Health
Related: About this forumWhy Some Cant Wait for a Repeal of Obamacare
*The voices of people like the Dearmans helped spawn a political movement after the passage of the health law seven years ago. But unlike the pro-Obamacare forces that have flooded congressional phone lines and town hall meetings, opponents of the health care law have been quieter as Mr. Trump and Republicans in Congress have worked to fulfill their promise to get rid of the law.
Yet even if the law no longer faces the kind of strident grass-roots opposition that helped hand the Republicans the House in 2010 and the Senate in 2014, many who perceive themselves as losers under its policies are still anxiously awaiting its demise.
The challenge for Republicans is to reclaim the narrative, countering the intense resistance to repeal with personal stories of people struggling with high insurance costs, tax penalties and government rules.
Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, invoked those struggles when he sent a Twitter message on Monday: To those whove suffered from the failures of Obamacare: We hear you. Congress is acting.
The American Action Network, a conservative group, is spending nearly $3 million on new television and digital ads praising the House bill and those who voted for it. The television ads are running on national cable and in 21 congressional districts. Future ads will include testimonials from people about how devastating the A.C.A. was for them, said Corry Bliss, the groups executive director.
They are competing with viral video moments like the emotional appeal to Congress by the comedian Jimmy Kimmel to ensure that seriously ill people like his infant son can get treatment, and the furious response from a town hall audience to the assertion by Representative Raúl R. Labrador, Republican of Idaho, that nobody dies because they dont have access to health care.
House Republicans find themselves on the defensive for passing a bill that would weaken protections for people with pre-existing medical conditions, sharply cut federal Medicaid funding and require many poor and older people to pay a much larger share of their health insurance bill. Yet they are being rooted on by Americans like the Dearmans who expect the Republican legislation to bring them more choices and lower their personal costs.
In some cases, though, their zest for repeal has been tempered by concern or confusion about some specifics of the Republican bill, especially the relaxing of protections for people with pre-existing conditions.
In interviews over the last few days, people who support repealing the Affordable Care Act pointed to their long-simmering resentment of its mandate that most Americans have health insurance or pay a tax penalty. Many also said that they could no longer afford the comprehensive coverage available on the individual market, and that they were eager to once again be allowed to choose skinnier policies without a penalty. . .
Last year, the Dearmans paid $1,100 a month for themselves and a college-age son, with a $2,000-per-person deductible. Both they and the Belangers earn too much to receive subsidies under the Affordable Care Act, which limits them to people with incomes up to 400 percent of the poverty level, or $97,200 for a family of four.
Middle-class Americans who feel squeezed by the full cost of insurance under the law are among its fiercest critics, and could in many cases be winners of a sort under the House bill, which would provide subsidies to families that earn far more than the Affordable Care Acts income limit. They would range from $2,000 a year for people in their 20s to $4,000 for those in their 60s, with a limit of $14,000 per family, gradually phasing down for couples earning more than $150,000. There is no guarantee, however, that deductibles would be smaller under the Republican plan.'
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/12/health/affordable-care-act-repeal.html?
Warpy
(111,267 posts)They managed to convince a bunch of ignorant bigots out in TV land that the ACA was different from "Obummercare," which was free stuff for people who weren't white, hardworking Americans. Imagine the shock those dumb bigots are going to get when they discover the ACA and Obamacare were the same thing and they're losing it and going bad to the lousy system of having health insurance taken out of their paychecks until they get sick, then they're ineligible for it unless they're rich. It's back to the bankruptcy courts for you, suckers. Too bad your stupidity is dragging the rest of us down with you.
hibbing
(10,098 posts)When junk policies are allowed again, essential health benefits are gone for those with insurance, it will all be President Obama and the Democratic Party's fault in their eyes....ugh.
Peace
guillaumeb
(42,641 posts)a serious illness, they will quickly learn that buying the cheapest plan does not necessarily represent a savings.
Freddie
(9,267 posts)I screamed so loud at the car radio I scared my granddaughter. The ACA saved my son's life so I take comments like that personally. I wish Ryan would eat shit and die today.
$1100 a month for a family plan is CHEAP. I'm a benefits manager and we pay about $1800/month (not including dental!) and employees pay between 7% and 14% of that depending on their position. (Higher paid people pay more, as it should be). That's the problem - people see $200/month coming out of their paycheck and think that's what health insurance costs. When they have to buy on the open market they're shocked at the real price, and of course blame the ACA.