The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age
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    GOPs Load of Crap Health Care Plan

    By oldenGoldenDecoy on Tue, 03/07/2017 - 3:22am |

     

    From Vox.com:The Republicans’ bill to replace Obamacare, explained

    • Some of Obamacare’s signature features are gone immediately, such as the tax on people who don’t purchase health care. Other protections, including the ban on discriminating people with pre-existing conditions and the provision that allows young adults to stay on their parents’ plan through age 26, would survive.
    • The plan maintains the Medicaid expansion — for now. The Affordable Care Act expanded Medicaid to cover millions of low-income Americans. And, in a big shift from previous drafts of the legislation, which ended Medicaid expansion immediately, this bill would continue to that coverage expansion through January 1, 2020. At that point, enrollment would “freeze,” and legislators expect enrollees would drop out of the program as their incomes change.
    • The replacement plan benefits people who are healthy and high-income, and disadvantages those who are sicker and lower-income. The replacement plan would make several changes to what health insurers can charge enrollees who purchase insurance on the individual market, as well as changing what benefits their plans must cover. In aggregate, these changes could be advantageous to younger and healthier enrollees who want skimpier (and cheaper) benefit packages. But they could be costly for older and sicker Obamacare enrollees, who rely on the law’s current requirements.
    • The bill looks a lot more like Obamacare than previous drafts. A curious thing has happened to the Republican replacement plan as it has evolved through multiple drafts: it has begun to look more and more like Obamacare itself. The bill keeps some key features of Obamacare, like giving more help to lower-income Americans and the Medicaid expansion, around in a scaled-back form. This speaks to how entrenched the health care law has become since its enactment 7 years ago, and how difficult it will be for the GOP to repeal it entirely.

    AHCA would end Medicaid expansion in 2020

     

    ~OGD~

    Comments

    I am starting to believe that even if they managed to pass it by some miraculous moves, it wouldn't last very long without the AMA, AARP and American Hospital Federation on board:

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/doctors-hospitals-and-insurers-oppose-republican-health-plan/2017/03/08/d9f0f5c2-0426-11e7-ad5b-d22680e18d10_story.html

    The latter had a lot of input into Romneycare d.b.a. Obamacare. And I know enough doctors that are ready to riot in the streets about Romneycare without them making it worse for them instead of better.

    It's just not going to work, it's just that simple. Not without a ton of revisions taking a lot of time. Especially since a lot of Trump voters really bought into Trump's promise to make things better. Those needing to use any kind of medical care won't cotton very well to everything falling to shit and lots of providers complaining about what the GOP just did, etc. Passing something that will aggravate so many involved with the issue for so many reasons, is just plain not going to work out well for them, and right around the time of the next election.

    It's a big big mistake for them to try to rush this through. Even ignorant Trump saw this relatively quickly with his Homer-Simpson-like "boy this health care, t's more complicated than I thought" after meeting with the governors. What the hell is Paul Ryan thinking? This involves, among other things: 1) people's actual lives 2) a major part of the economy 3) a ton of jobs with many more coming....

    Just slap together a messy bill for that? In order to deliver a promise to repeal to the base?


    by artappraiser on Wed, 03/08/2017 - 9:33pm

    Just hit me that what they may be trying to do is a Trump-style direct to the public thing first, before the big lobbies. I'm seeing a lot of spinning about separate points, like changing the individual mandate, for example. After all, they've got all these screaming town hall meetings, with nothing on paper out there to point to.

    That would explain hiding it from the Senate and also the lackadaisical attitude about getting a OMB markup. It's just really a trial balloon, to see if the public would support some of these things or not, and if they do, the lobbies can't bitch? PLUS: they can tell the base they tried.


    by artappraiser on Wed, 03/08/2017 - 10:12pm

    Trump and the GOP will cut the ACA taxes on the $250k + crowd, especially the 3.8% investment tax that funds subsidies. That's $50 billion a year. 

    I doubt that Trump will care about complaints from doctors or hospitals.Bloodbath etc. Demagogues don't back down from superlatives like that.

    When it becomes clear eventually that it is a disaster they will deny it, and say it would have been worse if they didn't act, Obama's fault etc.


    by NCD on Wed, 03/08/2017 - 11:46pm

    Oy, getting to near unanimous, if they persist they are going to have to let in a whole new immigrant health care system. Recommend clicking on the link to the PDF of the letter itself, as the Bloomberg article selectively picks out only the criticism about Medicaid, and there's a lot more than that:

    (Bloomberg) — Health-care proposal’s Medicaid funding formulas suggested by House GOP “could result in unnecessary disruptions in the coverage and care beneficiaries depend on,” America’s Health Insurance Plans, or AHIP, writes in letter to Reps. Kevin Brady and Greg Walden.

    • “We believe that Medicaid funding should be adequate to meet the healthcare needs of beneficiaries”: AHIP
    • “It will be important for policymakers to consider how long-term reforms impact consumers, health-care providers, employers and other stakeholders”: AHIP
    • “AHIP appreciates that the House proposal largely sets aside the employer-sponsored and Medicare markets, recognizing that they work well”
    • NOTE: Brady is chairman of House Ways and Means Cmte, and Walden is chairman of House Energy and Commerce Cmte, two cmtes with jurisdiction over health-care bill

    by artappraiser on Thu, 03/09/2017 - 3:00am

    Trump said he will have football stadium events in states where he won by 10-12 points and he is going to dare people to vote against him," a source at the meeting said.  If it fails, I'll Blame Democrats. ....Trump plan B, sabotage it: allow Obamcare to fail and let Democrats take the blame, sources at the gathering told CNN.


    by NCD on Thu, 03/09/2017 - 9:59am

    This quote from your link is interesting. No matter what the issue, the problem with this administration is always going to be reality:

    A source at the meeting was astonished as to how White House staff could have been so blindsided by the initial conservative opposition to the GOP plan.
    "We telegraphed it for weeks," one tea party official at the meeting said.

    by artappraiser on Thu, 03/09/2017 - 11:43am

    unanimity against House bill continued:

    A Health and Human Services Department official expressed opposition to Republicans’ Obamacare repeal bill Wednesday night in a tweet that went viral, marking a rare sign of dissent in an administration that puts a high premium on loyalty.

    Andrey Ostrovsky, Medicaid’s top medical officer, said he’s siding with medical groups opposing the Republican health care plan, including the American Medical Association and organizations representing pediatricians and family doctors.

    “Despite political messaging from others at HHS, I align with experts” from those groups, wrote Ostrovsky, a pediatrician [....]


    by artappraiser on Thu, 03/09/2017 - 12:13pm

    Chart, all the major groups critical of the bill in one chart, by Amanda Northrop @ vox.com


    by artappraiser on Thu, 03/09/2017 - 8:10pm

    It's not a health plan, it's a tax cut for the rich. Saw one Dem call it that, they all should use that language.


    by NCD on Wed, 03/08/2017 - 9:35pm

    A former parliamentarian assesses his options.

    Updated by Sarah Kliffsarah@vox.com Mar 9, 2017, 6:50pm EST

     

    Trump's Obamacare moves cause chaos in Congress

    The president has sent mixed signals on how much negotiation he's open to, undermining GOP leaders.

    By and @ Politico.com, 03/09/17 04:05 PM EST


    by artappraiser on Thu, 03/09/2017 - 8:06pm

    Very helpful factual argument by the former acting administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on why is it worth giving "Obamacare" a few more years (not to mention a good pan of the House's bill), how it's nowhere near in a "death spiral." Especially helpful for people like me, worried about precisely some of the things he addresses, (putting all the GOP crap aside, I was never a major fan of Obamacare/Romneycare):

    How to Fix the Health Care Mess

    By Andy Slavitt @ Politico.com, March 09, 2017

     


    by artappraiser on Thu, 03/09/2017 - 8:22pm

    By Aaron Blake  @ The Washington Post, March 9 at 9:31 AM
     
    Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) took a page out of President Trump's playbook Thursday morning, taking to Twitter to set the tone for the day in Washington.

    But his message was decidedly counter to Trump's wishes.

    After House Republicans — in the wee hours of Thursday morning — passed their Obamacare replacement through committee, Cotton wielded a giant metaphorical stop sign — before 6 a.m.

    [...copies of his tweets...]

    And in this case, the messenger matters as much or more than the actual message. Although this kind of caution would perhaps be expected from Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) or Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) — all three of whom have been willing to publicly break with their party's president — Cotton has gained a reputation as one of Trump's staunchest allies in the Senate [....]

    by artappraiser on Thu, 03/09/2017 - 10:46pm

    Is Cotton a Freedom caucus cut em all off, or is he scared cuz half his voters in R-Kanss would lose their subsidized fed coverage?


    by NCD on Thu, 03/09/2017 - 11:18pm

    About 1 million RKansans are on Medicaid or CHIP. Out of 2.9 million population. I guess Cotton is worried that 1/3 of the population could be threatened, when the Trumpkins believed and believed in the big Trump con (cheaper AND better).


    by NCD on Fri, 03/10/2017 - 12:53am

    Your question got me doing something I don't like to do, looking at a Breitbart link on topic. To my surprise, it's basically a straightforward and well done interview

    Exclusive — Sen. Tom Cotton: Paul Ryan’s Healthcare Bill Does Not Deliver on GOP, President Trump’s Promise to Repeal, Replace Obamacare

    I also looked elsewhere and have come to the conclusion that he just won't say what camp he is in about where the system should go. He just seems genuinely concerned that they are doing a sloppy job of it! And yes, he is concerned about his constituents, and he seems quite genuine about that, too.


    by artappraiser on Fri, 03/10/2017 - 9:23am

    Comes to mind, Trump basically has the same attitude about those that voted for him. The problem with him is that he still thinks of a minority of the population as his constituents, and not the whole country.


    by artappraiser on Fri, 03/10/2017 - 9:25am

    Cotton: this could affect my political health.

    Rand P. seems to reject the Bill om Libertarian grounds, perhaps not recalling just under half the population of Kentucky is on a federal health program.

     


    by NCD on Fri, 03/10/2017 - 11:31am

    Interesting chart purporting to reflect the winners and losers under the House bill, and highlighting how the bill hurts Trump supportersl:

    • Those who stand to lose more than $7,500 in subsidies went for Trump by 58-39.
    • Those who stand to lose between $5,000 and $7,500 went for Trump by 60-35.
    • Those who stand to lose between $2,500 and $5,000 went for Trump by 49-45.
    • Those who stand to lose between $1,000 and $2,500 went for Trump by 46-46.

    Greg Sargent linked to the above, which was prepared by Nate Cohn of upshot.  Greg explains (my bolds):

    To oversimplify, the analysis combined data from the Kaiser Family Foundation, which estimated how the GOP bill would impact people based on age, income and location of their insurance market, with data from the Cooperative Congressional Election Study, which surveyed tens of thousands of voters about their health care and their 2016 presidential vote. Merging them together, the analysis strives to reach a picture — admittedly “imperfect” — of how the respondents to the latter survey “would gain or lose under the Republican plan, based on age, income and county.”

    ....................

    This new analysis reflects only part of the way Trump voters could be impacted by the GOP plan. It does not estimate its direct impact on those benefiting from the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion. But there is reason to believe a lot of them, too, would be adversely impacted.

     


    by Bruce Levine on Fri, 03/10/2017 - 11:02am

    Interesting data, if it passes it could be an educational experience for them.

    I think they thought a trash talking rich racist white man would give white folks a better deal than the black guy.


    by NCD on Fri, 03/10/2017 - 11:38am

    Bruce... I'd laugh if it wasn't so true...

    But ya' know this pretty much covers it...



    ~OGD~


    by oldenGoldenDecoy on Sat, 03/11/2017 - 11:30pm

    Krugman, March 10: A Bill So Bad It’s Awesome


    by artappraiser on Fri, 03/10/2017 - 5:37pm