Court backs Trump expansion of cheap health insurance plans

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — A divided federal appeals court on Friday upheld the Trump administration’s expansion of cheaper short-term health insurance plans, derided by critics as “junk insurance,” as an alternative to the Affordable Care Act’s costlier comprehensive insurance.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said in a 2-1 decision that the administration had the legal authority to increase the duration of the health plans from three to 12 months, with the option of renewing them for 36 months. The plans do not have to cover people with preexisting conditions or provide basic benefits like prescription drugs.

President Donald Trump, who wants to get rid of the entire health care law but failed to repeal it in Congress, has praised the plans as “much less expensive health care at a much lower price.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the decision would allow the administration to “keep railroading vulnerable families into shoddy junk health insurance plans.”

-snip-

By MARK SHERMAN
17 minutes ago


Read more: https://apnews.com/b86ad28a80a6d067cfd2f4b83c3c876d

[Bettie]

1. Yeah, they are cheaper

because they cover virtually nothing.

So, it is a "pay us, but don't expect any of your care to be paid for...ever" plan.

[iluvtennis]

2. Glad the Dems have control of the House as these shitshow plans will never be approved.nt

[bucolic_frolic]

3. It's like buying a new car - with bicycle tires /nt

[keithbvadu2]

4. Where is the better, cheaper healthcare that Trump promised?

Where is the better, cheaper healthcare that Trump promised?

The plan is a-l-m-o-s-t ready

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/01/16/trump-reportedly-insists-healthcare-replacement-will-have-insurance-for-everybody.html


January 16, 2017 Fox News

President-elect Donald Trump revealed in an interview with The Washington Post that he’s almost finished with a plan to replace ObamaCare and vowed to have “insurance for everybody."

---

The president-elect insisted that his plan for replacing the Affordable Healthcare Act is all but finished, and added that care would have “lower numbers, much lower deductibles.” He went as far to say that he’s ready to reveal it alongside Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan.

[progree]

6. He backed the House Repub's AHCA and the Senate Repub's BCRA in 2017

Problem: they were awful

This Wikipedia articles covers both the AHCA (American Health Care Act) and the BCRA (Better Care Reconciliation Act)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Health_Care_Act_of_2017

H.R. 1628, American Health Care Act of 2017, Cost Estimate, CBO, 5/24/17
https://www.cbo.gov/publication/52752
would increase the number of people who are uninsured by 23 million in 2026 relative to current law.


H.R. 1628, Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017, Cost Estimate, CBO, 6/26/17
https://www.cbo.gov/publication/52849
A little bit better: leaving 22 million uninsured in 2026 relative to current law.

Both can only be described as acts of attempted American Genocide.

Fortunately it failed by one vote in the Senate (John McCain's famous thumb down gesture)

But in several smaller ways the administration managed to reduce the number of insured, e.g. ending risk corridors and expanding junk insurance plans and no longer funding Cost Sharing Reductions (CSRs) for those between 100% and 250% of poverty. Also cutting in half the ACA open enrollment period, and decimating funding for the navigators that help people with ACA enrollment, and decimating outreach and advertising.

Oh, to answer your question, obviously none of this is better. Cheaper? The AHCA and BCRA would have been much more expensive for most people, by far, with most of the extra expense (compared to the ACA) going to tax cuts as I recall.

Junk insurance? that's probably cheaper as far as premiums, but not when the hospital and doctors bills start arriving.

[dalton99a]

5. Trump's plans do not cover preexisting conditions and prescription drugs

What a fucking scam