Ryan pushes for unity as House panels debate GOP health bill

This bill is upsetting both sides. It drops coverage via Medicare, removes the mandate which is what makes larger numbers of people more insurable, and simply changes the name from subsidies to tax credits. Democrats don't like the number of people who will be left out in the cold, and the Republicans don't like the financials. No one is happy.

People who cannot work, don't get tax refunds, so a tax credit doesn't work. Most Americans have insurance through their work, so this won't matter to them directly.

I buy insurance through the ACA marketplace because it drove my prior insurance provider and 3 other competitors out of the state. The system was badly broken. "The fix" (ACA) was worse than the prior method. From here, it just tripled my costs in 3 yrs and raised the deductible 60% higher. I'm paying a luxury car payment for health insurance when it used to cost the same as a nice steak dinner for 2 each month. We have ZERO medical issues, BTW.

This new plan isn't going to be any better, but maybe competition will be restored and coverages we don't need won't be mandatory.

Trump is "smart" in an animal way, and his reptilian brain seems to be warning him away from perceived danger. If he pushes for this bill, the resulting disaster would become "Trumpcare" (the other two monikers being "Ryancare" and "Republicare.") Than again, he's in a hard place - failure of the bill would result in congressional gridlock until the midterms.

Ryan's gambit was to push this through before anyone knew what was happening. Looks like he's failing at that, and drawing out debate would only expose the travesty to more criticism, especially if the OMB report comes prior to the House vote - and if that is pushed off until after Easter break, when reps will hear an earful from their constituents ("How many Easter eggs in that bill, rep?!")

Pushing for unity by alienating yourself and even causing backlash in your own party is anything BUT unity.

We've finally found one of those death panels that Republicans were obsessing about: It's the Republican Congress.

Trump's spokesman's press conference on this was just a joke. "Our bill, when printed, makes a shorter stack of pages! That means it's better!"

It's like the government is run by a petulant 3 year old.

Wake up and smell the coffee America. You're being taken for a ride but only those with an average IQ or higher seem to realize it. How much ridiculous Trump behavior can you really take before having doubts about this megalomaniac?!

Actually creating a replacement is a lot harder than simply just saying that something doesn't work, they're now just finding out

Healthcare is much more complicated than what politicians made it seem so simple, like they could do it all Day-1, pity naives who believed that

Got a bump, a hump or a boil on your rump?

A lump in your sump or a bruise on your stump?

Losing hair in a clump, stomach needs a pump?

Pulse all a-slump, your heart wants a jump?

Save your finances, too, from a killer thump.

Time to dump the plump loser chump.

A wise man once said... "Now, I have to tell you, it's an unbelievably complex subject. Nobody knew health care could be so complicated."

...well, a man once said it at least. And for once, he was being completely honest and rational. Sad it all had to turn out this way. Sad. So Sad.

Interesting is the lack of conservative comments in this thread. Has GOP mendacity become even too much for them to stomach?

This is the problem with an infinite recursive loop. The Republican leadership must make a policy on a topic that most of the party elite have staked their political reputations on opposing in all forms, yet now they have control of the government, their opposition has ruled out all available options, so they must make a policy on a topic that most of the party elite have... yeah, well, you all know how recursion works...

If they support the leadership, they are traitors to true cause. If they stand true and resist, their own government becomes a limp joke. Personally, I'm throwing all my laundry in for this, because the spin cycle on this one is going to be epic...

At this point there is no way Dem's will let ObamaCare be changed one iota. There isn't the 60 voters in the Senate to change it. The Trump admin will just have to do what Obama did - make it up on the fly. Or....

The better thing to do is just wait another year or two while ObamaCare further implodes. The Dems currently have no incentive to change anything and simply want to double down on ObamaCare's failed high cost socialist leaning structure. The only way to make real progress is to push the problem down to the states so both sides will get what they want. Trying to force a Socialist or Free Market approach down from the Federal government only promotes more paralysis and acrimony. Dems need to take yes for an answer and allow California to be the Socialist utopia it aspires to be while leaving Alabama alone to pursue it's own goals. The Fed's role is simply to block grant the money back to the states with very few strings attached.

They're morons, unable to comment until the Fox "news" talking points are in....

Why does the Left continually call themselves 'tolerant' when they are anything but know-it-all smart-alecks whose reason for living is to tell others how to live their lives? So strange...

WolfpackMAR. 09, 2017 - 10:52PM JST The better thing to do is just wait another year or two while ObamaCare further implodes.

It's only fitting that our oldest resident Independent Republican be the first to regurgitate the latest talking point....

Heh, it's going to be fun watching the repubs rip each other apart in a cradle of excrement in which they created for themselves.

There isn't the 60 voters in the Senate to change it.

Wolf, with budget reconciliation, the GOP only needs 50 votes (plus Pence, if it does come to a tie) to pass Ryan's proposal, not 60. If the GOP agrees with your suggestions above, they have more than enough votes to pass Repulicare.

This is up to the GOP, not the Dems.

At this point there is no way Dem's will let ObamaCare be changed one iota. There isn't the 60 voters in the Senate to change it. The Trump admin will just have to do what Obama did - make it up on the fly. Or....

The Republicans have both houses, and you still have Republicans blaming this on the Democrats.

Remember when they blamed Obama for not pushing things through when the Democrats held both houses? So it's the Democrats fault when they can't get something done when the Democrats have both houses, and it's the democrats fault when the Republicans can't get something done when the Republicans have both houses...

I'm starting to think that maybe some people just blame the Democrats no matter what, regardless of the situation...

Madverts:

It's only fitting that our oldest resident Independent Republican be the first to regurgitate the latest talking point....

I wish that was the talking point. The problem is the Republicans don't want to get out of the health care business any more than the Dems do. They are afraid they will lose re-election if they do not add trillions more to the national debt.

Heh, it's going to be fun watching the repubs rip each other apart in a cradle of excrement in which they created for themselves.

Sounds pleasant. Enjoy the show.

Laguna:

Wolf, with budget reconciliation, the GOP only needs 50 votes (plus Pence, if it does come to a tie) to pass Ryan's proposal, not 60.

Republicans do not walk in lockstep like the Dems do. It won't happen. I suppose that's good for the Democrats - they like ObamaCare just the way it is. All government control of health care is good in their view - just throw more money it at.

The Republicans have both houses, and you still have Republicans blaming this on the Democrats.

No they are already blaming themselves. 15 months ago they passed a repeal bill and put it on President Obama's desk. He promptly vetoed it. All the Republicans have to do is pass the same bill again and put it on Trumps desk. They won't do it. They are idiots who don't really believe what they say they do. Which is why any good conservative would not want to be a Republican these days.