Washington (CNN)The White House says don't call it "Trumpcare." Critics are labeling it "Ryancare" and "Obamacare lite." Hospitals hate it and insurers are pushing the panic button.
The House GOP bill to repeal Obamacare is quickly becoming a bill that nobody wants to own.
Since its introduction this week, legislation from top House Republicans to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act has drawn a flood of opposition from lawmakers and a range of health care leaders and industry stakeholders, including major doctors and hospital groups. While the bill's writers and the White House confidently insist that the plan will pass, they have been far less eager to put their names on it.
GOP Rep. Kevin Brady, the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee and a key author of the Obamacare bill along with House Speaker Paul Ryan and Rep. Greg Walden, smiled and paused Thursday afternoon when asked by CNN about the nicknames "Trumpcare" and "Ryancare."
When another reporter suggested "Bradycare," the congressman chuckled and joked: "You know, you'll never get invited back to this, OK?"
"I don't care what it's called -- I just want to give Americans affordable health care that they choose," Brady said before walking away.
Earlier in the week, senior White House adviser Kellyanne Conway resisted calling the bill "Trumpcare."
"I didn't hear President Trump say to any of us, 'Hey, I want my name on that,'" Conway said on Fox News. "This is serious stuff. It's not about branding according to someone's name."
Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price suggested an alternative. "I prefer to call it Patient Care. This is about patients, at the end of the day," the former congressman and physician told reporters at the White House this week.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, an adviser to Trump, told CNN that the White House is "exactly right" to reject the name "Trumpcare."
"The minute you call it by a politician's name, it becomes vulnerable. ... If it refers to you, then they oppose the bill," Gingrich said. "What they want to do is find a way to get something out in the open where you're arguing over the ideas and not the personalities."
When former President Barack Obama began to craft a major health care overhaul legislation soon after taking the office, Republicans and critics began negatively referring to the bill as "Obamacare," a name that has stuck to this day. (Obama eventually came around to the nickname, saying: "I do care").
The widespread wariness about having the Obamacare repeal bill named after any one person in the party comes amid mounting criticism of the legislation. It's a clear sign of the grave political ramifications of the GOP efforts to overhaul a health care system that has provided coverage to some 20 million people -- and how much will be at stake in upcoming elections if Republicans' plan leads to millions of people losing their insurance.
Similarly, critics of the new GOP legislation are determined to make names like "Trumpcare" and "Ryancare" stick.
The conservative Club for Growth released a statement this week opposing the GOP bill and referring to it as "Ryancare," while Democratic lawmakers have long since taken to calling it "Trumpcare."
"Trumpcare, simply put, is a mess that gives you less for more. And Trumpcare doesn't discriminate against which Americans it hurts," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Thursday. "Trumpcare means higher costs and less coverage. Are you a woman? Trumpcare means higher costs and less coverage."
********************************************************************************************************************************************************
This afternoon on CNN, there was a clip showing Sen. Chuck Schumer saying, "If this new health care plan is so good, then why doesn't anyone want to claim credit and put THEIR name on it?"
Excellent point, Sen. Schumer!
Grandpoppy and I would like to see repair and improvements to the existing ACA plan so that we can afford it. However, by all credible accounts, it looks like we will never be able to afford the government's health care plan.
Now, for the good news, let's see what's for lunch today at Granny Annie's Politic Cafe. Looks like we will be serving a healthy and non-filling lunch today. Attempting to revise my normally high calorie, comfort menu to a low-calorie Republican inspired lunch. Today's entree consists of a prohibitively more expensive and less satisfying meal of a re-tweaked thin gal favorite, ...the "Chef Salad-lite".
"Boner Appertite!"
No comments:
Post a Comment