6 Things You Need To Know About The Disastrous Republican Health Plan
Much has been said about the Republican plan to replace Obamacare, and almost none of it has been positive. Groups as diverse as the AARP, AMA, the American Hospital Association and others have all come out to slam the proposed bill saying it will lead to higher costs for patients and fewer people being insured.
So why all the negativity? Here are four important things to know about the Republican health plan:
1. The Republican plan would massively gut Medicaid coverage
The plan that Republicans have put forward includes a phasing out of Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion. Medicaid is the government program that provides health insurance for low-income Americans. The Medicaid expansion portion of Obamacare is also one of the most successful aspects of the Affordable Care Act. Under Obamacare, Medicaid has been expanded to more than 11 million people.
Republicans want to phase this out by 2020 and hand states block grants that will effectively decimate the coverage expansion.
2. Trumpcare will defund Planned Parenthood
The Republican health plan also includes a provision that would block all federal funding to Planned Parenthood. As you know, federal funding of abortion services is already in place so this attack on Planned Parenthood is nothing more than an assault on women’s health care services.
Planned Parenthood provides a wide range of services to women (and men) across the country and the Republican plan would put millions at risk. For example, just through Medicaid, Planned Parenthood provides birth control and mammograms to over 2.5 million patients.
So when you hear about defunding Planned Parenthood, remember that it has nothing to do with abortion and everything to do with the radical conservative assault on women’s health services.
3. The Republican plan is really about tax cuts for the wealthy
As usual, when the Republicans propose any form of legislation it has to include massive tax cuts for the top 1 or 2 percent. And Trumpcare is no different.
As Bernie Sanders pointed out, the Republican health plan in in fact just a massive $275 billion dollar transfer of wealth from low-income and middle-class Americans to the richest people in this country.
“Millionaires will get about $50,000 a year in tax breaks, while at the same time, some 5 to 10 million people are going to lose their health insurance,” Sanders has noted.
The law also includes a provision that would allow health insurances companies to get a tax break for paying their executives salaries over $500,000.
4. Trumpcare is effectively an “age tax”
The AARP has come out strongly against the Republican plan to replace Obamacare, calling it an “age tax.” For example, a 64-year-old person making $25,000 a year would pay $7,000 more per year for health insurance the AARP has pointed out.
The AARP said about the Republican plan, “It lifts limits on how much more insurance companies can charge older Americans while providing reduced tax credits that don’t take into account the fast-rising costs of coverage. This double whammy would have a devastating effect on older Americans whose budgets are already stretched to the limit.”
The plan would be an “age tax” on people between the ages of 50 and 64” the AARP has said.
5. 10% of the laws pages are devoted to taking Medicaid away from lottery winners
Let’s start by agreeing that lottery winners (and other rich people) shouldn’t be getting health care support meant for poor people. But here’s the thing about the Republican plan, it just 66 pages of legislation and a full 10% of those pages are dedicated to lottery winners not getting Medicaid.
Health care represents one fifth of the United States economy, it is a massively complex issue that deserves significant attention. So the fact that Republicans dedicated 10% of the bills pages to this tells you everything you need to know about their priorities on health care.
The issue of lottery winners getting Medicaid is straight out of the Fox News playbook. And truth be told it is the most minuscule Medicaid waste category out there.
Remember that in the same bill, Republicans hand the top one or two percent a huge tax break. So they prove that they have no issue having the government help rich people. Rather they seize on this phantom issue of lottery winners bleeding the government dry to distract from the real scandal ripping health care away from up to 15 million people.
6. Up to 15 million people will lose their health insurance
According to health care policy experts at the Brookings Institute, the Republican plan will have a devastating impact on peoples lives. They found that 15 million people will lose coverage if the Republican plan becomes law.
“CBO’s analysis will likely estimate that at least 15 million people will lose coverage under the American Health Care Act (AHCA) by the end of the ten-year scoring window,” according to Brookings analysts Loren Adler and Matthew Fiedler. “Estimates could be higher, but it’s is unlikely they will be significantly lower.”
