Even though they’re calling the whole ACA repeal package the “American Health Care Act”, that’s just the name of Paul Ryan’s grand plan, not the name that appears on the legislation that’s being introduced in the House starting today. The first bill to start the process of pushing through Paul Ryan’s new “Trumpcare” (because that’s what it really should be called) has been introduced in the House today by none other than Pete Sessions. Officially, it is H.R. 1275 and has a long and cumbersome official title, as many bills do: “To eliminate the individual and employer health coverage mandates under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, to expand beyond that Act the choices in obtaining and financing affordable health insurance coverage, and for other purposes.” That at least has the advantage of having some truth to it, namely the part about eliminating the individual and employer mandates, which it absolutely does. The rest is a hash of provisions designed to be shoved through Congress using the reconciliation process, in an attempt to get it past the opposition of Democrats in the Senate. Thus it deals mostly with tax provisions, either repealing the tax penalties imposed by the Affordable Care Act or laying out the tax credits that are to replace the subsidies that people currently receive through the ACA exchanges. Of course, as has been well discussed already, it is these very tax credit provisions that may kill this bill before it ever gets out of the House, due to the House Freedom Crazy Caucus’ opposition to them. But there’s a very interesting tidbit at the very top of the bill that seems to have slipped past the current reporting, but shows just how cynical and Orwellian our dear Speaker Ryan can be when it comes to the legislation he crafts.
If you look at the listing of the bill on congress.gov, the thing that jumps out immediately is the “short title”, that title by which most bills become known, at least if they aren’t saddled with a (meant to be) derogatory moniker by their opposition. The official short title of H.R. 1275 is, in true Trumpian fashion (and I’m not making this up), the “World’s Greatest Healthcare Plan of 2017.” This incredible piece of double-speak was apparently crafted with the idea that the press would take it up and the repetition of the title would convince the public that it is, in fact, something worthwhile rather than a disaster for the vast majority of people who were originally helped by the ACA. What it is, without doubt, is the GOP’s best shot at a healthcare bill that will both repeal the ACA and attempt to convince people that they actually give a damn whether poor and middle class people have healthcare or not. But the fact that they’ve resorted to Orwellian double-speak to try and convince the public is a clear sign that even the GOP themselves are not buying the snake-oil they’re selling.