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Republicans unveil ACA replacement plan
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Health Care Ranks As Trumps Greatest Challenge[/h1]
[link=https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/2018-health-care-ranks-trumps-2020-challenges-poll/story?id=62675713]ABC News[/link]: The key issue of the 2018 midterms may stick around to trouble President Trump in 2020: Americans, by a 17-point margin, say his handling of health care makes them more likely to oppose than support him for a second term.-
Profiteering is the reason healthcare costs are so high and increasing. Just look at the recent climb in the cost of insulin.
As for how much people actually do pay for healthcare? A lot more than everyone thinks!
[link=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/21/opinion/diabetes-insulin-generics-humalog.html]https://www.nytimes.com/2…-generics-humalog.html[/link]
This month, Eli Lilly and Company announced with some fanfare that it was manufacturing a generic version of its own best-selling insulin brand, Humalog, which it would sell for half off $137.35 versus about $275.
David Ricks, the chief executive of Lilly, said the company was making this seemingly beneficent gesture because many patients are struggling to afford their insulin.
[b]But theyre struggling, in large part, because since 2001 Lilly has [link=https://www.ontrackdiabetes.com/type-1-diabetes/insulin-prices-still-high]raised the price of a vial of Humalog[/link] to about $275, from $35. Other insulin makers have raised prices similarly.[/b]
[b]In Germany, the list price of a vial of Humalog is about $55 or $45 if you buy five at a time and that includes some taxes and markup fees. Why not just reduce the price in the United States to address said suffering?[/b]
[link=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/29/opinion/medicare-for-all-cost.html]https://www.nytimes.com/2…care-for-all-cost.html[/link]
As the national debate about health care kicks off ahead of the 2020 presidential election, were going to be hearing a lot about the costs of increasingly popular progressive proposals to provide universal health care, like Bernie Sanderss [link=https://www.vox.com/2019/4/10/18304712/read-bernie-sanders-2019-medicare-for-all-plan]Medicare for All plan[/link].
One common refrain on the [link=https://www.cato.org/blog/us-tax-code-too-progressive]right[/link] and the [link=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/07/opinion/europe-taxes-sweden.html?module=inline]center-left[/link] alike: Since the rich cant foot the bill alone, are middle- and working-class supporters of a more socialized health care system really ready to pay as much for it as people do in some of the high-tax nations that have one?
The problem is, we already do, and we often pay more.
Its true that by conventional [link=https://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?QueryId=55129]measures[/link], taxes on workers wages in the United States are comparatively very low and even very progressive, affecting the lowest-earning workers the least and taxing those who can afford it more.
But these measures obscure an important fact of American life: [b]Unlike workers in many other countries, the vast majority of American employees have private health insurance premiums deducted from their paychecks.[/b]
If we reimagine these premiums as taxes, wed realize that Americans pay some of the highest and least progressive labor taxes in the developed world.
[b]Just how heavy is the burden placed on American workers by employer insurance premiums? By combining data from the O.E.C.D.[link=https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/taxation/taxing-wages-2019_tax_wages-2019-en]Taxing Wages[/link] model with data from the [link=https://meps.ahrq.gov/mepsweb/data_stats/quick_tables_results.jsp?component=2&subcomponent=2&year=2017&tableSeries=-1&tableSubSeries=CDE&searchText=&searchMethod=1&Action=Search]Medical Expenditure Panel Survey[/link], we can see what percentage of each workers compensation a figure that includes cash wages as well as the taxes and benefits employers pay on behalf of their employees goes toward taxes and health care, and how progressive these payments really are.[/b]
[i][b]What this data shows is that lower-income workers, higher-income workers, single workers, and married workers with children all contribute around 40 percent of their pay toward taxes and health premiums. And when those health care costs are taken into account, the less well off no longer pay less than high-earners[/b][/i]
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Americans want healthcare! “Just fix it!” I thought all the hubbub was “Just REPEAL it!”
Apparently Republicans had it all wrong.
[link=https://www.wsj.com/articles/americans-voters-have-a-simple-health-care-message-for-2020-just-fix-it-11559467800]https://www.wsj.com/artic…ust-fix-it-11559467800[/link]
Nine years after Democrats passed Obamacare and more than a year after Republicans [link=https://www.wsj.com/articles/senate-wont-vote-on-health-bill-this-week-1506449340?mod=article_inline]failed in their effort to repeal it[/link], health care promises once again to be a major issue in the 2020 elections.
[link=https://www.wsj.com/articles/drugmakers-raise-prices-on-hundreds-of-medicines-11546389293?mod=article_inline]Drug costs are rising[/link], as are insurance premiums. [link=https://www.wsj.com/articles/rural-americas-childbirth-crisis-the-fight-to-save-whitney-brown-1502462523?mod=article_inline]Rural hospitals are closing[/link]. Nearly 30 million people [link=https://www.wsj.com/articles/more-americans-lack-health-insurance-new-survey-finds-11548269675?mod=article_inline]remain uninsured[/link]. Surveys consistently find that Americans see the health-care system as brokenand in need of fixing.
Americans cited health care as the top issue for the federal government to address, ahead of the economy, immigration, national security and other issues, Wall Street Journal/NBC News polling found this month.
The financial burden of health care was [link=https://news.gallup.com/poll/257906/healthcare-costs-top-financial-problem-families.aspx?mod=article_inline]of particular concern for American families[/link], according to a new Gallup poll released last week, trumping worries linked to wages, college expenses, housing and taxes.
Half of Americans say they would support paying more in taxes to assure that all Americans have health care, according to a WSJ/NBC News poll. The American people are saying we still need this fixed, said Lara Brown, director of George Washington Universitys graduate school of political management.
Democrats leveraged the issue to great effect during last years midterm election. They reclaimed the House and [link=https://www.wsj.com/articles/hard-fought-governors-races-go-down-to-the-wire-1541560336?mod=article_inline]flipped seven governorships[/link]. Constituents in Republican strongholds such as Utah, Nebraska and Idaho voted to expand Medicaid.
The GOP is also struggling to corral its more extreme wing into a consensus over health care. President Trumps White House wants to kill the Affordable Care Act, the signature achievement of former President Obama, but many congressional Republicans would rather the president leave the issue to rest, citing the risks of scuttling the ACA.
Obamacare lowered the number of those without insurance, with red states seeing some of the biggest benefits.
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[b]Today is the DAY!!!![/b]
Trump promised Chris Matthews that he would sign an ACA replacement plan within 2 weeks. ….. let’s see it!
Matthews: “But you’ve been in office three and a half years, you don’t have a plan.”
Trump: “Excuse me. You heard me yesterday. We’re signing a health care plan within two weeks, a full and complete health care plan that the Supreme Court decision on DACA gave me the right to do…. [T]he decision by the Supreme Court on DACA allows me to do things on immigration, on health care, on other things that we’ve never done before. And you’re going to find it to be a very exciting two weeks.”
I’m totally ready for it!-
Lie upon lie upon lie.
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[link=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-08/trump-plans-order-to-require-pre-existing-condition-coverage-kdkwuufe?srnd=premium]https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-08/trump-plans-order-to-require-pre-existing-condition-coverage-kdkwuufe?srnd=premium[/link]
Trump still wants Obamacare completely overturned by SCOTUS, but now says he will force insurance companies to cover despite pre-existing conditions via executive order.
His executive order will be law that *already* exists.
But if SCOTUS *does* overturn *and* there is a pre-existing condition coverage mandate …. then there’s an insurance market collapse waiting to happen.
GOP: “We want credit from our base for repealing the ACA but we don’t actually want to get blamed for any of the bad stuff that will happen to people when we do that … so let’s just put in place some totally unsustainable EO to get by.”
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Justices Push Obamacare Arguments to After Election[/h1]
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments on overturning the Affordable Care Act on November 10, a week after the election, [link=https://twitter.com/GregStohr/status/1296117084380893184]Bloomberg[/link] reports. -
Justices Push Obamacare Arguments to After Election[/h1]
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments on overturning the Affordable Care Act on November 10, a week after the election, [link=https://twitter.com/GregStohr/status/1296117084380893184]Bloomberg[/link] reports.
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That’s a good idea.
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[link=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/meet-the-press/blog/meet-press-blog-latest-news-analysis-data-driving-political-discussion-n988541/ncrd1238930]Trump promised a health care plan in ‘weeks,’ but a month later, it hasn’t come[/link]
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[b]Trump Insists He Has New Health Care Plan[/b][/h1]
President Trump told George Stephanopoulos of [link=https://twitter.com/resistbot/status/1306057186917965826]ABC News[/link] that he has a new heath care plan ready to unveil:
TRUMP: I have it all ready. I have it all ready.
STEPHANOPOULOS: But its youve been trying to strike down preexisting conditions
TRUMP: It doesnt matter. I have it all ready, and its a much better plan for you, and its a much better plan.-
this was quality when he George called him out. He was like every now and again you say it’s a couple weeks away. Then Trump was like I already have the plan.
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Without the SQUIRREL! distractions to a too willing media to change the subject all the time, Trump looks like the grifter clown he is. And all it takes is repeat the question & refuse to get sidetracked.
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[link=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/07/11/biden-obamacare-junk-insurance-trump/]Catherine Rampell[/link]:
[b]Biden is quietly reversing Trumps sabotage of Obamacare[/b]
Among the most insidious of these backdoor repeal measures: expanding[b] [/b]short-term, limited duration health plans i.e., attempting[b] [/b]to trick Americans into plans that looked cheap but basically covered nothing.…
The proliferation of short-term junk plans affects even consumers who dont get duped by them. Thats because these cheaper plans disproportionately siphon healthier (i.e., lower-cost) people out of the broader individual insurance marketplaces. People who have chronic conditions or otherwise know they will need more substantial coverage are more likely to stay in the regular marketplace pool, driving premiums there ever higher.
…
[b] [/b]
Last week, however, the Biden administration [link=https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets/short-term-limited-duration-insurance-independent-noncoordinated-excepted-benefits-coverage-level]announced a rollback[/link] of this Trump-era expansion of short-term health plans.
In a proposed rule, Biden officials said those already in these skimpy Trump-blessed plans can continue in them, if they so choose. (There were some hard lessons learned from the if you like your plan you can keep it blowback a decade ago, surmises Georgetown University health scholar [link=https://chir.georgetown.edu/faculty_sabrina_corlette/]Sabrina Corlette[/link].) But going forward, any new short-term, limited duration plans would need to be [i]truly[/i] short-term (up to three months) and [i]truly[/i] limited duration (renewed for up to one additional month only).
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[img]https://god-dd.imgix.net/sites/6/2020/10/25-jokes-mocking-kayleigh-mcenanys-empty-trump-healthcare-book.jpg?fit=scale&fm=pjpg&h=536&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1024&wpsize=large[/img]
Trump team gives [i]60 Minutes[/i] big book of its healthcare policy work.
It’s blank
President Trump on Wednesday tweeted photos of [i]60 Minutes [/i]correspondent Lesley Stahl holding a large book ostensibly documenting his healthcare accomplishments but one photo showed Stahl opening the book to a blank page, underscoring Democratic attacks against Trumps health care record.
[link=https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewsolender/2020/10/21/trump-presented-cbs-with-book-on-his-health-care-record–opened-to-a-blank-page/]Forbes – Trump Presented CBS With Book On His Health Care Record Opened To A Blank Page (October 21, 2020)[/link]
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Sounds like something a non-partisan journalist would do.
In all seriousness though, the lack of a healthcare plan from Republicans is unacceptable. It cost them the House in 2018 and it really angers me that they can’t come up with something.
I’m actually worried the ACA will get thrown out and then we will get Medicare-for-all or something much worse than the ACA.-
Medicare4All option likely on the way thanks to Republicans.
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Medical debt.
[link=https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/02/17/bad-southern-credit-scores/]https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/02/17/bad-southern-credit-scores/[/link]Today, we look at a big, fat map of credit scores reproduced from a [link=https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4126641]recent economics paper[/link]. And while the map suggests any number of tantalizing questions, we are most intrigued by that big band of credit-score calamity that stretches across the American South.
Almost every corner of Americas most populous region every race, every income bracket appears to have low credit scores. But why?
With precious few exceptions, it looks to be a neatly regional phenomenon.
The regions poor credit means Southerners are paying more to borrow money, assuming they can qualify for loans at all. That sets them back in everything from car and home purchases to credit card rewards. Yes, even credit card rewards.
Our first guess about what might be happening here involves race. Almost 3 out of every 5 Black Americans live in the South, and they make up almost 20 percent of the regions population. Centuries of slavery, sharecropping, apartheid and exclusion from many elite educational institutions left some Southern Black folks with little credit and even less collateral.
But when we ran the numbers, the Blackest parts of the South had roughly the same credit scores as the least-Black areas. And their scores were far lower than places with similar Black populations outside the South. So while race may play a role, its probably not the defining factor.
Next, we wondered about poverty. After all, the South has the highest poverty, lowest income and lowest education rates of any region in the country. And as you might expect, counties with lower income and lower college graduation rates tend to have lower credit scores.
But in this case, demography is no match for geography. Even some of the Souths biggest, most dynamic cities think Atlanta or Dallas have the same below-average credit scores as their more rural Southern neighbors. Within every income bracket, the typical Southerner has a lower credit score than someone who lives in the Northeast, Midwest or West.
With the obvious factors ruled out, we were stumped. Until we called economist Breno Braga at the Urban Institute, a nonprofit, nonpartisan D.C. think tank. Braga, who studies how credit-ratings data quietly determines so much about our lives, took about 16 seconds to diagnose the problem.
[b]The reason why credit scores are so low in the South has gotta be connected to medical debt, because thats the most common type of unpaid bill that people have, Braga said. And the South, he said, easily has the highest levels of medical debt in the country.[/b]
[b]Of the 100 counties with the highest share of adults struggling to pay their medical debt, 92 are in the South, and the other eight are in neighboring Oklahoma and Missouri, according to [link=https://apps.urban.org/features/credit-health-during-pandemic/#:~:text=The%20median%20credit%20score%20for,of%20693%20in%20February%202020.]credit data from the Urban Institute[/link]. [/b]
