TrumpCare: Same Song Different Tune, Republicans Off Key

In his latest podcast, Peter Schiff explains how the Republicans’ newly unveiled repeal and replace plan for Obamacare will have many of the same failures as its predecessor. Having adopted the new moniker, “TrumpCare”, many mainstream Republicans are seeing the bill as an improvement over the Affordable Care Act. However, Peter sees it a little differently.

The fact that the government is still in the healthcare business at all is the main problem; repeal with no replacement was the Republican war cry during Obama’s administration. However, now such principled opposition doesn’t seem to exist. With a Republican president and majorities in both houses, Republicans now seem to be the proverbial “dog that caught the car.”

Here are some of the removals, remainders, and additions.

Repeals

Taxes

• Gone is Obama’s 3.9% tax increase on dividends and capital gains. Some Dems like Nancy Pelosi are likening the tax cut to theft or, as the Representative states, the “biggest transfer of wealth from low- and middle-income people to wealthy people.” However, tax cuts seem less like thievery and more like returning someone’s stolen property back to them.

Uninsured Penalty

• Also removed is the individual mandate to buy health insurance or pay a penalty. Many have already opted for paying the penalty because it was cheaper than buying insurance in the first place.

Keeping

Pre-existing conditions

• Republicans may have committed the biggest blunder yet by choosing to force insurance companies to issue health insurance policies to seriously ill individuals. Peter believes the insurance industry can’t “survive the Republican replacement,” because companies that lack the ability to charge more for already sick people won’t have anyone paying premiums until they need them—the opposite intention of insurance.

Adding

Tax Credit

• Republicans have included what amounts to the same welfare payments as Obamacare. They’re just now calling it a “tax credit”. Instead of direct subsidies to enrollees, they now will receive a tax credit to buy health insurance. The plan is based on age and family size. The idea is to give consumers more choices in coverage, yet to still provide financial support. While it may incentivize Americans to shop for cheaper policies, the fact is most young, healthy people won’t choose to buy health insurance until they need it.

As Peter points out, the real prescription here is for complete removal of this bloated entitlement, not a different version of the same sad song.

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