The GOP's Latest Health Care Replacement Bill Is Even More Heartless Than First Thought

http://www.alternet.org/economy/gops-latest-health-care-replacement-bill-even-more-heartless-first-thought

"...Many people who obtain health insurance through their employers—about half of the country—could be at risk of losing protections that limit out-of-pocket costs for catastrophic illnesses, due to a little-noticed provision of the House Republican health-care bill to be considered Thursday, health-policy experts say,” the WSJ report began. “Insurers in states that obtain the waivers [under the House bill] could be freed from a regulation mandating that they cover 10 particular types of health services, among them maternity care, prescription drugs, mental health treatment and hospitalization.”

This is not the only surprising analysis that’s appeared in the past 24 hours. A New York Times report noted how the bill will take billions away from K-12 public schools that’s now used for special education, where specialists are hired to help children with developmental disabilities.

“The new law would cut Medicaid by $880 billion, or 25 percent, over 10 years and impose a 'per-capita cap' on funding for certain groups of people, such as children and the elderly—a dramatic change that would convert Medicaid from an entitlement designed to cover any costs incurred to a more limited program,” the Times reported. “School districts receive about $4 billion in Medicaid reimbursements annually.”

The “winners” are, according to the report:

Tax cuts: Gives $600 billion in tax breaks, mostly to the rich and corporations;
Millionaires: Get a $50,000 tax break each year from repeal of the ACA’s taxes on the rich. A total of $275 billion in tax cuts goes mostly to the richest 2%;
400 richest families: Each gets a tax cut of $7 million a year, on average;
Insurance companies: Get $145 billion in tax breaks over 10 years;
Drug companies: Get $25 billion in tax breaks over 10 years;
Richest 2%: Get a $117 billion tax cut by eliminating a small Medicare tax on couples with incomes above $250,000 a year.
The “losers” are:

Health care cuts: Takes health care away from 24 million Americans;
Low-income Americans: Loss of $275 billion in revenue from wealthy tax cuts plays a big role in 14 million low-income kids and seniors losing Medicaid coverage;
Workers: 7 million will lose health care coverage from their employer;
Older Americans: Health insurance companies could increase premiums by up to $13,000 for older Americans;
Patients: No protections from huge drug price increases by pharmaceutical companies;
Medicare beneficiaries: Loss of $117 billion in revenue from wealthy tax cut shortens Medicare’s ability to pay full benefits by three years.