3rd Attempt: GOP/Trump Repeal & Replace ACA and Trump lie about pre-exist coverage

My guess is that the Republicans already have 50 votes in the Senate but are putting on a show that they have hold outs so they can show how flexible they and the bill will be when they win over the ones that are holding out at the moment.

 

Lots'o word to say GOP is the party of divine providence. God hates you if you're not born white and rich. (And hey! Looks like in Trump they have finally found the hero they deserve!)

 

I don't think this is the case. You have the 4 crazy holdouts on the right, but I suspect there are more in the center too. Heller just announced in a way that's pretty hard to walk back without gutting the bill - they are huge fans of Medicaid expansion in Nevada. I'd guess some combination of Collins, Murkowski, Cassidy, and maybe Capito are uncommitted as well, which is potentially 9 holdouts when they can only lose 2. If all 9 were on one side, it would be an easier problem to solve, but they are split 5 and 4 between wanting it more moderate and more conservative. The CBO score might be the impetus for the others to come out opposed, because it's unlikely to be anything good.

I think they just want to be done with this so they can move on, and realize they aren't going to resolve anything, so they will vote, fail, and move to tax reform and whatever else. In the background, I suspect the Cassidy-Collins plan will build traction and potentially try to work something up with Dem support and aim to pass it down the road outside of the reconciliation process.

 

This new bill really sucks

 

The more I think of it, it's a stroke of (evil) genius from The Turkle (half turkey, half turtle).
A. Further erode normal functioning of representative government with completely closed process. People accept it, b/c team politics, and will expect less in the future of their government. Genius.
B. Crafted to get just enough votes to pass and reconcile. Genius.
C. Accomplishes only real goal: tax cut for the wealthy donors, string pullers. Genius.
D. Kicks can, timing wise, to a future Congress to sort out and try to salvage the actual healthcare part of this mess. Genius.
E. Meanwhile, as care slowly erodes and the existing system falls apart, they can just say, "see, Obamacare was imploding. We had to take desperate measures to fix what we could, or otherwise, things would be so much worse, without our new act.

I didn't think this would pass, but it's becoming more clear that it will pass. We should never underestimate The Turkle, a sith lord of politics.

 

Collins and Cassidy announced they have concerns and are undecided. That leaves them some wiggle room, but it also makes it much harder to move the bill to the right to placate the 4 others that announced opposition already.

 

What "undecided" means is they are needing more money from their PACs to help them get reelected before they sign off. It's no accident Mike Pence met with the Koch's the other day to get them to sign off on 400 million this next year.

They will get the votes and this will become law eventually. This should get passed by the fall I'd think.

They are risking a bloodbath in 2018 just to get tax cuts for the wealthy. Glad to know where your priorities are Republican voters. If you are a Republican voter and not a millionaire, I hope you are happy about your party screwing you over to make the rich richer. If you are dumb enough to still not get it, you deserve it I guess.

 

the four regulations driving premium spikes are Guaranteed Issue, Community Rating, Medical Loss Ratio, and Essential Health Benefits

you can tinker with taxes and benefits all you want, but premiums/costs are not going to come down until those regulations are eliminated

 

which is why private health insurance should be supplemental to a basic national plan.

 

It's amazing that lies are now this blatant and acceptable to the GOP and it's voters.

The GOP talking points given this weekend literally tell them to say no cuts to Medicaid.

 

Medicaid is a wasteful program that should be cut

 

While we are at it, I think hospitals should be able to demand payment before service as well. That should reduce insurance costs for those that have it.

 

LOL.....


http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/25/health/mom-tweets-on-health-care/index.html

Can you afford this without insurance? Under the GOP Bill, this kid is DEAD.

 

So are you.

 

Pretty much. It'd be a death sentence to one of my best friends with pre-existing conditions.

 

Only slightly off topic, but why isn't any lip service being paid to the costs of health care listed here? Everyone worried about who's gonna pay rather than the almost criminal amounts being charged....

 

Does the Republican bill address the charges?

 

No, it doesn't. That's pretty stupid.

Neither did Obamacare.

 

So wouldn't it be easy to deal with only that change as a supplement to the ACA?