Monica Herndon/Tampa Bay Times via ZUMA
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It looks like Republicans are planning to vote on their health care bill on Thursday. Will it pass? Leadership is saying so, but they might just be lying. Who knows? One way or another, it’s going to be close.
With that in mind, let’s do a quick wrap-up of the bill:
- There have been no public hearings.
- There’s no final text.
- There’s no updated CBO score.
- It is opposed by virtually every patient advocacy group and everyone in the health care industry.
- Congress is still exempted from the new rules that allow states to waive essential benefits.
- It raises premiums dramatically for older people.
- It removes Obamacare’s protection against being turned down for a pre-existing condition.
- It would steadily gut Medicaid spending for the very poorest.
- It removes coverage from at least 24 million people, probably more.
- It slashes taxes on the rich by about a trillion dollars over ten years.
This is a depraved piece of legislation. It’s a windfall for the rich and promises nothing but misery for the poor. How is it possible that 90 percent of House Republicans are happily voting in favor of this moral abomination?
