(1) Back 50 years to coat-hanger abortions again, (2) a regressive middle-class tax increase, and (3) a mandate to buy an excessively expensive product that isn’t required to deliver the care needed. Then (4) insult people by talking about "Cadillac insurance." Fat chance anyone will be able to put lipstick on that pig.
The mandates (and penalties) for struggling individuals are ironclad, but Titanic-size loopholes in industry requirements were drafted - by industry. Insurance can still deny necessary treatment (and wait for the policyholder to die protesting), and rescission is still possible (just claim "fraud" and wait for the policyholder to die protesting).
The only price controls are individuals’ inability to pay for junk insurance plus huge out-of-pocket costs, and the probability that they will then "die quickly." After all, if it’s expensive, that must be because poor people are abusing it, not because they’re doing what their doctors told them they should do. The serfs are just unworthy, by nature, right?
Fake reform is much more infuriating than none at all, especially when it makes a desperate situation even worse. It is especially outrageous when it funnels additional taxpayer money to monopolies like Big Insurance and Big Pharma, despite the greatest income inequality since 1928.
What on earth are elected Democrats thinking? Aside from the immorality, public fury over this will only grow over time. This bill will marginalize the Democratic Party for the next twenty years. Donations from those monopolies won’t outweigh that.
Open Medicare to everyone by reconciliation, effective immediately, paid for by a progressive tax. That’s straightforward and all that’s needed. Try just doing the right thing. Give The People what they actually want and need.