If there’s any way possible – no matter how them hem and haw – the Republicans will follow through with their 8 year campaign promise and repeal the ACA. I doubt they’ll replace it with anything that will help people with preexisting conditions. That costs money.
I know we have readers and commenters at Blue Delaware who rely on the ACA. I’m so sorry. You must be terrified. I promise to keep fighting.
A new Twitter hashtag, #SavetheACA, has sprung up. The stories and fears expressed will break your heart.
Here are a few:
1. Awake in the middle of the night drafting a letter/script to give to friends to e-mail or call reps tomorrow, re: ACA.
2. Without the protections in the ACA, I will run out of health insurance in 1-2 years thanks to the reinstatement of lifetime limits.
Jen ish @ThatJenMoseley I have a chronic disease. #SaveACA means I can be self-employed with coverage and schedule work around my illness. Without it? Who knows. https://twitter.com/MsPackyetti/status/819469053588893696 …
Amelia @AmeliaEarhart1 @keithellison As a breast cancer survivor, this is a death sentence for me.
At this point who really thinks the Republicans care if people die or lose their insurance? Hell, they’ll rejoice when 20 million of more Americans are told tough luck and try not to die. As for a replacement there is none and will be none worthy of the name, once again they could give half a damn. I’ll most likely lose my insurance, but I’m not scared, I want revenge on the Republicans and the people that vote for them.
I thought of you when I wrote this post. I can’t imagine what you’re going through.
Repealing the ACA is not going to be cheap and it will definitely hurt people. The GOP will not put into place any system that improves anyone’s access to healthcare — but they will maximize opportunities for insurance companies to maximize their profits, for insurance companies to escape a much regulation as possible and use block grants to kill off as much Medicare and Medicaid as they can. Matt Yglesias over at VOX suggests to Dems that they ought to write the improvement to the ACA and start marketing it. At least they should get out in front of it and start talking about how to make it better — a Public Option, for instance.
But never forget that the point of repealing the ACA is about repealing the taxes that were imposed on richer people and on richer plans in order to fund it. The GOP only cares about repealing the taxes. Which is another Message Fail by Democrats,
“But never forget that the point of repealing the ACA is about repealing the taxes that were imposed on richer people and on richer plans in order to fund it. The GOP only cares about repealing the taxes. Which is another Message Fail by Democrats,”
This! The ACA was a great example of making the rich pay their fair share, but Dems/liberals/progressives couldn’t be bothered to promote that message. So many focused on the fact it wasn’t perfect and allowed their voices to be added to the GOP’s. The first fight against income inequality was already going on, and it was ignored.
Check out the Twitter feed of Andy Slavitt (@ASlavitt), acting administrator, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. He features some of these stories and doesn’t pull any punches regarding what havoc repealing the ACA will wreak. I’m self-employed, and if the premiums I was looking at in December (prices before the subsidies) are the norm, I’ll be spending a third of my gross income on insurance premiums. At that point it would be more cost effective to put the money I’d be paying in insurance premiums into a savings account for a rainy day, buy a life-insurance policy to benefit my family in case it pours, and hope for the best.
That’s awful. I’m so sorry.
Hi, Pandora, although I was not exaggerating about premiums and percentages, I maybe made it sound more grim than I am actually feeling. I’m not sad, I’m mad! 🙂