This IS pure Donald Trump….
The money grip guy…..
Just give people money for healthcare?
This is just pure Bull Shit….
Donald IS trying to pay off people in a way that makes NO DAMN sense….
Insurance may suck…
But when you have a $10,000 procedure?
WTF can afford THAT?
Pay people $2,000?
HTF are they gonna afford THIS?
This IS Trump & Co. on the fly AGAIN…..
Wake the Fuck UP People….
Obamacare IS NOT going anywhere…
Approve the substites and move ahead….
President Trump said he is talking with Democrats about a direct health care payment plan Sunday amid negotiations to tackle rising health insurance premiums.
“I’ve had personal talks with some Democrats,” Trump told reporters in West Palm Beach, Fla., on Sunday before returning to Washington.
The president did not name the Democrats he said has been speaking to, but said he has talked to them “about paying large amounts of dollars back to the people.”
The president has touted paying money from the insurance companies directly back to Americans, and letting them purchase their own health insurance.
Trump told reporters Sunday that everyone has “picked up” on the idea, including Democrats….
While I don’t think much of Trump’s mechanism, I actually strongly agree with his motives of cutting out the middle man.
When the big private health-insurance companies couldn’t stop the A.C.A. (Obamacare), they compromised on the Obamacare model. Harry and Louise came out with a rather different message, endorsing the current model of channeling national health insurance into individual mandates coupled with non-government (largely for-profit) insurers.
At least, said some liberal and moderates, allow a Public Option in every state to provide a non-profit benchmark for the private insurers.
We used to have a contributor (I think from the Midwest) who was a professional expert in insurance. His insights would be very helpful.
But — as people may not remember — the A.C.A. needed every vote. The Democrats could only reach parity in the Senate with the G.O.P. after Sen. Arlen Specter crossed the aisle in the spring. They could only reach a bare majority in a very short window between the early-summer swearing-in of Al Franken (DFL-Minn.) after a contested election had been resolved. And Ted Kennedy, the Guardian Angel of national health insurance in the U.S., was suffering from a fatal illness that killed him later that summer (he had to be wheeled in, I recall, to cast his Aye vote) — leaving the ACA with less than 51 votes.
But (long story over) that meant that the ACA had to win the vote of EVERY Democratic Senator. And some of them close to the private insurers (most notably Claire McCaskill, D-Mo.) wouldn’t accept a true Public Option.
Obamacare squeaked through very narrowly, in the few months of a D majority between Al Franken’s swearing-in and Ted Kennedy’s death.
There was another brief majority when Ted Kennedy’s appointed replacement (Paul Kirk) took his seat, but that was totally quashed when Scott Brown (R) defeated Martha Coakley (D) in the special election of January 2010. Gory details in my next post.
¶ In the U.K, the National Health System is just that: run by the national government in London. In Canada is administered by the individual provinces. As I understand it, France and Germany channel health insurance through various non-profit associations.
Apologies: What the Democrats needed to pass A.C.A. was not just a bare majority but 60 votes (to overcome any filibuster).
Gory details of the fluctuations in party control of the Senate in the 111th Congress (2009-11). Independents Bernie Sanders (Ind.-Vt) and Joe Lieberman (Ind. D.-Conn.) caucused with the Democrats and pushed their majority to the filibuster-proof 60 votes.
¶ From January 27 to April 28, 2009, when Senator Arlen Specter (R-Pennsylvania) joined the Democratic caucus, there were 56 Democratic senators, 41 Republicans, two independents, and one undecided seat in Minnesota. That vacancy was filled as an additional Democratic seat on July 7, 2009, with the swearing-in of Al Franken, bringing the totals to 58 Democrats, 40 Republicans, and 2 independents. Seven weeks later, on August 25, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) died, lowering the Democratic total to 57 for a month until Paul G. Kirk Jr. (D) was appointed and sworn in as Senator Kennedy’s interim replacement on September 25, 2009. Just over four months later, on February 4, 2010, Scott Brown (R) who had won a special election for the seat, succeeded Paul Kirk, returning the Republican caucus to 41, and again reducing the Democratic caucus to 57 plus two independents. [The Democratic caucus dropped again briefly to 56 in the 18 days between the death of Sen. Robert Byrd (D-West Virginia) on June 28, 2010, and the seating of his interim successor, Carte Goodwin (also D) on July 16.] The appointed Democratic senator from Illinois, Roland Burris was succeeded on November 29, 2010, by Mark Kirk, a Republican elected earlier that month, once again dropping the Democratic caucus to 56 with 2 independents facing 42 Republicans for the last month of the 111th Congress. December 2011 Congressional Directory, page 324
¶ From January 3 to April 28, 2009, prior to Senator Arlen Specter’s switch to the Democratic Party, there were 41 Republican senators. The Republican caucus returned to 41 on February 4, 2010, with the swearing in of Scott Brown (R-Mass.) to fill the Democratic seat of Edward Kennedy and Paul Kirk. After Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) replaced Roland Burris as senator from Illinois on November 29, 2010, the Senate in the last month of the 111th Congress stood at 42 Republicans, 56 Democrats, and 2 independents.
Thanks as usual DSD……
The reality IS Obamacare IS the law of the land….
It touches tens of million Americans
Efforts to undermine it have failed as it appears will eventually happen this time..,..
Trump and GOPers are stuck
All they need to do is NOT reinvent the wheel