Nancy

Documentation. Witnesses. Facts. Truth. That's what they're afraid of.

Thursday, April 20, 2017

The Daily Combover - April 20, 2017

I could point out the hypocrisy in Trump's latest executive order because he clearly doesn't buy American, but the AFL-CIO already did that last year. And we already saw it earlier this year with the Russian deal for the Pipeline steel.

Instead we'll focus on the AHCA v2.



This time, Trump appears to be fully embracing it. Of course as WaPo points out:
The GOP 2.0 version of the American Health Care Act has about as much appeal as the original AHCA, or maybe less. It’s still a big tax cut for the rich, a hit to pocketbooks of older and more rural voters, and less generous than what recipients had received under Obamacare. Would a moderate in a district Hillary Clinton carried overwhelmingly go for this? It’d be a high-risk proposition. Would a conservative who sees more regulation (the essential benefits) going back into the deal be thrilled? Probably not. Moreover, it’s clear the Senate would reject the bill, because moderates previously said they’d refuse to go along with a Medicaid rollback.
So let's peel off the wrapper and see what's inside. The Center for American Progress crunched the numbers and found:
A bad bill is about to get even worse. Just before recess, in an effort to revive the American Health Care Act, or AHCA, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) and congressional Republicans proposed a plan for an “invisible risk pool.” And today, word has leaked that the pool is part of a broader plan to allow insurers in the individual market to charge a premium markup for enrollees with pre-existing conditions, with the pool put forth as a way to offset the premium increases resulting from the rest of the plan. Even before these changes, the AHCA would have thrown 24 million people off of their coverage to pay for massive tax cuts for the rich. Ryan’s most recent attempt to alter the bill would be even more harmful. Enrollees could see premium increases of tens of thousands of dollars, and the proposed invisible risk pool would shave only a tiny sliver off these increased costs for the sickest consumers.
Just how bad is it? My asthmatic readers will face a premium increase of $4,340 per year. My patients fighting cancer would face an increase to their premium of $142,650. No, that's not a typo. And that "invisible risk pool?" It wouldn't even make a dent in the premiums because the Republicans plan to cap it at $15 billion annually -- about 1-2% of total premium costs.

Think Progress notes that this is actually worse than what we had before ObamaCare:
The report noted that before the passage and phase-in of Obamacare, insurers would underwrite, or evaluate people’s health, and raise premiums or decline coverage accordingly. A 2001 Kaiser Family Foundation study found that insurers quoted premiums as high as 50 percent more for depression and 100 percent more for breast cancer, with many of the most expensive, and thus, sickest, people getting rejected. 
Conclusion: We'd be better off with NoCare than TrumpCare.

Catch you on the flip side.

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