Tag: Ryancare

Senate GOP’s Obamacare repeal bill will cost lives, but fatten the wallets of millionaires

The following article by Michael Hiltzik was posted on the Los Angeles Times website June 22, 2017:

Mitch McConnell (Credit: Reuters/Joshua Roberts)

Senate Republicans finally revealed on Thursday why they’ve been crafting their Affordable Care Act repeal in secret. As the newly released draft shows, it’s a rollback of health coverage for millions of Americans that could cost the lives of tens of thousands a year.

But make no mistake: This is not a healthcare bill. It’s a tax cut for the wealthiest Americans, paid for by a reduction in government funding for healthcare. The measure would constitute one of the largest single transfers of wealth to the rich from the middle class and poor in American history. Continue reading “Senate GOP’s Obamacare repeal bill will cost lives, but fatten the wallets of millionaires”

Here’s why the CBO report is bad news for Republicans on health care

The following article by Paige Winfield Cunningham was posted on the Washington Post website May 25, 2017:

The final word is in: The House Republican bill to replace large parts of the Affordable Care Act would save $119 billion over a decade but cost 23 million Americans their health coverage.

Those figures are actually pretty similar to initial estimates for the House’s American Health Care Act — before Republicans added in some last-minute amendments changes.

Yet when the CBO released its score late Wednesday afternoon, it reignited a heated debate in Washington over the ongoing GOP effort to ditch big provisions in President Obama’s health-care law – an issue that took a temporary back seat amid all the drama over President Trump’s relationship with Russia and his treatment of former FBI Director James B. Comey. Continue reading “Here’s why the CBO report is bad news for Republicans on health care”

Coverage Losses by State and Congressional

The following article by Emily Gee was posted by the Center for American Progress May 25, 2017:

The Capitol is illuminated before sunrise in Washington. (Bloomberg)

Earlier this month, House Republican leaders rushed to vote on the American Health Care Act (AHCA)—the bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA)— before a CBO score became available, perhaps knowing full well that the nonpartisan agency’s findings could undercut their claims that it would lower premiums while protecting people with pre-existing conditions. But now that the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) updated score has been released, it confirms what the bill’s architects tried to bury: the AHCA would harm Americans by rolling back health insurance coverage while raising costs and reducing benefits. Continue reading “Coverage Losses by State and Congressional”

New Poll: Fading Support For Obamacare Repeal

The following article was posted on the trumpaccountable.org website March 22, 2017:

A new poll published this morning by Politico/Morning Consult indicates fading public support for the the Republican repeal of Obamacare that President Trump and House leadership have been actively campaigning for over the past week. A vote in the House is expected on Thursday and the outcome is far from certain; the new poll does little to help skittish members of Congress who are still reluctant to support the bill.

While support has not pivoted wildly, several numbers indicate that members of the public are responding to the Congressional Budget Office scoring that indicates that 14 million Americans stand to lose their health insurance as early as next year with upwards of 24 million losing coverage once the legislation is fully enacted. Continue reading “New Poll: Fading Support For Obamacare 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”