Let's call them the iPhone caucus in honor of Rep. Jason Chaffetz: the Republicans who put humiliating and punishing working class Americans on par with cutting rich people's taxes. In this case, they want all those undeserving people who have both iPhones and health care to suffer immediately instead of two years from now.
The Republican Study Committee is backing two proposed changes to the Obamacare repeal bill that could help win over conservatives to the measure, which has been in a markup before the House Energy and Commerce Committee for nearly 24 hours.
The group, which rarely takes positions on amendments in committee, supports a proposal from Reps. Joe Barton (R-Texas) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) that would freeze Medicaid enrollment under enhanced Obamacare rates at the end of 2017, two years sooner than the GOP repeal bill allows.
The group is also backing an amendment from Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-Va.) to institute work requirements in Medicaid for able-bodied, childless adults.
Yeah. Let's just say this for the umpteenth time: a big chunk the people who have benefitted from Medicaid expansion—and the people still in the gap in state that didn't take expansion are already working. That's why we call them the "working poor." And forcing them to work will backfire. The "main effect likely would be the loss of health coverage for substantial numbers of people who are unable to work or face major barriers to finding and retaining employment. … In fact, if the resulting loss of coverage led to a deterioration in health for some people, as it well could, a work requirement could make it harder for some of the affected poor adults to work."
So they can't work and they can't get Medicaid coverage. Perfect. By the way, if this makes it into the final House bill through a floor amendment, it's going to make it even harder to get out of the Senate. Remember there are four Republican senators who are on the record as opposed to the Medicaid provision in the House bill. This would make it even worse, and probably lose even more Republicans. Because they, like the Republican governors who are also fighting the Medicaid cuts, have to worry about the entire states they represent, not the gerrymandered slivers of maniacal Republican voters these House members claim as their own.
So it's one more nail in the coffin of this Dumpster fire of a bill.