I’m perseverating on Trumpcare because I ran the numbers and saw both how Trumpcare will kill many people and how the ACA really did let young people and some middle class, middle age people down.  I don’t think Trumpcare will pass in its current form, but see some downside for Dems in the future if it does.

Trumpcare will deprive most low and middle income people in their 50’s and 60’s of affordable insurance.  The extreme is a 64 year old who has $25,000 income.  Based on current premium rates, insurance costs for this person in Bend Oregon will increase by $7100 a year.  In Sitka Alaska it would cost that same person more than $22,000 extra a  year.  This is for the next to the bottom offering in terms of deductibles and copays.  And it will get worse, for the additional aid that is available to people with large out of pocket expenses is repealed.  Trumpcare also will allow companies to charge 5 times as much for older people than for younger people instead of the current 3 times.

This has been discovered by the media and many are rallying around the unfairness of this plan for older people.

The Trojan horse lies in the cost of insurance for younger people.  If you are 25 and make $35,000, you actually save about $1000 a year with Trumpcare.  And, if you live closer to Portland, where health Care and insurance costs less, you can save $2000.  

So the very demographic that voted against Trump will benefit the most from the current bill.  I have had grave concerns about this aspect of the ACA from the start and it has proven difficult to get young people involved in the marketplace because of it.  

We need, not only to oppose Trumpcare, but also provide an alternative that addresses the failures of the ACA.  In all, the ACA was good.  It gave many more people insurance.  But the Marketplace available insurance had significant problems.  What I would like to see is:

• Keep the tax on high income that funded much of Obamacare.  Giving the richest people in the nation over $100,000 tax reduction a year is immoral in the current climate.
• Add a public option to the choices that people have on the Marketplace.
• Give some of the cost cutting parts of ACA a chance to prove themselves.  it is still too new to assess the impact of such things as comprehensive health care in one place.  And we are only starting to get through the backlog of problems that built up with years of no insurance for many people.
• Make sure that insurance costs are equitable for both old and young people.  ACA required people to pay up to almost 10% of their income on a plan with moderate benefits.  This feels like a good deal if you are using a lot of health care.  It doesn’t feel so good if you are healthy.  We need to find how to address this.

I obviously don’t have all the answers.  But I do know that, once the furor runs down and some form to Trumpcare passes, the Republicans will trumpet how wonderful it is for young people.  I think this is an attempt to directly court the millennial vote.  

We probably won’t have any success passing a plan such as I desire in this Congress or with this President.  But can show that we understand the problems and are ready to craft a plan that is good for everyone.  This is moral, it is politic, and it is what Democrats are about at our best.