Broken promises on healthcare

In the heated debate over repeal/replace, one fact was never truly emphasized: this is a $900 billion wealth transfer (tax cuts) from the middle class and poor to the top 2 percent and corporations. Trump promised “better, cheaper healthcare,” and “coverage for everyone.” Trumpcare reneges on those promises.

In our congressional district, 37,300 will lose insurance with Trumpcare; most have employer-sponsored insurance. That bill couldn’t get a vote, and U.S. Rep. Mark Sanford voted “yes.” In order to get the Freedom Caucus on board, they gutted the preexisting conditions ban and added high-risk pools to cover those who were priced out of insurance.

So, in addition to 23 million losing insurance, you are now exposed to rating based on preexisting conditions with your backup a high-risk pool that is funded at best at the 5 percent level. Sanford voted “yes.”

Speaker Paul Ryan’s tale that the preexisting ban still stands is a lie: 307,000 of us in this district have preexisting conditions. Trumpcare guts that. For what? Tax cut for the top 2 percent.

The bill was not debated publicly and passed with no CBO score, which devastated the first attempt. Now the Senate is working behind closed doors with no public hearings or committee evaluations to try to “improve” a disastrous bill.

Trump and Sanford reneged on campaign promises on healthcare. It’s clear this is a tax-cut bill disguised as a healthcare bill. Tax cuts for the 2 percent. Broken promises. Who knew?

This story was originally published June 1, 2017 at 10:36 PM with the headline "Broken promises on healthcare."