When a Republican tells you the Affordable Care Act is really unpopular, please remind them that is much more popular than Trump
— Dan Pfeiffer (@danpfeiffer) March 7, 2017
BREAKING NEWS ? We just introduced our bill to #RepealAndReplace Obamacare. https://t.co/Ut0DDR4wzG pic.twitter.com/1qTCXvkZzE
— Paul Ryan (@SpeakerRyan) March 6, 2017
No matter how cynical you try to be…
House is going to start having committee votes on Obamacare bill on Wednesday that they released to the public at 6 p.m. today. No CBO score
— Steven Dennis (@StevenTDennis) March 7, 2017
Thus beginning the process of the GOP leadership hoping the WH nudges the Freedom Caucus members along on this https://t.co/TC9hPOtkMT
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) March 6, 2017
Two-page fact sheet from House GOP on their ACA replacement bill https://t.co/H9o49v0z9j
— Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) March 6, 2017
In the replacement bill, Medicaid becomes a voucher. This bill is radical, not conservative. https://t.co/e9M1AYEpRD pic.twitter.com/ygfjxh5ueH
— Andy Slavitt (@ASlavitt) March 6, 2017
The word "Obamacare" actually appears in this piece of shredder fodder. So much of this is just pure spite.
— Charles P. Pierce (@CharlesPPierce) March 7, 2017
Under GOP bill, anyone who goes w/o health coverage for two months or more would face a 30% surcharge on premiums for a year. pic.twitter.com/krmLYLTOTn
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) March 6, 2017
"buy insurance or pay the IRS a fine" becomes "buy insurance or pay Blue Cross a penalty surcharge"
— Simon Maloy (@SimonMaloy) March 6, 2017
This seems like a provision that is designed to be both very unpopular AND counterproductive to its putative policy goal. Lose-lose!
— Josh Barro (@jbarro) March 7, 2017
Employer mandate penalty would also go to zero, retroactive to include this year.
— Margot Sanger-Katz (@sangerkatz) March 6, 2017
If you are worried that insurance company CEOs in the United States are underpaid, Paul Ryan has a fix for that. pic.twitter.com/72eAEhRJj9
— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) March 7, 2017
Cigna CEO: $17.3 m
Aetna CEO: $17.3 m
UnitedHealth CEO: $14.5 m
Anthem CEO: $13.6 m
Humana CEO: $10.3 m
These guys need a tax break?— Andrea Purse (@drepurse) March 7, 2017
It's not clear what problem the GOP's repeal bill actually solves: https://t.co/KidjaHEOFU
— Peter Suderman (@petersuderman) March 7, 2017
The "problem" is the entire professional right lied and overpromised to the base for years and this bill lets Republicans pretend otherwise. https://t.co/gO9U1Xa7hN
— Brian Beutler (@brianbeutler) March 7, 2017
Some of the GOP fellowship are smart enough to start edging towards the exits…
Dang. 4 GOP senators (@robportman @SenCapito, @SenCoryGardner @lisamurkowski) pen letter knocking House GOP #Obamacare repeal plan. pic.twitter.com/1QzAgRYEEK
— Cameron Joseph (@cam_joseph) March 6, 2017
Wag
Senator Gardner from my home state is running scared. He has been run through the wringer over his lack of town hall meetings and his unresponsive staff, as well his office’s failure to return phone calls from constituents. My 80 year old parents participated in a several hour long protest in front of his downtown Denver office.
He’s toast in the next cycle.
Raoul
Reactions I’m seeing from policy types is that this is an unholy mess. Which is why I favor calling it Ryancare.
satby
We should really look for a way to impeach Ryan first.
Yarrow
I’ll be calling my Representatives first thing tomorrow morning. This thing is a mess and a disaster and absolutely cannot be allowed to pass.
Wag
@Yarrow:
But if it does pass we need to hang it around the neck of every GOP SOB who votes for it.
cynthia ackerman
Re: not clear what problem this solves, clearly the problem is not enough grannies starving.
Surprise, surprise.
Major Major Major Major
I see the bill is unpopular with some of the republican senators from the states of Poor-Ass Ruralstan and Has Many Democratsville.
Corner Stone
@Wag: I am glad you fixed that because I had no idea what “loacknif” was and was starting to get a complex.
NotMax
Lots of jobs to be created ferrying the indigent and elderly out to ice floes.
Omnes Omnibus
Killing the ACA will literally kill many people in Paul Ryan’s district.
Major Major Major Major
@Omnes Omnibus: I have no problem at all with this if it sticks to just killing the republicans.
?eric
@Omnes Omnibus: but not paul ryan.
Mike J
I love the fact that 10% of the bill is dedicated to making sure high dollar lottery winners are kicked off medicare before the end of the year. I can’t see how this applies to more than 2600 people per year, ant not for more than 11 months. (Exercise for the reader. If 50 states have 52 lotteries per year, what is the maximum number of months of medicare eligibility saved by this bill?)
Jim, Foolish Literalist
catclub
Change ACA to ACX
Affordable Care Excised
Mike J
@Omnes Omnibus: 25,800 people in his district have insurance from the exchange.
Corner Stone
Four words for you, “Bada book, bada boom”.
Let it sink in.
/ZEGS
dmsilev
@Mike J: It’s like the GOP is a high-school student with an essay to write for homework and they’re having a lot of trouble reaching the 5 page minimum length so they dump in some filler, then stretch the margins and tweak the fonts….
Frankensteinbeck
If this fails, they don’t get to repeal Obamacare, period. They have until the 13th for the ‘We can do it with 50 votes’ thing to expire.
Ruckus
@Mike J:
Even fewer than your quick math. Not every state has high dollar winners every week, depending of course on your def of high dollar winners.
It’s like everything they do, it’s bullshit, being sold as a polished turd. And not even fresh bullshit at that. Or much of a polishing job. They are hoping that few will notice that they have the scholarly talents of rotting fruit.
chopper
it’s amazing that these same fuckbags that complained up and down about how ‘quick’ the ACA was passed even though it bounced around the hill for months are gonna ram this shit through in no time and totally get away with it with the beltway press.
Yarrow
@Mike J: Do any of them vote?
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: Let me guess, one of his relatives owns the funeral home in Janesville.
Major Major Major Major
Why all the weird secrecy, the hidden bill, the secret meeting room, Rand Paul with a printer stuff? It’s not like the contents are a surprise. Maybe they wanted the lotto thing under wraps.
efgoldman
@satby:
Sometime before summer, the house kkkrazy kkkaukus will turf him the same as they did to Weeping Cheetoh.
First of all, this mess will never go into law, and isn’t radical enough (repeal without replace) for the kkkrazies.
Then sometime this month they have to tackle the debt limit… again.
You know the kkkrazies will refuse to do so.
chopper
@Major Major Major Major:
maybe they were hoping for some serious misdirection, like the kid who didn’t study for the test praying for a fire drill.
Villago Delenda Est
Ryan drops a turd in the punchbowl, and he doesn’t expect anyone to notice?
efgoldman
@NotMax:
Not so much. The climate change hoax means many fewer floes big enough to float a starved granny on.
Adam L Silverman
@efgoldman: Actually Senator Coons threatened today to shut down the government over some of this stuff. So at least some Democrats are learning.
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman: No, Ryan is just a shit.
Villago Delenda Est
@Mike J: Look, should I win the lottery, one of the things I’ll do is reimburse the VA for a lot of care I receive. Now, admittedly, not everyone sees this as a priority…they’re busy buying cars and boats with their winnings.
Redshift
@Major Major Major Major: It’s the difference between taking about what everyone knows they’re going to do, and taking about what they’re actually doing. The first has deniability (and accusations of bias, and…)
It’s still stupid, but apparently they thought they could roll this out and force ask their members to vote on it before any ours or health care advocates had time to read it and figure out exactly how awful it is. Which in turn gives you an idea of how desperate they are – this is the best strategy for passing it they could come up with.
chopper
@efgoldman:
the kochs came out recently saying ‘okay, we’ve waited long enough, repeal this shit’, and the teabaggers know which side their bread is buttered on. i know goopers get in line and all, but i’m not sure ryan, the turtle and trump (lol) have the requisite skills to be able to ram this shit through. the baggers are already pissed at the idea of ryan’s ‘subsidies under another name’.
please proceed, shitheads.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
The Republican Study Committee, founded and I imagine funded by Paul Weyrich, claims 172 members, which does not include Paul Ryan.
Yarrow
@Mike J:
Medicare or Medicaid? Kicking grandma off Medicare is not going to go over well. Kicking poor people off Medicaid is another issue. Medicaid is tied to income anyway so it makes a little more sense, even though it’s terrible.
randy khan
Time to burn up the phone lines, the Twitter and Facebook feeds, and the email parts of the intertubz.
Villago Delenda Est
Oh, I just love them taking care of the truly greedy, the poor oppressed heath insurance CEOs.
Paul Ryan should be flayed alive for this shit.
Mike J
@Yarrow: Yes. you are correct. I screwed up.
Frankensteinbeck
@Major Major Major Major:
I see two obvious reasons for that. First, they’re terrified of the public blow back they’re getting. All this town hall stuff scares them so badly that Capitol Hill is awash in urine. I’m not sure why it scares them so much, but it does. Pushing this through as fast as possible reduces the amount of time they have to face their constituents about it. There are logical gaps here, but it’s the kind of reasoning scared people use.
Second, this is all they’ve got. If it doesn’t pass, they need 60 senate votes to repeal Obamacare. Trying to keep as many legislators as possible from finding things to object to is crucial to anyone evil enough to actually want to pass this. So, Paul Ryan.
Merely possible explanations:
As a combination of the above, Paul Ryan wants to shorten the time he has to deal with the Freedom Caucus whining at him about this bill as much as possible.
They didn’t have it finished until today. This is edging close to literally the scribbled-together last minute homework project. It’s what Ryan put together just to say something exists when he couldn’t get a real proposal made. Hiding it until now helped him fool people into thinking he ever had a plan.
BruceFromOhio
And the days go by
Like a strand in the wind
In the web that is my own
I begin again
No wonder they are hiding from constituents.
Lizzy L
@Mike J: I LOVE this. Thank you for the link, I am sending this to everyone I know.
This bill — let’s call it Ryancare, that’s really catchy, no? — is indeed a hot mess. It really sucks. I can’t see how they get it through the Senate. I mean, they screw old people bigtime. It’s right there for everyone to see. Even as I type, the phone lines at the AARP are blazing like Macy’s Christmas lights. Defunding Planned Parenthood just because they can is going to piss off a lot of people, especially the younger ones — in their 20s, let’s say — who get or have gotten care through PP. It’s also going to piss off their mothers, at least the ones for whom abortion is not the only issue.
Gotta push back. No pasaran. Call, email, visit offices. Make noise.
rikyrah
@Frankensteinbeck:
March 13th or April 13th?
GregB
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Instead of a toaster or piggybank, you get a free colonoscopy with your health savings account.
Yarrow
When are they planning to vote on this mess? Next week?
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPWwCRHF9UU
Kelly
@efgoldman:
Fewer floes means longer trips to find floes means more jobs. Win/Win
efgoldman
@Omnes Omnibus:
Shit is useful in some ways.
GregB
It’s just like Kellyann said…everyone is so cynical and critical of these earnest government folks.
I mean, Paul Ryan and Dr. Mengele put a lot of time and effort into this and people are just being mean to them. Unfair.
Lizzy L
@Yarrow: I’ve seen reports that the House committees will vote this week, Wednesday, day after tomorrow. Farce.
Frankensteinbeck
@rikyrah:
I thought it was March, but damned if I can find that information now. Maybe I was wrong?
catclub
@efgoldman:
Something has really changed with the crazies. Under Bush there was no battle at all (within the GOP) over the debt ceiling, but I agree that there will be now.
Although we say that the GOP only cares about deficits under a Democratic president, I think they will NOT do an infrastructure bill – so they care to that extent.
Raising the DOD budget and cutting taxes irresponsibly is still expected.
catclub
@Yarrow:
Not as different as you think. Medicaid is what pays for a LOT of senior care in nursing homes.
catclub
@Lizzy L:
Kevin Drum chose ‘bloodbath’. Dead people everywhere.
Mart
@Major Major Major Major: Screwing Lotto winners is a deal killer. Wingnut I know spends $50/week buying tickets with full statistical knowledge that he will never win; but is convinced he will win.
efgoldman
@catclub:
You’re right, but not for debt/deficit reasons. They just don’t think eebill gummint should be in that business.
Yarrow
@catclub: No, I understand that. But Medicare is what means still-healthy grandma can go to the doctor and not have to pay much, as well as be covered if she has to go to the hospital. That’s the kind of person I’d expect would be up in arms should she lose her health coverage because she won the lottery.
Impoverished grandma in the nursing home would be less likely to make a fuss, although her family might. Also, unless she still has a car or able to walk to the store, she’s less likely to have the lottery ticket in the first place.
aimai
@Yarrow: Impoverished grandma in the nursing home still votes, usually reliably, until she drops dead or becomes demented. And her nursing home care is paid for on Medicare or Medicaid.
efgoldman
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
How much overlap between these klowns and the
Freedomkkkrazy kkkaukus?Jim, Foolish Literalist
@catclub: also the handicapped and disabled, who have families and friends and advocates. I’m really bad at predictions, especially about Republicans, but I have a feeling that Ryan , to say nothing of some of his dumbest members, who probably believed all the talk radio hysterics themselves, have no idea what kind of hornets’ nest(s) they’ve stirred up
Another Scott
@catclub: They can’t just raise the Pentagon budget under the Sequester rules. The Sequester rules cannot be changed unless the Democrats go along, and they’ll only go along if domestic spending can go up as much as the Pentagon budget goes up.
Ryan has said there’s not going to be a Infrastructure bill this year.
Donnie isn’t going to get to spend a bunch of money on his Army of ICE Agents and his Wall and his Giant Navy and all the rest because the budget is going to be stuck in Continuing Resolutions for the rest of this year and probably next (it seems to me, but I have no inside information) and maybe longer.
It may save the ACA, also too, but we can’t take that for granted. We have to fight them every single day.
Cheers,
Scott.
Yarrow
@Mart: The lotto thing will affect people on Medicaid. Qualifying for Medicaid is done by income anyway, so if you get a big windfall it would generally affect your eligibility for Medicaid, whether it’s a lottery win or some rich uncle died and left you a gazillion dollars.
I don’t know anything about the specifics, but it doesn’t sound that different from how things are now, except it sounds like they want it enacted immediately.
chopper
@GregB:
you wish. you’ll get a free picture of somebody else’s colonoscopy.
Lizzy L
@catclub: This. A lot of old folks in and out of nursing homes have Medicare as their primary insurance and Medicaid as the secondary insurance — and those bills that Medicare doesn’t cover add up, believe me. Starving grannies is not actually all that popular, in the heartland or anywhere else.
lgerard
@Raoul:
More like Ryandon’tcare
GregB
Time to recycle this vintage anti-Ryan ad.
https://youtu.be/OGnE83A1Z4U
Felanius Kootea
@Mike J: Thank you for that link to the district by district breakdown of those who will lose their health insurance if repeal goes through. Will come in very handy – I’ve already sent it to a bunch of people.
Yarrow
@aimai: My point is that as far as selling this piece of shit bill, it’s easier to sell kicking poor people off Medicaid when they win the lottery than it is selling kicking middle class, still-healthy seniors off Medicare when they win the lottery. It’s always been easier to sell shitting on poor people than shitting on middle class people. This lottery thing is no different.
Mike J
@Felanius Kootea: If you’ve got a Republican house member nearby, tweet the number in his or her district and make sure to @ them.
NotoriousJRT
@Raoul: Ryan(doesn’t)care
hovercraft
@efgoldman:
They were supposed to be the “true conservatives” of the republican party, until Obama made them lose their minds and elect true crazies in 2010, who thought they were sellouts. There is a great deal of overlap, but the Freedom Caucus is a more concentrated form of crazy, these people are like president Bannon, they don’t actually believe in government.
Lizzy L
Christopher Jacobs, at The Federalist:
POS.
amk
so, the rythugs have told a collective fuck you to all those town-hall protesters?
Timurid
So they think they have a bombproof plan for rigging 2018 and 2020? Otherwise none of this makes sense.
Another Scott
House Dems on Ways and Means:
A good opening salvo. More of this, please.
(via HouseDemocrats on Twitter)
Cheers,
Scott.
Yarrow
@Timurid: State of emergency and call off elections? Wouldn’t be the first country to do that. Otherwise, make voting requirements so stringent that only retired white people are eligible and able to vote. And maybe rig some voting machines while they’re at it.
Timurid
@Yarrow: Considering that national elections continued during the Civil War, the Great Depression and World War II… what kind of emergency would they have in mind?
Felanius Kootea
@Mike J: Unfortunately (or fortunately), I live in California and not near any red districts. I could troll Darrell Issa though.
efgoldman
@Yarrow:
Then why the fuck did they even bother, unless one of their christofascist members hates lotteries that much.
Or maybe they dropped it in on purpose as something that can be negotiated away, so they can show how “flexible” they are.
Yoga Gumby they’re not.
Villago Delenda Est
OK, time for a musical interlude. Someone posted it over on Wonkette, and it’s just lovely.
Steeplejack (tablet)
@Mart:
This makes me feel better about my $1 or $2 habit whenever I gas up the car or when the service counter is not busy at the grocery.
lgerard
@Yarrow:
What the ryandon’tcare plan addresses is lump sum lottery wins. They are not ongoing income, so the bill assigns a time period that they count as income for, increasing the time period with the dollar amount of the payment…100k counts for 3 months, 110k for 4 months , etc..
The reason for this is simple. There was a case a while back where a lottery winner was technically eligible for some type of public assistance and it got all the wingnuts outraged.
Yarrow
@Timurid: A made up one, of course. Some kind of terrorism happens here just before the election. Perhaps something they make happen but blame on Muslims or others. Maybe more than one city on the same day. President declares state of emergency, says too risky to have election. Postpones. Then postponed again. Or something.
@efgoldman: Like I said, I’m not sure of the specifics. I just know that Medicaid eligibility is determined not only by income but by overall wealth. So someone becoming wealthy overnight, for whatever reason, would render them ineligible for Medicaid. However, the change could be that it applies immediately rather than a transition period of something.
It seems bizarrely specific to lottery winners, so it does seem like someone has something against the lottery. Is that a big thing evangelicals rail against or something?
Ruckus
@Felanius Kootea:
It might be good to troll all of the CA republican house members. I’m sure they will ignore anyone who lives outside their district, but many of them are going to be in fights for their political lives. Couldn’t hurt to let them know about it. Also get that chart or link on any social media that you are active on. Let everyone know exactly how many people in republican districts will lose health care. I’d bet there can’t be more that a couple of dem house members who would be stupid enough to vote for this piece of shit. I can’t actually imagine any that would if they expect to get any rhythm from Chucky in the future.
Lizzy L
Going to bed. G’night, Gracie.
Peale
@efgoldman: or they just want to bait the press into focusing on that. It is irrelevant. And easy to mock. They are probably counting on Rachel Maddox to spend three segments on it tomorrow.
jl
@Timurid:
” what kind of emergency would they have in mind? ”
A few days of really really scary stuff from Fox and Friends?
Eric U.
I think medicaid basically means you are destitute. With my brother, he can’t have more than $2000. We sold my mom’s house and when he got his share, $20000, it ended up costing him $32000 in benefits. It turns out to be a pretty severe tax on poor people and their relatives, because their parents have to spend everything to continue living in the nursing home.
fuckwit
The plan:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8zhNb8ANe8
Yarrow
@lgerard: Thanks for the update. It doesn’t sound like that big of a change. But the reason is just comical. Of course it’s because wingnuts got completely bent out of shape by something completely stupid.
rikyrah
@catclub:
The poster child for Medicaid$$$$, in terms of who gets the most is Bobby and Emily’s Grandma and Grandpa.
danielx
@Omnes Omnibus:
That would be the Randian solution, so it’s all good.
GregB
@jl:
I am pretty sure this cabal of nitwits, racists and gurning shitheels would have had tanks in the streets if they had the ebola scare that Obama dealt with so calmly.
TriassicSands
It’s hard to tell what my favorite part of this bill is.
The penalty for not maintaining continuous coverage is in the running.
Let’s see, you lose your job and can’t afford health insurance while you’re unemployed. When you get a new job you now have a 30% surcharge on insurance, which makes it unaffordable.
One of the principles behind this POS is that we have too many insured people and we have to get that number down. I have a feeling that when the numbers finally come out on POSCare it’s not going to look very good when compared to either Obamacare or the promises that the GOP and Trump have made. Remember, it’s going to cover more people, for less money with better coverage. And wasn’t there a pony in there somewhere?
lgerard
You know what is missing from this bill…the all-important solution that was endlessly promoted by every wingnut
Buying insurance across state lines
Steeplejack (tablet)
@chopper:
You get a voucher for a colonoscopy.
AnotherBruce
@Villago Delenda Est: I want to be the first volunteer for that job. Unlike the reptiles in the Republican party, I’m willing to flay for free. I have ethics, you know.
jl
@TriassicSands: Maybe they are hoping that eliminating minimum standards for policies will patch things up with the lesser people back home. Everyone can afford a super cheap policy that covers almost nothing and has low lifetime caps and that will satisfy them. If you get hit by a bus, but can be patched up quickly with no long term consequences, and collect from Joe’s North by Northwest Health Insurance and Bailbonds Inc. last registered and known address in Nowhere SD, everything is good.
Maybe they figure that they can bribe/scare the (at the moment) healthy majority with settling for this best last offer, and they will outvote the not rich sick (aka losers and parasite) who can suck it up and die.
Villago Delenda Est
@lgerard: States Rights, except when it gets in the way of stealing from the poor to further enrich the rich.
chopper
@Steeplejack (tablet):
you get a picture of a voucher for a picture of someone else’s colonoscopy.
TriassicSands
More like Obamacare Lite Lite Lite Lite Lite. You can always count on Republicans to lie about or distort just about everything. This bill, if enacted into law, will leave millions of people worse off. Obamacare improved the lives of millions of people. Those don’t sound related at all.
jl
@lgerard: I think that is snuck in by eliminating minimum standards for policies. Will make setting up operations in new state much cheaper. Not in every state, probably not in CA. But in many states, will have store front operations that are just shuffling paperwork between state where policy is bought and headquarters across the country.
TriassicSands
@lgerard:
That outdated idea has been replaced. Now, you can buy coverage from Russia.
NotMax
@efgoldman
Even more jobs. A bonanza manufacturing U.S.-made artificial ice floes (Faux Floe®) and towing ’em far enough offshore!
Ruckus
@lgerard:
That’s what they trade for losing the lottery provision.
The entire thing is bullshit wrapped in layers of horseshit, with whale shit sprinkled on top to impress idiots. Like the ones that scrapped this together over coffee yesterday.
Yarrow
@TriassicSands: I have a question about that 30% surcharge. In your example, say you’re lucky enough to get a job that offers health insurance benefits. Do you have to pay 30% more to your employer for your health insurance or something? Or would that only apply to people who buy it on the exchange?
NotMax
@TriassicSands
Time to resurrect Harry & Louise. Only this time on our side.
Ruckus
@Yarrow:
You are asking specific questions? About a bill that was put together in 15 minutes by people who think they are geniuses because they got one question right on a 1000 question multiple choice test on what does lettuce taste like? Where every question, what does lettuce taste like, had the same 3 answers. A. Lettuce. B. Fresh stuff. C. Green stuff.
Mike J
@NotMax:
And no efficiency standards. The Low Flow Faux Floe was a disaster.
lgerard
@Ruckus:
I’m not seeing anything about prohibiting states from setting insurance standards for policies sold in their states….so no selling across state lines.
Then again, there is so much mumbo jumbo about lottery winners and abortion that I may be missing it.
lgerard
@Yarrow:
here’s your answer….good luck
‘‘(a) PENALTY APPLIED.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding section
2701, subject to the succeeding provisions of this
section, a health insurance issuer offering health in
surance coverage in the individual or small group
market shall, in the case of an individual who is an
applicable policyholder of such coverage with respect
to an enforcement period applicable to enrollments
for a plan year beginning with plan year 2019 (or,
in the case of enrollments during a special enroll
ment period, beginning with plan year 2018), in
crease the monthly premium rate otherwise applica
ble to such individual for such coverage during each
month of such period, by an amount determined
under paragraph (2).
I think the answers are no and yes, respectively
danielx
Fuckin’ Republicans….most especially including Rick Santorum, god take that swine to an early grave. The daughter unit is on Medicaid, though also still covered under the spousal unit’s insurance. The way it’s worked in our fair state up until now is that it’s difficult to qualify for Medicaid*, but once you do the coverage is pretty good. However….I can predict the outcome now if this passes. Vouchers, well hell, there are so many unmet needs** here in our fair state, and do those disabled and poor people really need such things as prenatal care, case workers, vision care, all that stuff that only poor people need? Clearly not, especially since they haven’t had the foresight to hire well-paid lobbyists to plead their case and do favors for legislators.
Kind of like some of the deals I witnessed in retirement housing acquisitions in one of my previous lives – shit, we gotta pay for this money we were loaned by sharks some way or other or they’ll skin us, and nobody at xyz retirement community is really gonna notice if we slice a quarter a day from the raw food budget….and so forth. Note.
Except that eventually people do notice, at which point they start asking well, we’re not getting what we paid for, what gives? And the powers that be say, this is a publicly-held, for-profit entity. If you don’t like it, git the fuck out***.
Which is kind of where this whole deal is about. Medicaid is about providing care for those who cannot obtain care for themselves any other way, for any of a number of reasons. And, and…making sure that those receiving care provided by Medicaid receive care meeting some minimal standards. That being the case, it follows that Republican insistence on voucher programs, as enhancing “flexibility” and so forth****….
Well, fuck that idea and the various horses it rode in on. Going to be on my legislators on this issue like orange on the shitheel currently adorning the Oval Office.
*Like a seven year waiting list for various programs available under regulations, which is a whole ‘nother (ETA) shameful topic.
**Such as, oh, a subsidy on financing for the arena where the Colts play, a bailout to Duke Energy to help cover their bad decisions….this could go on a while.
***Yes, this is pretty much the way it works.
****When you hear Republicans talking about “flexibility” regarding funding for social welfare programs, that means “massive funding cut”. This is always true – period, fini, end of story.
Note: There is a (sub) moral to this rant, that being that if you are contemplating finding a retirement community for one or both parents or looking at one for yourself, look to nonprofit locals first if you can. Their bottom line is taking care of the people, whereas with for-profit entities, the bottom line…is the bottom line.
Yarrow
@lgerard: LOL. Thanks. That clears everything up.
@Ruckus: Well, they were pretty specific about the lottery stuff, which is so small as to be insignificant, so who knows what else they did.
Ruckus
@lgerard:
What I’m saying is that the lottery thing is quite possibly a throwaway. In there to trade for something that somebody cares about. It’s also possible that the dipshit geniuses forgot to put it in. See my comment #106. As has been pointed out, to get medicaid benefits you have to have nothing. No income, less than $2000 in the bank (and that one can be a lot easier than one might imagine, ask me how I know), no property that can be sold, like your house. Medicaid is for the fabulously poor and pays just enough to be better than absolutely nothing.
Fair Economist
@Yarrow: The intention, I’m sure, is that it only applies to exchange insurance. Given how slapped-together this obviously is, I’m not sure that’s how the actual law reads. igerard’s cite refers to “individual or small group market” which would suggest it would not apply to large employers but would apply to small employers. That would produce some really whacko incentives, with smaller employers being heavily bribed to discriminate against older and unhealthy individuals who had let their coverage lapse.
Steeplejack (tablet)
@chopper:
This is great! We’re getting down into the detailed give-and-take of “how a bill becomes a law.” Democracy in action! Or maybe democracy inaction.
Ruckus
@danielx:
My understanding is that Medicaid is only as good as the state which runs their own program. So some states getting coverage is almost impossible, when you do get in the program is crap. Almost like they tried to make it as tough and useless as possible.
amk
Bottomline: Voting Matters
lgerard
@Ruckus:
your principle residence is excluded in counting assets for medicaid eligibility. Of course, after you die it is no longer your principle residence
efgoldman
@Steeplejack (tablet):
It’s getting awfuly hard to place these assholes on the stupid[—–]evil axis.
And of course they all think of themselves as good christians…
Almost makes me wish I believed in an afterlife, because every single one of these bastards would burn forever.
lgerard
@Fair Economist:
It only applies to exchange programs…it would be a nightmare otherwise
On the other hand, if it did apply to employer group insurance it would piss off enough people who don’t really care about this subject enough because they feel it does not apply to them. At that point congress would have to come up with a real plan that actually worked or else
TriassicSands
@jl:
I believe that low lifetime caps are not allowed.
TriassicSands
@TriassicSands:
It’s called VladCare and all radiation treatments are free!
TriassicSands
@Yarrow:
I don’t know the answer to that. Since employer-based insurance is offered without the limitations of individual plans, I would assume it would apply only to people buying an individual policy. Good question.
amk
TriassicSands
@NotMax:
Harry and Louise are dead. Victims of too much health insurance.
Aleta
Obama cared. Republicans don’t.
pattonbt
Ignoring the total crap the bill is, how does this even come close to being able to get enough R votes in any chamber? Its too nice for the tea-tards and too punitive for those scared for their jobs (or those with 5% of their soul left).
And it should be called Trumpcare period. It will fit in with every other disaster he creates with his touch.
Ruckus
@lgerard:
Is that somewhat recent? I’ve know people who had to sell their parents home to someone for what was owed on it so they could be covered.
It has been a number of years since I actually had any knowledge of people applying for or being on pure medicaid so I could be full of shit. And it wouldn’t be the first time.
jl
@TriassicSands: Thanks. I thought I read there was less regulation on life time caps. I’ll remember to look for that when I read more detailed summaries tomorrow. Also, I’ll be on the look out for gimmicks that will make it easier to sell crummy policies across state lines, if that is an amendment waiting in the wings.
lgerard
Agreed This ‘plan” is a total loser.
I will bust out laughing if trump endorses this. I think he will back away rapidly claiming that this “isn’t the way he would do it” which will bring us right back to the point of waiting for his tremendous solution that is coming any day now.
lgerard
@Ruckus:
No
The parent did not have to sell the home to get coverage. After they died and no longer occupied the home, Medicaid can recover from the estate. How this is done varies by state and by circumstance.
Major Major Major Major
@lgerard: I think trump is gonna hand Ryan his ass some day and hard, but not over this.
lgerard
@jl:
i see nothing about the state line thing at all in my reading of the legislation….I think that is out,
Of course, I am dizzy from all the lottery language
lgerard
@Major Major Major Major:
trump doesn’t associate with losers
this plan is a loser
Steeplejack (tablet)
@efgoldman:
Evil with a side of stupid.
Major Major Major Major
@Steeplejack (tablet): I saw it described as “malice tempered by incompetence.”
Fair Economist
@jl: This is a reconciliation bill, and it’s not supposed to be able to change laws without budgetary impacts. So nothing on making everybody in the country buy insurance under the lousiest state laws, aka buying across state boundaries.
(I know in reality the companies don’t even offer the policies when allowed so it’s really a nothingburger. But if they did…)
Fake Irishman
@Eric U.: only for long-term disability/nursing care, which is a special program (and varies by state quite a bit). General Medicaid for low-income people has only an income and no assets test anymore, for now.
Steeplejack (tablet)
@Major Major Major Major:
“Tempered” doing a lot of work there.
jl
@Fair Economist: OK, thanks. I’ll keep that in mind.
True that the few existing state compacts that allow cross border sales have no takers, but lot of this bill is PR. And I think useful to watch for various changes that are designed to make that market more active, in case they decide to move from PR to actually making big changes.
As far as I can tell, this bill is moderate tweaks to provide an underfunded much lower quality PPACA, with some exceptions (block grant Medicaid).
lgerard
Removing the mandate is not a tweak though, it ensures that the program will fail. All that will be left are older people with pre-existing conditions, The policy costs will be astronomical.
All the exchange bushwa is just a diversion to provide cover for the real goal here….killing Medicaid
Ohio Mom
@Eric U.: Yikes. Was hiring an Elder Law attorney and setting up a trust not an option? That is what we special needs families do for our loved ones on Medicaid.
Eric U.
@Ohio Mom: my sister went to the wrong attorney. And a malevolent medicaid administrator coupled with bad timing is impossible to fight even if they misapply the law. Which they did in this case.
Captain C
@Timurid: Democrats ahead in the polls.
Smedley the uncertain
@Villago Delenda Est: Muchas gracias.
Fred
@Villago Delenda Est: The VA healthcare is yours. You earned it and the bill is paid in full.
If you should win the lottery you should do any damned thing with it that makes you happy!
There are few things in life I feel sure of but both of those things fall into that rare category.
Nora
@TriassicSands: Exactly what I was thinking. They’re framing it as people “choosing” not to have health insurance, but I don’t see anything in the language that excludes people who lose their employer-provided health insurance for reasons beyond their control. Nice work! Fire people, make them lose their health insurance, and then punish them for having been fired when and if they get jobs again. Perfect Republican plan.