House’s health care bill is a total disaster
The health care bill narrowly approved by Republicans Thursday in the House is a disaster, not only for California but also for all 50 states. It has more fatal flaws than Donald Trump has hotels.
The Senate should reject it out of hand and insist the House start over on a plan to actually improve the system.
Nobody disputes that improvement is needed. But this legislation breaks every promise Trump made to Americans about his reforms.
Far from “insurance for everybody,” it will drive tens of thousands of Americans off the health care rolls. Far from a “lot less expensive” for everyone —“the government, consumers, providers” — it will cost older Americans, not to mention lower-income Americans, far more. It will defund disease prevention programs that now save public hospitals billions of dollars.
Republicans used to whine that Obamacare was passed without any Republican votes, but Obama and Democrats tried for a year to win GOP support before going it alone with a plan — based on one Republican Mitt Romney had devised for Massachusetts.
This time, the GOP majority didn’t even talk to Democrats. Nor did it bring in insurers, health care economists or medical organizations to identify and resolve problems.
The process was so secretive, conservative Sen. Rand Paul had this to say Thursday: “We’re here asking for a written copy of this because this should be an open and transparent process. This is being presented as if it’s a national secret. As if it’s a plot to invade another country.”
That’s right. Even Republicans couldn’t see the bill in writing. Worst of all, the House didn’t wait for the scrupulously objective Congressional Budget Office, run by a Republican conservative, to score the bill. There was no independent analysis of how much the proposed system will cost or how many people will gain or lose coverage — although it’s clear from the basic premises that it will hurt more Americans than the last try.
And that provision to deal with those pesky preexisting conditions? It’s a sham. The $8 billion a year allocated to reimburse insurers for taking on highrisk patients is nowhere close to what would be needed to cover the costs. Patients will pay the price in astronomically high bills, or loss of coverage entirely.
Meanwhile, cases of beer were rolled into the Capitol just before the vote, past the protesters outside, and President Trump rolled out the welcome mat at “the beautiful” White House Rose Garden for a celebration with House Republicans of this “victory for the American people.”
While they party, people over 50, parents of children with lifelong medical challenges and anyone else who has benefited from Obama’s Affordable Care Act — however deeply flawed — better look up their senators’ contact information. The Senate now is their only hope.