Obamacare’s Now Firmly In The Hands Of The Man Most Hell-Bent On Killing It

And the rest of the day’s politics news in one ‘No, Alanis, this is irony.’

Eric J Scholl
Aug 8, 2017 · 3 min read

Trump Said He’s “Not Gonna Own Obamacare”. Except He Does.

As Vox’s Sarah Kliff astutely points out in two scary sentences: “It has become nearly certain that the health law will survive long enough for the Trump administration to oversee the 2018 open enrollment period. This now puts the Trump administration in control of what happens to the health care law.

The dates don’t lie: as Kliff further points out, Senators will launch a bipartisan effort on protecting Obamacare markets in haste, when they return from break on September 4th. But insurers will need to finalize their 2018 premiums before then. They’ll then have to decide whether to sell Obamacare coverage at all by September 27th, meaning if congress intends to do something it will have exactly 10 working days after it returns from vacation to do it. Not impossible, but lightning-fast, especially for this congress.

This is further complicated by the fact that many in congress are itching to move on to tax reform. Said Utah Senior Senator Orrin Hatch (quite remarkably): “We’re not going back to health care. We’re in tax now. As far as I’m concerned, they shot their wad on health care and that’s the way it is.”

The voice of the people might make a difference. As Salon reports, a lot of angry people are still showing up at Town Halls, calling for bipartisan solutions.

But the President has made it clear all along: in order for him to get a “win”, Obamacare has to die:

July 18, 2017

In the meantime, there’s only uncertainty. Will Trump back out of cost sharing payments to insurance companies? Will Trump choose not to enforce individual and corporate mandates (so people won’t pay any penalty if they don’t buy insurance)? Tennessee’s insurance commissioner sanely points out: “It’s somewhat inequitable to ask insurers to sign a contract that binds them but may not bind the federal government.” Somewhat?

One proposal many state insurance commissioners are considering: adding a surcharge to premiums, just like airlines added a fuel surcharge to ticket prices when energy costs were high. This could also prove a very effective monthly reminder if the White House chooses to screw people over, although it doesn’t change the fact that it becomes more of a burden on the people that have to pay it.

(This story originally appeared in “The Chaos Report” Newsletter. Please subscribe: https://thechaosreport.com/subscribe/?scr=Medium)

(@TheChaosReport) — All Your Daily Politics News in One Short, Sharp Shock.

Eric J Scholl

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The Chaos Report
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