GOP Sen. Mike Lee Says O'Care Repeal Bill Is 'A Step In The Wrong Direction'

[DonViejo]

Source: Talking Points Memo


By ESME CRIBB Published MARCH 7, 2017, 12:38 PM EDT

Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) said on Tuesday that House Republicans’ draft legislation to repeal and replace Obamacare is "a missed opportunity and a step in the wrong direction."

"This is not the Obamacare repeal bill we’ve been waiting for," Lee said in a statement. "We promised the American people we would drain the swamp and end business as usual in Washington. This bill does not do that."

Lee, who spearheaded a 2013 campaign to defund Obamacare, criticized a provision in the draft legislation that would replace Obamacare's federal insurance subsidies with a new form of individual income-based tax credits.

"We don’t know how many people would use this new tax credit, we don’t know how much it will cost, and we don’t know if this bill will make health care more affordable for Americans,” he said.

Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/mike-lee-republican-healthcare-proposal-is-step-in-wrong-direction

[maxsolomon]

1. "My entire Senate Career is based on this repeal, waaaaa"

Boo Fucking Hoo. Choke on it, dipshit.

[Dustlawyer]

2. He knows it will make health care unattainable for many and more expensive for the rest!

"We don't know..." yes you do!!!

[lark]

3. Obviously!

If the Repugs knew anything about health care, it wouldn't have taken them 7 years to try and begin to replace it. However, they know nothing and so begot this ignorant bill that will prevent so many people from getting health care, especially a few years out. They made it so the worst of the bad effects from the vouchers won't be felt for a few years, like after the next election. After that, they'd actually prefer that we don't have healthcare and die off quickly so we don't vote against them.

[Eyeball_Kid]

4. Jeez. This came from out of the blue.

Lee sounds fucking reasonable! What is THAT about?

Maybe he swallowed an overdose of Metamucil?

His comment about the tax credit is appropriate. They aren't designed to be used. They're designed to be missed, obfuscated, hidden, or just plain forgotten.

The GOP assumption behind this is their version of personal responsibility: citizens can use the tax credits on their yearly tax forms to get the money for the insurance. Usually, this means that an individual will be REIMBURSED for his insurance premiums. Where an individual gets the money for premiums while waiting for the tax credits is part of the magic of present day conservatism. They just don't concern themselves with those surly details. In the end, insurance customers will have to do it all themselves as individuals while the GOP can eliminate another function of government as outlined in the Preamble: something about promoting the general welfare.

There is a form of Social Darwinism in the assumptions regarding tax credits to cover insurance costs: if you don't have the capability of fending for yourself, then you are kicked under the bus. If you are not prone to engaging in the details of tax forms, the likelihood of you NOT applying for the tax credit increases. On a massive scale, that likelihood means less in government outlays for tax credits-- and, BTW, more human tragedy downstream. For the disabled, there surely will be dire consequences.

[Bengus81]

15. No....he's going along with that Rand Paul group of 101% insane Republicans....

They just want to repeal the ACA NOW with nothing in it's place. Do it NOW,and then sometime later we'll get around to a much better plan----yeah right you will.

Rand Paul and the other POS in that group and 100 time worse than the other Republicans.

[not fooled]

17. Disgusting

The backers of dumpcare are a mix of koch-bots like Lyin' Ryan who believe that "we can't have government help people so we have to kill the ACA before people like it too much (guess what--it's too late, assholes)" and racist Obama-haters who want to obliterate every trace of his legacy. dump falls more into the latter camp, I suspect. Both are frothing at the mouth to enact dumpcare, people be dammed.

[angrychair]

5. A "tax credit" insurance is a non-starter

Nothing else in it matters. A tax credit does not solve the inherent issue with affordability and cost containment.

Not only does this do nothing to solve the issues with the ACA, it creates a whole host of other problems.

This is a serious, unadulterated clusterfuck.

[Cosmocat]

8. RIGHT?

Just fucking morons ...

[Orsino]

6. It's not some fucking misstep.

This is the culmination of seven or eight years of Republican time-wasting and lobbyists' lies.

It is a statement of (a lack of) intent.

[Cosmocat]

9. It is 7 years of a dog chasing its own tail (THEIR FORM OF HEALTH CARE REFORM)

finally catching it and realizing it is attached to their asses.

[C Moon]

7. "Drain the swamp and end business as usual?"

The GOP was going to do this? That's a frigging laugh-and-a-half!!

[Skittles]

10. this is big

you get one or two repukes with just a tiny bit of courage to stop goose-stepping and it may encourage more to snap out of their fascist mindset

[BumRushDaShow]

11. Most of the teabaggers in both chambers

(including Lee in the Senate) consider the House bill DOA as it doesn't eliminate "Obamacare". And they are putting their foot down on that.

[tammywammy]

12. The tea baggers may actually help Obamacare stay

Since they don't want anything but a full repeal and tax credits only. They won't vote for something like DonTcare.

[BumRushDaShow]

14. Yup, ironically enough.

[Bengus81]

16. I didn't even think they wanted the tax credits...........

All they want to see is this plan that works well for the 20-30M that truly need it thrown in the dumpster so that black guy no longer gets credit. THEN in the next year or two they might get around to working on a replacement. We all know that will NEVER happen.

That IS the Rand Paul plan--and those that go along with him in a nutshell.

[Kimchijeon]

13. The poor and working class can't afford to pay up front and hope for a tax "credit" later....

especially for bloated premiums on garbage health "coupon" insurance with criminally high deductibles.
No way. We will just see more deaths, more debt/bankruptcy from medical costs. (add suicide to that basket too...)

From what I can find, apparently Minnesotacare, which was around long before the ACA, will have no funding by 2020, so my family will be unable to have coverage!? I am so pissed off right now!
https://mn.gov/dhs/aca-repeal/

I guess that gives us some time to figure out where we're going to go, we can't afford to stick around here if we can't even have a basic human right without going bankrupt. Fuck that. I honestly don't know what we are going to do. (Speaking for my household)

I have no faith that this will be restored, the healthcare profiteers are too powerful, I'm afraid we are all just fucked.