Texas Federal Judge who found ACA unconstitutional, about to ban all Preventive Care Coverage nationwide!

None of what you're about to read would be a problem if we had universal health care. 

I sat around for about 4 hours Saturday stunned by what appears to a done deal: A judge is about to do away with health cares preventive services, like "cancer screenings, contraception, HIV prevention drugs, vaccines, tobacco cessation treatment, alcohol abuse counseling and domestic violence counseling."

Religious and free-market objections to the ACA requirement: This is scary stuff, it could happen, and it's huge: 

In Texas, a federal judge seems open to ending the requirement that most Americans must receive preventive services like mammograms free of charge. Based on U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor’s Feb. 25 order, it appears likely he will rule in favor of the plaintiffs

But wait, preventive services aren't free and never have been. People pay $300 to $1000 a month for insurance that pays for those preventive services, so it's not free, and our premiums were never meant to be nothing but corporate PROFIT. So the lawsuit should be tossed just on that point alone.

After Dismantling Public Emergency Health Laws, Disease Prevention is Next: The media seems to have missed the complete destruction of public health laws, setting us up for a massive crisis yet to come. So, preventive care is "unconstitutional?" As jaw dropping and cruel as anything I've ever seen, here's the case in a nutshell for dismantling our health care social safety net:

Plaintiffs challenge the constitutionality of “preventive-care coverage” required under section 300gg-13 because it is unwanted, unnecessary, and responsible for driving up the cost of available health insurance plans on the open market.

Here are the "freedom" loving monsters behind the fantasy that free market health care prices will drop:

-Plaintiffs Braidwood Management, Kelley Orthodontics, Joel Starnes, Zach Maxwell, and Ashley Maxwell (the “Religious-Objector Plaintiffs”) all object to paying for health insurance plans that cover contraceptives, PrEP drugs, and other preventive-care services for religious reasons.

-Plaintiffs Donovan Riddle, Karla Riddle, Joel Miller, and Gregory Scheideman (the “Free Market Plaintiffs”) object to paying for health insurance plans that include contraceptive coverage and other preventive-care coverage that they do not want and do not need.

…and finally... 

Ultimately, all Plaintiffs express a desire to purchase on the open market insurance policies that meet their needs and are free from the requirements of the provisions and their resulting mandates.

What could happen? Also remember: Mitch McConnell under Trump just stacked the federal and Supreme Court:

Judge O’Connor, a Republican-appointed conservative, could issue a preliminary injunction blocking first-dollar coverage of preventive services nationwide, which he did in an earlier ACA lawsuit involving coverage for contraceptives. If he does that, or if he moves directly to a summary decision in favor of the plaintiffs, the Biden administration likely would appeal to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, a conservative court that partly upheld O’Connor’s 2018 finding that the ACA is unconstitutional.

Even worse?

The plaintiffs’ most effective argument, legal experts said, may be that members of the three agencies that decide which preventive services must be provided at no charge to consumers are not appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. That means they are not constitutionally authorized to make binding regulatory decisions, the plaintiffs argue.

Finally...

Congress cannot delegate responsibility to executive branch agencies to make binding regulatory decisions without providing clear guidance. At least four Republican-appointed justices have indicated a desire to limit this kind of agency discretion.

“This case provides a vehicle for the conservative legal movement to cripple the American administrative state.”

So good-bye to...

…health plans and health insurers “provide coverage for and shall not impose any cost sharing requirements for” …“evidence-based items or services … “immunization recommendations" … “with respect to infants, children, and adolescents, evidence-informed preventive care and screenings"  … “with respect to women, such additional preventive care and screenings."

Ironically, a press release today by a Republican said it best....

Welfare: Health care is the new "plasma flat screen TV" for Republicans: The thing is, health care itself isn't "welfare" or a product that people can exploit. No one sees doctors or stay in hospitals on a whim, because people don't use health care unless they need it. As Wisconsin Assembly leader Robin Vos once said about the cost of giving health care to the poor: 

Like having No Health Care at all: Trump to strip ACA of ALL Protections, allow Denial of Life Saving Health Care base on Religious Belief!!!

"Thank God for Trump" cultists (MAGA voters) continue to happily accept their health care costs going up and their health care access going down. The mindnumbing infallibility of Trump does not extend to any Democratic lawmaker, who if they had pulled this sh**, would have been vilified as a tax and spend liberal who kills jobs. 

1. Trump's Over-the-Top Complete End to ACA: Remember when Republicans desperately ran and lost on the issue of keeping preexisting conditions no matter what happened to ObamaCare? It turns out it was all a lie, again. The Trump God is getting rid of it all...

The Trump administration has formally called on a federal appeals court to strike down the entirety of the Affordable Care Act ... argued that the repeal of the individual mandate in 2017 rendered the entire ACA unconstitutional. Prior to this, the DOJ instead argued that portions of the law could continue without the mandate in place. “The remaining ACA provisions should not be severed from the individual mandate, regardless of whether the government might support some of those provisions as a policy matter,” DOJ wrote in the brief.

Gone? Any hope of keeping preexisting conditions (which would have been incredibly expensive to keep without the entire ACA in place), keeping your kids on your policy until they're 26, or getting a tax credit to help pay for those ever-increasing premiums.  

2. Trump allows Religious Beliefs to Deny Health Care to Americans: Religious freedom is a protected First Amendment right, but not your need for life-saving health care. So, it's that simple. It's a kind of "thoughts and prayers" escape clause to deny treatment for anyone, maybe even sinful liberal socialist who back choice or science? You never know:

President Donald Trump during remarks on the National Day of Prayer, (announced he) finalized a new 440-page rule strengthening protections for healthcare workers who refuse to provide care that violates their religious or moral beliefs ... provides enforcement tools for 25 laws passed by Congress that are already on the books.

"Refusing to provide care" sounds dangerous, doesn't it! This is "dominionism, Christian political ideologies that seek to institute a nation governed by Christians based on their personal understandings of biblical law." This is part of a final push to declare the US a Christian nation, as other religions are vilified and banned via immigration policies.

Trump Wants to make it even Harder to get Health Care!!! Like I said, religion has constitutional protections and providing life-saving health care does not. This quote says it all:

"The regulation will allow anyone from a doctor to a receptionist to entities like hospitals and pharmacies to deny a patient critical — and sometimes lifesaving — care."

So instead of making it easier to see a doctor or get the best hospital care and declaring health care a right and not a privilege, we're instead subject to surprise denials of treatment at the most critical point in our lives.  

Roger Severino, director of the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR), which will enforce the rule, said "We are giving (25) laws life with this regulation," adding his agency wants to keep workers from being “bullied” out of healthcare because of their beliefs. 

ALERT: TRUMP NOT PROTECTING PEOPLE WHO NEED HEALTH CARE, BUT INSTEAD...

...The rule will protect providers, individuals and other healthcare entities from having to provide, participate in, pay for, provide coverage of or refer for services such as abortion, sterilization or assisted suicide. It also includes conscience protections with respect to advance directives.

In other words, if you are given power of attorney and given the responsibility to cease life support as directed by your loved one, you could be stopped from carrying out their last wishes. As you can see below, this is more political than it is religious:

For instance, (Severino said) students cannot be excluded from medical training ... adding that the OB-GYN profession should not be a “pro-life free zone.”

And not one news outlet thought to explain what the heck the 1,300 complaints were about, or whether the public comments were for or against this policy:

Last year, HHS received more than 1,300 complaints alleging discrimination in a healthcare setting because of religious beliefs or conscience issues. “There is a problem out there … We’ve seen troubling actions across the country,” Severino said.

The rule has been controversial since it was proposed last year, and OCR received over 242,000 public comments, Severino said.

The reaction!!! Now let's hear from the reality-based health and legal community: 

1. The American Civil Liberties Union said the final rule will allow discrimination. “Denying patients healthcare is not religious liberty. Discriminating against patients based on their gender or gender expression is not religious liberty. Medical standards, not religious belief, should guide medical care.”

2. Physicians for Reproductive Health, a doctor-led national advocacy organization, called the rule “outrageous” in this tweet, “BREAKING: The Trump-Pence administration just finalized a rule that would allow personal beliefs to dictate patient care. This is outrageous. #PutPatientsFirst”

3. The Center for Reproductive Rights branded it the "Denial of Care Rule” rather than the “Conscience Right in Healthcare Rule." “For decades, there have been well-oiled systems in place to make sure medical professionals can opt out of procedures that go against their beliefs. These systems respect religious liberty and make sure patients get the care they need. This new policy leaves zero safeguards for the patient,” said Susan Inman, the group’s chief counsel for federal policy and advocacy.

4. The Planned Parenthood Federation of America called the rule “dangerous” and said it puts patients’ health at risk, especially women and LGBTQ patients. The rule could result in a pharmacist turning away a patient seeking birth control or antidepressants because of personal beliefs or a pregnant woman being denied life-saving treatment because a hospital administrator personally believes the treatment could harm her pregnancy.

5. “Discrimination is insidious, sometimes guised as religion, which is why the National LGBTQ Task Force is working for full legal protections,” said Rea Carey, the group’s executive director.

Still to come, the following story and blog post in the works...

Why is the US making it so hard to stay healthy and alive? Seriously. 

GOP removal of Mandate/Fines made no difference in ACA signups, undercutting ruling ACA unconstitutional!!!

Universal Health Care or Medicare for All is the money saving solution to our hugely complicated and expensive for-profit U.S. model. 

Let's hope the new Democratic House majority won't run away from the growing popularity for universal health, even though we've already seen them take a few steps backward. The time is now, and almost everyone can see that.

Unconstitutional? Surprise, Nope: The numbers are in for the 2019 ACA signup, and guess what, not having a "penalty" for skipping insurance didn't collapse the ACA after all. Note: Also keep in mind the signup period was shortened and advertising disappeared:

ModernHealthCare (subscription):Even though the Republican-led Congress repealed fines for being uninsured effective Jan. 1 ... The drop — from 8.8 million to 8.5 million — was far less than experts forecast.

The numbers are likely to change policymakers' understanding of how the law actually works. It could also undercut a Texas federal court case in which a Republican-appointed judge, U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor recently declared the Affordable Care Act unconstitutional since the fines no longer exist ... With the fines gone, the coverage requirement can no longer be considered constitutional, he reasoned ... because it can't be separated from the coverage requirement.

But steady sign-up numbers are factual evidence that in the real world the coverage mandate doesn't drive the health care law. "The argument that it's somehow inseparable from protections for pre-existing conditions is a lot weaker," Levitt said.

Walker can't deny these 6 Hard Truths !!!

Trump and Scott Walker are riding on the coattails of the Obama economy. They shouldn't be if the press reported the facts. But instead, Walker statements go unchallenged:

WSJ: Walker spokesman Austin Altenburg (said) “Scott Walker keeps his promises.”

1. Walker's biggest and most reckless promise was the creation of 250,000 jobs in his first 4 years. Even as a campaign promise, it was just a ridiculous goal, and many knew that. But the press ate it up and gave voters the impression it was possible. Wow. So, eight years later? 

JS: Gov. Scott Walker presided over an increase of 213,000 private-sector jobs in Wisconsin, short of the 250,000 new jobs the Republican promised in his first four years. Wisconsin lagged the nation in the pace of job creation in the seven-year period, when the nation added private-sector jobs at a 15.2 percent rate. Wisconsin ranks 34th out of the 50 states in the percentage increase (9.4 percent)

The reason?

The increase in private-sector jobs in Wisconsin in 2016 was 70 percent lower than the increase in 2015, and that the figure was based on data given to the WKOW TV by Walker’s administration. Democratic Sen. Kathleen Vinehout (Aug. 2017): "Under Scott Walker, Wisconsin is "still 16,000 manufacturing jobs lower than we were during the recession."

2. Walker Keeps Bragging about his Tax Cuts...that went to Property, Businesses, and Wealthy: 

Walker has cut taxes by more than $8 billion, largely benefiting property owners, businesses and the wealthy. 

But so many missed out on that "windfall..."

In 2016 33.34% of households were renters according to Census ACS data.

3. Walker takes Credit for Obama Era's falling Unemployment Numbers: Unless Walker policies were helping states nationwide. Low unemployment was also not Walker's doing:

Unemployment is at its lowest levels on record, below 3 percent, though the steep decline in the unemployment rate since Walker took office aligns with a nationwide recovery from the Great Recession.

4. Walker brags about Lower ACA Insurance Rates Nationwide? Yup, Walker knows lower insurance increases are on their way this year, and not just because of his not so unique "reinsurance" program (which many other states are doing):

The price of a 2019 policy sold on the ACA exchanges will increase less than 4 percent according to an analysis of preliminary filings from insurers in all 50 states by ACASignups.net ... premiums overall are rising at about the same rates as medical inflation, a big change from the last few years. 

Katherine Hempstead, a senior policy adviser at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (said) "After a very ... tortured birth and infancy, it sort of seems like the market is in some ways at a very stable place right now." She says insurance companies have figured out how to make a profit from the policies they sell on the ACA exchanges. 

5. Walker is rescuing us from Trump Party efforts to sabotage and kill the ACA. Which means...PREMIUMS WOULD HAVE BEEN LOWER NEXT YEAR:

Premiums would actually be falling next year but for the actions of the Trump Administration and Republicans in Congress that have weakened the ACA law itself and its markets. Those actions include getting rid of the tax penalty for people who don't buy health insurance, refusing to reimburse insurance companies for discounts they are required by law to offer to low-income customer, and encouraging insurers to sell stripped-down, short-term insurance. Those moves are draining healthy young people out of the ACA market. Analyst Charles Gaba says, "The reality is that if you didn't have those factors, if you didn't have the expansion of a short term plans, and especially the repeal of the mandate penalty for next year, average premiums would most likely be dropping by a good four or five percent."

The Wellmark, which abandoned the ACA market in Iowa last year, is returning. 

6. Wisconsin Wages Stagnant, workers ignored in Walker's Economy: Walker keeps feeding more money to those with more money. Nationally, wages fell:

 In Wisconsin:

Walker's Wisconsin can't even keep pace with Minnesota. And all that money going to robotic leader Foxconn?

Alternet: And (Americans) see their tax dollars pouring into the rapid development of a robot economy that will leave them and their children out in the cold.

The Haves and the Have-Nots... 

In the same year that workers took a pay cut, the CEOs of America's 350 largest corporations had an 18 percent jump in their pay, hauling in an average of $18.9 million each. In a lifetime of labor, the typical American worker would not be paid as much as those honchos took in one year. After all, workers can see in their daily job experiences that the Powers That Be -- corporate chieftains, economists, political leaders and others -- consider employees as a cost to be cut, not an asset to advance.

TrumpCare sabotage sees Skyrocketing Premium Increases in Wisconsin!

Don't spend it all in one place? Forget that little piece of advice.

Scott Walker's meager tax cut savings will now go straight into the gigantic increase in health insurance premiums coming in 2019, thanks to Trump's attempts to sabotage the Affordable Care Act. The ACA has seen so many dramatic changes, that it has rightfully earned the name TrumpCare.

Those changes have affected all insurance premiums in the Marketplaces.

CAP: The Trump administration has worked tirelessly to sabotage the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The U.S. Congress’ repeal of the individual mandate penalty and actions to expand the availability of skimpy short-term plans are raising premiums for middle-class families. The Trump administration also slashed funding for enrollment assistance by 72 percent and halted payments for risk adjustment, the federal program that discourages plans from avoiding sicker enrollees. Last year, Trump’s decision to end cost-sharing assistance payments resulted in staggering increases in 2018 marketplace premiums.

So how bad is it getting?

Based on rate information to date, the Center for American Progress estimates that an unsubsidized 40-year-old will pay an extra $970 in marketplace premiums on average in 2019 because of the end of the mandate and the expansion of short-term plans.

Here's a breakdown of the Trump Party's reforms resulting in ADDITIONAL premiums increases per Congressional District. Tax credits will soften the blow for those who still qualify:

Further attacks on the marketplaces, such as the Trump administration’s threat to halt risk adjustment payments and slash funding for enrollment assistance programs could force insurers to raise rates yet higher.

These estimates are based on projections by the Urban Institute of 2019 premium increases due to the Trump administration’s decision to allow for short-term junk plans and Congress’ repeal of the individual mandate. The Urban Institute’s projections account for individual states’ efforts to stabilize the individual market through reinsurance programs, coverage mandates, and regulation of short-term plans. To download the tables with the estimated premium increases attributable to ACA sabotage by congressional district, click here.

Bumbling AG Schimel can't win 20 state ACA lawsuit based on facts!

Bumbling Brad Schimel is your typical Republican Attorney General, leading the way with "bubble world" talking points that take precedence over real-world facts, especially when it comes to health care:

Schimel is leading a 20-state lawsuit aiming to "undo the harmful effects" of Obamacare, according to the state Department of Justice. Schimel filed the suit in February. If Attorney General Brad Schimel is successful in his lawsuit ... Democratic Attorney General candidate Josh Kaul said “That suit is not in the interest of Wisconsinites. It’s wrong.”

Kaul is right of course. Yet Republican AG Brad Schimel considers it a "harmful effect" covering 195,000 more Wisconsinites with healthcare insurance?

195,000 people gained insurance in Wisconsin between 2013 and 2015, which helped bring the uninsured rate down to 5.7%, from 9.4 percent ... a nearly 40% drop

Kidsforward

First, it's TrumpCare now! TRUMPCARE: The ACA's changes under Trump have forced even deep red states like Wisconsin to spend even more money to try and save it.

Walker, an avowed opponent of Obamacare, signed a bill into law that will position the state to receive $150 million in federal dollars to help shore up its healthcare marketplace ... set up a $200 million reinsurance fund, 75 percent of which would be paid for by the federal government.

Trump Party Republicans created this problem, a problem Schimel is now...criticizing? Well, thanks for the help. You can't make this stuff up:

“Obamacare causes premiums to rise and coverage to fall, forcing Wisconsin and other states to take extreme, costly measures to protect their citizens’ health and pocketbooks.” Schimel said that Obamacare has ... cost the state jobs. 

AG Dummy Can't Stop Digging...:

"Josh Kaul may not have known this since he was living on the East and West Coasts, but prior to Obamacare, Wisconsin had among the lowest rate of uninsured people in the nation because of a vibrant free market and a successful high risk pool that provided options for those with pre-existing and serious medical conditions," he said in an email.

Wisconsin's low uninsured rated was the result of a Democratic policy allowing BadgerCare coverage for everyone up to 200 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL). Both Walker and Schimel want to take credit for the resulting Wisconsin ranking on coverage. Nope, can't do that. Walker then cut eligibility in half, from 200 percent to 100 percent, leaving those with no discretionary income to buy into the ACA Exchanges.

Wait, Schimel's concept of "successful high-risk pool's" is pure fantasy. Losing $6.9 million in one year is considered a success?

Wisconsin's high-risk pool insured about 21,000 people, with critics saying high prices kept tens or hundreds of thousands of others from accessing it. Those applying for the program had to wait six months before they were allowed into it and a lifetime cap of $2 million. Health Insurance Risk Sharing Plan lost $6.9 million in 2011, roughly a third of which was offset by a federal grant, according to the Wisconsin Legislative Fiscal Bureau. The same year, programs in the 35 states lost a total of at least $272 million.

The "harmful effects" Schimel trashed Josh Kaul with have numbers and are pictured here, on the left side of the graph. And Schimel is leading a 20 state lawsuit to repeal the ACA with examples like this?

Dumb Ron Johnson on Health Care: "I think it’s probably more of a privilege." And the privileged have health care, as shown below in the light areas. This was what it was like before the Affordable Care Act, the apparent golden age of the uninsured:

Here's the full Johnson quote, where he paraphrases Rand Paul, which is even crazier. Bottom line: Having a right to health care doesn't force doctors into servitude since they'll already have some form of payment system under universal health care. Seriously, does anyone know a doctor who doesn't want to treat patients?  Johnson's take is sick and inhumane, there's no other way to describe it:

“I think it’s probably more of a privilege. Do you consider food a right? Do you consider clothing a right? Do you consider shelter a right? What we have as rights is life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Past that point, we have the right to freedom. Past that point everything else is a limited resource that we have to use our opportunities given to us to afford those things.

“Sen. Rand Paul talked about this on the floor of the Senate. He’s a doctor. He said the minute you consider health care a right, well, who’s going to satisfy that right? And those people who have the skills to satisfy that right, what does that make them if they’re forced to provide you with that rightful product or service?”

AG Brad Schimel feverishly working toward dropping everyone with Preexisting Conditions.

That 19 to 29 percent of unwavering mouthbreathing Trump supporters appears to represent a gathering of the "There's a Sucker Born Every Minute" club.

Remember when Trump's willing dupes believed high deductibles in the ACA's Marketplace Exchanges was just like having no insurance at all because no one could afford to pay those high out-of-pocket costs?

Yet in direct contradiction to that talking point, and I'm not making this up, Republicans are actually trying to make those unaffordable HSA high deductible plans (with no limits), our go-to free market health care system. The thinking is, HSA's high deductibles will eventually price most sick people out of seeking care (self-rationing). Problem solved? If they're going to "die, they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population." -Scrooge

(Trump Party) lawmakers in a House Ways and Means health subcommittee hearing on Wednesday looked at ways to expand use of health savings accounts ... pushed for laxer HSA rules ... Rep. Brian Higgins (D-N.Y.) suggested "HSAs don't do anything to relieve prices." Industry employers and insurers urged lawmakers to expand consumer-directed plans that pair HSAs with high-deductible coverage. 

And we'll be able to thank Scott Walker and AG Brad Schimel's lawsuit to repeal the ACA for forcing us to take whatever money we saved on taxes and give it to insurers, doctors, and hospitals. And yes, this is all part of Trump's empty/broken promise to provide complete and affordable health care to every American.

The Preexisting Condition Death Certificate: Showing just how much they didn't understand the old unpopular health care system before the ACA, Trump Party Republicans for some reason want to go back to the good old days of losing insurance and bankruptcies.  WPR:

Schimel said his office was taking the lead on a multi-state suit that seeks to overturn the Affordable Care Act, a move he conceded would end protections for people with preexisting conditions.

Schimel: "Without the individual mandate it all fails. It's not going to be able to stand. We've asked the court to stay Obamacare across the board."

...he said with a detached sense of glee.



Oh, and Schimel's sense of urgency to finally rid the state of our costly and devasting opioid crisis? 

Schimel said he would only join a multi-state lawsuit against opioid manufacturers as a last resort.

I know it's crazy, but Democrats think health care should be a shared group cost for every American, where no one goes bankrupt, drains their kid's college savings, or dies prematurely because they can't afford it. It's the kind of socialism Republicans say will destroy our country, right? Democratic AG candidate Josh Kaul took issue with Schimel's "logic."

"Our current Attorney General has made clear that he’s just fine with having health-insurance companies deny coverage to people because they have a pre-existing condition. I’m not. Our AG should be working to improve the lives of Wisconsinites, not using our tax dollars to try to put more power into the hands of health-insurance companies."

Here's a great list of reasons why this is so important:

Scott Walker's desperate, cynical, poll based reelection Hail Mary!!!

Scott Walker's sudden whiplash inducing support of the ACA's marketplace is a shocking admission he's been wrong and knows it. But what's worse is Walker's desperate out-of-character scheme based solely on high priority polling data showing how badly Republican have abandoned their voters biggest concerns.

Can it get any clearer than this.

WisPolitics.com JR Ross explained why Walker flip flopped, so even low information "Stand with Walker" voters will get it; it's about polling demographics that contradicts the extreme GOP agenda. JS:

Ross: "Those suburban women we were talking...health care is their number one issue. If you look at some of the things that Walker proposed, a lot of them check boxes of demographics that they need come November...the rural economic development fund, that was a nod to rural voters who are going, 'hey, where's mine, we're worried up here when Foxconn gets $4.5 billion...One person told me that Republican got convinced because it's all polling. They saw what was going on out there, and they realized they needed to do something like this, and that helped to push this through."

Need more proof?

Walker Supports...and wants to kill the ObamaCare Marketplaces? Having it Both Ways: The Journal Sentinel headline reflects down-the-rabbit-hole politics, and how bad Walker wants it:

Gov. Scott Walker signed a $200 million bill Tuesday to stabilize Obamacare markets in Wisconsin even as state Attorney General Brad Schimel sued seeking to block the entire law. The GOP governor — a longtime critic of the Affordable Care Act — has emphasized:

“Our Health Care Stability Plan is our solution to Washington’s failure; we want to provide health care stability and lower premiums for Wisconsin." 

Not only does Walker not mean what he's saying, but apparently, the changes Republicans pushed through in Congress didn't just weaken the health care law, they made it "no longer constitutional." 

But Schimel, also a Republican, received Walker's sign-off to move this week in a different direction, leading a group of 20 states who are suing to block Obamacare entirely. Though Republicans in Congress failed to repeal the law last year, Schimel argues that they made enough changes that the law is no longer constitutional.

The reason?

In a 2012 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the individual mandate in Obamacare by saying Congress had the authority to impose a tax on consumers who don't purchase health insurance. Last year, Congress and President Donald Trump eliminated the tax.

Schimel's lawsuit argues that because the tax has been dropped, the individual mandate to buy health insurance and, with it, the entire law are no longer constitutional.

It's the old Republican ploy; create a problem, then find away to avoid solving it.

Fitting perfectly in with the theme here, check out the latest from Brian Strassburg:

Americans would keep ACA Mandate if people had to pay more or started losing their Insurance!!!

Repealing the ACA mandate is the silver bullet Republicans knew would destroy ObamaCare. So what if 13 million people will lose their insurance, the voting public isn't paying Republicans enough to look out for them, they're serving the corporate power donors:

After the Senate bill was released on Tuesday, the majority leader, Mitch McConnell, explained its inclusion: Repeal would raise revenue, help offset the effects of tax reductions elsewhere in the bill and make it easier for Republicans to make a lower corporate tax permanent. It helped, he added, that it was unpopular and that every Republican senator supported repeal.

The mandate makes sense...

...a benevolent technocratic necessity, born of economic models and real-world experience. When the outcome is so obviously positive, concerns about government power are irrelevant. But to many of Obamacare’s critics, those concerns are of the highest importance. In this view, the mandate is a form of unacceptable government overreach, a violation of the individual right to avoid engaging in commerce.

Poll shows Americans would Keep Mandate if people lost insurance: 

The Kaiser Family Foundation released a new poll Wednesday finding that 55 percent of Americans support the idea of repealing the individual mandate. That number rises to 73 percent when you look at the respondents who identify as Republican.

The Kaiser poll shows what happens when people are asked whether individuals support repealing the individual mandate. They then followed up with a second question, about whether their opinion would change if they heard that it would increase the number of people without health insurance by 13 million over the next year. Support for mandate repeal dropped by 17 percentage points after hearing that fact.

The Boston Globe had this incredibly interesting article on solving domestic violence, the possible predictor of mass shootings:

No demands for sweeping policy changes are emanating from Trump or other Republicans after the mass shooting in Texas because the gunman was not Muslim. I was almost going to write that we'll see what action Congress takes today in response to the murders -- silly me. Once the right wing, with its pusillanimous fealty to the deep-pocketed NRA, refused to do anything about little kids being slaughtered in their classrooms five years ago, it became clear that they'll never do anything, ever, no matter how many people are murdered with guns. BTW, it's 13,150 so far this year. That's about 43 people a day. We are so much better at killing Americans than our enemies are. ISIS has nothing on us!

I'm also tired of hearing residents of the latest victimized community say that they never imagined such a thing could happen in their town. Are you kidding? We live in the United States! There are more guns in this country than there are people. We're 25 times more likely to be killed by a gun than the residents of any other developed country in the world. To think that there is a single safe space anywhere in the US is beyond naive.

Also not surprising: The gunman had a history of domestic violence,which is a "screaming red flag" for future mass shootings. Many mass shooters practice on their wife and kids first: The Fort Lauderdale airport shooter, the Pulse nightclub shooter, the Planned Parenthood shooter, the Lafayette movie theater shooter, the California McDonald's shooter, and on and on. Adam Lanza shot his mother before he killed the little kids at Sandy Hook. The Virginia Tech shooter had harassed women on campus. The cafeteria shooter in Killeen, Texas, stalked women, and during his shooting spree, passed by men in order to target women. Stephen Paddock verbally abused his girlfriend in public in Las Vegas -- and who knows what he did behind closed doors. The Texas church shooter was kicked out of the Air Force and served a year in the brig for assaulting his wife and child, yet he was able to buy a Ruger AR-556 assault rifle at a San Antonio gun store last year. (Latest news: His in-laws attended the church he shot up, although they were not there yesterday. Hardly a coincidence.)

What's NOT a predictor of mass shootings? A history of mental illness.People who are mentally disturbed are far more likely to harm themselves than others. But that's the canard Trump resurrected in Japan -- without knowing anything about the Texas shooter. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe should school Trump in how to virtually eradicate gun violence; Japan has had just one gun death so far this year. One.Like every other developed country, it's a very, very simple solution: The fewer guns, the fewer gun deaths. (Massachusetts, with very tough gun laws, has the lowest rate of gun deaths in the US.)

By the way, Texas Governor Greg Abbott was embarrassed two years ago by the massive number of guns being purchased in his state. Embarrassed, that is, because Texas was No. 2 behind California. "Let's pick up the pace Texans," he tweeted.

Paul Ryan scheme: Spend Tax Cut savings on Higher Insurance Premiums.

Voters are finally getting to see who the real Paul Ryan is, and why he's not their friend at all.

Looking out the little guy and fighting for the forgotten average American struggling to just get by is not the real Paul Ryan, and his tax cut plan piggybacked with the repealed ObamaCare subsidies (SRC) is Ryan finally showing his hand. Note: The subsidies are part of the ACA, the funding source unfortunately was inadvertently not specified:

Thanks to Ryan and Trump's threats to destroy the Affordable Care Act, insurance companies hell bent on making a profit are dumping out of the Marketplaces and raising premiums trying to stay ahead of the Republican chaos: 

Think about it, any tax savings Republican voters were counting on will simply find their way into higher insurance premiums.

Not only did Ryan lie about the subsidies being illegal, since that has never been determined by the courts, but Ryan made it seem like the subsidies helped insurers merge into giant monopolies, something Republicans don't give a rats ass about. Mergers have been going on for years:

In a statement to reporters, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Thursday night the administration concluded that Congress had not appropriated money for the subsidies and thus they were "unlawful payments" to "bailout insurance companies."

Paul Ryan signaled Monday he does not want to restore Obamacare subsidies that President Donald Trump is cutting. Instead, Ryan said, Congress should take a more comprehensive approach the answer is not to shovel more money at a failing program that is doubling premiums and causing monopolies. 

"Propping up Obamacare and just giving insurance subsidies to insurance carriers to keep a failing system propped up is not the answer."

But unlike Ryan, Steve Bannon came right out and told the truth:

Bannon said Trump's decision to not continue funding Obamacare subsidies, was designed to "blow up" the health-care law and insurance marketplaces. "Gonna blow those exchanges up, right?"

Anyone still think Paul Ryan is even remotely serving the people who voted for him? 

Every County in U.S. now covered by Insurers in the ObamaCare Marketplaces.

ObamaCare is collapsing? That must be true if Paul Ryan, Scott Walker and Donald Trump say unequivocally that it's collapsing and putting people in danger.

But it's not true. 

Republicans have once again proven they have no real concept of what an actual free market does. 

Way back when, I grew up with the popular talking point that there was always somebody behind you waiting to take your place if you decide to give up or fail. I think it's time to bring that back:

As of Thursday, every county in the U.S. will have at least one ObamaCare insurer in 2018.
CareSource announced that it would fill the last remaining "bare" county in Paulding County in Ohio. “The Marketplace provides vital health care coverage to more than 10.3 million Americans and we want to be a resource for consumers left without options," CareSource CEO and President Pamela Morris said in a statement. "Our decision to offer coverage in the bare counties speaks to our mission and commitment to the Marketplace and serving those who are in need of health care coverage.”

Menominee County in Wisconsin was slated to have no insurers on the exchanges next year until Security Health Plan announced Tuesday it would sell plans there in 2018.
With these announcements, there are no more bare counties in the U.S. for next year. About 80 counties at one point or another during the summer were at risk of having no ObamaCare insurers in 2018. Insurers are still waiting for certainty on key ObamaCare insurer payments called cost-sharing reduction subsidies.

Our Dysfunctional Health Care System part 2: Single Payer & the Ted Cruz Con.

To start, here's what I've been saying for some time:

All payer, single payer, Medicare for all, universal health care is simple: All doctors are your doctors, all hospitals are your hospitals. No bills, co-pays or deductibles. We could cut costs by a third to half of of what we're paying now. We won't. Are we insane?

And yet, as this reaction to a recent story about Medicare Advantage demonstrates, many people don't seem to understand our health care system...at all:

MSNBC's Ali Velshi gave us the best presentation yet showing us how backward and downright bizarre the Republicans free market idea of health care is; we're the only country doing it. He followed that up with the effect cut backs on Medicaid would have on dementia and Alzheimer's seniors on Medicare:

My favorite candidate running against Paul Ryan recently tweeted this simple truth:

Another great look at the myth of health care greatness before the ACA was discussed belwo on WPR's On Point. I edited the discussion to hit on the main points, especially the "free market" control wielded by insurance companies, which is anything but:



The Ted Cruz ACA "Poison Pill" Con: The Senate's BCRA is going to get passed, even if 22 million people will lose their health care insurance.

The Ted Cruz plan will please his GOP base; by purposely making ObamaCare's plans collapse. When they do, Cruz can say, "I told you so:"

Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) conditioned his support (of the BCRA) on an amendment proposed by his colleague Cruz. The gist is this: Health insurers could sell non-Obamacare plans as long as they also sold Obamacare-compliant insurance. The proposal does (eventually) erode Obamacare's protections for people with preexisting medical conditions, because it would likely segment the insurance market into healthy and sick pools. Healthy people would buy non-Obamacare plans, while sick people would buy the more robust Obamacare coverage. That would drive up premiums for the ACA marketplace.

Clever. It would also make people appreciate their stripped down high deductible junk insurance policies.

Not Letting the Free Marketplace Work: For a party touting the wonders of the free marketplace, they sure know how to mess with it. While complaining about some insurers leaving the ObamaCare marketplaces, they never waited around to see other insurers take their place. That's what markets do:

Centene fills Missouri's empty counties. You might have missed it in the rancor over the health care debate in Washington, but health plans have been stepping in to fill Obamacare's bare-shelf markets. Missouri is now the latest state to benefit, after Centene announced it would sell plans there next year.

 That's right, the latest state.

Republican "Health Care" Tax Cut Plan and Stock Market Payoff: If you're going to make insurers lots of money, buy their stock:

Health industry stocks, including insurance giants like UnitedHealth, have surged as Republicans have moved forward with their repeal effort, which rolls back broad taxes on healthcare firms while loosening consumer regulations.

Republican Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma purchased between $50,000 to $100,000 in UnitedHealth stock ... Rep. Mike Conaway, a Texas Republican and member of Speaker Paul Ryan’s leadership team, added a health insurance company to his portfolio ... An account owned by Conaway’s wife made two purchases of UnitedHealth stock, worth as much as $30,000, on March 24th, the day the legislation advanced in the House. 

As we’ve reported, the House of Representatives has actively fought efforts to enforce the law after the Securities and Exchange Commission attempted to investigate one congressional staffer accused of passing healthcare information to a set of hedge funds.

Here's one former Republican making an amazing admission:

Randy Bryce's campaign ad taking on Paul Ryan the real thing.

Yesterday I visited my nearby urgent care center over a possible tick bite, and after being told there was a 1 to 2 hour wait, I decided to wait it out. That was an obscene amount of time though.

Sitting across the room was a 12 or 13 year old boy, weary a required surgical mask to block airborne germs from spreading, moaning and crying in his chair. This went on for a nightmarish 20 minutes. It was heart wrenching to watch others being called in to see the doctor while this child sat crying in the lobby in so much pain.

At least he had some kind of medical coverage, or he wouldn't have been there at all. But it was an experience I will never forget.

I just watched an great campaign ad from a new Democratic challenger to Paul Ryan that piggy backed on my experience at that urgent care center:

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) is already facing his second challenger. Randy Bryce, a union ironworker, announced on Monday that he would seek the Democratic nomination to run against Ryan, and released a video emphasizing what has so far been the biggest issue of the year: health care. 

The two-and-a-half-minute video featured Bryce’s mother, who described living with multiple sclerosis and the 20 drugs she must take to survive. “There’s no doubt in my mind that there are thousands of people like her who don’t have what she has,” Bryce said in the video. “The system is extremely flawed.”

Bryce issued a challenge to Ryan. “Let’s trade places,” Bryce said. “Paul Ryan, you can come work the iron and I’ll go to D.C.” Bryce is a cancer survivor, community activist and Army veteran. 

But someone this sincere and with this kind of message had his chance once, according to WISGOP, and had been castoff by Democratic voters. In another example of extreme projection, WISGOP wrote: "Bryce will say and do anything to...defend his liberal special interest friends." Real substance there:

He’s also run unsuccessfully twice for the state legislature, The Associated Press reported. Republicans were quick to seize on that.

“The voters of Wisconsin have already rejected Randy Bryce multiple times. Instead of fighting for hardworking Wisconsin families, Randy Bryce will say and do anything to get to Washington and defend his liberal special interest friends.”

Walker stealing Trump's bizarre irrational Tweet lies to attack ACA.

It was pathetic and funny in a bizarre way when Paul Ryan bragged about the CBO prediction that people would see lower premiums in 2026, all the while telling us how wrong they're predictions have been in the past. Ryan's loyal low information voters nodded yes anyway.

That same weird double speak flowed out of Scott Walker's twitter trolling this week. Except this time someone called him out on it. Check out Charles Gaba gofundme site and his official information page, ACASignups.net:

I liked this tweeted response GIF:

After 50+ attempts to repeal the ACA, a CBO score that predicted 24 million losing coverage, and administrative rules hanging in the balance under Trump, is it so hard to imagine insurers not just leaving the marketplaces but the entire individual market as well. This is a self fulfilling prophesy for Republicans, who finally utilized that ridiculous "market uncertainty" excuse to kill ObamaCare, for real. 

Health Insurers blame Trump for Uncertainty and Premium Increases! Part 2

So you want more proof to send off to a few Wisconsin Trump trolls who were oddly bashed him during the election but now grovel at his feet? These little babies won the election don'cha know, and it seems like they still can't get over it themselves.

Here's what Trump is doing to personally make the ACA's exchanges fail:

NY Times: Opponents of President Barack Obama’s signature legislative achievement have made what may be a self-fulfilling prophecy: They repeatedly forecast the collapse of the health law, and then push it along.

Frustrated state officials have ideas for stabilizing the individual insurance market, but they say they cannot figure out where to make their case because they have been bounced from one agency to another in the Trump administration.

“We have trouble discerning who has decision-making authority,” said Julie Mix McPeak, the Tennessee insurance commissioner and president-elect of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, which represents state officials. “We reached out to the Department of Health and Human Services. They referred us to the Office of Management and Budget, which referred us to the Department of Justice. We reached out to the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs.”

The Trump administration has sent mixed signals, reflecting an internal debate about whether to stabilize insurance markets or let them deteriorate further. Mr. Trump has said he could cut off the subsidies at any time if he wanted to.

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal last month, Mr. Trump threatened to withhold subsidy payments from insurers as a way to induce Democrats to negotiate with him on a replacement for the Affordable Care Act.

It really is this simple:

If those payments are not made, Mr. Trump said, “Obamacare is gone, just gone.”

ACA "Death Spiral" thanks to GOP/Trump repeal/replace Fumbling.

It's not the ACA exploding, it's the Trump administrations shoot from the hip health care debacle that's spooking the insurance horses. Remember, Republicans were once real big on whining about how "uncertainty" would destroy the economy...correction; health care.  

Uncertainty about what the Trump administration is doing with health care has already led insurers to increase costsHealth insurance companies are saying that no matter what happens with the Republican health-care bill in the coming months, premiums will go up in 2018 just from the uncertainty of the situation. "The health plans I work with want to stay in, but the Trump administration is not making that easy," insurance industry consultant Robert Laszewski explained to Vox.In one example, CareFirst, a BlueCross BlueShield plan in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., submitted 2018 premiums last week that reflect hikes averaging between 39 and 52 percent depending on the state."Uncertainty breeds higher costs," New Mexico Health Connections chief executive Martin Hickey told Vox. "We have to plan for the worst case scenario until it finally gets decided."

Yup, right from the insurance industries mouth...

“We were hoping for more stability this year,” says Chet Burrell, chief executive of Carefirst, a Blue Cross Blue Shield Plan in the D.C. metro area. “But these factors have lead to instability, and the beginning of a death spiral.”

Burrell says that his plans would have had hikes this year anyway, because it has lost money during its three years on the Obamacare marketplaces. But it tacked an extra 15 percent onto its premiums because it does not expect the Trump administration to enforce the individual mandate.

“The current approach at the federal level has been to say they’re not going to enforce it,” he says. “We think the effect of that is to encourage healthy people not to enroll.”

Can't blame Obama: And he wasn't the only insurer:

Iowa could be left in a similar situation: 94 of its 99 counties are served by just one health plan, Medica, which is not committed to sticking with the marketplace in 2018.

“Without swift action by the state or Congress to provide stability to Iowa’s individual insurance market, Medica will not be able to serve the citizens of Iowa in the manner and breadth that we do today,” the plan said in a statement to the Des Moines Register.

Two other insurance plans, Wellmark and Aetna, also quit the Iowa marketplace this year citing the law’s uncertain future.