Locals speak out against Trump’s health care orders

Our nation reached a critical juncture in history where Republicans are poised – after waiting seven years for their turn – to try to fix what’s wrong with America’s health insurance system. But if the system collapses, he insists it won’t be his responsibility.

“I appreciate what the president has done in terms of executive orders to get the premiums down”, Barrasso said. It’s dead. It’s gone.

So if customers see their premiums rise or their plans disappear, how can that be his problem? “They really have to understand the choices that they have”, says Chad Westover, CEO of University of Utah Health Plans.

In a summary of the bill’s highlights, the legislation’s authors say the bill would allow states to offer value-based insurance plans, streamline the 1332 waiver application process, and allow everyone to purchase lower-premium catastrophic coverage “copper” plans.

Since the GOP couldn’t repeal and replace the ACA, the President chose to disrupt insurance coverage by allowing “skinny” policies that skirt the rules of the ACA, and to take away subsidies to insurance companies that help low-income people pay for their coverage.

Another finding of the October 13 Kaiser poll showed that despite Americans’ support for a bipartisan approach to health care, their confidence that Trump and Congress can work together to make this happen remains low. The pulling of CSR subsidies could only lead to one of two outcomes: Either insurance companies would vastly increase premiums in the Obamacare exchanges to make up for the loss of revenue or they would pull out of the exchanges entirely.

But that’s not what Trump did.

Insurance companies have already calculated rates for 2018, likely expecting CSR’s to continue, and now they are gone. “That was a gift”, he said. But Republicans, who between 2013 and this year pinned premium increases on the Obama administration, did not say that Trump was responsible for any increases now. That’s the president’s position as of Wednesday.

So a less charitable reading by many is that Trump is out to sabotage Obamacare if he can’t get Congress – even one controlled by Republicans – to do the deed for him. He wants Obamacare to die, but he doesn’t want his fingerprints on the corpse.

Everyone needs to be more frugal when accessing health care as the federal government becomes more generous in making sure everyone is covered with adequate health insurance. That’s a promise he has no strategy to fulfill.

The latest moves by President Trump to undermine the Affordable Care Act put the health of children, seniors, veterans and people with pre-existing conditions at risk. If you can’t afford the amount you need to pay before your insurance kicks in to cover your health care bills, your insurance is useless. As Obamacare fails, with insurers leaving the business and double-digit premium increases every year, politicians fiddle around the edges. They’ll be cheaper. They won’t all be better.

Over 5 million people lost their insurance and doctors.

Media outlets fact check some of the rhetoric swirling around the health care debate. “Under Obamacare, we knew that premiums were going to go up again significantly this year, because of the way the law was passed”.

Not a single health care expert would tell you otherwise.

The president’s plan to end the subsidy payments prompted swift criticism from Democrats, U.S. health care groups and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.