EDITORIAL: House Republicans voted to weaken health care, hurt the poor and cut taxes for the wealthy
While backers of the bill, including
The 217
These
Analysis of the similar failed legislation by the CBO and others showed that older Americans and those who live in rural areas would be especially hurt by it. These are the people Poliquin is supposed to represent.
In
On a Thursday conference call, Poliquin told reporters that the bill "ensures that everybody has access to health insurance, including those with pre-existing conditions."
But, under the House bill, insurance companies can charge more -- a lot more -- to cover people with pre-existing conditions. This can put insurance out of reach for many of these Americans.
To hide this -- and secure more votes for the bill --
According to analysis from
Backers of the Republican plan pointed to
The Republican plan would spread the devastation of an Obamacare repeal to the private insurance market, potentially weakening health insurance for more than 150 million Americans. Provisions in the bill would allow states to define their own " essential health benefit" standards, a list of care that must be covered by insurers. Employers, which provide half of health insurance coverage in the
Attention now turns to the
The first step in answering those questions is to have the CBO analyze the bill, a critical step skipped by the House. Given the CBO's analysis of the similar plan, we expect many of the same problems to be highlighted.
This will put the debate back to square one: Should millions of Americans lose affordable and effective health insurance so some Republican lawmakers can brag that they repealed Obamacare?
We believe the answer is a resounding "no."
___
(c)2017 the Bangor Daily News (Bangor, Maine)
Visit the Bangor Daily News (Bangor, Maine) at www.bangordailynews.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
AHCA concerns Alabama health care providers, advocates
EDITORIAL: Gutting health care for 24 million Americans is no cause for celebration
Advisor News
Annuity News
Health/Employee Benefits News
Life Insurance News