Editorials & Other Articles

dalton99a

(81,526 posts) Thu Jul 27, 2017, 11:44 PM Jul 2017

Call It 'Sneaky Repeal,' Not 'Skinny Repeal' (NYT)

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/27/opinion/skinny-repeal-obamacare.html

Call It ‘Sneaky Repeal,’ Not ‘Skinny Repeal’
By THE EDITORIAL BOARD | JULY 27, 2017

Senators John McCain, Lindsey Graham and Ron Johnson at a press conference on Thursday.

The Senate considers itself an august body of statesmen. But on Thursday it became a theater of the absurd when three top Republicans said they would vote for a health care bill only if House leaders guaranteed that it would not become law.

At issue is Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s last-ditch plan to pass a “skinny repeal” of the Affordable Care Act. But “sneaky repeal” is the more honest description, since it is really a means to preserve Republican hopes of more completely destroying the A.C.A., or Obamacare. That’s why the three senators — John McCain, Lindsey Graham and Ron Johnson — demanded the House guarantee it would not accept the bill as written, but instead send it to a conference committee. Without the guarantee, they fear the House could approve it and President Trump would sign it.

That would be a terrible outcome. There is nothing skinny about it, because the measure would leave 16 million more people without insurance, according to the Congressional Budget Office. That is four-fifths of the 20 million who gained health insurance under the A.C.A.. In addition, people who continue to purchase their own insurance and earn too much money to qualify for federal subsidies could see premiums jump 20 percent if they could buy comprehensive policies at all. Forget the Republican vow to save the country from a “collapsing” Obamacare. If this bill becomes law, it would magnify weaknesses in Obamacare and leave millions of individuals and families worse off.

Its core is elimination of the A.C.A. requirement that individuals buy insurance or pay a penalty. This is meant to prevent people from buying policies only when they need care, which would lead insurers to charge more, or bar policies for individuals so that the very sick would not be their only customers. With higher prices, fewer people would buy coverage, creating a “death spiral.” No wonder America’s Health Insurance Plans and the American Medical Association oppose the plan, as do 10 governors from both parties who sent Senate leaders a letter.