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So far, both the Republican Senate and Republican House plans are total disasters. According to the most recent CBO estimates, both of these plans would take away health care from around 20 million people, while allowing states to remove the protections put in place by the Affordable Care Act for people with pre-existing conditions. These new plans would also take away funding from key programs like Medicaid and Planned Parenthood, while supplying billions in tax cuts for corporations and the wealthiest Americans.

On May 4th, 2017, American history was made when the House of Representatives voted to take away health care from 23 million of their constituents (CBO), while setting aside around 600 billion in tax cuts that will primarily benefit the wealthy. Pregnant women, sexual assault victims, the elderly, children, infants, the critically sick, the disabled and the poor will all be victims of this legislation.

Working with Medicaid data, Professors David Himmelstein and Steffie Woolhandler (both professors of public health) estimated that this bill would result in the deaths of 43,956 people every year (Washington Post). A different study states that this new plan would be responsible for 222,892 deaths over a ten-year period (Our Future, 5-4-17).

On July 13th, 2017, the Senate released the most recent version of their Republican health care plan, a plan they have named the "Better Care Reconciliation Act" to distinguish it from the House version of the bill.

The CBO estimate for a previous version of the Senate bill showed that it would create 22 million more people uninsured by the end of the decade, and the CBO is expected to release a new estimate soon for the newest version of the Senate Bill.

According to Families USA, the newest changes make the profound problems in the previous Senate versions of the bill worse. The newest version of the bill has the inclusion of an amendment by Texas Senator Ted Cruz, which would allow insurers offering Obamacare plans to also offer "bare-bones" policies, and would exempt insurers from having to offer the protections for people with pre-existing conditions that were put in place by the Affordable Care Act. It would also allow insurers to charge a higher premium to people with pre-existing conditions.

The revised Senate bill also tries to justify $800 billion in Medicaid cuts by offering a $45 billion grant for substance use services. But even the scholar whose work was apparently the genesis of the $45 billion number, has written that this amount is woefully short of what’s needed (The Hill). The revised bill also shifts Medicaid dollars into block grants, while retaining the massive cuts that would result in gutting 35% of the program over time. And the new bill reduces only a minority of the tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy, keeping over $470 billion in tax cuts (Families USA).

While President Donald Trump called the House plan "mean" (CNN), others have called the Senate plan "meaner." "The way this bill cuts health care is heartless," said Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer. "The president said the House bill was mean. The Senate bill may be meaner. The Senate Republicans health care bill is a wolf in sheep's clothing, only this wolf has even sharper teeth than the House bill." (TIME)

Almost every major medical organization is opposed to the Republican Health Care Plans. (CBS News, 5-5-17) (New York Times, 5-4-17)

Every modern country in the world believes its citizens have the right to health care, except America. 

This is an issue of life and death. This is a very serious national security issue leaving us highly vulnerable to a disease epidemic or even a biological terrorist attack. Giving all our people health care will better protect the nation from the possibility of a mass pandemic.

It was our hope that if the Affordable Care Act was replaced, it would get replaced with something more comprehensive, such as Single Payer (which is what every other modern state has). But what the Republicans have released is not a comprehensive plan. It is a disaster. A political disaster. A health care disaster. A disaster for the sick and the poor. And in the 2018 Congressional Elections, this plan could be an utter catastrophe for the Republican Party.

Our concluding point is that Health Care should be expanded, not eviscerated.

TEXT OF HOUSE AND SENATE REPUBLICAN HEALTH CARE PLANS

THE HOUSE BILL      

ORIGINAL SENATE BILL "DISCUSSION DRAFT"    SENATE REVISED PLAN

THE REVISED SENATE BILL

Richest Americans gain the most from the Senate’s health care bill (Politico, 7-14-17)

What's inside the Senate Republican health care bill (CNN Money, 7-14-17)

Latest Senate Bill Still Strips Coverage and Drives Up Costs for Millions More (Famillies USA, 7-13-17)

Yet Again, Senate Republican Health Care Proposal Would Drive Up Health Care Costs for the Middle Class and Devastate the Safety Net (Famillies USA, 7-13-17)

Revised Senate health-care bill still lacks the votes to pass (Washington Post, 7-13-17)

The new Senate Trumpcare bill is a hot mess (ACT.TV Video, 7-13-17)

STUDIES ON DEATH TOLL

NOTE: There are different death tolls noted here are a result of different studies on the matter.

Repealing the Affordable Care Act will kill more than 43,000 people annually (The Washington Post, 1-23-17)   Read Study

Professors David Himmelstein and Steffie Woolhandler (both professors of public health) estimated that this bill would result in the deaths of 43,956 people every year. They have extrapolated this data from the biggest and most definitive study of what happens to death rates when Medicaid coverage is expanded.

The Harvard Study That Shows Trumpcare’s Damage (New York Times, 5-3-17)   Read Study

When Massachusetts expanded health insurance a decade ago, state officials unknowingly created an experiment. It’s turned out to be an experiment that offers real-world evidence of what would happen if the House Republicans’ health bill were to become law. The bill could cause more people to lose insurance than previously predicted and do more damage to insurance markets.

Here’s how many people could die if Trumpcare becomes law (Think Progress)   Read Study

Approximately 17,000 people could die in 2018 who otherwise would have lived if a House Republican health proposal endorsed by the Trump administration becomes law. By 2026, the number of people killed by Trumpcare could grow to approximately 29,000 in that year alone.

How Many People Will Die For Each Rich American’s Trumpcare Tax Cut? (Our Future, 5-4-17)

Using Massachusetts data, ThinkProgress estimated that 16,867 per year could initially die, with the annual total rising to 28,916 by 2026. The author of this Our Future article crunched ten years of the numbers given by Think Progress, and came up with an estimated total of 222,892 deaths over a ten-year period.

OFFICIAL CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE COST ESTIMATES

CBO Report on House Bill

CBO Report on Senate Bill (Newer one is expected to be released soon)

DRUG CRISIS

Covering America’s ‘testing ground’ for responses to drug use, HIV risk (CJR, 6-23-17)

THE HOUSE AND SENATE HEALTH CARE BILLS - WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

The Senate GOP Health Care Bill Has A Fatal Flaw (Huffington Post, 6-23-17) This article includes a useful graphic if you scroll down.

The Better Care Reconciliation Act: the Senate bill to repeal and replace Obamacare, explained (Vox, 6-22-17)

5 Things You Need to Know About the Senate's Health Care Bill (TIME, 6-22-17)

The Senate’s ‘Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017’ Finally Revealed (National Review, 6-22-17)

Senate GOP finally unveils secret health care bill; currently lacks votes to pass (CNN, 6-22-17)

Paul Ryan hasn't read Senate health care bill but says, "I've been briefed" (CBS NEWS, 6-22-17)

REACTIONS TO THE SENATE BILL

How Corporate Media Enabled the GOP's Audacious Plan to Steal Health Care Coverage from 23 Million Americans (Alternet, 6-23-17)

Right on Schedule, Senate Conservatives Are Throwing a Fit Over Health Care (Slate, 6-22-17)

Sunk? Four GOP Senators Oppose The Better Care Reconciliation Act (TownHall, 6-22-17)

THE MACARTHUR AMENDMENT

The addition of the MacArthur Amendment adds another troubling element. Under the MacArthur Amendment, states can seek a waiver from the protections for people with pre-existing conditions guaranteed by the Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare"). States may seek a waiver on essential health benefits and the ban on charging people with pre-existing conditions higher premiums for almost any reason a state may want to claim. To make this clear, this isn't a ban on all protections for pre-existing conditions, but this allows the states the right to choose whether they want to seek a waiver on these protections or not. The Republican solution to this is to add $8 billion over five years to a state fund under the American Health Care Plan (AHCA) that is meant for multiple purposes. They claim that this is supposed to help offset cuts in financial assistance. But that all depends upon how many states seek the waiver. If one state gets a waiver, $8 billion might be enough to cover all the people whose premiums go up. But if it is several states seeking this waiver, $8 billion will not be nearly enough.

The MacArthur Amendment

The MacArthur Amendment to Republicans’ Health Care Bill Will Hurt Millions (Families USA, May 2017)

PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS

If states choose to accept the MacArthur amendment's waiver against the ACA protections for people with pre-existing conditions, below are a series of things that would apply to people with pre-existing conditions.

50 Preexisting Conditions That Can Make You Lose Your Insurance If Trump and GOP Have Their Way (Our Future, 5-5-17)

$8 Billion Comes Nowhere Close to Meeting Republican Commitments to People with Pre-Existing Conditions (Common Dreams, 5-4-17)

ACA Repeal Plan Would Explode Premiums for People with Pre-Existing Conditions (Center for American Progress, 4-20-17)

WHO WILL GET HURT BY THE AMERICAN HEALTH CARE ACT?

This bill will hurt the sick, the poor, women, the elderly and racial minorities.

These are all the people the Republican health care bill will hurt (Vox, 5-4-17)

For Chronically Ill People Like Me, the ACA Repeal Is Life Or Death (Common Dreams, 3-6-17)

The GOP Health Bill Is an Assault on People of Color (Our Future, 3-12-17)

Why GOP plans on health care will hurt all women (CNN, 3-7-17)

Health ‘reform’ will make sexual assault survivors sick (The Hill, 5-3-17)

TAX CUTS FOR THE WEALTHY

One group that would not get hurt by the Republican Health Care Plan would be the wealthy. According to the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT), repealing the ACA's taxes alone will cost nearly $600 billion through 2026 – and likely close to $700 billion through 2027.

Senate's Obamacare replacement bill to boost health savings accounts (CNBC, 6-22-17)

This is the biggest pure giveaway to the rich in the Republican health bill (Vox, 6-22-17)

GOP Health Care Bill Would Cut About $765 Billion In Taxes Over 10 Years (NPR, 5-4-17)

Distribution of Major Tax Provisions in The American Health Care Act of 2017 (AHCA) as approved by House Ways and Means Committee, Excluding Changes to Health Insurance Tax Credits, by Expanded Cash Income Percentile, 2022 (Tax Policy Center, March 2017)

According to the Tax Policy Center, the top 20 percent of earners would receive 64 percent of the savings and the top 1 percent of earners (those making more than $772,000 in 2022) would receive 40 percent of the savings.

JCT: ACA Repeal Will Cut Taxes by At Least $600 Billion (Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, 3-7-17)  Download Data From the Joint Committee on Taxation

THE REPUBLICAN PARTY'S SICK PSYCHOLOGY ABOUT THE POOR

GOP's message to Americans: You're on your own (CNN, 5-8-17)

The Republican Party is sociopathic: If you didn’t know that already, the health care bill should make it clear (Salon, 5-6-17)

‘Mail my body to Paul Ryan’: An extremely morbid way to protest the GOP health-care bill (The Washington Post, 5-6-17)

Cases of Beer Rolling Into U.S. Capitol Were Just One Thing That Had People Howling About Health-Care Vote (People Politics, 5-4-17)

The “pro-life” party has become the party of death: New research on why Republicans hate poor and sick people (Salon, 5-4-17)

Exposing GOP Cruelty, Alabama Rep Says Pre-Existing Conditions Are Your Fault (Common Dreams, 5-2-17)

Paul Ryan says he fantasized about cutting health care for the poor at his college keggers (Think Progress, 3-17-17)

The poor ‘just don’t want healthcare’: Republican congressman faces backlash over comments (Washington Post, 3-10-17)

ORGANIZATIONS AGAINST THE REPUBLICAN HEALTH CARE PLAN

(Disclaimer: This is not a complete list of all groups against the House GOP plan. There are many more than what is listed. )

Groups opposing the American Health Care Act (Congressman Jim Cooper)

Over 50 organizations oppose the proposed healthcare plan that will make Americans will pay more for less. The list includes nurses, doctors, hospitals, teachers, churches, and more. You can see a few here:

MEDICAL OPPOSITION

Almost every major medical organization is apposed to this bill.

The Better Care Reconciliation Act will devastate our country’s health (Physicians for Reproductive Health, 6-22-17)

Draft Senate Republican Bill to Replace the Affordable Care Act Leaves Americans Worse Off (ANA, 6-22-17)

Prestigious medical groups denounce health care vote (CBS News, 5-5-17)

In Rare Unity, Hospitals, Doctors and Insurers Criticize Health Bill (New York Times, 5-4-17)

MEDICAL GROUPS

The American Medical Association     AARP    The American Nurses Association    The American College of Physicians    National Nurses United

National Physicians Alliance    Association of American Physicians and Surgeons    American Academy of Pediatrics    American Academy of Family Physicians

American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists     American Psychiatric Association American    American Osteopathic Association   Planned Parenthood

LIBERAL OPPOSITION

"We got caught flat-footed": liberals rush to stop a health bill they thought was dead (VOX, 5-4-17)

LIBERAL GROUPS

Families USA   MoveOn    American Bridge    Center for American Progress     Our Revolution    CREDO   Planned Parenthood

THE NEED FOR SINGLE PAYER

Single Payer is the only real solution to America's health care costs. It is the only system that can cover everyone.

Every other modern, developed nation has it.

Life and Death in America (World Future Fund Report)

The Need for Single Payer Health Insurance (World Future Fund Report)