# Repeal & replace Obamacare, Donald Trump's first success? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [January 5, 2017, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repeal-replace-obamacare-donald-trumps-first-success/776388 "2017-01-05T14:53:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Frankenstein\_Monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ccd318/32.png) [@Frankenstein\_Monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frankenstein_Monster)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2017, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repeal-replace-obamacare-donald-trumps-first-success/776388/61 "2017-01-16T19:07:49Z")
Thanks, **Buck Godot**. The one thing I find hard to imagine is that Trump would come up with something brand new, created from the ground up in such a short time. Plus, Tom Price _is_ going to be Trump’s HHS secretary. Your guess is as good as anyone’s. Probably better. Doesn’t look really that good, but not so bad that Trump wouldn’t get people in line with some well placed Tweets. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2017, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repeal-replace-obamacare-donald-trumps-first-success/776388/62 "2017-01-16T19:15:26Z")
> [@Donald\_Rump](#): > > Yeah, I’m looking forward to holding Trump’s “We’re going to have insurance for everybody" - I mean, “everybody” means “_everybody_”, right?–line to the same standard for veracity as Obama’s “if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.” “Here’s your insurance. It’s $123,000 per year. Sucks if you are too poor to afford it. You must be lazy” ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2017, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repeal-replace-obamacare-donald-trumps-first-success/776388/63 "2017-01-16T19:20:44Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > Trumps claim did surprise me since usually he doesn’t paint himself in a corner like that. He does on the big stuff. Remember, we’re going to build a wall, a great wall, and Mexico will pay for it." Not much wiggle room there. Or, if you prefer, > [@](#): > > MATTHEWS: The churches make their moral judgments, but you’re running for President of the United States to become Chief Executive of the United States. Do you believe in punishment for abortion, yes or no, as a principle? > > TRUMP: The answer is there has to be some form of punishment. > > MATTHEWS: For the woman? > > TRUMP: Yes. ---
**Author:** ![Frankenstein\_Monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ccd318/32.png) [@Frankenstein\_Monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frankenstein_Monster)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2017, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repeal-replace-obamacare-donald-trumps-first-success/776388/64 "2017-01-16T19:38:20Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > “Here’s your insurance. It’s $123,000 per year. Sucks if you are too poor to afford it. You must be lazy” You missed this bit: > [@Trump](#): > > “We’re going to have insurance for everybody,” Trump said. “There was a philosophy in some circles that if you can’t pay for it, you don’t get it. \*\*That’s not going to happen with us.” \*\* Let’s see him tweet himself out of that one. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2017, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repeal-replace-obamacare-donald-trumps-first-success/776388/65 "2017-01-16T20:11:01Z")
My fear is that he’ll throw the left a curveball with some form of universal coverage, and lull people into thinking he’s really on our side/not so bad/a good egg. Then on the shit [he really cares about](https://youtu.be/e_DqV1xdf-Y)– nukes, destroying ISIS/Islam, favors from Russia, etc-- he’ll have less resistance. I can just hear my Trump loving family members now: “WTF do you want from President Trump? He gave you free insurance, so how could his plan to round up Muslims be a bad thing?? How could you disagree with his decision to drop nukes??!? How could eliminating the CIA and rounding up journalists possibly be bad??!??! He’s on our side!!!11” ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2017, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repeal-replace-obamacare-donald-trumps-first-success/776388/66 "2017-01-16T20:49:42Z")
> [@Frankenstein\_Monster](#): > > You missed this bit: > > Let’s see him tweet himself out of that one. He never said that. Lying media. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2017, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repeal-replace-obamacare-donald-trumps-first-success/776388/67 "2017-01-16T23:25:49Z")
“Latvians hacked my Twitter account. Demand potato. Sad!” ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2017, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repeal-replace-obamacare-donald-trumps-first-success/776388/68 "2017-01-17T00:06:09Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > My fear is that he’ll throw the left a curveball with some form of universal coverage, and lull people into thinking he’s really on our side/not so bad/a good egg. Then on the shit [he really cares about](https://youtu.be/e_DqV1xdf-Y)– nukes, destroying ISIS/Islam, favors from Russia, etc-- he’ll have less resistance. > > I can just hear my Trump loving family members now: “WTF do you want from President Trump? He gave you free insurance, so how could his plan to round up Muslims be a bad thing?? How could you disagree with his decision to drop nukes??!? How could eliminating the CIA and rounding up journalists possibly be bad??!??! He’s on our side!!!11” That’s basically my reaction. He’s made a pie-in-the-sky promise \*no one \*could keep: Lower Deductibles AND Lower Premiums AND Insurance for Everyone! This is image-building. He won’t “be able” to follow through on it because the evil Muslims (or whoever he ends up using as an excuse to suspend the Constitution) attacked us. But he really wanted to do it! He’s such a great guy! If only those evil \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ hadn’t attacked us! ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2017, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repeal-replace-obamacare-donald-trumps-first-success/776388/69 "2017-01-17T05:32:34Z")
> [@Frankenstein\_Monster](#): > > I do assume he has a healthcare replacement plan. I always assumed he had a healthcare replacement plan. His defense of UHC was/is consistent and consistently better than 90% of Democrats. One of the big criticisms Trump got from Republican opponents was “you sound like a Democrat”. Which he did (or better). > > Never thought he had constructive ideas about ISIS (to put it diplomatically). > > See, I can do nuance. And yet, I still don’t get why you’d _ever_ assume he has a plan if he doesn’t show it off first. There’s literally no reason to “hide” his healthcare replacement plan. It could have been his line-one item during the election when it came to policy. It wasn’t. We have seen neither hide nor hair of it. We have yet to see any evidence he’s even contemplated it. A plan like this rides in no small part on the details, and Trump has _never_ done policy details. His claims that he would destroy ISIS were also “consistent”. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2017, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repeal-replace-obamacare-donald-trumps-first-success/776388/70 "2017-01-17T06:22:42Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > That’s basically my reaction. \*\*He’s made a pie-in-the-sky promise _no one could keep: Lower Deductibles AND Lower Premiums AND Insurance for Everyone!_ > > This is image-building. He won’t “be able” to follow through on it because the evil Muslims (or whoever he ends up using as an excuse to suspend the Constitution) attacked us. But he really wanted to do it! He’s such a great guy! If only those evil \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ hadn’t attacked us! Rand Paul was on CNN Sunday talking about _his_ plan which he wants to include bare-bones plans, the ones that don’t pay when you have a claim. ---
**Author:** ![Frankenstein\_Monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ccd318/32.png) [@Frankenstein\_Monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frankenstein_Monster)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2017, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repeal-replace-obamacare-donald-trumps-first-success/776388/71 "2017-01-17T07:41:24Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > That’s basically my reaction. He’s made a pie-in-the-sky promise \*no one \*could keep: Lower Deductibles AND Lower Premiums AND Insurance for Everyone! Ways to work towards this promise are: 1 Lots of extra government money directly or indirectly 2 Lots of young and healthy people (who are not paying today) contributing 3 Poor coverage (crap insurance, lacking or nonexistent coverage mandates) 4 Strong rationing There are elements of 2,3,4 in Tom Price’s plan (link earlier). Number 1 if the tax credits are really generous. To be sure, 3 and 4 can be pretty crappy options and people might even fail to realize they’re happening. ---
**Author:** ![Frankenstein\_Monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ccd318/32.png) [@Frankenstein\_Monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frankenstein_Monster)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2017, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repeal-replace-obamacare-donald-trumps-first-success/776388/72 "2017-01-17T07:43:48Z")
Or actual cost cutting. Trump promised to take on drug prices. But on this I remain sceptical. ---
**Author:** ![Uniqueorn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uniqueorn/32/2807_2.png) [@Uniqueorn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uniqueorn)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2017, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repeal-replace-obamacare-donald-trumps-first-success/776388/73 "2017-01-17T08:40:58Z")
Did he ever tweet anything about Martin Shkreli? ---
**Author:** ![Frankenstein\_Monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ccd318/32.png) [@Frankenstein\_Monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frankenstein_Monster)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2017, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repeal-replace-obamacare-donald-trumps-first-success/776388/74 "2017-01-17T09:17:37Z")
> [@Uniqueorn](#): > > Did he ever tweet anything about Martin Shkreli? Not sure you’re asking seriously? Not a tweet, but he did talk about him during a [campaign](http://fusion.net/story/202965/donald-trump-martin-shkreli-hedge-fund-brat/) [rally](http://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-martin-shkreli-daraprim-drug-cost-2015-9?r=US&IR=T&IR=T). > [@](#): > > Trump on Martin Shkreli/aids drug :“He looks like a spoiled brat to me. He’s a hedge fund guy. I thought it was disgusting what he did” > [@](#): > > Trump weighs in on Turing Pharmaceuticals’ Martin Shkreli in SC, says, “That guy is a zero, a nothing…I thought that was a disgrace.” > [@](#): > > “And he’s a hedge fund guy, who, as you know — the only one that I’m raising taxes on. They are going to be paying up,” Trump said Wednesday. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2017, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repeal-replace-obamacare-donald-trumps-first-success/776388/75 "2017-01-17T10:07:21Z")
> [@Frankenstein\_Monster](#): > > …my own preference for UHC is proper, government-run healthcare. High taxes, government bureaucrats, death panels, the works. But that’s not America. That’s also not any earth-based UHC. Where is it more expensive that the US-system? What are these death panels of which you speak? ---
**Author:** ![Frankenstein\_Monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ccd318/32.png) [@Frankenstein\_Monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frankenstein_Monster)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2017, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repeal-replace-obamacare-donald-trumps-first-success/776388/76 "2017-01-17T15:14:18Z")
It was a joke. I was humorously describing common features of government-run UHC using tongue-in-cheek right-wing scaremongering terms. I’m not afraid of government-run medicine, not even when right-winger propaganda tries to make it sound scary. “High taxes” = UHC funded out of tax revenue. “Death panels” = any of the means by which Government-run health systems decide questions on coverage, rationing or triage (things which happen in any health system of course). ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2017, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repeal-replace-obamacare-donald-trumps-first-success/776388/77 "2017-01-17T15:22:40Z")
Yeah, even if the total cost does go down, it would have to be funded from taxes which means higher taxes even _if_ the vast majority of people would save more money. And higher taxes is a huge bogeyman. ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2017, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repeal-replace-obamacare-donald-trumps-first-success/776388/78 "2017-01-17T15:30:23Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > Yeah, even if the total cost does go down, it would have to be funded from taxes which means higher taxes even _if_ the vast majority of people would save more money. And higher taxes is a huge bogeyman. Lots of ways to hide that, though. I’ve seen a proposal, for example, that the “tax” be on businesses, and equivalent to 80% of what they pay for employee health care now, adjusted for cost into the future. Businesses pay less, employees see no change at all, costs get controlled (that’s where the “missing” 20% comes from), and everybody gets health care. ---
**Author:** ![Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_blistering_barnacle/32/3386_2.png) [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Blistering_Barnacle)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2017, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repeal-replace-obamacare-donald-trumps-first-success/776388/79 "2017-01-17T19:32:30Z")
> [@TimeWinder](#): > > Lots of ways to hide that, though. I’ve seen a proposal, for example, that the “tax” be on businesses, and equivalent to 80% of what they pay for employee health care now, adjusted for cost into the future. Businesses pay less, employees see no change at all, costs get controlled (that’s where the “missing” 20% comes from), and everybody gets health care. If there is “insurance for everybody”, cost cutting will have to cover a lot more than some " ‘missing’ 20%". I suspect that in the end that “everybody” will mean “everybody with insurance now”. Or fewer. Probably fewer. ---
**Author:** ![Chetumal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@Chetumal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chetumal)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2017, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repeal-replace-obamacare-donald-trumps-first-success/776388/80 "2017-01-17T22:23:49Z")
He’ll just say the lying media misquoted him. What he really said was "insurance for everybody…_ **who can afford the huge deductibles and premiums** _. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repeal-replace-obamacare-donald-trumps-first-success/776388.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repeal-replace-obamacare-donald-trumps-first-success/776388.md?page=5)