Viewpoints: GOP Senators’ Plan Reveals Panic Over Possible Political Ramifications Of Repeal

Los Angeles Times: Showing Panic Over Obamacare Repeal, GOP Senators Release Replacement Plan That (Almost) Makes Sense
If you’re following the health insurance debate—and since the coverage of more than 20 million Americans is under threat from the Trump White House and the Republican congressional majority, you should be—you’re going to be hearing a lot in the coming weeks about Cassidy-Collins. That’s an Obamacare replacement plan just introduced by Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine). Dubbed the Patient Freedom Act, It’s the first such proposal that indicates that the GOP is becoming increasingly panicked about the political price of repealing the Affordable Care Act outright, and increasingly desperate to reassure voters that the provisions of Obamacare they actually value can be retained without a break. (Michael Hiltzik, 1/24)

Los Angeles Times: The Hidden Costs Of Replacing Obamacare
Congressional Republicans set themselves on a fast track this month to repeal the tax and spending provisions of the 2010 Affordable Care Act. But President Trump and numerous GOP lawmakers are coming around to the view that it would be irresponsible, and possibly disastrous, to take that step without enacting a plan to replace the law at the same time. That change of heart has forced opponents of the act to focus on something they should have been focusing on for years now: What is the problem they’re trying to fix? Because repealing Obamacare won’t slow rising healthcare costs by itself, and it certainly won’t enable more Americans to obtain health insurance. (1/21)

Orange County Register: What If Trump-Care Works In California? What If It Doesn't? 
One problem in having a president who operates without much regard for facts, truth or consistency — one whose staff has devised the concept of “alternative facts” — is that when he says or promises something, no one can know whether he means it. So it was with President Trump’s mid-January promise of “health insurance for everybody,” including better coverage, more choice among policies, lower deductibles and no one left behind — far different from anything his Republican allies in Congress ever promised in their many efforts to “repeal and replace” Obamacare, the Affordable Care Act (ACA). (Thomas Elias, 1/24)

Sacramento Bee: Obamacare Repeal Means Huge Windfall For Wealthy 
The debate on repealing Obamacare has rightly focused on all those Americans who would be hurt – the estimated 18 million who could lose their health insurance in the first year. But there should be more attention on those who could benefit right away – the super rich who would get a huge tax cut. At the same time, millions of Americans – including 1.2 million Californians – would lose tax credits on health insurance premiums they now get under the Affordable Care Act. (1/23)

Los Angeles Times: Obamacare Repeal Would Hit California's Central Valley Hard
Last week, I went looking for the real Obamacare. Not the one that’s been vilified by President Trump and House Speaker Paul D. Ryan, but the Obamacare that’s otherwise known as the Affordable Care Act, the one providing health coverage to more than 5 million people in California. (Ed Hernandez, 1/26)

Los Angeles Times: Donald Trump's Executive Order On Obamacare Will Cripple The Health Insurance Market
The day after the election I wrote that Republicans would find it hard to repeal Obamacare — but not so hard to vandalize it. In his first official action after being sworn in as president, Donald Trump applied the first smear of graffiti to a law that today brings health coverage to more than 20 million Americans. The executive order Trump signed at the White House gives the Department of Heath and Human Services and other government agencies broad latitude to start undermining the law. It encourages them “to waive, defer, grant exemptions from, or delay” any provision of the law that would “impose a fiscal burden” on pretty much anyone — state, hospital, doctor, or patient. (Michael Hiltzik, 1/21)

Los Angeles Times: Paul Ryan Continues His Assault On Obamacare And Medicare — This Time On The 'Charlie Rose' Show 
We previously debunked the statements Ryan delivered about the Affordable Care Act during a broadcast town hall last week, when he tried to explain why he’s so intent on repealing the law. On Wednesday, Ryan brought his act to the “Charlie Rose” show on PBS. For an hour, he comfortably fielded verbal balls of yarn from the host, who indulgently allowed him to rattle on without any measurable pushback. So let’s once again examine Ryan’s words and test them against the truth. We’ll start with Obamacare and move on to Medicare. People should pay attention, because the effect of Ryan’s policies would be to make affordable healthcare harder to find for millions of Americans and to leave seniors holding the bag for more of their own medical needs. (Michael Hiltzik, 1/20)

Sacramento Bee: A Choice: Come To The Table Or Be On The Menu
The polls say we want our leaders to produce environmentally sensible and fiscally responsible solutions for our crumbling infrastructure, and a health system that fosters innovation and provides a safety net for those that need one. Polls say we want a tax code that is simple to understand and equally meted out, and an immigration system that is true to the timeless values on which our nation was built, and one that is rational and compassionate. ... How can we reach considered compromise? Let’s start with how not: labeling the ascendant party as illegitimate. Pledging, even before the new government assumes control, to fight it. (John Russell IV, 1/22)

Sacramento Bee: Make America Sick Again? In California, GOP Could Pay A Price
So it went Monday outside the most endangered health center in the congressional district of Republican House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, whose party’s crusades against Planned Parenthood and Obamacare are on a collision course with millions of Californians just trying to manage their lives. As if it isn’t enough that the GOP Congress and the Trump administration have vowed to repeal the Affordable Care Act – a plan that would disrupt or end health insurance for about 5 million people in this state, including hundreds of thousands in Republican districts – they also have greased the skids for defunding the state’s best known provider of women’s reproductive health care. (Shawn Hubler, 1/20)

Los Angeles Times: U.S. Judge Finds That Aetna Misled The Public About Its Reasons For Quitting Obamacare
Aetna claimed this summer that it was pulling out of all but four of the 15 states where it was providing Obamacare individual insurance because of a business decision — it was simply losing too much money on the Obamacare exchanges. Now a federal judge has ruled that that was a rank falsehood. In fact, says Judge John D. Bates, Aetna made its decision at least partially in response to a federal antitrust lawsuit blocking its proposed $37-billion merger with Humana. Aetna threatened federal officials with the pullout before the lawsuit was filed, and followed through on its threat once it was filed. Bates made the observations in the course of a ruling he issued Monday blocking the merger. (Michael Hiltzik, 1/23)

Los Angeles Times: California Needs To Do More Than Apologize To People It Sterilized 
As part of the vile eugenics movement that swept the country during the first half of the 20th century, more than 60,000 women and men were sterilized in state homes and hospitals to prevent them from passing on what were considered defective genes. Laws in 32 states allowed sterilizations to be performed at state-run institutions on people deemed “feeble minded” or mentally ill or even, in some cases, sexually promiscuous. However, nowhere was eugenics more aggressively practiced than in California. About 20,000 people in California were sterilized, mostly between 1920 and 1960, although the state law was in effect from 1909 to 1979. (1/21)

Los Angeles Times/Glendale News Press: Glendale Is Bad For Your Health
Like many current residents, I grew up in Glendale, attending Glendale High School. I decided to stay where I grew up — not least because my job kept me around, and I could stay close to family and friends. Glendale offers a good quality of life. It's a clean city with proximity to big-city life, while still being relatively affordable. However, one important parameter involved in quality of life — traffic control and safety — seems to decline inexorably every year. If you do a simple Google search, you will see that Glendale routinely makes headlines as among the nation's most dangerous cities in which to drive, and this danger is compounded for pedestrians and bicyclists. (Shant Minas, 1/19)

San Jose Mercury News: It's Time To Have 'The Talk' With The Kids (About Pot)
Marijuana is now legal in some form in 30 states and the District of Columbia. Even if you are among the shrinking number of Americans who still live in a state in which marijuana remains illegal, your children will likely travel to places where pot is legal – Venice Beach in Los Angeles, the mall in Washington, D.C., or the Las Vegas strip. (Mike Lynn, 1/24)