It’s as bad as you think.
I have said, from the beginning, that Trumpcare is nothing but a TAX CUT BILL masquerading as a Healthcare Bill.
The core of this is cutting HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS FROM MEDICAID – the most vulnerable citizens having their healthcare taken away – so that millionaires and billionaires can get TAX CUTS.
CBO and JCT estimate that, in 2018, 14 million more people would be uninsured under H.R. 1628 than under current law. The increase in the number of uninsured people relative to the number projected under current law would reach 19 million in 2020 and 23 million in 2026. In 2026, an estimated 51 million people under age 65 would be uninsured, compared with 28 million who would lack insurance that year under current law. Under the legislation, a few million of those people would use tax credits to purchase policies that would not cover major medical risks.
16:42 CBO thinks MacArthur/Upton will produce structurally unstable markets in 15% of the population due to split risk pools
the agencies estimate that about one-sixth of the population resides in areas inwhich the nongroup market would start to become unstable beginning in 2020. That instability would result from market responses to decisions by some states to waive two
provisions of federal law, as would be permitted under H.R. 1628. One type of waiver would allow states to modify the requirements governing essential health benefits (EHBs), which set minimum standards for the benefits that insurance in the nongroup and
small-group markets must cover. A second type of waiver would allow insurers to set premiums on the basis of an individual’s health status if the person had not demonstrated continuous coverage; that is, the waiver would eliminate the requirement for what is termed community rating for premiums charged to such people. CBO and JCT anticipate that most healthy people applying for insurance in the nongroup market in those states would be able to choose between premiums based on their own expected health care costs (medically underwritten premiums) and premiums based on the average health care costs for people who share the same age and smoking status and who reside in the same
geographic area (community-rated premiums)
The Upton money is an incredibly underfunded high cost risk pool:
CBO and JCT expect that, as a consequence, the waivers in those states would have another effect: Community-rated premiums would rise over time, and people who are less healthy (including those with preexisting or newly acquired medical conditions) would ultimately be unable to purchase comprehensive nongroup health insurance at premiums comparable to those under current law, if they could purchase it at all—despite the additional funding that would be available under H.R. 1628 to help reduce premiums.
1645 Don’t be sick in a full MacArthur/Upton state
Finally, about one-sixth of the population resides in states that would obtain waivers involving both the EHBs and community rating and that would allow premiums to be set on the basis of an individual’s health status in a substantial portion of the nongroup market…. less healthy people would face extremely high premiums, despite the additional funding that would be available under H.R. 1628 to help reduce premiums. Over time, it would become more difficult for less healthy people (including people with preexisting medical conditions) in those states to purchase insurance because their premiums would continue to increase rapidly. As a result of the narrower scope of covered benefits and the difficulty less healthy people would face purchasing insurance, average premiums for people who did purchase insurance would generally be lower than in other states—but the variation around that average would be very large. CBO and JCT do not have an estimate of how much lower those premiums would be.
Now time to follow the money. It is a net cut of $964 billion dollars in spending on federal health insurance funds.
https://twitter.com/sarahkliff/status/867482139566145536/photo/1
1707 If you work at a co-op, polish your resume.
Effects on CO-OP or Multistate Plans. The act would exempt plans in the Consumer Operated and Oriented Plan (CO-OP) program established by the ACA, multistate plans established under the ACA, and Members of Congress and Congressional staff from the terms of any waiver approved in a state, as well as provide exemptions in a limited number of other circumstances. CBO and JCT expect that those plans would not be profitable because other insurers in the state would receive the majority of the healthier enrollees.
Coverage losses
Crucial detail: CBO says flat out that funds added to win moderates would do little to reduce premiums for those w/preexisting conditions: pic.twitter.com/EKZH1WEqsX
— Greg Sargent (@GregTSargent) May 24, 2017
Winners and Losers under Trumpcare 2.0
CBO says AHCA will destroy pre-existing protections for one-sixth of the population. pic.twitter.com/rVORpiyLYX
— Brian Beutler (@brianbeutler) May 24, 2017
New CBO score:
2018: 14 million more would be uninsured than ACA
2020: 19 million more
2026: 23 million more https://t.co/NORcfHGT2m
— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) May 24, 2017
This is just the highlights. We will discuss it further, but just wanted to bring to you what Legislative Evil looks like.
JARED KUSHNER UNDER FBI INVESTIGATION-
FUCK THAT “SCRUTINY” BULLSHIT!
https://twitter.com/jimsciutto/status/867857288538853376
your day is coming CaC Sessions.
https://twitter.com/AP/status/867859151212380162
#45=PIECE OF WHITE TRASH
Ignorant trash.
Ill-mannered oaf.
Appeals court upholds block on Trump’s travel ban
By Ariane de Vogue and Laura Jarrett, CNN
Updated 2:45 PM ET, Thu May 25, 2017
CNN)A federal appeals court upheld Thursday a ruling blocking President Donald Trump’s travel ban against six Muslim-majority countries.
The 10-3 ruling from the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals upholds a lower court’s decision to halt core portions of the executive order indefinitely.
The ban was announced in March, but never got off the ground because federal courts blocked it just hours before it was set to go into effect. It would have banned people from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen from entering the US for 90 days and all refugees for 120 days.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/25/politics/4th-circuit-travel-ban/index.html
From Charles Blow:
Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey…said he warned Trump about Flynn. As Christie said earlier this week: “I didn’t think that he was someone who would bring benefit to the president or to the administration, and I made that very clear to candidate Trump, and I made it very clear to President-elect Trump…Christie continued: “If I were president-elect of the United States, I wouldn’t let General Flynn into the White House, let alone give him a job.” Trump apparently ignored the warning.
Barack Obama warned Trump not to hire Flynn. As The New York Times reported earlier this month: Mr. Obama, who had fired Mr. Flynn as the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, told Mr. Trump that he would have profound concerns about Mr. Flynn becoming a top national security aide, said the administration officials, who were briefed on the Oval Office conversation. Mr. Trump later ignored the advice, naming Mr. Flynn to be his national security adviser.
Sally Q. Yates, the acting attorney general, warned Trump about Flynn. As The Times reported earlier this month, when she delivered mesmerizing testimony before a Senate subcommittee, Yates informed the White House, less than a week into the Trump administration, that Flynn had lied to Pence about his Russian contacts and was vulnerable to blackmail by Moscow.
As Yates put it, “To state the obvious: You don’t want your national security adviser compromised with the Russians.”
…………………………………………………
It’s time to lay bare this fishy bromance and come to know the full breadth of Flynn’s furtive activities and whether Trump was aware or complicit, before, during or after. Kick back America; it’s Mueller time.
Tired of the media playing again and again – and for free – these robocalls by the buffoon on behalf of the crazed idiot in Montana, under the guise of ‘news’..
This is exactly what they did the last time for that Estes guy from Kansas – and in the end nobody knew the name of the Democrat in the race..
Craig Melvin has already played the robo call 3 times in the span of an hour and a half..
https://twitter.com/tedlieu/status/867805459750817792
https://twitter.com/thehill/status/867803621299060736
https://twitter.com/RVAwonk/status/867805235208519680
https://twitter.com/BraddJaffy/status/867802355844222976
https://twitter.com/BraddJaffy/status/867801107447336960
https://twitter.com/Saya_relativity/status/867722683349426176
https://twitter.com/JamilSmith/status/867755396806492160
Hate to say it, but most of these so-called world leaders are just such weasely cowards…
So embarrassing watching the way they’re being all so scaredy-cat and kissing-up to the buffoon..
I just can’t …
I believe this is exactly what my historic FLOTUS was referring to among other things, when she said that politics isn’t noble …and that she neither has the temperament or tolerance for it…
Can you imagine her at this gathering…LOL…
I think she’d without ever looking his way, quickly redefine the terms of engagement at gatherings like this…
Ain’t nobody got time for the buffoon and his shallow ego and insecurities…and ain’t nobody about to make a real grown-up grovel to cater to the hollow displays of a sorry, superficial, little man with deep-seated issues…
It takes a SHAKEDOWNEE to issue a SHAKEDOWN.
MR. NO TAX RETURNS!!!
Donald Trump’s Many Business Failures, Explained
By Kurt Eichenwald On 8/2/16 at 6:10 AM
Lost contracts, bankruptcies, defaults, deceptions and indifference to investors—Trump’s business career is a long, long list of such troubles, according to regulatory, corporate and court records, as well as sworn testimony and government investigative reports. Call it the art of the bad deal, one created by the arrogance and recklessness of a businessman whose main talent is self-promotion.
He is also pretty good at self-deception, and plain old deception. Trump is willing to claim success even when it is not there, according to his own statements. “I’m just telling you, you wouldn’t say that you’re failing,” he said in a 2007 deposition when asked to explain why he would give an upbeat assessment of his business even if it was in trouble. “If somebody said, ‘How you doing?’ you’re going to say you’re doing good.” Perhaps such dissembling is fine in polite cocktail party conversation, but in the business world it’s called lying.
http://www.newsweek.com/2016/08/12/donald-trumps-business-failures-election-2016-486091.html
Trump looks bad, old and worn-out. Doesn’t seem to be thinking too clearly either. And his manners probably weren’t ever that good, but damn, people are watching.
Did Trump just shove another NATO leader to be in the front of the group?
https://twitter.com/stevekopack/status/867758571882258432
OMG! So incredibly ignorant.
Not just arrogant, but brash, petty, huge chip on the shoulder, juvenile and brattish… and did you notice the chest-puffing after he finally forced his way through to the front – Some serious arrested development situation going on…
Such a whiny, hollow, despicable, little b*tch…he wouldn’t even shake the hand of the Prime Minister of Lithuania as she offered her hand for a shake – or looked like she confronted him about pushing the President of Montenegro out of the way…and it looked like he was berating her…
She has mocked his tweeting in the past…LOL…I posted a couple of her videos in the past where she’s mockingly talking about countries now communicating by tweet..
The buffoon is a regular Queens, New York, low-brow Leroy Lodge/Reggie Van Dough in real time..
But they’ll all find a way to absolve him soon enough as him just being him and ‘harmless’…and they’ll soon shine him up again…and insist that he’s ‘strong’..and ‘tough’…
God help us..
P.S-
They’ve been watching every archived video of the Obamas …in addition to the buffoon stalking President Obama for years and envious of all the attention he got at these gatherings…and how all the other leaders flocked around him as they walked and were photographed…and he desperately wants all those same photo-ops …
Except that President Obama never had to push his way through to the front…And even when he lagged behind to chat with a particular leader, the rest rushed back wherever he was…
Reince Priebus Has Reason to Worry About a Comey Memo
by Nancy LeTourneau May 25, 2017 9:57 AM
So far, White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus has managed to stay out of the headlines of the stories about the Trump/Russia probe. He was not a member of the Trump campaign team as head of the RNC during the election. But according to a report in the Daily Beast, he might have cause to worry about being implicated in the cover-up. To understand why, perhaps a timeline of events from mid-February would be helpful.
…………………
From the Daily Beast article, here is why all of that could pose a problem for Priebus:
According to one former general counsel of a large law-enforcement organization who is familiar with Comey, the fired FBI director took judicious notes on likely every conversation he had with anyone from the White House—and he almost certainly wrote a memo about the Feb. 15 conversation with Priebus.
Kremlin Trolls are really out in force today. All the Usual Suspects, nothing new. Told you they’d be amping it up to defend failing Trump.
— John Schindler (@20committee) May 25, 2017
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 5/24/17
Trump loans, Russian money laundering eyed in Congressional query
Greg Farrell, investigative reporter for Bloomberg News, talks with Rachel Maddow about how two seemingly disparate stories about Russian money laundering and Deutsche Bank loans to Donald Trump are being lumped together in a new Congressional query.
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 5/24/17
Senate Intel briefed on cyber firm with odd Trump-Russia ties
Rachel Maddow reports on the Senate Intelligence Committee being briefed on Kaspersky Lab, a Russia-linked cyber firm that happens to have paid money to Mike Flynn and had an employee charged with treason in Russia.
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 5/24/17
Trump blurts classified submarine intel to Philippine president
Rachel Maddow reports on the revelation that Donald Trump, while on the phone with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, revealed the classified location of U.S. submarines.
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 5/24/17
Senate learns consequences of passing House health bill
Rachel Maddow reports on the CBO’s assessment of health care bill passed by House Republicans who voted without knowing the costs of the bill, but which now faces a more informed Senate vote.
AG Jeff Sessions faces new disclosure questions in Russia scandal
05/25/17 08:40 AM
By Steve Benen
We learned in March that Attorney General Jeff Sessions met with a Russian official during the presidential campaign, despite saying the opposite while under oath. Much to Donald Trump’s chagrin, Sessions recused himself from the investigation into the Russia scandal soon after.
That did not, however, resolve the controversy. Many Democratic members of Congress called on Sessions to resign – some even accused him of perjury – and raised questions that remain unanswered. (Those questions recently took a turn when Sessions played a role in FBI Director James Comey’s firing, a move that seemed to conflict with his stated recusal.)
For his part, the far-right attorney general has tried to steer clear of the controversies, but as this CNN report makes clear, the controversies are following him anyway.
https://twitter.com/washingtonpost/status/867707929163681792
Five startling things Betsy DeVos just told Congress
By Valerie Strauss
May 24 at 4:34 PM
Does this sound familiar? Betsy DeVos went to Capitol Hill to testify before U.S. lawmakers. She didn’t answer a lot of direct questions and engaged in some contentious debates with some members.
That happened in January when she went before the Senate education committee for her confirmation hearing, during which she said schools needed guns to protect against grizzly bears. This time, the education secretary didn’t talk about guns, but she did say that states should have the right to decide whether private schools that accept publicly funded voucher students should be allowed to discriminate against students for whatever reason they want.
DeVos testified before the House subcommittee on labor, health and human services, education and related agencies about the Trump administration’s 2018 budget proposal, which would cut $10.6 billion — or more than 13 percent — from education programs and re-invest $1.4 billion of the savings into promoting school choice.
Both DeVos and President Trump have said expanding alternatives to traditional public schools are their top priority, and during tough questioning from some committee members, DeVos doubled down on that as well as on giving states and local communities flexibility to do what they want with their education programs. It is worth noting, however, that she said recently that people who don’t agree with expanding school choice are “flat Earthers,” people who refuse to face the facts.
……………………
1. States should have the flexibility to decide whether private schools that accept students with publicly funded vouchers can discriminate any students for any reason
2. States should have the flexibility to decide whether students with disabilities who are using publicly funded vouchers to pay for private-school tuition should still be protected under the IDEA federal law
3. High-poverty school districts get more funding than low-poverty schools
…………………………..
Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-Calif.) noted that the proposed education budget’s Title I plan would reduce funding to high-poverty schools, according to numerous experts, and she asked DeVos whether she believes that high-poverty school districts should get “more funding resources” than schools with lower levels of poverty.
DeVos said, “Yes, I think the reality is that they do receive higher levels of funding.”
Later, Roybal-Allard asked her more specifically about federal funds: “Just to be clear … you do agree that high-poverty schools should receive more federal resources than lower levels of poverty schools? Was that your testimony?”
Devos responded: “Yes, I think that this is the case.”
Roybal-Allard said, “They don’t,” and continued to press DeVos.
In her first answer, the secretary said she believed high-poverty school districts do get more funding than wealthier districts, which is not true. In the second response, she said she believes high-poverty school districts get more federal funding than wealthier districts. That is not always true.
4. The administration is not shifting money for public schools in the budget in order to fund school choice experiments
It is. If there are cuts to public schools, and there is new money going to school choice, that can’t mean anything else.
5. DeVos wouldn’t say whether private and religious schools that accept students paying with public funds should be accredited or held accountable in the same way that traditional public schools are
Excellent shade by Merkel…tee hee hee
BERLIN (AP) — Barack Obama received a rock-star welcome in Berlin as he appeared at a public debate Thursday with Chancellor Angela Merkel, whom he praised as one of his “favorite partners” during his presidency.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DAqXzMrW0AAHDPn.jpg
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DAqXKu3XsAASDgZ.jpg
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DAqdO6OXcAA3cjR.jpg
Trump & Co. has to be sick about the size of the crowd in Berlin that came to see our beloved PBO because there are more attendees there than showed up for his inauguration. Class cannot be purchased. One either has it or one does. PBO has it in spades. When I saw this pic on Twitter, I wasted no time posting it on Facebook. Many of my so-called Facebook friends are former co-workers and strong Trump supporters, and I have decided not to ever miss an opportunity to remind them that they voted for an unintelligent, embarrassing, incurious, ignorant, classless, foul-mouthed, loose-lipped, rude, clueless POS for POTUS.
A crime against humanity is a good way to describe Trumpcare. One quarter of the way into the 21st century, there would be over 50 million Americans without healthcare. In America. Think about that. That’s what the GOP wants for us. I can’t even comprehend their evil anymore.
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SERIOUS shade by Merkel: having 44 and 45 in the same day. HILARIOUS.
Except that she went right back to sucking up to the buffoon in Brussels..
Barbara Conrad Smith, world renowned Black opera star, died Monday. She was center of controversy in 1957 when as one of the first African Americans to attend the U of TX she was chosen to sing Dido paired with a white Aeneas. She had an impressive career. Her life was the subject of a PBS documentary “When I Rise.” See Wikipedia, NYT obituary, etc.
new Q national poll on whether Trump is honest: Republicans 79% yes, 16% no; Democrats 6% yes, 91% no; independents 34% yes, 59% no
This is quite serious. And, another indication of the curve for the White Man.
IF 44 or Hillary had upset an ally like this, by being irresponsible with such sensitive information, the right wing media would have been up in arms.
They’re trying to murk up things by pretending that this is all part of the Russia leaks…
Even though the buffoon and his leaky-mouth and chest-puffing, bloviating is the culprit for most of these intelligence leaks …including those he’s shared with the Russians who own him and his brood…
40 pro-Trumpcare Republicans revealed to own lots of healthcare stock https://t.co/TTp3BifUP2 pic.twitter.com/LrVWWvTXkS
— deathandtaxes (@DeathAndTaxes) May 24, 2017
Seems like a good time for a reminder that, prior to the ACA, lack of insurance killed an est. 45,000 people a year. https://t.co/ZW1yRl3zEv
— Jess (@soaringleap424) May 24, 2017
Key dynamic: What matters more $119 billion in savings or 23 million uninsured by 2026?
— Chris Cillizza (@CillizzaCNN) May 24, 2017
Released Wednesday, the CBO’s scoring of the new bill finds that a few cosmetic tweaks don’t change the fact that the AHCA remains a breathtakingly cruel bill…
The AHCA is cruel. There is no other word for it. If the law is enacted, people will die because of it.
Given recent headlines, Democrats naturally have been focused on ties between Donald Trump’s campaign and Russia and his related actions as president. But Democrats have to make the AHCA central to their plans for 2018 and beyond. In recent polling by the Kaiser Family Foundation, only 24 percent of Trump voters want him to decrease Medicaid spending, and 42 percent say that the program is somewhat or very important to them. Independents and Democrats are overwhelmingly against the bill. And for the vast majority of Americans, health care is a visceral issue, something that affects their everyday lives. We’ve seen this reflected in the sharp confrontations between GOP members of Congress and their constituents, who are furious at their representatives’ support for a bill that voters do not want. For moral — not just political — reasons, Republicans must be made to regret their AHCA vote.
Mayhew at BJ has done a further review of Trumpcare 2.0:
https://www.balloon-juice.com/2017/05/25/acha-review/
True humility and real excitement..
https://www.instagram.com/p/BUf-02lh5_K/
Good Morning,Everyone😐😐😐
Good Morning, Rikyrah & Everyone.
That GOP #45 mess is pure EVIL.