Trumpcare

Today, Mar 23, 2017, the Trump and the Republicans tried (and failed) to get the House to pass Trumpcare. You should know what they were trying to do. The Republican-dominated CBO said this would have brought the total uninsured to 52 million by 2016. But what does Trump say? On Valentine’s day, he tweeted that Trumpcare would “save health care for ALL Americans.” Don’t bet on it.

Forbes, the magazine for the richest Americans, tells us that AHCA (Trumpcare) shows a “stubborn desire to make health insurance unaffordable for millions of Americans, and trap millions more in poverty.” And what do the doctors, nurses hospitals and AARP say?

The AMA, the largest doctors organization (200,000+) said: “We cannot support the AHCA as drafted because of the expected decline in health insurance coverage and the potential harm it would cause to vulnerable patient populations,” and they called the proposal “critically flawed.”

The American Academy of Pediatrics (60,000 pediatricians) said: “changes to the ACA cannot erode the progress we have made in reducing child uninsurance. Unfortunately, the AHCA does not meet this test and the AAP opposes it as currently drafted.”

The American Nurses Association (100,000 nurses) said: “The AHCA threatens health care affordability, access, and delivery for individuals across the nation. … These changes in no way will improve care for the American people.”

The American Hospital Association (5,000 member hospitals, and other health care organizations) said: Any ability to evaluate The AHCA, is severely hampered by the lack of coverage estimates by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). … we urge that Congress should wait. … It appears that the [AHCA] will have the effect of making significant reductions in a program that provides services to our most vulnerable populations.

The American Heart Association said: “The policy priority for the AHA remains the overall preservation of coverage for those Americans insured under Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act [Obamacare]. … We are not convinced … that this goal will be accomplished by the proposed legislation.”

The AARP (38 million members) said: “We have seen a significant reduction in the number of uninsured since passage of the ACA [Obamacare], with the number of 50-64 year old Americans who are uninsured dropping by half. …  [The new AHCA] approach to financing would likely result in overwhelming cost shifts to states, state taxpayers, and families unable to shoulder the costs of care without sufficient federal support. This would result in cuts to program eligibility, services, or both – ultimately harming some of our nation’s most vulnerable citizens. … We cannot support the American Health Care Act.

Standard and Poor’s Global Market Intelligence said: Profitability [of the insurance industry] will likely improve.

Forbes’ opinion editor Avik Roy:  Those reforms [in the AHCA] are overshadowed by the bill’s stubborn desire to make health insurance unaffordable for millions of Americans, and trap millions more in poverty. The CBO is likely to score the AHCA as covering around 20 million fewer Americans than Obamacare.