Healthcare

Leaked Audio: Republicans Have No Idea What to Do About Obamacare

Written by SK Ashby

The Washington Post obtained an audio recording of a meeting held yesterday in which Republicans from both chambers of Congress privately revealed that they have no idea what they're doing.

Just in case it wasn't already publicly obvious, congressional Republicans privately admitted they have no idea what to do about the exchanges, taxes, and even Planned Parenthood.

Representative Tom McClintock (R-CA) even referred to their non-existent replacement plan as "Trumpcare."

“We’d better be sure that we’re prepared to live with the market we’ve created” with repeal, said Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.). “That’s going to be called Trumpcare. Republicans will own that lock, stock and barrel, and we’ll be judged in the election less than two years away.” [...]

Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Tex.) worried that one idea floated by Republicans — a refundable tax credit — would not work for middle-class families that cannot afford to prepay their premiums and wait for a tax refund.

The most asinine comments highlighted by the Washington Post came from Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) who said they should repeal Obamacare and use the cost-savings to fund a replacement, which is just about the dumbest fucking thing I've ever heard. The non-existent cost-savings will be "what we’ll need to be able to move to that transition" Portman reportedly said.

Repealing Obamacare would mean repealing all of the mechanisms that pay for coverage, from taxes to even the so-called "risk corridors" that Republicans have previously referred to as "bailouts" before recently deciding that bailouts are actually good.

Moreover, repealing Obamacare would also mean repealing the mechanisms that have reduced the growth of healthcare costs while also increasing the number of costly emergency room visits and possibly even bankrupting rural hospitals.

There are no funds for an Obamacare replacement if you repeal everything that, you know, funds it.

Does Senator Portman understand anything? Does he actually believe a GOP congress would be willing to create their own funding mechanisms after abandoning Obamacare? Is Portman a professional comedian?

This wide range of reactions and difficult questions is why passing Obamacare to begin with was extremely difficult. And yet, at the time, even some people on the left wanted to "kill the bill," as if it could easily be replaced by a nationalized healthcare system.