Popular vote loser Donald Trump’s healthcare plan takes aim directly at a large group of Trump voters, but not to make their lives better. While a small number of Trump’s wealthiest supporters—people like those he sees every weekend at Mar-a-Lago—stand to get giant tax cuts, a much larger number of Trump supporters will take a big hit. Older non-college whites made up half of Trump’s voters, and:
An Urban Institute study found that Obamacare reduced the number of noncollege whites without insurance by 6.2 million between 2010 and 2015, a drop of 39 percent. In 20 of the 30 states that Trump won, more noncollege whites gained coverage than any other group.
Under the House GOP bill, those who have gained coverage would face higher costs because the bill's tax credits are generally smaller than premium subsidies through Obamacare exchange marketplaces. An analysis led by Harvard health economist David Cutler estimates those increased costs will total an average of $2,409 in 2020. [...]
Enrollees aged 55 to 64, the Cutler study found, would face higher costs averaging $6,971 in 2020.
That means people like a North Carolina woman whose first vote in her life went to Donald Trump because even under Obamacare she was worried about her premiums and high deductible and “I thought he would make it better.”
But on Tuesday, Ms. Brawley, 55, was feeling increasingly nervous based on what she had heard about the new plan from television news reports. She pays about $260 per month for a Blue Cross plan and receives a subsidy of $724 per month to cover the rest of her premium. Under the House plan, she would receive $3,500 a year in tax credits — $5,188 less than she gets under the Affordable Care Act.
“I’m scared, I’ll tell you that right now, to think about not having insurance at my age,” said Ms. Brawley, who underwent a liver biopsy on Monday after her doctor found that she has an autoimmune liver disease. “If I didn’t have insurance, these doctors wouldn’t see me.”
Maybe your frustration with her is paired with sadness for her. Maybe the frustration is all you have room to feel. But all those Trump voters who screwed themselves screwed a lot of other people who did not vote for this, and we’re watching a tragedy bear down on us all.