As of now, the House of Representatives is still supposedly going to have a vote on Trumpcare. The problem is that, as of now, they don't know what's going to be in Trumpcare. Popular vote loser Donald Trump is meeting with the Freedom Caucus late Thursday morning to nail down votes by trading off everything that makes health insurance actually insurance that helps you if you get sick.
Republicans are, literally, trying to impose what's called "martial law." They're trying to override the rule that legislation has to have at least one day between introduction and a vote on the floor, so that whenever they get the agreement between the Freedom Caucus and Trump inked legislative language it can go straight to the floor. That means that there will be no score from the Congressional Budget Office. There will be no hearings. There will be no mark-ups. And what they are talking about doing could have truly radical consequences. Here's a little speculation what it would allow from health insurance wonk David Anderson:
The first stream of product design will be aimed to cover very little. The primary objective of these plans are to be priced at the subsidy point. They will be very narrow networks with no major academic medical centers involved; their benefits will be designed to drive away sick people with chronic conditions. For instance, asthma inhalers or insulin or Epi-Pens might not be covered. Hep-C drugs would not be covered. Maternity care would not be covered except after a $15,000 stand-alone deductible. They will use donut benefit designed principles where the first couple of PCP visits are no cost sharing but everything else comes with $300 co-pays and $20,000 deductibles. Utilization is designed to be very low and the population that will choose these policies will have to be very healthy.
The selling point for this plan is that it is free out of pocket after the subsidy AND it is sufficient to not incur the continuous coverage 30% premium penalty.
And on top of that, we get the really horrible stuff that was in the original bill—particularly the $880 billion it strips from Medicaid. Stripping essential health benefits away on top of those Medicaid cuts is just driving what we have to call moderate Republicans away. So the votes they secure with the Freedom Caucus could be matched by votes lost with people who aren't quite as unconcerned with human life.
Help the fight. The House is still scheduled to vote on Trumpcare on THURSDAY, MARCH 23. Even if you already called your member of Congress, do it again by calling the Capitol Hill switchboard at (202) 224-3121. Jam the phone lines, urge them to vote NO.
And it's not entirely clear that it's winning over the Freedom maniacs, either.