Donald Trump's "America First" mantra on the campaign trail was never a call to prioritize stripping health care from millions of Americans before getting to everything else. Whereas healthcare repeal has dominated the campaigns of congressional Republicans ever since 2010, Trump's “repeal” lines in 2016 took a back seat to his "great, great" border wall, his demonization of immigrants and foreigners, and his promise to produce jobs for those who have been left behind by America's increasingly digital economy.
But now Trump has been dragged hook, line, and sinker into a major healthcare battle that stands every chance of being a huge loser.
“For a while, it did seem like Trump’s victory had transcended the old political battles,” said Matt Lewis, a conservative author, who added that the fighting was doubly odd because the repeal was not an issue central to Mr. Trump’s immigration- and jobs-themed campaign. “This is not why people elected Donald Trump. And yet here we are.”
Trump's motivations are different from those of Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell—he's desperate to claim a major legislative win that has thus far escaped his administration. But in the process of doing the bidding of congressional Republicans, he's abandoning all those white working-class voters who many analysts believe tipped the scales in his favor, especially the older ones.
Enrollees aged 55 to 64, the Cutler study found, would face higher costs averaging $6,971 in 2020.
Who's benefitting? The group that accounted for only about 10 percent of Trump voters: People that make more than $200,000 per year, who stand to get tax cuts of anywhere from $500 to $54,000 to even more.
An even smaller group, the top 1 percent of earners, would receive an average tax cut of $33,000, according to the Tax Policy Center. The top 0.1 percent of earners would receive an average tax cut of $197,000.
No wonder some conservatives have already dubbed it “Swampcare.”