Heartless! Senate Trumpcare Plan Every Bit as 'Ugly' and 'Cruel' as Expected

After weeks of secrecy, the Senate GOP’s Trumpcare plan—described as “a tax cut wrapped in the veneer of a healthcare bill” that could portend a “near-apocalyptic scenario for the poor”—was made available (pdf) to the public on Thursday and is largely living up to the gruesome expectations of analysts and critics.

“It’s exactly what you’d expect from 13 Republican men and a bunch of lobbyists.”
Click Here: NRL Telstra Premiership—Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.)The bill is not yet in its final form and, according to reports, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is still considering input from corporate lobbyists, but the contents released online have already sparked a flood of alarmed criticism, vows of opposition, and protests outside of McConnell’s office.

In its current iteration, the bill:

• Repeals most of the Obamacare taxes, a boon to the richest Americans
• Eliminates funding for Planned Parenthood
• Limits the availability of tax credits
• Ends Medicaid expansion, a crucial component of Obamacare that insured millions, by 2024
• Imposes sharper cuts to Medicaid than the House version of Trumpcare over the long-term—and could essentially phase out the program entirely
• Provides significant room for states to impose work requirements on Medicaid recipients

Though many Republicans have expressed hesitation about backing a deeply unpopular piece of legislation that would have a devastating impact on many of their constituents, McConnell has remained insistent upon bringing Trumpcare—which Senate Republicans have formally labeled the Better Care Reconciliation Act—to the floor for a vote next week.

Commentators and activists summarized the bill in much the same way they had in the weeks leading up to its release due to the fact that, as the Washington Post notes, it “largely mirrors the House measure.”

Both, if enacted, would rapidly alter the structure of the American healthcare system and increase, by tens of millions, the number of people without insurance.

“Trumpcare doesn’t just repeal Obamacare,” political analyst Stephen Wolf observed. “It repeals the last 52 years of advances in healthcare policy.”