The verdict is in on the GOP’s Obamacare replacement bill. As President Trump would say “it’s not good folks.” As the Washington Examiner reports:
Conservatives in Congress are casting stern glares at an GOP Obamacare replacement plan released Monday, spelling trouble for an effort that’s already on shaky footing.
The Republican Study Committee, a group of 150-plus conservative House members, sent out a memo Monday night raising serious concerns with the bill, which would roll back major parts of the healthcare law, but not as quickly or as fully as many members would prefer.
The RSC memo lists a litany of “concerns” with the legislation, calling its tax credits a “Republican welfare entitlement.” Concerns include the bill’s maintenance of Medicaid expansion for three years and its reliance on government spending through tax credits to ensure poor Americans get coverage.
The memo raises doubts that Congress would be able to pay for the tax credits without deficit spending or raising taxes and predicts that Medicaid expansion would likely never be repealed due to political reasons.
Conservatives who warned of this are already vowing to stand against it:
Obamacare 2.0 https://t.co/p0zKkMD3UT
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) March 6, 2017
Th House leadership plan is Obamacare Lite. It will not pass. Conservarives are not going to take it. #FullRepeal
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 7, 2017
Conservaitve healthcare expert Avik Roy noted that the GOP plan is good other than the fact that it will “make health insurance unaffordable for millions.”
It appears that although the American people elected them again and again on the promise to repeal and replace Obamacare, Republicans are doing the Republican thing and completely losing their nerve. They’re making the sort of weak kneed compromises Democrats never do, and adopting the Democratic talking point that true market based reforms are the equivalent of leaving people to die in the streets. Their solution, like so many bad, large Republican bills of yesteryear, amounts to polishing and gold plating a turd.
Call your congressman and tell them you won’t accept these dopey half measures.
***[CLICK HERE] POLL: Do You Support the Obamacare Replacement?***
