Susanne Posel ,Chief Editor Occupy Corporatism | Host of Hardline Radio Show
The highly anticipated unveiling of the super-secret Senate healthcare bill finally came to pass this week thanks to pressure from the right and the left. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has given lawmakers just a few days we review their proposal before a vote on it next week.
Senator Bernie Sanders released a statement concerning the Obamacare repeal , saying: “For weeks, Republicans have been drafting their health care bill in secret, refusing to hold hearings or public debate. Now we know why. The bill Republicans announced today is even worse than expected and by far the most harmful piece of legislation I have seen in my lifetime.”
McConnell refused to let senators see the language of the bill in order to convince party colleagues to support it; but the scheme ended up giving Democrats the ammunition they needed to denounce the legislation days before it was revealed.
Jason Pye, member of FreedomWorks, said Republicans are “amending Obamacare… not killing it.”
This bill closely resembles the House version with minor changes. On the chopping block is portions of Obamacare such as:
• The individual mandate
• Financial support for Medicaid
• Tax provisions for the wealthy and insurance corporations
• Regulation waivers for states
• State stability funds and tax credits
The far-right Freedom Caucus, like the Heritage Action and the Club of Growth, explained after the passage of the House version of Trumpcare that “this legislation does not fully repeal Obamacare, it’s an important step in keeping that promise to lower healthcare costs.”
In the Senate version of Trumpcare, Medicaid will be phased out after 2021, taking 3 years to complete. During the time before Medicaid is concluded, states would see a fixed amount of federal funding in the form of a lump sum block grant.
Journalist Caitlin Owens pointed out that with the Senate’s version of the House AHCA, states can “opt out of some ACA insurance regulations, but it would do so by loosening existing waivers within the current law.”
In the end, Medicaid would be reduced through the lessening of federal support, forcing states to deter residents from enrolling, slashing benefits covered, and reducing provider payments in total. This will leave the poor without healthcare over the course of the next 7 years because 57% of the monies allocated to Medicaid will be eliminated.
Eligibility for governmental subsidies would be restructured to ensure that fewer middle class American could get assistance, leaving those who are at the bottom and just below the poverty level to fend for themselves.
And although the bill allows for reimbursements to health insurance companies for out-of-pocket expenses shelled out by low-income customers, this all ends by 2020, leaving deductibles no other choice but to rise.
For the young and the healthy, their costs are assumed to decrease, leaving the advent of high-risk pools for those who are sick. This would result in higher premiums to cover their healthcare costs.
Larry Levitt, expert on Obamacare for the Kaiser Family Foundation said the Senate bill “is just like the House : Big tax cuts, big cut in federal health spending, big increase in the uninsured.”
Levitt warned: “Under the Senate bill, low-income people would pay higher premiums for bigger deductibles.”
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