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You are here: Home / Anderson On Health Insurance / What to expect when we’re not expecting a healthcare bill

What to expect when we’re not expecting a healthcare bill

by David Anderson|  July 11, 20174:53 pm| 24 Comments

This post is in: Anderson On Health Insurance

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TLDR: No more money for Medicaid and crumbs for the individual market

The Hill has a report on what the Senate expects to unveil on Thursday as their new tax cut bill funded by Medicaid cuts:

senators said the Medicaid sections of the bill would remain largely unchanged from the initial draft, a blow to moderates who had pushed for easing cuts to Medicaid. That means a new cap on Medicaid spending will still drop after 2025, leading to deeper cuts opposed by moderates. And funds for ObamaCare’s expansion of Medicaid will still end in 2024.

Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), a member of leadership, said “what we had in the original bill has not changed with regard to Medicaid.”….
There’s going to be some money going to additional subsidies,” he said. “Someone making $12,000 a year getting a $6,000 deductible plan probably doesn’t work so well.”

A “stability fund” that helps bring down premium costs is also expected to be increased, senators said.

They are talking about either delaying or removing two upper income tax cuts; investment income taxes may not be cut by 3.8% points nor the added on Medicare tax on very high incomes. This money might be redirected towards a little more cash to the individual market or mainly used to take away a Democratic talking point in attack ads that this bill is solely a tax cut bill paid for by the poor and the sick.

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Reader Interactions

24Comments

  1. 1.

    TenguPhule

    July 11, 2017 at 5:06 pm

    Its not a healthcare bill, its a tax cut bill.

    Repeat as needed.

  2. 2.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    July 11, 2017 at 5:09 pm

    @TenguPhule:
    Deathcare bill

  3. 3.

    randy khan

    July 11, 2017 at 5:10 pm

    I said this below, but it’s hard to see how maintaining the Medicaid cuts and eliminating the tax cuts makes it easier to get Republican votes in the Senate. In fact, the same people who will be unhappy about the loss of the tax cuts will hate the increased subsidies, too.

  4. 4.

    jl

    July 11, 2017 at 5:10 pm

    It’s still a tax cut masquerading as a health care bill. Cosmetic changes that don’t remedy Medicaid slaughter might be the old GOP wedge trick for those so ignorant that they think Medicaid is only for ‘those people’ and unemployable white trash meth addicts. I think too many people have been educated on the importance of Medicaid for elder care for middle class, for that old trick to work anymore.

    I think very important to keep calling Congress, keep bugging local media for good and accurate stories, in order to give the Trump admins and GOP a great present, along with revelation that they are all lying liars who lie about everything, to celebrate the sixth month mark of their criminal misrule. We need to make Total Fail happen for them right now.

    Don’t contact Congress in a vain attempt that you will change the nature of a GOP moderate. Do for the sheer joy of making their political lives miserable, which they richly deserve.

  5. 5.

    janelle

    July 11, 2017 at 5:13 pm

    @TenguPhule: I like “wealthcare bill”.

  6. 6.

    Roger Moore

    July 11, 2017 at 5:15 pm

    They are talking about either delaying or removing two upper income tax cuts; investment income taxes may not be cut by 3.8% points nor the added on Medicare tax on very high incomes.

    So they leave the tax cuts out now, use the extra money to buy off the moderates, and then pile the tax cuts into their tax “reform” bill later.

  7. 7.

    rikyrah

    July 11, 2017 at 5:16 pm

    Tax cut bill disguised as a healthcare plan ???

  8. 8.

    T S

    July 11, 2017 at 5:17 pm

    The democrats can still say it’s primarily a tax cut for the rich. It is, and you don’t have to get into the weeds. GOP propagandists don’t. They stay on fucking message and don’t waffle. Keep saying it’s a tax cut for the rich, cuz it is!

  9. 9.

    japa21

    July 11, 2017 at 5:20 pm

    @Roger Moore: I think you have this exactly right. There would be nothing to stop them from doing so, as far as I can tell. The Dems should be pushing to have it put in the bill that the current level of funding and taxation are not amenable to change at some future date.

  10. 10.

    MomSense

    July 11, 2017 at 5:27 pm

    @TenguPhule: @? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?:

    It’s tax cuts paid for with the lives of millions. Sick.

  11. 11.

    Mike in Pasadena

    July 11, 2017 at 5:29 pm

    I like the Trump WealthCare bill or Trump Don’t Care bill. Or perhaps Trump Tax Cut for the Wealthy bill. T S has it right — Democrats must stay on message.

  12. 12.

    TenguPhule

    July 11, 2017 at 5:30 pm

    @MomSense:

    It’s tax cuts paid for with the lives of millions. Sick.

    And it gets worse. The long term effects are even uglier.

  13. 13.

    Yutsano

    July 11, 2017 at 5:39 pm

    Yertle just needs enough yeses to get someone really uncomfortable with being the third no. The problem is that the administration and party is getting weaker the longer the Russia thing goes unresolved. Something has to give in here, and unless Yertle can make magic in two days it will all fall apart again.

  14. 14.

    gene108

    July 11, 2017 at 5:40 pm

    Even, if they did not roll back any taxes enacted by the ACA, this is still not a healthcare bill. It doesn’t make people better off.

    There is something fucking wrong with this country, wherein a large portion of the population votes for people, who try and try to destroy what little comfort they have.

  15. 15.

    Yutsano

    July 11, 2017 at 5:48 pm

    There is something fucking wrong with this country, wherein a large portion of the population votes for people, who try and try to destroy what little comfort they have.

    Racism, poor shaming, and abortion.

    Racists cannot abide that someone of a lesser race than them MIGHT get some support from their tax dollars. So they will always drag against every interest they have to make sure any “others” don’t get that benefit.

    Our Puritan forebears were very much in the Calvinist idea that being poor was a reflection of one’s relative salvation. That never has left our institutional DNA. Laws making things better for the poor are very few and far between.

    There is a whole voting bloc that will literally vote for anyone who is against abortion. These voters will literally not care about any other position as long as the candidate promises to “SAVE TEH BEBEHS!!!” nothing else in their platform at all matters.

  16. 16.

    Hoodie

    July 11, 2017 at 5:49 pm

    This is aimed at that love of all villagers – austerity. The hope is the “moderates” will buy the Medicaid cuts if they’re cast as a tough but necessary choice, and that they’ll roll over on a subsequent decoupled tax cut. It’s the classic asymmetrical perception by the totebagger crowd that foregoing tax cuts doesn’t count as a “tough but necessary choice” i.e., austerity for thee but not for me. Separating in time just makes the optics more comfortable for them so they can feel good about their hypocrisy.

  17. 17.

    john fremont

    July 11, 2017 at 6:49 pm

    @Yutsano:

    There is a whole voting bloc that will literally vote for anyone who is against abortion. These voters will literally not care about any other position as long as the candidate promises to “SAVE TEH BEBEHS!!!” nothing else in their platform at all matters.

    That’s about half of my Facebook feed.

  18. 18.

    Ohio Mom

    July 11, 2017 at 7:36 pm

    Disability Scoop, which is a site dedicated to disability news, just published a post on the Senate’s approach for Medicaid for children with disability.

    Even Republicans realize it’s very bad optics to cut disabled kids so their solution is a carve-out for kids who qualify for SSI — because that is an established federal definition and they know exactly how many, and who they are. Those kids are already getting Medicaid.

    The trouble is, those kids are a relatively small sub-set of disabled kids on Medicaid; most kids do not qualify for SSI because 1) your family must be very poor, and 2) fewer disabling conditions are recognized by SSI. These other kids (mine is one) get Medicaid through their state’s program.

    One example in the post is a middle-class kid with intractable epilespy who is covered under Montana’s
    Medicaid system. He will never qualify for SSI because his parents aren’t poor but his medical bills go far over what his parent’s private insurance will cover.

    The Republicans claim they don’t have time to address this issue but of course if they weren’t racing to reach the Reconciliation deadline, they’d have all the time they’d need to figure out this out. I guess they figure they will be able to fool some people with this BS.

  19. 19.

    RSA

    July 11, 2017 at 7:52 pm

    @Ohio Mom: Another vulnerable group is people in nursing homes. From AARP:

    About 65 percent of nursing home residents are supported primarily by Medicaid, and Medicaid pays for 45 percent of the total nursing home bill.

    It’s easy to see how problems might cascade. I’m imagining a nursing home that’s doing okay with Medicaid payments for some fraction of its residents but eventually has to close down, perhaps simply because of inflation. And that affects a lot more people than Medicaid recipients.

  20. 20.

    Ohio Mom

    July 11, 2017 at 8:08 pm

    @RSA: Yeah, I imagine the nursing home industry’s trade association is working overtime these days.

    I wonder how many private nursing home owners are Republicans, I bet a fair number and I hope they are pleased with themselves.

    Meanwhile, earlier today I was assured that the Senate would put this up for a vote in plenty of time for their usual August recess. This was heartening to me because I am really, really tired of talking to Portman’s interns every week day morning. Now I find out I have an extra two weeks of calls to make. Phooey.

  21. 21.

    Julia Grey

    July 11, 2017 at 8:11 pm

    This is also a JOBS KILLING BILL, let’s shout that far and wide as well.

  22. 22.

    NobodySpecial

    July 11, 2017 at 9:02 pm

    “Someone making $12,000 a year getting a $6,000 deductible plan probably doesn’t work so well.”

    Well, no shit, Sherlock. Probably shouldn’t have said it out loud, though, Mitchiepoo might snap you in half with his beak.

  23. 23.

    Greg in PDX

    July 11, 2017 at 9:39 pm

    If all of this shit really does not go into effect until 2025 I am not as worried, since I fully expect that there will be a major disintegration of the Republican party by then. I think we will see a split into at least two parties.

  24. 24.

    daverave

    July 12, 2017 at 1:13 am

    While surfin’ around the Northern net on this topic (and the resurgence of the godawful Pebble Mine) I came across this story that included this quote regarding Alaska’s 1332 waiver:

    “Since the start of the Trump administration this year, it had been widely expected that the waiver would be granted — a plan telegraphed to the public by Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price.

    But before that, some questioned whether Alaska’s waiver would be approved, given the high cost to the federal government for such a small number of beneficiaries — roughly 1,485 people. For a roughly $50 million program, that’s a high per-capita cost.“

    Ya think!??!? Glad to see that Republicans up North are just as adverse to death panels as your democratic socialists are.

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