Senate GOP Releases Its "Health" Bill - And It's Really Bad

(Cartoon image is by Bill Day at cagle.com.)

When the House of Representatives passed their "repeal and replace" of Obamacare -- the AHCA -- many Republican senators said it was dead on arrival. They were not telling the truth.

Majority Leader McConnell and a few of his closest henchmen took that House bill behind closed doors -- and they resuscitated it. They brought it back to life, and then they made it even worse. The House bill would have taken insurance away from at least 23 million Americans -- primarily through huge cuts to Medicaid, and severely cutting insurance subsidies. That wasn't good enough for the hard-hearted Senate Republicans. The cut the number of people who can get a subsidy by lowering eligibility from 400% of poverty level to 350%. Then they made even deeper cuts to Medicaid.

That wasn't enough though. They then gave states the right to waive the benefits required in insurance policies sold to the public. This means that we'll again see cheap policies sold that won't cover most of the things people need insurance for (emergency rooms, long-term care, drug/alcohol treatment, medical care without a cap, etc). Those policies will be cheaper -- util the consumer tries to use them.

For those who want to keep their essential benefits, this GOP bill will insure their premiums continue to go up. They'll go up because Americans will no longer be required to have health insurance, and employers will no longer be required to provide insurance for their employees. This means there will be less people with insurance -- and insurance companies will have to raise premium prices to compensate for that. They'll also have to raise premiums because this bill does nothing to control the fast-rising cost of medical care in the United States.

But this was never about providing decent health care for Americans anyway. The Republicans don't believe health care is a right. They think it's just another product to be sold to those who can afford it. This was a tax cut for the rich bill -- not a health care bill. The taxes that funded Obamacare were all repealed, and some of the rich will even get a refund of those taxes. And the Republicans didn't mind throwing 80% of Americans under the bus to achieve those tax cuts for the rich (their real constituency).

I could go on with my rant, but I think President Obama probably said it better with his Facebook post. He wrote:

Our politics are divided. They have been for a long time. And while I know that division makes it difficult to listen to Americans with whom we disagree, that’s what we need to do today.

I recognize that repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act has become a core tenet of the Republican Party. Still, I hope that our Senators, many of whom I know well, step back and measure what’s really at stake, and consider that the rationale for action, on health care or any other issue, must be something more than simply undoing something that Democrats did. 

We didn’t fight for the Affordable Care Act for more than a year in the public square for any personal or political gain – we fought for it because we knew it would save lives, prevent financial misery, and ultimately set this country we love on a better, healthier course. 

Nor did we fight for it alone. Thousands upon thousands of Americans, including Republicans, threw themselves into that collective effort, not for political reasons, but for intensely personal ones – a sick child, a parent lost to cancer, the memory of medical bills that threatened to derail their dreams.

And you made a difference. For the first time, more than ninety percent of Americans know the security of health insurance. Health care costs, while still rising, have been rising at the slowest pace in fifty years. Women can’t be charged more for their insurance, young adults can stay on their parents’ plan until they turn 26, contraceptive care and preventive care are now free. Paying more, or being denied insurance altogether due to a preexisting condition – we made that a thing of the past. 

We did these things together. So many of you made that change possible.

At the same time, I was careful to say again and again that while the Affordable Care Act represented a significant step forward for America, it was not perfect, nor could it be the end of our efforts – and that if Republicans could put together a plan that is demonstrably better than the improvements we made to our health care system, that covers as many people at less cost, I would gladly and publicly support it. 

That remains true. So I still hope that there are enough Republicans in Congress who remember that public service is not about sport or notching a political win, that there’s a reason we all chose to serve in the first place, and that hopefully, it’s to make people’s lives better, not worse. 

But right now, after eight years, the legislation rushed through the House and the Senate without public hearings or debate would do the opposite. It would raise costs, reduce coverage, roll back protections, and ruin Medicaid as we know it. That’s not my opinion, but rather the conclusion of all objective analyses, from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, which found that 23 million Americans would lose insurance, to America’s doctors, nurses, and hospitals on the front lines of our health care system.

The Senate bill, unveiled today, is not a health care bill. It’s a massive transfer of wealth from middle-class and poor families to the richest people in America. It hands enormous tax cuts to the rich and to the drug and insurance industries, paid for by cutting health care for everybody else. Those with private insurance will experience higher premiums and higher deductibles, with lower tax credits to help working families cover the costs, even as their plans might no longer cover pregnancy, mental health care, or expensive prescriptions. Discrimination based on pre-existing conditions could become the norm again. Millions of families will lose coverage entirely. 

Simply put, if there’s a chance you might get sick, get old, or start a family – this bill will do you harm. And small tweaks over the course of the next couple weeks, under the guise of making these bills easier to stomach, cannot change the fundamental meanness at the core of this legislation.

I hope our Senators ask themselves – what will happen to the Americans grappling with opioid addiction who suddenly lose their coverage? What will happen to pregnant mothers, children with disabilities, poor adults and seniors who need long-term care once they can no longer count on Medicaid? What will happen if you have a medical emergency when insurance companies are once again allowed to exclude the benefits you need, send you unlimited bills, or set unaffordable deductibles? What impossible choices will working parents be forced to make if their child’s cancer treatment costs them more than their life savings?

To put the American people through that pain – while giving billionaires and corporations a massive tax cut in return – that’s tough to fathom. But it’s what’s at stake right now. So it remains my fervent hope that we step back and try to deliver on what the American people need. 

That might take some time and compromise between Democrats and Republicans. But I believe that’s what people want to see. I believe it would demonstrate the kind of leadership that appeals to Americans across party lines. And I believe that it’s possible – if you are willing to make a difference again. If you’re willing to call your members of Congress. If you are willing to visit their offices. If you are willing to speak out, let them and the country know, in very real terms, what this means for you and your family.

After all, this debate has always been about something bigger than politics. It’s about the character of our country – who we are, and who we aspire to be. And that’s always worth fighting for.