This week when the Cheetos-colored Russian agent had his press conference, not a single reporter asked any substantive questions about this “repeal and replace” thing. The questions were all generalities, which allowed Trump to go into his standard riff: “ _____________ has been a disaster. You all know that. We’re going to _____________. And It will be Yuge. Americans are going to love this ...”
This this morning on NPR, they had some moron GOP Congressman from Minnesota and gave him 5 minutes to riff on his plan without asking a single specific question. From what I could discern, this fool’s answer is “We are going to repeal and immediately replace by giving states waivers to do whatever they want to do.” What does that even mean? It is total nonsense, yet received no substantive follow-up questions. And the host didn’t bring on a Democrat to offer the perspective of the 87% of the public who say they don’t want that. It is probably just as well, because I’m not sure any Democrats can even have a meaningful discussion on this. Even Obama seems incapable of addressing the specifics.
We MUST talk in specifics. We only have one chance before the Republicans make a complete mess of this, and once they do that, we will be screwed for another 30 years because no politician will want to touch this minefield. There are literally thousands of questions that must be answered. But we can start by asking five very straightforward questions. I guarantee there aren’t any Republicans who can get through the first 5 with any credibility.
So here are my suggestions for the 5 questions every Republican should be asked anytime they say “Repeal and Replace”:
1. Are you going to repeal the Exchange?The exchange allows 20 million people to compare plans on a level playing field. We don’t have to deal with agent trickery and incomprehensible jargon. It is all right there. All the plans provide a common set of benefits so they are easy to compare. If we do as the Minnesota Congressman says and allow every state to set its own standards (or simply eliminate standards), then there is no basis for an exchange because you can no longer compare policies easily.
2. If I have an ACA policy today, what happens to that policy after you repeal?By making my monthly payments for an ACA policy, I am guaranteed that the policy cannot be cancelled this year. And I am guaranteed I can purchase another policy next year even if I get sick this year. If you repeal the ACA, does that mean that insurance companies can terminate my policy if I get sick? That’s what they did before ACA, after all.
And every ACA policy includes a basic set of services, such as colonoscopy, mammograms, and annual physicals at no extra cost. Once you repeal ACA, will the insurance companies be allowed to send me a notice that strips these benefits out of the policy, like it or lump it?
And if I have an ACA policy today, what do I do in January 2018?
3. Are you repealing the income-based subsidies?Millions of Americans depend on those subsidies in order to afford the insurance. If you repeal those subsidies, then millions of people will lose their insurance coverage, simple as that.
And while we’re at it, are you also repealing the ACA provision that eliminates the drug “doughnut hole” problem? If so, then millions of Americans will see a big increase in their drug costs.
4. Are you repealing the Medicaid expansion?A large majority of Americans live in states that have implemented Medicaid expansion. If you are repealing that, then millions of low-income families, most having children, will lose their health care.
5. When you cut millions of people off from insurance, who will pay when they show up at the ER with no ability to pay?This is the basic problem wen society leaves 50 million people uninsured. Are you going to repeal the individual mandate that requires all Americans to carry health insurance? They will still get sick and having no insurance, they will not get any care until it becomes a true emergency. When they show up at the ER, they must be treated, but who pays? We know how this works. Everybody else pays through higher charges. Why would you want to take us back there?
The Cheetos guy says that insurance companies will not be allowed to deny because of pre-existing conditions. But without the mandate that everyone carry insurance, why would any insurance company want to do this?
There are so many other questions that are also very important. My list just scratches the surface. But if the GOP can’t answer these 5, they have no hope of answering the others.
Please, can we start asking SPECIFIC questions and not allow these morons to ramble on incoherently without a real challenge?
