TrumpCare Is A Moral, Democratic, and Political Disaster

I’m up in your Los Angeles Times about one of the worst bills ever passed by the House of Representatives:

Everything that Republicans said about the process that led to the ACA and worse is absolutely true, however, of Speaker Paul D. Ryan’s American Health Care Act. As Republican Sen. Lindsay Graham conceded on Twitter, the bill was “finalized yesterday, has not been scored [by the CBO], amendments not allowed” and only “3 hours final debate” were permitted. Astonishingly, the people’s representatives voted to radically upend the healthcare sector before a public version of the bill was even available.

There’s a reason for this rushed and opaque process — you don’t refuse to wait for a CBO score if you expect good news. As Pelosi said before the vote, “forcing a vote without a CBO score shows that Republicans are afraid of the facts.” Indeed, it’s hard to overstate how scary the facts really are.

If it becomes law, the AHCA will strip insurance coverage from millions and millions of working people while giving the upper class a massive tax cut. At the last minute, Rep. Fred Upton offered an amendment to help states reduce premiums for people with preexisting conditions — but no one who’s taken either a math class or visited a doctor’s office believes the amount set aside ($8 billion over five years) is nearly enough. Many people with preexisting conditions (which includes people who have sought treatment for sexual assault) will therefore be locked out of the insurance market. Meanwhile, savage cuts to Medicaid will cause many poor people to lose access to healthcare entirely. The AHCA could also eliminate caps on out-of-pocket expenses for the lucky people who get insurance through their employers, preventing them from continuing expensive treatments.

(Excuse me for not using precise numbers but, as stated, the GOP refused to allow the CBO to score the bill.)

In short, Donald Trump’s promise to cover more Americans more cheaply while protecting Medicaid was a grotesque lie.

The most obvious takeaway from this is that the contemporary Republican party is unimaginably horrible and must be taken out of power.

However! To be fair and balanced, I must note that there are pundits — with six figures of Twitter followers! — who think the lesson is that Both Sides Do It but Democrats are worse:

This is, of course, even dumber in the appropriate context:

Well, I guess I would fear Donald Trump a lot less if I thought the losing presidential candidate and/or the House minority leader had veto power over legislation too! Still, I hope the left can unite and agree that if there’s going to be a DEALBREAKER that causes us to abandon government to the Republican Party, it shouldn’t be some piddlyshit thing like access to health care, but a truly critical issue like imaginary indictments concerning email server management best practices. [H/T Weigel]