As  bad as previous Trumpcare offerings have been, this is worse. Much worse. And because the capacity to pass a new healthcare bill with just 50 votes expires on Sept 30, the GOP is rushing this through without hearings and without even waiting to hear from the Congressional Budget Office. This is bad. Very bad. But there are things you can do.

I am out of state at a memorial for a dear friend in the San Francisco Bay Area, so this needs to be very brief. Truthout did a tremendous job of outlining all that is wrong with the latest iteration of TrumpCare bill, but a couple highlights:

• The Center on Budget and Policy projects that 32 million Americans would lose coverage;
• The bill would reduce federal funding for healthcare over the next 20 years by a staggering $4,000,000,000 (that’s four trillion dollars);
• It would effectively end Medicaid converting it to a block grant that states could use for a wide variety of healthcare related purposes—very likely to reduce commitment of Medicaid for its intended purpose of supporting our most vulnerable members of our community;
• It allows states to permit insurers to return to the practice of lowering premiums but offering entirely bogus health plans that would leave consumers vulnerable to thinking they are covered until they are sick and then finding out they are not…..and guess what economic strata of our country would be the ones to suffer?
• Insurers would be allowed to cap coverage for those with pre-existing conditions and raise premiums and co-pays for those with pre-existing conditions. Click here to read Truthout’s outstanding report. They truly do outstanding work.

From a NY Times report:  “This is by far the most radical of any of the Republican health care bills that have been debated this year,” said Larry Levitt, a senior vice president with the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation. “And the reason for that is that this would be the biggest devolution of federal money and responsibility to the states for anything, ever.”

Yesterday’s post pointed to how US policy and national energy production and consumption are devastating under-developed nations; today the microscope is on how US policy can devastate our own people. While there are limits to what we can do to move the current administration to act on climate change, we can pressure the GOP to vote down TrumpCare once and for all. Currently, Rand Paul and John McCain have indicated they will not vote for the bill. With a 52-48 majority that means that one more GOP Senator must join McCain and Paul. Sen. Murkowski from Alaska and Sen. Collins of Maine are both said to be leaning toward voting no. We need one of those Senators to do more than lean and the GOP is working to grease those wheels to ensure they don’t vote no. Click here for my post on Tuesday. It provides a link to a site with speaking points and contact info for both these and 5 other GOP Senators on the fence. I’d ask that you take a few minutes to make calls to these folks or to email them. Hell, the GOP lies, tell them that you live in their state and voted for them in the last election and then tell them your continued support rests with their voting no on this travesty to morality and justice.

Sitting at the Oakland airport, time to board and head home.

In solidarity,

Paul & Roxanne

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