Republicans in the House of Representatives jammed through their health care bill, the American Health Care Act or AHCA, by a narrow margin. The AHCA is a monstrosity, a moral disgrace, a document that would allow insurance companies to treat rape, pregnancy complications and post-partum depression like pre-existing conditions. It takes away money from special education and Planned Parenthood. If the AHCA was enacted today, millions of Americans would lose health insurance and millions of Americans would die horrible deaths from completely treatable diseases. So what are the odds that the AHCA will actually make it through the Senate?
From doctors to insurance companies to hospitals and consumer groups, no one likes the Republican health-care bill that narrowly passed the House on Thursday. Even House Republicans who voted for the legislation concede that it’s terrible. “Is this bill good? No, I don’t like it,” Representative Mario Diaz-Balart told the Washington Post, shortly after voting for it. The Florida Republican said that while tens of thousands of his constituents are poised to lose their health insurance, senators assured him they’d take care of it.
He wasn’t the only House Republican who suggested he only voted on the bill because he knew the Senate would make drastic changes. According to Politico, that’s actually an argument the White House used when pushing to get the House bill across the finish line. “Everyone knows this won’t be the final product,” said one senior administration official. “So if you don’t like something, it’s fine.”
“We have to have a win on this,” the official added. “We don’t have a choice.”
So while House Republicans joined President Trump at the White House to celebrate scoring a political win by voting to potentially kill or bankrupt millions of Americans, GOP senators were in a much more pensive mood on Thursday afternoon. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was muted in his statement following the vote, which he called “an important step.” He added, “We are now closer to giving our constituents freedom from the increased costs, diminishing choices, and broken promises of Obamacare.”
When asked about the bill hours before the vote, Republican Senator Lindsey Gram said he had no idea what was in it, though it seemed like it was “moving in a better direction” toward more state control over the health care system. “But any bill that has been posted less than 24 hours — going to be debated three or four hours, not scored — needs to be viewed with suspicion,” he told the New York Times. (On Twitter he toned down his language, saying the bill “should be viewed with caution.”)
That link has additional information about the likelihood anything will come of this in the Senate. I think Senate Republicans will try to work on it and maybe even come up with a bill that is less controversial, but I’m not sure that a Senate vote will ever happen. And Senate Republicans are already bitching about Democrats’ seeming unwillingness to come to the table and negotiate, to which I say… I hope Democrats continue to refuse to participate in this farce. Hold the line. Obamacare is imperfect but it can be salvaged and made into a better law. The AHCA is the Republicans’ death warrant. Let them own it. They were so f–king desperate for a “win” that they gleefully voted for this asinine bill. Call your senators and tell them what you expect of them.
Also: FiveThirtyEight is already doing analysis of how the House vote on the AHCA will affect midterm elections next year.
Photos courtesy of Getty.
No worries. They voted for a death squad bill. I’ll return the favor by killing their careers with my vote. Esp since I refuse to give up my Florida license before midterms (I live in NY).
So drink your beers house Reps. We are coming for you in 2018
They acted like a bunch of frat boys on finals week. Didn’t study and bombed their test, then held a kegger to celebrate. I can’t believe these dimwits hold any sort of power.
Thread jacking to say I actually died at “frat boys on finals week.” Thank you so much for this analogy 😂😂😂
OMG your comment gave me flashbacks to college where idiot frat bros held parties while the rest of us were in the library studying for finals
Perfect, Tate — there could not be a better analogy.
This is it in a nutshell. I shall spend the weekend in a foetal postion.
Ugh, They make me sick.
This is a fair assessment.
Yup. And Trump’s face…it shows that all he cares about is winning. At anything. Clueless and ignorant beyond belief.
The media feeds into that. CNN’s headline was “finally a win for Trump”. It’s not a win for anyone else but CNN is over here feeding the toddler’s ego
CNN can eat sh*t. Calling this bill a “win” is insulting AF.
Not to mention the fact that it hasn’t passed the Senate yet so let’s not blow a load yet, CNN.
Kitten I agree CNN aint sh*t. The media is a HUGE reason we have trump. A year of softballing questions at him until it was too late. Now they are calling this horrific bill a win?!
There’s a reason I killed my subscription to the one paper I got (NYTimes) because I’m done with the media BS thinking that there are two sides to these stories.
This was such a sad, pathetic early celebration for them. They completed 1 step out of a 5 step process. It shows how desperate they are to have a perceived “win”. Shame on news agencies that indulge this exaggeration.
Tiffany 🙂 Yes. Even the deplorable Joe Walsh said the GOP were fools to celebrate. He likened it to a football team declaring victory in the first quarter just for scoring a single field goal.
A bunch of old, rich, obese white guys cheering and jeering over a bill that will steal healthcare from tens of millions of Americans.
I despise them with a burning passion that will get me to register every Dem in my area who didn’t vote in 2016.
Goodbye, Elise Stefanik, NY21 TrumpRyan handmaiden!!!
This is his first government ‘win’ after all the lambasting he got for his first 100 days. It’s not like he cares about the content; he only cares about the strut.
“Is this bill good? No, I don’t like it,” Representative Mario Diaz-Balart told the Washington Post, shortly after voting for it.” – this guy (and also the other Republicunts who don’t like it) should have grown some balls and not voted for it if he thinks its a terrible bill.
From what i’ve read there were quite a few Republicans who were made to vote for it – forced by the party whip to follow the party line. Here’s hoping that the Senate kills it.
The whip can do that?
I dunno about the US but in the UK the whip can basically make people vote for the party line over their own conscience/constituency needs. They can of course refuse but there are usually consequences such as being fired if they refuse to follow the party whip. Has been happening a lot over here with Brexit – Labour party members were ‘forced to resign’ or ‘restructured out of their position’ for disobeying the party whip.
No one put a gun to their heads..they told them trump wants a win and we crave his praise more than the welfare of the country..see their old man glee at the chance to stand by him? Dems should not count on voters retaliating..I doubt trump voters will remember
I also read that three of them waited until last to vote to see if their votes were needed to pass the bill.
We have nothing of the sort in the US. He’s acting like a mafioso, plain and simple. Do as I say, I will ruin you and the rest of your career if you don’t. Interesting to hear that the UK has apparently formalized the shakedown?
Exactly no one held a gun to his head. So I will be throwing my support to unseat this idiot who also stopped taking calls on the bill. The house reps are banking on the Senate not passing it AND that they will make huge changes. Yea you won’t be getting off that easy. I printed the ballot count for “yeas” so I know who’s on the (voting) hit list
A lot were convinced by the idea that they just have to move the football for the team. They were told the Senate will fix anything unsavory about the bill. Funny how the GOP acts like they are the party of personal responsibility.
@ WeAreAllMadeOfStars – it’s a totally different system. In Australia (and I’m assuming the UK, since that’s who we took the idea from), a strong party whip is a good thing because it means you simply have to know the party policies rather than the platform of every individual candidate. We generally get pissed off if we vote for a politician and they go against their party platform because we feel like we were mislead about what they stood for.
It works down here because we have more minor parties. If we don’t want X policy, we can vote for someone from a different party. The US has no real minor parties but you get a similar range of opinions in Congress by having politicians who regularly vote against their parties. It just means you need to pay attention to the policies of your individual candidate and we don’t.
What Lucrezia said. In the UK, we vote in General Elections on very specific party manifestos with fully detailed policies on all areas. While governments don’t always fulfil every part of the manifesto, it’s seen as a big deal if they actually legislate for something AGAINST a manifesto commitment. The whip system ensures that all legislators stick to party – and therefore manifesto – discipline. The same system also mandates legislators to turn up and vote if a manifesto commitment is strenuously opposed by other parties so that the government doesn’t get defeated on manifesto commitments.
While backbenchers (non-ministers) can and do rebel against the whip, it’s seen as a big deal.
Details here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whip_(politics)#United_Kingdom
In Congress your #1 job sadly is raise money. They recommend freshman spent EIGHT hours per day in a little cubicle farm across the street just constantly calling donors. Depending on status and where you fall in the pecking order you need to raise a set amount (about a few hundred thousand dollars) to donate to the party and maintain access to the big fish donor list. On top of that you have to start financing your campaign which can run into the millions in a contested district. Going against the party line can also get you cut off from the donor list making your only option cold calling which is hard an unappealing and a lot more work ($20 here and there vs people who historically have written checks for thousands) Not to mention the big donors want to know what their donation is buying. So the whip can’t force you to resign but they can all but end your political career. It’s truly messed up.
There is a reason the party whips are some of the most quietly hated (and feared) people in Washington. My limited understanding of the US whip system is that the whip uses anything and everything at their disposal to get members to vote for legislation they may not like but their party wants passed. Usually it’s a mild quid pro quo – you know, support Bill A and we’ll give you X dollars for your district in Bill B, but a lot of arm twisting happens too and the whip can effectively squash an individual member of congress if they don’t go along in an important vote.
Committee assignments (where the real work is done) can be taken away, if there is a pet piece of legislation the member wants enacted the whip can make any support for that vanish or ensure it never gets out of committee, in extreme cases as @Lindsey said above the party leadership might back someone else in a primary challenge or make campaign funding disappear. Going against your party can have real consequences.
How can a party whip fire an elected official? Doesn’t sound right to me…..
Not fire, but not having the support of your own party can make elected life so difficult they either lose the next election due to lack of financial support or they decide to leave the public sector out of frustration. Members of congress that are beloved in their home district or have been in office many terms are better able to withstand the pressure, but for newly minted congress-people it can be difficult.
Yeah, the devil made them do it. Because they are victims. Rolling my eyes at such man-babies. Why would anyone vote for them???
I wonder where our next leaders are? There is no Martin Luther King or Princess Diana or even a Kennedy. Where is the hope of the people? Why do we need to wait for generations to appreciate Obama – who always made us know that we were safe – peace the goal of our planet, and cooperation the best choice, always. Why is the only war we hear about is the one concerning oil, or the 1/3 around the planet (Isreal) for US nukes? War surrounds our globe!
There is much cynicism. Where may we find clean hands and a pure heart? We demand to be loved as a people. It’s possible to save the planet with love. Even Now.
At least he read it. I’m sure some didn’t even bother. These partisan a-holes don’t care about anything but a win over the liberals. And it will destroy them. Make no mistake… The GOP is the dying party, not the Dems. And it’s all thanks to that Orange Shitgibbon Trump. I’m convinced God let him get elected to shine a light on how craptastic these Repugs are.
There are some admitting that they didn’t even bother! What a farce!
I honestly was shocked when I heard this, they’re essentially trying to make being a woman a pre-existing condition. Our healthcare system here in Canada is far from perfect, but man, what kind of insanity is going on there in Washington? Have they all lost their tiny little minds?
Apparently republicans hate women more than I originally thought.
Including “Congressman” Diane Black. Yes, she refers to herself as “Congressman.”
I too was surprised to see that pregnancy and being raped were seen as pre-existing conditions, LadyMTL? Misogynist pigs!
Not only women….. it now means that victims of child sexual abuse and pedophilia would now be considered as having the same pre-exisitng conditions.
Just THINK about that.
I am not American and yesterday I was sickened to my core and in absolute shock over this.
Watch the rates of abuse victims coming forward plummet with the threat of losing insurance, or, having rates jacked to incomprehensible amounts.
Absolutely disgusting.
This is the kind of shit that people who vote Republican do not think about until it’s too late. They don’t care until it affects them. The Republican Party is individualism on steroids… they don’t care if people around them die as long as they’re OK. What kills me is that they behave this way and then call it Christian values.
“What kills me is that they behave this way and then call it Christian values.”
That’s just branding. Similar to the “Freedom caucus” who think you should be freed from having healthcare and social safeguards. They are business people, they can market poison as a tasty snack. Democrats suck on this front because they are usually social welfare warriors.
The GOP is made up of 50% Greedy Old People who can’t get into power alone so latched on to religious zealots who want our country to be an evangelical theocracy to make up the other 50%.
@ Original T.C. and Anilehcim :
I think the evangelical Christians made a deal with the devil in voting for Trump because he said he would give them a conservative on the Supreme Court. A Christian writer recently blogged that this relationship would come to a “bitter end” for Christian voters who believed Trump would be “their” president. He will sell them out just like everyone else.
You said it. I can’t believe how hateful this bill is towards women. And people hoping the senate Republicans grow some balls against Trump are sadly mistaken. I don’t trust anything nor expect any decency from that party.
On top of that he paused the law that limits more political speech from religious groups. So that will please his voters into keeping their mouths shut about losing their insurance. Their churches will convince them Trump is doing God’s work.
“Their churches will convince them Trump is doing God’s work.” As a christian myself my only comfort is that I am convinced they will all burn in HELL! Trump included!
@Original TC He signed an Executive Order he didn’t sign anything into law. The EO he signed has no teeth. It essentially has as much power as notes written on a napkin. The ACLU IIRC was set to take it to court but read the EO and determined that as currently written this emperor has no clothes. They are keeping an eye out though.
I’ve learned that the majority of the EO signed are toothless. He could have sent a memo or made a phone call. They do make photo ops and feed his ego. I suspect it also serves as filler for time between his golf vacations.
The White House has also fired the first female Head Usher and second African American. She came from the Ritz Carlton. The job is to manage the WH household staff including butlers, chefs, first family residence, etc. No word why, no advance notice. Just gone.
But hey, one less woman, one less minority, one less individual from the previous administration.
Cran – maybe the story will come out eventually, but what’s weird is that the chief usher had been in the job only since 2011. They sometimes resign to do other things (that’s how she got the job), but usually they have a bit longer terms. There have only been about 9 of them since the early 1900s. Has one ever been fired before?
Sounds as though President Tweeter just thought it was a political appointment rather than a long-term professional job that typically serves under more than one President regardless of Party. Maybe he wants to put one of his incompetent loyalists in the job. Maybe he didn’t even think that far. Maybe she had to tell him once too often that “you can’t do that” when he wanted to tawdry up the White House or sell Trump products in the hallways or put Trump water in vending machines. Maybe he assumes that since she got the position while that evil black man was President, she must be a spy. Maybe Ivanka doesn’t like her and wants to put one of her buddies into the job.
There must be an interesting story behind all this, I hope CB follows it and people here share any leaky tidbits they come across. If she was just unhappy with the current resident of the White House, she would have resigned. So Trumpty Dumpty deliberately fired her. Oops, laid her off, thanking her for her service. Who needs a competent manager anyway?
As a Canadian I will not even say the system is not perfect because I am so grateful for it. All I know is that at my age, and having paid into the system for decades and rarely used it for the big stuff, at the end stages of my life I am not going to have to worry about care, even if it’s shitty. I will get it and not have to worry about getting it. And if someone has a pre-existing condition, it will NOT be a stigma with the fear of death or bankruptcy. My taxes have supported the health care of others across my lifetime, and to me that is what it’s all about. We are all in this together.
Ida – forget hell! This is about life! All our cells fight for it. Every tree and every green thing loves the energy of the sun and the earth, and our precious water. Why should we want to go into outer space – when this is paradise? Hell is a place that is created in your heart because we are angry – there is no hell on earth that man doesn’t create for one another. Heck, even animals go in for a quick kill, never torture!
hmmm, we are grateful. God love these little kids – and let’s help them to survive! “We are all in this together.” I love you.
I said this on yesterday’s thread, and I’ll repeat it here-just seeing pictures of Ryan and Trump make me angry. They disgust me in ways I can’t even describe.
I know KJA…I call Trump, Ryan and McConnell the Trifecta of Doom. We, America, can’t afford this Trump Presidency. I know we will survive but at whose expense—those who can least afford it.
Yes! I’m not a violent person at all but they give me such rage that I absolutely crave the opportunity to slap those silly grins off their faces.
Yup. I too am at the point where merely SEEING these assholes evokes a visceral reaction in me. I actually pull away in revulsion.
I would pay money to line these sh*t bags up and nut-punch each and every one of them.
Kitten – After this atrocious vote for an inhuman bill, I actually did pay money for the first time ever out of state to help two Democrats (Georgia and Montana) running in special elections for the House. The only other time I even made any political contribution was decades ago when our really good Congressional Representative was being targeted by the national Republicans. He was a Democrat in a heavily Republican district and routinely got something like 80% or more of the vote. After he retired due to this pressure, we were afflicted with such fools as Dan Quayle and Mike Pence who were being groomed by the national Republicans at the expense of my district.
There may be other places to easily donate to people opposing such atrocities as this odious bill, but I went to the ActBlue site since someone gave a link. The recipients will put any excess into a general fund for others.
Yes! I usually try to stay away from the hate word and thoughts, but I’ve given up and just straight up think “I hate your immoral, unintelligent, undemocratic a$$es.”
Ryan always looks like the cat who swallowed the canary. Trump looks like The Grinch when he tries to smile.
The point is, when people show you who they are, we should believe them.
I can handle an image of Trump, or (sometimes) his voice on the radio, but I can’t watch a video of him. A picture of Ryan’s face alone fills me with intense rage.
My heart bleeds for my fellow humans in the US over this – truly disgusting.
I wonder what Jesus would think of the old, rich and white men who claim to ‘follow’ him – bunch of hateful, evil creatures.
Paul Ryan and his ‘aww shucks’ face would make a great target on a punch bag.
I’m with you, I feel terrible for everyone in the U.S. right now. Except these f*ckwits. I hope karma screws them without lube.
I saw this live last night on CNN Int. and my god, one of the first things Trump said was something like “How am I doing? Huh? Hey, I’m president!” Like a goddamn fool. I’m convinced his IQ is hovering somewhere around room temperature.
The online version of a major German newspaper called it “almost a crime” this morning (http://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/us-gesundheitsreform-trumps-gesetz-ist-fast-schon-kriminell-1.3491853). Sounds about right.
This sounds about right: “Trump und die Republikaner setzen aus ideologischer Sturheit und purer Lust, sich an Obama zu rächen, die Gesundheit und das Leben von Millionen Mitbürgern aufs Spiel.”
>> Trump and Republicans are basically doing this out out pure stubbornness and delight to get revenge on Obama.
This whole thing is pure evil and I wish nothing but the worst on Trump and his minions.
You’re being generous with the room temperature IQ lol.
Angela82, I was thinking celsius. 😉
@littlemissnaughty, Ah that makes way more sense. 😉
And room temperature in Celsius at that….
Oops, I see I wasn’t the only one to think that.
An ignorant jerk with money, describes a lot of our ‘leadership’.
@greenmonster The stupidest part of that attitude is that they aren’t doing anything to Obama at all, they’re doing it to the country they were hired to serve!
Me three. It’s sad and awful beyond belief.
Me too… It’s so hard to fathom how a country can waver so far from its principals.
I just watched the final episode of Mary Beard series on Rome, specifically the fall of the empire; one that thrived on its inclusiveness. She traces it back to a turning inwards. The greatest sign that Rome was now closed to outsiders began with Hadrian.
Building a wall.
Yes, plus there was the political infighting that got worse with each Emperor. The Senate was famed for its political intrigue that would make Trump and his cohorts look like incompetent amateurs (which they are). The Roman Empire was advanced in many ways (cue Monty Python speech) as Roman women could own property.
There was also the Antonine Wall that the Roman’s built in Scotland to divide the Roman and free parts of Scotland. Its less famous than Hadrian’s.
http://www.antoninewall.org/
@wendywoo our real walls are invisible. We have devolved into a society that assumes others will fix things. Those who voted yes on AHCA while agreeing it’s a horrible bill but the Senate will fix it are delusional. AHCA is horribly crafted policy. Period. The Senate cannot improve it. Because it has been crafted so as to make use of appropriation the Senate is constrained to go for a simple majority vote which requires 51 votes to pass because there is no hope to achieve 60 votes. Whatever is crafted will go back to the House where it must pass or fail in that iteration. No further changes. Then back to the Senate then off to the president to be signed into law.
I have no faith that Senate republicans will work in the interests of their constituents any more than the House.
Be mindful AHCA is NOTHING TO DO WITH HEALTHCARE. It’s all about tax cuts. The tax reform the WH and republicans seek to do can only happen through reconciliation. The promised tax cuts must be funded. Reconciliation means the revenue lost through the tax cuts must be funded by appropriating those monies from somewhere else which is ACA aka Obamacare. That is the underlying issue.
Essentially not only will the most vulnerable lose health insurance we will lose out in tax reform as the tax cuts will largely apply to us.
We in danger
I’ve heard Nero fiddling for quite some time now.
I hope that Prince Harry marries Meghan Sparkle! (I know it’s an “M”) What a good kick to the balls of the white class. Why (?) is the Southern coalition trying to destroy the work of one of, if not the greatest president of America (Obama)? They are ignorant dum-de-dumbs….answering my own question – we need to do better with education!
Just wondering…how do 192 countries get together and craft ways to reduce global warming, that Republicans in the US, deny? I call it religious bigotry. The world was created in 7 days, yet our planet is 5 billion years old and humans perhaps the last 100,000. Can you imagine caves and fires? Human ingenuity, and then there are computers…
Ladies, please consider that we are a blink in time, and enjoy all of it. Let’s explore our own oceans before outer space and alien AIDS. Let’s treat our planet like a garden, for it is our mother, and we as humans emerged from that relationship. If Jesus were God, it would be written on the mountains! I’ve never met a person who deserved “eternal punishment”, have you?
I wish Trump, Bannon, Pence, Ryan,… would die of a heart attack and leave us alone…
I wish they would have heart attacks and be unable to pay the bills and get insurance in the future. They deserve nothing less.
Rot in hell, Republicunts.
Not going to happen though because they are billionaires , millionaires, trust fund babies. They have never once in their life had to worry about health care or paying for insurance. Yet, here they are making decisions for us and protecting their ilk. Rot in hell is too kind for them.
I’m hoping for aggressive anal cancer and a long painful death due to preexisting conditions not allowing coverage. And then no one wanting to raise a gofundme account for these sociopaths, including their own wives. #notsorry
Oh and their d*cks no longer work even with Viagra.
Now. Now. That’s for us peasants. Their healthcare is exempt. Their preexisting conditions are covered.
Sadly true. Unless they get voted out in 2018 and then up with shitty insurance and then the cancer. 😉
Didn’t they exclude their health care coverage from being touched in this bill? And the idiots that support them think that’s okay? Hey what’s good for the goose is good for the gander, so if everyone else has to suffer then they should also.
Yes they did. In fact Obamacare specifically tied their healthcare to ours. And it wasn’t before. Obama felt what’s good for the goose…. But of course they can’t have the same healthcare that us peasants do.
I think they had to do that to comply with Senate rules or something. But allegedly they reversed it in another bill, although I can’t imagine them really giving up their good healthcare for this abomination.
No I wish their dicks will melt off (that is the all important organ for these jerks) and no doctor will reattach them. They can live the rest of their lives like eunuchs.
Holly, we don’t need to cut their dicks off – what they hate is to be laughed at.
I hate all of them but there’s just something about Ryan.. it’s a “I want to punch him in the face” thing.
He is the 40 year old version of that prick frat boy that everyone hated in college.
I hate Paul Ryan so much he makes my eye twitch.
That’s because he’s the Dolores Umbridge of politicians.
Imho hes a “legal” serial killer and sadly if this goes though probably one of the most successful. 🙁
He is from Wisconsin, home of famed serial killers Ed Gein and Jeffrey Dahmer. Sad to say him and our equally slippery governor Scott Walker are as much psychopaths as those two.
@Kelly, And not to discount the lives Dahmer and Gein took, but Ryan and Walker are potentially more dangerous to a much larger number or people. Its truly depressing. 🙁
I really don’t understand why Americans like to vote for people who rather see them dead because it costs them less. When did politicians b/c shadier businessmen. I know the business and government world always meshes in America because of capitalism, but this is a whole new disgusting level. I went into Federal work not to be rich, but to help people in this country. How can politicians run knowing they have no compassion for their own countrymen.
I really want to believe this is the death of this Republican Party, but I know so many who will continue to vote against their interests because they hate the word taxes or they think eventually they will be the millionaire. Or worse – they are just misogynist racists.
Angela82 – personally, I feel that the divide is a major lack of education. The entire reason our founding fathers created the idea of public education, is that a democracy of voters would not survive without that. Imagine the uneducated voting for a reality host star? Of course, he wants to shut down the press that he can’t control, like his reality star, winner, program. However, I am appalled that people would vote for such an unqualified man – that religious norms are ignored for the powerful rich. Why is it okay to elect a heartless man simply because he is republican, rich, has a beautiful daughter and wife, looks at lots of women’s bodies as the owner of a pageant of women who believe in nothing but their body? Seriously, he is a P*ssy-grabber – and the women voted him in – for some reason they must enjoy their own disempowerment.
Like the Bible says, “your desire will be to your husband”‘s (interests). Monotheism is cruel to a women’s interests – which is life itself, her children growing within – and all living things – we care so much for our children’s survival!.
Ryan has sported a visible erection whenever he has talked about his plans to kill the ACA, especially when he talks about his Death Pools. He had one yesterday when he was speaking on the House floor. Not an impressive erection, but an erection nonetheless. The man is a perverted, murderous turd.
Yuck! I’ll make sure I don’t notice
Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
How Ryan (or really any modern day GOP member) is married with kids truly disturbs me. Its like the women who willingly had Psycho Joe Walsh’s babies and actually expected him to pay child support.
He’s the person with the sweetest and most diabolic comeuppance coming. Make a pot of tea and bring some cookies for the fun.
I was nauseated yesterday watching him be so giddy about causing millions of people to lose their health insurance coverage. It was kind of macabre.
Ryan is an Ayn Rand fan. Many years ago, I went to a philosophy teacher proudly declaring my consumption of her books – such as “The Fountainhead”, I nearly did not get into a class because of those remarks. He was the teacher of the year in the nation- Dr. Bill Whisner, at the University of Utah. Ayn Rand believes that we do not need one another to succeed – that we must be selfish, and the strongest of the fittest.
I did get into that class of 7 students, which had four teachers. Philosophy, literature, history, and anthropology. the class title was “Utopia”. We studied Freud and Plato, Jonathan Swift and more – such great, great fun!
Just because Paul Ryan looks sweet on the outside, is not the story about his plans for America! We need Teachers! One’s who can relate to others. God Bless America!
I am beyond enraged. I know many people that go thru lots of bill already because of autism or cancer and rape and they have been in a state of shock all day. It’s awful. It’s inhumane. And to think that these losers are covered by our own money. Is racism stupidity bigotry and ignorance and lack of compassion a pre-existing condition? How can you tell a rape victim that her depression is a pre-existing condition and this because of the rape? It’s awful awful awful.. I have no word. Having a vagina is a pre-existing condition. No wonder they treat women like sub human. I am so mad..
I have a congenital condition and another major preexisting condition as a result of my congenital condition. I’ve paid through the nose as a result. My parents could barely afford treatment for me. That these heartless ba-tards don’t care about me is so enraging.
I just want to hug you now. I want to cry for this lack of humanity and soulless pieces of crap. Is making America great Again their motto for “let’s eradicate the sicks and the poor and women”?? . These guys never went to hospitals and got contact with people who have illness. As if God is the answer and have 2 jobs too (never mind for some get or keep one). I am so sick of their zealous way of destroying. But I’ll be in Washington if there is a protest. Might as well move there for the next 4 years.. and I am mad at those who voted For even thought they know it was horrible to do so. yet feel they had no choice??? were there any guns against their heads? were they threatened? or the Big Boss got them by the balls?? What a fu.king day.It’s exhausting . I feel for you Rapunzel. I really do. Love and blessing to you
Rapunzel, I’m so sorry. The lack of compassion and humanity shown by the Republican bastards will come back to bite them in the ass. Meanwhile, they literally don’t care what will happen to the citizens they were supposedly representing. I wish you nothing but the best and hope and pray that you get to laugh when they are all defeated. Take care.
Aww…thanks, trollontheloose. Hugs back to you. This really blows. When I was a kid, I needed shots my folks could just barely pay for. Specialist treatment that nearly drove them broke (that’s with insurance). Then, I was just able to get my own insurance as an adult. Paid ridiculous rates and nearly went broke paying for meds/treatment/insurance. Almost had to file bankruptcy. But Obama came along, changed laws, and while the ACA couldn’t help me, and my insurance rates stayed high, my coverage was so much better I saved a lot of money. It gave me financial peace of mind. To think that might go away…. Is frightening.
Giddy- I will be partying for days on these a-holes’ graves.
Even getting pregnant becomes very expensive in this bill. Basically this bill purposely attacks the poor, the sick elderly, women and the working class.
isabelle- the question is, when do women begin to trust another woman? Will women ever stop voting for their husband’s interests? Will women ever stand up for their own? What do men know of rape or pregnancy, or caring for the weakest among us?
I just cried yesterday when they passed it. Then I was filled with unspeakable rage. Why are women SO HATED. Let this be a last gasp of toxic masculinity before we finally snuff it out
Don’t cry, Kirby – read women’s history! In the world of monotheism, we are coming into our own, if we do not forget the fight of our mother’s and grandmothers and great-grandmothers. We are so powerful if we are able to claim our heritage as human beings, the mother of children, the hope of the future, the repository of men, if we chose. Men can’t have babies. Is that why they want to own Us?…free-thinkers, as we ARE!
Great post wolfpup!! 👏🏼👏🏼
Alright y’all, let these d*cks know what’s up. They don’t pay attention to emails, reportedly, but calls and faxes have to be tallied. You can use 5calls.org to find your reps and get a script for voice messages. Gotfreefax.com lets you send them so free faxes per day via email. Text “resist” to 50409 to send faxes to your reps through text. Include your address with zip code to make sure you’re counted. Do not go gently into that good night, but rage, rage, rage, against the dying of the light!
Thank you for raging for me, and everyone else. Thank You for speaking up! Thank you! Do you understand that? – with one voice, the media counts you as a hundred people who did not call.
Fortunately. It seems like the Senate isn’t even going to consider this bill but create its own. Which makes the gleeful celebrating absurd.
How pathetic that the Orange Menace is counting this a “win” when it probably won’t pass the Senate. How does that work???
@Jan, two reasons why I think he considers it a win: 1) he and Ryan found out how to break everyone in their party to get needed votes, so they can use those methods again on other legislation, and 2) no MSM is reporting on the Russian-tr*mp crimes today. This is an effective distraction. Tr*mp, like Putin, is a criminal with a huge criminal enterprise. It is all about the long game for both of them. They start fires everywhere and watch us all run to put them out. We are up against a great evil.
Are you sure the senate is going to deny Trump a win on repeal and replace? All bets are off normal behavior in an administration run by and for business people IMO. Short of impeachment, we are screwed.
I wonder the same. We went from “Trump could never win” to “Obamacare will never be replaced” to “He’ll be impeached in six weeks” to …. this piece of excrement. All bets are off and people really need to pay attention to voter suppression, gerrymandering and voter registration because it will take an overwhelming show of electoral force to get those bastards out of Washington. There are no guarantees for 2018 (which even the compromised FBI director is telling us again and again; the Russians are still at it) and no saviors for 2020.
As soon as the bill passed yesterday I called my Senators and you can, too!
It is dire – but there is Us! I trust, still. I believe in education.
It makes you wonder what kind of disease crawled up their butts and infected their hearts until they just didn’t have one anymore. Their agenda is just “destroy anything Obama has touched”, like with febreze or something. Who cares about casualty, right? It’s disgusting.
I stand with you all. Here in France we don’t have to deal with all this, thank God.
My dad got diagnosed with cancer just yesterday and it’s scary enough that I don’t know left from right at the moment. I can’t imagine having your mind also poisoned with questions about bills and coverage…It just seems inhumane.
First, best of luck to your dad and your whole family. I hope he gets the best of care.
Second, good luck with your election!
Third, it is truly awful that Americans have to worry about money during the worst times in their lives and kind of self-ration their own care. I went through this and it makes you feel like you’re less valuable or there is shame associated with being sick. The biggest change in living in a country like Canada is regaining some dignity in the health system.
Fourth, in respect to things crawling up their butts, my elderly father in law actually wished for a “bullet up the ass” for Trump, to paralyze him. People are really so angry!
Best wishes to your dad and your family! When my mom was diagnosed with cancer 2 years ago, I was so worried and barely slept for months. Thank goodness she didn’t have to worry about losing insurance back then. Luckily in France, you don’t have to worry about insurance
Unfortunately, this is the aftermath of people voting for racism, xenophobia, mysoginy. Where I live, the poorest white areas were the ones inundated with Trump propaganda during the election. Now those folks will be the first ones to lose insurance or not being able to afford it. This administration is shameful! And I cannot wait to get to the polls in 2018 although my vote likely won’t count, as I live in deep red Georgia.
Ostone – just change One vote! Remember the 100th monkey theory. After the 100th, the 99 evolve – so go for it – all of it – all of your dreams – because that is the future of the US. You = Us.
Would love to know the actual total of all the dirty money put down on the table to pass this. And all the nefarious places it came from. Not to mention the closed door meetings threatening congress members reluctant to vote yes with retaliations. Tr*mp the mob boss broke some fingers to get this, for sure.
yep. that’s what i thought. it’s just business. a sure way to make shitloads of money because whatever happens, people will need healthcare. and if you’re poor or a woman, then that’s your problem if you’re sick or pregnant and you’re free to die on the streets. what kind of society is this where only rich people have access to healthcare because the president wants to “win” against his predecessor. i’m feeling sick.
Trump and company must really hate Obama. I have never seen a new administration so hellbent on erasing everything that the previous administration did. Sure a new administration wants to fulfill promises or make changes, but this seems personal and vindictive. Trump is trying to erase the last eight years and in the process hurting many innocent people. What goes around comes around and all this will come back to bite Trump in the butt. Just disgusting
All of this. He wants to make sure that he erases Obama’s legacy. The idiot doesn’t realize that Obama’s legacy is etched in stone: he reached for “equality for all” in social, economic and health matters. That’s how history is going to remember Obama, not by what this twat-waffle did after his presidency.
The only reason why Trump ran for president is because he wants to destroy Obama’s legacy. He’s so jealous of him.
It’s just not Trump that wants Obama’s legacy erased, it’s also his avid (rabid?) supporters who want everything Obama did erased. How many times have we read the words: “Obama ruined this country” or “We had to put up with 8 years of Obama”.
Isn’t it crazy that hate for the first black President is what’s really driving Trump & the GOP train? It isn’t about helping people (which is what Obama tried to do) or making “America Great Again.” It’s about erasing all traces of Obama from history as if they could really do that. It’s about finally putting that “uppity black man” in his place and putting any other people of color on notice that you’d better not even think about running for President cause that position is the sole domain of the white, Christian male here in ‘murica.
I so wish you are wrong. But, painfully, I must admit I think you are right. I
Sooooo THIS.
And it breaks my f*cking heart.
Kittenl! We need a strong heart – not a broken one. Chin Up! – Obama was the best thing the US has seen for years. Just love him, like me. We Will change everything – of course, we will! We Must. It will happen unless the globe is threatened by nuclear weapons. Then everyone will start at the beginning. Point Is – baby steps – one foot in front of the other – believe in ourselves, and one another. History proves this map!
This entire situation is a farce! A win for the sake of a win?
2018 cannot come soon enough.
Yes, totally a win for the sake of a win.
The Senate will toy with it slowly, but you can express your outrage to House members now through calls, faxes and money for opponents of all who voted for this outrage.
There’s something trully wrong with Paul Ryan. My heart breaks for your country, I can’t imagined what it feels like to witness this kind blatant hatred for women and humans in general. I don’t care about what people says about respecting other’s opinion : Conservatism is fucked up, those people believe that is you’re poor or you need help, you are useless or you deserved to be put away from society. I don’t understand running for public office, a public service and doing everything in your power to destroy the people you’re supposed to serve. Man put these fuckers out of their jobs one by one!
My dad was a life long Republican. In 2009 he told me he didn’t recognize his own party. He has since passed away. On days like yesterday I wonder what he would think of the republicans of today.
Let’s go ahead and throw the veep in this rotting clustercluck of deranged henchmen. Something ain’t clean behind his dark little beady eyes either.
I am so sick of these fascists. I appreciate all the dirty work Kaiser puts in so that we don’t have to dig any deeper on any given day to get their gist. I don’t even enjoy Colbert or Seth Meyers so much anymore cause after about the 83rd day, there’s nothing funny about any of it. What’s taking so long with the Russian treasonists? Either they are or they aren’t. Goodness gracious, Paul Ryan has been waiting to take down the poor and crippled since his beer-kegging carefree youth. I can see Heir Twitler pointing his tiny fingers to the sky as he dances gleefully because Trumpcare passed the House. He can go to the golf course this weekend with a clear conscious and not call it a business meeting. Enjoy yourself, Prez. Trump. You finally pulled something off you promised to do. And Ivanka wept.
Colbert said last night to not have a heart attack over this – since now you won’t be able to afford the medication…
Trump really is god’s gift to American comedians, although I think they would be happier without the help.
Saw a tweet about Dems singing, ” Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey hey, goodbye” to Republicans for 2018 elections. It was glorious!!!
Hope that doesn’t come back to bite the Dems in the butt. It wasn’t the time or place for such antics.
The Republicans started drinking as soon as they cast their individual votes. That’s when the Dems started taunting them with the song.
I thought it was a bit silly too.
It didn’t come out of the blue – the Dems and Republicans have alternately been doing that little song routine since the 1990s. Kind of an in-joke. The Repubs did it to Obama while he boarded a plane after the Trumpian inauguration. In this case, the Dems were telling the Repubs that they will lose their seats over this in 2018. Which is what worries a lot of Republicans who went along with the Party on this idiocy. They are being flooded with phone calls and faxes, and having to deal with angry voters every time they go home.
Are you singing the melody, while you sing, nananana? It’s a great song.
The bill in its current form will more than like not pass, it will probably either die in the Senate (if it gets picked up for discussion at all) or die in the second round, which is fine by me. But I still think the Democrats should hold all 217 of those craven lunatics feet to the fire for playing with people’s lives like this for a so-called political win. They didn’t really win anything because (if you can stomach this) if you go to right wing media, they are barely talking about it, like at all. Trump supporters were awfully quiet on twitter too.
So what was the point of any of this. They think they are spitting in Obama’s face for daring to help people, when in reality they just kicked themselves in the privates. If this was not about to fuck with people’s lives and my money, I would sit back and laugh.
The Trumpsters I know were quiet too… Didn’t see any of them celebrating. They’re glad though. Just smart enough not to say it.
Trumpsters are now silent with fear and humiliation. Those suckers fell for his lies about us all having the best health care and everyone would be covered no matter what our situations. Too bad it took something as bad and dangerous as this to finally wake them up
What’s most awful are the Trumpsters that say “I don’t care what this plan is, at least it’s not Obamacare.”
I’ve read and watched interviews of Trumpsters saying that the ACA is great and would’ve died without it. Hearing them then say Obamacare has to go because it’s too expensive and we should keep the ACA absolutely cracks me up. Duh, people! Obamacare and the ACA are just 2 different names.
They will want Obamacare when they become ill with something that isn’t covered by this new insurance
After the House vote, I went on Twitter to see the reaction and some of the Trump Twitter trolls were perversely celebrating. However, it seemed fewer were out there.
My facebook feed was a different story. I have some Trump supporters and Republicans on it still, but they weren’t celebrating. They were conspicuously quiet, in contrast to some of the more liberal/progressive people. They were angry and upset.
I was just relieved that one of my Trump supporting family who is a born again Christian didn’t comment. I had been ready to block him after he made a sanctimonious “All Life Comes from God” comment on another family member’s post about the hypocrisy of the pro-birthers. He’s a bit of a hypocrite for other reasons, including shunning his sister who’s currently in treatment for mental health issues that are a direct result of repeated post partum depression after each of her 6 kids. I also have issues with him over downplaying his late mother being a victim of domestic abuse and her refusal to leave his father because she wouldn’t have been a good Catholic for leaving her husband.
I’m actually glad, in a spiteful and petulant sort of way, that this abomination (that’s the word I used when contacting my state reps yesterday) of a bill passed. It will be doubly (bigly!) embarrassing when it dies in the Senate.
It’s gonna die in the Senate, right?
RIGHT!?!
Given this political climate, I don’t think it’s wise to put all our eggs in one basket (the Senate). This abomination could actually make it through, God forbid.
The thing is, if the Senate uses it as a base for negotiation, it starts from a very low base. If they try to write a new law on their own — and I don’t see why they’d be interested if they can’t get the votes — it’ll take a very long time. I don’t see why they would do that. This is Ryan’s and a House obsession, not a McConnell obsession (as far as I can tell — correct me if I’m wrong). I could see McConnell sabotaging the ACA through withholding funding. He still has to pay back donors, but there are other ways to do that. For Ryan, this was ideological.
It’s important to keep the Senate from working with the House bill so call your Senators. There is no way to repeal the ACA/Obamacare without widespread suffering.
My understanding is that they have until September 30th to pass it with a simple majority or they can’t use the reconciliation loophole any more and would need 60 votes in the senate.
That could be either good and bad. Good if they simply run out of time. Bad if they try to rush something through, just to beat the deadline.
A trumpster I know on Facebook was crowing about it yesterday and then several people pointed out to her that SHE has a pre-existing condition AND she would very likely loose the new job she just got doing medical billing at a hospital because the AHCA slashes hospital funding.
People just don’t think things ever mean “them.” Hope she does lose her job. Sorry not sorry.
By passing this heartless bill, even if some are hoping the Senate will fix it or let it die, they have shown how selfish and uncaring they are and how low their opinion of the rest of us is. They are pushing anxiety levels to the max because healthcare issues loom large for people today. Medical costs are enormous compared to my childhood and we all have felt one illness or injury away from financial disaster as a result. The ACA was the first step toward relieving that stress. Now thanks to the Republicans, we worry about not only going back to the days before ACA, but to an even worse situation. I wonder how many people will die just from stress-related illnesses due to this evil politicking.
They don’t even believe in government assistance to get healthcare for everyone, they don’t believe we are a community where anybody can get sick or injured no matter how much we watch our diet and exercise. Paul Ryan might feel invulnerable because he loves to “work out”, but he can get cancer just like the couch potatoes.
The real purpose of all this repeal and replace nonsense is to get tax cuts for the very rich, which directly benefits Donald Trump, his family, and many in Congress. The ACA provided funding for the subsidies partly through taxes on unearned income (investments). That doesn’t affect people like my brother who got 25¢ periodically from the one share he had as a gift. That affects people who have more money than they could spend in a lifetime and so can afford to gamble with it on the stock market. They don’t want to share.
These f#cknuts dying in a fire would be a horribly cruel thing. For the fire.
ROTFL yes!!
This. Wins. Everything.
I am totally swiping and tweeting this. You made me smile for the first time today.
Let them have this “win.” Let their supporters lose their health care by the millions. That seems to be the only way they will see the light. Even after the first fiasco and that horrible bill, they were still on social media supporting the GOP. So let them be ravaged by the effects of this bill. Then bring the Dems in on mid-terms to fix the mess.
Can’t wait. Need to let all senators know how cruel and enraging that bill was, so they don’t pick it up as a basis for negotiation. “At least the Senate bill isn’t as bad as the House bill” would be a really lousy argument for bad public policy, but it could draw people in.
The bill isn’t law and can’t be law, so there’s no letting them have it at this point unless the Senate agrees in committee. And we can’t count on 2018 because of voter suppression, gerrymandering, dark money, and Russian-infiltrated social media.
If we want to have a chance of a legitimate election in 2018, we need to push hard for paper ballot backup for all machines, routine hand recounts of those paper ballots, and rejection of voter suppression tactics. Obama said he wants to focus on getting district line redrawing out of the hands of the partisan politicians, which is also important but without the three changes indicated above — we will never know who really won, and no Get Out the Vote campaign will help if the votes are not counted properly and the voters are blocked from voting at the polls.
Other countries have watched what happened here and gone to paper ballots, they can be guarded by sufficient sets of eyes 24/7 and are not susceptible to the kind of fraud and outright malfunctions possible today with machines. The key to a proper election is to minimize the risk of fraud at all levels: local, state, national, and now international.
Stupidity and ignorance and gullibility of the voters is a separate issue and not so easily solved. But we need to figure out ways to help adults learn to deal with all the deliberate disinformation today and to be skeptical of any politician’s’ pronouncements. They all need to be diligently fact-checked, all the time. And people need to learn how to recognize emotional manipulation of the sort Trump routinely engages in, and to think logically about consequences for any policy.
I would suggest starting with public service type announcements with little vignettes of a nonpolitical sort, showing a scenario and ways to deal with it. Buy time on Fox News in particular. Get the message out in an effective non-partisan form where people really are.
F*ck Trump
F*ck Paul Ryan
F*ck everyone who voted for Trump, or any other of these Republicans.
I’m just in a rage. And my compassion is at zero. I don’t care what happens to Trump voters. I don’t care if they get sick and die. They did this to themselves. My compassion is only for the people who didn’t vote for this.
Thank you for posting this. I know I’ve become so heartless since the election, but this is how I feel too now.
I have family I’ve avoided like the plague and most likely would laugh in their face if they get screwed over. As far as I’m concerned they need a lesson – although they’d probably never change their ways even if they or a loved one couldn’t get cover and became destitute.
Same.
The land of the free, the home of the brave, and the dead because they were too old or poor to please donald trump and his posse of evil. This bill will never pass the Senate. How dare he have a victory party in the first inning, while frightened people stare at their televisions in disbelief. We cannot let the most vulnerable go without insurance and assistance, our country has always taken care of those who need help, for one never knows when it will be them. I can’t even look at trump without flipping the bird at the screen. I hope there are town halls, rallies, protests with people screaming at the top of their lungs NO. This is unacceptable in our country. I rue the day he was born, let alone elected president. We must RESIST now.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/05/04/trump-praises-australias-universal-health-care-system-you-have-better-health-care-than-we-do/?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_australia-945pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory
You can’t make this sh*t up.
Moron.
Saw this also and could only shake my head at it. But typical Trump to do something like this.
Someone should create a board game about all of this:
You were raped and needed hospitalization, extended care and counseling? Sorry, no coverage, and what were you wearing?
Due to complications you needed a C-section. Oops! No coverage, hope you have plenty of savings.
You’ve been diagnosed with breast cancer, need immediate surgery and want reconstruction. You already had breasts, therefore pre-existing conditions apply. As for reconstruction, you’re kidding, right?
On and on. F*ck you Republicans!
I posted a comment on a friend’s FB status yesterday asking sarcastically if we could sue for discrimination based on the fact that ED, prostate cancer, etc. gets coverage. And so help me, I honestly think some of my lawyer friends are thinking about taking this to the ACLU. And it actually makes sense. We can’t get breast cancer coverage because “pre-existing condition?” OK, men have prostates. If they get prostate cancer, then anything stemming from it is also a pre-existing condition, by that logic. ED? Well, they had boners before.
Diabetes is another common cause of impotence. I’m not using that term they made up for Bob Dole to hawk a drug.
LP, OMG, I never thought of “ED” it that way! You’re right.
@WATP, I’ve looked at hundreds of medical records in my career and when that’s in the file, the docs write “impotent.” “ED” made its first public appearance in that Bob Dole Viagra commercial.
The name erectile dysfunction is more properly descriptive. The name “impotence” makes it seem as though a man’s power rests in his penis. I would rather not encourage that kind of thinking.
Remember, either way, it’s a WIN for Trump. When he proclaims a law/policy/whatever…. If it goes through, he wins. If it gets shot down, he followed through on his promises, even though others denied his will. So still a WIN. It doesn’t matter how inane or insane the plan, to his followers he is still doing what he said.
Yes. In the short run. However, we live just next door to West Virginia, a state dependent on the ACA. One of their senators [Manchin] has explained that although his people may not know who gave them healthcare, they will realize who took it away!
True he is pleasing some with his empty promises. But as I have mentioned millions of times on this site, I do a great deal of work with elder law. I saw seniors who trump preyed upon, rally for him and scream his chants of draining the swamp. They voted for him as their leader and now are in jeopardy of losing assistance, most importantly Medicaid. He won on their votes and he is trying fervently to take away the rights and privileges they earned. This is the cruelest of the cruel. I can only find solace in the fact that this bill can never go through the Senate. People with preexisting conditions aren’t going to sit still while this effer takes away their only hope. May they all be damned. It isn’t just un-American, it is unholy, unethical and evil.
RE: elderly who supported him…. unless they have some sort of mental decline, no sympathy for them. Being too lazy to educate yourself garners no sympathy from me. Ignorance is never a viable excuse. They didn’t just wake up uninformed one day. It’s a lifelong pursuit. They’re getting what they deserve. Unfortunately, it’s at the expense of the rest of us. If this ever passes, I’d love to see the looks on all the morons-who-voted-for-Trump’s faces when they see their coverage disappear and their premiums skyrocket.
Of course, it will be Obama’s fault…. and, maybe, even Hillary’s.
You sound like them. Wait till you’re in your seventies and older and don’t have a pot to piss in and re-evaluate your definition of ignorance. It isn’t bliss.
Yeah, no. When you’re being preyed on like these seniors were, you don’t KNOW you’re not educated on it. You’re being fed lies, you’re being told by news sources what they want you to hear. My 92 year old grandmother (we’re Canadian, so whatever) watches Fox News. She’s never touched a computer. She didn’t grow up in the technology age like so many of us. She’s not suspicious of the news she gets because to her it makes no sense for them to lie and scheme. The news is literally just the news to her.
I was really proud the other day, because despite all the brainwashing and bullshit, she looked at me and honestly said “I thought Trump might have done some good – but I don’t know why I did. He’s a complete idiot, and even if he’s going to do some good, he’s done more damage than anything”. She FINALLY came around once he started taking shots at Canada, and defunding things like planned parenthood. It took a long time. She is very old, and not a lazy woman by any means. This was a woman who was obsessively cleaning and mowing her lawns well into her 70’s, and would have continued to do so if she hadn’t gotten hit by a car. She’s also not an idiot – but she, like so many others, were the perfect target for the kind of brainwashing BS that happened.
Erinn: Your grandmother sounds like a rock star at 92! People (some people) just don’t get it. Like you said they grew up in a time when the news was the news and gave them all of their information. There was no Internet or computers, just two newspapers a day, and three news channels. Brainwashing is a good term…they listened to the rhetoric of trump and thought, well maybe this isn’t so bad. Your grandmother learned and millions more in America will as well, but at what cost. Without Medicaid, some couldn’t be in nursing homes or get their medication. It’s a nightmare. But….it can’t and won’t pass the Senate, not like this. It’s despicable. FYI, my Godmother lived to be 105. So hopefully your grandmother will get there too with all the rights, privileges and medical care she so richly deserves. Nice post Erinn
@ LinaLamont, I get very frustrated with my 87 yr old grandma. Yes she has dementia and she isn’t “all there, all the time”. I honestly think some of these people shouldn’t be allowed to vote, just like anyone under 18 isn’t mature enough. Don’t get me wrong, I have no issue with mentally sound seniors exercising the right to vote, but then you’re not there, it makes a difference. However, that being said, she has always been a racist self hating woman. It doesn’t matter if she is 50 or 87, she was going to vote for Trump b/c she is a Republican who thinks women belong in the kitchen and blacks shouldn’t be allowed to be President. The worst part if she lives off of government benefits b/c her husband died young and left her well off and she still doesn’t appreciate the government. I think the point where I lost sympathy was when she tried to tell me Dump and Clinton were the same amount of embarrassing during the debates. She is the poster woman for thinking women and blacks have to do 100 times the work to reach mediocre white man status. Or like my mom says, she is just a penis worshiper and it will never change.
How she was ever married to a lifelong Democrat Federal employee I will never know. So no I don’t have sympathy for her at this point. Same goes for my aunt. if they get screwed its their own doing.
It may seem trivial to mention the “optics” of the hideous Rose Garden picture, but it can become a poster or meme [probably already is] It’s Trump and dozens of old white men. It could and should become a symbol for the resistance.
Only meme I’ve seen so far is this: http://imgur.com/gallery/AQpgj
As for the rest of it… I just can’t. I’m too brokenhearted and filled with rage and disgust to do anything but cry right now.
The optics of the cases of beer being rolled into the House aren’t going to go over well.
45’s supporters will cheer that their representatives party just like them, even though their beloved party has signed their death certificates.
To which I would ask them if they party with alcohol in the workplace during working hours. In most workplaces, that gets you fired.
You now GSA (the branch that manages all govt property) prohibits liquor on all federal properties. Will someone go after them?
Don’t forget to include the cases of beer rolling in.
But the last laugh had not happened yet! While the House GOP was having their kegger, Trump had a photo op with the Australian PM and it wasn’t enough to speak in half-sentence hyperbole about the “fantastic” healthcare they passed — He straight up sat there on camera and said Australia has “better” health care than the US! Yeah, moron, SINGLE PAYER COVERAGE FOR ALL.
Please, God, let the Dems in the Senate have a FIELD DAY with that. No connection to reality.
Ha! That was my rally cry yesterday as he celebrated his “victory” in the rose garden. He who laughs last, laughs best. Can’t wait…………
The Dems should be running on that optic like a thoroughbred in the Kentucky Derby instead of ridicoulously singing “nanana, hey goodbye.” Ads should be blasted everywhere centered on that comment advocating single payer/universal healthcare. No one likes Obamacare? okay voters, let’s finally do the right thing and have Medicare (i.e., single payer) for all. Instead of gutting healthcare for the least able to give tax cuts to the wealthy.
NOOO! What is the point of taking away health care from the poor and giving over 800 billion dollars in exchange for tax breaks to the rich?
Perhaps someday, citizens will recognize that the government belongs to them! It’s frustrating to see ordinary people vote for the rich, their incorporated tax breaks; their “special interests”.
There seems to be a problem with education.
Hey everyone (i am french), I assume some of you are Americans. I am trying to understand how this work. Like, do you go to a hospital and have to show a sort of card/paper saying you have a certain amount of rights to be treated ? How does this work? Can a hospital really say “no we can’t treat you” and let you go untreated ???
I found stuff online but it is really difficult to understand but as a “socialist” (evil I know lol), I always grew up not thinking about going to the hospital and thinking if I will be taking care of or not depending of my parent’s revenues. So, thinking about your rights revoked is really sad for me. I am sorry for you.
Yeah, I’m not American and I also want to know how this works – I just about understand the pre-existing conditions, but not the thing about single payer coverage.
Lena- no hospital can refuse you treatment if you are in an emergency medical situation. But you’ll get billed. Whether you’ll have to pay this bill depends on your economic status. But preexisting condition rules make it harder for you to a) get insurance to cover hospital visits, b) proper insurance coverage for your preexisting condition and c) decent premium rates for your insurance coverage.
But what’s worse is you may not get treated for your condition if it’s not life threatening.
Example- I have congenital condition. If my folks hadn’t had insurance prior to my birth, I would likely never have had a policy until Obama. I could not switch insurance companies cause nobody else would take me. And the policy I did have charged huge rates cause of my condition in.premiums and service costs. But many things would not be covered at all. I could get those things, if I pushed for them, but I paid through the nose. No coverage from the policy i was paying for.
Oh wow, I see, thank you for answering me. I don’t know if it is the really the same in France but there is also preexisting conditions making insurance more expensive. My aunt had a cancer and now she can’t have a loan from the bank because she is “a risk” meaning she probably won’t be able to refund the loan. It’s sad. And seeing your situations getting worse in the US is scary.
Rapunzel spoke from the perspective of the patient, but it’s a major problem for the hospital system too. They have to treat you and they’ll try to bill you, but if you don’t have money they don’t get paid.
Obamacare really helped hospitals in poorer neighbourhoods because it meant they had fewer uninsured patients. I just read about one hospital that currently makes 0.2% profit. (For every million dollars in care they provide, after paying out wages and bills, they make $2,000.) That’s not a safe margin at all. If the Trumpcare increases the number of uninsured patients, they’ll go broke and have to shut down. Not because they’re not watching costs, just because they have to provide for too many uninsured.
Lucrezia- spot on. Hospitals bill poor uninsured folks and then write the bills off due to economic hardship. Obamacare actually helped hospitals and regular doctors who got more patients.
Thank you Lucrezia. It is really enlightening. And thank you too DetRiotGirl lower. I just wanted to say, I found this website around the time the Depp-Heard divorce came up and I really loved this community in the comments. I check this website everyday and I can’t wait to read your opinions, having “real opinions”, more than journalist ones. I hope you’ll be ok. One thing is sure, is Marine Lepen, if elected, will “only” (I am by no means for her) repeal medical rights for immigrants. She is actually really far-left in her economic program. So I’m not fearing for myself but for you…
Hi! I’m American, but by no means an expert. My understanding is that hospitals have a duty to stabilize anyone who shows up at the emergency room, regardless of if they can pay or not. However, when you leave, you need to either give them your insurance information or pay out of pocket. If you don’t have the money to pay out of pocket, then the system will drain your bank account until you are bankrupt or otherwise destitute. If you need to see a doctor for something that is not immediately life threatening, then I think yes, they can refuse you because you don’t have insurance.
Personally, I am blessed to live in a large city that still has public hospitals (NYC). When I was hospitalized a few years ago for the mumps, I went to Bellevue without insurance and was allowed to pay on a sliding scale based on my income. Because of that, I didn’t go bankrupt. But, most places in America don’t have the kind of resources NYC has. So, I doubt most Americans even have an option like that. :-/
Our system is terrible and completely broken, and I am terrified for our future.
Detroitgirl- Most hospitals work like you describe in NYC. At least they do in CA.
And hospitals and doctors do indeed sell the debt to debt collectors who will hound you to the ends of the earth. One family I knew was dealing with that for their ten year old, who had lost all control of his muscles and could no longer speak or walk or feed himself after meningitis when he was five years old, and so his mother was his full time caregiver (and also had two younger children) and couldn’t get a second paycheck, so they had just her husband’s income. They had been paying steadily every month, but the hospital decided it wasn’t fast enough and demanded payment in full immediately.
Before I had money to help her, my widowed mother would avoid getting any help for medical issues unless it was an emergency. She had pre-existing conditions of heart problems, only one functioning kidney and rheumatoid arthritis. She would then end up in the hospital, get treated, and be sent a bill. Most times those were in the thousands of dollars. She lived in a rural community and worked in a nursing home for minimum wage. To pay the bills, she would go to the bank, put the car down for collateral (her only asset), and then make payments monthly until the medical bill was paid off. So, she was basically always in debt to the bank. Also, she had no dental insurance, so in her 60s had to have all her teeth pulled out due to pain and abscesses. She was a beautiful woman, and this affected her self esteem greatly. It is painful to remember. She passed away from a heart attack before Obamacare was in place. I wrote Obama and told him that I am sure she would have had a much happier life if insurance would have been available to her.
The story of your mother is really sad. I am sorry for you loss. It’s heartbreaking.
I’m so sorry for your loss. It’s stories like yours that remind us exactly how people are actually effected and what we’ve got to do to make it right.
Dear One.- adastraperaspera -your grandmother’s tale makes me weep – yet she was strong. and lived thru all that. Thank you for her story.
Your mother’s situation was the terrible reality, before ACA. How lawmakers can be so callous and set us back years has to be pure greed and/or evil.
The Emergency Medical Treatment & Active Labor Act (EMTALA) requires hospitals to treat to the point of stabilization any patient who arrives at the hospital, regardless of ability to pay at the time of arrival at the hospital. (There has been litigation over whether it matters if you present at the ER or any particular door of the hospital.) Once you are stable, the hospital can transfer you elsewhere if they determine that you are unable to pay. The care is NOT free. You will be billed. And most people don’t realize that there will be more than one bill. There’s the hospital bill and the doctor bill and very often there can be separate bills for lab work or any x-rays or scans you have. The hospital must go through a very detailed individual billing process that has been approved by Medicare and usually by the state in which it is licensed too. In some instances, if patients fail to pay the bill, after going through the entire billing process, the hospital can write a portion of it off to Medicare Bad Debt -BUT there are strict criteria about what actually qualifies for that partial reimbursement. Patients who can’t pay are encouraged to apply for Medicaid but most don’t qualify and even if they do, some states won’t go retroactively. There is no mechanism of Medicare Bad Debt for doctors or those lab and x-ray bills. And if you went by ambulance, expect a nightmare – they’re extremely aggressive bill collectors. And that’s just the ER. If after your emergency visit, you need follow-up care somewhere, providers can refuse to treat you unless you guarantee that you can pay.
As for what happens when you arrive at the ER, if you arrive by ambulance, you’re brought right in but a billing office person quickly arrives to go over what coverage you have with you or with whoever went with you if you’re unconscious – they also have to get consent to treat forms signed. If you arrive any other way, you sign in in the waiting room, you’re quickly triaged as to whether you’re about to collapse or die in the next minute, if not, you’re brought to a desk where they go over your coverage – you present your insurance card if you have one or if you’ve been there before, they verify the information in their system. If you have a co-pay or deductible, they’ll ask “would you like to pay that now.” If you can’t pay at the time, they’ll collect your billing information and send you a bill.
Wow. Thank you for your answer. Really interesting! But wow. It’s strange. Doesn’t this affect the relationship between patients and doctors/nurses? I mean, aren’t people angry, tired of this? This must be painful for both sides, I imagine.
Well, the doctors and nurses in the ER don’t know what happened between you and the billing office people. They do know who their frequent fliers are and can probably make a good guess as to who has or doesn’t have insurance based on the reasons they go to the ER but many of our elder population just go to the ER when sick instead of having a primary care doctor.
@Lena, the US healthcare system is confusing, complex and not easy to navigate – even for those of us that have lived here all our lives and are fortunate enough to have coverage through our employers.
Visiting the doctor for even a routine exam is going to cost you out of pocket – how much depends on what is covered under your plan, whether the doctor is a “preferred provider” under that plan, and what your individual “co-pay” is. If the doctor is a specialist, or isn’t in the network, expect to pay more. If the insurance company determines after the fact that the visit wasn’t medically necessary or was for something they don’t cover, they will deny the claim and you might be on the hook for the entire bill. The first thing the doctor’s office asks when you make an appointment is what kind of insurance coverage you have. Many won’t accept uninsured patients or those that have really basic coverage.
My story about the shitty healthcare system: I remember going to the ER in grad school b/c an ovary was swollen and needed to be removed. I got there and instead of assessing how bad off I was – ie it could have been septic, they asked for my insurance card and took about a half hour making sure it was valid before seeing me. I am not saying they would have turned me away if I said I didn’t have any insurance but that’s how things run in America. I would have been billed if I had nothing. Someone who actually had a job and home could stand to lose everything in this situation. And I still think my parents were stuck paying some costs not covered (for emergency life saving surgery!) by the time the insurance processed everything. On top of that they kicked me out at 10am the next morning b/c my insurance wouldn’t pay the extra day. If my mom hadnt been there to help I have no idea how I would have got back home while high on Oxycotin. 🙁
I am very envious of my relatives in Canada who get the more single payer healthcare.
Michael Moore did a very good job highlighting the differences b/w the US and Europe and Canada in “Sicko”.
Wow. That’s scary. I have a ovary+hormonal disease and I lost count of all the times I went to the hospital and the doctor, not paying anything, never. Just being treated, never thinking how I will be able to pay my treatment.
I know we are lucky for the most part in Europe because of our health care system. As a french woman, it’s hard to understand the “you have to earn it” thing, like “pay or gome home/die” moto. I don’t mean to be rude but this is how it looks for me when I read your stories… I am sure just a part of your population thinks that way, republicans I imagine, but still, how? Why? I don’t get it. It’s blowminding for me…
They have to treat an emergency patient but they do bill them. One fellow was in a minor traffic accident and was unfortunately persuaded to take an ambulance to the Emergency Room to get checked out. The bill reached about $5000 before he even arrived because that’s what they charged for alerting their personnel. Quite a few thousand more for x-rays and treatment of broken ribs.
I myself was dragged off to the hospital in a $750 ambulance (five minute ride) when some naïf called 911 (I was having a fever spike and had to get up because he was banging on the door, bad idea). I had an undiagnosed UTI, which they diagnosed for $19. The total medical bills were $15,000. My insurance company cherry-picked its way through the bills, refusing to pay certain expenses even though I had been paying extra for 100% coverage past the deductible. Within a few months, they doubled my deductible to $5000 and accelerated increases in premiums. Eventually they wanted 53% of my income and a $5000 deductible. I had to quit insurance until the ACA started a few years later. The subsidies made it very affordable and the policy looked great on paper, but since insurance companies are basically unregulated – they narrowed the coverage network so essentially no local doctors were in network and same for the local hospital (which serves 250,000 people and seven counties). This made it a catastrophic policy, meaning I would be covered only in a definite emergency.
Then I went on Medicare at age 65, which only covers 80% of costs and expects you to deal with the private insurance vultures and thieves for the remaining 20%, which I can’t do because it is too expensive and unreliable (no guarantee they will pay, and they want as much for 20% coverage as they want for an 80% coverage policy). Plus there are caps on care for Medicare. For long-term care in a nursing home with Alzheimer’s, my aunt had to impoverish herself by paying $4000 per month to the nursing home until her savings were gone. This took less than a year. Then Medicaid covered the monthly bill beyond her Social Security and pension (which automatically went to the nursing home). Medicaid, Social Security, and Medicare are all targeted by the Republicans for severe cuts.
Before the ACA, which mandated maternity coverage, most people had to pay for expensive additions to their insurance policy to get coverage for normal births. Often $5000 had to be paid out of pocket for a simple birth, the amount I saw on discussion of the latest TrumpCare idea was much higher than that.
This is why Americans depend on credit cards so much. Most credit card debt is due to medical expenses and other expenses that can’t be delayed and also trying to pay bills while unemployed. Before the ACA, of you lost your job then you lost your insurance. There was a short-term option to keep your insurance for a few months at high premiums, I heard people say they were paying at least $1000 per month at a time of zero income. For reference: the average annual income in Mike Pence’s Indiana is about $25,000.
Once I entered my fifties, I was easily paying 20%, 30%, 35% and more of my income for medical insurance before I actually had to file a claim for my $15,000 UTI in my late fifties. I quit at 53% of my income. By then, my deductible (which had started at $1000) had become $5000. This is what happens when insurance companies aren unregulated and can change prices every few months as high as they want. It is not uncommon for older Americans (not old enough for Medicare) to be facing policies that take 50% of their income, and it is not uncommon for them to do as I did – stop having insurance and hoping for miraculous good health. I know I had situations that should have received medical attention but I couldn’t afford to go to a doctor, especially since it costs $100 just to say hello to my doctor and simple tests can cost several hundred dollars. A friend was in the same situation when she may have been dealing with a heart attack but couldn’t afford to go to a hospital. Fortunately it didn’t kill her, but you can imagine the anxiety.
Well but of course. They need to keep spending 10s of trilions of dollars on their f**king wars.
And they want all the millions that the insurance company lobbyists will pour into their re-election funds. It’s up to us to target them and send them home.
Wars equal profits. That’s what a financial adviser told me 15 years ago, and it sounded so terrible and harsh. Yet it does seem to drive decisions.
The Republicans would rather have a win than do the real work of figuring out how to better the lives of their constituents. A win is more important than the health and safety of millions of people. Have a photo op and some Bud Light and kick the responsibility down the hall to the Senate. The Republicans really are the shittiest frat on Frat Row, aren’t they? Their roofied up Hunch Punch is served every day and all these people lap it up for the sake of the Party.
It took me a while to figure this out about the Republicans, but the party is now filled with extremists who do not have the intelligence/experience/knowledge or inclination to figure out an alternate plan. They really do think that all they have to do is tear down whatever Obama or the democrats recently did to make policy. This is not making policy much less governing anything. They don’t know that you actually have to go back to the drawing board, find out what things actually cost, who needs what and what will actually happen when you change things. This takes time and intelligence-neither of which the Republicans use. They are not here to better anyone’s life much less make the country ‘great’. They are here to enrich themselves and the expense of the American people.
There is probably no one alive or unborn who does not have at least one of the preexisting conditions in that bill. *Acne* is listed as a preexisting condition, for f-s sake!
I am very confused by the acne thing. As a life long acne prone individual I don’t understand what this has to do with real health issues. In my experience its not even covered by most insurance and if you want to treat it its usually done by a specialist or out of pocket. So you can literally have pimples and then when its time to be treated for something totally unrelated, i.e. strep throat, insurance can decline you….how does this make sense???
It only makes sense through the eyes of health insurers who want to deny coverage because it means less money for them. They want to sell policies to the extremely rare people who have zero health complaints. When they are asked to pay out a claim to a bona fide policy holder, they look for ways to deny paying the claim by seeing if someone “lied” about medical history on the application. And that can be about anything, not the condition for which the claim is made.
If you forgot you went to the doctor to burn off a wart, you can be denied payment for chemotherapy 40 years later if they find out about that wart and you didn’t report it. At least that’s how it used to be before the protections of Obamacare. And meanwhile, they collected premiums all those years.
Nothing will change for good in the USA until health insurance moves into the public sphere.
Congress (half of it) fed Emperor Zero’s ego, which is so YUGE that it gets him off their backs for now.
This bill will die in the Senate!
The Senate is no saviour. The people have to work to MAKE it die in the Senate.
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!! Trump should have entered the Rose Garden wearing a lab coat and a stethoscope.
👏👏👏👏👏
hahahaha!!
Seriously the Republican Party is the most dangerous group on the planet. I think even the CCP and ISIS have more moral courage and humanity at this point.
I know that’s hyperbole, but, saying ISIS has moral courage and humanity is disgusting.
Sadly they are no more disgusting than the Republican Party. That will be a tough pill to swallow to the extent that one remains unaware of certain hidden historical facts and present day realities. I’m not taking about conspiracies either but well-established if not often talked about incidents and governing trends.
I get what you mean even if it may have been a bit extreme. To me its disturbing how much the Republican Party hates its own citizens. 🙁
Sorry if this is a repost but it needs to be seen by all the resistors!!!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1pS92ONVte8
@eric thanks for the link. besides celebitchy & louise mensch it is olberman that keeps me sane during these months. I cannot wait to see the trump house of cards collapse because of treason!
And now the Bigly one is starting his daily morning tweetfest with a tweet about the win, but mentioning that “phase two” is where the bill will really get good. Good lord, what stupidity.
Ugh these idiots are treating denying 24 million coverage like its a movie or play. I am disgusted!
Ok, so I still don’t get the pre-existing conditions in the USA, even when we put the rape/C-section issue aside. I’m repeating myself, but it’s really hard to grasp the logistics behind your healthcare system for someone who lives in a country with universal healthcare. It seems almost Orwellian – how is it possible that American politicians want to further punish already disadvantaged people for being chronically ill? It’s illogical to the maximum and it’s the other way round in most Europen countries I’ve been to/lived in – the more chronic your illness, the bigger the governmental aid you get. My cousin has Chrone’s disease and he doesn’t pay a penny for his meds in England, my diabetic dad in Poland has a 70% refund for his meds and he gets free stuff all the time, I have asthma and I didn’t go bunkrupt whether i was treated in Poland, England or Germany, but if either one of us would live in the USA we would be screwed because those are pre-existing conditions? (And me as a woman the most?)
P.S. Poland is a Catholic country = no abortions (besides situations like rape or life-threats) and queues to see specialists are humongous, because there are not enough doctors, which makes people always complain that our Ministers of Health are useless, but reading about US issues makes our healthcare problems almost non-existent.
It is Orwellian, you are correct. Some of this goes back to the country’s own religious roots in a form of fanatical Christianity that stressed personal responsibility, which resulted in the widespread belief that people were responsible even for their own misfortunes – poverty, illness etc. Thus we still have a Congressman who said this week that health insurance should be cheaper for people who “live good lives” or something like that. It makes it very easy to blame the victims of misfortune and do nothing to help them.
I just had a friend, only 34 yr old, pass away from a very rare aggressive cancer of the liver that spreads before a diagnosis is even made. Only 200 people have it. It affects young people who don’t have any medical history or issues with drugs and alcohol. it just happens unfortunately. It makes me sick that the last year of his treatment/life, his mom had to set up a gofundme account b/c the insurance was no longer covering even basic treatment so that he could stomach food, get experimental treatments as there is currently no real successful treatment and surgery is rarely an option, etc. It just makes me sick thinking Republicans truly think these people aren’t worthy of basic humanity and that they brought it on themselves.
I’m not sure how badly you’re defining “screwed”, but when I first heard about the American system (pre-Obamacare), I thought it couldn’t be accurate because we weren’t hearing about thousands of Americans literally dying in the streets from lack of care.
Eventually I figured out that they have free clinics and other charities that take up a lot of the slack. It took me a stupidly long time to figure that out, but it was because we don’t have charity care down here — why would we when treatment is already “free”?
So your meds would probably be free (or at least cheap) if you didn’t have insurance. You’d be screwed by the stress of health-insecurity, certainly. Possibly chained to a job that provided health care when you’d rather freelance. But you probably wouldn’t end up dying for lack of an inhaler. (Unless you also had mental health issues that prevented you from accessing the available services, but that’s an issue everywhere.)
No. Meds aren’t free, which has always been a huge problem. There are federally qualified health centers that deliver primary care on a sliding scale but there are huge sections of the country where even the centers are few and far between. Some, but not most, have dentists and optometrists. But, of course, the centers don’t perform surgery or physical therapy or fancy diagnostic exams and most don’t perform chemo. Pharma is rarely free and rarely reduced. Unlike most countries, the US does not buy pharma at cheap bulk rates. Other countries do and the pharma companies pass the difference off to the US consumers. They do have plans where you can contact the pharma corporation and ask to participate in reduced cost programs but there eligibility requirements are even stricter than Medcaid’s and you rarely get all that you need. This was a major problem for transplant recipients whose drugs run well into the thousands every month before Medicare began covering prescriptions back in W’s administration.
In addition to the uninsured problem, we used to have an underinsured problem. Millions thought they had insurance but their insurance covered little. We’re going back to that with TrumpCare
People didn’t “die in the streets” before Obamacare, but they died prematurely at home and in the hospital and at hospice because of lack of insurance. They waited too long to see the doctor, didn’t have adequate medicines and so on. People suffered too much, died younger than they should have. As well, people/families went bankrupt: I think the ACA cut bankruptcy filings in half. The stress and difficulty of bankruptcy also have health impacts that could take a while to show up.
We don’t have enough primary care doctors either. And the ACA had provisions to address that by encouraging training in that field and adjusting the reimbursement rates to make it more attractive but the House just threw all that out without discussion. Probably without even knowing what they did.
It is Orwellian, and people are dying – and will continue to – because our system failed them. If someone dies of cancer how do you account for the fact that it may have been survivable if only they had seen the doctor when they first noticed symptoms, but put off making an appointment because they had no (or inadequate) insurance and couldn’t afford the cost.
A dear friend was recently diagnosed with breast cancer that quickly spread to her bones. By some miracle, she is currently in remission, but the treatment that is keeping the cancer at bay costs tens of thousands of dollars every few months. Her insurance is amazing and all of that is covered, but if she had to pay for it out of pocket I would probably be speaking about her in the past tense.
A relative of mine noticed an odd looking mole on his back but having no insurance he didn’t have it checked for almost a year. By the time he did, the melanoma had spread everywhere. I’ll be attending his memorial service later this month.
Talk about passing the buck! This makes me so angry.
The reason they are laughing and smiling because this bill is going to do the most damage to black kids and people. They will all but tell their white constituents this and they will eat it up. Cops get to murder them with no repercussion, why should they have all the fun. I am pissed at the both parties right now.
And women, who would have to choose between treatment for injuries/infection from rape and other violent assault, and qualifying for health insurance in the future. Don’t you think people prone to assault women are paying attention?
Agree….neither party is looking great right now. They’re all a bunch of bought and paid for politicians looking out for themselves and their wealthy donors.
Don’t forget about the disabled, elderly, people born with or have incurable illnesses, and every other innocent person this will hurt. My black boyfriend who is paralyzed by being shot by drug dealers while he was walking down the street is on the phone with me now trying to make me feel better by explaining it has to be revised a lot before it goes to senate.
I couldn’t be angrier that they voted for this bill. So scary and disappointing
I keep reading how this bill will die in the Senate and this repeal won’t happen.
People said Trump would never be President, now he is.
People said the deportations wouldn’t happen but they are.
People thought an American President would never antagonize our allies, rachet up rhetoric around nuclear arsenals, accuse their predecessor of treasonous acts, and threaten daily to pull out of treaties, but all of this has happened.
I don’t trust the Republican party at all. They have shown time and again they just give a damn.
Finally, on a personal note, my niece is 16 and has Lupus. It has compromised her kidneys and irreparably damaged her liver. She will need a transplant before her 21st birthday. Both her parents work and her dad has excellent insurance; things are tight but manageable. However, yesterday’s vote was terrifying. My family and I are already preparing for the worst and are coming up with a plan on how to pool our financial resources to continue her care, including my mother borrowing against a home she spent 30 years paying off. This could be the reality for too many people and its disgusting.
Thank you for saying this, painful as it is. We have to strip off all these layers of denial. I know denial is a powerful coping mechanism but if there is anyone who is upset about the law who has NOT called their representatives or senators in response, then it’s time to think about how you will feel about your passivity and your neglect of your responsibility to your fellow citizens in a few years looking back. We have to be adults, not children. We have to make moral choices. It’s not a spectator sport, a game, and if our ancestors stepped up to defeat totalitarianism then we can do it too.
YES YES YES YES YES
These f*cking guys. I guess I was lucky I was assaulted before the brain trust came up with this crap. My insurance paid for; the morning after pill, the multitude of antibiotics I was put on as prevention, the STD tests and the numerous HIV tests I took afterward,plus the therapy I needed and if this passes my heart just breaks for anyone and everyone no matter the condition they have. People will die and they don’t care.
And, coal miners get health care for life on our dollars. And, Congress gets premium health care… heavily subsidized by us.
http://www.snopes.com/members-congress-health-care/
Your welcome.
These pics get to the point.
http://twitter.com/aynrandpaulryan/status/860481558645424129
http://twitter.com/aynrandpaulryan/status/860481174736478208
I want to know if Ryan paid for the cases of beer himself or if he charged them to taxpayers. And yes, they were drinking beer while they were voting. Drinking while at work. Some of the Democrats posted pictures of the beer being rolled in.
I’ll buy beer for all the Democrats when this dies at the senate
We are living in a dystopian world now where evil dictators are dismantling any system or principles that represent truth, hope, and compassion or courage. baby fists and the Republicans are small minded, mean spirited and intent on destroying our country. Putin must be ecstatic.
I love the guy responsible for the “don’t worry, it’ll get edited in the Senate vote” quotation. Yes, don’t worry people whose financial and medical safety net may be undone should this shit show of a bill pass, this guy assures you that he voted certain it would never get through that way. Because if this year has taught us anything, we can rest assured that people will make good political decisions with their vote.
I hope these toxic men get decapitated one day! And ther head hung on the Capitol Hill with crows eating their rotting bodies- exactly the kind of treatment was once meted out to treasonous traitors once upon a time.
I hope you get decapitated one day. You sound toxic.
I’m drained. This adminstration and the GOP party are a true evil. I live in a Sanctuary city, very liberal with a liberal police force… and on Wednesday a Mexican man that had been living here for 13 years was taken from his work by ICE and is now being detained in another city. We are all heartbroken, and protests are going on. Hearing the news of the bill passing the house brought me to tears yesterday…
Can anyone explain what comes next, regarding this bill? With the Senate? What is likely to happen?
Here in CT they came for a man with a wife and 2 kids who’s been in the country for over 23 years, but he was given a temporary reprieve. It’s just so awful that people are being put through this.
What I think I hear everyone saying is that they would really like a state run health care system much like we have in Canada? Is that correct? I am always grateful that we have the system we have. However, the system here is starting to fail (in Sweden to). Sometimes we wait up to 2 years for people to have knee replacements, over 5 hour waits to see a doctor in the emergency, no MRI scans in average size cities, etc. As well we pay much higher taxes. If I work overtime shifts 50% of my wage is paid out in tax. I still would not trade my health care system. As long as private insurance companies are involved there will be problems with coverage as they do not want to lose money or they will go broke and leave the market. That is happening in many states and that is why Obamacare is failing. This in turn made the true middle class that work (not the wealthy or the poor when the government pays their premiums) paying sky high premiums and were desperate to get out of Obamacare. That is why many voted for Trump. I know someone who has a preexisting condition and they had a decent average job and were paying $1500 a month on Obamacare. They moved back to Canada because they could not afford it anymore. So something had to be done. I truly believe if the Dems had a good strategy on how to fix Obamacare they would have won the election. I think they were tone deaf to the middle class and the payments they were making for health care. There is still alot to work through however and if the senators truly get on board and try to work through this I better bill might come out of it or a worse bill. However, it needs the Dems to and the message of just let the government pay for insurance premiums is a thing of the past I think. The middle class does not want to carry the weight anymore.
“I truly believe if the Dems had a good strategy on how to fix Obamacare they would have won the election”
Oh, probably not, there was a lot more going on than just ‘I want healthcare fixed” from Trump voters.
And it’s not as if the Republicans actually had a strategy to fix the ACA, they just did yesterday what they’ve wanted to do since the ACA was approved in 2010: destroy it.
And here is the 2016 Dem platform on Health Care:
https://www.democrats.org/party-platform#healthcare
http://www.pnhp.org/news/2016/august/republican-and-democratic-platforms-on-health-care
The Dems DID have a good strategy on how to repair the ACA. In fact, Republican Charlie Baker governor of MA, former Medicaid director and former President of Harvard Pilgrim, had an excellent plan on how to repair the ACA and his own party completely ignored him. They didn’t want to fix this. They don’t care if people die. In most parts of the US, you cannot just schedule knee replacement surgery. Most doctors prefer you try other, less invasive methods first and, when it is decided to go for the surgery, no, it isn’t scheduled immediately because it is ELECTIVE and we don’t have an overabundance of operating rooms. The wait time in an ER depends on how many other patients show up at the same time and how serious their conditions are and how serious your condition is. I went to to the ER two weeks ago. I was triaged immediately. Within half an hour, a nurse practitioner met with me, examined me, and had blood work ordered. I had to wait another 15 minutes to be taken for an ultrasound. I had to wait there for about 20 minutes because there was a short line. Back down to the ER. Within half an hour, the nurse practitioner returned, informed me that the surgeon whom I had not seen (and never would actually see because of some conflict but they assigned me another) wanted another type of scan that couldn’t be performed until the morning, but hey, have some morphine and someone will take you upstairs to be admitted. Half an hour later, I was watching the end of the basketball game from a hospital bed with a morphine trip. My brother-in-law who accompanied me told me that when he left, some of the same people were still in the waiting room. They were there for urgent care, not emergency care. If you go when the place is busy; you’re going to wait for everything. And waiting times vary depending on where you are. When I found a breast lump, within one week I had seen a doctor, had a mammogram, had an ultrasound on a different day, and seen a surgeon. By week three, I had had two surgeries, a CAT scan, x-rays, a bone scan, a MRI, five more doctor visits and had started chemotherapy. However, in other parts of this country, I would still have been waiting for either the first doctor’s appointment or the mammogram. Some parts of the country just do not have adequate resources. The ACA was attempting to address that with all those pages and pages that the GOP did not consider necessary.
My brother has been needing knee replacement for many years. He would be ecstatic to have a healthcare system that actually would let him do it with a wait time of only 2 years, without impoverishing him.
Americans often just don’t get medical treatment done because of the high and unpredictable costs. Even if you get the money together for the basic procedure, any complications can send your costs (and your debt) soaring. People are afraid to risk losing everything they have. They won’t show up on waiting lists because they don’t get on the list in the first place. There was an expected rush of “make-up” medical treatments when the ACA first went into effect for this reason. People were getting medical attention for problems they had been living with untreated for years.
Cheryl, what’s your point? You are glad you have socialized medicine in Canada? You hate paying taxes? 45 and the republicans are going to fix healthcare in America?
Americans often have significant wait-times for appointments and treatment, as well, but we ALSO get to pay exorbitant rates! In 2010, when I did not have health insurance, getting a pap-smear cost me $75 for the office visit, and $600 for the lab work. But, I got everything done within the span of a few weeks. Lucky, no? Post ACA, I had the same thing done and it cost me nothing, as well woman visit coverage was mandatory (though, I had the most basic, $150 policy I could find, since my state didn’t expand medicaid).
1) We need single-payer healthcare. You need a pool large enough to spread the cost of higher-expense members across the group. That’s what comes of having single payer healthcare. The risk is spread out across the entire pool. If you have one member who needs $1,000,000 for treatment, and they are in an insurance pool with 1,000,000 members, each pays $1 for that person’s coverage. However, many of the insurance companies you say are leaving the system or going broke are doing so because they are in areas where there are only 25,000 people in their insurance pool. Then, each person will have to pay $40 for their high-expense member. This is terribly simplistic, and would need a different set of figures to truly encompass how this would spread the cost, as at least 45% of the American population has a chronic illness, but one of the best ways to combat high costs (in addition to better regulation of the pharma industry and tough negotiation/buying drugs in bulk) is to convert to single-payer.
2) OF COURSE the middle class doesn’t want to shoulder the burden. They shouldn’t need to. We need comprehensive tax reform. Full stop.
3) We need to shift away from our unknowable, black-hole of a defense budget.
I am trying to see how you got the idea that the Republican members of Congress have any idea of how to fix our system, or why it’s suddenly imperative that the Democrats work with them. Democrats have been TRYING to work with them for years and almost all of their bipartisan efforts have failed. Republicans no longer have any idea of what it takes to govern or create policy. Their entire strategy, since November 2008, has been to thwart the efforts of Obama. They couldn’t stand that a black man made it to the highest office in the land (and to some, the most powerful in the world).
Sorry, but coming here to complain about healthcare in Canada, at this point in time, is disingenuous at best, or maybe you are just trolling us?
I didn’t really get the impression that Cheryl was trollishly complaining about the Canadian system. You might be suffering from Trump-Induced Anxiety Syndrome. We all have it more or less, but can’t afford treatment for it…. It really has been awful since November 8, hasn’t it?
Where did I put that bottle of Rescue Remedy I use on the cats…. Their old vet recommended it (she always popped a drop into their anxious little mouths first thing on the examination table, it was first formulated for shock) and said she and her staff used it on themselves on really hectic days. Well, we’re having a really hectic year. Or four. Or god help us – eight.
I’m in Canada and I also lived in the USA. The system here isn’t perfect – it needs an infusion of family doctors and specialists, especially opthalmologists and orthopedic surgeons. It needs better coordination. Wait times are too long (but in emergencies, there’s always someone there … we’ve had several experiences and found out). But, taxes are not that much higher than in the USA, and you get a guarantee of access, plus good schools and other services. Wait times are public and no one pretends the system is perfect. There are “issues.” But our health outcomes are higher than in the USA and at a much lower cost. We need Pharmacare and we need improved mental-health coverage. However, Ontario will introduce Pharmacare for children and youth (up to age 25) next year and if it goes well, maybe they’ll expand the age bracket. With all its flaws, at least the philosophy under the Canadian system is one of fairness and mutual aid. No one is shamed or punished for being sick. I love being in health-care settings and seeing the wide variety of people there. If you need it, you get it (with the caveat that it helps to know how to work the system, pull strings etc. — just like in the USA).
Such a sad day for Americans. This bill takes us back to pre-ACA which was when the insurance companies controlled everything. There goes all the preventive care like physicals, mammograms and vaccinations that we all enjoyed. How about if you have a pre-existing condition or just over 50 yrs old, you now have to pay through the nose or forego healthcare altogether. And if your poor, no Medicaid for you. What a joke!!! I hope they lose all their seats in 2018 because of Trumpcare if it passes the Senate. ACA just needed some adjustments but they had to destroy it because of their hate for Pres. Obama. What a bunch of??????
Just Saying!!!!
And now I’m reading Congress wants to revoke Obama’s pension cause he’s making so much speaking fees and book money. They f-ckers.
The unethical turd Jason Chaffetz is behind that. All the time and money in the world to investigate Obama and Clinton and no interest whatsoever in giving even a thought to Princess Nagini robbing us blind.
Isn’t that the most hypocritical, racist b—sh-t ever? They will never leave Obama alone and just want to destroy the man. The same post-office rules should apply to Congress–they shouldn’t be allowed to join lobby firms or give speeches and get book deals unless they give up the their pensions.
But until Congress does its job and stops the current sitting President from blatantly and illegally capitalizing on the Office of the President, then they need to leave Obama alone.
Are you f*cking KIDDING me???
I just cannot. I cannot take any more of this f*ckery.
They can continue trying everything in the world to erase the History of the FIRST African-American president but history is already written. Its too late but if it makes them feel better, carry on. I hope Obama becomes wealthier than Trump and releases his tax return to prove it.
Rapunzel, I read your comments earlier about how you have required medical services since you were young and now knowing that your government hates you and pretty much thinks that people like you are nothing. All I can say is, I am very sorry 😐
This is a nightmare and I hope it ends soon. I hope that there is justice and these hateful people get their just deserts.
It’s so ridiculous. Presidential pensions don’t change just because the ex-POTUS can earn good money with books and speeches. How dumb does Chaffetz think we are?
And those guys in Congress know very well that $400,000 per speech is very reasonable and even on the low side for speakers bureaus. The institutions that pay that amount get their money’s worth in publicity, prestige, increased donations or membership, etc. Universities have endowed lecture series so they can afford big names occasionally. We only restrict people while they are actually serving in certain government positions, not when they are private citizens again.
Trump will do the same once he’s out of the White House. Heck, he doubled the membership fee at Mar-a-Lago to $200,000 when the members could be schmoozing with the POTUS. Which they have been. Why do you think he’s really going there so often? He likewise shows up at his D.C. Trump Hotel to justify the extremely high rates.
One of the most important issues facing America and a lot of them didn’t even bother to read it. “That’s what we have staff for.” Isn’t Graham a genius? “But any bill that has been posted less than 24 hours — going to be debated three or four hours, not scored — needs to be viewed with suspicion,” Wow, thank god we have him right? (SARCASM)
Sorry, but the same thing happened in 2009 with the other party.
GOP = Greed Over People
Politicians don’t give a shit about expert opinion unless it supports their ideology and financial backers.
These butchers of the ACA should be sent to Siberia without any health care for the rest of their lives. I have never seen such lack of diversity making life and death decisions for a broad and diverse population. But do not underestimate the Republican Senate to make a few tweaks and send it back to the House for passing. People have to protest and vote in Dems if they want health care that properly includes pre-existing conditions. Everyone will face a pre-existing condition, some sooner rather than later!
With Medicare, we all pay a portion of our earnings as a payroll tax to “pay for & support” Medicare. And most Americans understand and support that. Why then, is it so difficult to apply that across the board to everyone and just have us all pay (according to income) into a universal health care system that covers us all? Is it because the U.S. would rather spend & waste billions of unnecessary dollars supporting its military instead of providing basic benefits for its citizens? I’m at a loss as to the hate Americans seem to have for one another.
When the Medicare Act was passed in 1964, the Democrats (LBJ) hoped that this was the thin edge of a wedge that would open the door to expanding coverage to all ages. It was easier to pass Medicare for “mom and pop” at the time, the generation that fought WWII, yet that was still a fight. (The AMA had to be guaranteed high rates of payment, and has been grousing ever since when payments get reduced to market levels. Ronald Reagan was their spokesperson in opposition.)
Medicare became a very successful social program, yet too many recipients want to deny its benefits to people younger than themselves. I wish they’d tear up their Medicare cards; they did nothing to deserve it other than get old.
Medicare for All would work just fine and not create a socialist or a communist country. Social Security didn’t, Medicare didn’t, Medicaid didn’t. It’s just a fear people have that’s been drilled into them by the insurance companies and right-wingers funded by insurance companies.
Apparently those making in one year what I will make if I could work 1,000 years need a tax break. SAD
Nearly every single health organization is against this hateful bill:
https://insurancenewsnet.com/oarticle/courtney-statement-on-republican-house-members-voting-to-repeal-the-affordable-care-act
Even knowing the bill could potentially die in the Senate, it doesn’t matter. Millions of people got the message that their own government hates them and wants them to suffer or at least doesn’t care if they suffer, and that’s extremely painful and scary.
Yes, that’s why no matter what the Senate does or doesn’t do, we must never let people forget what those who voted for this abominable bill thought was okay to inflict on us.
It is downright evil to vote for such a dangerous bill that even some Republicans who voted for it recognize as horrible and insane. You never know what can happen later, don’t write horrible bills in the first place. Especially when you don’t bother to read them or have public hearings on them or at least wait for the budget office’s assessment. They should all at least lose a few paychecks over this, they were seriously derelict in their duty and simply did not do their jobs. And they hopefully will lose their seats in Congress. If they can promote this atrocity of a bill, then we can’t trust them at all not to do it again to us.
They pushed this awful bill, causing extreme anxiety for so many people dealing with difficult health situations, just because President Tweeter wanted to claim a “win” when his 100 Days report card was so dismal.
It has to be emphasized again and again that the Republicans have no interest in healthcare for their constituents. All this maneuvering is just to cover for the real goal: cut taxes drastically for the very rich. The ACA relied on taxes for unearned income (investment income) to pay for the subsidies. Which makes sense, since investment at their level is gambling with extra money that they don’t need. They get plenty of benefits from living here, it is quite reasonable that they pay up for such a program.
If the Republicans really cared about healthcare, they would be coming up with workable plans to fix the problems with the ACA (obviously basically a good bill that was based on a working system in Massachusetts and thought through the details) rather than slapping together these crazy patchworks. They would be working to extend subsidies, not cut them, and even better to get Medicare for All. Honestly, they would force us all to hand over a credit card before the fire department starts to fight a fire if they could.
Quick Donny start talking about terrorists and North Korea again. People are focusing on domestic issuess. NOT GOOD!
I apologize if this has been posted…I haven’t read through all the posts…YOU CAN TAKE ACTION or, at least, read it:
http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/5/5/1659353/-We-set-out-to-deliver-pain-to-Republicans-voting-to-kill-thousands-a-day-later-we-hit-1-million
The glee at the passing of the bill just shows up the sadists and morons, which turns out to be everyone.
Oh, come on hmmm. We are not everyone – and we try, try, try, and the world will be saved because we try.
i meant the GOP, wolfpup. Agree with you otherwise, to never give up.
Also, did anyone else see the report that Obamacare is being credited for greatly reducing the number of personal bankruptcies? By some huge percentage? That is just another unseen benefit of the program.
Most bankruptcies here are traceable to medical expenses not covered by insurance. Having insurance is no guarantee that your expenses are covered, look at the teeny tiny fine print in any policy. They don’t even promise to pay for procedures that they pre-approved.
Medical expenses and divorce are usually the top two reasons for personal bankruptcy. Yes, I also believe bankruptcies will spike if they go backwards on healthcare. Not good.
I cannot tell you how many women I know that love this bill and hope it passes. Ones that have many of the pre-existing conditions and grandchildren of different ethnicities. It sickens me that there are women out there and truly hate their own gender.
Woman or not, how can anyone support this bill ??!!
Under Obamacare, premiums have risen to an unbearable degree (I know mine have). This new bill addresses that.
Universal healthcare would solve all this issues..
I’m heartbroken that this bill passed. I come from a family of six, four of whom all had cancer, my father (prostate), my oldest sister (breast), my youngest sister (leukemia), and my mom who died 10 years ago from it (leiomyosarcoma.) My baby brother, age 35, overweight, yes, but in good health generally, JUST got diagnosed with a cancer they think may be Ewing’s Sarcoma. Everyone. In. My. Family. Has. Had. Cancer. Except me. And my brother has insurance provided by the ACA. I’m completely panicking and I’m enraged at my rep, who voted for this bill. I’m praying it dies in the Senate, I’m not ready to lose my brother, after losing my mom.
Not only that but I myself have mild cerebral palsy and bipolar I disorder. This bill would send my premiums skyrocketing. I’m just beyond upset.
My heart goes out to you. Stay strong.
Please know that so many believe that our rich country should be supporting those in need and are disgusted by the lack of empathy ny members of our house. Your family should never have to worry like you presently are worrying. I pray we find the strength to keep fighting and protesting against this evil.
I grew up poor. My brother in 5th grade had severe asthma & all winter when he tried to go to school the cold air would trigger an asthma attack. No health insurance. One parent had to stay home with him. At that time my mom suffered anxiety attacks, surely due to both the stress of the family illness and the financial strains. We lost our home. The phone or lights were turned off sometimes when we couldn’t pay the bills. It created the stress an illness always causes, plus the financial stress of only one income and medical bills, until my mom got a shitty factory job working the night shift so my brother had around the clock care but at least we got health insurance & my dad could work during the day. Hard workers who start life poor & then experience a family health crisis should be helped, not penalized and I yell “shame on you” to all who voted for this health care bill.
Vive la France!