Posted on 09/28/2015 7:45:08 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Last night, Donald Trump sat down with Scott Pelley on ’60 Minutes’ and made a gloriously confused barrage of promises and wishcasting about taxes, Social Security, ISIL, trade, and immigration. There’s a lot in there, but for my money his most laughable comments were about repealing Obamacare. Here’s the key section:
Scott Pelley: What’s your plan for Obamacare?
Donald Trump: Obamacare’s going to be repealed and replaced. Obamacare is a disaster if you look at what’s going on with premiums where they’re up 40, 50, 55 percent.
Scott Pelley: How do you fix it?
Donald Trump: There’s many different ways, by the way. Everybody’s got to be covered. This is an un-Republican thing for me to say because a lot of times they say, “No, no, the lower 25 percent that can’t afford private. But–”
Scott Pelley: Universal health care.
Donald Trump: I am going to take care of everybody. I don’t care if it costs me votes or not. Everybody’s going to be taken care of much better than they’re taken care of now.
Scott Pelley: The uninsured person is going to be taken care of. How? How?
Donald Trump: They’re going to be taken care of. I would make a deal with existing hospitals to take care of people. And, you know what, if this is probably–
Scott Pelley: Make a deal? Who pays for it?
Donald Trump: –the government’s gonna pay for it. But we’re going to save so much money on the other side. But for the most it’s going to be a private plan and people are going to be able to go out and negotiate great plans with lots of different competition with lots of competitors with great companies and they can have their doctors, they can have plans, they can have everything.
Okay, he’s going to repeal Obamacare, but replace it with a system where “everybody’s got to be covered.” Very Obamacare-ish.
According to Trump, uninsured people are going to get coverage because he’s going to “make a deal with existing hospitals” and “the government’s gonna pay for it.” There’s a word for this exact proposal: Medicaid. Trump probably doesn’t know this, but Medicaid expansion was a huge part of Obamacare. The “deal with existing hospitals” is so unfavorable for doctors and hospitals that many of them do not accept Medicaid patients because it would put them out of business. Does Trump know this? Meh, he doesn’t care.
But that’s just the uninsured. Trump goes on to say that “for the most part,” his plan will be “a private plan and people are going to be able to go out and negotiate great plans with lots of different competition.” If this idea also sounds strangely familiar, it is because this too is already part of our healthcare framework. Trump described the Obamacare exchanges just like Obama did, as increasing competition in the private insurance markets by providing lots of options.
And what would a health reform proposal be like without transparently false promises? Remember, “if you like your plan, you can keep it”? Trump thinks it’s a great idea, and not only can you keep your doctor, keep your plan, you “can have everything!”
Summing Up: Pelley didn’t push hard on any of Trump’s stream-of-conscious proposals, so we don’t know in what way his plan would differ from expansion of Medicaid and Obamacare or how he would avoid the “if you like it, you can keep it” trap. Does anyone think Trump even knows?
Yep. And it is amazing how many self-described RINO-haters plug their fingers in their ears and squeeze their eyes shut and chant "NANANANANANANANANAAA" so they can plead ignorance when the guy they vote FOR brings on all the things they thought they were voting "against."
What IS surprising is that so many are fooled.
Of course, it'll all be spun as a brilliant rhetorical maneuver by Trump to force the GOP to come up with a health care plan that'll be the "most terrific" ever.
Did you miss Trump's comments about "taking care of everyone" and "the government's gonna pay for it?" What "mold" do you think is being cast here?
Jim, do you remember how this all STARTED?
It started when the Federal Government put salary caps years ago (I think it was post WWII) on those very employers of thousands, so they had to come up with other ways to be competitive employers. They added HEALTH INSURANCE to the perks they offered employees because the government prohibited them from offering higher salaries.
Eventually, the "perk" became an expected part of employment, and ultimately it became what it is now -- expected and required.
So if you're going to talk about having an "intimate knowledge of the health care system," you really ought to understand that it was GOVERNMENT that manipulated employers into providing something they really didn't need or want to provide -- health insurance. It SHOULD be in the hands of the individual -- employers should have ZERO to do with it. It was ONLY government that changed it.
You cannot handle the truth, which is that Trump is on board with the concept of Obamacare. So you accuse those of us who are pointing out the TRUTH as being "fearmongerers." You poor pitiful thing.
You nailed it. It's popular with THIS FReeper, and I bet a whole lot more who are keeping mum.
How about starting with the premise of your own common sense????? Trumps own words tell you what you need to know, and they are supplemented by his actual actions; no “spin” required.
Love your tagline! And CRUZ TO VICTORY.
Your screen name once again (as always, really) proves to be false labeling. You remain emotional and mercurial after lo these many years on FR.
Finny, it’s a lost cause. They want socialism as bad as any liberal. Let them learn the hard way.
As with Mitt and Jonbon and Mitch, they know better than us idiots. Let them embrace their chains. Words no longer mean things.
Wow. Worship celebrity much?
It’s not my job to provide “preventative care,” because that includes “preventative habits,” which government cannot dictate.
Engage in wishful thinking much? YES. You do.
He went much further than just “being on board with” Obamacare. He actually ENDORSED it at the time. Without his involvement and money to back Dems, would we have it today? If he influenced just ONE senator or congresswimp, then he is the reason for Obamacare.
I suspect that he did what crony corporists do, he endorsed it with a plan to dump the employees off their employer funded plans and onto Obamacare.
Sure, he is spouting something that is slightly different, but he is only doing so because it seems to be popular, however I don’t believe a word out of this progressive’s mouth.
Scott,
Seriously, you guys need to lay off the hyperbole a bit.
Let’s just use OBAMACARE as an example, shall we? We know we could buy at the governments expense, private health plans for every person who got coverage additionally due to Obamacare, and even if the government paid 100% of the premiums, the cost to the entire system would be far far far less than the Trillions in cost Obamacare has created. That’s just a fact.
Now, you can argue why should the government pay for this? Advocating that isn’t conservative... and that’s a fine philosophical argument you may want to make, but at the end of the day the government is already paying for the health care of the uninsured, either directly or indirectly, you really think that the indigent showing up at clinics and ER’s are getting free care? Someone is paying for it, just indirectly.
Trump is making a very valid point, you can do things a lot smarter than Obamacare, you can indeed make sure folks are covered, without destroying the industry. Insurance companies are making fortunes off Obamacare... Hospitals and delivery systems are being driven into the ground by it. Its a great scam, the whole thing is a great scam.
So, what is Trump lying about? That there is so much waste, fraud and otherwise in the existing system, that there is no way it can be made more effective and cost less? Are you really trying to take that stand?
I have no idea what Trumps plan will be since it isn’t published, but what if, just what if, the plan were to take the federal spending already on the books for this insanity that interstate competition for insurance were created, so more competition were in every state, and that instead of administering a giant single payer like medicare and medicaid, that pretty much drive the industry, for good or ill, that everyone got private plans, even if they were paid for by the government, and overall money and overhead lead to billions if not trillions in savings, better health care, and access to all?
We will see what happens when his plan is released, but the idea that what he’s proposed to date, or even said to date is worse that where things are today or a giant threat to capitalism is nonsensical.
Health Care in america today is one of the least capitalist systems in our economy, and the continued increase of cost cannot continue.. I will be interested to see what exactly Trump proposes, and when he does we can discuss it, but until then its all just speculation on everyone’s part and hyperbole by the ‘useful idiots’ to attack with no knowledge of what it is.
Trump has never been my guy, but seriously if you really want to have a serious conversation about health care in the US, you can’t just knee jerk heyperboles without facts. Because as much as folks like to pretend otherwise, we have a single payer system in the US and have for decades, for most practical purposes. Yes they may not pay every bill, an reimbursement rates may vary, but when Medicare/Medicaid decide to do something it becomes the defacto standard for the entire industry, it may not be mandated by force, but they are the elephant in the room in terms of $$$ and what they do drives the industry... most folks are just completely ignorant of it.
“I don’t care that Trump is not conservative on every issue. All I care about is that he’s going to deport the illegals.”
A more accurate statement is
“I don’t care that Trump is not conservative on every issue. All I care about is that he’s going to talk about deporting the illegals.”
WAKE THE HELL UP.
” then he is the reason for Obamacare.”
OK, I have to admit that is not fair. Even with his influence, he would not be THE reason. However, he is certainly A reason we have it today. One of many...
"Obamacare's going to be repealed and replaced. Obamacare is a disaster if you look at what's going on with premiums where they're up 40, 50, 55 percent."
Excellent!!! {^) Well done!!!
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