As of Wednesday mid-day, we were all told Zombie Trumpcare was sinking back into the grave. That was after moderates and conservatives found out that they were getting two different stories out of White House negotiators about what was going on with talks, and after a lot of very bad press highlighting the fact that the changes they were discussing would once again screw people with pre-existing conditions.
But they're digging the damned thing up AGAIN!
House Republicans are proposing a last-minute change to their health bill that would pay back insurers who cover sick, expensive patients, and that’s essentially a less-generous version of a program under Obamacare.
The GOP proposal, called the Federal Invisible Risk Sharing Program, would give health insurers $15 billion over a decade to subsidize the care of high-cost patients, helping lower premiums for everyone.
“The cost is $15 billion and it is concentrated in the first three years until the states take over,” said Representative Kevin Brady, a Texas Republican who leads the Ways and Means Committee. “Unlike high-risk pools where individuals are separated into their own pool, this amendment promotes risk sharing among insurers.”
They kind of already floated this, though it didn't make it into legislative language. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities pointed out when it was first raised that "a one-time $15 billion investment with little direction on how to spend the funds wouldn’t come close to offsetting the enormous damage that the underlying House bill would do to millions of people who would lose these important categories of care." Concentrating it in the first three years wouldn't help a bit on the next six years. As healthcare expert Larry Levitt says "$15 billion over 9 years is definitely not enough to make a meaningful difference in premiums or market stability." Because we're still talking about the same draft Trumpcare, the one that would kick 24 million people off of health insurance.
They're just tacking this on in hopes of conning some "moderates" into signing on. The House Rules Committee met Thursday—as the House was leaving to go on two weeks of recess—to figure out what to do with this and whether they could tack it on. They haven't whipped it and don't have a plan for bringing it to the floor, but—and this is too, too perfect—they say that maybe they'll get it figured out before recess is over and bring everybody back to vote on it! Brilliant!
Because while they're home, they're going to be getting an earful from their constituents about how bad Trumpcare is, now much they hate it, and what the retribution will be if they do this. But hey, whoever's genius idea this was, you go with that plan.
