[Drlee]

Its been said before but they are the proverbial dog who caught the car.

it be nice if trump supporters with two or fewer functioning brain cells would notice that the Republican goal here is not to provide the best health care to the greatest number but to give large tax reductions to the rich while at the same time providing the least amount of health care to the greatest number of people while making a really shitty deal look like a good deal.

All Trump supporters have two or fewer functioning brain cells.

[jimjam]

Speaker Paul D. Ryan was upbeat. “The president just came here and knocked the ball out of the park,” Mr. Ryan said. “He knocked the cover off the ball.”

I think I am going to puke. This is aimed at morons. On a more substantive note that illustrates one more time that Republicans don't give a shit about the health of peons but do give a shit about making the rich richer, a last minute "improvement" to the replacement farce would give rich folks their tax reduction this year instead of next year.

[Zagadka]

"Fewer Americans Would Be Insured With G.O.P. Plan Than With Simple Repeal"
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/21/upsh ... epeal.html

<facepalm> Literally going backwards. I know these people hate the idea of progression, but damn.

[Stormsmith]

I am so sorry for you guys. If Hillary had won in 2008, this wouldn't be an issue at all today.

[jimjam]

The upshot is that Trump, House Speaker Paul Ryan and other GOP leaders are dealing with a legislative balloon — whenever they push on one side, it pops out somewhere else. Every concession or revision they make has the potential to cause more problems for the other end of the conference.

Ryan's immediate problem is the so called "Freedom Caucus" who's main beef has absolutely nothing to do with the esoteric concept of "trying to provide the best health care for the greatest number of people". Being completely ignored in this charade are the millions of peons who will be dumped by the roadside with no health care. I suspect the Democrats will use this to their great advantage in 2018.

It's called a quagmire and it couldn't happen to a more deserving bunch of hypocrites .

[jimjam]

To be clear: Congressional Republicans are weighing whether to jeopardize the life-saving health insurance of tens of millions of Americans with hastily-assembled legislation, or face the wrath of the Bully-in-Chief, who could not care less.
What a pathological, sick party.

[Drlee]

I love the analogy of the dog who caught the car.

The Koch Brothers threw the So called Freedom Caucus a bone tonight. A few million bucks to be exact.

[jimjam]

I told you it was coming

[Stormsmith]

The Koch Brothers threw the So called Freedom Caucus a bone tonight. A few million bucks to be exact.

Is the Freedom Caucus the guys buying commercial time to encourage Congress to vote down on AHCA in favour of full repeal of ACA?

I just saw one of their ads..... which is odd....because, you know, it's been put to bed, and no one up here's likely to agree.

[Drlee]

The Freedom Caucus is the Tea Party faction of the republican party. The actual Tea Party has been completely co-opted by the Republican Party. They have no real separate identity in the eyes of most people. They have lost their brain trust and what remains is mostly a group of ultra right wing dummies who enjoy the opportunity to carry guns, strut and chest bump one another. Even the men do it.

[Hindsite]

The Freedom Caucus, also known as the House Freedom Caucus, is a congressional caucus consisting of conservative Republican members of the United States House of Representatives. It was formed in 2015 by what member Jim Jordan called a "smaller, more cohesive, more agile and more active" group of conservative Congressman.

Many members are also part of the Republican Study Committee, another conservative House group. The caucus is sympathetic to the Tea Party movement. According to its mission statement, it "gives a voice to countless Americans who feel that Washington does not represent them. We support open, accountable and limited government, the Constitution and the rule of law, and policies that promote the liberty, safety and prosperity of all Americans."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_Caucus

[Stormsmith]

Gentlemen

I thank you both. I know a little more today than I did last night, and that's always a good thing.

[jimjam]

The Freedom Caucus, also known as the House Freedom Caucus, is a congressional caucus consisting of conservative Republican members of the United States House of Representatives. It was formed in 2015 by what member Jim Jordan called a "smaller, more cohesive, more agile and more active" group of conservative Congressman.

Or .............. the "House Mad Dog Caucus", a group of macho assholes that has figured out a way to fuck things up and feed their insatiable egos without ever really gaining much popular support or ever getting much of anything done that would help the majority of the American people.

[jimjam]

The latest

A Wednesday evening meeting between top aides to President Donald Trump and House Republican leaders turned heated when the White House officials exhorted Speaker Paul Ryan to show immediate progress on the GOP's stalled plan to repeal and replace Obamacare.

"It was really bad," said one person familiar with the meeting. "They were in total meltdown, total chaos mode."

I really don't see any way out for these phonies. And what makes it all the better is that for 7 years they have been prancing and bellowing about how JOB # ONE was to dump Obamacare. In a startling display of public stupidity the House has voted over 50 times to repeal Obamacare.

[Stormsmith]

To summarise:

Trump tried to advance a health care bill that that the CBO scored so poorly that the bill wasn't presented to Congress. The cost of insurance was estimated to rise 24 to 29%, to preretirees the cost could rise 4 to 5 times the current bill. Those with pre-existing were thrown to the mercy of insurers. It didn't get a vote.

The version voted upon today was widely regarded as worse, but passed in Congress. It wasn't online, this 200 page bill until the night before. It wasn't scored by the CBO. Children with severe health care concerns could cost their parents $100,000 a year and reach their life time limits while prepubesnt.

This is going to result in a massive transfer of wealth to the richest Americans, while every day families are left to dice with the devil. And the Republicans with their taxpayer - paid - for health insurance had a high five party in the rose garden.

[quetzalcoatl]

This is going to result in a massive transfer of wealth to the richest Americans

This is not an unintended side-effect, this is the actual agenda of the Ryan/Trump partnership. The AHCA, as it currently stands, is the first phase of a vast wealth transfer. The second phase will be the so-called tax reform program.

It is not enough to repeal and replace the New Deal alone. First on the agenda, all the wealth that 99% helped themselves to must be returned to its rightful owners. Then, after workers are finished being stripped and beaten, we can proceed to at last to a glorious libertarian meritocracy.

[Hong Wu]

I doubt anyone on PoFo is qualified to review a health care bill but there's a few take aways from this that any person should be able to appreciate.

If we look back on Obamacare, it was passed right before the midterms. They were afraid they'd lose seats and they were unable to come to agreement, so what they passed at the last minute was rushed and had various flaws.

The new health care bill, which looks likely to be signed into law, is being passed over a year before the midterm elections and the different factions of the Republican party appear to be mutually satisfied with it.

This is basically the opposite situation as to what happened when Obamacare was passed, as such we can take it as likely that it's a well thought out, thoroughly planned bill. It will likely then perform better than Obamacare did.

With their biggest hurdle cleared this quickly (and with ample time for them to make adjustments) we can take this as a sign that the Republican party is likely to function effectively in the near future.

[jimjam]

it's a well thought out, thoroughly planned bill

Two hundred pages not posted by the day of the vote, unrated by the CBO, voted upon almost instantly as soon as the last vote was purchased, 21 Republicans not voting for it, replete with screw jobs for many citizens up to and including a sneaky return of the "pre existing condition" screw job, a major multi billion tak break for rich folks ........................ Right, good luck selling this piece of shit.

This time, Democrats say they will have the last word. They believe that in delivering a win demanded by President Trump, House Republicans have opened the door to Democratic control of the House, a reversal that would put them in a position to challenge Mr. Trump in a way that would be impossible were they kept in the minority.

This is not an unintended side-effect, this is the actual agenda of the Ryan/Trump partnership. The AHCA, as it currently stands, is the first phase of a vast wealth transfer. The second phase will be the so-called tax reform program.

Yes, this is obviously an all out raid on the US treasury. Trump, we can be certain, will not be a "Traitor To His Class".
"Tax reform" will be rather predictable. A bill will be crafted which directs trillions to trump and his class while tossing peanuts to everyone else so that it may be claimed that "all Americans" will be getting a free lunch.

[SpecialOlympian]

If we look back on Obamacare, it was passed right before the midterms. They were afraid they'd lose seats and they were unable to come to agreement, so what they passed at the last minute was rushed and had various flaws.

This take is so hot I can't even look at it without sunglasses!!

[Drlee]

I doubt anyone on PoFo is qualified to review a health care bill

I am. EEETS MY JOB ESE.

Actually we all are. This is not rocket science. The bullet notes are devastating. I am going to watch people die. Fun. Not my first rodeo in that regard. Too bad they will be middle class working people who need not die at all.

But I am not afraid. I have 100% coverage. I don't even pay a copay. Y'all republican voters out there enjoy your new insurance. (If you can afford it.) It is the biglyest insurance in the history of the cosmos.