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EGACY Yesterday. Today. Tomorrow.
WEDNESDAYS • March 29, 2017
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Obamacare prevails, Trump is shutdown
Because the Republican bill failed to pass, millions will keep their health insurance as Obamacare prevailed again last week. Donald Trump has faced defeat in his first real legislative showdown as president. In what some may describe as a case of mutiny or rebellion, House Republicans were forced to face legislation pulled to repeal the Affordable Care Act from consideration on the House floor. The end result is former President Barack Obama’s signature achievement while president living on and the many Americans that depended on a subsidy to help pay for healthcare still receiving assistance. “We’re going to be living with Obamacare for the foreseeable future,” said House Speaker Paul
Ryan. For three months Trump and Republican leaders led a strongwilled effort to end affordable healthcare that Obama worked tirelessly to put in place. All Republicans weren’t on board however, exposing a divide among the party. They were 10 to 15 votes short of what they needed to pass the repeal bill. Trump and Ryan made an executive decision to withdraw the bill rather than face the embarrassment of its downfall on the House floor. Still, Trump attempted to claim victory in the face of defeat. “The best thing that could happen
is exactly what happened,” he said. “Obamacare unfortunately will explode. It’s going to have a very bad year.” Trump is predicting more premium increases and for Democrats to come to the table requesting help. “Democrats will come to us and say, ‘Look, let’s get together and get a great health care bill or plan that’s really great for the people of our country,’” Trump said. A major reason for the bill’s demise was the opposition of members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, which wanted more aggressive steps to lower insurance costs and to dismantle federal regulation of
insurance products. The bill would have repealed tax penalties for people without health insurance, rolled back federal insurance standards, reduced subsidies for the purchase of private insurance and set new limits on spending for Medicaid, which covers more than 70 million low-income people. The bill would have also repealed hundreds of billions of dollars in taxes imposed by the Affordable Care Act and would also have cut off federal funds to Planned Parenthood for one year. The bill never won over
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