Tag Archives: Hot Topics

PByrnes, The New Yorker, Wednesday, March 29 This appeared to fit what is going on today.

At least 40 Republican Senators and possibly the critical 50 have decided to stand up to the lobbyists, the interest groups and big business. They are willing to vote for the Cruz amended BCRA which would not just repeal Obamacare, but also destroy US individual market health insurance. If they do so, they stand up to many of the most powerful lobbies including the AMA and the AARP (but not the NRA or AIPAC). Most importantly, they reject the very firm...

“our present situation is not a natural one.” Many want to change to the popular vote to elect a president as HRC the loser in the election received more popular votes than the election winner and lost in the Electoral College. There are activities going on today with regard to the EC and how it’s vote will be determined in the future. The EC vote is being driven by the numbers of Congressional Representatives in each state plus the Senators. Since the...

Mitch McConnell and the Republicans in the Senate are not satisfied with the Tom Price appointed CBO chief, who insists that there are four fingers in front of his face and apparently won’t make numbers up to help take away health insurance from 22 million people. So Mitch McConnell and the Republicans will rely upon, and I am not making this up, “ALTERNATIVE SCORING” to further the Ted Cruz amendment to Obamacare repeal through the Senate. Republicans are...

Reader EM put this comment up in the AB open thread. I thought it was interesting enough to place on AB as I also wonder about the question being asked and the answer; “can a state divert Medicare funds to support a state single payer system?” The simple answer is “no,” Medicare funds can not be allocated to states and the same holds true for VA funding for healthcare and the tax credit to companies for healthcare insurance. Congress would have to approve it...

One consequence of electing the popular vote loser is that the official winners act as if they have a mandate for the most extreme version of their policies. Thus, we have proposed legislation, the misleadingly titled Better Care Reconciliation Act, that will not only roll back Obamacare’s expansion of Medicaid, but impose further large cuts on the program in addition. In total, the Medicaid cuts will come to $772 billion through 2026. As a result primarily...

CBPP has this pictorial analysis of the increased premiums resulting from the Senate version of the AHCA for a 60 year old at 350% FPL with an ACA Silver plan. “For a 60-year-old with income of 350 percent of the poverty level (about $42 ,000 today) facing the average premium on HealthCare.gov, out-of-pocket premiums would jump by an estimated $4,994. Premiums would rise by $ 2,022 for a 45-year-old at this income level, and fall by $75 for a 30-year-old....

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congressional Budget Office sees 22 million more uninsured by 2026 under Senate health bill. Toher Spiro appears to be snipping and tweeting the key bits of the CBO report Premiums for a 64-year old with middle income go from $6,800 under ACA to $20,500 under BCRA Deductibles for plans eligible for tax credits go from $3,600 under ACA to $6,000 under BCRA death spiral open thread.

This is remarkable even for the Trump administration. Kellyanne Conway claimed that the Medicaid slashing BCRA proposed by the gang of 13 doesn’t include “cuts to Medicaid”. The Trump administration position appears to be that Trump could sign it in to law and keep his promise to protect Medicaid from cuts. Wow. I am not President of the USA, but this doesn’t seem to be good strategy to me. It makes it clearer than ever that Trump will throw...

he McConnell Obamacare repeal and replace “discussion draft” is worse than I imagined possible even taking into account that it would be worse than I imagined possible. I fear he made sure it was horrible so moderate Senators could win staged battles and claim they had saved people (needless to say I am not the first to write of this possibility). I guess a vox explainer is always useful and Sarah Kliff is very smart thorough and reliable. The bill is...