Mitch McConnell Says He’s Coming For Your Health Care

“Republicans could try again to repeal Obamacare if they win enough seats in U.S. elections next month, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said on Wednesday, calling a failed 2017 push to repeal the healthcare law a ‘disappointment.’

In a forecast of 2019 policy goals tempered by uncertainty about who would win the congressional elections, McConnell blamed social programs, such as Social Security and Medicare, for the fast-rising national debt.”

— “McConnell says Senate Republicans might revisit Obamacare repeal,” David Morgan, Reuters

More:

“Mitch McConnell blames the soaring deficit on Medicare and Social Security, not the GOP tax cuts,” Peter Weber, The Week

“Republican Doublespeak on Health Care Starts at the Top,” Max Nisen, Bloomberg

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Under the GOP Plan, 24 Million People Will Lose Health Coverage

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has scored Paul Ryan’s 53-page American Health Care Act, and found it would save $337 billion over 10 years by denying health insurance to 24 million Americans. 14 million would lose coverage in the first year and insurance rates would rise 15-20% in 2018-2019. The AHCA celebrates all this by giving billions in tax breaks to the rich.

The biggest losers with the GOP health care bill? Americans who voted for Trump.

More:

“Health Bill Would Add 24 Million Uninsured but Save $337 Billion, Report Says,” Thomas Kaplan and Robert Pear, New York Times.

“The CBO’s nonpartisan report on the Republican ACA replacement plan, explained in 6 charts: It’s an attack on the poor.” Alvin Chang, Vox

Update:

Turns out that White House analysts are even more pessimistic than the CBO, and think 26 million people would lose coverage.

“White House analysis of Obamacare repeal sees even deeper insurance losses than CBO,” Paul Demko, Politico

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GOP Health Plan: ‘Nothing, zero, nada.’

GOP candidate Donald Trump told a Pennsylvania press event/rally that he’ll implement the Republican health care policy and “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act, aka “Obamacare.”

Barack Obama:

“They spend like an hour, ‘we’re going to repeal Obamacare.’ Okay. And then what are you gonna do? Well, then we’re going to repeal it and we’re going to give you something great. Okay. What? Well, something.”

“You watch the press conference and what you realize is they got no plan. They want to repeal because ideologically they’re opposed to the idea of helping these 20 million people get health insurance. It’s not like they don’t even have a pretense of a plan. They don’t even have a semblance of a plan. There’s not even a hint of a plan. Not even a mote. Not even a—there’s no plan. Nothing, zero, nada.”

“Obama: GOP Doesn’t Have ‘A Pretense Of A Plan’ To Replace Obamacare,” Allegra Kirkland, TPM Livewire

More:

“Trump’s Health Plan: Pay Your Own Medical Bills Using Money You Saved,” James Hamblin, The Atlantic

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Paul Ryan’s ObamaCare Replacement Plan

You know the GOP healthcare plan House Speaker Paul Ryan promised would be a better replacement for the Affordable Care Act (“ObamaCare”)? Turns out it’s not a plan, it’s a white paper — you know, kind of like a plan, but without all those nerdy numbers and pesky details. Expect the white paper snow job next week.

More:

“Paul Ryan’s Promised Obamacare Replacement Plan Shockingly Turns Out Not to Exist Again,” Jonathan Chait, New York Magazine

Related:

“Trump’s healthcare plans trouble GOP,”Peter Sullivan, The Hill

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GOP Healthcare Plan

Before leaving DC for their usual four-day weekend, the Republican-dominated Congress voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) and replace it with … nothing. Don’t panic, you still have health insurance; the president quickly vetoed the GOP bill.

While this is the first time the Senate passed such a bill, the GOP-dominated House has voted to repeal the ACA sixty-two times.

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GOP Healthcare Plan

Republicans have an eight-point healthcare plan to replace “Obamacare” insurance coverage with tax cuts for the rich.

“This isn’t a plan to ‘replace Obamacare.’ It’s a plan to do the opposite of replacing Obamacare. It’s as if I said I had a plan to fix the house by replacing the leaky roof, and you said you had a plan to fix the house by getting rid of the roof.”

— “The Republican plan for replacing Obamacare doesn’t replace Obamacare,” Ezra Klein, Washington Post blog

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Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on Health Care

“Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.”

— Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. addressing the Medical Committee for Human Rights, 1966

Image source: Library of Congress.

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Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. On Health Care

“Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.”

— Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Addressing the Medical Committee for Human Rights
Chicago, 1966

 

Image source: Library of Congress.

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Nevada Polling Places: Poultry-Free

It will be illegal to wear chicken costumes at Nevada polling places during the upcoming Republican primary election on June 8th. Republican Senate candidate Sue Lowden is forever linked to Leghorns after proposing bartering chickens for medical care, so wearing your chicken suit near the polls will be regarded as a violation of Nevada law Section 293.740 section 4(D), which forbids these activities near the polls:

(d) Buying, selling, wearing or displaying any badge, button or other insigne which is designed or tends to aid or promote the success or defeat of any political party or a candidate or ballot question to be voted upon at that election.

 If you plan to picnic on the courthouse lawn that Tuesday, better leave fried chicken off the menu.

 

Feeling poorly? Check the Chicken Barter Calculator before you see the Doc.

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Republican Senators Fail to Improve Health Bill

The House of Representatives passed the Senate’s health reform bill and sent it to the Senate with a package of improvements, chief among them removal of embarrasing earmarks added to appease holdout senators.

In the spirit of bipartisanship and concern for the health of all Americans, Republican senators tried to introduce improvements to the bill, including an amendment forbidding federally funded blood transfusions for vampires or something like that. “The vast majority of Americans don’t want their taxpayer dollars paying for … those kind of people,” said Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK).

The amendment failed 57-42.  The GOP media machine is certanly poised to attack opponents of the measure as “pro-vampire.”

 

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