Ouch! If it becomes law, Senate’s healthcare overhaul is going to hurt

We finally got a glimpse of the Senate’s attempt to “fix” the American health care system. Turns out, it’s just as misguided and dangerous as the “fix” proposed by House Republicans last month.

If either version is signed into law by President Trump, it will unshakably fix into place only one thing – the perception that the Republican Party simply doesn’t care whether millions of Americans are healthy or hurting, breathing or wheezing, getting better or worse.

The bill unveiled by Senate GOP leaders Thursday is, in some ways, more heartless than the bill House Majority Leader Paul Ryan shoved through the House in May. The Senate’s Better Care Reconciliation Act would eventually make deeper cuts into Medicaid, which funds California’s Medi-Cal program, covering nearly 14 million people, including half the state’s children and two-thirds of its seniors living in nursing homes.

The bill would end federal subsidies, by 2024, that have allowed 4 million Californians to buy insurance. That will require the state to provide more funding – possibly $30 billion by 2027, compared to $24 billion under the House bill – or many will lose coverage. Premiums and deductibles are likely to spike, especially for older Americans.

Last week, President Donald Trump called the House’s American Health Care Act “mean” and urged the Senate to be more “generous.” Perhaps to placate their leader, the Senate bill keeps more of Obamacare’s protections for people with pre-existing conditions, through tax credits based on income, as Obamacare does now, rather than based on age, as the House bill would do. But the subsidy would be smaller and fewer would be eligible.

The bottom line for both the Senate and House bills is the same: Millions of poorer people will lose their health insurance so that the richest Americans can get a huge tax cut they don’t need.

It’s outrageous that 13 senators – all white men – spent weeks drafting this bill in secrecy. Now they’re rushing to pass it before the July 4th recess, when senators return home to face their constituents.

The Congressional Budget Office says that under the House bill, 23 million Americans would lose insurance by 2026 and Medicaid spending would be slashed by $834 billion over 10 years. Its analysis of the Senate bill is expected early next week, a day or two before the vote.

This bill is entirely in the hands of Republicans – for good or ill. Only 50 votes are needed to pass it, and Republicans hold 52 seats and the tiebreaker in Vice President Mike Pence.

Four conservative senators quickly announced their opposition to the draft, saying cuts were not deep enough; that they did not do enough to lower healthcare costs. To whom?

Obamacare isn’t perfect. But it has improved health care for millions of Americans. The right path is to fix its flaws, change its name, and focus more intensely on reducing costs while maintaining coverage.

If Republican leaders really mean what they said about unity and common purpose after the shooting of Rep. Steve Scalise, they’d have sought input from hospitals, doctors, patient groups and the public. They might even have talked to a few Democrats so they wouldn’t need those four posturing arch-conservative Republicans to pass it.

This isn’t about fixing anything. It’s about big money and political power. The fate of millions of poorer, sicker and older Americans isn’t even an afterthought.

This story was originally published June 22, 2017 at 4:04 PM with the headline "Ouch! If it becomes law, Senate’s healthcare overhaul is going to hurt."