Republicans unveil plan to repeal, replace Obamacare

Trump is willing to waste billions on a wall we don't need,plus spend taxpayers money traveling back and forth to FL, and I don't hear the republicans complaining, but help people who need health insurance? No way! They will peel away at the ACA until there is nothing left. I despise the republican congress. Most low-income people don't make enough money to qualify for any tax credits. They get the flying finger of fate from the GOP.

You can't have Americans forced to up their premiums 'at gunpoint'. Obamacare was badly thought out, and horribly executed. 'You can keep the docors you have now.' Nope. Not true. "Your health insurance premiums will not go up." Also not true. Obamacare is a bad thing. Just is.

health insurance premiums will not go up

Interesting. So, premiums hadn't gone up before Obamacare?

Interesting. So, premiums hadn't gone up before Obamacare?

At slight increments? Yes.

To the tune they have Obamacare? No.

The No1 economy in the world can't provide health care to its citizens, unlike most other developed countries. But need a bigger better bomb well that's a give in, blast the hell out of inpoverished nations makes way more sence than providing health care for its own. Gotta love it.

Jason, you are wrong. The ACA saw a slight flattening of the medical inflation curve.

We can simply hope that this will not pass. Obviously, Ryan can be assured that he will receive zero Dem votes, and his own caucus will be deeply divided - some who feel it does not go far enough, some who rebel against its needless cruelty.

An example of the latter: the ACA mandates what procedures health insurance must contain; the Repub plan does not. One sacrifice will be maternity care. Once again, insurance for women of childbearing age will be more expensive; once again, the so-called "pro-life" party shows its true colors. It is not pro-life; it is anti-abortion. Needless cruelty.

Laguna, The research I've done shows after Obamacare took effect, things rose sharply for many. It's a flawed system, that was poorly enacted. It was rushed, that's easy to see. Some agree, some don't. shrugs

Jason, clearly such a complex system would contain flaws; the Dems have called on the Repubs to open up the law so as to fix these flaws, but the Repubs refuse to work in good faith - opening up the law would have left it open to Repub attempts to gut it. So the flaws have remained. And, no, the medical inflation curve did flatten under the ACA, according to most every reliable study. This does not necessarily mean that this would affect an individual's premium; it refers total medical inflation, which is really the most important consideration.

The current Repub proposal would result in healthier portions of the population forgoing insurance altogether, leaving a sicker population as the only customers for insurance companies - which will, predictably, flee the market. In other words, unless you're getting insurance from your company or from Medicare, there will be no vendors to provide it even if you are young and healthy.

And regarding Medicare: The plan allows expansion enabled by the ACA to remain through 2020. Hmm - one might wonder the timing: yanking healthcare from tens of millions might not play well in the ramp-up to that year's elections.

Again, the best scenario is that we'll never know how horrific this plan would be as it will not pass.

Laguna, the current system is putting many in a really bad place. It's a really flawed system.

To leave a flawed system in place? Not a good plan. Is the current list of changes the right move? Of course not. I never said it was.

But to leave it as is?

I also find the voting system on japantoday comedic. You carry on a respectful conversation with someone, and you get downvoted. Makes total sense. 'Thumb Up' everyone! eyeroll

not perfect, but a good start

Americans just wasted billions in tax payer's money on "Obamacare-lite", and it's already an even bigger failure than anything they claim Obamacare was.

To leave a flawed system in place? Not a good plan. Is the current list of changes the right move? Of course not.

Flawed logic. Let's say you have a ruptured achilles (as I do) - not a nice thing to have, but leaving it as it is is clearly better than simply removing it. The benefits of the ACA far outnumber its flaws (one reason why many do not believe so is the badmouthing it has constantly received by the GOP). From the beginning, it was viewed as a major but only initial step towards a more comprehensive system, one with a single-payer option.

Here is another example of how the GOP plan will adversely effect the system: hospitals remain required under a Reagan-era law to treat anyone who shows up at an emergency room. Their costs are partially reimbursed by the government and partially by charging insured patients more. As part of the grand ACA bargain, hospitals agreed to accept a far lower level of reimbursement, assuming (correctly, it turns out) that the number of uninsured they would have to treat would be lowered. Now, this number will skyrocket again, and you can bet that hospitals will be agitating for more funding.

This is just another example of the malevolent ways the GOP plan will cascade through the system. Insurers will pull out of markets, lower-income people will become uninsurable and forgo preventive healthcare, relying instead on emergency rooms; hospitals will demand higher compensation from the government - essentially, we'll be back to the American healthcare "system" as it was before the ACA.

Jason...you keep saying flawed system and that you have done research...and yet you provide nothing specific. That is why you are getting down votes.

At slight increments? Yes.

More right wing propaganda.

Health care costs and insurance costs have been a run away train eating more and more GDP each year. There is nothing slight about it.

“Simply put, we have a Better Way to deliver solutions that put patients—not bureaucrats—first, and we are moving forward united in our efforts to rescue the American people from the mess Obamacare has created.”

The "better way" is to provide a tax credit depending on age alone and allow people to pay insurance costs for their own level risk.

If you are rich and/or can afford health insurance, you get more money from the GoP.

If you are not rich and cannot afford health insurance, you get money from the GoP, but it will not be enough to pay for health insurance, e.g., USD1,000/year.

If you are young and healthy, then your insurance rates should be low because your policy will depend on the risk.

If you are not young and healthy, then you better be rich or else you will not be able to afford insurance.

Medicare to states would be cut.

Trump's promise of insurance coverage for everyone, just another one of his lies.

Honestly, the GoP will not pass this bill for two reasons: (1) It pays an entitlement in the form of a tax credit that many in the GoP are opposed to and isn't even funded without more taxes, and (2) the public's awareness of the benefits of ACA is starting to overcome the GoP propaganda, e.g., death panels for people over age 70, and the GoP is feeling the potential backlash if they gut the ACA.

Any word on how many will lose insurance?

There is no Republican plan to replace Obamacare, they only want to destroy it. It is time to stop saying that they want to replace the ACA.

Any word on how many will lose insurance?

I have only read only one article from Dec. 2016 putting the number at 30 million people.

Other more current estimates only say tens of millions.

Superlib, interesting analysis here https://thefederalist.com/2017/03/06/house-republicans-rewriting-obamacare-replacement/ discusses how changing the financial penalty for NOT having insurance to a credit FOR having insurance (aside from being a huge pain on your tax return) could cause many corporations to swap company-sponsored insurance with simple cash grants for their employees to buy their own insurance. Many - perhaps most - wouldn't, of course. The point is that not only would the poor and the elderly be hurt (tens of millions there), but traditional employer-sponsored insurance could be upended as well.

Chaos.

I still think the US should adopt a tax payment system where everyone pays into the health service, making it free at the point of delivery. That way no-one need worry about paying medical bills. Then again the American healthcare system is set up so that it makes a profit before making people better.

The most telling line in the article:

"Republicans have not provided a cost figure for the new plan, or estimates on how many people might be covered."

Guess those minor details aren't very important to Trump and his team of clowns. Sounds very Trumpian as usual. Big on ideas, small on details/specifics/evidence/cost.....

@Jason Campbell

Would you be OK with expanding Medicare then ?

It seems they are stopping the theft of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac dividends to pay for Obamacare subsidies with this new bill.

People can make honest cliams and false claims about the ACA and Trumps new plan. One thing is for sure! The corporate MSM will NEVER open the door of serious debate questioning the corruption/lobbying of both parties by big pharma and big insurance. The corporate MSM love the division as long as it never strolls into the realm of Single Payer.

Single Payer is the only way. The corporate control will never allow it, and party loyalty whining is just a waste of time.

Any word on the cost?

Any word on the cost?

Only the soul of America.

Hilarious the downvotes. Gives me a grin that carrying on a civil conversation can raise such ire. Comments like 'Right wing propaganda' when my health insurance rates went up by 450% when Obamacare took effect. Yes. That's it. I'm just a huge right winger, giving my experience. The people on this forum. Just astounding. : P