First Take: What’s in the Senate Health Care Bill and How It Will Hurt You and Your Family

This Is an Attack on America

The U.S. Senate, controlled by Mitch McConnell, has released its draft version of the bill that will repeal and “replace” ObamaCare, and the initial reactions by those in the know echo everything we’ve heard thus far. The bill is a huge tax cut for the rich, while cutting access to health care for millions of Americans, and harming those who need help the most, people on programs like Medicaid.

MSNBCs Ali Velshi, whose background is in finance, just noted the title of the bill gives its objectives away:

“ELIMINATION OF LIMITATION ON RECAPTURE OF EXCESS ADVANCE PAYMENTS OF PREMIUM TAX CREDITS.”

The draft version is 142 pages long, and it is not the final version. Everyone should remember Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell just before the final vote, believed to be next week after the Congressional Budget Office releases its “scoring,” literally could substitute an entirely different – and even more dangerous – bill for the one he says he will put on the floor.

If you are a woman, if you or someone in your family is a senior, if you have a pre-existing condition including HIV/AIDS or cancer, or if you are lower-income or poor, you are in trouble if this bill becomes law.

All that said, here are some initial reactions from those who have seen and had a short time to study the Republicans’ “health care” bill:

It cuts taxes for the very rich:

And it does so retroactively:

It literally singles out women who are pregnant:

If you’re an older American, or some day plan to be, you’re in trouble:

As Senator Bob Casey points out, one of the most important parts of ObamaCare, requiring coverage for “essential health benefits,” is gone. Those include (via Wikipedia):

1. Ambulatory patient services. [outpatient care]
2. Emergency services.
3. Hospitalization. [inpatient care]
4. Maternity and newborn care
5. Mental health and substance use disorder services, including behavioral health treatment.
6. Prescription drugs.
7. Rehabilitative and habilitative services and devices.
8. Laboratory services
9. Preventive and wellness services and chronic disease management;
10. Pediatric services, including oral and vision care.

Hurts the poorest Americans:

And also targets them, possibly killing Medicaid altogether:

It even attacks states for spending more than the average:

These are important:

You can help stop this: Call your Senators, even if they are Democrats. Call, and don’t stop calling: (202) 224-3121

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