Will TrumpCare Be Worse Than ObamaCare?

Investors Business Daily ^ | 1/17/2017 | Editorial

[expat_panama]

Health Reform: Over the weekend, Donald Trump said he's nearly finished with an ObamaCare replacement plan. Based on the sketchy outline he provided, Trump's vision of health care reform is troubling.

In a phone interview with the Washington Post on Saturday, Trump said the replacement plan is "very much formulated down to the final strokes."

No problem there. Trump has the right political instincts about how to get rid of ObamaCare. Rather than repeal a portion of it through the reconciliation process — as Republican congressional leaders propose — then delay even that until a replacement plan gets hammered out, Trump figures it should all be done at the same time.

Democrats own ObamaCare, he notes, and partially repealing it while diddling around on a replacement will only shift blame for all future ObamaCare failures to Republicans.

But it's when Trump got around to describing his own plan — which no one has seen, apparently — that things got very worrisome.

"We're going to have insurance for everybody," Trump told the Post...

...making it hard for Hill Republicans to figure out where to start on a coherent replacement plan once ObamaCare is gone," reports Politico.

It's true that Trump has a tendency to speak out of school, and it's possible that the plan he's ready to unveil will end up appealing to conservatives.

But Republicans are already flailing about with ObamaCare's repeal. By creating confusion with loose talk about what will replace it, Trump is only making the situation worse.

[taxcontrol]

I dont and didnt want:

Hillarycare
Romneycare
Obamacare
or
Trumpcare

[mewzilla]

What, you don’t want the same plethora of insurance choices federal employees get? If that’s what Trump’s aiming for, I’m cool with it.

[SoFloFreeper]

No.

[I want the USA back]

“troubling”.
No. Nothing is known about what the final law will look like. Makes sense to wait.

[Lionheartusa1]

Apparently IBD isn’t a Trump fan . How about let’s see what we get first before casting doubt and fear .

[SMARTY]

Make the f*&#ing thing VOLUNTARY... then it will have to compete with other plans... it’s called Capitalism and it works!

[expat_panama]

 

Hey & Good Morning!!

Just an hour before opening bell w/ stock indexes closing off yesterday a half % and futures back up a bit now.  Gold and silver plod along flat in spite of their futures traders fears.

A flood already in progress today:

7:00 AM MBA Mortgage Applications Index
7:00 AM MBA Mortgage Index
8:30 AM CPI
8:30 AM Core CPI
9:15 AM Industrial Production
9:15 AM Capacity Utilization
10:00 AM NAHB Housing Market Index
2:00 PM Fed's Beige Book
4:00 PM Net Long-Term TIC Flows

[for me the CPI should be interesting...]

Soooo much news:

A Warning to the President-Elect From Friedrich Hayek Cass Sunstein, BloombergView

Trump v. the Dollar: Why Investors Are Right to Be Nervous Anthony Mirhaydari, TFT

The Bear Market in Bonds Already Looks Shaky Scott Dorf, BloombergBusinessWeek

Trump Will Make Volatility and Uncertainty Great Again Doug Kass, RealMoney

Who Is Driving Policy Train at Trump Headquarters?Jeff Harding, Independent Mind

What You Need to Know About the Republican Tax Squabble Shawn Tully, Fortune

Recommended threads:

• No, Mr. President-Elect, the Dollar Is Not 'Too Strong'
• Copyright Vultures Are At It Again!
• The Washington Post Takes Anti-Trump Bias To A New Level
• Wal-Mart to add about 10,000 retail jobs in the US
• Economic Prosperity in the Digital Age
• Roundheads Against King Corn: Why the Renewable Fuel Standard Deserves To Die

[jazminerose]

I’m in the Wait and See camp.

There are ways to do this via the private sector. Just don’t make it mandatory.

[PGalt]

Obamacare, Hillarycare, JohnRobertscare, Romneycare? Worse? NOT POSSIBLE.

[taxcontrol]

I dont want the government involved in healthcare PERIOD

[Tucker39]

What kind of whimpering doofus would even ASK such a question? Has the person ever looked at photos of ALL properties around the globe bearing the Trump name? Are ANY of them less than fabulous? The man will not tolerate mediocrity.

[DoodleDawg]

If that’s what Trump’s aiming for, I’m cool with it.

How much will you be cool with paying for it?

[BitWielder1]

It would take every Democrat in the House and Senate to come up with something worse than 0bamacare.

[DoodleDawg]

Obamacare, Hillarycare, JohnRobertscare, Romneycare? Worse? NOT POSSIBLE.

Never underestimate Congress's ability to make things worse.

[mewzilla]

Good luck with that one. It’s a regulated industry. That said, I want what federal employees get: lots AND lots of insurance choices. In as free a market as we can get.

[expat_panama]

see what we get first before casting doubt and fear

Sounds a bit like "we have to pass Obamacare to see what's in it".  Right now we got Trump being quoted as saying he wants gov't health insurance for all that's "very much formulated down to the final strokes."   My bottom line is we don't need Obamacare taxes replaced with Trumpcare taxes.

[DoodleDawg]

Are ANY of them less than fabulous?

Fabulous is expensive.

[SharpRightTurn]

“’We’re going to have insurance for everybody,’ Trump told the Post...”

Mandates (i.e., more government coercion)?

Uncle Sugar sends a free policy to everyone’s door ($25 trillion deficit, here we come)?

?

[palmer]

Trump is a populist with conservative tendencies. I don't expect a perfect result, but he has already made it clear there will be more HSAs and other ways to drive down costs. There is no good reason that health insurance should pay for anything other than a catastrophe either an accident or illness with HSA's and alternatives covering the rest.

I would like to see alternatives like government health research dollars turned into chronic illness solutions. Otherwise that is left to drug companies. Speaking of which, Trump will roll back onerous FDA restrictions that are mainly driven by butt covering and bureaucracy.

There are elderly I know with more than a dozen doctors all sucking down medicare dollars. Many doctors lurk in hospitals waiting to pounce on any poor soul who gets admitted so they can check them for proper toe function or other useless things.

The whole hospital system has to be changed from a patient = cash cow, hook em up, mentality to a minimal acute care staff. That will be a long and arduous process and must start with cost control by patients and insurance companies. Some people are going to complain mightily but we must ignore the few for the good of the many.