“Republicans do not want the country to know what is in their health care bill. This has become more evident each day, as the Senate plots out a secretive path toward Obamacare repeal — and top White House officials (including the president) consistently lie about what the House bill actually does.” More …
Healthcare
Children in Pro-Trump Rural Areas Have a Lot to Lose if GOP Rolls Back Medicaid
” … in Fayette County, West Virginia and 779 other mostly rural counties across the country — the vast majority of which went for Trump — more than half the children rely for coverage on Medicaid and the related Children’s Health Insurance Program, or CHIP, according to a Times analysis of county voting data, census data and Medicaid enrollment data.” More …
Who Gains and Who Loses under the Better Care Reconciliation Act
“We find that the BCRA’s changes to federal taxes and health care benefits would be very regressive: taking both tax reductions and benefit reductions into account, the average high-income family would be significantly better off, and the average low-income family would be significantly worse off. The average family with less than $10,000 of income in 2026 would be $2,550 worse off, a net reduction of more than 60 percent of the family’s income. The average family with more than $200,000 of income in 2026 would be $5,420 better off, a net increase of 1 percent of the family’s income. Most of the gain for high-income families would be concentrated among families with incomes above $1,000,000. The average gain for this group would be $49,000, a net increase of 1.5 percent of income.” More …
Insurers Condemn Cruz-Lee Plan to Loosen Insurance Rules
“Health insurers are blasting an effort by conservatives to modify the Senate Obamacare repeal bill and set up a two-tier market in which companies could sell plans that don’t meet Obamacare’s coverage requirements. Their big concern, according to documents obtained by POLITICO: The plan by Ted Cruz and Mike Lee would threaten access to coverage for individuals with costly medical conditions.” More …
Coverage Losses Under the Senate Health Care Bill Could Result in 18,100 to 27,700 Additional Deaths in 2026
“One Republican member of Congress, defending the GOP health care plan suggested that concerns that the loss of health care coverage leads to death are overblown. However, the scientific literature on the effects of insurance coverage on mortality shows that the coverage losses from the AHCA would result in tens of thousands of deaths.” More …
Conservatives Believe Medicaid Is Worthless, So Slashing It Is Harmless.
“Conservatives are justifying savage Medicaid cuts by denying its benefits.” More …
Republican Lawmakers Buy Health Insurance Stocks as Repeal Effort Moves Forward
“Health industry stocks, including insurance giants like UnitedHealth, have surged as Republicans move forward with their repeal effort, which rolls back broad taxes on health care firms while loosening consumer regulations which prevent insurance companies from denying coverage for medical treatment.” More …
The Republican Healthcare Bill Is Stuck in a Valley of Incoherence
“Is 22 million more uninsured a moral blight? Evidence of freedom? Republicans disagree.” More …
If You Love High Deductibles, Then You’ll Love The Senate Health Bill
“All that talk about lowering out-of-pocket costs? Yeah, they didn’t mean it.” More …
Senate Trumpcare Bill Is As Mean As the House Version
“The Senate version of the American Health Care Act (Trumpcare) is supposed to be unveiled Thursday morning, but Paige Cunningham has obtained most of the relevant details. In sum, while it seemed for a time the Senate might gesture to the center, at least a bit, its bill is about as draconian as the House version.” More …