Taking away healthcare from the poorest 20% must've seemed like a sadistic wet dream to the GOP Congress. Anything to take from the poor; and give to the rich. But the dumb jerks didn't bother to do the math. As in take away insurance from 20%, who, when they get sick go to the ER, forcing hospitals to increase rates to the insurance companies. Who pass those costs onto the 80% who still have insurance, causing their rates to skyrocket. Add to that mess the many dozens of rural hospitals already on life support that will be going bankrupt--mainly in Red states and counties--and you've got the perfect storm of GOP-engineered misery.
Ok. I’m doing the math for the Crap and Cassidy plan. I have Multiple Sclerosis, make less than 700% of poverty and am 58. Right now I have a silver plan at $1400 a month that is subsidized in the ACA market that has been manageable at $63 a month. It goes up to $150 in January. I can still manage that but barely. The crap Cassidy plan means you are going to send me $1500 towards a bronze catastrophic plan that I won’t qualify for because of age and preexisting condition. And the insurance companies have no incentive to reform because it’s always more expensive to buy an individual bottle of bear than the pitcher of bear and insurance companies exist for profit. Oh yes. Makes sense.
Maybe members of Congress should try out this plan for themselves (replacing their current very generous healthcare plan for Congress) before foisting it on the rest of the country.
Will there be enough suffering to motivate folks to vote Blue in the midterms? Will the "let them eat cake" economy wake folks up? Or will they continue to blame Biden (and/or immigrants, women and windmills)?
Feel cynical for the hurt the GOP are unnecessarily inflicting on the 20% of Americans who will lose health insurance. And next year their SNAP benefits.
But understand that all this misery will be happening under a GOP President & Congress & Supreme Court. Even the Reddest of MAGA voters is going to figure out who it was that made them and their families a whole lot poorer. No matter how much FOX tries to pin it on the Dems.
Republicans are basically handing a line of attack to Democrats on the healthcare issue. Whether the Dems are willing and able to capitalize on the opportunity is, as is sadly too often the case, the question.
I'd love to see party leadership embrace the concept of universal healthcare, though I don't see that happening anytime soon. In the meantime, a full-throated defense of Obamacare seems like the minimum they should be doing.
Sen Sanders and AOC are ahead of the pack on this. The rest are...getting it. "It" being the simple economic equation that when the GOP takes away health insurance from the poorest 20%, they're essentially forcing the other 80% to carry them financially, in the form of higher monthly premiums.
GOP rural states like Iowa--with 28% on Medicaid--will be hit extra hard. The BBB Food Stamp and Medicaid cuts don't kick in until Nov. '26--right *after* the election. When things will get worse. A lot worse.
Is it deliberately confusing? Do insurance companies use jargon and convoluted language to make people who are at any level of intellect, completely bewildered? Why is this so damn hard for Americans? Why have we allowed insurance companies to control who dies and who gets to live very sick, unable to pay and wishing they were dead? Most people in this country seem to be living from paycheck to paycheck with one catastrophic illness taking down the entire family, losing what little they have. Who would do this to their own people? What leaders have the gumption to fix, really fix this system which means rethinking how insurance companies work. Period.
Judd- love your stuff. How hard would it be to have someone work with you to put it in language accessible to 6th graders? I quote and repost your material, but I think it goes over the heads of the readers on Parler and Facebook I'm targeting. I tried Truth Social but didn't last ten minutes before I was permanently banned.
The Dems need to start behaving like they are in a knife fight. The message that the Republicans are about to screw up health insurance for millions (disproportionately in red states) needs to be hammered home repeatedly and in language everyone can understand. Trump is a master at misdirection and it needs to be strangled at the gate.
The answer has been and always will be Medicare for all. When Democrats take power in 2027 they need to pass it and see if Republicans dare to block it. When they have the trifecta in 2029 they need to pass it once and for all. With Pelosi and Lieberman gone, they may have a chance. Yes, Pelosi was instrumental in killing the public option when the ACA was passed.
As I have come to expect, Judd explains the current situation succinctly. However in this instance I think he like all commentators are missing the key issue. As long as this country provides healthcare by manipulating tax policy, Americans will never have security. The math is actually quite simple. If the inflation rate is 2.5% and healthcare inflation is 5-7%, the average American will never get ahead. We must either demand that good health care is a right or continue to fixate on these tax issues. I apologize for generalizing this complex issue but “ a comment” can only offer a theme. Dems and Republicans alike agree that healthcare is a tax issue and that is shameful.
One of the few guarantees in life is that whenever one of the political parties gains control of the Presidency and both the Senate and the House of Representatives they will piss away all good will before the midterm elections by making all decisions in an echo chamber.
Republicans thought they could blame the shutdown on Democrats and that backfired. That is going to seem like a cute little mistake in comparison to this.
When the Democrats eventually win Congress and the Presidency they will foolishly do the same.
Tired of the incompetence of the Senate? Republican Senators not doing enough to help you? 20 Republican Senators are up for re-election in 2026.
Vote. Make a difference.
Fu*% yeah!
Taking away healthcare from the poorest 20% must've seemed like a sadistic wet dream to the GOP Congress. Anything to take from the poor; and give to the rich. But the dumb jerks didn't bother to do the math. As in take away insurance from 20%, who, when they get sick go to the ER, forcing hospitals to increase rates to the insurance companies. Who pass those costs onto the 80% who still have insurance, causing their rates to skyrocket. Add to that mess the many dozens of rural hospitals already on life support that will be going bankrupt--mainly in Red states and counties--and you've got the perfect storm of GOP-engineered misery.
Thank you for this reminder, Judd. This is suicidal legislation.
Ok. I’m doing the math for the Crap and Cassidy plan. I have Multiple Sclerosis, make less than 700% of poverty and am 58. Right now I have a silver plan at $1400 a month that is subsidized in the ACA market that has been manageable at $63 a month. It goes up to $150 in January. I can still manage that but barely. The crap Cassidy plan means you are going to send me $1500 towards a bronze catastrophic plan that I won’t qualify for because of age and preexisting condition. And the insurance companies have no incentive to reform because it’s always more expensive to buy an individual bottle of bear than the pitcher of bear and insurance companies exist for profit. Oh yes. Makes sense.
Maybe members of Congress should try out this plan for themselves (replacing their current very generous healthcare plan for Congress) before foisting it on the rest of the country.
Exactly. They are cut off from the reality of the rest of us.
Will there be enough suffering to motivate folks to vote Blue in the midterms? Will the "let them eat cake" economy wake folks up? Or will they continue to blame Biden (and/or immigrants, women and windmills)?
I've never felt more cynical.
Feel cynical for the hurt the GOP are unnecessarily inflicting on the 20% of Americans who will lose health insurance. And next year their SNAP benefits.
But understand that all this misery will be happening under a GOP President & Congress & Supreme Court. Even the Reddest of MAGA voters is going to figure out who it was that made them and their families a whole lot poorer. No matter how much FOX tries to pin it on the Dems.
Trump T
Dump T
Had a Great Fall
We don’t have a “health-care” system in this country, we have a “welfare-system” for the insurance industry.
Republicans are basically handing a line of attack to Democrats on the healthcare issue. Whether the Dems are willing and able to capitalize on the opportunity is, as is sadly too often the case, the question.
I'd love to see party leadership embrace the concept of universal healthcare, though I don't see that happening anytime soon. In the meantime, a full-throated defense of Obamacare seems like the minimum they should be doing.
Sen Sanders and AOC are ahead of the pack on this. The rest are...getting it. "It" being the simple economic equation that when the GOP takes away health insurance from the poorest 20%, they're essentially forcing the other 80% to carry them financially, in the form of higher monthly premiums.
GOP rural states like Iowa--with 28% on Medicaid--will be hit extra hard. The BBB Food Stamp and Medicaid cuts don't kick in until Nov. '26--right *after* the election. When things will get worse. A lot worse.
Is it deliberately confusing? Do insurance companies use jargon and convoluted language to make people who are at any level of intellect, completely bewildered? Why is this so damn hard for Americans? Why have we allowed insurance companies to control who dies and who gets to live very sick, unable to pay and wishing they were dead? Most people in this country seem to be living from paycheck to paycheck with one catastrophic illness taking down the entire family, losing what little they have. Who would do this to their own people? What leaders have the gumption to fix, really fix this system which means rethinking how insurance companies work. Period.
Great reporting Judd…Listen to Celeste K she is absolutely right on!
Judd- love your stuff. How hard would it be to have someone work with you to put it in language accessible to 6th graders? I quote and repost your material, but I think it goes over the heads of the readers on Parler and Facebook I'm targeting. I tried Truth Social but didn't last ten minutes before I was permanently banned.
The Dems need to start behaving like they are in a knife fight. The message that the Republicans are about to screw up health insurance for millions (disproportionately in red states) needs to be hammered home repeatedly and in language everyone can understand. Trump is a master at misdirection and it needs to be strangled at the gate.
The answer has been and always will be Medicare for all. When Democrats take power in 2027 they need to pass it and see if Republicans dare to block it. When they have the trifecta in 2029 they need to pass it once and for all. With Pelosi and Lieberman gone, they may have a chance. Yes, Pelosi was instrumental in killing the public option when the ACA was passed.
As I have come to expect, Judd explains the current situation succinctly. However in this instance I think he like all commentators are missing the key issue. As long as this country provides healthcare by manipulating tax policy, Americans will never have security. The math is actually quite simple. If the inflation rate is 2.5% and healthcare inflation is 5-7%, the average American will never get ahead. We must either demand that good health care is a right or continue to fixate on these tax issues. I apologize for generalizing this complex issue but “ a comment” can only offer a theme. Dems and Republicans alike agree that healthcare is a tax issue and that is shameful.
One of the few guarantees in life is that whenever one of the political parties gains control of the Presidency and both the Senate and the House of Representatives they will piss away all good will before the midterm elections by making all decisions in an echo chamber.
Republicans thought they could blame the shutdown on Democrats and that backfired. That is going to seem like a cute little mistake in comparison to this.
When the Democrats eventually win Congress and the Presidency they will foolishly do the same.
Trump's corrupt clown caravan careens catestrophically. War crimes Kegseth declares exoneration for any & all of his crimes...Provoking internal threats by labelling critics as traitors & immigrants or naturalized citizens as “garbage”. Why aren't you grateful? https://open.substack.com/pub/paulkrugman/p/trump-says-that-you-are-the-problem?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email Resist the fraudster authoritarians. #VoteBlue!