Perspectives: GOP Plan Is Not ‘Better Care.’ It’s A Bitter Pill To Swallow.
Opinion writers weigh in on the newly released plan from Senate Republicans to replace the Affordable Care Act.
Los Angeles Times:
Who Wins And Who Loses In The Senate Health Bill (As If You Can't Guess)
The Senate GOP leadership calls its proposal to overhaul Obamacare the “Better Care” act. But better care for whom? Not for the working poor. The bill’s new premium subsidies for those not covered by large employer health plans would be less generous than they are now, pushing recipients into policies with higher deductibles and co-pays. And when the new subsidies begin in 2020, the bill would end the second set of subsidies that the Affordable Care Act provided those near the poverty line to offset their out-of-pocket costs. (6/23)
Los Angeles Times:
I Can Help You Understand Trumpcare, But I Can't Defeat It Alone
Next week, Republicans want the United States Senate to vote on a bill that would restructure our nation’s entire healthcare system — a system that makes up one-sixth of the American economy. This bill would affect the lives of nearly every American, from our parents or grandparents in need of caregiving, to our children struggling with asthma or opioid addiction, to our spouses battling cancer. And we only just received the full text on Thursday, a week before the vote on the bill. (Sen. Kamala D. Harris, 6/23)
Los Angeles Times:
Republicans Aren't Just Repealing Obamacare, They Are Gutting A Guarantee Of Healthcare For The Poor
Three million and $1.6 trillion. The first number represents an estimate of the children who would lose healthcare coverage under the bill Republican senators worked on in secret and finally unveiled on Thursday. The second number reflects the total amount of Medicaid cuts — in the form of the elimination of the Medicaid expansion for working families that was part of the Affordable Care Act, capped federal spending for Medicaid and additional cuts proposed in the president’s budget — that would go to pay for tax breaks for billionaires. (Henry A. Waxman, 6/22)
Los Angeles Times:
Senate GOP's Obamacare Repeal Bill Will Cost Lives, But Fatten The Wallets Of Millionaires
Senate Republicans finally revealed on Thursday why they’ve been crafting their Affordable Care Act repeal in secret. As the newly released draft shows, it’s a rollback of health coverage for millions of Americans that could cost the lives of tens of thousands a year. But make no mistake: This is not a healthcare bill. It’s a tax cut for the wealthiest Americans, paid for by a reduction in government funding for healthcare. The measure would constitute one of the largest single transfers of wealth to the rich from the middle class and poor in American history. (Michael Hiltzik, 6/22)
Los Angeles Times:
Recipe For Disaster: How Not To Cook Up Healthcare Reform
In case anyone was wondering what would happen if a handful of fairly wealthy, well-insured men gathered in a room and quietly tried to reinvent the $3-trillion U.S. healthcare system without any input from medical experts, patient advocates or others who know what they’re talking about, the U.S. Senate stepped up Thursday with the answer. (David Lazarus, 6/22)