Defenders of the ACA are right to take some satisfaction and pride in the failure of Paul Ryan's repeal bill, the American Health Care Act. All those packed Town Halls, jammed phone lines and floods of mail had their effect. Dozens of Republican reps and senators, moderate and not so moderate, expressed qualms about un-insuring tens or hundreds of thousands of their constituents -- and tens of millions of Americans.
As we consider next steps, though, it's important to take full measure of the rather mind-bending fact that it's the Freedom Caucus that really sank the bill. They reportedly killed it partly because Trump managed somehow to trivialize their concerns even as he caved to most of them -- but more fundamentally, because it left some ghost of the ACA tax credits and consumer protections intact for those seeking insurance in the individual market.
For these zealots (and their right-wing think tank backers), the AHCA wasn't harsh enough. It didn't cut the taxes that fund Obamacare benefits fast enough. It didn't uninsure beneficiaries of the Medicaid expansion fast enough. It didn't kill the concept of subsidized private insurance dead enough. It didn't take us back to the future of medical underwriting and health "insurance" that would render unaffordable coverage for such incidentals as childbirth and mental health treatment.
As we consider next steps, though, it's important to take full measure of the rather mind-bending fact that it's the Freedom Caucus that really sank the bill. They reportedly killed it partly because Trump managed somehow to trivialize their concerns even as he caved to most of them -- but more fundamentally, because it left some ghost of the ACA tax credits and consumer protections intact for those seeking insurance in the individual market.
For these zealots (and their right-wing think tank backers), the AHCA wasn't harsh enough. It didn't cut the taxes that fund Obamacare benefits fast enough. It didn't uninsure beneficiaries of the Medicaid expansion fast enough. It didn't kill the concept of subsidized private insurance dead enough. It didn't take us back to the future of medical underwriting and health "insurance" that would render unaffordable coverage for such incidentals as childbirth and mental health treatment.
