Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/801690
It's taken seven years, but congressional Republicans and the Trump administra- tion are finally having their "If you like your health care plan you can keep it" moment. LikePresidentBarack Obama, who saw millions of Americans initially lose cov- erage under his signature plan, President Don- ald Trump, who vowed "in- surance for ev- eryone," is find- ing some prom- ises are nearly impossible to keep. An eagerly awaited report by the independent Congres- sional Budget Office released Tuesday held plenty of bad news for the new president and his Republican allies on Capitol Hill. It was also a reminder that, when it comes to health care, the White House and con- gressional Republicans are singing from very different hymnals. The biggest blow to the White House? The CBO report makes clear that the House GOP plan doesn't mean insurance for everyone. In fact, it means insurance for 14 million fewer people next year and then 24 million fewer by 2026. As The New York Times and other outlets reported, average premiums would rise by 15 to 20 percent in 2018 and 2019 than they would be under the current law. But premiums would be 10 percent lower by 2026, the CBO analysis found. The GOP bill would also trim Medicaid by $880 bil- lion, dropping tens of mil- lions of people from the rolls. The cuts would partic- ularly affect the poor and women. It would further lead to an increase in births by de-funding Planned Par- enthood, cutting off access to contraception and fam- ily planning services for 2.5 million men and women na- tionwide. Ironically, among those the hardest hit are voters who went the most enthusi- astically for Trump in 2016. And while the GOP bill re- duces the deficit by $337 bil- lion over 10 years, millions of older Americans will see the price of their coverage rise, according to the CBO anal- ysis. Right now, a single 21-year- old earning $26,500 a year, with a $5,100 policy, would receive a $3,400 tax credit, leaving him or her respon- sible for paying $1,700 of their premium. Under the GOP plan, that share would drop to $1,450, The New York Times reported. A similarly situated 64-year-old, on the other hand, could see the price of a $15,300 premium rise to $19,500, because the bill cur- rently allows insurance com- panies to charge older Amer- icans up to three times more than their younger counter- parts. That 64-year-old would re- ceive a $4,900 credit, leaving them on the hook to the tune of $14,600, according to the CBO analysis. House Speaker Paul Ryan is trying to rally conserva- tives with the prospect of lower costs, increased access and a reduced deficit. He made the rounds trying to put a happy face on the ad- mittedly discouraging news in the report. Unlike Trump, Ryan has consistently soft- pedaled the notion that cov- erage would expand under the House GOP proposal. Meanwhile, Trump admin- istration officials are trying to undermine the CBO, argu- ing that its nonpartisan anal- ysis doesn't take into account other market reforms that will be enacted as a part of the law. Some conservative pun- dits, including Avik Roy, at The National Review, are also raising questions about the validity of the CBO's analysis. Still, surprising almost no one, both conservatives and liberal Democrats have both found something to hate in the new bill. Conserva- tives, such as U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, dislike the bill because they believe it doesn't go far enough. Liberal Democrats, such as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, hate the bill because it guts coverage and drives up costs for the most vulnerable populations. Some of this policy night- mare could have conceivably been avoided had Republi- cans not made the mystifying decision to craft their bill be- hind closed doors. That cut out the major stakeholders, such as hospi- tals, physicians' groups and drug-makers, who were given a seat at the table during the Obamacare debate. Trump has reportedly put his vaunted deal-making skills to work and says there's a "big, fat, beautiful negotia- tion" going on with the health care bill. What's clear is that, right now, Trump and Republi- cans have a big, fat problem with their health care bill. And whether further negoti- ations will in fact lead to an improvement over the exist- ing law, as Trump promised, is an open question. Better than halfway into his first 50 days, Trump is learning that campaigning is easy. Governing, as he might say, is much more complicated than he thought. Anaward-winningpolitical journalist, Micek is the opinion editor and political columnist for PennLive/The Patriot-News in Harrisburg. Readers may follow him on Twitter @ByJohnLMicek and email him at jmicek@ pennlive.com. JohnMicek Trumpcare: Helping rich, stiffing the poor Cartoonist's take As of midday Monday, the testimony of FBI Director James Comey now confirms that there isn't, there wasn't, and there never has been any "col- lusion" between then-candidate Donald Trump, his campaign or his staff and "the Russians." There neither is — nor has there ever been — any evidence to support those charges by the swamp-fevered left, the "howl- ing at the moon" progressives, the treasonous "resistance" ac- tivists or the Democrats-with- bylines (news media). The left's contentions, be- liefs and conspiracy theories — harbored in black ideologi- cal hearts — is that the election of Donald J. Trump over their flawed candidate Hillary Clin- ton was illegitimately achieved. It is like a dissipating smoke ring, initially pretty and perfect but now only a memory. The fire that stoked the smoke ring was as real as a fake camp fire made of an orange light bulb and gos- samer cloth "flames" flickering in the wind of an electric fan. Even the narrative that "the Russians" affected the election outcome must now, after six- plus months of analysis and re- porting, be set aside, stored with the fading, worthless Hill- ary campaign signs. What I described above has done nothing to shed illumi- nation on why "she can't lose" morphed into "what just hap- pened" last November. The objective debriefing that should have followed the great- est political upset in our life- times, next to Reagan's trounc- ing of Carter in 1980, has yet to take place. No Democratic leaders, policy gurus, former elected officials or their news media mouthpieces have even attempted to explain the over- whelming political tsunami of 1,000-plus elective losses since 2008. A high school civics student could explain the natural result of a party devoted to 1) ever- more-radical beliefs, 2) ever- greater governmental intrusion, regulation and control, and 3) cultural norms emanating from the entertainment, urban, sex- as-a-social-construct fringe, and socialism-enamored academic ideologues. Citizen "dogs" don't like their political "dog food." There never was any voting machine hacking. There never were any voters, in the states won by Trump, that were going to vote for Hillary Clinton un- til Wikileaks exposed DNC/Po- desta emails, or until the FBI investigation found plenty of criminal activity but dismissed it all due to lack of "intent" to violate laws. Hence, nothing but the flawed, corrupt, off-putting, waiting-for-her-coronation Hill- ary Clinton is to blame for Pres- ident Donald Trump. Get over it. I've kept my own counsel since Trump tweeted his bomb- shell accusation that Obama had his "wires tapped." My initial reaction was that the Obama administration in all of its agencies, particularly na- tional security and law enforce- ment, had certifiable capabili- ties, perhaps even desires, to use the tools of surveillance, spying and leaking against Obama's — and by extension Hillary's — foes. Revelations that the IRS shamelessly, lawlessly used its vast powers to hinder the polit- ical rights of tea party and con- servative groups from 2010 for- ward, made it clear that suppos- edly nonpartisan bureaucrats harboring partisan agendas could do much to restrict and foil Obama's opponents. They were using the power to tax to affect the results of elections. Absent exposure and pun- ishment, what politically pow- erful but corrupt officials have done can be done again and not necessarily by the same party or for the same ends. Nixon was foiled, but still impeached, in his stillborn efforts to use the IRS against his opponents. Obama, Lerner, Koskinen, et al? Not one iota of sanction has come of it. Let's hope Trump rises above it. When considering whether that same Obama administra- tion conducted electronic sur- veillance of the Trump cam- paign, it's fair to say that Obama's people take orders and directives, written or not, from the top. Such tactics invariably contain euphemistic "plausible deniability" as a way to insu- late the president from having "fingerprints" attached to such plans. So, Obama never sent memos to the IRS to target tea party groups; he simply said it in speeches. Prior to last fall's elections, Obama (meaning his people, on his behalf) conducted numer- ous acts of surveillance, wire- tapping, spying, etc., on both Americans and friendly for- eign leaders. Apologies issued forth to Germany's Angela Merkel and embarrassment en- sued over spying on Israeli lead- ers and American congressmen. Look up "Obama Spied on Con- gress, Jewish Leaders Opposed to Iran Deal. Watergate? That was small time" (D. Greenfield, 12/2015) "President Obama announced two years ago he would curtail eavesdropping on friendly heads of state after the world learned the reach of long-secret U.S. sur- veillance programs. But behind the scenes, the White House de- cided to keep certain allies un- der close watch, current and for- mer U.S. officials said. Topping the list was Israeli Prime Minis- ter Benjamin Netanyahu. … The National Security Agency's tar- geting of the Israeli leader and officials also swept up the con- tents of some of their private conversations with U.S. law- makers and American-Jewish groups (raising fears) that the executive branch would be ac- cused of spying on Congress." (Fox News, December 2015) In "James Rosen on being the target of surveillance under the Obama administration" by John Sexton, the Fox News reporter reiterated his experience: "I have to clarify (I and my par- ents) were not wiretapped (but) what happened to me was that the attorney general, Eric Holder, under Barack Obama as president, secretly designated me a criminal co-conspirator and a flight risk and thereby had a federal judge give the government permission to rifle through all my gmails." On Trump being spied on: "It's entirely possible. It's the nature of the age we live in." Look up "Here's the List: More Than a Dozen Proven Vic- tims of Obama's Many Wire- taps" by Jim Hoft. "It is not un- founded (Obama wiretapping Trump) because he has done it before. Here is a list of indi- viduals who were wiretapped by the Obama administration." Read it. Don Polson has called Red Bluff home since 1988. He can be reached by e-mail at donplsn@ yahoo.com. The way I see it No evidence supporting charges Trump has reportedly put his vaunted deal- making skills to work and says there's a "big, fat, beautiful negotiation" going on with the health care bill. What's clear is that, right now, Trump and Republicans have a big, fat problem with their health care bill. And whether further negotiations will in fact lead to an improvement over the existing law, as Trump promised, is an open question. Sounding off Alookatwhatreadersaresayingincommentsonourwebsiteandonsocialmedia. Iftheyputastoptothisfromthestartit never would have gotten this bad. They turn a blind eye until it gets so bad they are forced to do something. Travis Dolling: Comment on Facebook.com/ rbdailynews about Ash Street cleanup If you actually read the article, the AB 109 crew provided the labor. This is a positive move in the right direction, in my opinion. Cheryl Natah: Comment on Facebook.com/ rbdailynews about Ash Street cleanup EDITORIAL BOARD Chip Thompson, Editor How to have your say: Letters must be signed and provide the writer's home street address and home phone number. Anonymous letters, open letters to others, pen names and petition-style letters will not be allowed. Letters should be typed and no more than two double-spaced pages or 500words. When several letters address the same issue, a cross section will be published. Email: editor@ redbluffdailynews.com Fax: 530-527-9251 Mail to: Daily News 728Main St., Red Bluff, CA 96080 Facebook: Leave comments at FACEBOOK.COM/ RBDAILYNEWS Twitter: Follow and send tweets to @REDBLUFFNEWS Don Polson John L. Micek OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Tuesday, March 21, 2017 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A6