Tag: ACHA

Opponents of Health Law Repeal Vow to Keep Pressure On Over Recess

NOTE:  The evening of June 29, there is a rally to let Rep. Paulsen know we want to keep our healthcare.  More info here.

The following article by Avantika Chilkoti and Emily Cochrane was posted on the New York Times website June 27, 2017:

Supporters of Planned Parenthood rallied on Tuesday in Washington. Credit Saul Loeb/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Under a blistering sun, protesters let out a cheer on Tuesday across Capitol lawns as word spread that the Senate Republican leader had delayed a vote on repealing the Affordable Care Act. But amid the celebration, Democrats urged the crowds to keep the heat on lawmakers whose opposition to the health care overhaul could grow cold over the coming Fourth of July recess.

“If there is one thing that everybody knows in politics, it’s this: When you have the votes, you take the vote,” Senator Brian Schatz, Democrat of Hawaii, roared to the amassed activists, some clad in pink Planned Parenthood shirts, others in red AIDS awareness shirts.

By midafternoon, Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader, had announced that he did not have enough support to repeal President Barack Obama’s signature domestic achievement, and would take lawmakers’ temperatures when they returned to Washington the week of July 10.

Continue reading “Opponents of Health Law Repeal Vow to Keep Pressure On Over Recess”

House Health Care Plan Is Not Enough to Keep High-Risk Pools Afloat

The following article by Emily Gee was posted on the American Progress website May 2, 2017:

Republican members of Congress watch as they and their fellow members vote for House Speaker on the first day of the new congressional session in the House chamber at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S. January 3, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

The latest amendment to the House Republicans’ bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act, or ACA, singles out people with pre-existing health conditions. The amendment to the American Health Care Act, or AHCA, would allow insurance companies in the small-group and individual markets to discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions if they experience a gap in coverage. People with severe health conditions would face premiums so high that they would be priced out of the market.

Amid accusations of breaking promises on pre-existing conditions, the Trump administration has suggested that states could create high-risk pools under the AHCA, a plan that itself has come under harsh criticism from groups such as the American Medical Association and AARP. Recent history shows that high-risk pools are not a solution to stabilizing insurance markets, particularly when underfunded. Continue reading “House Health Care Plan Is Not Enough to Keep High-Risk Pools Afloat”

Even in Trump’s base, his path forward on health care is awfully unpopular

The following article by Philip Bump was posted on the Washington Post website April 25, 2017:

On the campaign trail, Donald Trump’s proposal on health care was nebulously perfect. Obamacare — that is, the Affordable Care Act — would be gone, he told his cheering supporters, replaced by something cheaper, better and more expansive that wouldn’t be burdened by the hated word “Obama.”

When it came time to deliver on that promise, very early in his administration, the bill that was offered up was somewhat distant from that target. The American Health Care Act would actually see fewer people covered by a decade from now, independent analysis indicated, and costs would drop largely because those with the most expensive plans would stop getting coverage. Trump halfheartedly championed the bill even though it wasn’t his creation. When it collapsed, the exhalation from the White House was nearly audible. Continue reading “Even in Trump’s base, his path forward on health care is awfully unpopular”

GOP health plan is awful and Americans know it: Andy Slavitt

The following article by Andy Slavitt was posted on the USA Today website April 23, 2017:

Recess showed the public is engaged, knowledgeable and ready to hold lawmakers accountable.

Oscar Gronner

President Trump is in a big rush for House Republicans to repeal the Affordable Care Act by the time he reaches the 100-day mark on Saturday. This revives what for many Americans has been an agonizing process of watching their access to health care become a political football in the worst tradition of Washington dealmaking — secretive drafting, rushed votes, multiple closed-door sessions and minimal debate. Continue reading “GOP health plan is awful and Americans know it: Andy Slavitt”

Why Republicans were in such a hurry on health care

The following article by Matt O’Brien was posted on the Washington Post website March 25, 2017:

Why were Republicans rushing to vote on a health-care plan that they’d barely finished drafting, that budget scorekeepers hadn’t had a chance to fully evaluate, and that, insofar as people did know about it, was widely despised?

In part, it’s because their plan was so unpopular and because it got more unpopular the more people learned about it. But it’s also because only by rushing to reshape a full sixth of the American economy without knowing exactly how they would be reshaping it would Republicans be able to use health care to pave the way for the rest of their agenda, including tax reform. In other words, the GOP didn’t want to let a detail like tens of millions of people losing their health insurance get in the way of two tax cuts for the rich. Continue reading “Why Republicans were in such a hurry on health care”

$2,183,552: Donald Trump’s Annual Tax Cut from ACA Repeal

The following article by Harold Stein was posted on the Center for American Progress website March 22, 2017:

The House of Representatives is preparing to vote on a health care bill that would take away insurance from 24 million Americans in 2025—the same year that it would give a tax cut of $57,570 to the average household making more than $1 million per year. The personal benefit to President Donald Trump appears to be even larger: more than $2 million, based on recently leaked partial tax returns from 2005.

If the Affordable Care Act, or ACA, had been law in 2005, then President Trump could have paid $2,183,552 under two taxes on the wealthiest Americans that help pay for expanding health insurance coverage. This includes $589,080 in Additional Medicare Tax on President Trump’s wages and self-employment income, along with $1,594,473 in Net Investment Income Tax on his interest, dividends, and capital gains. Continue reading “$2,183,552: Donald Trump’s Annual Tax Cut from ACA Repeal”

What’s at Stake in a Health Bill That Slashes the Safety Net

The following article by Eduardo Porter was posted on the New York Times website March 21, 2017:

The United States still spends less than most of its peers across the industrialized world to support the general welfare of its citizens. But during the Obama administration the gap shrank to its smallest since the early 1980s. Credit Luke Sharrett for The New York Times

What do we lose when social insurance unravels?

It is startling to realize just how much the social safety net expanded during Barack Obama’s presidency. In 2016, means-tested entitlements like Medicaid and food stamps absorbed 3.8 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product, almost a full percentage point more than in 2008.

Public social spending writ large — including health care, pensions, unemployment insurance, poverty alleviation and the like — reached 19.3 percent of G.D.P., the most in decades and almost three percentage points more than in the year before Mr. Obama took office. Continue reading “What’s at Stake in a Health Bill That Slashes the Safety Net”

Fact-checking the White House’s rhetoric on the CBO report

The following article by Glenn Kessler and Michelle Ye Hee Lee was posted on the Washington Post website March 14, 2017:

White House press secretary Sean Spicer offered a number of attacks and claims during a news briefing dominated by the new Congressional Budget Office report on the House Republican replacement bill for the Affordable Care Act. The report estimated that 24 million fewer people would have health insurance in 2026 if the law were approved in its current form, causing political headaches for the effort to replace Obamacare. Here’s a guide to his rhetoric.

“CBO coverage estimates are consistently wrong and more importantly do not take into consideration the comprehensive nature of this three-prong plan to repeal and replace Obamacare with the American Health Care Act.”

Continue reading “Fact-checking the White House’s rhetoric on the CBO report”

The House health plan: Here’s how the numbers don’t add up for the poor

The following article by Megan Foster Friedman was posted on The Conversation website March 12, 2017:

House Republicans introduced the American Health Care Act (AHCA), their proposal to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA, also known as Obamacare).

At a press conference, Speaker Paul Ryan called this bill “an act of mercy.” For the most vulnerable, that characterization is ironic at best.

Yes, there are winners in this bill. But those who benefit would be predominantly young, healthy and less likely to need insurance or older, well off and more likely to be able to afford insurance. Continue reading “The House health plan: Here’s how the numbers don’t add up for the poor”