Quick one – the numbers speak for themselves. Per the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) analysis, versus the current law (the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare), the Senate Republicans’ Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017, would:

• leave 22 million fewer people with medical insurance in 10 years,
• cut about $700 billion in taxes (with nearly 45% of the tax cuts go to the top 1% of income, that is making more than $875,000 per year), and
• reduce the cumulative federal deficit by a total of $321 billion over the next ten years,
• premiums would drop because insurance plans would be skimpier and 50-64 year-olds will drop out of the market,
• even with lower premiums, most people would pay more for insurance coverage because there would be less financial help and their deductibles will be higher.

Yes, that’s right. Reduce the growth in federal debt by $321 billion while giving more than twice that in tax cuts, primarily to the wealthy.

How? By cutting health care to the majority of Americans (less Medicaid which mostly goes to seniors and the disabled and less help paying premiums).

This makes no sense. The Republicans seem to be saying that only the wealthy people in this country matter.

A ray of hope today though. Susan Collins, the least conservative Republican in the senate, tweeted: “I want to work w/ my GOP & Dem colleagues to fix the flaws in ACA. CBO analysis shows Senate bill won’t do it. I will vote no on mtp.”

That’s what should have been the plan all along – a bipartisan approach to do the best thing for the most Americans. Thank you, Susan Collins.