Tag: Obamacare

Uncle Don On Healthcare

The GOP has no idea or inclination to do anything about the shoddy healthcare here3 in the US….but never fear Uncle Don has a plan (he always has a plan)….

The White House is circulating a proposal that would extend subsidies to help consumers pay for coverage under the Affordable Care Act for two more years, as millions of Americans face spiking health care costs when the current tax credits are set to expire at the end of the year, the AP reports. The draft plan suggests that President Trump is open to extending a provision of Obamacare as his administration and congressional Republicans search for a broader policy solution to a fight that has long flummoxed the party. The White House stresses that no plan is final until Trump announces it. The subsidies were at the heart of the Democrats’ demands in the government shutdown fight that ended earlier this month. Most Democratic lawmakers had insisted on a straight extension of the tax credits as a condition of keeping the government open.

Eligibility for the Obamacare subsidies, which were put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic to help people afford health care coverage, would be capped at 700% of the federal poverty level, according to two people with knowledge of the proposal. The baseline tax credits that were originally part of the Affordable Care Act were capped at 400% of the federal poverty level, but that cut-off was suspended because of the temporary COVID-era credits that allowed middle- and higher-income people to benefit from subsidies too. The White House would also require those on Obamacare, regardless of the type of coverage, to pay some sort of premium for their Obamacare plans. That would effectively end zero-premium plans for those with lower incomes, addressing a concern from Republicans that the program has enabled fraud.

As the White House worked quietly on its plan, led by the Domestic Policy Council, key lawmakers on Capitol Hill have drafted their own proposals. For instance, Florida Sen. Rick Scott, Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy and others have proposed various ideas for redirecting the program’s spending on federal subsidies into health savings accounts that enrollees could use to shop for plans or defray out-of-pocket costs. Scott’s plan has been discussed with the White House multiple times since it was released Thursday, according to a person familiar not authorized to discuss the private conversations. Sources tell CNN that some Republicans are “balking” at Trump’s plan even though it has yet to be officially released, and that the administration delayed announcing the plan due to the GOP pushback.

Cool.

Buy why the push back on the ACA after demonizing it for years?

I think the two big issues in the upcoming mid-terms will be healthcare and economics….so is Donny trying to get a jump on the competition?

I see the GOP is pouting that Donny has de4cided to travel this route….will the party of hate win in the end?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Will ACA Survive?

The program fondly titles as Obamacare has proven to be popular and yet the GOP seems Hell bent on its destruction…..as it comes before SCOTUS yet again.

Once again the ACA (Obamacare) comes before the Supreme Court….and once again it looks like the GOP will be beaten into submission…at least until next session…..

The Supreme Court heard its third challenge to ObamaCare on Tuesday, and a decision won’t be out until next spring. But the early assessments after oral arguments wrapped up should give backers of the Affordable Care Act some comfort—it looks like the law will survive again. Coverage:

  • “Most of the Affordable Care Act appeared likely to survive,” writes Sam Baker at Axios. He notes that Chief Justice John Roberts and Brett Kavanaugh “suggested they’re unlikely to throw out the entire health care law, as Republican attorneys general and the Trump administration have urged. Their votes would be enough to save it.”
  • That assessment is a common one. “The bulk of the Affordable Care Act … appeared likely to survive,” writes Adam Liptak in the New York Times. He, too, concluded that Roberts and Kavanaugh would join the court’s three liberal justices in saving the bulk of the law, even though Republicans scrapped a key component of it, the individual mandate. “In legal terms, they said the mandate was severable from the rest of the law,” writes Liptak.
  • At the AP, Mark Sherman agrees with all of the above. It’s possible the court will determine that the mandate itself is unconstitutional, but it doesn’t appear that Roberts and Kavanaugh would be willing to kill the entire law if that’s the case. He quotes Roberts: “Would Congress want the rest of the law to survive if the unconstitutional provision were severed? Here, Congress left the rest of the law intact. That seems to be a compelling answer to the question.”
  • John Kruzel of the Hill agrees, too, and he quotes Kavanaugh to make the point: “Looking at our severability precedents, it does seem fairly clear that the proper remedy would be to sever the mandate provision and leave the rest of the act in place, the provisions regarding preexisting conditions and the rest.”
  • Ditto at the Washington Post, whose story is written by multiple reporters. They note that Roberts wrote the 2012 opinion keeping the law intact and say he (and Kavanaugh) seem inclined to do that again. Another Roberts quote, in regard to the individual mandate: “I think it’s hard for you to argue that Congress intended the entire act to fall if the mandate were struck down when the same Congress that lowered the penalty to zero did not even try to repeal the rest of the act,” Roberts told Texas solicitor Kyle Hawkins. He suggested lawmakers wanted the court to do that for them, “but that’s not our job.”

How long before the next challenge comes?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

 

My Saturday Thought

It is the weekend again and we are still in the grips of Covid-19 and the confusion that it has brought…..but I would like to take this opportunity to vent a small bit.

February of 2019 I was diagnosed with diabetes….never had it before but BAM! there it was…….a blood sugar of 800 and A1C of 18….thank God I have it under control for the most part but these days I still must take a shot of insulin once a day.

This is where I want to pick up with this post…the cost of insulin.

Anyone that watches the news knows that insulin prices are out of sight. I take Levemir at $120 per pen and Ozempic at $856 per 3 pens we get about 4 injections per pen.

The upside is once you make the co-pay then the price comes down to about $250 per month or so.

I gave you the info as a way to make my point about the rise in prices.

In 2009 the price (average) was about $80 for Levemir and a steady rise for over a decade.

Now the 2010 year….that was when the ACA was in effect and all the promises of good health was I reported in those days a pack of lies. Yes more people may be on the health care rolls….but at what price for those already fighting this disease?  And now another champion of the ACA will want to office…..what will that mean for the rest of us?

Was this revenge for the ACA making all eligible for adequate health care?

What will this pandemic do to prices?

We know the slugs within Big Pharma look for the ways to increase their profits while providing very little in return.

I agree with the Dems in Congress that are calling for action…..and along the lines of Medicare For All…..

Thousands of Americans have joined government watchdog Public Citizen in calling on Congress to open the Medicare federal healthcare program to anyone who loses health coverage due to job loss amid the coronavirus pandemic, as an estimated 3.5 million workers have so far.

More than 6,500 people have already signed the group’s petition urging lawmakers to open up Medicare to the unemployed as businesses across the country are forced to close to slow the spread of the coronavirus, officially known as COVID-19. 

“With millions of people losing their jobs because of a pandemic, it’s both crazy and immoral for them to be stripped of health insurance,” said Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen. “If we had a Medicare for All system, this kind of problem wouldn’t occur. But we can’t wait to win Medicare for All. The solution to this immediate problem is to enroll all unemployed people in Medicare.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/04/07/we-cant-wait-congress-urged-open-medicare-every-uninsured-laid-worker

Millions are losing their health coverage….is it not about time for the Congress to grow a spine a demand that something be done?

A new study out Tuesday estimates that worker layoffs unleashed by the coronavirus pandemic in the United States have already caused more than 1.5 million people to lose their employer-provided health insurance in recent weeks, with another 5.7 million likely to become uninsured by the end of June.

With a total of 7.3 million newly uninsured American by this summer, the new research—titled “Intersecting U.S. Epidemics: COVID-19 and Lack of Health Insurance“—reveals the devastating consequences of a health system so heavily reliant on employer-based insurance, especially in the face of an unprecedented public health emergency like the current outbreak.

“Millions of Americans are newly vulnerable to financial catastrophe, as we face an epidemic of life-threatening illness,” said study co-author Dr. Steffie Woolhandler, a primary care doctor, distinguished professor at Hunter College and lecturer at Harvard Medical School. “The COVID-19 epidemic highlights the folly of tying health coverage to jobs. Our health care system saddles people with medical bills when they’re least able to afford them because they’ve been laid off or are too sick to work. Health insurance in the U.S. is like an umbrella that melts in the rain.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/04/07/exposing-folly-tying-health-coverage-jobs-new-study-estimates-73-million-more

At least someone is doing something in the Congress……or at least trying……

As the number of Americans without health insurance continues to rise rapidly due to ongoing mass layoffs across the nation, Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Pramila Jayapal on Friday introduced emergency legislation that would empower Medicare to cover all healthcare costs for the uninsured and all out-of-pocket expenses for those with insurance for the duration of the coronavirus crisis.

“Our broken healthcare system is failing to protect millions of Americans from the coronavirus pandemic,” Jayapal, a Washington Democrat and co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said in a statement. “Now more than ever, we need to take bold action to prevent more Americans from getting sick or dying.”

If passed, the Health Care Emergency Guarantee Act (pdf) would take effect immediately and remain in place until the Secretary of Health and Human Services certifies to Congress that a Food and Drug Administration-approved coronavirus vaccine is widely available to the U.S. public.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/04/10/sanders-and-jayapal-put-forth-bill-provide-no-cost-health-care-all-during-pandemic

Time to act!

Watch This Blog!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Those Pre-Existing Conditions

With all the “news” about the world and its struggle with the newest virus to invade…..I got to wondering since the GOP is still trying every way possible to kill what little remains of Obamacare….what would happen with pre-existing conditions when it is totally destroyed?

In a headspinning week with President Trump making misleading claims as the nation wrestles with the outbreak of coronavirus, he also weighed in on an issue that could upend the lives of nearly 54 million Americans.

At a recent town hall organized by Fox News, anchor Martha MacCallum asked Trump how he would protect people with pre-existing conditions, which are guaranteed under the Affordable Care Act. President Obama signed it into law in March 2010 and it’s his signature legislative achievement.

Now, it’s a case; it’s called Texas vs. — you understand — it’s Texas who is suing.  They want to terminate it.  But everybody there is also saying, and everybody — we have our great senator from Pennsylvania.  Thank you very much, Pat, for being here.  (Applause.)  And Pat Toomey.

And — but, very important — and our — by the way, our great congressmen, I have to say, they were warriors.  Right?   Real warriors, in terms of the fake impeachment.  I will tell you that.  (Applause.)

But, so Texas is trying — and it’s Texas and many states — they’re trying to terminate, but they want to put something that’s much better.  They’re terminating it to put much better.  And they’ve all pledged that preexisting conditions, 100 percent taken care of.

(Market Insider)

A rambling, bambling, answer…..so will we be protected or is it just Texas will be protected…..I am not sure anymore.

A closing thought on Medicare For All……and the economics…..

It appears that 20 top economists think it will save money……

By eliminating insurance premiums and out-of-pocket expenses, and lowering overall healthcare costs, Medicare for All will result in enormous savings for almost all households, all except the richest households who will pay more in taxes.

Rejecting “loose talk” from corporate Democrats, the media, and insurance industry that a single-payer system would be unaffordable, twenty leading U.S. economists on Tuesday released an open letter endorsing Medicare for All as the best way to reduce soaring national healthcare costs, significantly cut expenses for most U.S. households, and save countless lives.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/03/11/20-top-economists-endorse-medicare-all-best-plan-cut-costs-save-tens-thousands-lives

Just saying!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–03Mar20

If you read blogs then you will see all the info and observations on the virus that is streaking across the globe….and of course we all have heard of Obamacare…..the correlation between the two topics is that it is possible that any vaccine under Obamacare would be free of charge.

The coronavirus is spreading around the world and scores of new cases are diagnosed daily, as the disease breaks far beyond its point of origin in Wuhan, China.

There are at least 63 confirmed coronavirus cases in the United States. But that figure is still significantly fewer compared to other nations. Europe has seen a surge of new infections in recent days, bringing the total number to over 85,100 people in 56 nations. The overwhelming majority — 95% — of cases remain in China.

Health officials, though, are warning that its spread in the US is “inevitable” and urging Americans to prepare, holding out the possibility of school closings, workplace shutdowns, or the cancellation of large public gatherings.

One last thought on this killer virus…..It appears that China thinks a game is somehow infectious….

In the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak, China has banned the popular game “Plague Inc.,” which simulates a fictional pandemic, and removed it from the local version of the Apple App Store.

“We have some very sad news to share with our China based players,” reads a statement by game studio Ndemic Creations. “We’ve just been informed that ‘Plague Inc.’ ‘includes content that is illegal in China as determined by the Cyberspace Administration of China’ and has been removed from the China App Store. This situation is completely out of our control.”

https://futurism.com/the-byte/coronavirus-china-bans-videogame-plague-inc

Not to worry as things are going we have nothing tom fear….we will never have a free vaccine if any of these candidates get elected.

To deal with this virus….Be Calm…..wash hands….avoid crowds….and have an emergency kit.

Be Smart!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–12Sep19

Health care has been a point of contention on the campaign trail for 2020….there are a wealth of “plans” to get the American people their health care…..from single payer to Obamacare.

Biden is the one that has hung his reputation and his campaign on Obamacare……but his support for the plan may be in jeopardy….Obamacare may be losing its luster….

The number of Americans without health insurance edged up in 2018—the first evidence from the government that coverage gains from President Obama’s health care plan might be eroding under President Trump, the AP reports. The Census Bureau also said in an annual report Tuesday that household income rose last year at its slowest pace in four years but finally matched its previous peak set in 1999. Median household income rose 0.9% in 2018 to an inflation-adjusted $63,179, from $62,626 in 2017. The data suggest that the economic expansion, now the longest on record at more than 10 years, is still struggling to provide widespread benefits to the US population. Solid gains in household incomes in the past four years have returned the median only to where it was two decades ago.

An estimated 27.5 million people, 8.5% of the population, went without health insurance in 2018. That was an increase of 1.9 million uninsured people, or 0.5 percentage point. More people were covered by Medicare, reflecting the aging of the baby boomers. But Medicaid coverage declined. The number of uninsured children also rose, and there were more uninsured adults ages 35-64. Though the increase in the number of uninsured Americans last year was modest, it could be a turning point, the first real sign that coverage gains under Obama could be at least partly reversed. This year, the number of uninsured could rise again because a previous Republican-led Congress repealed fines under the Affordable Care Act for people who remain uninsured if they can afford coverage.

If this is properly reported then Biden may have an epiphany and worm his way into some other plan…..or he could double down and use the media to help control any fallout from this report.

I prefer the Medicare For All and will vote that way for 2020…..

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

“Lego Ergo Scribo”

Bi-Partisan Health Care

Last week the GOP health care plan went down in flames….thanx to 3 brave Repubs….now there is scrambling to find a new health care plan…

News has come out that there could be a bi-partisan attempt at a repair….

“Centrist lawmakers plot bipartisan health care stabilization bill,” by Heather Caygle and Paul Demko: “A coalition of roughly 40 House Republicans and Democrats plan to unveil a slate of Obamacare fixes Monday they hope will gain traction after the Senate’s effort to repeal the law imploded. The Problem Solvers caucus, led by Tom Reed (R-N.Y.) and Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), is fronting the effort to stabilize the ACA markets, according to multiple sources. But other centrist members, including Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-Ore.), and several other lawmakers from the New Democrat Coalition and the GOP’s moderate Tuesday Group are also involved.

“Their plan focuses on immediately stabilizing the insurance market and then pushing for Obamacare changes that have received bipartisan backing in the past. The most significant proposal is funding for Obamacare’s cost-sharing subsidies. Insurers rely on these payments – estimated to be $7 billion this year – to reduce out-of-pocket costs for their poorest Obamacare customers.” http://politi.co/2vdbyY7

Sounds good?

To my mind any time that something can be accomplished with the help of both Houses then it is a good day for the Republic.

Then there is Bernie’s promise to introduce a “single payer” system….

As Senate Republicans go back to the drawing board on the proposed Obamacare repeal, Sen. Bernie Sanders has swung the national healthcare debate to the other side of the pendulum. The Vermont Independent says he’ll “absolutely” introduce a single-payer bill to the Senate, reports the Hill. Sanders didn’t give a timeline for the proposed bill, but told CNN’s Jake Tapper on State of the Union that, “We’re tweaking the final points of the bill and we’re figuring out how we can mount a national campaign to bring people together.” According to CNN, the senator admitted that the Republican-controlled Congress wouldn’t be the only obstacle in passing such a bill. Special interest groups all but sank Vermont’s bid to enact a single-payer system, he said, and would make such a proposal difficult to pass.

“Taking on the insurance companies and the drug companies, taking on Wall Street, taking on a lot of very powerful forces that make billions of dollars a year from the current health care system is not going to be easy,” he said, “and it’s not going to take place until millions of people get involved in this struggle.” Per the Hill, a spokesperson for Sanders called a single-payer amendment attached to the ObamaCare repeal Wednesday a “sham.” President Trump tweeted support for repeal Sunday morning, writing, “Don’t give up Republican Senators, the World is watching: Repeal & Replace…and go to 51 votes (nuke option), get Cross State Lines & more.” But Sanders isn’t taking the bait: “If people don’t like the private insurance that they’re getting, they should have a Medicare-type public option available in every state in this country.”

Neither will go far but at least there is an attempt at a repair job….not something as moronically simplistic as a slogan like “repeal and replace”…..

I wish them both luck for they will need it.

Today’s The Big Day

The GOP is up to their typical stuff…..total confusion and butt scratching stupidity.

Today there will be a vote of the whole “Repeal and Replace” debacle…the Senate will vote…..the problem is so far NO one seems to know just which version of what health bill that they will be voting on…..

The Senate will move forward with a key vote this week on a Republican health bill—but it’s not yet known whether the legislation will seek to replace ObamaCare or simply repeal it, the third-highest ranking Republican senator said Sunday. Sen. John Thune of South Dakota said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will make a decision soon on which bill to bring up for a vote, depending on ongoing discussions with GOP senators, the AP reports. Thune sought to cast this week’s initial vote as important but mostly procedural, allowing senators to begin debate and propose amendments. But he acknowledged that senators should be able to know beforehand what bill they will be considering.

President Trump has said he wants Congress to repeal and replace ObamaCare, but would accept a straight-repeal of the law if senators couldn’t reach agreement. In a sign of the high stakes involved, Trump exhorted senators anew Sunday night to pass health legislation. “If Republicans don’t Repeal and Replace the disastrous ObamaCare, the repercussions will be far greater than any of them understand!” Trump tweeted. At least two Republican senators, Susan Collins and Rand Paul, Sunday appeared to reaffirm their intention to vote against the procedural motion if it involved the latest version of the GOP’s repeal-and-replace bill. “We don’t know whether we’re going to be voting on the House bill, the first version of the Senate bill, the second version of the Senate bill, a new version of the Senate bill, or a 2015 bill that would have repealed the Affordable Care Act,” Collins said. “I don’t think that’s a good approach to replacing legislation that affects millions of people.”

There is more on this vote if you would like to know……

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) on Monday said Republican senators have no idea what Obamacare repeal bill they’ll be voting on Tuesday at Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) request.

“Senator, what is up for a vote tomorrow? Could you update me?” Fox News’ Neil Cavuto asked.

“I thought you were going to tell me,” Paul replied. “I thought I was coming on air for you to tell me.”

Paul said Republican senators are completely in the dark about what measure they’ll cast on-record votes for or against on Tuesday.

Source: Paul: GOPers ‘Have No Earthly Idea’ Of Repeal Bill They’ll Vote On Tomorrow – Talking Points Memo

Personally I love this confusion…for after 7 years of chanting the same tiring slogan…over and over….and then they have their chance and they have NO plan, never had a plan, to replace the law…..ain’t it great?

Health Care: The Little Bill That Couldn’t!

Repeal And Replace!

Remember that chant from the election trail?

The House came up with a plan that is a typical GOP plan…it sucked!

Then the Senate took a shot at it……and since the Senate is controlled by the GOP….you guessed it….it sucked also!

Of course NO Dem was gonna support the plan and then a couple a Repub senators saw it for what it was….a suck ass plan and bolted……

And just like that, Mitch McConnell’s plan to repeal ObamaCare with a two-year delay appears to be doomed. McConnell announced the revised strategy Monday night, and he could afford only two GOP defections. Already, there’s three: Sens. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, Susan Collins of Maine, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska said Tuesday they can’t support the idea of scrapping the Affordable Care Act unless the GOP has a replacement plan, not just the promise of one, reports USA Today.

So what now? McConnell was going to have to wait for John McCain to return before the vote anyway, which could be weeks away. But President Trump says the GOP strategy is clearer now: “I think we’re probably in that position where we’ll just let ObamaCare fail,” he told reporters, per Politico. “We’re not gonna own it. I’m not gonna own it. We’ll let ObamaCare fail and then Democrats are going to come to us.”

Sens. Mike Lee and Jerry Moran sealed the bill’s fate by declaring their opposition, joining Sens. Rand Paul and Susan Collins. Aides tell CNN that the two men, who opposed the legislation for different reasons, decided to announce their opposition together so that neither would be seen as the deciding third Republican vote against the plan.

While Lee and Moran were working on their statement, Trump was dining on steak, succotash, and “farm stand peach cobbler” at the White House with eight other senators while discussing health care reform. An insider tells Politico that Trump “made an impassioned pitch on why Republicans needed to do it now.” “He basically said, if we don’t do this, we’re in trouble,” the source says. “That we have the Senate, House, and White House and we have to do it or we’re going to look terrible.”

According to the New York Times, the bill failed because the GOP has failed to learn this lesson: “An American entitlement, once established, can almost never be retracted.” Conservative senators demanding full repeal of ObamaCare were unable to reach a deal with senators whose states accepted, and now rely on, ObamaCare’s expansion of Medicaid.

McConnell now plans to hold a fresh vote on repeal legislation passed by the House and Senate in 2015, which gives Congress two years to come up with a replacement for ObamaCare. But that strategy was abandoned by the GOP earlier this year because of concerns about chaos in the marketplace, and it may be a struggle to pass repeal-only legislation now, the AP reports. Trump tweeted in support of repeal after McConnell said it had become clear that the replacement bill wouldn’t succeed.

The Washington Post reports that in what appears to be a fifth nail in the legislation’s coffin, Sen. John McCain issued a statement late Monday urging fellow lawmakers to not “repeat the original mistakes that led to ObamaCare’s failure,” including crafting the legislation on a “strict party-line basis.” He called for Congress to “return to regular order, hold hearings, receive input from members of both parties, and heed the recommendations of our nation’s governors.”

When the bill crashed and burned….what would you think would be the reaction from our fearless leader?

If you said “Twitter” then congrats you are smarter than the average bear…..

The collapse of the GOP’s health care plan in the Senate quickly brought President Trump to Twitter on Tuesday to criticize the Republican defectors who torpedoed the bill. “We were let down by all of the Democrats and a few Republicans,” he tweeted, without naming names. “Most Republicans were loyal, terrific & worked really hard. We will return!” Trump also reiterated that’s he’s fully behind the new plan to repeal ObamaCare first and then replace it later. “As I have always said, let ObamaCare fail and then come together and do a great healthcare plan. Stay tuned!” he tweeted.

In an interview Trump put the blame where he always puts the blame…..on the Dems…..

President Donald Trump gave remarks to reporters on Tuesday on the second failure of a Senate GOP health care bill, blaming Democrats for not coming on board with the repeal of their signature Affordable Care Act.

Responding to a question about if he thought Republicans who declined to support the bill were disloyal, Trump noted “we had no Democrat support, which is really, you know, something that should be said.”

“It was a great plan for a lot of people,” the president continued. “We had no Democrats aboard.”

Yeah that is the reason it failed….had nothing to do with just how bad the bill was and how bad it would screw the American people….those damn Dems!

What now Bat Man? (That will be another post somewhere in the near future)…..

Health Care: Will Another Bill Fail?

Yes health care has been in the news a lot….the old “repeal and replace” thing and that promise has not been going very well…..there was a disastrous House bill and then the Senate took a whack at it and theirs was even worse than the House offering…..

They all went back to the back rooms and hammered out yet another incarnation of a health bill…..and now it has been released to us mere mortals for our knowledge….

President Trump said he’d be “very angry” if senators fail to repeal ObamaCare as promised, and GOP leaders have just taken a step in their quest to quell that anger. The second draft of the Better Care Reconciliation Act was released on Thursday with revisions aimed at getting 50 of the Senate’s 52 GOP votes. The Congressional Budget Office should score the bill early next week, and next week should also see a vote. The Hill’s take: “Overall, [Mitch] McConnell appears to have shifted the revised bill toward the conservatives, without giving the moderates much of what they want.” The AP sees “only modest departures” from the original. Indeed, Medicaid cuts are mostly unchanged, to the likely displeasure of moderates. This means the funding that 31 states have used to expand Medicaid under ObamaCare ends in 2024, and further cuts follow the next year. Five things that were changed:

  1. Ted Cruz’s amendment appears, sort of. He, along with Sen. Mike Lee, proposed allowing insurers to offer bare-bones plans as long as those insurers also sell at least one policy that conforms to ObamaCare requirements. What’s included is based on their version, though the AP notes it appears in brackets, meaning the language hasn’t been finalized.
  2. The “stability fund” grows from $112 billion to $182 billion. This is the money states could dole out to help tamp down premiums and other costs.
  3. Opioids get more funding, to the tune of $45 billion, up from the $2 billion in version one.
  • Two ObamaCare taxes on the wealthy are back. Currently, families earning more than $250,000 a year see a 3.8% increase in their investment income tax and a 0.9% bump in their payroll tax. The taxes had been removed in version one.
  • Premiums could be paid for using money from pre-tax health savings accounts, an approach conservatives favor.

Sorry but that offering is as bad if not worse than their first effort….and sadly it is going to the same place as it predecessor….the trash can.

Medicaid still takes a deep hit…..but now people can buy “no frills” health insurance….someone with half a brain explain that to the country.

Unless Mitch can pull a vote out of his butt this will also fail….do not count him out just yet…..he will use party loyalty as a weapon to get the votes he needs…..and we will see where these GOPers loyalty really lies…..my guess is the people will lose out yet again under the GOP boot.

This is NOT as hard as they are making it….but when you have to make your masters with the money happy it becomes a disaster…..and so far that is exactly what we are getting from Congress…disaster after disaster…..

The country waits……