The Trump Administration’s new budget provides a 10% increase ($54 billion) in military spending. What are the context and the rationales?

The Republican House proposal would do the following:

1.     Eliminate the penalties on individuals and employers requiring the purchase, offer and acceptance of health coverage beginning in 2017.

2.     Reduce the federal Medicaid matching rate for the new eligibles to the state’s traditional match beginning in 2020; in California this would reduce the match from 90/10 to 50/50 for new medically indigent adult eligibles from that point forward.

3.     Cap the growth in federal Medicaid matching payments to the growth in the medical CPI beginning in 2020

4.     Repeal the income and cost adjusted refundable tax credits for individual coverage and replace them with flat, age adjusted refundable tax credits beginning in 2020. Extend them to out of market plans.  

5.     Appropriate $80 billion for state grants to stabilize the individual market beginning in 2018

6.     Replace the 3/1 age rate band with a 5/1 age rate band in 2018

7.     Eliminate the 60% actuarial value floor for coverage sold in the individual and small employer markets beginning in 2020

8.     Require a 30% premium surcharge on individual coverage if an individual is uninsured for more than 63 days a year

9.     Repeal the surcharges on the Medicare payroll tax for high income individuals in 2018 – savings of $275 billion

10.  Repeal the annual tax on health insurers in 2018 – savings of $145 billion

11.   Delay the Cadillac benefits excise tax until 2026 – savings of $48 billion.

The Congressional Budget Office made several key findings in their analysis of the Republican “repeal and replace” of the Affordable Care Act legislation today: 1) the numbers of uninsured Americans will increase by 24 million by 2026-- i.e. that many people will lose coverage due to the House Republican plan, 2) the deficit will be reduced by $337 billion by 2026, 3) private individual insurance premiums would rise by 15-20% over the next two years then fall by 10% by 2026.

The House Republican's Repeal and Replace Proposal has six key elements.

As Republicans in the House begin to develop their legislation to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, independent analysts are beginning to assess the impacts on states and individuals.

I hope you will consider voting for Proposition H. It would authorize a ¼ cent sales tax in Los Angeles to pay for services to reduce homelessness for the next 10 years.

I have two grandchildren in public schools and three more on the way to public schools so the performance of these schools is highly personal for me. Furthermore the performance of the public education system for all our children is the key to a fast growing economy and an educated citizenry making good choices for our nation’s future. That’s why I’m supporting Nick Melvoin and Allison Holdorff Polhill for LAUSD District 4. 

The Trump Administration is off to a rocky start in part due to difficulties with fictional facts. While that did not appear to matter too much on the campaign trail rallies and speeches; it starts to matter a lot when you are truly governing a large nation.

Donald Trump won the Presidency despite alienating and offending large sections of the US population and having the largest negatives of any person elected to the Presidency. His actions since becoming President have continued this pattern, but it has now expanded to almost every other nation of the globe, including the United Nations itself.

To quote Lin Manuel in Hamilton, “immigrants, we get the job done.”

The Voyage of the Damned recounts the Jewish refugees on the ship Saint Louis turned away from Cuba, the United States and Canada just before the Second World War. An anti-Semitic group of State Department officials, led by Breckenridge Long, did everything possible to obstruct Jewish immigration to the US in advance of the Holocaust at a time when anti-Semitism pervaded parts of the United States and its government.

n California, we are more threatened than most states by TrumpCare. At the best, President will follow through on his promises and all Californians, (indeed all Americans but the undocumented) will have excellent coverage and lower out of pocket payments for their health care. At the worst, he will follow through on his promises and close to 16 million Californians will lose their coverage. The state of California will lose at least $20 billion annually in federal assistance for its health care programs to low, moderate and middle income Californians if the Affordable Care Act is repealed.

We urge you to build upon rather than repeal the Affordable Care Act. It is the most important advance in health coverage since Medicare and Medicaid were adopted in the mid 60’s. We agree with you on the need to cover every American, the need to reduce escalating prescription drug prices and to further reduce deductibles.

The Congressional Budget Office today released its analysis of the selective repeal of the Affordable Care Act as recently approved by Republicans in the House and Senate. Premiums in the individual market would initially spike by 20-25% and eventually would double due to repeal. The numbers of the uninsured would grow by 18 million in year 1, then increasing to 27 million and eventually grow to 32 million.

There is not yet a coherent plan, but there are disparate elements being discussed by Republicans that could be put forward; such as block grants, expenditure caps, vouchers, Exchanges, refundable tax credits, tax deductibility, carrots and sticks for enrollment, high risk pools, multi-state purchasing, underwriting reforms, high deductible plans, health savings accounts, limited benefits, and increased out of pocket.  The vision is tied to increased consumer exposure to the costs of health care – i.e. higher copays, higher deductibles – and reductions in federal health spending. The mantras may become de-regulate, de-federalize and privatize.

The federal government is the largest source of financing for the American health system through Medicare, Medicaid, tax expenditures, and now the Affordable Care Act. This could change under the Trump Administration, and it is vitally important to understand those changes that are being considered.

Those old Crosby Stills and Nash lyrics have been running though my mind as the newly empowered Republicans in Congress and the Trump Administration prepare to run amok on health care coverage for all Americans. No, not jobs, not the economy, not Russian hacking, nor ISIS. It’s taking away health coverage that occupies their attention.

Moby Dick was the mystical Great White Whale that Captain Ahab pursued to the ultimate destruction of his boat, himself and nearly all his crew. The Affordable Care Act has been the Republican Party’s Great White Whale for the past eight years, and now they are finally closing on their prey intent on its repeal and destruction.

As we enter the holiday season, I’d like to take a moment to honor and thank ITUP staff. We have been together for 20 years, you made the program what it has been and helped California to become one of the nation’s leaders in implementing the Affordable Care Act and drastically reducing the numbers of uninsured California residents.