I make no bones that I am not a fan of either version of the GOP health plan. Regardless, the endless prognostications of doom have morphed into talking points that are out of control, erroneous, and are being repeated by a media which continuously proves that it is utterly partisan, such as
The GOP health-care plan could gut nursing homes — and kill jobs nationwide
(note: the web front page for this article in the business section is entitled even more doomy: The GOP health-care plan threatens to kill jobs nationwide)
The Better Care Reconciliation Act would reduce the country’s Medicaid spending by $772 billion over the next decade, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projected in a report Monday. That could shut down nursing homes across the country, health-care leaders argue, and trigger widespread layoffs in one of the nation’s fastest-growing fields of employment.
Janet Snipes, executive director of Holly Heights, said the proposed cuts would oblige her to reduce her workforce: currently about 170 employees who care for 130 residents.
Shrinking the staff, she said, would hamper the center’s ability to make life comfortable for the patients — an effort that includes bingo and Nintendo Wii, in addition to standard meal and medical services.
“We can’t take a significant cut and not do staff reduction,†she said. “And when staff is reduced, care can be compromised.â€
And this one
GOP health-care bill could strip public schools of billions for special education
School superintendents across the country are raising alarms about the possibility that Republican health care legislation would curtail billions of dollars in annual funding they count on to help students with disabilities and poor children.
For the past three decades, Medicaid has helped pay for services and equipment that schools provide to special-education students, as well as school-based health screening and treatment for children from low-income families. Now, educators from rural red states to the blue coasts are warning that the GOP push to shrink Medicaid spending will strip schools of what a national superintendents association estimates at up to $4 billion per year.
This is apoplectic, apocalyptic scaremongering using seniors and special needs kids (which goes well with things like How many people will die from the Republicans’ Obamacare repeal bills? Tens of thousands per year). Many are running with the schools are doomed meme, but, they most intentionally forget to mention one thing, instead couching it in weasel words. The WP above did plenty of that, as does the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
The draft of the Senate’s version of the bill released Thursday would lower future spending on the program even more than the House bill.
To the average reader, that means that Medicaid is being cut. In Average Citizen world, a cut works like this
- The Government demands that your employer provide full time with health insurance, and full time is 30 hours per week.
- You were making $10 per hour, working 40 hours per week.
- The company cut hours so no one is working more than 29 hours per week. You just saw a cut of $110 per week.
In Government world, it works like this
With Obamacare, it goes to $624 billion in 2026. In Washington, spending always goes up. It's just a matter of now much.
— Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) June 25, 2017
In Gov’t World, a cut is simply reducing the planned/potential spending increase. What would the general public say if the media and Democrats were saying “well, instead of the spending going up from $389 billion to $624 billion, it’ll go up in the range of $500 billion”? Would they be thinking this is a cut, or just a smaller increase? Would they be so scared and enraged by the apocalyptic stories emanating from the Credentialed Media?
The bill is stupid, it is not repeal and replace as we were promised, it misses the Conservative mark, and I do not support it, but, still, the media needs to be called out for their utter bullshit.
Crossed at Right Wing News.
The GOP has majorities in the House and Senate, have the president on a leash and even have a Con majority in the Supreme Court. The far right that now dominates conservaworld and the GOP ideally would like to not fine tune, but rather eliminate Medicaid and Medicare, along with the ACA, but there are still a few reasonable GOPs in the Senate who have the interests of their state’s citizens at heart.
Yes, there are cuts proposed for Medicaid. We had this argument in the 90s, with Newton Gettingrich vs the rational world. His reasoning was that if you spend $500 on something one year, and $500 on something 10 years later, THAT IS NOT A CUT!! It was a typical Newtonian semantics argument which ignored inflation, population growth and changes in the economy (largely negative due to Con policies). For example, an aging (not to mention longer-lived) population will require MORE medical care and nursing home beds. If your argument is that workers shouldn’t have to pay for poor and middle class people when they get old and sick, then make that argument, and make it honestly. We have Medicare because private insurers had little interest (i.e., profit) in insuring seniors.
This current bill hurts Americans, not helps. We get it, the Galt Gulchers want the gov’t out of healthcare altogether, and that’s their real objective – it’s why they have pulled all support from the ACA, to make it fail. They expect to create their Ayn Rand utopia from the rubble.
trump is a cipher on the issue – GOP Senators said it was embarrassing yesterday considering how little trump knew about the issue. He wants “fantastic healthcare for every American for a fraction of what we pay now” – he’s a carnival barker.
We pay about double per person on healthcare than other advanced nations – and we don’t have everyone covered – and our results are no better than the other nations. We spend at least $1 trillion EXTRA EVERY year, above and beyond what is needed to deliver healthcare. This is essentially a redistribution of wealth from the working classes to the hospitals, investors, executives, insurance companies, patent attorneys, lobbyists, doctors, specialists, device manufacturers, salespeople and pharmaceutical companies. That comes out to $2000-3000/citizen a year transferred to the wealthy. And it’s all perfectly legal (since the beneficiaries make the laws!). It’s no wonder the knives are out to protect the system.
GOPKare as proposed is “designed” to reduce the tax “burdens” on the wealthy while slashing the services to the working classes. Just be honest about it.
So Obamacare is a success, little jeffuckery?
Might wait until the bill is passed to see what’s in it…
No mandates, no tax penalties, freedom of choice… sounds fine to me and the majority of Americans.
Ruh roh… Some Republican Senators are talking about forging a bipartisan bill once this far-right crony capitalist monstrosity goes down in flames.
From three national polls, 12-17% of Americans favor this version of GOPKare.
trump the Ignoramous is marginalized on this issue. He has no idea what he’s talking about, rambling on about great health care at lower costs… GOP Senators were embarrassed by him.
http://www.businessinsider.com/gop-healthcare-bill-voters-disapprove-poll-2017-6
12% favor GOPKare!!!
53% of those surveyed said Congress should either leave Obamacare untouched or make changes to it while keeping its framework intact.