THIS WEEK we’ll find out which is more likely to survive — you or TrumpCare
As you know, Republicans are trying to maim the Affordable Care Act in order to justify putting it to sleep.
.@ChrisMurphyCT explains how Obamacare isn’t dying — Trump is purposefully killing it pic.twitter.com/e6vh5fsf5a
— NowThis (@nowthisnews) May 25, 2017
The Trump Administration seems also on the verge of attempting one of the most radical, transformative and “pro-life” aspects of health care reform — the birth control benefit.
This sabotage will cause real pain to real people — up to 40 percent premium hike for people who buy their coverage through the exchanges without subsidies. These tend to be upper-income people but for parents the hikes are particularly burdensome and unnecessary. Polls show Republicans will be blamed for this and ACASignups.net’s Charles Gaba notes that this drama does a better job of blackmailing Republicans than Democrats.
Why?
Because it’s a massive UNNECESSARY tax increase on middle-income families, says Andy Slavitt.
The good news is the more than 10 million Americans who have gained Medicaid coverage and the lower-income people on the exchanges — about half the enrollees, according to Charles — will be largely protected from most of these increases because Obamacare is designed to free those at the bottom rungs of the economy from having to worry about the twists and gnarls of the insurance industry.
Trumpcare isn’t. Trumpcare is designed to reward the rich and the healthy in ways that punish the poor and the sick, as Jonathan Cohn notes.
Trumpcare really is like my skin when I was in 11th grade (or now after a particularly bad shave) — the closer you look at it, the more nauseous you’ll become. For instance, the bill would do irreparable harm to kids, not just by uninsuring millions but starving children’s’ hospitals and schools’ abilities to treat kids with disabilities.
This is why Republican Senators are getting cold feet as Congress heads home for a crucial recess.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is going out of his way to make it clear that Republican Senators’ secret meetings about rewriting TrumpCare aren’t going well. When a genius tactician who stole at least a Supreme Court seat, goes public like this, I’d suggest one of two things is going on:
- He’s honestly lowering expectations
- He’s lowering the outrage level Senators might feel at home so they can feel confident coming back to DC and sneaking a bill through the way the House did
That’s why this week will determine if we end up with 23 million fewer insured Americans in a decade. We have to turn up the noise so loud that Republican Senators just beg for all of it to go away. And just as in these special elections in bright red districts, we cannot underestimate the GOP advantages and how motivated their donor class is to keep the party on track. If the ACA is repealed, the gains will be measured in TRILLIONS of dollars of tax breaks. If it isn’t, it will be measured in tens of thousands of American lives saved every year.
So what can you do? Let’s go to our man Topher Spiro:
