You’ve probably heard the Republican fear-mongering that they have to destroy healthcare with their tax cut bill because Obamacare is imploding.
Read: Samuel Alito Is The Insurrectionist Threat To Democracy On The Supreme Court
And you probably already know that Republicans are deliberately undermining Obamacare so as to make sure they have talking points for destroying it.
But I’ll bet you don’t know how they’ve got a plan to deliberately undermine Obamacare and then make it look like they’re saving healthcare for two years… only to turn around and set it on fire.
“(T)he Republican Party is on the verge of pulling off the most jaw-droppingly cynical, disingenuous con I’ve seen in some time,” Obamacare tracker Charles Gaba wrote on his website, ACA Signups.Net.
Here’s Gaba to explain:
THREAD: Let me explain the cynical BS in @JohnCornyn's tweet. 1/ https://t.co/QeSJAvss5k
— â˜ªï¸ Charles Gaba âœ¡ï¸ (@charles_gaba) June 26, 2017
The carriers have ALREADY been warning of "double-digit rate hikes" for 2018, and have stated, quite flatly, that ~2/3 of this is due… 2/
— â˜ªï¸ Charles Gaba âœ¡ï¸ (@charles_gaba) June 26, 2017
…SPECIFICALLY to Trump/GOP sabotage, via 2 major attacks on the ACA: 1) threats by Trump/Price to NOT enforce the individual mandate; 3/
— â˜ªï¸ Charles Gaba âœ¡ï¸ (@charles_gaba) June 26, 2017
…and 2) threats to NOT PAY the CSR reimbursements legally due to the carriers. 4/
— â˜ªï¸ Charles Gaba âœ¡ï¸ (@charles_gaba) June 26, 2017
I've been tracking rate filings by carriers across 14 states. Here's what their actual filings avg out at so far: https://t.co/FOBE3gqdag 5/ pic.twitter.com/IoGVQoYpYf
— â˜ªï¸ Charles Gaba âœ¡ï¸ (@charles_gaba) June 26, 2017
That's a ~32.6% WITH Trump/GOP sabotage tax included, ~13.6% with MOST of that sabotage effect removed (some didn't fully break it out) 6/
— â˜ªï¸ Charles Gaba âœ¡ï¸ (@charles_gaba) June 26, 2017
fully remove Trump Tax, it likely drops back to single digits. If you don't believe me, here's a study by a prominent consulting firm: 7/ pic.twitter.com/SkXh8dGXoO
— â˜ªï¸ Charles Gaba âœ¡ï¸ (@charles_gaba) June 26, 2017
@OliverWyman did their study completely independently of me, got nearly identical results. So, why is @JohnCornyn claiming ramming thru 8/
— â˜ªï¸ Charles Gaba âœ¡ï¸ (@charles_gaba) June 26, 2017
…the pile of garbage @SenateGOP bill will magically lower rate hikes next year? BECAUSE, on the very last page of it… 9/
— â˜ªï¸ Charles Gaba âœ¡ï¸ (@charles_gaba) June 26, 2017
…the GOP appropriates THE VERY CSR FUNDS THEY'VE BEEN BLACKMAILING THE CARRIERS WITH for 2 years…before killing CSR entirely. 10/ pic.twitter.com/MxDXeDLmjH
— â˜ªï¸ Charles Gaba âœ¡ï¸ (@charles_gaba) June 26, 2017
It's pretty typical of Congress to attach a "poison pill" to an otherwise good bill to kill it. The @senategop has reversed this: 11/
— â˜ªï¸ Charles Gaba âœ¡ï¸ (@charles_gaba) June 26, 2017
They've attached a 100-word *useful* pill to an otherwise poisonous bill. 12/ pic.twitter.com/c6H6CGp6M7
— â˜ªï¸ Charles Gaba âœ¡ï¸ (@charles_gaba) June 26, 2017
Result? If #BCRAP becomes law, the very ~20 point rate hikes DELIBERATELY CREATED by Trump/GOP would drop off for 2 yrs. in other words…
— â˜ªï¸ Charles Gaba âœ¡ï¸ (@charles_gaba) June 26, 2017
…they set the house on fire, then want credit for putting it out for 2 yrs (while also scheduling it for demolition after that). 14/
— â˜ªï¸ Charles Gaba âœ¡ï¸ (@charles_gaba) June 26, 2017
Meanwhile, if the bill FAILS, they WON'T appropriate the CSR funds (which, again, only require a standalone 66-word amendment)… 15/
— â˜ªï¸ Charles Gaba âœ¡ï¸ (@charles_gaba) June 26, 2017
..& Price likely won't commit to enforcing mandate, which would lead to more carriers bailing or jacking up rates, allowing Trump/GOP… 16/
— â˜ªï¸ Charles Gaba âœ¡ï¸ (@charles_gaba) June 26, 2017
…to then claim "ToldJaSo!" As they set on fire burns down. The. chutzpah is staggering. DON'T FALL FOR IT! /end
— â˜ªï¸ Charles Gaba âœ¡ï¸ (@charles_gaba) June 26, 2017
Gaba has written a lot about the deliberate sabotage of Obamacare by Republicans, including “the Risk Corridor Massacre (from a couple of years ago) and the currently ongoing Cost Sharing Reduction debacle.”
The Risk Corridor Massacre “helped wipe out over a dozen ACA-created Co-Ops, which in turn kicked 800,000 people off their policies, put several hundred people out of work, causing a ripple effect in those states which in turn led to less competition and higher rate hikes,” Gaba explains.
This was hardly a fiscally conservative move by Republicans, because Gaba says the billions “saved” may have to be paid anyway due to lawsuits. Also of note, they are achieving part of their sabotage by not paying the bills, which used to be the opposite of what conservatives claimed to stand for.
This leads us to the “Cost Sharing Reduction brouhaha” which “is currently causing insurance carriers nationwide to either jack their rates up by an extra 20 points or so next year or to simply drop out of the individual market (either on exchange, off exchange or both) altogether.”
They pulled that off by not paying those CSR payments Gaba referenced in his tweet. This is called sabotage and the only reason they are doing this is to make Obamacare look like it’s not working.
Nifty little trick from the Party that isn’t actually trying to address the issues with Obamacare, but is only trying to use Obamacare to score political points and give yet another tax break to rich families.
The only way Republicans can do this is to sabotage Obamacare first.
And then ride in on White Knight Trojan horses funded by the same, and pretend to slay the dragon that they created… only to actually leave behind a time bomb for innocent civilians and veterans.
Obamacare is working. People really like the ability to save their family members from death. So here comes the GOP to destroy it, for no reason other than to give Donald Trump and their party a phony “win”.
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