EDITORIAL: GOP health bill writers to California: Drop dead

San Jose Mercury News (CA)

Sept. 22--The latest Republican plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act is the most mean-spirited yet.

America needs three good GOP senators who have the courage to vote down this last-ditch stab at killing Obamacare -- a plan that even Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley admits has no merit other than fulfilling a campaign promise.

Sens. John McCain and Rand Paul have said they will vote no. At least one more Republican needs to step up.

The legislation will allow states to repeal protections for pre-existing conditions. It will send premiums skyrocketing and have devastating effects on not only the poor but also the middle class elderly and disabled. The fallout is unimaginable.

And the plan has a special message to California:

Drop dead.

Republicans deliberately took money away from blue states such as California, Massachusetts and New York to give it to red states that failed to invest in implementing the Affordable Care Act.

Punishing states that actually tried to insure their residents is punishing actual human beings. Many of them elderly. Most of them worked hard, raised families and paid their way -- but cannot afford the high cost of a nursing home when they can no longer stay at home. When their resources are gone, they turn to Medi-Cal.

And yes, people will die.

Today two thirds of the 109,000 seniors in California nursing homes are there through Medi-Cal, known nationally as Medicaid, which is largely funded by the federal government. Or was.

The legislation by Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Bill Cassidy, R-La., is estimated to slash $78 billion from California's budget by 2026. This will force massive, across-the-board cuts to the state's current $60 billion a year health care allotment, taking away coverage from millions of Californians.

Most of the elderly, many of them Alzheimers victims, will need to find a relative to take them in or -- fend for themselves. When they and other uninsured Californians wind up in emergency rooms, taxpayers by law will have to pay for care that will cost magnitudes more than keeping people in nursing homes or providing preventive care.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell wants a vote on the Graham-Cassidy bill by next Thursday, even though costs have not been analyzed by the Congressional Budget Office. Nor will it go through what Sen. John McCain calls the "regular order," the process of analysis, debate and amendment normally applied to serious legislation. Think of it. This bill will impact nearly 20 percent of America's economy.

Graham-Cassidy is viewed by health care experts as more draconian than the earlier GOP plan that would have yanked insurance away from as many as 32 million Americans, 7 million of them Californians.

Claiming this bill keeps a campaign "promise" is a perversion of the word. President Trump's campaign promise was to "have insurance for everybody" that "will make no cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid."

He called the first House version of repeal/replace "mean."

He ain't seen nothin' yet.

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