New Poll: Fading Support For Obamacare Repeal

The following article was posted on the trumpaccountable.org website March 22, 2017:

A new poll published this morning by Politico/Morning Consult indicates fading public support for the the Republican repeal of Obamacare that President Trump and House leadership have been actively campaigning for over the past week. A vote in the House is expected on Thursday and the outcome is far from certain; the new poll does little to help skittish members of Congress who are still reluctant to support the bill.

While support has not pivoted wildly, several numbers indicate that members of the public are responding to the Congressional Budget Office scoring that indicates that 14 million Americans stand to lose their health insurance as early as next year with upwards of 24 million losing coverage once the legislation is fully enacted. Continue reading “New Poll: Fading Support For Obamacare Repeal”

The Impact of the House ACA Repeal Bill on Enrollees’ Costs

The following article by David Cutler, Topher Spiro and Emily Gee was posted on the Center for American Progress website March 16, 2017:

AP/Nam Y. Huh
Holly Brown, 28, who has a chronic lung condition, looks over medical records at her home in Round Lake, Illinois, on December 10, 2009.

After eight years, the congressional majority has finally released its health care legislation. Their bill, the American Health Care Act, can now be compared side-by-side with the Affordable Care Act, or ACA, based on how it affects enrollees’ pocketbooks. It does not measure up well; the House bill would increase both total consumer costs and the risk of a financially devastating event.

The congressional majority argues that by cutting back insurance standards, their bill would lower premiums. The Congressional Budget Office, or CBO, estimates that the bill would increase average premiums by 15 to 20 percent in 2018 and 2019, but that it would slightly lower average premiums by 10 percent by 2026.1 The bill would lower average premiums over the long run because older, costlier individuals who can no longer afford plans would drop out of the pool. Additionally, plans would cover a lower share of costs. Continue reading “The Impact of the House ACA Repeal Bill on Enrollees’ Costs”

Mulvaney’s suggestion that a person making one-fifth his pay couldn’t afford a doctor

The following article by Glenn Kessler was posted on the Washington Post website March 15, 2017:

Alex Wong/Getty Images

“I was on Obamacare. I was on the exchanges as a member of the House, okay? I had the same plan that somebody who makes a lot less than I did at the time would have. I had a $12,000 or $15,000 a year annual deductible. I could afford it. How could the person who makes one-fifth of what I was making ever afford to go to the doctor?”
—White House budget director Mick Mulvaney, interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” March 14, 2017

These remarks got The Fact Checker wondering.

How does a member of Congress end up with a $12,000-$15,000 deductible when lawmakers are supposed to select low-deductible Gold plans?

And would a person making one-fifth of the congressional salary actually have to pay such a high deductible under the Affordable Care Act?

Let’s explore. Continue reading “Mulvaney’s suggestion that a person making one-fifth his pay couldn’t afford a doctor”

CBO: Defunding Planned Parenthood would lead to thousands more births

In the grand scheme of what Trumpcare would do to the people of this country, this outcome received little or no coverage.

The following article by Sandhya Somashekhar was posted on the Washington Post website March 13, 2017:

A congressional plan to make Planned Parenthood ineligible for federal funding would leave many women without services to help them avoid pregnancy, resulting in thousands of additional births, according to a new federal budget analysis.

The prediction came Monday as part of a much-awaited analysis from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, which assesses the fiscal impact of major legislative bills. It was part of a more sweeping look at a congressional health care bill that would repeal and replace the law known as Obamacare. Continue reading “CBO: Defunding Planned Parenthood would lead to thousands more births”

GOP Health Care Bill Recycles Tired Moralizing Of The Poor

The following article by Mary Sanchez was posted on the National Memo website March 13, 2017:

Donald Trump meets with Speaker of the House Paul Ryan on Capitol Hill. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

Conservatives are a curious bunch. They profess a sunny faith, most of the time, in the unique power of free markets to lift society’s poor and afflicted. Yet when markets fail and government steps in to deliver social goods or services, to alleviate suffering or poverty or misdistribution, conservatives switch their tune to moral outrage.

Case in point: the current debate over repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act. The health care system set up by this law, commonly known as Obamacare, is not perfect but it made huge strides toward two vital social objectives: decreasing the number of uninsured Americans and putting a brake on the spiraling trend of national health care costs.

Some conservatives hate Obamacare because of the president whose namesake it is. Others hate it because they think anything the government does to soften the blows of free-market discipline is immoral. It spares the poor from their deserved punishment. And, of course, Obamacare operated through a framework of taxes and mandates and regulations — all things that good conservatives execrate. Continue reading “GOP Health Care Bill Recycles Tired Moralizing Of The Poor”

GOP Less Generous than Obamacare for Older Americans

The following article by Stephen Ohlemacher was posted on the Associated Press website March 10, 2017:

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) listens to remarks next to a “Make America Sick Again” sign, during a news conference after meeting with President Barack Obama in the U.S. Capitol, January 4, 2017, in Washington, DC. Republicans have begun to move to repeal Obamacare as one of their priorities in the 115th Congress. Photo by Mike Theiler/UPI

(AP) — Republicans hate “Obamacare,” so House GOP leaders freak out whenever their health care bill is compared to President Barack Obama’s law. But one reason some conservatives are branding the bill “Obamacare Lite” comes down to the tax credits to help consumers buy insurance.

Both tax credits target people who don’t get health insurance from their employer or from the government. They are both available to people even if they don’t make enough money to owe any federal income tax. And they are both entitlement programs — if you meet the criteria, you are entitled to the benefit.

But there are significant differences in the size and reach of the tax credits.

The Obamacare tax credits are designed to limit the share of income that people have to spend on health insurance. Continue reading “GOP Less Generous than Obamacare for Older Americans”

Who Wins and Who Loses Under Republicans’ Health Care Plan

The following article by Kevin Quealy and Margot Sanger-Katz was posted on the New York Times website March 8, 2017:

Both Obamacare and the recent Republican replacement proposal use refundable tax credits to help people buy their health insurance. That is part of the reason the new G.O.P. bill is under fire from conservatives, who see it as a new entitlement program.

Continue reading “Who Wins and Who Loses Under Republicans’ Health Care Plan”

Secretary Ben Carson made a comparison to slaves coming to the United States as immigrants, saying America was the only country “big enough” to allow them to realize their dreams.

The following column by Michael Hiltzik was posted on the L.A. Times website March 6, 2017:

After weeks of expectations — actually, nearly seven years of expectations — House Republicans on Monday released their proposal to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

Elements of the proposal, which was kept under lock and key last week — have been dribbling out for a few days. The text of the bill encompassing the GOP plan validates much of that reporting. On the whole, however, it’s a nastier, more consumer-unfriendly proposal than even close followers could have expected. Continue reading “Secretary Ben Carson made a comparison to slaves coming to the United States as immigrants, saying America was the only country “big enough” to allow them to realize their dreams.”

Obamacare “Replacement”

The following article was posted on the TrumpAccountability website March 7, 2017:


The Republicans released their replacement of Obamacare Monday afternoon. Here are the most important takeaways:

  1. The plan includes tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans
  2. There will be less financial support for older and poorer Americans
  3. Because there is less money raised in taxes, many Americans will effectively lose their coverage
  4. Republicans crafted the plan in secrecy (even their own members didn’t know the full details)
  5. The full impact of the plan is not clear because it has not been scored by the Congressional Budget Office

Winners: Wealthy Americans and insurance companies

Losers: Older and poorer Americans

Call your representatives to demand that full hearings and town halls be held to review the impact of the bill before it’s too late.