❻ Paul Ryan is not a wonk. He’s a wanker.
I’m confused about how this bill will save $337 billion. If republicans repeal the tax increases then there will be less revenue. If they kick people off medicaid then those people will show up in the emergency room for indigent care. If they change subsidies to tax credits, I don’t see how that saves money. Can someone enlighten me?
It operates along the line of “borrow from Peter to pay Paul” – i.e., it’s a shell game.
But we’ll have to wait to see if the rubes fall for it or not. The next few days/weeks will show.
Just for fun, why not have the CBO score the Swedish or the Finnish healthcare systems? I mean, 10-month paid maternity leave, lower infant mortality, greater longevity, lower drug costs, digital prescriptions, universal coverage, and savings of about 6% of GDP a year, or roughly $1 trillion. Come to think of it, Max Baucus probably could have done this when he had the chance, and we’d be having an altogether different discussion today.
And $337 bn is tiny relative to the budget over the time measured. That’s hard to say well politically.
Yup, but remember how much of the country is innumerate. “Gazillions” is a real number.
Good points raised in the article. Norquist types will say that this is basically an entitlement cut which they’ve favored for a long time and that they should continue to shrink gov’t’s role in medicare and social security. Double downerism could happen here. But this simply isn’t a health care reform bill anymore. It’s not even a repeal effort. This is about transferring wealth from the middle classes to pay for a rich person’s tax cut. It won’t ever be popular.
The GOP is, however, not driven by public concerns but by the accumulation of nonsense debt. They are the party that has thrown the steering wheel out of the car and is moving at top speed. A backtrack from this will not be easy for the GOP to do.
The Bush folks were fairly adept at gauging public opinion. Bush/Rove never took risks in the area of health care. They did nothing to improve it, but they also didn’t do much to rock the boat they inherited. They got burned on social security but backtracked. They knew when to fold the tent. I think there’s a reason for that. They know what triggers their voters and leaners.
As for Trump? I think he’s clearly hedging now after trying to sell this plan over the last several weeks. He has no real interest in this policy or in legislating at all. His interest is in power and looking great. If he views Ryan as a rival, he might use this opportunity to dump him and get one of his guys in. However, there’s nothing for that new Speaker to do, because Trump doesn’t really look like he’s all into the legislative process.
Good points. I think there would be a reduction of growth and income due to higher health care burdens that would impact the overall economy and the revenues that the gov’t takes in. One of the bigger, unappreciated effects of Obamacare is how it is enabling people to have more disposable income and the freedom to not be married to a job. They can start a business and get health insurance at a more affordable rate.
You raise some good points.
If Trump takes too much heat on this, he will start looking for scapegoats. Over on MoJo, Kevin Drum has an interesting theory, albeit a bit “conspiracy” tinged, as to why just yesterday Breitbart leaked a recording from last fall of Paul RAyn privately slamming Trump. Apparently Bannon hates him with a passion and Trumpie’s not too fond either. If Trump gets shamed by public reaction to this bill, he’ll blame Ryan, and showing how Ryan hates Trump will just dump fuel in the fire so things could get, well, interesting.
ETA: It’s also interesting that Trumpie does NOT want his name associated with this – people are NOT to refer to this as TrumpCare. That tells a lot about how fragile his support really is.
Beautifully put!
I would focus more on his misanthropic instincts, imisanthrope, but wanker is perhaps a more poetical description! Unseat him!
Tierney is too nice to write that !
“If you’re older, you get hurt. If you’re [on] the expansion, it’s not there, and then the opioid addiction,” Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) said. “They hit me with all three.”
Shit, if even Joe Manchin isn’t kissing the GOP’s ass, you know this Bill has to be bad!
This should make it clear that Republicans are Evil. Democrats should beat the crap out of those who hesitate to stand against this moral abomination. Specifically, they need to go after older voters who will see their premiums increase dramatically.
So those Republicans defending these bill are pissed because the CBO isn’t looking at the whole picture of what they intend to do with future legislation. This shows, and should mean that they don’t know how any of this works. They’re railing against a body that could only score what’s been submitted not the magical unicorns and ponies the Republicans promise all of us in the future.
Too bad CBO doesn’t entertain citizens’ petitions. I’d like them to score Medicare for everybody, financed by broadening the Medicare tax basis to unadjusted gross revenue instead of just payroll.
It’s definitely every man for himself and every woman for her husband. If someone amends the bill to start a war someplace, it’ll be the entirety of the Republican platform in a single piece of legislation.
the politics are obvious…the puppet does not want his name on it because it is so bad…besides he will put his name on it ANYTIME he decides it is politically positive for him to do so.
but…the largest political point is the one i made before that everyone seems afraid to understand…AT WHAT POINT will the democrats be forced to support this junk ?
because THAT is the real goal here …graham who can be very coy as much as said so…once you start working and finding areas where you can “improve” this horror you are going to start looking for democrats to support it or you are going to get the puppet say something like this “i asked chuck schumer and the democrats to work with us to make sure no one losses their care but they refused”.
then…who is confident in how the dems will ultimately respond?
Those who live like Ayn AS IN MINE Rand die the same way--broke and drawing the Social Security and Medicare benefits they ranted against all of their lives…
People with cystic fibrosis in Canada live an average of ten years longer than in the USA. People with good private health insurance have similar results with Canada’s system. However:
Canadians had a 44% lower risk of early death than US patients receiving continuous Medicaid or Medicare coverage and a 36% lower risk than those receiving intermittent Medicaid or Medicare coverage. Compared with US patients with no health insurance (or unknown health insurance status), Canadians had a 77% lower risk of early death.