67,000 Coloradoans just got a big screw from the GOP Congress.

67,000 Coloradoans just got a big screw from the GOP Congress. They are in danger of  getting GOPCare from a party that cares less about those numbers who would lose their affordable insurance no acquired through Obamacare (Affordable Care Act). The House of Representatives has just joined the Senate with a maneuver to strip Obamacare of all subsidies which were used to make health care premiums affordable for 11 million Americans and to remove any requirement that those eligible to get Obamacare to pay for their insurance. .which was the funding mechnism to cover pre-existing conditions.The effect will not happen this year, but stay tuned for the next year. 

This was done on a strictly partisan vote using a trick called budget reconcilliation that can be passed by 51 votes in the Senate and therefore is filibuster proof. Where the Democrats will play a role is the vote on the replacement, which will be subject to filibuster, requiring the GOP to be more bi-partisan. This is where the rubber meets the road and is the chance for Democrats to shape any replacement.

Pres. Trump is advocating "health insurance for everyone". The question is: what kind of insurance?

Obamacare provides standards of what should be covered that have many benefits and provides financial stability to the program because it spreads the cost around by enlarging the pool of healthy paying into the entire system. The requirements that health care insurance in the Obamacare (ACA) law must provide comprehensive coverage is going to be under attack by the GOP and even Donald Trump. With some derision, this comprehensive approach is being called "cadillac" insurance (not to be confused by "cadillac" insurance provided by some unions). That is a code word for reducing benefits, weakening your coverage, and making you pay more from your own pocket.

Saving Obamacare is personal to me and my family . See if you fit into any of these situations:

A partially disabled friend for the first time could get proper medical attention for a chronic medical problem since he qualified for expanded Medicaid provided by Obamacare. My self employed son whose income level was too high for a subsidy still got coverage at much lower cost than before Obamacare and much better coverage with free annual checkups and cancer screenings. My daughter is contemplating leaving employment with employer insurance and will not have to go health insurance naked when she enters the private sector and starts a new business. She can get affordable health care coverage via Obamacare, probably made affordable by a subsidy because of her greatly reduced income while starting up the business. A daughter, breast cancer survivor with employer insurance, can now get mammograms and annual checks ups without high copays, and she does not have to worry anymore about life time caps on benefits. Before Obamacare, her out of pocket life-saving treatments were $20K. Even only one follow-up mammogram was covered. Obamacare relieved much of that burden. Because of the cost savings and the ACA to Medicare resulting my drug donut hole is covered and my Medicare has a 12 year extended life to 2029 and I, too, do not have copays for annual physicals and cancer screenings as I once did.

The question will be how many of these benefits will become part of Trumpcare? Would removing these standards and benefits required now of all insurance, public or private, give you "better" insurance? Or will you be back to the financial hardships of inadequate insurance and having to pay more out of your own pocket. The latter is most likely.

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https://www.cbo.gov/publication/52371