Why Wasn’t Trumpcare More Popular?
Conservative health-care analysts on why the GOP couldn’t come up with a stronger replacement for Obamacare
.. outside groups—he implicated Heritage Action and Club for Growth—were urging Republicans to repeal Obamacare as quickly as possible. Because of that, House Republicans “didn’t give themselves enough time
.. “Repeal and replace” seemingly meant different things to different Republicans. Moderates wanted to protect the law’s more popular provisions while tweaking its subsidy structure.
.. the AHCA was authored in a way such that it would cut federal spending—the goal of conservative Republicans—not necessarily boost health-care coverage.
.. a 1989 plan from the Heritage Foundation—the one that started it all—also included tax credits and an individual mandate.
.. “The original outline was their idea!”
.. That’s because there are two basic models for health systems, Laszewski says: single-payer or Obama/Ryan/Trump/Heritage/PriceCare. One is a government-run system offers a rudimentary plan to everyone. The other one is a delicate Jenga tower of mandates, credits, and incentives, all balanced on the rickety table of the private-insurance industry.
.. Republicans had to go with the AHCA, that is, because there just aren’t that many other, non-socialist ways to do health insurance coverage... Ultimately they settled on Obamacare, helping the poor at the expense of the better-off, while the AHCA would have done the opposite... “We used to say Republicans didn’t have the health-care gene,”