Tuesday, March 14, 2017

John Oliver explains the new GOP health care plan as only John Oliver can. Update: The CBO weighs in.

Courtesy of Slate:  

On Sunday night’s Last Week Tonight, John Oliver broke down some of the major issues with AHCA—the “Ted Cruz of healthcare legislation.” One of the biggest is that the proposed system of flat-tax credits could really harm lower-income Americans while benefitting insurance companies and the wealthy. And while Paul Ryan may be excited about “defederalizing,” “block-granting,” and “capping,” pushing up to $370 billion worth of Medicaid costs onto the states over the next ten years doesn’t quite get Oliver’s engines revving in quite the same way, because Ryan’s plan could mean millions of the country’s poorest citizens will lose their coverage. 

In fact, many of the people who will be hurt the most by the AHCA are lower-income Americans, older Americans and those living in rural areas, people who broadly fall into the category of Trump’s America. “Which is pretty frustrating,” noted Oliver. “It’s like if the people of Pompeii voted for the volcano.”

Actually you know a conservative health care bill is dead in the water, when both Rand Paul and Sarah Palin say it is dead in the water.

Which is a good thing, since the creators of this plan are essentially the very definition of a "death panel."

Update: I wrote this yesterday before the CBO had released its report. Now that it has things appear even worse that John Oliver reported.

Here is how Vox's Ezra Klein explained it: 

The AHCA would increase the uninsured population by about 24 million people — which is more people than live in New York state. But the raw numbers obscure the cruelty of the choices. The policy is particularly bad for the old, the sick, and the poor. It is particularly good for the rich, the young, and the healthy. 

Here, in short, is what the AHCA does. The bill guts Medicaid, halves the value of Obamacare’s insurance subsidies, and allows insurers to charge older Americans 500 percent more than they charge young Americans. 

Then it takes the subsidies that are left and reworks them to be worth less to the poor and the old, takes the insurers that are left and lets them change their plans to cover fewer medical expenses for the sick, and rewrites the tax code to offer hundreds of billions of dollars in tax cuts to the rich. As Dylan Matthews writes, it is an act of class warfare by the rich against the poor. 

The result isn’t just 24 million fewer people with insurance: Of those who remain insured, the pool is tilted toward younger, healthier people who need help less, because many of the older, poorer people who need the most help can no longer afford insurance. As German Lopez notes, a 64-year-old making $26,500 would see his premiums rise by 750 percent. 750 percent! And with that 64-year-old gone, premiums are a little bit lower, because the pool is a little bit younger.

Grim isn't it?

Currently the White House is trying to discredit this CBO report, but as it turns out their own internal analysis was even worse:

A White House analysis of the GOP plan to repeal and replace Obamacare shows even steeper coverage losses than the projections by the Congressional Budget Office, according to a document viewed by POLITICO on Monday. 

The executive branch analysis forecast that 26 million people would lose coverage over the next decade, versus the 24 million CBO estimates.

Donald Trump promised that nobody would lose coverage and that more people would be insured.

Of course only an idiot would have believed he was telling the truth.

29 comments:

  1. Anonymous6:21 AM

    Trump said everyone would have ACCESS to health insurance. Yes, everyone will have access, the problem is only the rich can afford trumpcare.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous6:48 AM

    I hope that every person who voted for Trump loses their health insurance and also has to live with the reality of no new jobs.

    What, isn't it a display of good will to hope that people get what they voted for?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The trumpers are already starting to complain.

      Kellyanne is butthurt because "her oven called her a bitch!"

      Needs therapy.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous1:36 PM

      No, he said access to health CARE. But hey, Alan Grayson was right - the ReTHUGlican healthcare plan has always been - die faster. Yep Sarah was right about those death panels - she just attributed them to the wrong political party. Stoooooopid Sarah.

      Delete
  3. Anonymous6:55 AM

    Only the fools that voted for dictator trump and 3rd party should get trumpcare. The rest of us should be able to keep our Obamacare.

    Why won’t they answer the questions if it is such a beautiful plan that everyone will love? Cowards are lying through their teeth, that’s why.

    ====================================================

    Price: All Americans Will Have 'Access,' 'Financial Feasibility' To Get Insurance

    Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price on Tuesday morning said that all Americans will have access to health insurance and the "financial feasibility" to purchase it after repeatedly dodging questions on whether the Republican plan to replace Obamacare will cause people to lose their insurance.....

    The comment came after he dodged several questions about President Donald Trump's campaign trail pledge that everyone would be covered by a replacement....

    http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/tom-price-financial-feasibility

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous1:38 PM

      hahahahahahahhaha. CBO - a 64 yr old low income American making 24 K per year will have to pay $14600 for insurance - with likely tons of clauses for pre-existing conditions and extra fees so no one knows what the cost is upfront and since most folks aren't doctors, you don't know what you really need - yeah, that's real feasible.

      Delete
  4. It isn't 24 million will lose Obamacare, it's 24 million MORE will lose Obamacare.

    It's a Trump clusterfuck as usual.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous7:09 AM

    Good points! I must admit Anon 6:48 that I have been thinking like you lately. I am a progressive, compassionate, retired (with good insurance for now) person and want ALL people to have good, affordable health care easily available, no matter their politics or geographical location.

    That said, I've been thinking about the Trump voters, who lose their insurance, who might die off in the next two years (before the 2018 elections)...so that the GOP would lose votes. Unfortunately, there will be many anti-Trumpsters who will also die due to this heartless administration.

    I hate to admit even thinking this way.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous1:43 PM

      Ha! and here I was feeling a bit guilty because I saw a car in the parking lot with lights left on - cold day. I'm the kind of person who will try to prevent unpleasantness for others even if it means going quite a bit out of my way. Looked in the car to see if anything might identify the person more easily inside the facility. Saw two of those disgusting MAGA hats in the back seat. Walked away and hoped it was cold AND dark when they came out.

      Delete
  6. Anonymous7:40 AM

    This man and this party are just plain CRUEL. None of them are even worthy of being considered human beings. They make me sick to my stomach. All that matters to any of them is a balanced budget, no taxes for the rich, and screw anyone else. After all, this is America so anyone could be rich if they just tried hard enough, right?

    And, I was once one of them, but no more, not for the past 25 or more years. They disgust me to the core.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous8:20 AM

      speed freak $adi$t Voyeur don little dick/digit drumpf

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:52 AM

      Right. They could easily fulfill their dream of being mean to disadvantaged people just by raising their premiums and gutting their coverage, but to add insult to injury, they've got to include tax cuts for people who need it the least. This is inhumane.

      Delete
  7. Anonymous7:46 AM

    No reason to be ashamed of thinking this way. It is the honest way to think about these people determined to kill off as many as they can. Not only will they do it with the reduced ability to afford health care, but also with the cut back on all sorts of protections. With no more concern for clean air or water, worker protections, etc., we will die sooner. More sick people, more injured people, with less insurance and almost no recourse to sue those who cause the disease and injury = more dead people and more money for the rich bastards in charge. They are turning this (formerly) grand country into a feudal society, and I can't believe how quickly they are managing to do that.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous8:02 AM

    Mr. Trump may be our own NERO. Nero fiddled while Rome burned, and Trump is golfing while our country is imploding.

    Also, Nero had a huge palace complete with plenty of gold leaf. Seems like he was the Donald Trump of their day. Seems his palace may have been a predecessor to the gaudiness of Trump's palace in the tower on Fifth Ave and the one in Fla., Mar-a-Lago. The coincidences between these two is numbing.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domus_Aurea

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous8:28 AM

      NERO and CALIGULA Incarnate!
      "invested with bodily and especially human nature and form" or would that be INFESTED?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous1:45 PM

      And it was Caligula who was incestuously screwing his sister - is there a T.Rump parallel....let me see if I can think of one.....why do I keep picturing two parrots fucking?

      Delete
  9. Anonymous8:14 AM

    http://www.politicususa.com/2017/03/14/paul-ryan-encouraged-cbo-report-showing-24-million-losing-insurance.html

    "If Ryan is encouraged by the CBO report, it’s frightening to think just how diabolical the GOP’s “finishing touches” will be. Uninsured full body cavity searches all around, probably."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:34 AM

      http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/steve-king-blacks-latinos_us_58c81864e4b0598c669a05ba?

      Helter Skelter Dark

      Delete
  10. Anonymous8:17 AM

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/gop-health-care-plan_us_58c7de3be4b0428c7f1312a3?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009

    ReplyDelete
  11. a. j. billings8:37 AM

    The TrumpCare bullshit plan is so bad I don't have the time or energy right now to enumerate the deep cuts, and the huge tax breaks it's going to give to the top 2%

    One salient stand out is the provision for those poor individuals in the insurance business that make over $500,000 PER YEAR!

    http://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/08/400-million-dollar-tax-break-for-insurance-execs-sparks-outrage.html

    From the time I was 19 and started work as an apprentice carpenter to the age of 43 when I went back to school for computer networking I had ZERO insurance for anything, and had to pay out of pocket.

    Even walking in to the clinic or hospital used to scare the crap out of me thinking about the titanic bill they could send if anything bad was found

    Later on as I got higher end IT management jobs it felt like a miracle to hand the receptionist a real insurance card and not be concerned about costs.

    For the poor, those too young for Medicare, and the sick, life in the USA can be a nightmare of medical fear

    According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 28 million Americans lacked health insurance last year. The Congressional Budget Office projects that under the Republicans’ new American Health Care Act, 24 million more Americans would be uninsured by 2026. Many politicians from both parties insist this is not an affordability crisis but a massive lapse in personal responsibility

    http://www.vox.com/first-person/2017/3/14/14907348/health-insurance-
    uninsured-ahca-obamacare

    In 2013 as a consultant I was lucky enough to have Obamacare, and got a $135,000 procedure that was totally covered, but without that operation, I would have been in bad shape for my remaining years.

    My earnest hope is that if/when these entitled arrogant SOB Repubs pass a bill killing Obamacare, it loses them the House and Senate in 2018.

    That may just motivate a shift in the red states when the realize the long con Repubs have been playing ever since Reagan cut top tax rates from %70 to %30 range in the 1980's

    Bernie recently held a rally in Trump country W Virginia, and after he explained the details of how badly they were lied to they all applauded him

    Maybe there's hope yet for impeaching Trump and getting universal compassionate care for all citizens.

    http://www.politicususa.com/2017/03/13/bernie-sanders-storms-deep-red-west-virginia-convinces-trump-voters-conned.html

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous1:56 PM

      Re THUGlicans are so stupid, and economically illiterate. If they really wanted economic growth and entrepreneurship, they would embrace universal healthcare/single payer. Why do people stay in their jobs when they would otherwise retire, leaving a job open for a younger person? Employer healthcare for themselves or a spouse. Why do Americans not start businesses, go back to school, etc? Employer sponsored healthcare for themselves, their spouses or a child with a chronic illness.
      Why do Americans not finish higher ed degrees in a timely fashion - because they need a job that provides healthcare.
      Stupid, stupid stupid ReTHUGlicans and Trumpkins and teabaggers.

      Delete
  12. Anonymous8:48 AM

    They can't get rid of asshole Trump fast enough! He needs to be brought down fast and soon.

    The majority in America do not see him as their leader (a term I use very loosely!) much less have respect or admiration for him. Trump is a liar and fraud and in no way qualified!

    Boy, do I miss President Obama!!!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous8:58 AM

    Ask the big phoney Paul Ryan the million dollar question: Will members of Congress also be part of the new health care law?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous1:56 PM

      Does it matter when they are making 6 figures per year?

      Delete
    2. Nope. They have their own, private cadillac care that they'll keep even after they are out of office. It's for LIFE.

      Delete
  14. Anonymous9:32 AM

    AHCA: America's Health Controlled by Assholes

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous9:33 AM

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/theres-finally-help-for-the-millions-of-americans-suffering-from-donald-trump_us_58c6b9e0e4b0d1078ca83fb5

    "Trump-Induced Anxiety Disorder, or TIAD."

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous1:34 PM

    " It is particularly good for the rich, the young, and the healthy. "

    But here's the irony of the above -- all of us are just one disease or accident away from no longer being healthy. ANd the number of younger adults now on anti-depressants and other drugs/therapies is pretty astonishing. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/drug-use-therapeutic.htm

    now add in the asthma and allergy drugs for young adults.

    And when those young people don't get their Ritalin, Adderall, etc, guess what happens?

    ReplyDelete
  17. It's culling the herd.

    It's designed as the ultimate death panel.

    To get rid of the old, the sick, the feeble, in other words the useless. Much like Hitler used his ovens. It *is* a government subsidized death panel.

    Democide.

    They only want worker who the rich can profit from. Once you stop working for ANY reason, they want you to die as quickly as possible so you cannot reclaim all that Social Security money you have paid in and so you do not drain any money by way of social safety nets.

    It's population reduction via (lack of) healthcare.

    Social Darwinism at it's cruelest.

    This is why Trump will not touch it. He won't take any credit for it, will not own it, will dismiss it and will NOT has his name attached to it. Unfortunately that is already beyond his control. Everywhere they are referring to it as Trumpcare. That's what you get for branding the ACA as Obamacare. The precedent has been set and now this death panel in health care clothing is christened Trumpcare.

    Patient centered? Hardly. Unless the center is a coffin in a grave. Then the patient is the center of attention.

    Funerals are a whole other kind of insurance.

    ReplyDelete

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