U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden has come out swinging against the Senate version of Trumpcare, which Republicans have given the Orwellian title “Better Care Reconciliation Act,” even as it jacks up insurance costs for many people, especially seniors, and gradually defunds Medicaid, shedding millions from the program.
Far from providing better care, Wyden said the bill scraps much of the Obamacare system without replacing it with any viable alternatives and amounts to a giant tax cut for the wealthy, through the elimination of payroll taxes and capital gains taxes on people with more than $250,000 of income. Wyden spoke to a half dozen Oregon journalists by telephone from Washington, D.C.
“Oregonians don’t like it when politicians try to con them. This is a con job for the ages,” said Wyden, who is not only Oregon’s senior senator but the ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee. “The reason the Republicans want this tax bill so much is it’s a massive give away to the wealthy.”
Normally, the Finance Committee would draft and debate bills on federal spending on healthcare, but the Better Care Reconciliation Act was drafted behind closed doors by 15 male Republican senators, without any input from the female members of the caucus, let alone Democrats like Wyden.
The House version of Trumpcare, which would end coverage for 23 million Americans, was so unpopular that even President Trump called it a “mean bill” and asked the Senate to deliver him one with “more heart.”
But Wyden said the Senate version just doubles down on the same proposals in the House bill. It would gut funding for Oregon’s K Plan for seniors and people with disabilities, and also would start phasing out the Medicaid expansion in 2021, which would likely force the state to cut benefits or shed members.”There’s not much heart in a bill that risks putting seniors who get nursing home care out on the street,” he said.
On the exchange, seniors who are not yet eligible for Medicare would have to pay considerably more for their premiums because the Republican plan retools the subsidies to discriminate against them.
Obamacare premiums for seniors can cost three times more than young adults pay at market rate, but people with subsidized plans may still pay the same because they’re only expected to pay a certain amount of income, topping out at 9.7 percent. But the Senate Trumpcare bill would require some older Americans to pay up to 16.2 percent of their income, while a young adult with the same amount of income would only have to pay 6.4 percent.
All Oregon health insurers except Providence Health Plan cover abortion on the exchange plans, but women would lose this coverage under the Republican legislation. The bill also blocks women on the Oregon Health Plan from seeking any care at Planned Parenthood for one year.
Some have speculated that the Senate parliamentarian, a staff advisor charged with making sure bills comply with legislative rules and procedures, may strike out the abortion provision from the bill -- which would immediately raise the ire of anti-abortion Republicans and increase the likelihood they would oppose the bill.
But Wyden said the parliamentarian does not like to interfere with the Senate and he believed the bill did meet the rules of reconciliation.
The bill repeals tax penalties for people who forgo health insurance, but also removes the House Republican surcharge for people who wish to re-enter the system. Removing the individual mandate without allowing health insurers to discriminate against people with serious chronic illnesses will likely send premium costs spiraling and force insurers out of the market, as happened in Washington state in the 1990s. To offset this, the Senate Republicans would create a $50 billion reinsurance programs to help insurers offset costs.
Wyden balked at a question from The Lund Report asking if Democrats would be ready to go for single-payer if Trumpcare leaves the healthcare system in ruins and they regain power.
In 2009, President Obama and the Democrats in Congress pushed aside their constituents’ long held goal of expanding Medicare for all in favor of adopting the free-market system that was championed by Republican Mitt Romney in Massachusetts, even though this was the most inefficient and expensive route to universal healthcare. The Democrats naively thought a nationalized version of a Republican health plan would garner bipartisan support, but they were terribly wrong.
“We’re not putting out the white flag of surrender,” Wyden said. “This is going to be a hugely important fight. This is about the well-being of the social safety net and healthcare services. We’re going all out on this.”
But Republicans are side-stepping the filibuster process that the Democrats swore by when they were in power, using an arcane parliamentary process that will allow them to gut the healthcare system with just 50 votes, plus tie breaker Vice-President Mike Pence.
The minority Democrats have no power to do much more than make noise.
House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., rushed through their own version of Trumpcare even though that vote may imperil their ability to maintain control of the chamber after the 2018 elections.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is under much less pressure. While he can only afford two party defectors to pass a bill, only three Republicans are likely to face serious challenges for re-election next year, and the Democrats would have to run the table to take over the Senate.
Still, about eight Republicans have expressed serious misgivings with the bill, including Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., who will likely face the toughest reelection in his caucus.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Tex., who has also drawn a serious challenger, is attacking the bill from the right as too similar to Obamacare.
Wyden warned that despite such grumblings, McConnell will likely cut deals with these Republicans to appease their complaints -- just as Ryan did with his rebellious members.
Reach Chris Gray at [email protected].
