Trumpcare Arrives, After 4 Years

“President Trump capped his fruitless four-year journey to abolish and replace the Affordable Care Act by signing an executive order Thursday that aims to enshrine the law’s most popular feature while pivoting away from a broader effort to overhaul the nation’s health insurance system.

The order declares it is the policy of the United States for people with preexisting health conditions to be protected, avoiding the thorny details of how to ensure such protections without either leaving the ACA, or Obamacare, in place or crafting new comprehensive legislation.

Trump announced the move during a trip to North Carolina, outlining his ‘vision’ for revamping parts of the nation’s health care. During the speech, which came shortly before a campaign swing to Florida, Trump barely veiled the political nature of his intent.”

— “After years of promising his own health care plan, Trump settles for rebranding rather than repealing Obamacare,” Toluse Olorunnipa, Washington Post

More:

“President Trump Finally Laid Out His Healthcare Plan. It Doesn’t Do Anything.” Paul McLeod, BuzzFeed News

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Health Care Fraudster Leads Trump Health Care Push

Florida Senator (and former Governor) Rick Scott is leading the charge to develop President Trump’s ObamaCare (ACA) replacement. Mr. Scott certainly has plenty of health care experience. He was President and CEO of the Columbia/HCA hospital system when the corporation committed at least 14 federal felonies for defrauding Medicare and Medicaid. The firm later admitted guilt and paid the government $1.7 billion in criminal fines, civil damages, and penalties.

Senator Scott is, without doubt, the ideal person to spearhead a Trump Administration health care initiative.

More:

“Rick Scott’s Company Committed Historic Medicare Fraud. He Will Now Lead Trump’s Health-Care Push.” Matt Stieb, New York Magazine

“Trump’s Choice of Rick Scott to Build a Republican Healthcare Plan Shows the Henhouse Is Full of Foxes,” Charles P. Pierce, Esquire

“The worst possible choice to craft a Senate health-care plan? Rick Scott.” Editorial, Orlando Sentinel

“Trump putting Rick Scott in charge of his healthcare push is a sick joke,” Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times

Updates:

Even Rick Scott won’t carry this hot potato for him, so President Trump now says he’ll run for re-election on a GOP Healthcare Plan to replace the ACA in 2020.

“Trump’s health care brain trust says no thanks,” Adam Cancryn and Alice Miranda Ollstein, Politico

Related:

“Trump’s Health-Care Policy Goes From Misguided to Reckless,” Max Nisen, Bloomberg

“Trump just realized his mistake on health care. But it’s too late.” Paul Waldman, Washington Post

“Democrats welcome fight as Trump tees up 2020 healthcare battle,” Susan Heavey and Susan Cornwell, Reuters

“Republican Health Care Lying Syndrome,” Paul Krugman, New York Times

“Americans are much more worried about health care than illegal immigration, poll shows,” Tim O’Donnell, The Week

“The GOP’s capitulation to Obamacare,” Aaron Blake, Washington Post

“Trump now promises a Republican health-care bill in [checks notes] 2021,” Philip Bump, Washington Post

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Trump Wants 32 Million Americans to Lose Health Care

If Republican Senators are unable to pass what they are working on now, they should immediately REPEAL, and then REPLACE at a later date!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 30, 2017

“Trump has now called for total repeal of the Affordable Care Act, with no guarantee of any specific replacement later, or even a guarantee that any replacement would ever materialize at all.”

“We can estimate the impact of repealing those things. Indeed, the Congressional Budget Office has already done so, when it analyzed a previous version of a GOP repeal bill over a year ago. And that analysis found that repealing those things would result in 32 million people losing coverage by 2026, 19 million of them people who would lose Medicaid coverage.”

— “Don’t sugarcoat this. Trump just called for 32 million people to lose health coverage.” Greg Sargent, Washington Post

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Senate Health Bill in Medically Induced Coma

In an emergency procedure, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell put his Republican health care bill in a medically induced coma until after the July 4th congressional recess. The GOP geniuses who created this monster, a bill that would take health care away from 22 million Americans in order to give massive tax cuts to the rich, will commit more meatball surgery on the languishing legislation until Friday, June 30th. What could possibly go wrong?

More:

“Shifting Dollars From Poor to Rich Is a Key Part of the Senate Health Bill,” Margot Sanger-Katz, New York Times

“Cost Estimate: Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017,” CBO

Update:

“CBO projects 35-percent drop in Medicaid spending by 2036 under Senate GOP health bill,” Adam Kelsey and Arlette Saenz, ABC News

“Longer-Term Effects of the Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017 on Medicaid Spending,’ CBO
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The Senate’s Secret Medicine

Last month the House of Representatives sent a critically-ill healthcare bill to the Senate emergency room, where the men of the Senate GOP Group Medical Practice are still performing secret surgery on it. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is cautiously optimistic about the bill’s condition. If you want to know details about the senate version of the American Health Care Act, you’ll have to wait until it comes up for a vote on Senate floor.

Wait. Won’t senators be able to examine the proposed legislation and offer amendments during hearings?

We don’t need no stinkin’ hearings, says Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R – UT), That way the bill can pass the Senate with a simple majority, not the usual two-thirds vote.

In the video above, Senator Claire McCaskill (D- MO) responds to the GOP’s diagnosis with a second opinion.

More:

“The Senate’s three tools on health care: Sabotage, speed and secrecy,” Andy Slavitt, Washington Post

Update:

“Conservatives near revolt on Senate health care negotiations,” Burgess Everett, Politico

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GOP Healthcare Bill: DOA

Republicans in the House refused to line up behind Paul Ryan‘s misbegotten American Health Care Act, so the speaker pulled the plug Friday afternoon. After Donald Trump said he was “100 percent behind” the AHCA bill, many in the media had branded the draconian legislation TrumpCare, so naturally the president was quick to blame everyone else for the defeat, from the democrats to Ivanka and Jared.

You like your ObamaCare? You get to keep your ObamaCare.

More:

“Why Obamacare Defeated Trumpcare,” Jonathan Chait, New York Magazine

“Health-care stocks are celebrating the death of Donald Trump’s health-care bill,” Alison Griswold, Quartz

Trump Health Care Promises

The Associated Press compared the health policy promises Donald Trump made during his campaign, transition and early weeks of his presidency with the GOP health care bill introduced this month. As scored by Congress’s own nonpartisan CBO, the bill keeps none of those promises. It would deny medical care to millions, especially poor and low income Americans.

But, hey, the CBO got the numbers wrong about Obamacare, right?

Wrong.

More:

“AP fact check: Trump’s promises on health care,” Calvin Woodward and Jim Drinkard, Associated Press via PBS NewsHour.

“Trump’s ‘insurance for everybody’ plan has turned deadly,” Matt O’Brien, Washington Post

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TRUMPcare

GOP presidential contender and TV reality star Donald Trump has revealed his healthcare policy. Like other Republicans, Mr. Trump wants to trash the Affordable Care Act for three good reasons: It has enrolled 20 million people who didn’t have insurance coverage before, cost less than projected, and (most importantly) everyone calls it “Obamacare.”

The Donald consulted the finest minds at Trump University Medical School and formulated a healthcare system that would cost a fortune while leaving millions of Americans without medical care. Obamacare covers people even if they have preexisting conditions; TRUMPcare kicks those 60 million losers to the curb. TRUMPcare allows insurance sales across state lines, fostering even greater corporate consolidation. The Donald’s plan also relies on health savings accounts, which won’t work for people who don’t earn enough to save. TRUMPcare would lower costs through tax deductions, which are great for the rich, instead of tax credits, which benefit people of all income levels.

It’s certainly a meaty proposal. In fact, TRUMPcare is the Trump Steaks of health policy.