The Parts of Obamacare Republicans Will Keep, Change or Discard

[CousinIT]

. . . MORE at link:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/03/06/us/politics/republican-obamacare-replacement.html

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

1. Thanks. This is a great synopsis. n/t

[iluvtennis]

13. +1000 thank you

[csziggy]

2. Trying to figure out how tax credits work for the very poor

Some friends of mine are on Social Security Disability. Because Rick Scott did not expand Medicaid they pay $186 per month for health insurance. Without the subsidy they get from the ACA their premiums would be more than the $1800 a month they get to live on.

How will tax credits help them? They pay no taxes. Already they don't have money for food by the end of the month.

Of course they have always voted Republican, against their own interests. But they don't deserve to die.

[Johnny2X2X]

6. Basically poor people get no insurance

People won't be able to afford their monthly payments with an aim for getting a tax credit each April, that's not how living poor works.

This will cause millions of the most needy to lose their health care coverage. It's a sick joke. Not a one of these Republicans in Congress remembers what it was like to work for a living.

[csziggy]

9. This will literally kill this couple.

They both have heart problems, both need regular monitoring for that and other health problems. They both worked until their doctors insisted they go on disability.

In the past, they have had medical debts forgiven and I guess they will have to return to that method of getting care.

[Johnny2X2X]

10. They don't care

They are so out of touch with working people and the poor. The subsidies are what makes having health care possible for millions, these will be gone. Expanded HSAs means nothing to the poor.

And I suspect they'll get rid of the limit on profits for the health insurance industry. And of course there is nothing about negotiating drug prices in their bill.

Prices will sore, millions will lose coverage, and thousands will die. But corporate profits will grow and that's all that matters to the GOP.

[csziggy]

11. I know. And these people brought it on themselves by voting republican for forty years.

S it is a little hard to feel sorry for them. But if I didn't I wouldn't be a democrat.

[WinkyDink]

7. They don't.

[Bengus81]

15. Hell,not even just the poor but just the retired..........

A BCBS plan I paid for out of pocket while still working and before ACA was about $290.00 per month when I was 57. This SAME plan under the ACA is now almost $850.00 per month. That $333.00 bucks per month that Trump wants to give out as a tax CREDIT won't work for myself and probably millions of others.

BTW,tax CREDIT. Meaning you pay the FULL premium price and then receive a refund next March or April?? This plan is just unworkable bullshit.

[csziggy]

16. I hope the insurance companies figure out how to get that money

They could provide coverage as if they were getting the monthly subsidies in exchange for people signing over their tax credits. Now that the companies are used to getting those bucks from more people they are not going to want to lose them.

[superpatriotman]

3. Kicked for visibility

Thank you for posting

[erpowers]

4. A Mandate Without Calling It A Mandate

So, it seems the Republican plan does actually have an individual mandate. President Obama and the Democrats were just up front about the mandate and the penalty for not getting healthcare. Republican are claiming there is no mandate when there actually is a mandate. If you do not get healthcare you will pay a penalty just like under the ACA. I guess the only difference is that the Republican plan could cause some people to just refuse to ever get healthcare because they will pay a penalty if they attempt to get coverage after not having coverage. Under ACA you stopped getting a penalty once you got healthcare.

I think it is better to base subsidies on income instead of age. With the tax credit plan, would a person making less than $75,000 get a tax credit for the full amount of the cost of healthcare? I wish the New York Times would have done a comparison of what type of subsidy the average 30 year old would have gotten under the ACA and what type of subsidy the average 30 year old would have gotten under the Republican plan.

[WinkyDink]

8. Today, $75,000 isn't a high bar.

[Tom Rinaldo]

5. No mention made here of repealing the prescription drug "doughnut hole" fix

I believe this list leaves out the fact that the ACA filled in the doughnut hole in prescription drug insurance costs for seniors that had to be paid out of pocket - saving retirees hundreds of dollars in some cases. From what I remember seeing, that benefit will be repealed by the Republicans (who also are repealing a series of taxes that mostly hit upper income people that wee being used to fund ACA provisions such as that.)

[Laura PourMeADrink]

12. The ludicrous conundrum - GOP didn't give two shits about people who couldn't afford healthcare

But they ran on this, nevertheless

They had to make it look better and that they saved the world

But now, they have to figure out a way to not vote for this without looking like schmucks.

I suspect it will be "too expensive" (p.s. the Wall is not

[Bernardo de La Paz]

14. Miss a payment, get surcharged 30% for years. Disgusting. . . . . nt

[JHan]

17. K & R