@realDonaldTrump
The Senate must go to a 51 vote majority instead of current 60 votes. Even parts of full Repeal need 60. 8 Dems control Senate. Crazy! 9:26 AM - 18 Jul 2017
The problem with Trump’s tweet is that it was Republican Senators who sunk his bill. Even if the Senate went to 51 votes to pass all legislation, his bill would still fail because Republicans do not support it.
The issue isn’t with the filibuster. The problem is that people don’t support the healthcare bill. This outburst is typical Trump. When he loses, the game was unfair, or the rules need changing, or it was rigged. Failure is never Donald Trump’s fault. In the case of the Republican health care bill, Trump is blaming Democrats and the rules of the Senate. Mitch McConnell isn’t going to gut the filibuster so that Trump can get a “win,” because he still wouldn’t win if the filibuster were gone.
Trump doesn’t understand how his own government works. A stand alone Obamacare repeal bill will not have the votes to pass the Senate. It doesn’t matter if the threshold is 51 or 60. Trump is in full tantrum mode, but the person he will never be angry at for his constant failure is Donald Trump.
Your anger and ego will always reveal your true self.
There is dissension in the ranks. Word on the Hill is that Cornyn, the majority whip, didn't see the defections that sunk the bill coming.
And if I were McCain I'd be a little peeved right now with what all has been said as of late. He might find a backbone to actually act on his feelings of being troubled.
"A great democracy has got to be progressive, or it will soon cease to be either great or a democracy..." - TR
"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little." - FDR
(07-18-2017, 11:53 AM)Belsnickel Wrote: There is dissension in the ranks. Word on the Hill is that Cornyn, the majority whip, didn't see the defections that sunk the bill coming.
And if I were McCain I'd be a little peeved right now with what all has been said as of late. He might find a backbone to actually act on his feelings of being troubled.
How did they not have this?
Do you think it's more the GOP represents a broader group of people so can't reach am agreement? Or that they just don't know how to work together?
Your anger and ego will always reveal your true self.
(07-18-2017, 11:56 AM)GMDino Wrote: How did they not have this?
Do you think it's more the GOP represents a broader group of people so can't reach am agreement? Or that they just don't know how to work together?
Right now the party in Congress, and in particular the Senate, is just too broad. McConnell started doling out pork to try to win people over, but the problem that causes is the more conservative folks didn't want that money touched. They wanted the pool to be used for tax cuts for the rich. Then there was the words from McConnell that the Medicaid cuts probably wouldn't really happen. Lee and Moran are both more conservative members of the Senate and so this wheeling and dealing and the fact the bill wouldn't go far enough for their tastes swayed them.
"A great democracy has got to be progressive, or it will soon cease to be either great or a democracy..." - TR
"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little." - FDR
(07-18-2017, 11:56 AM)GMDino Wrote: How did they not have this?
Do you think it's more the GOP represents a broader group of people so can't reach am agreement? Or that they just don't know how to work together?
I'm good with having a hard time getting everyone on board no matter which party. It shouldn't be easy.
“History teaches that grave threats to liberty often come in times of urgency, when constitutional rights seem too extravagant to endure.”-Thurgood Marshall
"A great democracy has got to be progressive, or it will soon cease to be either great or a democracy..." - TR
"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little." - FDR
(07-18-2017, 11:56 AM)GMDino Wrote: How did they not have this?
Do you think it's more the GOP represents a broader group of people so can't reach am agreement? Or that they just don't know how to work together?
I think this is going to become more of a common thing regardless of which side holds majority, unless one of the two parties change a whole lot between now and then.
Seems like both parties are starting to be more fragmented as parts of them go more radical, parts of them go more moderate, and the rest stay where they were. Saw it with Clinton/Sanders/Alt-Left for the Ds in this election, and I think it happened with the Tea Party/Republican split, and was compounded by the Alt-Right in this election.
They can gather together to fight off the other side, but once that enemy is no longer there, they're probably just going to fight among themselves. That's my theory for now, at least.
Quote:Team Trump Used Obamacare Money to Run PR Effort Against It
[color=rgba(2, 20, 31, 0.55)]The administration is tasked with overseeing the health care law. Instead, it has made a major social media push to undermine it. [/color]
The Trump administration has spent taxpayer money meant to encourage enrollment in the Affordable Care Act on a public relations campaign aimed at methodically strangling it.
The effort, which involves a multi-pronged social media push as well as video testimonials designed at damaging public opinion of President Obama’s health care law, is far more robust and sustained than has been publicly revealed or realized.
The strategy has caught the eye of legal experts and Democrats in Congress, who have asked government agencies to investigate whether the administration has misused funds and engaged in covert propaganda in its efforts to damage and overturn the seven-year-old health care law. It’s also roiled Obama administration veterans, who argue that the current White House is not only abdicating its responsibilities to administer the law but sabotaging it in an effort to facilitate its undoing by Congress.
“I’m on a daily basis horrified by leaders at the Department of Health and Human Services who seem intent on taking healthcare away from the constituents they are supposed to serve,” former HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in an interview with The Daily Beast. “We always believed that delivering health and human services was the mission of the department. That seems to not be the mission of the current leadership.”
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) declined repeated attempts to discuss its PR efforts. But more than half-a-dozen sources at various agencies and on the Hill outlined the scope of the anti-Obamacare push in conversations with The Daily Beast.
Under Secretary Tom Price’s stewardship, HHS has filmed and produced a series of testimonial videos featuring individuals claiming to have been harmed by Obamacare. Those “viral” videos have had decidedly limited reach, often gathering somewhere between 100 and 200 views each. But the Department has made a heavy investment in them nonetheless. To date, it has released 23 videos. A source familiar with the video production says that there have been nearly 30 interviews conducted in total, from which more than 130 videos have been produced.
Each testimonial has the same look, feel, and setting, with the subjects sitting before a gray backdrop and speaking directly to camera about how Obamacare has harmed their lives. They were all shot at the Department’s internal studio, according to numerous sources who worked for or continue to work at HHS. Under the Obama administration, it was customary that such videos were recorded and edited by an outside contractor who then billed the department for its work. One former official said that the contractor would charge roughly $550 an hour.
Funding for those videos would come from the Department’s “consumer information and outreach” budget, which was previously used for the purposes of advertising the ACA and encouraging enrollment. The Trump administration has requested $574 million for this specific budget item, though HHS declined to detail how much it has devoted to specific line items. Two sources familiar with the videos say that HHS continues to draw money from the outreach fund, even though its objective has switched from promoting the ACA to highlighting the law’s critics and its shortcomings.
Getting the subjects to HHS’ studio also cost taxpayer money. In this case, the White House itself found individuals, often through local news stories and Republican Party connections, and flew them to Washington, D.C., to participate in roundtables to discuss Obamacare.
From there, they were whisked across town to HHS headquarters.
“We had no clue [this was happening],” Tracie Sanchez of Lima, Ohio, told The Daily Beast. “That just popped up when we got there.”
A small business owner who kept her company at 49 employees for many years to avoid Obamacare’s mandate that larger employers cover workers’ health care, Sanchez said it was an “honor” to have been invited to the White House and to have appeared in an HHS video. But others who were filmed felt more ambivalent about their experience.
Dr. Ryan Stanton of Kentucky is critical of Obamacare but also acknowledges that the legislation has been beneficial in certain respects.
He’s also uncertain about Republican-authored replacements. When he sat down for a recording at the HHS studio he said it “felt like they were pushing for a harder line against Obamacare” than he was delivering.
"let it fail"
Your anger and ego will always reveal your true self.
Quote:“I don’t think mine was the exact message they were looking for of, ‘Oh, let’s march against Obamacare,’” he recalled. “It was clearly an effort to push the repeal and replace.”
Sabotaging the Law From Within
Following the failure of Senate Republicans to pass an Obamacare repeal and replace package this week, President Trump said that he would allow the law to fall apart as a means of compelling congressional Democrats to the negotiating table.
It’s a strategy designed to test the opposition’s capacity to absorb human and political suffering. It’s also one Trump has the power to pursue.
Under the Affordable Care Act, both HHS and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have broad authorities to administer the law—from implementing and relaxing penalties, to working with commissioners to shore up markets.
The Obama White House often used these administrative powers to circumvent efforts by congressional Republicans to undermine the ACA. Trump and company have gone in a diametrically different direction.
CMS has put out debatable numbers that make it appear that state health insurance exchanges are on less stable footing. The White House has wavered routinely on whether to pay cost-sharing reductions that insurers—and virtually every health economist—say are necessary to keep markets stable. And during the tail end of the 2017 enrollment period, HHS pulled television advertising and temporarily suspended social media efforts alerting consumers to the final sign up date.
Then there is Twitter. The official HHS account has become a clearinghouse for anti-Obamacare messaging. Since the Trump administration came into office, @HHSGov has mentioned “Obamacare” 13 specific times, 10 of which could be described as openly hostile of the law. Twice the account has re-tweeted Secretary Price’s own account when it has explicitly encouraged legislative efforts to undo Obamacare. The first was on May 4, when Price applauded the house for passing its bill, the American Health Care Act. The second came on June 5, when Price used the hashtag #RepealAndReplace.
Perhaps the most glaring efforts to publicly undermine the ACA, has come on the Department of Health and Human Service’s own website. In the Obama administration, this piece of online real estate featured direct links for consumers to apply for coverage and infographic breakdowns of the ACA’s benefits and critical dates. Since Trump was inaugurated, it has been retrofitted into an bulletin board for information critical of the law.
Currently, for example, the banner image on the site leads to a page explaining the ways in which the ACA “has done damage to this market and created great burdens for many Americans.” The “Health Care Home” section no longer contains a page on “Delivery System Reform” and “Facts & Figures.” And instead of a readily available link for visitors to access the main sign-up portal for obtaining health care coverage, the site has a post criticizing the now infamous healthcare.gov and encouraging people to useprivate sector web brokers.
Subtle changes have been made to the “About the ACA” section of the website as well that reflect the current administration’s hostility toward to the law.
* The “Plain Language Benefits” section has been scrapped as has the section on “ER Access & Doctor Choice.”
* Under the “pre-existing conditions” section, the Trump version has removed any mention of women no longer being able to be charged more than men for coverage.
* Under the “Young Adult Coverage” section, the Trump HHS site no longer notes that before the ACA insurance companies could have removed enrolled children at the age of 19.
* Mentions of the “Affordable Care Act” have been replaced with “current law.”
* And while the Obama HHS site had a section noting that the ACA forced insurance companies to provide “easy-to-understand” summaries of benefit and coverage packages, the Trump site has no such page.
Ultimately, the HHS website is a place to obtain information on Obamacare but not a vehicle of obtaining coverage under the law. But changes have been made to healthcare.gov as well, and they’re directly related to consumer education. Under the “Get Answers” section of the site, there no longer is a “Cost & Savings” tab that allows visitors to find out where to find prices, if they have to pay penalties, or if they qualify for savings.
How much damage these alterations have had on Obamacare is ultimately unknowable. But those whose job it once was to encourage enrollment insist that the burying of information, the pausing of advertising, and creation of policy confusion has collectively had a profound effect.
“I think uncertainty causes people to freeze,” said Andy Slavitt, the former acting administrator at CMS. “So I think it is quite impactful.
And look, you’re not hired into the administration to decide whether you agree with the law you’re asked to execute. That’s not your job...
Congress appropriates funds for you to carry out laws that they passed, not to spend those funds on activities that counteract those laws.”
Brushing Up Against the Letter of the Law
On Feb. 17, 2017, Sens. Patty Murray (D-WA) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) wrote Price a letter raising their concerns with the changes HHS had made to healthcare.gov and its decision to pull enrollment-deadline advertising (PDF). On June 6, 2017, Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Murray wrote the HHS’ inspector general requesting an investigation of the agency’s “actions to undermine the ongoing implementation” of the ACA (PDF). A week later, four leading congressional Democrats wrote a letter to the comptroller general of the Government Accountability Office (GAO) requesting an investigation into the various ways in which HHS used its public relations resources to help promote repeal of Obamacare (PDF).
Their offices tell The Daily Beast that they have not yet received responses from the administration. As for GAO, however, there is ample precedent to suggest that it will look into the matter. In 2010, the office examined HHS’ decision to pay contractors for help producing television advertisement concerning changes Obamacare made to the Medicare. It concluded that HHS had operated within the law because the ads did not constitute “a purely partisan activity”—which it defined as “completely devoid of any connection with official functions” and “completely political in nature.”
Years later, the GAO came down differently on another Obama agency. In December 2015, the office ruled that the Obama administration’s Environmental Protection Agency had engaged in “covert propaganda” in its use of social media to encourage public support for its clean-water regulations.
Both Murray and Wyden’s office said that they are waiting to hear back from the GAO on whether the Trump administration has engaged in similarly out-of-bounds conduct. But administrative law experts say that the department is coming close to, if not fully crossing, the line of legality. HHS is allowed to use funds for purposes of educating the public but it is prohibited under its appropriations statute from engaging in overt advocacy—such as encourage the passage or defeat of legislation.
The testimonial videos venture into the realm of political influencing, said Cary Coglianese, the Edward B. Shils professor of law and professor of political science at the University of Pennsylvania. But it was the tweets from Price and the HHS account—the ones encouraging and applauding passage of legislation—that drifted into legally troublesome areas.
“It certainly all sounds highly problematic and inappropriate,” said Coglianese. “It does seem very much akin to the kind of propaganda that the GAO faulted EPA for engaging in. The tweets by the Secretary are clearly seeking to shape public attitudes about Obamacare and whether it should be repealed and replaced. He is explicit about that. And it is highly unusual and, I think, problematic when government officials engage in that kind of public outreach.”
Your anger and ego will always reveal your true self.
“You are basically saying from the moment the insurance, you’re 21 years old, you start working and you’re paying $12 a year for insurance, and by the time you’re 70, you get a nice plan,” the president said.
The Washington Post’s Philip Bump theorized that Trump mistook the way health insurance works with the way that life insurance works, although he still wasn’t certain where Trump got the “$12 a year” portion of his claim from.
Now Christopher Long, a Kentucky-based data scientist, thinks he’s found the answer.
In a tweet that quickly went viral on Saturday, Long theorized that Trump thinks you can get $12 health insurance because he saw a commercial for baby life insurance that regularly airs on Fox News.
“Why does Trump think health insurance costs $12/year? Because Gerber advertises life insurance for babies on Fox News for about that price,” Long wrote. “That’s right, Trump’s understanding of health insurance is so non-existent that he doesn’t even know it’s not the same as life insurance. Human life means so little to Trump he can’t even be bothered to spend seconds to understand critical things on the crudest, simplest level.”
[url=https://twitter.com/octonion] Follow Christopher D. Long@octonion
Human life means so little to Trump he can't even be bothered to spend seconds to understand critical things on the crudest, simplest level. 12:28 PM - 22 Jul 2017
The Gerber baby life insurance commercial promotes life insurance that costs $1 a week, which would work out to $52 per year. Additionally, the plan offers children $10,000 in insurance protection, which doubles to $20,000 when the child turns 18.
What’s more, the ad tells parents that the plan “builds cash value over time that you can borrow from later,” which may have been what Trump was talking about when he said that “by the time you’re 70, you get a nice plan.”
Watch the ad for yourself below.
Your anger and ego will always reveal your true self.
(07-25-2017, 09:56 AM)GMDino Wrote: Almost put this in the "Stuff Trump says" thread but since it relates to healthcare and his total lack of understanding it....
(07-25-2017, 10:13 AM)CageTheBengal Wrote: ...Still waiting for his business skills to kick in and save the day.
Sadly unless it's branding Trump doesn't know what to do.
I think he just did. We're outsourcing Medicaid to Gerber. For as little as $52 a year, you get health insurance and $20,000 when you turn 18 years of age.
Quote:GRAND JUNCTION, Colorado (CNN) -- In an unexpectedly personal moment during a town hall meeting Saturday, President Obama invoked the death of his grandmother as he took to task critics of overhauling health care.
Obama criticized those he said reduce the health care debate to scare tactics and mischaracterizations.
"I know what it's like to watch somebody you love, who's aging, deteriorate, and have to struggle with that," Obama said, pausing at times to finish his sentence.
Obama's comments came in response to remarks from an audience member about the increasingly contentious tone the health care debate is taking, in Congress and in town hall meetings held by lawmakers around the country.
Obama criticized opponents of health care overhaul, especially members of Congress who he said reduce the debate to scare tactics and mischaracterizations.
"What you can't do -- or you can, but you shouldn't -- is start saying things like we want to set up 'death panels' to pull the plug on grandma," he said, referring to rumors earlier this week that a health care bill passed by a House committee included setting up so-called "death panels" to decide whether senior citizens get treatment.
"So the notion that somehow I ran for public office or members of Congress are in this so that they can go around pulling the plug on grandma ... when you start making arguments like that, it's simply dishonest," he said.
Grand Junction is Obama's third and final stop in a series of town hall meetings in the West to promote health care reform, his top domestic priority.
Several audience members challenged Obama on the issue of a public health plan option.
Zach Lahn, a student from the University of Colorado at Boulder, pressed Obama on whether the government would have an unfair advantage against insurance companies that have to make a profit to survive. Watch Obama talk about health care reform
Obama said that such a plan's purpose would be to "keep the insurance companies honest" by creating competition, not run them out of business.
He also suggested that no final decision has been made on whether to keep the public option in the final bill.
"This is a legitimate debate to have. All I'm saying is, though, that the public option, whether we have it or we don't have it, is not the entirety of health care reform. This is just one sliver of it, one aspect of it. And by the way, it's both the right and the left that have become so fixated on this that they forget everything else," he said.
Obama acknowleged there is no "silver bullet" solution to health care overhaul. But he insisted that the system needs to change to avoid "a world of hurt" down the road.
"There is no perfect, painless silver bullet out there that solves everyone's problem, that gives everyone perfect health care for free. I wish there was," Obama said.
"What I can do is try to sort though what are all the options available, be realistic about where we're going on health care, say to myself if we keep on doing what we're doing, we're in a world of hurt."
If health care reform fails, Medicare and Medicaid risk going broke, state and federal budgets will be unsustainable, "and then we're going to have to make some really bad decisions where we have no good options," Obama said.
Obama spoke of the need for passionate debate on the issue, and assured the audience that productive discussion was taking place around the country, in contrast to the heated shouting matches shown on television.
"Health care touches all of our lives in a profound way. It's only natural that this debate is an emotional one. And I know there's been a lot of attention paid to some of the town hall meetings that are going on around the country -- especially those where tempers have flared," he said.
"But what you haven't seen are the many constructive meetings going on all over the country," he said. "I think that reflects the American people far more than what we've seen covered on television these past few days."
Obama has said consensus can be reached on health care reform, but contentious town hall meetings held by lawmakers around the country have created a different impression.
The White House, and many Democrats in Congress, hope that by building support in the West, the president can start to turn the tide. The region is largely Republican, but Obama made some inroads in the latest election, winning Colorado and losing Montana by just a slim margin.
Obama told the mostly supportive audience that an overhaul of health care policy will protect people with insurance from the "arbitrary" policies of the insurance industry while lowering their health care expenses.
Insurance companies no longer will be able to place caps on benefits or charge out-of-pocket expenses on top of premiums, Obama told the cheering crowd.
"No one is holding the insurance companies accountable for these practices. But we will. We're going to ban arbitrary caps on benefits. And we'll place limits on how much you can be charged for out-of-pocket expenses," he said.
The practice of canceling or denying coverage because of pre-existing conditions will also come to an end, he said.
Can any of you, even the most strident of Trump supporters imagine him having even one such town hall meeting? Let alone a series of them?
With people that might disagree with him?
Your anger and ego will always reveal your true self.
Quote: The Senate narrowly voted on Tuesday to begin debate on a bill to repeal major provisions of the Affordable Care Act, taking a pivotal step forward after the dramatic return of Senator John McCain, who cast a crucial vote despite his diagnosis of brain cancer.
Vice President Mike Pence cast the tie-breaking vote.
The 51-50 vote came only a week after the Republican effort to dismantle a pillar of former President Barack Obama’s legacy appeared all but doomed. It marked an initial win for President Trump, who pushed, cajoled and threatened senators over the last days to at least begin debating the repeal of the health care law.
BREAKING: Insurers say "skinny" repeal will destabilize markets and lead to "steep premium increases and diminished choices" pic.twitter.com/xmQHZtEprs
"A great democracy has got to be progressive, or it will soon cease to be either great or a democracy..." - TR
"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little." - FDR
Quote:The Senate parliamentarian advised senators Thursday that another GOP healthcare proposal will need 60 votes for passage because it violates Senate rules.
The GOP's repeal and replace plan, which failed on the floor Tuesday, contained a provision that would allow states to waive some ObamaCare requirements, including one that says insurers must cover 10 certain benefits in all of their plans.
But the parliamentarian advised that the language would violate the rules of reconciliation, the fast track budget maneuver Republicans are using that only needs 51 votes and is immune to Democratic filibuster.
"A great democracy has got to be progressive, or it will soon cease to be either great or a democracy..." - TR
"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little." - FDR
McCain joined 2 other Republicans to defeat efforts for a "skinny repeal" of the ACA 51-49 at 1 am this morning.
Apparently Trump now says they need to do what he has always said and just let the ACA fail and then come back. How many times in a month can he change his stance on the ACA?
McCain joined 2 other Republicans to defeat efforts for a "skinny repeal" of the ACA 51-49 at 1 am this morning.
Apparently Trump now says they need to do what he has always said and just let the ACA fail and then come back. How many times in a month can he change his stance on the ACA?
Well that should be it for this week...he'll be golfing this weekend.
Then his three week vacation starts on the 8/3.
Your anger and ego will always reveal your true self.
Donald J. Trump
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