have a place in your house when they’re kicked out of the nursing home
6. Preventive care measures – those wellness measures that have been so popular – GONE
7. The subsidies which help the working class/middle class get Obamacare – GONE
8. This WILL make Medicare insolvent, which folds into the plan to turn Medicare into a voucher system
9. THIS IS A HUGE TAX CUT-$600 BILLION- FOR THE WEALTHY. THEY ARE TAKING AWAY FUNDS FROM THE POOR AND GIVING THEM TO THE WEALTHY.
10. GOP health bill includes tax break for insurance execs making $500,000+
11. Health insurance isn’t the end goal of #TrumpCare. Tax cuts for the rich is.
And, for those of you who are smug, because you don’t think that Trumpcare will affect your Employer Given Healthcare?
How bad is the Republican health care bill? Nancy LeTourneau points me to Christopher Jacobs, who shares some scuttlebutt about the CBO score of a previous draft of the bill:
Based on my conversations with multiple sources close to the effort, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) had indicated to congressional staff that the prior House framework could see at least 10 million, and potentially up to 20 million, individuals losing employer-sponsored health insurance.
CALL YOUR REP.
CALL YOUR SENATORS.
Download the 5 calls app onto your phone.
Here is the link that will tell you how many people in your Congressional District benefit from Obamacare. Ask the staff member if the Congressman knows that X Amount of people in their district would be hurt by Trumpcare.
Analysis | The budget rule you’ve never heard of that ties Republicans’ hands on Obamacare
Here’s something not in the health-care headlines that probably should be: The Obamacare replacement bill Republicans rolled out this week is only step one of their multipronged approach to changing the Affordable Care Act.
Sure, Republicans would like to do it all at once — peeling off this section of the Band-Aid has been painful enough. But they can’t. That’s because of a special budget rule called reconciliation, which forces them to make a decision: undo some of Obamacare with a simple majority vote in both chambers, or undo all of it and face a 60-vote majority threshold — a majority Republicans don’t have and won’t get — in the Senate.
Here’s everything you need to know about reconciliation.
Why Republicans care so much about reconciliation
The some-or-all approach required by reconciliation basically comes down to this reasoning: If a policy directly affects the nation’s economic bottom line, you can use reconciliation to pass said policy with a simple majority. If a policy doesn’t directly affect the nation’s budget, you have to follow the regular rules for passing legislation.
And these days,” regular rules” is synonymous with a 60-vote filibuster in the Senate by the minority party (especially on a bill as controversial as health care). In 2017, that means 52 Senate Republicans would need at least eight Democrats to join them — which, under this bill, is about as remote a possibility as President Trump giving up Twitter.
The alternative is to pass some Obamacare changes that affect the nation’s budget now using the simple majority vote afforded by reconciliation, and worry about the rest later. That’s actually how Democrats passed major parts of the ACA in 2010, and it’s how Republicans passed some of the Bush-era tax cuts a decade earlier.
What that means for Obamacare
Listen closely and you’ll notice that supporters of this bill — such as House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) — are championing it even while cautioning that many big changes to health care are yet to come. That’s code for reconciliation.
The ability to buy insurance across state lines, an attempt to lower drug prices and malpractice liability protections for health-care providers, “can’t be done through this current bill,” Trump press secretary Sean Spicer acknowledged this week.
Here’s what Ryan recently said about it:
Ryan outlined three phases in which health-care reform would be achieved: first, via the special budget procedure known as reconciliation, of which the current measures are a part; then, through regulations at the Department of Health and Human Services; and finally, the passage of other bills that will need bigger backing and could include the ability to buy insurance across state lines.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/analysis-the-budget-rule-you%e2%80%99ve-never-heard-of-that-ties-republicans%e2%80%99-hands-on-obamacare/ar-AAo4zlr?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=iehp
https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/839991027121434624?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
SG2,
PLEASE TWEET THIS ONE TOO.
https://twitter.com/johnastoehr/status/839910819987132422?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
THIS IS MY REPLY
At one of the blogs I frequent, there is a guy who has written extensively about Obamacare keeping him ALIVE.I have followed his path of illness. The Medicaid expansion saved his life after he became unemployed and got sick
DO.A.STORY.ON.HIM.
His LIFE is at stake.
I FEEL his desperation as he follows this to destroy Obamacare. Brings tears to my eyes.
And, you think that I should give two shyts about a stupid person that brought this nightmare to him and millions more? Who isn’t even ashamed that they were 55 fucking years old before they voted? And, that they were stupid enough to cast their first vote for that racist, lying piece of garbage?
And, I’m supposed to feel bad for her?
Fuck that.shit
https://twitter.com/NARAL/status/839940098552696832?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
SG2,
Please tweet this person that 20 million people are on the verge of losing their healthcare, and she has the time to try and be a purity troll, wanting her pony and unicorn?
Is she truly that ridiculous?
https://twitter.com/onesarahjones/status/839920776593747968
The Republican Health Care Plan Is a Disaster For Their Most Reliable Voters
by Nancy LeTourneau
March 9, 2017 10:57 AM
When Obamacare passed, one of the provisions that we heard the most about was the fact that young people could stay on their parent’s health insurance plan until they were 26. That provided a bridge for many of them to possible employer-provided insurance. And as Republicans look to gut Obamacare, it is one of the regulations that is likely to be continued.
What was less well-covered was the fact that Obamacare also provided a bridge for older Americans into Medicare. For those who didn’t have employer-provided coverage, premiums for someone in the 50-65 age range were somewhere in the range of $10,000 a year – hardly affordable for most people. Add to that the possibility of a pre-existing condition which precluded a lot of plans and it was not uncommon for people to go without insurance and simply hope (or pray) that they could avoid catastrophe until they became eligible for Medicare.
Medicaid expansion the subsidies on the exchanges were not only a godsend to people in this age group with no insurance. They allowed many to leave jobs they’d been chained to simply because of the employer-provided health insurance to pursue either early retirement of a career that could take them through semi-retirement.
This is the group that would be most impacted by the Republican plan to repeal/replace Obamacare. The Kaiser Family Foundation has put together a helpful tool to determine how subsidies/tax credits will affect different age groups at various income levels. Here’s what it looks like for someone who is 60 years old making $30,000 a year.
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The vast majority of people in this category would see their subsidies/tax credits reduced by over 50% – making health care virtually unaffordable for most of them.
This is one of the main drivers for the AARP’s opposition to the Republican plan. Here is some of what they wrote about that in their letter to Congress.
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Here is why that is significant. Exit polls indicate that 50-64 year-olds were the largest portion of the electorate in 2015 (30%) and that Trump won this age group by 8 points (52-44). Since race was a significant factor in this election, it is also important to note that Trump won white voters in this age group by 28 points (62-34). Anyone who watched the outbreak of blowback to Republicans at town hall meetings over Obamacare in recent weeks probably noticed that it came predominantly from older white Americans in their districts/states.
Hmmph
And, he is pushed as a policy wonk
https://mobile.twitter.com/BraddJaffy/status/839891764974665728
Transcript:
“I was struck last night by a comment that I heard made by Speaker Ryan, where he called this repeal bill ‘an act of mercy.’ With all due respect to our speaker, he and I must have read different Scripture,” Kennedy said as the House Energy and Commerce Committee dove into the details of the GOP effort … The one I read calls on us to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to shelter the homeless, and to comfort the sick. it reminds us that we are judged not by how we treat the powerful but by how we care for the least among us. Mercy.
Mercy. Defined in purely secular terms, compassionate treatment for people in distress. It’s kindness, it is grace.
There is is no mercy in a system that makes health care a luxury.
There is no mercy in a country that turns their back on those most in need of protection: the elderly, the poor, the sick, and the suffering.
There is no mercy in a cold shoulder to the mentally ill.
There is no mercy in a policy that takes for granted the sweat the tears and the sacrifice of working americans that they shed every day so that they might care for their family’s basic needs, food shelter health and hope for tomorrow.
There is no mercy for the 2.6 million people who will lose their jobs if Obamacare is repealed.
This is not an ‘act of mercy.’ It is an act of malice.”
“An Act of Malice” – Congressman Joe Kennedy III
Kennedy’s Response To Paul Ryan’s ‘Act Of Mercy’ Comment Will Blow You Away
March 9, 2017 Jen Froderman News, Politics 0
Speaker of the House Paul Ryan called the frightful fail of a health care bill the GOP has proposed an “act of mercy.” That description is repugnant to anyone that grasps what mercy is. A plan that will hurt the poor, heap benefit on the rich and corporations, kill thousands of jobs and end the Medicaid expansion in 2020 is not merciful. Congressman Joe Kennedy III shredded that nonsense in an impassioned commentary which he posted to Facebook on Wednesday. You need to hear it.
…
“I was struck last night by a comment that I heard made by Speaker Ryan, where he called this repeal bill ‘an act of mercy.’ With all due respect to our speaker, he and I must have read different Scripture,” Kennedy said as the House Energy and Commerce Committee dove into the details of the GOP effort …
“The one I read calls on us to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to shelter the homeless, and to comfort the sick. it reminds us that we are judged not by how we treat the powerful but by how we care for the least among us. Mercy.
Mercy. Defined in purely secular terms, compassionate treatment for people in distress. It’s kindness, it is grace.
There is is no mercy in a system that makes health care a luxury.
There is no mercy in a country that turns their back on those most in need of protection: the elderly, the poor, the sick, and the suffering.
There is no mercy in a cold shoulder to the mentally ill.
There is no mercy in a policy that takes for granted the sweat the tears and the sacrifice of working americans that they shed every day so that they might care for their family’s basic needs, food shelter health and hope for tomorrow.
There is no mercy for the 2.6 million people who will lose their jobs if Obamacare is repealed.
This is not an ‘act of mercy.’ It is an act of malice.”
http://americannewsx.com/hot-off-the-press/joe-kennedy-response-act-mercy-healthcare-bill/
https://twitter.com/3ChicsPolitico/status/839875642158014464
TRUMPCARE IT IS!!!
“DUMPTRUMPCARELESS”
https://twitter.com/mj_lee/status/839874142379913216
The hatred that Trump and these (so called conservative) leaders have for the rest of us is inexplicable. Why?
#45 & Re-THUGS= 21ST CENTURY, CROOKS, LIARS, THUGS, THIEVES!
https://twitter.com/RVAwonk/status/839816008718299136
https://twitter.com/RVAwonk/status/839814736204152833
https://twitter.com/Dorofcalif/status/839861703944863744
I am LIVID about this.
The entire bill amounts to nothing more than a tax break for the wealthy.
Republicans’ health care plan has already run out of friends
03/09/17 08:40 AM
By Steve Benen
Yesterday afternoon, the American Nurses Association condemned the House Republicans’ health care plan, explaining that the American Health Care Act “threatens health care affordability, access, and delivery for individuals across the nation.”
The ANA, representing over 3.6 million nurses, is hardly the only major stakeholder drawing this conclusion. The list of organizations that have come out against the Republican plan has grown quite quickly, and includes the American Medical Association, the American Hospital Association, AARP, the American Cancer Society, and the American Psychiatric Association, among others.
Even America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), the powerhouse trade association for private insurers, isn’t happy.
At least some on Capitol Hill, however, have embraced an amazing new phrase to dismiss critics of their ridiculous plan from throughout the system.
……………….
And now with the debate over “Trumpcare” under way, the circle of sources deemed untrustworthy by Republicans has grown even larger, to include doctors, nurses, seniors’ advocates, hospital administrators, and insurers.
We are, evidently, supposed to believe Paul Ryan, Donald Trump, GOP officials, and no one else.
Trump’s budget chief: Health insurance is ‘not really the end goal’
03/08/17 12:54 PM—UPDATED 03/08/17 12:58 PM
By Steve Benen
he architects of the new GOP health care plan have an amazing new perspective. “Republicans,” Politico reported this morning, “say the plan’s price tag and estimates of how many people it will cover aren’t really important.”
Under normal circumstances, it’s tempting to think these would be the first two questions Republicans would ask about any reform plan. Wondering how many Americans will have health insurance and how much the plan will cost aren’t exactly obscure matters of policy minutiae, but as of this morning, GOP officials prefer to think of these metrics as trivia.
Mick Mulvaney, Donald Trump’s budget chief, added this morning that “insurance is not really the end goal here.”
No wonder Republicans are proceeding without a score from the Congressional Budget Office. They don’t know what their bill will cost or how many millions of Americans will lose their health insurance – and they plainly don’t care.
The effort to move the goalposts, ignoring meaningful metrics and making up new ones, is almost certainly a political necessity borne of the realization that the GOP’s American Health Care Act isn’t going to work as a matter of public policy.
……………………….
There’s a reason Republican leaders are in such a rush to get their bill passed: the more time there is for scrutiny and analysis, the more “Trumpcare” looks like a cruel joke.
A report from S&P, for example, found that between 6 million and 10 million Americans would lose their health coverage under the Republican blueprint.
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As for private insurers, who’ve kept a fairly low profile in recent months, one CEO of a major insurance company told the Wall Street Journal that he’d expect to see “individual-plan premiums up by 30% or more next year” – and even more still soon after – under the Republican proposal.