Senate Republicans Are Staging a Health Care Heist
Photo by Win McNamee/Getty
The health care bill passed by the House of Representatives—known as the AHCA—has a 21% approval rating. Two reasons behind its unpopularity are its utter decimation of Medicaid expansions, and allowing states to waive the requirement that limits premiums for people with preexisting conditions—effectively eliminating coverage by making it utterly unaffordable. 75% of Americans believe that is a bad idea. So politically, it should come as no surprise that the Republicans in Congress are trying to conduct as little of this in the public view as possible.
Morally, it’s reprehensible to pass a bill that pretty much guarantees that a significant amount of people will die; either by stripping away their health insurance, or making it completely unaffordable. But morals went out the window a long time ago with our most established residents of Congress. That part of their brain was replaced by a chip that gives K Street lobbyists unilateral control over their thoughts, emotions, and in an emergency, their entire bodily faculties. This uncomfortable truth is embodied in the Senate, as they have taken an unpopular bill being constructed in the shadows and moved it into a veritable black hole.
Thirteen Senate Republicans—all men—are creating a version of the AHCA that will radically change 1/6 of our economy, and they have done everything within their power to hide the facts of the bill not only from the American public, but their own colleagues—as John McCain told Bloomberg that he has yet to see the health care bill and “nor have I met any American that has. I’m sure the Russians have been able to hack in and gotten most of it.”
Despite the fact that most Republicans have yet to see what is in the bill, Republican leadership is flying ahead at warp speed trying to get one of the most unpopular bills in American history passed.
Healthcare timeline
bill text end of this weekCBO next Mon/Tues
– Vote on Thursdayhttps://t.co/h0EEsfdiml— Michelle Hackman (@MHackman) June 19, 2017
We received additional information today on what exactly is in the bill, and it actually increases the level of deregulation from the House’s version of the AHCA.
.@caitlinnowens reports Senate bill will allow states to waive more/different rules than House. Until the Byrd Bath. https://t.co/RNgtxTnX7spic.twitter.com/ZBZEmGFmaW