GOP ACA Replacement Plan: Art of the Con, Flim Flam, Scam, Snake Oil

Speaker Paul “Marathon” Ryan Consults Soothsayer on the Plan

HOT OFF THE PRESS: 

The Republican “ACA (Obamacare) Replacement” Plan – from the GOP link here in .pdf format (19 pages). 

My notes on these two key parts:

It will impact health coverage to 20 million Americans on these two main points (my emphasis and key words underlined):

(1) It expanded Medicaid coverage to Americans below or just above the poverty line in states that participated,

(2)  It offered income-based tax credits for middle-income people to buy their own insurance.

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How will the “GOP Replacement Plan” alter those two key provisions? By these two simple, yet harsh steps:

(1)  It would substantially cut funding for states in providing free insurance to low-income adults in the Medicaid expansion part: (1) above.

(2)   It would change how tax credits are distributed by giving all Americans not covered through work a flat credit by age, regardless of income: (2) above.

Tax Credit Explained: A tax credit is an amount of money a taxpayer is able to subtract from taxes owed to the government. The value of a tax credit depends on the nature of the credit, and certain types of tax credits are granted to individuals or businesses in specific locations, classifications or industries. Unlike deductions or exemptions which reduce the amount of taxable income, tax credits reduce the actual amount of tax owed.

Thus, a rich retired billionaire or one serving as a Cabinet Secretary who didn’t have a job in the cabinet with access to government after leaving office would get the same amount of financial assistance as someone his age, living in poverty, and substantially more money than a poor, young person.

ERGO: A billionaire could get a tax credit to buy health insurance the same as a young person in a low-wage job or a retiree who has a fixed income?

KEY ASPECT: The current system (Obamacare) was set up to ensure that low and middle-income Americans can afford the cost of their premiums. The Republican plan would not do that, and would result in many more low-income people losing out on coverage if they couldn’t find the money to pay the gap between their fixed tax credit and the cost of a health plan. The plan has additional features that redistribute resources from the poor to the rich.

For example: It would allow Americans to sock more money away for health spending in special tax-free health savings accounts. That benefit falls largely to higher income-people who pay more in taxes, and a recent analysis of current health savings accounts found that they are held disproportionately by families with high earnings.

(I NOTE: This white paper is silent on two Obamacare taxes that target wealthier Americans and shows the Republican plan to eliminate a number of taxes on the health care industry).

What this “plan doesn’t do” is to change any of the Obamacare regulations on health insurance that Republicans say drive up the cost. Those rules, including requirements that every plan cover a standard package of benefits, and those requiring companies to charge the same prices to healthy and sick Americans, would stay on the books, because they can’t be easily changed through the budget process.

(I NOTE: This is nice loophole that favors the target of ACA as written right now… the people in need – not the rich GOP pals).

Continue reading here. Good stuff – but only good stuff that favors the “guess-who-crowd?” Yep, the top crust for the GOP elite. And, why would we expect anything different from the GOP, right?

We still have a long way to go, but one thing stands out and underscores one key thing among many other key things: That is just how important elections and the outcome really are. They certainly do have consequences, right?

So, did you vote?