GOP Ignores Consequences of ACA Repeal
Republicans manufacture a crisis that will devastate millions of families. Common Dreams:
"...with no Congressional Budget Office (CBO) score on how many people would be affected, and with scant time for lawmakers to even read the latest iteration of the bill (that was not ever made available to the public), House Republicans have now officially backed legislation that would do untold damage to countless Americans. Outside the halls of power, nationwide protests were held demanding that the GOP back down from this "disaster" of a health plan."
Trump's forbidden love: Single-payer healthcare. WaPo:
President Trump claimed a victory Thursday after the House approved a more free-market approach to health care. Then he capped it off by praising a country with government-run, universal health care.... Australia's health-care system is run by the government. It's essentially a single-payer, Medicare-for-all system that is available to everyone, with private insurance also available. (They even call it 'Medicare.)"
The Sweetest Revenge
Want revenge on House Republicans who voted to destroy health care? Here's how. DailyKOS:
"Of these 217 Republicans, more than two dozen sit in districts where Donald Trump won less than 50 percent of the vote. In other words, they’re already representing at-risk seats, and they just made themselves a whole lot more vulnerable."
GOP cheers a big victory. But has it stirred a hornet's nest? NYT:
"As they hooted derisively at their Republican colleagues on Thursday after a narrow, party-line approval of legislation to roll back the Obama-era health care law, Democrats... saw a prime opportunity to avenge their ugly 2010 loss and possibly recapture the House majority. “I think they are staring death in the face,” Representative Gerald E. Connolly, Democrat of Virginia, said about the political prospects of dozens of House Republicans who were persuaded to back the bill by Republican leaders anxious to deliver a legislative win."
And Now, The Math
The young, healthy and rich are Trumpcare's winners. CNN:
"In addition to the surtax on wages, high-income earners making more than $200,000 ($250,000 if married filing jointly) are subject to a 3.8% Medicare tax on a portion of their investment income... The revised House bill would eliminate this so-called net investment income tax in 2017."
The poor, sick and old all lose under Trumpcare. VOX:
"...insurers would be allowed to charge the oldest enrollees five times as much as the youngest enrollees... CBO estimates that a 64-year-old earning $26,500 would see their annual tax credit decline from $13,600 to $4,900. The amount they pay out of pocket for their premiums, meanwhile, would go up from $1,700 in annual premiums under current law to $14,600 under AHCA."
Out-of-pocket expenses may balloon under AHCA. WSJ:
"Many people who obtain health insurance through their employers—about half of the country—could be at risk of losing protections that limit out-of-pocket costs for catastrophic illnesses, due to a little-noticed provision of the House Republican health-care bill."
Team Trump Loves Swamp Life
Nine Trump transition staffers register as lobbyists. Politico:
“…three months after Trump moved into the White House, at least nine people who worked on his transition have registered as lobbyists, highlighting holes in the president’s pledge to keep people from cashing in on government service. Many are registered to lobby the same agencies or on the same issues they worked on during the transition.”
Trump campaign manager quits lobbying firm he just founded. Politico:
Donald Trump’s first campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, on Thursday resigned from his lobbying firm amid scrutiny of its efforts to capitalize on his relationship with the president... Lewandowski had not formally registered to lobby for the firm, even though he pitched prospective clients and boasted often about his access to the White House."
Hair Shirts All Around
HUD's Carson worried public housing is too good for the poor. Alternet:
"Carson, a former neurosurgeon with no prior experience running a federal agency, acknowledges that government-housing is a necessity for some Americans, but he doesn’t want them to get too comfortable... compassion means not making people dependent, or providing them with 'a comfortable setting that would make somebody want to say: ‘I’ll just stay here. They will take care of me.’"
Hillary Wades In
Clinton to launch political group as soon as next week. Politico:
"The former secretary of state is building a new political group to fund organizations working on the resistance to President Donald Trump’s agenda, spending recent weeks in Washington, New York City, and Chappaqua, N.Y., meeting with donors and potential groups to invest in... She is looking to launch the group, expected to be called Onward Together... as soon as next week."
More from OurFuture.org:
The Democrats’ Dilemma On Charter Schools. Jeff Bryant:
"President Donald Trump’s adamant promotion of “school choice,” and his selection of Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education, put Democratic advocates for charter schools in a bind. Some Dems are now scrambling to keep the well-polished luster of the charter school brand unblemished."
Bill Bradley Looks Back, but Forgets Fading of Equality. Sam Pizzigati:
"Former Washington insiders with long memories, like Sen. Bill Bradley, love to lament the fading of the bipartisan spirit. Instead, they ought to be lamenting the fading of the equality they so lamely defended."
