Health care providers oppose GOP bill to repeal Obamacare

Unlike Obama’s Affordable Care Act, which was pored over by committees and subject to hours of bipartisan discussions, the Republican replacement plan is being considered by the ways and means and energy and commerce committees within 48 hours of the legislation being published, with a full House vote possible next week.

Since its introduction this week, legislation from top House Republicans to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act has drawn a flood of opposition from lawmakers and a range of health care leaders and industry stakeholders, including major doctors and hospital groups. In other words, we’re talking a lot of iPhones and not a real choice.

Several Republican senators have also expressed concerns about the bill. In fact, the overall effect of the legislation is massively regressive, relative to the baseline established by Obamacare. I previously estimated that a claw-back of 13.5 percent, within the same income bands that Obamacare offers tax credits, would be budget neutral relative to the status quo. The overall effect would be far less generous to the poor, with the number of people expected to lose coverage in the low millions. But some of those experts said this past week that they’re confounded by the GOP plan’s lack of details and its surprising replication, in many respects, of the very law it seeks to upend. Paul Ryan is often described, including by himself, as a policy wonk.

Democrats, however, had weeks of hearings on the bill in June and July of 2009, and almost a month of debate before putting it to a full vote for passage in December 2009. That means that the House proposal could technically pass before there is any estimate of how many Americans will be covered by the new law.

“The current bill is not in a form that I approve of”, he added.

The free-market health care system that some Republicans want is just what we had before: the non-system that prompted the Affordable Care Act. Tax credits would amount to $2,000 for those younger than 30; $2,500 for anyone between 30 and 40; $3,000 for anyone between 40 and 50; $3,500 for those between 50 and 60; and $4,000 for those over 60.

Now, Republicans have the opportunity to repeal that law, also known as Obamacare. In human terms, 14.3-20.5 million people would lose their health care on top the 11 million on Medicaid who will lose their health care after the Medicaid expansion is killed. And if you don’t help people who are outside of the employer marketplace, you are going to see even more significant degradations in coverage. Resistance to these benefits exists because they threaten powerful insurance and health care companies.

“Trumpcare, simply put, is a mess that gives you less for more“. The welfare system has diminished the work ethic, increased the incentive for people to reproduce out of wedlock and severely damaged the nuclear family, which has led to incalculable economic, moral and cultural problems across the board. What is it even trying to achieve?

Outnumbered Democrats used the panels’ meetings for political messaging, futilely offering amendments aimed at preventing the bill from raising deficits, kicking people off coverage or boosting consumers’ out-of-pocket costs. As far as I can tell, Republicans have neither. “Is that really a winning argument in American politics?”

That could include a bill from Reps. “That’s because Obamacare mostly turned out to be a big expansion of Medicaid”.

The challenge for Trump is whether he can convince enough wary conservatives to back the first step of the plan without being able to guarantee the other phases will come to pass. This would create greater incentives for people (including the young, healthy people who enrolled in Obamacare at rates too low to stabilize the program) to sign up for the individual market.

Current criteria for children’s Medicaid eligibility should remain in place. How much room exists for compromise remains to be seen, but for millions of Americans – many of whom voted for Donald Trump in November’s elections – the final shape of the replacement healthcare plan could have profound implications for their lives and finances.

The bill’s ultimate fate is uncertain. It would mean significantly higher premiums and reduced tax credits for middle and low-income earners. That’s why the AMA opposes it and the AARP opposes it and hospital groups oppose it and basically anyone that has anything to do with healthcare opposes it. Democrats ultimately passed Obamacare on a party-line vote.