It’s because the poor just don’t want healthcare, according to a Congressman from Kentucky who happens to be a (presumably rich) doctor and so has special insights into what the poor want. So really, the GOP are just respecting them and not giving them something they don’t want.
GOP Congressman Says the Poor ‘Just Don’t Want Health Care’
(Apologies if this has been posted before; it’s from a couple of weeks ago, but I’ve not seen it mentioned in all the Trumpcare threads.)
I didn’t want to start a new thread but I’m wondering why Trump would be pushing this bill. While it may fulfill the promise of repealing Obamacare, it certainly doesn’t replace it with something his constituents will like better. When his constituents get their notices in the mail, won’t this absolutely tank his 2020 chance?. Is he so obtuse as to not even know some vague concepts about the contents of the bill or am I missing something about the impact on his constituency?
You’d think sooner or later they’d run out of ways to shock and disgust us, but this really is pretty fucking low even by republican standards, huh?
That he will blame it on Obama and the democrats, and be believed by his supporters.
I wonder if there’s just an aspect of ego. Trump considers himself a brilliant businessman and dealmaker. If someone said “Gosh, this bill would pass if only a BRILLIANT BUSINESSMAN AND DEALMAKER would step in and support it, but where can we find a BRILLIANT BUSINESSMAN AND DEALMAKER?” could Trump resist that?
Caldazar#272,
Thanks for the link. I’m sure we should all send emails with our opinions, but I have little faith in my “Representative”.
Crane
Well it’s hard to underestimate Trump supporters - I’ll give you that, but it’s hard to imagine the changes not being obviously traceable back to Trump.
The process stops at “Obama’s fault”.
Trump has bet the farm on his ability to influence the powerful and deliver results. He has promised the nation better, cheaper health care.
If the current bill passes, it will be strictly out of political necessity. Passage is an indication of Trump’s ability to deal with Congress.
If it fails, Trump fails.
The content of the bill is not at issue.
Crane
Yep, this.
People - tens of thousands of people each year - will die before their time, if the GOP takes away their insurance. And that’s before considering the removal of the Essential Health benefits standard.
If they indeed get rid of EHB, insurance companies will be able to go back to selling the public anything, and calling it insurance. They will design crappy policies that are next to useless, and that cost exactly the amount of the tax credits. It would be quite the deal for the insurance companies, and a more total screwing of the American people. Who the Republicans must really hate with a passion.
So these policies would basically be to insurance as Trump University was to education?
Pretty much, only on a yuuuuuuuuuge scale, this time.
Oh, and remember the GOP’s 2010 Pledge to America? Among other things, it included:
How quaint, huh? They’re still deciding what’s in the bill, and they’re still hoping to vote on it by tonight.
ETA: No, my memory isn’t that good. Saw a mention of this in Josh Barro’s Twitter feed, and figured I’d pass it along.
It has to do with process of reconciliation in Congress.
Trump wants to deliver tax reform in the form of major tax cuts. However, Republicans don’t have a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. Reconciliation gets around this problem by requiring only a simple majority vote. However, reconciliation is supposed to be used as a fiscal tool for making adjustments to tax revenues, spending, and the debt, and you’re only allowed one reconciliation bill per year for each type of adjustment. So you either do health care repeal in 2017 and general tax cuts in 2018, or the reverse. Congress believed that there was more widespread agreement on health care repeal than on what general taxes to cut, so we’re seeing health care repeal play out.
Since you can only use reconciliation to address fiscal matters, you can’t really do true health care reform effectively (i.e. the “Replace” part of “Repeal and Replace”). Hence why you get the bill in its current form; if you wanted to do substantial health care reform, you’d need to draft a proper bill, open yourself up to filibuster possibilities, and be forced to reach across to aisle to win over some Democrats. That’s why “Step 3” of the GOPs plan, “Rebuild Health Care System” is considered a pipe dream in some circles; after you’ve shoved a bunch of unpopular cuts and regulatory changes down people’s throats, do you really believe Democrats will suddenly want to engage in bipartisanship, or that you will pick up 8 seats in the Senate to make the filibuster moot?
Not really, while Trump University will leave you bankrupt, the majority of people that had interaction with it lived.
The poors cannot afford funeral expenses any more than they can afford to avoid them. This problem will be solved by the Freedom and Liberty Access to Compost and Fertilizer Freedom Act, which will render otherwise useless and unemployed ex-Americans the option of investing their burdensome remains. Thus, rmaking them available to worthy deployment as fertilizer. Golf courses, for instance. After all, render unto Caesar…
A modest proposal.
Vinyards. Make Americans grapes again!
First, it was Trump U. with fake education. Then came the fake news. Now, we have a fake healthcare plan. What’s the next pillar of society Trump has slated for hollowing out?
Not only should the “TrumpCare” name be made to stick, the base word “trump” should be liberally applied throughout our lexicon wherever more false and negative connotations are required.
According to a Quinnipiac University poll released this morning (quoted in a Vox article):
Also, only 29% of Americans approve of Trump’s handling of healthcare, and 61% disapprove.
So, when Trump, and the House GOP, insist that they’re pushing this through because it’s what Americans want…not so much.
If you’re an American and haven’t called congress about AHCA/Trumpcare, please do so. I don’t care if you’re for it or against it (sure, I disagree with you if you’re for it), just call. Make your voice heard.