OT: "An abomination"...

[Alan Baker]

'I won’t mince words. The health-care bill that the House of
Representatives passed this afternoon, in an incredibly narrow
217-to-213 vote, is not just wrong, or misguided, or problematic or
foolish. It is an abomination. If there has been a piece of legislation
in our lifetimes that boiled over with as much malice and indifference
to human suffering, I can’t recall what it might have been. And every
member of the House who voted for it must be held accountable.'

<https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2017/05/04/every-republican-who-voted-for-this-abomination-must-be-held-accountable/>

'All that matters. But the real problem is what’s in the bill itself.
Here are some of the things it does:

Takes health insurance away from at least 24 million Americans; that was
the number the CBO estimated for a previous version of the bill, and the
number for this one is probably higher.

Revokes the Affordable Care Act’s expansion of Medicaid, which provided
no-cost health coverage to millions of low-income Americans.

Turns Medicaid into a block grant, enabling states to kick
otherwise-eligible people off their coverage and cut benefits if they so
choose.

Slashes Medicaid overall by $880 billion over 10 years.

Removes the subsidies that the ACA provided to help middle-income people
afford health insurance, replacing them with far more meager tax credits
pegged not to people’s income but to their age. Poorer people would get
less than they do now, while richer people would get more; even Bill
Gates would get a tax credit.

Allows insurers to charge dramatically higher premiums to older patients.

Allows insurers to impose yearly and lifetime caps on coverage, which
were outlawed by the ACA. This also, it was revealed today, may threaten
the coverage of the majority of non-elderly Americans who get insurance
through their employers.

Allows states to seek waivers from the ACA’s requirement that insurance
plans include essential benefits for things such as emergency services,
hospitalization, mental health care, preventive care, maternity care,
and substance abuse treatment.

Provides hundreds of billions of dollars in tax cuts for families making
over $250,000 a year.

Produces higher deductibles for patients.

Allows states to try to waive the ACA’s requirement that insurers must
charge people the same rates regardless of their medical history. This
effectively eviscerates the ban on denials for preexisting conditions,
since insurers could charge you exorbitant premiums if you have a
preexisting condition, effectively denying you coverage.

Shunts those with preexisting conditions into high-risk pools, which are
absolutely the worst way to cover those patients; experience with them
on the state level proves that they wind up underfunded, charge enormous
premiums, provide inadequate benefits and can’t cover the population
they’re meant for. Multiple analyses have shown that the money the bill
provides for high-risk pools is laughably inadequate, which will
inevitably leave huge numbers of the most vulnerable Americans without
the ability to get insurance.

Brings back medical underwriting, meaning that just like in the bad old
days, when you apply for insurance you’ll have to document every
condition or ailment you’ve ever had.'