By Carole McWilliams
It's time to pull away from the unfolding Trumpocalypse for a bit and see what Congress (remember them?) is up to.
Most congressional Republicans seem happy to look the other way as our so-called president issues his decrees, because they hope he'll sign off on things that were blocked by President Obama.
That includes future access to health care for all of us.
Republicans have been trying since 2010 to kill Obamacare (as opposed to helping fix its glitches). There are lots of questions of what they'll replace it with.
Most Americans now oppose repealing Obamacare until they know what will replace it.
The main thing I've heard from Congress is the standard old tax credits for your insurance premiums. That's not much good if your taxable income isn't enough to need credits, or if you can't afford the premiums in the first place.
There are concerns that dumping Obamacare, especially with no replacement, could de-stabilize the entire system based on private for-profit insurance, affecting those with employer-provided insurance, veterans, and those who buy insurance without Obamacare subsidies.
A list of free preventative screenings could go away. A cap on higher premiums for people in their 50s and early 60s could go away, so those premiums could skyrocket.
His Imperial Awesomeness has told us that the Obamacare replacement he has in mind will be better and cheaper, and everyone will be covered. Some wags have commented that it sounds like Medicare for all.
How about Medicaid? There's talk about turning it over to individual states and handing out block grants. Ronald Reagan did that with various federal programs in the 1980s, but without adequate funding. It came to be called "shift and shaft."
Hospitals fear being flooded with uncompensated ER care. And a large share of Medicaid spending is for end-of-life nursing home care. What happens there?
Republicans also are determined to de-fund Planned Parenthood. Federal funding for abortions is already prohibited, so this targets very basic health care for low income women and access to family planning that can reduce demand for abortions. Hello??
Finally, what about Medicare? Will it become a voucher program for future retirees, as House Speaker Paul Ryan has pushed for years? Or even current recipients? That seems to be the desire of Congressman Tom Price, selected by Himself to be in charge of Medicare and Medicaid.
The current euphemism for vouchers is "premium support system." In other words, making Medicare more like Obamacare, which those same Republicans say is a failure and are working to kill.
I'm sure for-profit insurance companies are eager to take on a bunch of old people with expensive chronic conditions - even though they are pulling out of Obamacare exchanges because they say they're losing money!
How much of the likely sky-high premiums for old people would the Republicans' voucher cover? Sounds like a bait-and-switch con job to me.
If you ever need health care, you'd better be paying attention now, or you could lose, big time.
