TrumpCare

[ScottL]

Pubs going to take a huge clusterfuck and turn it into a bigger clusterfuck.

When all the smoke clears Blue Cross et al will review everyone assisted under Obamacare and retain those who used it the least and throw out all the people they failed to profit on. Unless you want to pay $1,000 a month of course.

 

[PatsFan1283]

This whole process is just showing how much healthcare industry owns the federal govt. Wasnt a secret but a bit more jarring than before.

Freedom Caucus guys only ones who get it but even they could do a better job articulating why the basic framework of these systems don't work.

 

[CarolinaKid]

it look like Trumpcare will past on thur now

 

[919]

it look like Trumpcare will past on thur now

House GOP plans to vote in 15 hours and literally hasn't released text of what they plan to vote on

 

[mountain]

Pubs going to take a huge clusterfuck and turn it into a bigger clusterfuck.

When all the smoke clears Blue Cross et al will review everyone assisted under Obamacare and retain those who used it the least and throw out all the people they failed to profit on. Unless you want to pay $1,000 a month of course.

Obamacare is crashing fast, Medica, the last insurer selling individual plans in Iowa is pulling out....more to follow. He has to do something but the Senate is going to be a bitch.

Going according to the original plan which has always been single-payer. Probably the biggest domestic political scam ever pulled on the American people.

 

[919]

Susan Hennessey Retweeted







May 2Steven Rattner
@SteveRattner
Under this amendment, here are est hikes in premiums for ppl w/:

Asthma: $4k
Diabetes: $5.5k
Pregnancy: $17k
Arthritis: $26
Cancer: $140k!

 

[CarolinaKid]

they have the votes now to past this new healthcare bill on thur ..................and what you like Mr Trump or not you should be glad we are moving forward with this, as obamacare is just so bad for the country

 

[superbeets]

Press Briefing by Press Secretary Sean Spicer, 5/3/2017, #44

James S. Brady Press Briefing Room


​

2:25 P.M. EDT


MR. SPICER: Good afternoon. Another busy day here at the White House. As you know, the President has been talking to members of Congress the last few days about the American Health Care Act, up through this morning. The Vice President just left a bit ago to meet with some of the lawmakers on Capitol Hill about healthcare and the rest of the President's legislative agenda. The President was glad to meet this morning with Representatives Long and Upton who voiced their support for the AHCA earlier this morning.

It's especially important that we continue to make progress on repealing and replacing Obamacare, as rates skyrocket and insurers keep fleeing the market around the country in anticipation of this impending implosion.


Earlier this week, Aetna announced that it will scale back its presence on Obamacare exchanges even further in 2018, withdrawing from the Iowa exchange. Aetna had already cut its participation in the exchanges from fifteen states to four in 2017. Iowa is going to be hit particularly hard by these recent developments as Medica, the last insurance for most of the state, also announced this week that it will likely stop selling individual healthcare policies in the state, which will affect tens of thousands of Americans.


With reports like these seemingly coming every day, it couldn’t be clearer that it's time for action on healthcare. We're glad that so many members are with us, and look forward to welcoming even more on board.

 

[superbeets]

[FONT=&quot]And with that, I'll take your questions. Ken.



[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Q Sean, on healthcare, does the President feel like we've reached an inflection point here with the House? Is this a make-or-break moment in terms of getting the bill through the House? And what precisely is the President doing, and what arguments is he making to members on why they should support this bill?



[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]MR. SPICER: Well, I think he's making several points. One is that Obamacare if failing and that, as I just mentioned with that note, that with so many cases around the country, the need to have a provider is becoming greater and greater. Two is that costs are out of control. These are two basic tenets that you've heard us talk about. But I think overall the efforts that were made, and especially the effort this morning with Congressman Long and Upton, help bring more people into this effort and make it even a stronger bill, and ensure that Americans have a healthcare system that gets them the care that they need at a price that's affordable.[/FONT]

 

[superbeets]

[FONT=&quot]Q Is this a "now or never" kind of moment, though, with the bill?



[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]MR. SPICER: I don’t want to put it there. The President has made it clear before that he's not trying to set a date for certain. Obviously, that's up to the Speaker and the House leadership to determine when that time is appropriate. But as you have seen, we continue to move closer and closer to that time, and the number of members who are supporting it continues to grow further and further, and I think that's a very promising sign.[/FONT]

 

[superbeets]

[FONT=&quot]Q On healthcare, the President appears to be directly involved behind the scenes. How much responsibility does the President plan to take for the outcome of the vote if it does occur this week?



[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]MR. SPICER: Well, I think if we have a vote -- which is looking greater and greater every day; but again, I'm not going to get ahead of the House leadership in deciding when that is -- my assumption is the House leaders will call that when that number will put us over the top. And I feel like -- again, you saw two votes come down today. The President has been on the phone constantly. The Vice President, the Chief of Staff, other members of the legislative affairs team calling members, talking to them, hearing their concerns. But I think we have made this an unbelievable bill and an unbelievable replacement for Obamacare, which is failing, and that’s what we’ve sought to do from the beginning.[/FONT]

 

[superbeets]

[FONT=&quot]MR. SPICER: Blake.


[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Q Thanks, Sean. I want to get the reaction to former President Obama. He tweeted yesterday after Jimmy Kimmel’s monologue that went viral -- a monologue you’ve probably seen about his child. Kimmel talked about the need to cover preexisting conditions that need funding for the NIH. And Mr. Obama said, “Well said, Jimmy. That’s exactly why we fought so hard for the ACA and why we need to protect it for kids like Billy.” Your reaction to both of them would be what?


[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]MR. SPICER: Well, I think we share that concern for the Kimmels' child, as well as any child that needs care, and that’s frankly why the President fought so hard to improve the bill like he did this morning, to make sure that there was that extra layer of protection for anybody with a preexisting condition, no matter their stage in life. That’s why we’re fighting so hard for this.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
But I think, most importantly -- and I think at the end of Jimmy Kimmel’s monologue, he said that there is no -- you know, we need to have some of these things that aren’t Republican or Democrat, that they’re American policies. And I think that’s what the President is fighting for right now, is to make sure that we have a healthcare system that doesn’t matter where you live or your background, that it takes care of people. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
We’re making sure right now -- we’ve talked about this endlessly over the last month or so -- but we’ve got a healthcare system that’s not doing what it’s supposed to. It’s failing. It’s costing people too much. It’s giving people a card, not coverage. And what the President is trying to do by working with these members of Congress is to make sure that we have the strongest possible healthcare system that covers them, that gives them the care that they need, that allows them to go see a doctor, that covers preexisting conditions, and does so in a way that’s not going to be out of range and unaffordable for most Americans.[/FONT]

 

[superbeets]

[FONT=&quot]Matt.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Q Thank, Sean. Back to healthcare. An analysis from AARP showed that the sickest patients will pay nearly $26,000 a year in premiums under the new healthcare law, and that $8 billion, which was included in that amendment this morning, is not nearly enough to lower those costs. So I’m wondering, how does that, which would be a major premium hike on the sickest patients, square with the President’s promise to both lower premiums and take care of those with preexisting conditions?



[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]MR. SPICER: So it sounds interesting to me there are so many variables that are unknown -- that to make an analysis of that level of precision, it seems almost impossible.[/FONT]

 

[superbeets]

[FONT=&quot]Q But --


MR. SPICER: Well, hold on. Let me give you an example. So right now preexisting conditions are covered in the bill. They always have been. We’ve talked about that before. States have the right to receive a waiver. If someone has continuous coverage, that’s never going to be an issue, regardless of -- no circumstance is anyone with continuous coverage would ever have a problem with preexisting conditions.

[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]If someone chose not to have coverage for 63 days or more, and they were in a state that opted out, and they had a preexisting condition, and they were put into a high-risk pool, then we’ve allocated an additional $8 billion over five years to help drive down those costs.

[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]So for someone to know how many people that is, what number of states are going to receive a waiver -- ask for it, and receive a waiver is literally impossible at this point. So to do an analysis of any level of factual basis would be literally not -- [/FONT]

 

[superbeets]

[FONT=&quot]Q Two follow-up questions. One, would the President prefer -- does he have a preference as to whether or not states opt out, given that option? And two, yes or no, will people with preexisting conditions pay higher premiums under this bill than they currently do?

[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]MR. SPICER: I think everything that we’ve done, including the additional $8 billion this year -- everything that I’ve seen shows that the cost curve goes down for them in a lot of ways. So if you have preexisting conditions -- and again, remember what a small pool that is. If you have a preexisting condition currently, the bill protects you. The only factor would be if you live in a state that potentially asks for a waiver and then is subsequently granted it, and if you’ve gone 63 days without continuous coverage.

[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]So if you have continuous coverage, if you live in a state, it’ll never, ever be a factor. But the President has worked to make sure that in every single scenario -- anybody, everybody -- he has kept true to his word that preexisting conditions are covered and that the cost curve continues to bend down.[/FONT]

 

[919]

Rachel Sachs @RESachs
[h=1]If the House passes the AHCA tomorrow, the President & GOP will have broken at least three campaign promises to the American people. (1/4)[/h]






1hRachel Sachs @RESachs
[h=1]1. “Nobody will be worse off,” they said. The bill takes healthcare from 24 million Americans. (link: [url]https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/trump-says-none-but-paul-ryan-says-he-doesnt-know-how-many-would-lose-coverage-under-obamacare-repeal/2017/03/12/be643bfc-0750-11e7-93dc-00f9bdd74ed1_story.html?utm_term=.3747868266f4) washingtonpost.com/powerpost/trum…[/URL] (2/4)[/h]


Trump said no Americans would lose coverage under Obamacare repeal. Paul Ryan won’t make that...washingtonpost.com








2. “I’m not going to cut Medicaid,” Trump said. AHCA guts it by $880 billion, covering 14 million fewer people (link: [url]https://www.statnews.com/2017/03/23/medicaid-cuts-trump/) statnews.com/2017/03/23/med…[/URL] (3/4)






Rachel Sachs @RESachs





3. Trump “guaranteed” protection for ppl w/ pre-existing conditions. AHCA lets states waive those protections.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/amph...sting-medical-conditions-but-its-unclear-how/

 

[superbeets]

[FONT=&quot]Q And then on the other question, the congressman, this morning, from Michigan was saying he’s confident, from conversations with his governor, that his state will not ask for a waiver. Does the President have a preference as to whether or not states ask for waivers?[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]

MR. SPICER: The President’s preference -- and I’m not -- the President believes in states’ rights, number one. Number two, not just preference, his goal is to make sure, as he stated repeatedly, is that preexisting conditions are covered, care coverage goes up, and costs go down. Those are the principles that continue to guide him.[/FONT]

 

[superbeets]

[FONT=&quot]Alexis.


[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Q Sean, I have two healthcare questions. Can I follow up on what you were saying about the President's conversation with Congressman Upton? Until yesterday, the President thought there was sufficient funding, and Congressman Upton came to him and suggested a billion dollars more. You were just saying that it's impossible to estimate what would be needed. My question is, why did the President think that there was sufficient protection for those individuals who have preexisting health conditions yesterday, but today he now believes $8 billion will cover it? What persuaded him that the number that he had embraced yesterday was not sufficient and that $8 billion is going to do it?[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
MR. SPICER: So, in this particular case, Congressman Upton and I think Congressman Long addressed that he, through a series of conversations that he had with the President, shared with the President a concern that he had in their shared goal of covering preexisting conditions. The President, as Congressman Long discussed outside, expressed that -- the President expressed to him that the preexisting conditions were covered, and went through the various scenarios. Congressman Long felt as though there were scenarios in which -- potentially the high-risk pool. It wasn’t a question of coverage, it was a question of cost. And so the President engaged in a conversation with them and, through some of the analysis that Congressman Upton and Congressman Long had done, the President agreed that if we add an additional safety net, which is, frankly, what that is -- not on the coverage, but on the cost -- that that could ensure that the cost curve gets further bent downward. And the President agreed.

[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Because at the end of the day -- look, the President has talked about this from the beginning, that he wants to work with members to make it the strongest possible bill, to have the strongest outcome for the American people, and a healthcare system in which both the cost continue to go down. And I think that's one point, Alexis, that we keep forgetting in this discussion with what we're trying to do. It's not just replace Obamacare. Obamacare is dying on the vine. The costs are spiraling out of control, deductibles are going up, and carriers -- again, this isn’t a theoretical discussion. Aetna, as we just discussed, is pulling out of states, and counties around the country are now going down to one and, in some cases, zero choices.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
So this isn’t a question of just replacing something. We are actually at a point where if we don’t do something, some people in this country will have no options for coverage. We've got to do something, and that's where the President has been willing to work with members, pick up the phone, and figure out how do we get this done to make sure that every American has got the coverage that they need.[/FONT]

 

[superbeets]

[FONT=&quot]Q I want to also ask about the next step. There are members of the House who are concerned on the Republican side that they could vote for something that will change dramatically in the Senate. What is the President's message to those members who are concerned about that? Is he going to press the Senate to embrace whatever may or may not come out, but you hope may come out of the House?[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]MR. SPICER: Well, of course. I mean --

[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Q Would be adopted by the Senate in whole.

[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]MR. SPICER: I mean, I think the legislative process works -- the Senate will take up the House bill and then they'll go to conference. And then that’s when both sides, again, will have an opportunity to discuss any potential changes. The President feels really good about where this bill -- how this bill has evolved, how much stronger it's become, to achieve the goals that he set out. And he'll continue to work with Leader McConnell and others when it gets to the Senate to make sure that anything -- and there could be issues that come between now and then. But our number-one goal is to get it out of the House, focus, and then have those conversations with the Senate, and then go to conference.

[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]But for right now -- and in a perfect world, they would just take it straight up and we would go. But I have a feeling the Senate is going to want a say at this, so we'll go from there.[/FONT]

 

[superbeets]

[FONT=&quot]John.

[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Q Thanks a lot, Sean. Chairman Upton and Congressman Long were very pleased to (inaudible) floor with this legislative fix. They say they've turned their "nos" into "yeses." Do you believe there's additional legislative fixes that are still to come before this bill actually hits the House floor?

[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]MR. SPICER: Look, the President always said he's willing to hear ideas. This is a question for Speaker Ryan, Leader McCarthy, and Congressman Scalise in terms of when is the appropriate time. If they feel that they've gotten to a place where they have the votes necessary to take it to the floor based on the number of suggestions and fixes and updates, then that will be up to them. But I'm not going to prejudge, in this case, through those conversations -- and the President has constantly been on the phone for the last several days and continues to do so, to hear members' issues and concerns. And so if there's a point -- but I think we're getting to that number closer and closer. But that will be ultimately a decision that Speaker Ryan and Leader McCarthy have to make.

[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Q Sean, on timing, I've heard different things from the President over the course of the past two weeks. At one point I heard the President say he wants the bill to be taken up now; other times, it's not important, just get the bill right. What's your view? Is it very important, as far as the administration is concerned, that this vote take place sooner rather than later?

[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]MR. SPICER: Well, obviously, the sooner the better, right? But we don't want to put it up for a vote -- I mean, the goal is to pass it, which we continue to get closer and closer to every day. But you don't want to put it up and not move forward. So the President wants to make sure that the leadership is confident that it can pass a bill, and I think he’s done everything he can in terms of speaking with members of the House to get there. But ultimately, it's going to be their decision to do it. And I think we continue to feel optimistic about the direction that we've seen the legislation go.[/FONT]