In a few hours, Senate Republicans will vote whether to start debate on a plan to overhaul American health care, without knowing exactly what is in that plan or, by extension, how it will change the lives of millions of Americans. There are few, if any, comparable examples of a bill with such wide-reaching consequences, being voted on so abruptly, with so … Read More
Trumpcare Declared Dead But GOP Not Finished Screwing America
So this happened: My colleague @JerryMoran and I will not support the MTP to this version of BCRA #HealthcareBill — Mike Lee (@SenMikeLee) July 18, 2017 Republican senator from Kansas and his Republican colleague from Utah said “no” to the GOP plan to replace Obamacare. This comes even before the CBO had scored it, but it would have resulted in … Read More
Healthcare Update
Yesterday was a strange news day and not just because of the Trump’s tweets about Morning Joe. I want to cover much of it, and it is going to take a couple of posts. First, healthcare. The Senate Health Care bill looks dead. McConnell wanted to get the Senate bill, BCRA, passed before the July 4 extended break. He wanted … Read More
How’s “Energy Week” Going?
The White House said this was “Energy Week”, but it just seems to be more bad-news-on-healthcare week. The Ashford Zone’s correspondent*, Amy Da Luz is in Raleigh outside Senator Burr’s office at an anti-BCRA rally. It is a pretty decent turnout. * She doesn’t know she’s our correspondent. By the way, I wrote something large on Facebook which I will … Read More
Senate Health Care Bill Off Fast Track
It looks like BHCA (the Better Health Care Act, which isn’t) is not going to be voted on before the July 4 break, as Senator McConnell had hoped. I don’t see how he thought he could put such a terrible bill through committee, without hearings, without almost no debate, without amendments, and get a vote passed. The horrible CBO score … Read More
Breaking: The Senate Health Care Bill Gets Scored
The House Bill said 23 million would lose insurance under the House GOP plan to replace Obamacare. Now the Senate version has been scored and it is…. just as bad. The Senate bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act would increase the number of people without health insurance by 22 million by 2026, a figure that is only slightly lower than the 23 … Read More
All Hail ACHA 2.0
Well, after weeks of secrecy, the Senate version of Obamacare “Repeal and Rewhatever” (PDF) is here. Remember, the House version of the ACHA would result in 23 million people becoming uninsured, and even Trump called it “mean”. Is the Senate version any better? Not much: Here is how the Senate bill works: The Senate bill begins to phase out the Medicaid … Read More
Senate Republicans Getting Hit From All Over
This screenshot from Memeorandum gives a sense of the bind that Senate Republicans are in over their very long and VERY SECRET internal negotiating (by 13 white men) over their healthcare bill. House Republicans insist that their terrible mean bill (which knocks 23 million off of healthcare) doesn’t get altered too much, and Democrats — well, they just want to … Read More
The Trumpcare Fight
It was thought that Trumpcare, having passed the House, would die when it got to the grown-ups in the Senate. Nope. They’re trying to pass it. Or something. I can’t criticize the Senate version of Trumpcare. Because nobody knows what it is. We only know a few things. All reports say there will be no hearings on the text of … Read More
To These Guys Everything Is A Partisan Conspiracy Against Their Perfect Great Idea
To these guys everything is a partisan, somebody else to blame conspiracy against their perfect, great idea: It’s become the knee-jerk reaction for Republicans, in light of an ugly Congressional Budget Office analysis of their Obamacare repeal bill, to point the finger at the non-partisan research agency instead. Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney took it a step further … Read More
Abomination
The Plum Line, this morning: I won’t mince words. The health-care bill that the House of Representatives passed this afternoon, in an incredibly narrow 217-to-213 vote, is not just wrong, or misguided, or problematic or foolish. It is an abomination. If there has been a piece of legislation in our lifetimes that boiled over with as much malice and indifference … Read More
Crucial Vote on Healthcare Today
The ACHA, once thought dead, got revived yesterday. The big change? 8 billion for states that choose to create high risk pools for people with pre-existing conditions. Of course, the fact that this 8 billion boondoggle (which goes to insurance companies) exists only highlights the lie that “no changes are being made with respect to pre-existing conditions”. And 8 billion, … Read More
Obama Finally Weighs In On Health Care Issue
My wife and I welcome a new baby and it is quite a story… https://t.co/VTT0oBsRFK — Jimmy Kimmel (@jimmykimmel) May 2, 2017 Well said, Jimmy. That’s exactly why we fought so hard for the ACA, and why we need to protect it for kids like Billy. And congratulations! https://t.co/77F8rZrD3P — Barack Obama (@BarackObama) May 2, 2017
TrumpCare 3.0 (4.0?) Is Dead Pretty Much
The Hill reports: House Republicans have an updated bill to repeal and replace ObamaCare, and The Hill has a new whip list. The updated bill includes an amendment that would allow states to opt out of key ObamaCare rules, including on minimum coverage requirements and allowing insurers to charge more based on individuals’ health. Those changes are designed to win … Read More
The New ACHA Is Even Worse
I could talk about how terrible the revised Republican repeal of Obamacare plan is, but the best evidence is that the Republicans themselves decided to exempt Members of Congress from living under it. In other words, THEY (and their families) get to keep Obamacare, while their proposed new law takes it away from everyone else. Here, read this.