Tag: Trumpcare

How Medicaid Cuts Could Hurt Education and Lead to Middle-Class Tax Hikes

The following article by Harry Stein and Sundus Alfi was posted on the Center for American Progress website June 6, 2017:

AP/Ross D. Franklin
Francisco Felix sits with his wife and daughters in their home in Laveen, Arizona, as they fill out paperwork for the National Transplant Assistance Fund, November 16, 2010.

The House of Representatives recently passed the American Health Care Act (AHCA), which would repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and cut Medicaid by $834 billion over 10 years.1 Due to cuts in Medicaid, as well as other changes, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that the AHCA would take health insurance from 23 million Americans by 2025.2President Donald Trump supports this legislation despite pledging not to cut Medicaid.3

The AHCA is only the beginning. President Trump’s budget calls for $610 billion in additional Medicaid cuts over 10 years on top of the cuts in the AHCA.4 And previous budgets from House Republican leaders also recommended Medicaid cuts that exceed the cuts in the AHCA.5 The most significant impact of these Medicaid cuts would be the disruption of health care services for working families, seniors, children, and people with disabilities.6 Continue reading “How Medicaid Cuts Could Hurt Education and Lead to Middle-Class Tax Hikes”

Al Franken Comes Out and Says What Most Americans Really Think of Trumpcare

The following article by Alexandra Rosenmann was posted on the AlterNet website May 30, 2017:

The Minnesota senator calls on his Republican colleagues to kill an “awful bill.”

While they review the much-maligned American Health Care Act, Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) issued a stern warning to his Republican colleagues in the Senate.

“I don’t think the Republicans can do this themselves, and they shouldn’t,” he said in a “CBS This Morning” interview May 30. “What came out of the House is just dreadful.” Continue reading “Al Franken Comes Out and Says What Most Americans Really Think of Trumpcare”

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”

Fact-checking a rosy portrait of the American Health Care Act

Note:  A similar commercial has been airing in the Twin Cities supporting Rep. Erik Paulsen.

The following article by Glenn Kessler was posted on the Washington Post website May 24, 2017:

“As a mom, rising health-care costs are a big concern. My family lost our insurance and doctor because of the Affordable Care Act. But now, we have hope.”
— California resident Elizabeth Jacinto, in an ad sponsored by the American Action Network

In a $2 million ad campaign to support the House GOP health plan, the right-leaning American Action Network (AAN) features a California woman named Elizabeth Jacinto who says she suffered under Obamacare and expresses enthusiasm for the American Health Care Act. The ACHA only narrowly passed the House and was greeted lukewarmly by the Senate, so a key part of the effort appears to assist 21 GOP lawmakers who cast a tough vote to support the proposal. Continue reading “Fact-checking a rosy portrait of the American Health Care Act”

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”

CBO gives a brutal diagnosis of GOP’s health plan

The following editorial was posted on the Star Tribune website May 25, 2017:

There’s no honor in keeping a promise to repeal Obamacare if replacement is a giant step backward.

House Speaker Paul Ryan at a March 7 news conference regarding the American Health Care Act. From left: Rep Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.; Ryan, and Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore.

A point of clarification for Reps. Erik Paulsen, Tom Emmer and Jason Lewis, the three Minnesota Republican U.S. House members who voted for their party’s health reform plan: When you vowed on the campaign trail to repeal the Affordable Care Act, the expectation was that the replacement plan would improve upon former President Obama’s signature health care law.

But for the second time now, one of the nation’s most authoritative voices has confirmed that the GOP’s American Health Care Act (AHCA) would be a disastrous step backward when it comes to cost and quality coverage, particularly for older and sicker Americans. There’s no honor in keeping a promise to repeal the Obama law, which is how Lewis and others have defended their AHCA support, when the replacement would gut Medicaid, a safety-net program for children and the elderly, and would leave millions more Americans without health insurance. Continue reading “CBO gives a brutal diagnosis of GOP’s health plan”

What Voters Think Of Trump’s Latest Obamacare Repeal Plan

The following article by Jonathan D. Salant was posted on the NJ.com website May 12, 2016:

WASHINGTON — Those who attended Rep. Tom MacArthur’s five-hour town hall meeting Wednesday evening hit him with complaints and criticism over the House Republican legislation that repealed and replaced the Affordable Care Act with a bill that could leave 24 million more Americans without coverage.

Turns out, they weren’t alone. Continue reading “What Voters Think Of Trump’s Latest Obamacare Repeal Plan”

Paulsen vote deplorable

To the Editor:

Rep. Erik Paulsen voted fro the TrumpCare bill last week. It appears that Paulsen is a man without a conscience. How else do you explain his vote to rip away health insurance from 24 million Americans? How else do you explain his vote that may stop covering pre-existing conditions? How else do you explain his vote taking away a phenomenal amount of money to help the poorest of the poor and the sickest of the sick so he can additionally line the pockets of the wealthiest people in America, people that do no need the additional tax cuts? Does Paulsen have a conscience, a heart, a soul, and a mind of his own?

The day after this disgraceful and deplorable vote, I heard on Minnesota Public Radio that Paulsen had declined their requested interview. It is said that a picture speaks a thousand words. Paulsen’s one word — NO — also speaks a thousand words. That one word paints a picture of a man so embarrassed by his disgusting vote that he could not even face this constituents in the form a brief radio interview. What a shame! What a shameful act! Continue reading “Paulsen vote deplorable”

Yes, Americans Die Earlier Without Health Insurance

The following article by Lesley Clark with the McClatchy Washington Bureau was posted on the National Memo website May 11, 2017:

Photo: Reuters

WASHINGTON — Do people die because they lack health insurance?

Rep. Raul Labrador, R-Idaho, found himself in a pickle (and in a cameo in a Jimmy Kimmel monologue) when he suggested they don’t. He later elaborated that he was making the point that no one would “die in the streets” under the Republican health care plan, because hospitals are required by law to treat any patient in need of emergency care.

But health care advocates say his explanation falls short of reality, pointing to a host of studies that show access to health care does prevent premature death, in the case of Americans with conditions such as cancer, diabetes, coronary heart disease, respiratory failure and asthma. Continue reading “Yes, Americans Die Earlier Without Health Insurance”