U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan called on Wednesday for an end to Obamacare’s financial protections for people with serious medical conditions, saying these consumers should be placed in state high-risk pools.In election-year remarks that could shed light on an expected Republican health care alternative, Ryan said existing federal policy that prevents insurers from charging sick people higher rates for health coverage has raised costs for healthy consumers while undermining choice and competition.The rule, a cornerstone of President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act, has been praised by patient advocates for providing access to medical care for people who previously could not afford private health insurance. The Affordable Care Act also bars insurers from excluding coverage for pre-existing conditions
The fact that I have had health care, and been healthy most of my life, but then in 2010, was one of the unlucky ones to develop cancer does not matter. Ron Johnson looks upon me, and others like me, as irresponsible drivers and my cancer(my pre-existing condition) as equal to a car crash. Why should he have to pay more, he is not sick.
Before summer’s out, we'll repeal/replace Obamacare w/ system based on personal responsibility, free-market competition & state-based reform pic.twitter.com/JzCyxX9kJb
It is a very stressful time in America, when we are under one party rule, and the one party that is ruling, looks upon millions of Americans as drags on the system for contracting an illness. It is even more magnified, when it is your child that has the illness.
I am certain we are better than this and we need to actually "drain the swamp" in 2018!
Today, former President Obama, took some time off of his vacation, to address the hot button issue of the day, The AHCA act(or Ryancare as I will now refer to it as).
Being an actual writer and able to put more thought into something than 144 misspelled characters, President Obama took to Facebook:
Our politics are divided. They have been for a long time. And while I know that division makes it difficult to listen to Americans with whom we disagree, that’s what we need to do today.
I recognize that repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act has become a core tenet of the Republican Party. Still, I hope that our Senators, many of whom I know well, step back and measure what’s really at stake, and consider that the rationale for action, on health care or any other issue, must be something more than simply undoing something that Democrats did.
We didn’t fight for the Affordable Care Act for more than a year in the public square for any personal or political gain – we fought for it because we knew it would save lives, prevent financial misery, and ultimately set this country we love on a better, healthier course.
Nor did we fight for it alone. Thousands upon thousands of Americans, including Republicans, threw themselves into that collective effort, not for political reasons, but for intensely personal ones – a sick child, a parent lost to cancer, the memory of medical bills that threatened to derail their dreams.
And you made a difference. For the first time, more than ninety percent of Americans know the security of health insurance. Health care costs, while still rising, have been rising at the slowest pace in fifty years. Women can’t be charged more for their insurance, young adults can stay on their parents’ plan until they turn 26, contraceptive care and preventive care are now free. Paying more, or being denied insurance altogether due to a preexisting condition – we made that a thing of the past.
We did these things together. So many of you made that change possible.
At the same time, I was careful to say again and again that while the Affordable Care Act represented a significant step forward for America, it was not perfect, nor could it be the end of our efforts – and that if Republicans could put together a plan that is demonstrably better than the improvements we made to our health care system, that covers as many people at less cost, I would gladly and publicly support it.
That remains true. So I still hope that there are enough Republicans in Congress who remember that public service is not about sport or notching a political win, that there’s a reason we all chose to serve in the first place, and that hopefully, it’s to make people’s lives better, not worse.
But right now, after eight years, the legislation rushed through the House and the Senate without public hearings or debate would do the opposite. It would raise costs, reduce coverage, roll back protections, and ruin Medicaid as we know it. That’s not my opinion, but rather the conclusion of all objective analyses, from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, which found that 23 million Americans would lose insurance, to America’s doctors, nurses, and hospitals on the front lines of our health care system.
The Senate bill, unveiled today, is not a health care bill. It’s a massive transfer of wealth from middle-class and poor families to the richest people in America. It hands enormous tax cuts to the rich and to the drug and insurance industries, paid for by cutting health care for everybody else. Those with private insurance will experience higher premiums and higher deductibles, with lower tax credits to help working families cover the costs, even as their plans might no longer cover pregnancy, mental health care, or expensive prescriptions. Discrimination based on pre-existing conditions could become the norm again. Millions of families will lose coverage entirely.
Simply put, if there’s a chance you might get sick, get old, or start a family – this bill will do you harm. And small tweaks over the course of the next couple weeks, under the guise of making these bills easier to stomach, cannot change the fundamental meanness at the core of this legislation.
I hope our Senators ask themselves – what will happen to the Americans grappling with opioid addiction who suddenly lose their coverage? What will happen to pregnant mothers, children with disabilities, poor adults and seniors who need long-term care once they can no longer count on Medicaid? What will happen if you have a medical emergency when insurance companies are once again allowed to exclude the benefits you need, send you unlimited bills, or set unaffordable deductibles? What impossible choices will working parents be forced to make if their child’s cancer treatment costs them more than their life savings?
To put the American people through that pain – while giving billionaires and corporations a massive tax cut in return – that’s tough to fathom. But it’s what’s at stake right now. So it remains my fervent hope that we step back and try to deliver on what the American people need.
That might take some time and compromise between Democrats and Republicans. But I believe that’s what people want to see. I believe it would demonstrate the kind of leadership that appeals to Americans across party lines. And I believe that it’s possible – if you are willing to make a difference again. If you’re willing to call your members of Congress. If you are willing to visit their offices. If you are willing to speak out, let them and the country know, in very real terms, what this means for you and your family.
After all, this debate has always been about something bigger than politics. It’s about the character of our country – who we are, and who we aspire to be. And that’s always worth fighting for.
Meanwhile, while President Obama was talking sense, Senator Mitch McConnell was not. People whose life will literally be in danger when the GOP passes their repeal and replace of the ACA.
Nothing says representative government like pulling people out of their wheelchairs and arresting them. As for the protesters, when your life is on the line, you have nothing left to lose.
As for the Dems in 2018, if these are not your ads during the election season, then you might as well, grab your ball and go home! Jeff Simpson
“It’s not just a picture,” student Matthew Malespina told ABC News. “It’s being associated with a person who puts his party before his country.” When he learned of his school’s impending photo op with Ryan, Malespina texted his mother he’s “just not going to do it.” “The point was, ‘I don’t want to be associated with him, and his policies and what he stands for,’” Matthew’s mother Elissa Malespina said.
Paul Ryan, not being the brightest bulb on the tree, did not know that he was being stood up by many of the kids and posted this photo on his social media.
The thing is it turned into the perfect metaphor for Paul Ryan as Speaker of the House:
Here is Paul Ryan, trying to be cool by fist bumping the white girl while ignoring the Person of Color and person with noticeable preexisting conditions. Its so much easier to cut his health care and opportunities in America if you pretend he does not exist!
Yesterday there was a special election for Congress in MT and it drew the attention of the country.
In a solidly red state, the GOP was panicking that they would lose this seat. They even spent almost $6 Million dollars to keep this seat red, despite the fact that the term of this seat is only a little over a year now and they have a solid advantage in Congress anyway.
With every special election there's DCCC talk, but no talk of PAC money. Dems getting decimated by outside money - just not able to compete.
I wonder of the $6+ million could have been better spent in MT, instead of on 1/435 Congressional seats? Pretty sure they do!
This seat took an extra turn the day before the polls opened because a reporter for the Guardian, Ben Jacobs, had the nerve to ask Republican multimillionaire candidate Greg Gianforte, his feelings on the ACHA.
GOP candidate wins Montana House election after being charged with assault
Montana should be proud.
However, in the overall picture, it is not that big of a deal because as stated earlier it is only for a year and there are some very serious lessons to be learned here.
Now let's make sure that we learn them.
1. This had a strong early voting contingent for this race/ Which means if you voted early for the guy who body slams reporters, you had no recourse to change your mind. I personally have always felt that early voting if for the blind partisans....i know who I am voting for and nothing in the world could change my vote. The blind partisans are what is wrong with this country. I would have been flat out disgusted had I early voted for the assaulter!
I think early voting is great if you for some reason are not available to vote on election day, but if you are use election day for what it is meant for. I have taken my children to vote with me on election day every single election since they were born in a car carrier!
2. The GOP know what a mess and potential electoral disaster the AHCA vote and plan is. That is what upset Gianforte. He did not want to answer if he supported ending health insurance for 23 million Americans(he was never actually forced too before the election). He knew that even in maroon red Montana, people like having health insurance.
3. Make sure ANY candidate goes on record supporting or not the AHCA. Republicans, thanks to Paul Ryan, are now in a quandry. Do they stand behind their party and the Speaker and the President and take tens of thousands of their constituents off health care or do they do what is right? Ask them, ask them and ask them again until they take a stand one way or the other. If they support it, then an instant and forever Scarlet Letter should be branded on their career. Period.
4. While the people of Montana voted in a guy who beat up a reporter for doing his job, the rest of the country, especially the 70% who do not support The Donald were horrified by it. Even the "great" Frank Luntz had this to say about it:
If you check the party affiliation of someone who commits assaults before deciding how you feel about it, you're what's wrong with America.
Make sure and ask your Congressional rep how they feel about what Greg The Body Slam" Gianforte did and if that should be punished or if they feel its ok as long as you disagree with the person. Again make them answer! (FYI: Some version of I think he should/he has apologized, is not an answer.) Would it be ok if someone assaulted them or one of their staffers as long as they apologized after?
5. Not one Democrat, not a pundit, not a consultant and most definitely not an elected should ever ever refer to Greg Gianforte without bringing this incident up/. Ever. If he comes in and singlehandedly balances the budget, the first thing anyone should say about him is that he physically assaulted a reporter.
6. Now we see the consequences of running from Obamacare all of these years. We allowed the GOP to demonize it and instead of defending it, and running on its strength(which we see from the GOP townhalls) we let the GOP dictate our response. Stop doing that.
The GOP biggest and most successful campaign strategy, is to run against the Democrats strengths and turn them into weaknesses. This is made easier by the Democrats allowing this to happen over and over and over. If the GOP are campaigning against you on an issue. that means they know its a strength in your district so double down and call their bluff!
7. The Donald factor! Gianforte's opponent Rob Quist, hardly ever mentioned The Donald. That is a mistake. I don't care where in this country The Donald performed, overperformed or under performed make sure that the GOP person in that district is seen as being a brother/sister/twin/bestfriend/ to the Donald.
The Donald won because he ran anti establishment and pretty much everything he has said he would do, he has done the exact opposite. People notice that, especially if we keep pointing it out. I know that there was some racism, sexisim, bigotry involved and I agree with that/. However some people who voted for that, are starting to realize that maybe in practice it is not as cool as it first sounded!
He can not and will not win another election like 2016. We need to take advantage of that.
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