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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsEzra Klein: The perverse reality of the Republican health care bill
http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/3/13/14914802/republican-health-care-bill-perverse-cbo-ahca
The perverse reality of the Republican health care bill
The more help you need, the less you get.
Updated by Ezra Klein@ezraklein Mar 13, 2017, 6:40pm EDT
The Congressional Budget Offices analysis of the GOPs American Health Care Act is one of the most singularly devastating documents Ive seen in American politics. For a thorough explanation of the findings, read Sarah Kliffs explainer. But here is the one-sentence summary: Under the GOPs bill, the more help you need, the less you get.
The AHCA would increase the uninsured population by about 24 million people which is more people than live in New York state. But the raw numbers obscure the cruelty of the choices. The policy is particularly bad for the old, the sick, and the poor. It is particularly good for the rich, the young, and the healthy.
Here, in short, is what the AHCA does. The bill guts Medicaid, halves the value of Obamacares insurance subsidies, and allows insurers to charge older Americans 500 percent more than they charge young Americans.
Then it takes the subsidies that are left and reworks them to be worth less to the poor and the old, takes the insurers that are left and lets them change their plans to cover fewer medical expenses for the sick, and rewrites the tax code to offer hundreds of billions of dollars in tax cuts to the rich. As Dylan Matthews writes, it is an act of class warfare by the rich against the poor.
The result isnt just 24 million fewer people with insurance: Of those who remain insured, the pool is tilted toward younger, healthier people who need help less, because many of the older, poorer people who need the most help can no longer afford insurance. As German Lopez notes, a 64-year-old making $26,500 would see his premiums rise by 750 percent. 750 percent! And with that 64-year-old gone, premiums are a little bit lower, because the pool is a little bit younger.
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But this is not fine. It is not decent, it is not compassionate, and it is not what Republicans promised. It is a betrayal of Donald Trumps vow to protect Medicaid from cuts and to pass a health care bill that covers everyone with insurance that has lower deductibles and better coverage. It is a betrayal of Ryans promise to give Americans more choices as it is only when you can afford insurance that you truly have the choice of which plan to buy. It is a betrayal of the older, rural voters who put Republicans in office and who will pay the most for heath insurance under this proposal. It is hard to imagine the electoral reckoning that would follow the implementation of this law.
Thats the thing about setting a fire. Youre often the one who gets burned.
Docreed2003
(16,916 posts)world wide wally
(21,762 posts)babylonsister
(171,137 posts)He's robot-like. No feelings about what he's wanting to do with healthcare? My mind doesn't work that way thankfully.
Blue_true
(31,261 posts)who are in need, the happier he is. Sad state of affairs.
lindysalsagal
(20,831 posts)It's astounding how these bozos can magically recover control, have the chance to buck up their party, and then immediatley initiate the circular firing squad on their own leaders and voters.
Could this gang shoot any worse????
babylonsister
(171,137 posts)hope to hell at some point the majority of rethugs decide they don't want to ride this train.
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