In The Shadows ...

“I Really Don’t Care. Do U?”

June 24, 2018 Day 11.

I bet you thought this was going to be about Melania’s poor choice in jackets as she headed out to visit the children her husband jailed. Wait! I don’t want to be accused of being a fake news liberal. Replace “jailed” with “allowed to vacation in tender care facilities.”

Nope. 😂

As I went through the mail this morning, I saw an envelope that said, “Sign up for TrumpCare. TrumpCare? What the hell is that? Never heard of it.

Now, I’ll admit, I’m one of the lucky ones. I’m over 65 (Medicare) and retired military (Tricare) so I don’t have to do a lot of worrying about healthcare. I’m pretty much covered. That said, I’m pretty sure I would have heard about Congress getting its act together and passing something to replace the He-Whose-Name-Cannot-Be-Said healthcare act.

The What: “TrumpCare” describes health care reform under Donald Trump. It is essentially referring to all healthcare changes made (or being made) under President Trump. This includes:
• The January 2017 Executive Order that takes some wind out of the individual mandate’s sails,
• The April 2017 Regulations that allow for narrow networks and shorter open enrollment periods,
• The October 2017 Executive Order on Association Health Plans, Short-Term Coverage, and HRAs,
• The October 2017 cuts to Cost Sharing Reduction assistance payments to insurers who provide cost-sharing reduction assistance those with lower incomes,
• The October 2017 changes to the employer mandate to cover birth control that make it so religious employers don’t have to cover contraceptives,
• The November 2017 changes to Medicaid expansion that make it so states can implement work requirements for Medicaid.
• Most recently, Trump's unveiled the "American Patients First" plan which aims to lower prescription drug prices but, as ususal, it had no details - only broad goals.

In other words, it’s Obamacare leftovers given that a repeal and replace plan did not pass and instead, Trump has been reshaping the healthcare system using executive orders and changes done via HHS.

How is it that the government and insurance conglomerates can actually call this healthcare?

The Impact: It should come as no surprise that more than 95% of healthcare groups that have commented on President Trump’s effort to weaken Obama-era health insurance rules criticized or outright opposed the proposals, according to an L.A.Times review of thousands of official comment letters filed with federal agencies.
The result of TrumpCare will be tens of millions without affordable health coverage, or with “junk plans” in some states.

On the positive side, it could reduce costs for those who aren’t priced out of the market. Large employers and those who don’t rely on assistance, or don’t get much assistance, could see cheaper plans even if they would not be as comprehensive as ACA plans. Of course, offering the skinnier plans means that the risk pools for plans that do provide the most robust coverage guaranteed by Obamacare are going to be sicker and older. Without healthier, younger people, premiums will rise, and the people most in need of care will be strapped with high costs or unable to access care at all.

I’ll leave you with a final thought: “The U.S. has the most dysfunctional healthcare system in the industrial world, has about twice the per capita costs, and some of the worst outcomes. It's also the only privatized system.” ~ Noam Chomsky
So, it seems …