Posted on 03/10/2017 3:35:13 PM PST by EveningStar
President Trump has told Republican leaders that he's prepared to play hardball with congressional conservatives to pass the GOP healthcare bill, including by supporting the 2018 primary challengers of any Republican who votes against the bill.
Sources told the Washington Examiner that Trump made that threat in a White House meeting on Tuesday with House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., and other members of the House GOP whip team that helps line up votes.
Trump's threat is one that could resonate. Most of the Republicans who oppose the GOP's American Health Care Act represent ruby red districts that strongly support Trump and his agenda.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonexaminer.com ...
I don’t understand this “coverage” issue. Why not simply repeal Obamacare and give anyone who wants coverage the option to pay for Medicaid if they don’t already qualify ? Let Medicaid be the high-risk pool. Let people buy into it for 5% of their gross income. There is obviously plenty of data available on past total billings for Medicaid patients to determine what HMO payments to healthcare providers should be.
Nobody loses coverage, pre-existing conditions are covered, nobody has to buy plans that cover things they don’t want to pay for, no Obamacare surtaxes. No mandates for individuals or businesses to buy insurance. People can switch out of Medicaid as the private market begins offering better plans for less, but the Medicaid option is there for 5% as a last resort.
We already outlived our expiration dates a few times compadre.
It will be up to the next generation to fight this one to the conclusion.
Have you seen this “Bluexit” piece?
https://newrepublic.com/article/140948/bluexit-blue-states-exit-trump-red-america
Rural counties will be able to survive without Samsung gadgets brought in through blue ports a lot more easily than blue cities will be able to survive without food from red counties.
And without the modern transportation infrastructure, fuel and fertilizer for modern agriculture etc, our food production will probably drop by 90% for a few years at least.
And so will the population.
On the other side of this terrible epoch, maybe there will be a grand Christian revival. I don’t think we’ll live to see it, so in that case, it was great knowing you!
Until we allow competition across state lines, I’ll be a critic of the bill.
I understand bleeding hearts. But ...
WHY THE HECK DEFEND CRONYISM?
‘Allegedly, it needs 60 votes in the Senate because it’s not fiscal.’
Seriously?
What’s no fiscal about it? Is that the stated reason?
“Allegedly [competition across state lines is] needs 60 votes in the Senate because it’s not fiscal.”
Is that correct? Is that the official reason for blocking competition?
If so it’s a LIE. It’s MORE fiscal to offer better deals. Doesn’t cost the taxpayer a dime.
Only way to explain such a lie is ... cronyism.
“Let people buy [medicaid] for 5% of their gross income.”
I suspect your math is wa ... ay off. Medicaid is mainly for the poor.
The insurance business is complicated....built around insurable pools of people. I don’t know how that works across state lines.
One reason why O/Care flopped....not built on sound business practices. Obama tried to inject his progressive claptrap in a business situation.
“Allegedly [competition across state lines is] needs 60 votes in the Senate because it’s not fiscal.”
Is that correct? Is that the official reason for blocking competition?
If so it’s a LIE. It’s MORE fiscal to offer better deals. Doesn’t cost the taxpayer a dime.
Only way to explain such a lie is ... cronyism.
****
The bill being discussed is supposedly going through as a reconciliation bill so it can’t include many provisions such as “state lines” - at least that’s what they are saying.
The issue is that this bill needs to have bipartisan support so that the GOP is not accused of ramming it through - as we have accused the Democrats of doing with Obamacare.
The best analysis appears to be from the site below. Two recent articles are listed, and it has hyperlinks to the previous articles.
ObamaCare and The GOP: Two R.A.T Groups Fighting for Control – Both Filled With False Information and Many Lying…
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2017/03/09/obamacare-and-the-gop-two-r-a-t-groups-fighting-for-control-both-filled-with-false-information-and-many-lying/
Republican Factions Continue Healthcare Infighting…
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2017/03/10/republican-factions-continue-healthcare-infighting/
Remember who put you in the White House Donald. This will backfire on you.
[Thank you, both. Liz, this might clear it up.]
Whenifhow:
The bill being discussed is supposedly going through as a reconciliation bill so it can’t include many provisions such as “state lines” - at least that’s what they are saying.
[unquote]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I suspect you both said the same thing. Reconciliation, if I’m not mistaken [in this instance], means ‘no added drain on revenue or no nuclear option’.
Therefore, I speculate that someone had cobbled added expenses with ‘crossing state lines’. And as Gomer Pile would say, “Shazam! Crossin’ state lines costs taxpayers more money? Well, I-y’ll .... be!”
http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/what-reconciliation
[quote]
The George W. Bush tax cuts were passed using reconciliation procedures. During the short time that they controlled both houses of congress, Democrats reacted by passing new rules that prevented reconciliation from being used to increase the deficit. After Republicans again took over, they repealed those rules, so that reconciliation can now be used to reduce revenues, but not to increase entitlement spending. The content of reconciliation laws is limited in the Senate by the Byrd rule, which generally disallows items that do not affect outlays or revenue. The Byrd rule also prohibits initiatives that would increase the deficit beyond the fiscal years covered by the budget resolution.
[unquote]
[In other words, crossing state lines would be FINE if legislated without extra goodies. We could have a separate piece of legislation regarding this one aspect BEFORE Ryan-Care. Then we would achieve something significant in healthcare this year.]
Good comment here
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3533803/posts?page=20#20
and the question is why can the bill for genetic testing be going through legislative process, but not the legislation for expanding between states?
Genetic testing- search term on FR
House GOP would let employers demand workers’ genetic test results
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3533477/posts
I didn’t do any math. There is no way it ever pays for itself, just as Obamacare never pays for itself and just as the “Tax credit” welfare of the replacement plan isn’t paying for itself. On a per-person basis, Medicaid is currently costing about $10K.
Under Obamacare you could get a waiver of the penalty for not having insurance if it was going to cost you more than 8% of your gross income. So I set it at 5%, as that is enough to make people feel the cost but not so much as Obamacare expected them to pay. I honestly doubt you could get the indestructible 20-somethings to pay even 5% of their income for health insurance.
God bless you and others for caring enough to take the time. But this is exactly what Paul Ryan wants — chaos.
It provides a smokescreen.
Ryan is happy to see conservatives bicker about fiscal specifics because the real cash-in is the once-in-a-lifetime chance the RINOs’ cronies have to raid a huge market for pennies on the dollar AND enjoy monopolies at the same time:
RINO-Care is Crony-Baloney
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3533863/posts
DanZ, this was essentially answered in the post.
What would a Conservative’s view be? You don’t know?
Yep!
Same here. We do not know his strategery. I have faith in him, he said he would not let us down. I told my husband today that the only thing I can figure is he is accomplishing 2 things- he is giving Ryan et al enough rope to hang themselves, and then he can usher in what he promised.
Yes, Trump wants single payer. /s
That’s why he is trying to get insurance companies to offer policies nationwide.
Oh wait?
Good grief.
I don't want to be right. There is nothing to celebrate in this situation.
I’m not trying to make the case that everyone who disagrees with this bill is a NeverTrumper.
When folks start tossing out “Trumpettes”, and other put downs of those who supported Trump, then attacking Trump, while they give Ryan and his cabal a free pass, then it’s clear what their agenda is.
I disagree with Trump on this, but I liken it to a battle where you think the General is making a mistake. You support and hope that he’ll get it wrong on future engagements.
We gain nothing by destroying Trump.
He must have support to get other things done.
If we destroy him, who will fix our military and a host of other things we need him to do?
We can’t let the GOPe destroy his support.
If we lose on this one, I’m going to be quite angry about it.
Can I let that completely undercut my support for Trump? No. There’s too many other things on the line here.
I used this analogy the other day. Just because the Golden Goose lays one lead egg every 35 times, we don’t destroy the goose.
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