Re: [socialist-econ] Paul Krugman: Health Care in a Time of Sabotage [feedly]

The GOP assault on Obamacare is not about spite.

It is about 3 things:

Rump is desperate for a win--even at the cost of innumerable American lives.

The GOP must destroy Obamacare per promises to the racist side of their base who can't stand President Obama

THE GOP NEEDS MEDICAIDS MONEY TO PAY FOR TAX CUTS.

On Jul 23, 2017 11:15 AM, "John Case" <jcase4218@gmail.com> wrote:

Is it really about spite? I dig anything that exposes the jackass. But, if it IS spite, I am sure the billionaires think its entirely justified -- "why should EYE pay for YOUR health care....blah blah"

Paul Krugman: Health Care in a Time of Sabotage
http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2017/07/paul-krugman-health-care-in-a-time-of-sabotage.html

"It's basically about spite":

Health Care in a Time of Sabotage, by Paul Krugman, NY Times: Is Trumpcare finally dead? Even now, it's hard to be sure, especially given Republican moderates' long track record of caving in to extremists at crucial moments. But it does look as if the frontal assault on the Affordable Care Act has failed.

And let's be clear: The reason this assault failed wasn't that Donald Trump did a poor selling job, or that Mitch McConnell mishandled the legislative strategy. Obamacare survived because it has worked — because it brought about a dramatic reduction in the number of Americans without health insurance, and voters ... don't want to lose those gains.

Unfortunately, some of those gains will probably be lost all the same: The number of uninsured Americans is likely to tick up over the next few years. So it's important to say clearly, in advance, why this is about to happen. It won't be because the Affordable Care Act is failing..., when Trump threatens to "let Obamacare fail," what he's really threatening is to make it fail.

On Wednesday The Times reported on three ways the Trump administration is, in effect, sabotaging the A.C.A.... First, the administration is weakening enforcement of the requirement that healthy people buy coverage. Second, it's letting states impose onerous rules like work requirements on people seeking Medicaid. Third, it has backed off on advertising and outreach designed to let people know about options for coverage. ...

And there may be worse to come: Insurance companies, which are required by law to limit out-of-pocket expenses of low-income customers, are already raising premiums sharply because they're worried about a possible cutoff of the crucial federal "cost-sharing reduction" subsidies that help them meet that requirement.

The truly amazing thing about these sabotage efforts is that they don't serve any obvious purpose. They won't save money — in fact, cutting off those subsidies ... would probably end up costing taxpayers more money than keeping them. They're unlikely to revive Trumpcare's political prospects.

So this isn't about policy, or even politics in the normal sense. It's basically about spite: Trump and his allies may have suffered a humiliating political defeat, but at least they can make millions of other people suffer.

Can anything be done to protect Americans from this temper tantrum? In some cases, I believe, state governments can insulate their citizens from malfeasance at H.H.S. But the most important thing, surely, is to place the blame where it belongs. No, Mr. Trump, Obamacare isn't failing; you are.

 -- via my feedly newsfeed

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