From “Trumpcare Is a Historic Social Calamity That Would Deprive 24 Million of Insurance,” by New York‘s Jonathan Chait: “The American Health Care Act — i.e., Trumpcare — would deprive 14 million American citizens of their health insurance next year, a number that would rise to 24 million by the end of the decade. It is a proposal that could only be enacted by a party in the grips of an combination of ideological and partisan fanaticism unfathomable to most of the world, and even to most Americans.

“The changes Trumpcare would impose upon the health-care system are easy to understand. It is, quite simply, a redistribution bill. It would reduce taxes on the rich, and thus reduce the amount of subsidies for coverage for people who can’t obtain it through their job or Medicare. Poor, sick, and old customers would get enormous cuts in their subsidy levels. An analysis quoted in today’s Wall Street Journal finds that, in one Nebraska county, a 62-year-old who earns $18,000 a year, who currently pays $760 a year for insurance, would have to pay $20,000 a year under the Republican plan. Which is to say, that person would not be able to obtain insurance, since the cost of care would exceed his entire salary.

“The moral proposition undergirding this plan is that, if you can’t afford the cost of your own insurance, that is your own problem. It would reduce average premiums, by making insurance unaffordable to people with high medical expenses, and thus driving them out of the risk pool.”

March 13, 2017by Jeffrey Wells38 Comments