NPR | Trump Tries To Sell Republican Health Care Plan To Conservatives NPR March 10, 20175:12 AM ET. Heard on Morning Edition. Conservatives are revolting against the GOP health care measure. David Greene talks to David Urban, president of American Continental Group, and a former adviser to the Trump presidential campaign. |
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Trump Tries To Sell Republican Health Care Plan To Conservatives - NPR
Sen. Elizabeth WarrenElizabeth WarrenOvernight Finance: Budget ref caught in ObamaCare crossfire | Treasury chief urges Congress to raise debt limit | McConnell says tax reform unlikely by August Warren rips GOP healthcare plan: 'What planet are these guys living on?' Dems press White House on Jared Kushner's financial holdings MORE (D-Mass.) on Thursday blasted the GOP's healthcare plan, urging lawmakers to drop the legislation aimed at replacing the Affordable Care Act.
"A health care bill that destroys care & affordable coverage for millions seriously? What planet are these guys living on?!" Warren wrote in a tweet.
"Its time to junk this cruel #Trumpcare bill before massive numbers of Americans are hurt by it," she added.
A health care bill that destroys care & affordable coverage for millions seriously? What planet are these guys living on?!
The White House and GOP leaders have moved to aggressively pitch the legislation, dubbed the American Health Care Act, which they introduced on Monday and hope to vote on within weeks.
The healthcare bill has been met withintense criticismfrom numerous groups representing doctors and hospitals, as well as the American Medical Association, advocacy group AARP and an internal organization from the American Cancer Society.
Conservative groups such as Americans for Prosperity have also come out against the bill, while groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Americans for Tax Reform have backed the GOP effort.
"Republicans seem intent on plowing ahead anyway pretending down is up, left is right, & #Trumpcare is somehow not a catastrophe," Warren argued on Twitter.
"The GOP have convinced people who never agree on ANYTHING docs, hospitals, economists, even insurance companies: #Trumpcare is a disaster."
Republicans seem intent on plowing ahead anyway pretending down is up, left is right, & #Trumpcare is somehow not a catastrophe.
The GOP have convinced people who never agree on ANYTHING docs, hospitals, economists, even insurance companies: #Trumpcare is a disaster.
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Warren rips GOP healthcare plan: 'What planet are these guys living on?' - The Hill
USA TODAY 4:25 p.m. ET March 9, 2017
House Speaker Paul Ryan during a news conference in Capitol Hill on March 9, 2017.(Photo: J. Scott Applewhite, AP)
Letter to the editor:
President Trump is starting to get a great lesson on the difference between campaigning and actually governing.
While campaigning you can hurl accusations like Obamacare is a disaster and it must be repealed and replaced immediately. When you win, as Trump did, you now have to deliver, and there is the rub. Delivering a health care product that is better, cheaper and still fair is an incredibly difficult task.
The far right of the presidents own party says the initial plan is simply Obamacare lite. The left says it will cause millions to lose their health care coverage. Meanwhile, the Congressional Budget Office is expected to project a very high price tag that undermines the promise of better and more affordable insurance.
You can readily question the political savvy of the Trump team. While its political capital was high, it could have chosen to start with the more popular and less controversial tax and regulatory reform. Then use these victories and resultant goodwill as a springboard to launch into health care reform. Its too soon to dub this foray Trumps Waterloo moment, but it clearly is a challenge to his young presidency.
Stay tuned to see how Trumpcare unfolds!
Ken Derow; Swarthmore, Pa.
Facebook comments are edited for clarity and grammar:
Why is it that people cannot accept that a public option fixes most of this? I do welcome the Republicans plan, but it doesnt solve the specific issues it needs to address to ensure coverage for all.
William Worsham
Just like with Obamacare, Congress is focused on the wrong problem: Who pays, instead of bringing down the total cost of the system. We need to bring competition to the health care system and increase supply faster than demand. That is the only way to bring down costs.
First, everyone from insurers to government employees to private individuals should have to pay the same rate. That rate should be posted, for everyone to see and encourage competition.
Second, you need to increase quality care faster than the cost of care, the opposite of what these expansions do. That will allow competition to drive these costs down. We need to get rid of all the bureaucratic hurdles.
Finally, if you are getting government assistance, you should be doing everything you can to keep the costs down. There should be a requirement to be fit medical conditions permitting.
Mathew Andresen
Republicans rename Obamacare, call it a day: #tellusatoday
Our followers shared their thoughts on the American Health Care Act. Tweets are edited for clarity and grammar:
Lets pass it so we can find out whats in it. #DemcratsPlaybook
@tngarrett
Comparisons between the Affordble Care Act and the AHCA are truly odious. Obamacare was too disastrous to ever fully implement, while Trumpcare is only partly formulated.
@billbradbrooke
I dont know how House Speaker Paul Ryan sleeps at night knowing the lower class is left in the cold.
@CathyScero
For more, follow @USATOpinion and #tellusatoday.
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GOP learns health care is, indeed, complex: #tellusatoday - USA TODAY
New York Times | Follow the Health Care Money New York Times Many Americans over the age of 60 would have to pay more for health insurance under the Republican health care plan. Many low-income families would lose their insurance. Many disabled people, hepatitis patients and opioid addicts, among others, would ... |
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Is the money we're spending on health care keeping us alive?
On a certain level, that's the big test of any health-care systemand the United States isfailing.
According to abovechart, U.S. life expectancy continues to lag far behind other developed countries, despite spending way more on medical treatments aimed at keeping us alive.
The chart, courtesy of Oxford economist Max Roser, plots per-capita health-care spending against life expectancy for the world's wealthiest countries over the past 40-plus years. Each country gets one line, which plots its trajectory on those measures over time.
Looking at the chart, two things become clear: AsRoser notes, the big takeaway is that, in wealthy countries, more spending on health leads to a longerlife expectancy.
But there's a secondary finding: Not all health-care spending is created equal. In the United States, the inflation-adjusted per-capita annual health spending has exploded from1970, when it was less than $500 a year, to 2014, when it was about $9,000 a year.
That's $2,000 more per person per year than the second highest-spending country on the chart, Switzerland. But despite that big spending, growth in American life expectancy has been anemic. Essentially,we spend a lot of money but haven't seen much in the way of life expectancy gains because of it.
The comparison with Japan is instructive. In 1970, average life expectancy in Japan was 72 years, similar to the expectancy of 71 years in the United States. By 2014, U.S. life expectancy crept up by eightyears, to 79. But in Japan, life expectancy grew by a whopping 12 years to 84. And today the United States spends more than twice as much on health care, per capita, than does Japan.
There are a lot of factors influencing these numbers, particularly on the longevity side of the equation: differences in lifestyle and eating habits, exercise, culture, etc. But on the spending side there's an elephant in the room: According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the United States is the only country on the chart that doesn't have universal health coverage.
Life expectancy isa great shorthand for overall health and well-being. After all, as economists David Cutler, Angus Deaton and Adriana Lleras-Muney wrote in 2006, The pleasures of life are worth nothing if one is not alive to experience them.
But the importance of life expectancy, and thecountry'sdismal standing in it, suggests the United Statesshould be more than a little skeptical when any politician as they so often do proclaims that any policy changes threaten to changethe greatest health care system in world history.
After all, if our health care is so great, why are we paying more and dying sooner?
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This chart is a powerful indictment of our current health-care system - Washington Post
Voters want politicians to be bold. They disrespect timidity. And trying to push every Californian into a government-run healthcare system is certifiably bold.
The voters desire for boldness has a caveat, of course: Theyve got to like what the politician is being bold about.
We really dont know how Californians feel about government-run universal healthcare. People havent been asked for a while.
The Public Policy Institute of California surveyed voters in January, however, and found that 54% opposed congressional repeal of the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare.
But for generations, it has been the dream of many mostly Democrats to enact whatever you want to call it: single-payer, Medicare-for-all or socialized medicine.
Now, with congressional Republicans and President Trump trying to repeal and replace Obamacare, some Sacramento Democrats think they see an opening to finally adopt a California version of single-payer.
Under single-payer, healthcare costs are paid for by the government, rather than by private insurance. The healthcare itself is still delivered by private physicians.
Some version that would allow people to buy supplemental private insurance call it Medicare-for-all presumably could fit into the system these Democrats envision.
We really dont know because they havent actually proposed anything. Theyre promising details in two weeks. So far, theyve just tucked the concept of single-payer into an essentially hollow bill, SB 562, by Sens. Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens) and Toni Atkins (D-San Diego).
The bill merely declares: It is the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that would establish a comprehensive universal single-payer healthcare coverage program and a healthcare cost control system for the benefit of all residents of the state.
Yes, that means all whether theyre in the country legally or not.
Medi-Cal, the states enhanced version of federal Medicaid for poor people, already covers children here illegally. But not their parents.
Lara told me that he mentioned to one kid that the Legislature had extended Medi-Cal to undocumented children.
He said, Thank you senator, but what about my mom? Lara recalled. What about my dad? How do we get to healthcare for everyone?
With great difficulty, Id say. And the same for enacting any single-payer system.
Dreams can be good. But this dream especially with Trump and conservative Republicans controlling the national agenda seems like wishful fantasy, even in deep blue California.
The envisioned policy long has made sense. Cut out the insurance industry profiteering and reduce healthcare costs. Perhaps eliminate co-pays and deductibles, as Lara wants to do.
Even Medicare-for-all would be better than what most people have today. Ever hear a senior seriously complain about Medicare? I havent.
Most industrialized nations have some sort of government-run healthcare coverage either single-payer or a hybrid public-private system.
But good policy aside, there are two huge obstacles to a state going solo: financing and politics.
In California, it would cost the state tens of billions of dollars. Whod pay for that? Business, which presumably would no longer need to provide employees with health insurance? Wage earners through payroll withholding? Medical providers? How much would the federal government kick in? Anything?
That presumably will be in the bills details. Good luck.
And how would this legislation ever get passed? The politics are daunting. The insurance industry would fight with all it has meaning campaign money. So would many healthcare providers that historically have feared socialized medicine.
On the other side, the California Nurses Assn. is the bills chief sponsor. And that labor union has influence among liberals.
But nothing of this magnitude and controversy can pass the Legislature without a committed governor pushing strongly. And Gov. Jerry Brown hasnt said a peep about single-payer healthcare since he was elected in 2010. Moreover, the normally cautious skinflint is not likely to commit the state to such a financial gamble.
No other state has a single-payer plan. Vermont did briefly, but scrubbed it in 2014 because of high costs and unpopular taxes.
The California Legislature passed a single-payer bill sort of when Arnold Schwarzenegger was governor, but he vetoed it.
Actually, it wasnt a real single-payer plan anyway. It didnt include any financing. That was to be passed later and required a two-thirds supermajority vote. No way.
Updates from Sacramento
Democrats currently hold a supermajority in each house. But you can bet not all are inclined to vote for a tax increase. Possibly for highway repairs, but not for an untested, radical change in healthcare coverage.
The time is right, the time is now, insists Lara, whos thinking about running for state insurance commissioner next year. California can be the national laboratory for our country.
What everyone agrees on, he adds, is we need to have an alternative to threatened Obamacare.
But many Democrats believe their best hope is congressional gridlock and the blockage of repeal.
Perhaps Im like Alice in Wonderland, but I really am hopeful, says state Sen. Holly Mitchell (D-Los Angeles), the Budget Committee chairwoman. Theres an amazing groundswell of people showing up all over the country fighting to retain the Affordable Care Act.
What about single-payer? I honestly dont know.
Not a lot of enthusiasm there.
She sounds like other Democrats who privately believe the focus should be on preserving what they can of Obamacare, which has pumped nearly $24 billion annually into California healthcare and halved the number of uninsured.
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Vice President Pence will travel to the Louisville area Saturday to talk about health care and the economy with Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin, according to the vice presidents office.
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Vice President Pence delivers remarks on the American Health Care Act to the news media after attending the Senate Republican policy luncheon on March 7, 2017.(Photo: Shawn Thew, European Pressphoto Agency)
WASHINGTON Vice President Pence will travel to the Louisville area Saturday to talk about health care and the economy with Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin, according to the vice presidents office.
Details are expected to be released later Thursday.
Louisville airport officials had been told President Trump was coming, the Courier-Journal reported Wednesday.
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul is among the conservative lawmakers who have criticized the House GOP bill to overhaulthe Affordable Care Act, saying it doesnt do enough to dismantle the law.
Trump tweeted Wednesday: I feel sure that my friend @RandPaul will come along with the new and great health care program because he knows Obamacare is a disaster!
Republicans have a slim margin in the Senate and will have a difficult time crafting health care legislation that can satisfy both conservatives and moderates. If three Republican senators oppose the bill, united Democratic opposition can stop it.
Pence has been making multiple media appearances and meeting with lawmakers to shore up support for the legislation, which is opposed by major health care groups such as the American Medical Association and the American Hospital Association.
Pence tweeted out his support Thursday morning for the House Ways and Means Committee, which worked through the night to markup its portion of the legislation
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Q&A: The facts on the Republican health care bill
4 key ways the House Republicans' health care bill changes Obamacare
House panel OKs health bill, industry groups say no
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Pence headed to Louisville to promote health care bill - USA TODAY
NBCNews.com | Who Wins and Who Loses Under Republicans' Health Care Plan New York Times Both Obamacare and the recent Republican replacement proposal use refundable tax credits to help people buy their health insurance. That is part of the reason the new G.O.P. bill is under fire from conservatives, who see it as a new entitlement program. Experts: The GOP Health Care Plan Just Won't Work New anti-Obamacare ads conflate the exchanges with the entire health-care system House panels to launch fight in Congress over Obamacare replacement |
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Who Wins and Who Loses Under Republicans' Health Care Plan - New York Times
Health workers slaughter chickens on a farm in Yunlin County, Taiwan in an image released on Feb. 15, 2017. Taiwan is killing tens of thousands of chickens, ducks and turkeys since discovering its first case of H5N6 bird flu in Hualien County. Yunlin Animal and Plant Disease Control Center / EPA
On Wednesday, the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, or ASTHO, will try. It's bringing state health officials to Washington to make the case not only for the prevention fund, but also for increased public health funding.
They know it will be an uphill battle.
Related:
"It's a tough sell," ASTHO Executive Director Michael Fraser said. "People know what it means to go to the doctor. They don't know what it means when public health agencies agencies keep you from getting bird flu or an E. coli."
They'll frame their message in terms they hope will get the attention of conservatives, using the language of national defense.
"This is national security. Public health is protecting Americans," said Amanda Jezek of the Infectious Diseases Society of America.
Fraser also hopes to tap into Trump's campaign promises about rebuilding American infrastructure.
"People think about bridges and roads. ... We need similar attention to the public health infrastructure," he said. "We want to get the message out that public health is part of homeland security, part of public safety. It's not just a bunch of pamphlets and health fairs."
Related:
Dr. Jay Butler, Alaska's chief medical officer and president of the ASTHO, knows this is another tough sell.
"Public health infrastructure doesn't have same appeal as a bridge that could be named after you," he said.
Scary tactics might help, Fraser said.
"In terms of scaring the hell out of people, [we are] thinking about the spring and what we have to do around Zika, especially now that states are preparing for mosquito season," he said.
"When you have a burning airplane on the runway, that's not the time to start the discussion about whether you need to buy a firetruck."
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GOP Health Care Bill Would Cut CDC Fund to Fight Killer Diseases - NBCNews.com
NPR | Cokie Roberts Answers Your Health Care Questions NPR Email. March 8, 20175:05 AM ET. Heard on Morning Edition. Republicans have unveiled a new health care proposal. Commentator and columnist Cokie Roberts answers questions from listeners about the history of politics and health care in the U.S.. |
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New York Times | 'The Daily': Harry Truman and Newt Gingrich on Health Care New York Times We begin in 1948, when the United States started to debate whether to create a nationwide health care system. While national health care programs spread in Europe, the United States never enacted such sweeping legislation. In 2010, that changed. Margot ... |
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'The Daily': Harry Truman and Newt Gingrich on Health Care - New York Times
NPR | Republicans Mixed On New Health Care Bill NPR Many Tea Party Republicans are raising objections to the new GOP-written health care bill, but Speaker Paul Ryan says he's guaranteeing it will pass the House in the coming weeks. Facebook; Twitter. Google+. Email ... |
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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnellMitch McConnellRight revolts on ObamaCare bill AARP rips GOP's 'harmful' healthcare legislation Healthcare bill faces steep climb in Senate MORE (R-Ky.) has only three weeks to unify conservatives and moderates in his conference behind an ObamaCare repeal and replacement bill.
The American Health Care Act, which Vice President Pence on Tuesday declared the framework for reform, will move first in the House, but it faces perhaps an even steeper climb in the Senate.
Republicans control 52 seats in the upper chamber and can only afford to lose two votes, since Pence can vote to break a 50-50 tie. So far, at least eight Republican senators have voiced concerns with aspects of the legislation.
Three conservatives, Sens. Mike LeeMike LeeRight revolts on ObamaCare bill GOP senators to Trump: Pledge to veto bills with earmarks Healthcare bill faces steep climb in Senate MORE (R-Utah), Ted CruzTed CruzDoes GOPs health plan keep Trumps promises? GOP senators to Trump: Pledge to veto bills with earmarks Healthcare bill faces steep climb in Senate MORE (R-Texas) and Rand PaulRand PaulFreedom Caucus members say GOP doesn't have votes to pass healthcare plan Right revolts on ObamaCare bill Trump: Rand Paul will 'come along' on GOP healthcare plan MORE (R-Ky.), are unhappy with parts of the House bill, which allied conservative groups have panned as not going far enough.
Lee blasted the House bill as a missed opportunity and a step in the wrong direction.
He warned that policymakers dont know how much tax credits proposed in the House legislation to help Americans buy insurance would wind up costing the federal government.
Paul dismissed the legislation as dead on arrival and a bailout for the insurance companies.
Cruz has been less vocal about his views on the bill. He skipped a press conference Tuesday afternoon that Paul and Lee held with House conservatives critical of the bill.
The Texas senator told reporters that he has a number of concerns but declined to say whether he would vote no.
The proper way to address those concerns is working with colleagues in the House, the Senate and the administration, and thats what Im doing right now, Cruz said.
Meanwhile, two influential Republican senators, Susan CollinsSusan CollinsHealthcare bill faces steep climb in Senate ObamaCare repeal bill would defund Planned Parenthood Planned Parenthood tells Trump it won't end abortions in exchange for continued funding MORE (Maine) and Lisa MurkowskiLisa MurkowskiAARP rips GOP's 'harmful' healthcare legislation Healthcare bill faces steep climb in Senate Overnight Energy: Another setback for Dakota Access opponents MORE (Alaska), have objected to including language in the bill defunding Planned Parenthood a top priority of House conservatives.
Collins and Murkowski told reporters Tuesday that they were reviewing the newly released legislation.
Three other Republican senators Rob PortmanRob PortmanAARP rips GOP's 'harmful' healthcare legislation Healthcare bill faces steep climb in Senate Conservative groups blast GOP healthcare plan MORE (Ohio), Shelley Moore CapitoShelley Moore CapitoAARP rips GOP's 'harmful' healthcare legislation Healthcare bill faces steep climb in Senate Conservative groups blast GOP healthcare plan MORE (W.Va.) and Cory GardnerCory GardnerAARP rips GOP's 'harmful' healthcare legislation Healthcare bill faces steep climb in Senate Conservative groups blast GOP healthcare plan MORE (Colo.) along with Murkowski sent a letter to McConnell Monday warning him that a draft House healthcare plan that leaked last month failed to ensure stability for hundreds of thousands of people in their states who were newly enrolled in Medicaid under ObamaCare.
Sen. Dean HellerDean HellerHealthcare bill faces steep climb in Senate On the commercialization path: New research supports women in STEM Overnight Cybersecurity: Sessions recuses himself from Russia probe | Bill would help states with cybersecurity | Typo took down Amazon cloud MORE (R-Nev.), widely considered the most vulnerable Senate Republican incumbent in 2018, has also raised concerns about rolling back the Medicaid expansion. On Tuesday he said he hadnt yet reviewed the House bill.
Taken together, its clear that there will be a large number Republican votes for McConnell to shore up by the week of March 27, when he plans to bring the American Health Care Act to the Senate floor, provided the legislation passes the House on schedule.
McConnell wants to get the bill done before the Senate begins debate on Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch, who is scheduled to reach the floor the first week of April. Congress is scheduled to leave town April 7 for a two-week recess.
Democrats made clear Tuesday that GOP leaders shouldnt expect any votes from their side of the aisle.
Senate Democratic Leader Charles SchumerCharles SchumerWhy Jeff Sessions must resign Schumer promises Dems will try to defeat 'Trumpcare' Conway: Dems want 'to stop everything' Trump is trying to do MORE (N.Y.) vowed that his caucus would fight tooth and nail against TrumpCare.
TrumpCare means higher costs for less healthcare, plain and simple, he said. TrumpCare cuts taxes on the very wealthy while forcing average Americans to pay more. Premiums are going to go up.
McConnell called in the heavy artillery Tuesday by inviting Pence to a Senate GOP lunch to persuade wavering colleagues to get behind the House bill.
Pence told lawmakers pointedly that Trump supports the legislation, and while hes open to making changes, he will not scrap it and start over, as some conservatives would prefer.
Were certainly open to improvements and to recommendations in the legislative process, Pence told reporters after the meeting, though he emphasized that this is the bill.
Over the next several weeks McConnell and his leadership team will argue to colleagues that voters are expecting action from Congress, and this month presents them with a historic opportunity to deliver on their campaign promises to repeal ObamaCare.
The American people have given us an opportunity to govern. Were no longer floating ideas, McConnell said. We have an obligation now to the American people to deliver a replacement for ObamaCare that is better than the status quo.
He noted ObamaCare was a huge issue in the 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2016 elections.
Pence tried to reassure Republicans nervous about capping the Medicaid expansion that the House bill would return resources and flexibility to the states that will allow them to reform Medicaid so it can more effectively meet the needs of our most vulnerable citizens.
Gardner, who signed the letter to McConnell expressing concerns about Medicaid, said Tuesday hes still trying to understand the details of how the House bill would impact low-income constituents.
Were looking at it, he said.
Specifically, he wants to figure out whether new Medicaid enrollees starting in the year 2020 will still be eligible for the same federal subsidies that have covered the cost of expanding the program in 31 states under ObamaCare.
You can add new people to the program. At least, thats the way we initially understand it, he said.
Centrist Democrats showed no signs of being inclined to back the House GOP bill.
Sen. Jon TesterJon TesterHealthcare bill faces steep climb in Senate Liberals threaten to primary over Gorsuch Dem senator introduces bill to 'drain the swamp' MORE (D-Mont.), who is up for reelection next year in a state Trump won by 20 points, said he has serious reservations.
Some things theyre doing with Medicaid [are] not going to be helpful. Im not sure theyre helping with lowering premiums for people who are really getting gouged with big premiums, he said. On first blush, its certainly got some issues. Major issues.
Sen. Joe ManchinJoe ManchinHealthcare bill faces steep climb in Senate Liberals threaten to primary over Gorsuch Get wise, GOP. The healthcare groundswell isn't going away MORE (D-W.Va.), who is running next year in a state Trump won by nearly 42 points, said he was reviewing the bill.
Manchin said, however, that he would not vote for legislation he views as a straight repeal of ObamaCare.
Schumer told reporters that the House bill is an ObamaCare repeal, even though it will keep in place some of the laws reforms, such as allowing adults to stay on their parents health plans until age 26.
Republicans say it would also bar insurance companies from discriminating against people with pre-existing medical conditions, but Democratic leaders are disputing that claim.
Jessie Hellmann contributed.
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A new Republican health care plan keeps much of the basic framework set up by Obamacare, but with a conservative twist, analysts say.
But it's full of holes, with no detail on how to pay for its provisions and no estimates at all of how much it will cost taxpayers.
While conservatives praised the emphasis on personal responsibility, liberals said it would take newly won health insurance away from millions and cost people protection from some of the worst abuses of the insurance industry.
And it's not even clear if all Republicans in Congress will vote for it. At best, analysts agreed, it's a work in progress.
"I think their basic overriding philosophy is to let the states decide a lot of things, which is sensible," said economist Douglas Holtz-Eakin, president of the American Action Forum and a former director of the Congressional Budget Office.
Related: Entry Ban Could Cause Doctor Droughts in Pro-Trump States
Moments after the House Energy and Commerce and Ways and Means committees unveiled their plans on Monday, Michigan Republican Rep. Justin Amash called it "Obamacare 2.0" on Twitter.
Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, another Republican, called it "Obamacare Lite."
"What they kind of have is a repeal plus," said healthcare expert Joe Antos of the American Enterprise Institute, who's done stints in the Congressional Budget Office and the Health and Human Services Department.
"This is a kind of a hodge podge and I don't see it's much different from what we saw a few weeks ago," Antos told NBC News.
The plan stops the unpopular mandate that required almost everyone to have some sort of health insurance. It replaces that by allowing health insurance companies to charge 30 percent higher premiums if customers had gone 63 days or more without health insurance.
Both provisions were meant to prevent people from waiting to buy health insurance until they were sick.
"That could encourage some healthy people to sign up initially," said Larry Levitt, a health policy expert at the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation.
Related: Is Obamacare Collapsing?
The 2010 Affordable Care Act required health insurance companies to cover anyone who wanted to buy insurance, and is laid out a minimum list of conditions that had to be covered or services provided, from pregnancy care to cancer screenings.
It stopped a once-common practice of capping coverage once a customer started costing too much, and aimed to limit bare-bones plans that covered almost nothing.
Many of these appear to be preserved in the new plans, at least for a time, along with another popular provision that allowed young adults to stay on their parents' plans until they turned 26.
The new American Health Care Act would allow health insurance companies to charge older people five times as much as they charge younger clients the current limit is three times as much.
Taxes that paid for the old Obamacare subsidies, which helps an estimated 85 percent of people who bought private health insurance on the exchanges, are gone. Instead of subsidies, the plan provides tax credits for people making less than $75,000 a year.
There are few details on how the Republicans plan to pay for the tax credits, however.
"I don't understand where the money comes from. I understand what they have taken away, said Republican health economist Gail Wilensky, who now is a senior fellow at Project HOPE. "It's just a mystery."
Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, a strong supporter of Obamacare, said it will return many Americans to pre-Obamacare days.
"This bill would strip coverage from millions of people and drive up consumer costs. It shreds the Medicaid social safety net that serves more than 72 million people, including many children, senior citizens and people with disabilities," said Pollack. "And it once again leaves millions of people in America with chronic illness and disease at the mercy of insurance companies."
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi on Capitol Hill on Jan. 4. Kevin Lamarque / Reuters
House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California called it a "Make America Sick Again" bill.
"Republicans even enable insurers to once again charge more or deny coverage to millions of Americans with pre-existing conditions, abandoning those families who lapse in coverage for any reason at all," she said
House Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr., a New Jersey Democrat, and Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Richard Neal of Massachusetts said they could would not support the plan.
"The Republican repeal bill would rip health care away from millions of Americans, ration care for working families and seniors, and put insurance companies back in charge of health care decisions contrary to everything President Trump has said he would do with his health care plan," they said in a joint statement.
The plan sets out a path to revising Medicaid, the joint state-federal health plan for low income people. It allows the 31 states plus Washington D.C. that expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act to keep getting federal funding to do that but inexplicably leaves out the 19 most Republican states that refused to take part.
Instead, those states will get cash. It's not enough, said Wilensky. "I don't think $10 billion is enough," she said.
Baltimore City Health Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen says the changes to Medicaid will eventually leave many people out in the cold. "Medicaid provides the ultimate safety net for individuals who need it the most. I am extremely concerned about that," she said.
The ACA was designed to get health insurance to more Americans, and it did. At least 20 million more people have health insurance than before the law was enacted, about half of them on new exchanges set up to help people buy private health insurance, often with federal subsidies, and about half through an expansion of Medicaid.
In 2010, the year the law was signed, 48.6 million Americans or 16 percent of the population had no health insurance. The ACA brought that to below 9 percent.
Republicans are wary of making changes that will take health insurance away from millions of Americans, but are under pressure to make the reforms look more like a return to private industry, with less government oversight.
Antos said the plan may compromise too much.
"Some Republicans will say, 'No, you've gone too far (and) give things away' and other Republicans will say, especially in the Senate, 'you haven't gone far enough to say what you are going to replace it with'," he said.
"So it seems like there's a sweet spot here, but it's not a sweet spot that a politician would want to be in."
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Obamacare Lite? New GOP Health Care Bill Has Host of Critics - NBCNews.com
U.S. Representative Pramila Jayapal believes a single-payer health care system would provide coverage to every American for less money, and could be supported by modest new taxes based on patients' ability to pay. (Photo: KOMO News)
SEATTLE U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal wants to strip "profits" out of the health care equation, even as Republicans try to bring an end to the Affordable Care Act.
The congresswoman says America needs to hand over health care financing to a public agency, and stop helping insurance companies earn money off of people's illnesses.
I say that we keep up the fight and we continue to push to make sure that we save our health care, Jayapal told the cheering crowd gathered at Town Hall.
Republican leaders want to dismantle the ACA in favor of a new insurance system centered on tax credits. Jayapal said the problem with that plan is that it is still profit-driven.
There is some discussion going on about how we pivot to the idea of single payer system with no profit," the congresswoman said.
Jayapal believes a single-payer system would provide coverage to every American for less money, and could be supported by modest new taxes based on patients' ability to pay.
I don't think that we don't have enough money, Jayapal said. The issue is that we're not taxing the right people with the right rates."
In contrast, Republicans would offer a range of tax credits tied to age and income for people to buy insurance. Jayapal admits her version of "Medicare for all" has yet to go mainstream but said she is winning people over to the idea.
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Jayapal urges single-payer health care at town hall - KOMO News
Alliance of Companies Unveil First Steps Aimed at Cutting Health ... Wall Street Journal (subscription) A U.S. alliance formed last year by more than three dozen companies, including American Express Co., Johnson & Johnson and Macy's Inc., is announcing its ... |
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WASHINGTON House Republicans on Monday released their long-awaited plan for unraveling former President Barack Obama's health care law, a package that would scale back the government's role in health care and likely leave more Americans uninsured.
House committees planned to begin voting on the 123-page legislation Wednesday, launching what could be the year's defining battle in Congress and capping a seven-year Republican effort to repeal the 2010 law. Though GOP leaders expect their measure to win the backing of the Trump administration, divisions remain and GOP success is by no means ensured.
The plan would repeal the statute's unpopular fines on people who don't carry health insurance. It would replace income-based subsidies the law provides to help millions of Americans pay premiums with age-based tax credits that may be less generous to people with low incomes. Those payments would phase out for higher-earning people.
The bill would continue Obama's expansion of Medicaid to additional low-earning Americans until 2020. After that, states adding Medicaid recipients would no longer receive the additional federal funds the statute has provided.
More significantly, Republicans would overhaul the federal-state Medicaid program, changing its open-ended federal financing to a limit based on enrollment and costs in each state.
In perhaps their riskiest political gamble, the plan is expected to cover fewer than the 20 million people insured under Obama's overhaul, including many residents of states carried by President Donald Trump in November's election.
Republicans said they don't have official estimates on those figures yet. But aides from both parties and nonpartisan analysts have said they expect coverage numbers to be lower.
House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said the bill would "drive down costs, encourage competition, and give every American access to quality, affordable health insurance." He added, "This unified Republican government will deliver relief and peace of mind to the millions of Americans suffering under Obamacare."
But besides solid opposition from Democrats, there were signals galore that Republican leaders faced problems within their own party, including from conservatives complaining that the measure isn't aggressive enough in repealing parts of Obama's law.
"It still looks like Obamacare-lite to me," said Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., among three Senate conservatives who have criticized the emerging GOP bill. "It's going to have to be better."
The Republican tax credits ranging from $2,000 to $14,000 for families would be refundable, meaning even people with no tax liability would receive the payments. Conservatives have objected that that feature creates a new entitlement program the government cannot afford.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, wouldn't rule out changes in the measure by his chamber, where significant numbers of moderate Republicans have expressed concerns that the measure could leave too many voters without coverage.
"The House has the right to come up with what it wants to and present it to the Senate by passing it. And we have a right to look it over and see if we like it or don't," Hatch told reporters.
Underscoring those worries, four GOP senators released a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., shortly before the bill was unveiled.
They complained that an earlier, similar draft of the measure "does not provide stability and certainty for individuals and families in Medicaid expansion programs or the necessary flexibility for states." Signing the letter were Sens. Rob Portman of Ohio, Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, Cory Gardner of Colorado and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.
Thirty-one states and the District of Columbia opted to expand Medicaid coverage under the law and accept beefed-up federal spending for the program. Around half those states have GOP governors, who are largely reluctant to see that spending curtailed.
In another feature that could alienate moderate Republicans, the measure would block for one year federal payments to Planned Parenthood, the women's health organization long opposed by many in the party because it provides abortions. It also forbids people receiving tax credits to help pay premiums to buy coverage under a plan that provides abortions.
Republicans said they'd not yet received official cost estimates on the overall bill from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. That office's projections on the bill's price tag and the number of people the measure would cover could be key in winning over recalcitrant Republicans, or making them even harder to win over.
A series of tax increases on higher-earning people, the insurance industry and others used to finance the Obama overhaul's coverage expansion would be repealed as of 2018.
In a last-minute change to satisfy conservative lawmakers, business and unions, Republicans dropped a plan pushed by Ryan to impose a first-ever tax on the most generous employer-provided health plans.
Popular consumer protections in the Obama law would be retained, such as insurance safeguards for people with pre-existing medical problems, and parents' ability to keep young adult children on their insurance until age 26.
Associated Press writers Mary Clare Jalonick and Andrew Taylor contributed to this report.
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UPDATE: House GOP releases bill replacing Obama health care overhaul - nwitimes.com
WASHINGTON Republican U.S. lawmakers expect to unveil this week the text of long-awaited legislation to repeal and replace the Obamacare healthcare law, one of President Donald Trump's top legislative priorities, a senior Republican congressional aide said on Sunday.
Since taking office in January, Trump has pressed his fellow Republicans who control Congress to act quickly to dismantle former Democratic President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act and pass a plan to replace it, but lawmakers in the party have differed on the specifics.
Democrats have warned that Republicans risk throwing the entire U.S. healthcare system into chaos by repealing the 2010 law that was passed by congressional Democrats over united Republican opposition. Republicans condemn it as a government overreach, and Trump has called it a "disaster."
The aide cited progress in meetings and phone calls starting on Friday and lasting through the weekend involving House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, White House budget chief Mick Mulvaney, Trump domestic policy adviser Andrew Bremberg and others.
"We are in a very good place right now, and while drafting continues, we anticipate the release of final bill text early this week," said the aide, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The aide called the expected bill a "consensus Republican plan," but offered no details.
AshLee Strong, a spokeswoman for Ryan, said: "We are now at the culmination of a years-long process to keep our promise to the American people."
The Obamacare law has proven popular in many states, even some controlled by Republicans, and it enabled about 20 million previously uninsured people to get medical insurance, although premium increases angered some.
(Reporting by Susan Cornwell; Writing by Will Dunham; Editing by Peter Cooney)
When Paul Ryan, speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, talks of social mobility, about helping struggling Americans move out of impoverished areas to give them greater opportunity, Shiva Daniels is the kind of person he has in mind.
WASHINGTON The White House budget director confirmed Saturday that the Trump administration will propose "fairly dramatic reductions" in the U.S. foreign aid budget later this month.
WASHINGTON Foreigners aiming for temporary jobs at high-tech U.S. companies will undergo a longer visa approval process after the Trump administration announced it will temporarily suspend expedited applications for H-1B visas.
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US Republicans expected to unveil healthcare bill this week - Reuters
Republicans will introduce their much-awaited bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act this week, a senior House Republican aide told NBC News on Sunday.
"We are in a very good place right now," said the aide, who asked not to be identified.
AshLee Strong, a spokeswoman for House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin, told NBC News: "We are now at the culmination of a years-long process to keep our promise to the American people."
A draft bill obtained by NBC News would repeal much of the current law, also known as Obamacare, within the next few years and set in place a Republican vision of health care.
The draft legislation would provide expanded tax credits and health savings accounts for individuals while reducing federal spending on tax subsidies and Medicaid and practically eliminating the employer and individual mandates to provide and carry health insurance.
It wasn't clear Sunday night to what extent the draft legislation, dated Feb. 10, may have changed in the last three weeks, but at the time, an aide to a House Republican said: "This is the bones of what's going to happen."
President Donald Trump met with health insurance chief executives at the White House last week to try to win their support for the Republican revamp.
Only 12 percent of Americans said they had a "great deal" or "quite a bit" of confidence in health insurance companies in a NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll in December. In contrast, 54 percent said they had "very little" or "none at all."
Under the draft bill, Americans who need assistance to buy health care would receive a tax credit with an option to receive it in advance on a monthly basis based on age. A person under 30 would be eligible for a $2,000 tax credit, while a person over 60 would be eligible for a $4,000 credit.
The measure would also create state-based high-risk pools for people who don't have access to insurance. The federal government would start providing $15 billion to help fund the high-risk pools next year, but the funding would decrease to $10 billion by 2020 and beyond.
And the legislation would greatly expand the use of health savings accounts, a tax-deductible way to buy health insurance, which has become a top Republican priority.
The largest funding mechanism would be a tax on the most expensive employer-provided health insurance plans.
The anticipated release of the plan follows a series of town hall meetings across the country during which angry constituents berated Republican lawmakers over health care policy, pouring particular scorn on the idea of tax credits and health savings accounts.
Some Republican senators have already threatened to vote it against it, including Rand Paul of Kentucky, who lambasted the bill-writing process as overly secretive last week.
"The only copy we've seen is from the media," Paul said. "Now we're told it's being classified and the hearing is like a security clearance hearing you have to have security clearance and permission and have to be on the committee to see the bill."
Making good on promises of "repeal and replace" has proven difficult for Republicans, since members of the party are divided on what a replacement should look like and how much it should cost. Republican leaders, meanwhile, have promised not to "pull the rug" out from under people who are covered by current law.
But the senior House aide told NBC News on Sunday that there was a large staff meeting at the White House on Friday to resolve outstanding issues, while heath care committees in Congress worked over the weekend to incorporate technical guidance.
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Republicans to Introduce Health Care Replacement Bill This Week - NBCNews.com
In a recent interview with STAT, Rep. Roger Marshall (R-KS) says he is not on board with Obamacares Medicaid expansion because he is sure that some poor people simply dont want health care.
Just like Jesus said, The poor will always be with us, Marshall, a doctor and first-term congressman, said. There is a group of people that just dont want health care and arent going to take care of themselves.
Lev Facher who wrote the article, said that he pressed Marshall on that comment and the congressman shrugged.
The Medicaid population, which is [on] a free credit card, as a group, do probably the least preventive medicine and taking care of themselves and eating healthy and exercising. And Im not judging, Im just saying socially thats where they are, Marshall stated. So theres a group of people that even with unlimited access to health care are only going to use the emergency room when their arm is chopped off or when their pneumonia is so bad they get brought [into] the ER.
A Harvard School of Public Health study showed the opposite. It was published last summer and showed that the Medicaid expansion resulted in low-income families having better health and fewer ER visits.
Two years after Medicaid coverage was expanded under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in their states, low-income adults in Kentucky and Arkansas received more primary and preventive care, made fewer emergency departments visits, and reported higher quality care and improved health compared with low-income adults in Texas, which did not expand Medicaid, according to a new study led by researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, one summary of the study states. The findings provide new evidence for states that are debating whether to expand or how to expand coverage to low-income adults.
GOP moves to dismantle Education Department after confirmingDeVos
Other studies have found similar results.
Marshall seems much more concerned with those who come from higher economic backgrounds.
When discussing the hospital he had a hand in running he said, Our vision was that we would look more like a hotel with customer service that delivered five-star health care.
So our cafeteria looks more like a coffee shop than it does a sterile hospital dining room. We have bright windows everywhere, and outside of every window theres a garden. Thinking that healing is more than just a knife and a needle.
The STAT interview was set up to showcase Marshalls role in the GOP Doctors Caucus. The caucus has been described as a group of 16 lawmakers with health care backgrounds who have put themselves at the center of the effort to unwind the Affordable Care Act.
Trump has promised to repeal Obamacare and has taken steps to begin doing so. It has not gone as smoothly as he had intended however with plenty of pushback from Democrats and the American public.
Very few have gotten to see details about the replacement plan though the vote on it could come as soon as next week.
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GOP congressman thinks poor people don't want health care - The Grio