The Senate Tax Reform Bill, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act ( www.finance.senate.gov/… ), which is on the threshold of passing contains a provision to repeal the individual mandate of the Affordable Care Act. More important than the economic argument is the recognition that the tax rebates to the corporations and millionaires in this bill are blood money on a massive scale.
According to the Congressional Budget Office ( www.cbo.gov/… ), repealing the individual mandate will reduce Federal expenditures by $338 billion between 2018 and 2027 due to a reduction in subsidies and shrinking Medicaid coverage. At the same time, the CBO estimates that this provision will result in an increasing number of individuals losing health insurance either through a failure to sign up for insurance or damage to the health insurance market place. The numbers of individuals losing health insurance rises from 4 million in 2019 to 13 million in 2027. According to the CBO, over ten years this totals to 111,000,000 person years of lost personal health insurance coverage. GOP efforts to paper over this debacle with high risk pool management won’t change these totals according to the CBO ( www.washingtonexaminer.com/… )
We know that for every 830 years of health insurance coverage in the ACA-like plan in Massachusetts, one death was avoided ( www.ncpa.org/… ). At this rate, the loss of life resulting from the GOP plan to repeal the individual mandate will surpass 133,000 American deaths(111,000,000 lost coverage years / 830). This averages out to a corporate tax cut of $2.5 million per death ($338 billion / 133,000 deaths).
The GOP and their billionaire puppet masters will spend the rest of their existence trying to get the blood stains off their hands.
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CBO Effects of Individual Mandate Repeal |
|
|
|
|
|
Individuals Losing Insurance Each Year (In Millions) |
Expected Deaths Each Year |
Total Federal Savings (In Billions) |
|
|
|
|
2018 |
4 |
4,819 |
0 |
2019 |
7 |
8,434 |
8 |
2020 |
12 |
14,458 |
13 |
2021 |
12 |
14,458 |
33 |
2022 |
12 |
14,458 |
40 |
2023 |
12 |
14,458 |
44 |
2024 |
13 |
15,663 |
47 |
2025 |
13 |
15,663 |
49 |
2026 |
13 |
15,663 |
51 |
2027 |
13 |
15,663 |
54 |
|
|
|
|
Totals |
111 |
133,737 |
339 |