Set your alarm! The new House Republican Obamacare replacement plan is coming Wednesday! Well, their proposed outline for what could be a plan is coming, to be more precise. House Speaker Paul Ryan is going to go to a friendly audience at the American Enterprise Institute and deliver his briefing paper on what the Republicans might do if Donald Trump were elected president and their dream of Obamacare repeal came true.
For those keeping count of Republican promises to deliver a healthcare reform plan, there are literally too many times to count, too many missed deadlines over the past six years—almost as many failed plan deliveries as repeal votes, or maybe even more. Huffington Post's Jeffrey Young has been keeping track (cheekily) for the past three years. Every time, they act as if it's a real thing.
And once again, it's not a real thing. It's an outline. Even so, you can look at the various parts of what's probably in the outline—because, face it, they haven't come up with anything new in six years—and predict what it would do to the healthcare system. Like:
Increase the number of uninsured. The plan is expected to eliminate health reform’s Medicaid expansion and insurance marketplaces, so most of the 20 million adults who’ve gained coverage under health reform would lose it. […]
Make health care less affordable. As noted, the plan would likely provide insufficient subsidies to buy decent-quality health insurance in the individual market, compared to what health reform provides. […]
Disproportionately harm vulnerable groups benefiting the most from health reform. [...]
None of which is a problem for Republicans, because they really don't care if you have health insurance or not. What matters now—desperately—to Paul Ryan is that people continue to think he's serious so he can run for president in four or eight years. So he does this policy thing, to say he's done it. Even though it's not really real. Republicans, however, do not need real. Donald Trump is all the proof you need of that.