GOP celebrates passing TRUMPCARE through house. The bill would end care for people with diabetes, heart disease, cancer of pregnancy.
“A liberal think tank says hundreds of thousands of Americans [will] be left without coverage under the so-called Upton amendment, the Republican plan to cover Americans with pre-existing conditions under the health care overhaul passed on Thursday. GOP Reps. Fred Upton and Billy Long proposed an amendment [to Trumpcare 2.0] that would add $8 billion over five years to fund high-risk pools and go toward patients with pre-existing conditions in states that seek waivers under the Republican legislation.” Read story here.
The Upton amendment was essential for getting Trumpcare passed in the House, because it passed with only 1 vote to spare. Reps. Upton and Long came aboard after GOP leaders agreed to throw another “$8 billion over five years” into the pot.
Image: Your new health plan under Trump and the Republicans
Obamacare required insurers to cover people with pre-existing conditions at the same rates as others. The bill passed today undoes that. It allows insurers to refuse to insure patients with pre-existing conditions, and also does away with Obamacare’s federal subsidies to insurers for covering these patients. Instead, these patients will be thrown into high-risk pools, where they’ll be charged much higher rates.
So, exactly what is that $8 billion worth? Dividing by five years, it’s $1.6 billion a year; and dividing further by the U.S. population of roughly 325 million, it works out to average $5 per person a year.
The weirdest part of all this is that Trump seems to see passage by the House as a great achievement rather than just their 71st effort to “repeal and replace” Obamacare. Worse, it is now clear that the public wants and will insist on all the good things Obamacare does. The most the GOP can achieve is giving the ACA a new name!
U.S. President Donald Trump (C) gathers with Congressional Republicans in the Rose Garden of the White House after the House of Representatives approved the American Healthcare Act, to repeal major parts of Obamacare and replace it with the Republican healthcare plan, in Washington, U.S., May 4, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Barria