Clueless & Draconian: Republican Health Plan Emerges...

The Republican health care plan will end up being their suicide note. No employer insurance, no minimum coverage, no requirement to have insurance, a small monetary gift to help pay for your deductible...and that's just the early rumblings of their final proposal. The Hill:

Two Republican lawmakers introduced an alternative to ObamaCare … Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) and Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) does not fully repeal ObamaCare … it would eliminate many central aspects of the Affordable Care Act, including the mandates for individuals to have coverage and for employers to provide it, as well as requirements for what an insurance plan must cover.

Wow, what could go wrong with people choosing to not have health insurance, employers not havimg to provide insurance anymore (where most people get their coverage), as well as junk policies, bare bones coverage and loopholes that exempt almost all treatments? What a plan. I can’t wait for the CBO's analysis of this debacle. 

Even worse, Republican lawmakers proved one point with this bill, that they don’t know anything about health insurance…NOTHING. 

Health savings accounts are mostly catastrophic policies with massive high deductibles, I know because I’ve had a few. We’re talking $5,000 to what I ended up having, $10,500. Figure in the monthly premiums and suddenly a whole bunch of people can't afford it. Some will die. But don't worry, Republicans will give you a measly $2,500 and send you on your way:

The core of the plan is a $2,500 tax credit that any citizen would be eligible for and use to purchase health insurance. The lawmakers say this gives flexibility to people, whether they get employer-based insurance or not, to more directly control their healthcare spending, for example by using a health savings account. 

People currently with insurance through the ObamaCare marketplaces could keep it because they would be grandfathered in. 

And guess what, lower income people on the exchanges will see a dramatic reduction in their tax credit, while the wealthy will finally get a bigger tax break. Funny how that worked out:

But new ObamaCare enrollees would no longer be eligible for ObamaCare’s financial assistance. Instead, they would receive the new plan’s $2,500 tax credit … the new tax credit is a flat sum, as opposed to ObamaCare’s tax credits, which increase for lower-income people. Therefore, John Goodman, a health economist who worked with Sessions and Cassidy on the plan, said lower-income people would receive less assistance under the Sessions-Cassidy plan, but higher-income people could receive more. 

Employers will soon be shedding the cost of health insurance too:

The Sessions-Cassidy bill also shakes up the current system of not taxing health insurance plans provided through employers, which can be politically fraught. However, the plan allows employers to opt to stay in the current system if they want, and only opt in to the new tax credit if they choose.