False promises

TRUMPCARE could be so much worse than Obamacare that it would barely deserve the name “insurance”. Republicans say the Affordable Care Act provides health insurance that manages to be both lousy and expensive. Whatever the flaws of these policies, the new Trump administration is trying to pull off a con by offering Americans coverage that would leave many millions without the medical care they need.

This reality became increasingly clear when President Trump’s choice to run the Department of Health and Human Services, Tom Price, testified before a Senate committee last week. He looked pained as he described the terrible predicament of people who earned around $30 000 to $50 000 a year and had to deny “themselves the kind of care that they need” because they had Obamacare policies with deductibles of $6 000 to $12 000.

Yet, earlier in the same hearing, Mr Price extolled the virtues of policies that would be woefully inadequate – policies that cover medical treatment only in catastrophic cases. Such policies often have deductibles of around $14 000 for family coverage. This is simple hypocrisy. Condemn the policy you don’t like, propose something far worse as a replacement, and claim that it is much better.

When it comes to health care, Mr Price and other Republicans say their goal is to give people more choices. It is hard to argue against choice. But in the ideological world inhabited by Mr Price, choice is often a euphemism for scrapping sensible regulations.

Some Americans might well be tempted by this approach. They would have to pay less up front for these skeletal policies than they do now for comprehensive coverage. But when people need to recover from accidents, treat diabetes, have a baby or battle addiction, they will be hit by overwhelming bills. The Trump administration seems willing to sell those people down the river with false promises.