“Obamacare is imploding” – In a Good Way

“Exchange open enrollment for 2018 coverage ended w/ approx 8.8M people enrolling in coverage. Great job to the @CMSGov team for the work you did to make this the smoothest experience for consumers to date. We take pride in providing great customer service.”

A tweet from Seema Verma, the administrator of the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

Just as Donald Trump takes credit for a provision (eliminating the healthcare individual mandate which funds much of the program) openly “buried” in the tax reform act that he says effectively “repeals Obamacare,” the government announced that “8.8 million people had signed up for health insurance through the federal marketplace, only slightly lower than last year’s numbers when the open enrollment period was twice as long and heavily advertised.

“The numbers essentially defied President Trump’s assertion that ‘Obamacare is imploding’ and could re-energize the efforts by both parties for and against President Barack Obama’s signature domestic achievement…In the last open enrollment period, which was twice as long, 9.2 million people selected health plans through the federal marketplace created by the Affordable Care Act.

“Consumer advocates said they were pleasantly surprised to see how many people had signed up in the latest enrollment period. And the numbers could go higher. In some states that run their own exchanges, consumers have more time to sign up. The deadline is Jan. 14 in Minnesota, Jan. 15 in Washington State and Jan. 31 in California and New York…

“The report Thursday shows sign-ups by people in 39 states that use HealthCare.gov. It does not include activity in 11 states that operate their own insurance exchanges.” New York Times, December 21^st. It seems as if the middle class, for whom Trump says the GOP passed that bill, doesn’t really want it. It seems that once they got used to it, America seemed to like being able to get healthcare coverage for rates that they can afford (perhaps with a little help from the feds). The tax act doesn’t repeal Obamacare; it just makes premiums a whole lot more expensive. Probably more than even a generous interpretation of any reduction in federal income tax.

Even Republicans know Obamacare has not been repealed. Take these two December 21^st tweets from South Carolina Republican, Lindsay Graham: (1)  “To those who believe – including Senate Republican leadership – that in 2018 there will not be another effort to Repeal and Replace Obamacare -- well you are sadly mistaken.” And (2) “By eliminating the individual mandate in the tax bill we have pulled one of the pillars of Obamacare out. But by no means has Obamacare been repealed or replaced.”

It’s not like those in the middle class are just getting a free ride – not like corporate America – since they are “borrowing” (by increasing the deficit) both the tax savings they are getting along with the tax savings they are passing on to the big companies. And if you are in a high income tax state, you are pretty much screwed and probably will pay more in overall taxes anyway.

The Republicans will be stuck… er… blessed?...  with the only piece of seminal legislation since Trump was elected, so they have to spin, spin, spin till the public takes their T-Bird away. Substance? Other than a momentary tax cut for some in the middle class, mostly it’s “all bad.” Lipstick ain’t a-gonna help this pig win a beauty contest. Spin, spin, spin… Republicans hoping that those middle classers getting a tax break will be enough to foil Democrats in the 2018 mid-terms. Oh, might not be necessary unless the Dems actually decide to stand, unified, for something that resonates.

But, let’s face it, most voters really do not want this legislation, one of the least liked major bills in our nation’s history. “In a USA Today poll, 32 percent support the bill, 48 percent oppose it… In a CNN poll, 33 percent support the bill, 55 percent oppose it… In a Wall Street Journal/NBC poll yesterday, 24 percent say it is a good idea, 41 percent say it’s a bad one… And many surveys echo one by the New York Times and Survey Monkey, that only a third of Americans expect their taxes to go down.” FoxNews.com, December 20^th. The rest just don’t know.

 “While the tax legislation is broadly unpopular as it reaches President Trump’s desk, the bill offers Republicans the sort of signature accomplishment they have been lacking to galvanize their demoralized donors and many of their voters…

“If they are proved correct, they will be repudiating not only historical experience, but most experts. From Congress’s own prognosticators to Wall Street’s virtuosos, scarcely any independent analyses project anything like the rosy forecasts offered by the president’s top economic advisers.” NY Times, December 20^th. Like all those “jobs, jobs, jobs” that will be lost when companies use that tax windfall to merge and acquire, triggering layoffs to justify those mergers and acquisitions? Donors? You mean the corporations who lobbied to get the law past even though just about any neutral analysis tells you how bad the tax bill really is.

We’re digging ourselves into a deep hole that will take decades to reverse, creating cruel policies for average Americans, environmental issues that may be passing the tipping point right now, and losing credibility by the kiloton internationally. We need to talk with each other, ask what we want this country to be, scream if necessary and vote, vote, vote. Let the politicians know how you feel.

I’m Peter Dekom, and if you aren’t really clear with your elected representatives, they have to believe you either support what has just happened or just don’t care.