Tag: Trumpcare

Public pans Republicans’ latest approach to replacing Affordable Care Act

The following article by Amy Goldstein and Scott Clement was posted on the Washington Post website April 26, 2017:

In strategy and substance, the American public disagrees with the course that President Trump and congressional Republicans are pursuing to replace the Affordable Care Act with conservative policies, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

Large majorities oppose the ideas at the heart of the most recent GOP negotiations to forge a plan that could pass in the House. These would allow states to choose whether to keep the ACA’s insurance protection for people with preexisting medical problems and its guarantee of specific health benefits. Continue reading “Public pans Republicans’ latest approach to replacing Affordable Care Act”

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”

Patients can’t go back to pre-ACA

I am twice a cancer survivor.  With my first diagnosis in 1999 and my second in 2001, I felt lost.  I couldn’t see what the future would hold.  My fears lessen as time passes and my treatment has been successful, but a new concern has emerged.  I now have a pre-existing condition that health insurance companies used to claim made people too risky to insure.

The Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, prohibits such discrimination and implemented many other positive patient protections, that often get lost when we talk about its downsides. The ACA isn’t perfect. But cancer patients and survivors cannot afford to return to a time when insurance is unaffordable, coverage is inadequate and their treatment is at risk. Continue reading “Patients can’t go back to pre-ACA”

New Data Deliver Good News for Health Care and Bad News for Speaker Ryan’s Tax Reform Plan

The following article by Harry Stein and Alex Rowell was posted on the Center for American Progress website March 30, 2017:

AP/J. Scott Applewhite
House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) announces that he is abruptly pulling the troubled American Health Care Act off the House floor, at the Capitol in Washington, March 24, 2017.

Shortly after Congress’ failed attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act, or ACA, new budget data confirm the sustainability of the federal government’s major health care programs. These budget data also illustrate a major hurdle for the tax reform plan advocated by House Republican leaders. This new information comes from the Congressional Budget Office, or CBO, and it includes updated projections for the cost of federal programs; tax revenue levels; budget deficits; and economic variables such as gross domestic product, or GDP.

The projected costs of federal health care programs have fallen dramatically since the passage of the ACA. Despite false claims to the contrary, federal health programs are not facing a “death spiral” of exploding costs. The United States has more than enough economic capacity to continue to sustain these programs in the future; repealing the ACA would have instead used American economic capacity to cut taxes for the wealthy. Continue reading “New Data Deliver Good News for Health Care and Bad News for Speaker Ryan’s Tax Reform Plan”

$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”

Dump The Myth That Obamacare Froze Out Republicans

The following article by Froma Harrop was posted on the National Memo website March 21, 2017:

It’s true. The Affordable Care Act was passed without a single Republican vote. Republicans repeatedly cite this fact as Obamacare’s original sin, a fatal flaw that justifies their efforts to dismantle the ACA.

But let’s set that record straight. Obamacare was a bipartisan plan. It just didn’t get a bipartisan vote. Continue reading “Dump The Myth That Obamacare Froze Out Republicans”

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”

The Impact of the House ACA Repeal Bill on Enrollees’ Costs

The following article by David Cutler, Topher Spiro and Emily Gee was posted on the Center for American Progress website March 16, 2017:

AP/Nam Y. Huh
Holly Brown, 28, who has a chronic lung condition, looks over medical records at her home in Round Lake, Illinois, on December 10, 2009.

After eight years, the congressional majority has finally released its health care legislation. Their bill, the American Health Care Act, can now be compared side-by-side with the Affordable Care Act, or ACA, based on how it affects enrollees’ pocketbooks. It does not measure up well; the House bill would increase both total consumer costs and the risk of a financially devastating event.

The congressional majority argues that by cutting back insurance standards, their bill would lower premiums. The Congressional Budget Office, or CBO, estimates that the bill would increase average premiums by 15 to 20 percent in 2018 and 2019, but that it would slightly lower average premiums by 10 percent by 2026.1 The bill would lower average premiums over the long run because older, costlier individuals who can no longer afford plans would drop out of the pool. Additionally, plans would cover a lower share of costs. Continue reading “The Impact of the House ACA Repeal Bill on Enrollees’ Costs”

Mulvaney’s suggestion that a person making one-fifth his pay couldn’t afford a doctor

The following article by Glenn Kessler was posted on the Washington Post website March 15, 2017:

Alex Wong/Getty Images

“I was on Obamacare. I was on the exchanges as a member of the House, okay? I had the same plan that somebody who makes a lot less than I did at the time would have. I had a $12,000 or $15,000 a year annual deductible. I could afford it. How could the person who makes one-fifth of what I was making ever afford to go to the doctor?”
—White House budget director Mick Mulvaney, interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” March 14, 2017

These remarks got The Fact Checker wondering.

How does a member of Congress end up with a $12,000-$15,000 deductible when lawmakers are supposed to select low-deductible Gold plans?

And would a person making one-fifth of the congressional salary actually have to pay such a high deductible under the Affordable Care Act?

Let’s explore. Continue reading “Mulvaney’s suggestion that a person making one-fifth his pay couldn’t afford a doctor”