Exclusive: Leaked GOP Obamacare replacement shrinks subsidies, Medicaid expansion

[Jimbo101]

Source: Politico

A draft House Republican repeal bill would dismantle Obamacare subsidies and scrap its Medicaid expansion, according to a copy of the proposal obtained by POLITICO.

The legislation would take down the foundation of Obamacare, including the unpopular individual mandate, subsidies based on people’s income, and all of the law’s taxes. It would significantly roll back Medicaid spending and give states money to create high-risk pools for some people with pre-existing conditions. Some elements would be effective right away; others not until 2020.

The replacement would be paid for by limiting tax breaks on generous health plans people get at work — an idea that is similar to the Obamacare “Cadillac tax” that Republicans have fought to repeal.

Speaker Paul Ryan said last week that Republicans would introduce repeal legislation after recess. But the GOP has been deeply divided about how much of the law to scrap, and how much to “repair,” and the heated town halls back home during the weeklong recess aren’t making it any easier for them.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/house-republicans-obamacare-repeal-package-235343

[JHan]

1. there it is. smh.

[cstanleytech]

2. If they do this the Democrats then need to use it to kick the Repugnants teeth

down their throats and make them regret fucking around with peoples lives during every election for the next 20+ years.

[Lanius]

3. Well Drumpf voters there you go. The GOP will introduce a healthcare bill that will benefit the

wealthy at the expense of everyone else. Another example that the two parties are not the same and that voting matters.

[guillaumeb]

4. For the seniors who make up the GOP base:

For example, the legislation would allow insurers to charge older customers up to five times as much as their younger counterparts. Currently, they can charge them only three times as much in premiums. The insurers have been pushing for that change.

Combine that with the Medicare voucher for a double attack on seniors.

[BumRushDaShow]

6. Finally heard the AARP commercial on the radio yesterday about this part.

[guillaumeb]

7. If the GOP Congress members think the crowds have been rowdy,

wait until the senior contingent hears from AARP.

[BumRushDaShow]

9. You ain't lyin!!

[Justice]

5. "Limiting tax breaks on generous health plans people get at work"

The GOP plan is to pit those middle class Americans who have health plans from work as part of their compensation (and receive this benefit on a pre tax basis) against middle class Americans who don't receive health plans at work because work for small company or in an industry that does not provide affordable health care and against Americans who don't have health care.

Let us fight among each other - means nothing to them.

[TexasBushwhacker]

14. Yeah the thing I never got about the Cadillac plan tax

is that, unless an employee is in upper management, employees have no control over what health insurance plan the company offers.

[Blue_true]

17. Larger companies offer a number of health plan options

that employees pick from to meet their needs.

[elmac]

8. Now we know why the fascist want to expand the military

will make it easier to shoot the working poor and elderly when they riot, the ultimate death panels.

[turbinetree]

10. Hey America land of the free and the home of the brave, how does it feel to be RATF**KED

by your patriot fascists right wing republicans, now that they "control everything"----------------you know those "fiscal conservatives that are compassionate" assh**es that make $174,000 a year, $14,500 a month, just sitting in that office for those 110 days in 2016 and "work" on how to kill people, have you figured it out yet, your right wing fascist party called "GOP conservatives" also known as "republicans" are the death panels


You were warned and you idiots said they wouldn't do it-------------------well they are doing it, bend over

[Prof Amelia Rumsford]

11. So, pretty much destroy the whole thing

Without mandates, no insurance company is going to stay in, since they will not be able to offer an affordable policy.

[DallasNE]

12. Every Thing Abpit It Sucks n/t

[progree]

13. Actually, there is a mandate, but I think it is too weak to incentivize a lot of young and healthy

The proposal also includes penalties for individuals who fail to maintain coverage continuously. If their coverage lapses and they decide to re-enroll, they would have to pay a 30 percent boost in premiums for a year.

I consider it a mandate if you have to pay a penalty. That's how the ACA mandate works -- as far as I know there is no sanction in the ACA about not having insurance except to pay the penalty.

Though I suppose in theory under the RepubliCON plan, someone could go for decades uncovered, and then enroll and pay a penalty of just one year's boost in their premium. Whereas the ACA penalty is the GREATER OF: { (a) $695/adult, $347/child, or (b) 2.5% of household income } every year that one does not have coverage (I think the $695 / $347 numbers also go up with inflation)

==============================

Oops, I meant to make this a response to the Thread / OP. Sorry.

[TomCADem]

15. So, Essentially It Is An Amendment of Obamacare to Make It Worse...

...by offering weaker coverage to more people who are less likely to need it, but rendering it more expensive with less coverage to those people who do.

You give young people cheap catastrophic health coverage, you lose older, sicker people, then claim that you have expanded coverage for more people and made it cheaper.

[progree]

16. Includes a big tax cut for the top two income tax brackets

The ACA imposed a 3.8% Net Investment Income Tax (NIIT) on unearned income in the top 2 tax brackets, and a 0.9% Medicare surcharge on earned income, also on the top 2 brackets (that's for taxable incomes over $416,700). Anyway those surtaxes go away under the RepubliCON plan:

The legislation would take down the foundation of Obamacare, including the unpopular individual mandate, subsidies based on people’s income, and all of the law’s taxes

And has been noticed elsewhere, the subsidies to help pay the premiums would be based on age AND NOT ON INCOME. So a poor person or middle income person would get no more help than a rich person. And along with the Medicaid rollback, this is all a huge transfer of wealth from the bottom and middle to the top. (Surprise!)

And the subsidy would not be that much:

For a person under age 30, the credit would be $2,000 (($167/mo)). That amount would double for beneficiaries over the age of 60 (($333/mo)), according to the proposal.

(My last premium at age 64 was $858/mo. So I'd have to come up with more than $500/mo, regardless of how poor or rich I was)

I mentioned in number #13 that it doesn't entirely eliminate the mandate -- there is a 30% increase in premium for one year for failure to maintain continuous coverage.