Another Trumpcare plan: Just don't get sick
Democrats these days must feel like Michael Dukakis, as famously played by Jon Lovitz in a debate with then-Vice President George H.W. Bush on "Saturday Night Live" when he said, "I can't believe I'm losing to this guy."
Less than a week after losing four special elections they thought they could win, based on President Donald Trump's plunging approvals with swing voters, Democrats faced a new Senate Republican bill to replace the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.
Politically speaking and not medically, Democrats can hardly believe their good fortune. The Grand Old Party's new Senate health care plan cuts taxes on the wealthy and raises costs on the poor and middle class. The plan appears to be perfectly designed for people who never expect to need a good health care plan.
It was jaw-dropping to see House Republicans happily produce a plan that the bipartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated would cause an estimated 24 million Americans to lose their insurance over the next decade. The Senate plan is slightly more humane. The CBO says only 22 million would lose their insurance over the same period. That's less of a disaster but still a disaster.
Yet most Republican senators -- and no Democrats -- are OK with crossing their fingers and hoping their party does not face a backlash in 2018 and 2020.
That's apparently OK with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other Republicans. They boast not that their version of Trumpcare will offer better coverage but only that it will cut federal spending by $321 billion during the decade. That's $202 billion more than the House plan would save.
That's just fine with the deficit hawks who pat themselves on the back for saving money by taking health insurance away from children and families.
But it's not OK with Democrats, who uniformly oppose the measure, and moderate Republicans senators, at least four of whom said within hours of the CBO report that they would vote against even holding a debate on it.
As in the House, which also passed an Obamacare replacement bill with no Democratic support, Republicans seem to be entirely out of practice at creating programs to help people.
That's a shame because there are numerous thoughtful Republicans and other conservatives who still are coming up with ideas like tax credits, wage subsidies and vouchers for housing and schooling and other services. They're talking about market-driven ideas that provide incentives to help low-income people to help themselves.
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(c) 2017 CLARENCE PAGE DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.
