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After seven years of near constant bitching from the right, the Obamacare replacement is finally here and it’s…extra. As in, “extra shitty to poor people.” The new proposal is called the American Health Care (creative) and is basically a Paul Ryan wet dream that is boring AF to read. Like, seriously, we do not need 100+ pages of legalese to let us know that you don’t want poor people to be able to go to the doctor. We know that shit already. It’s pretty fucking obvious. So if you, like basically anyone with a life, do not have time to parse through Paul Ryan’s tax cut erotica, then lucky you because Betches is here to explain to you all the ways in which the GOP are going to totally fuck up your healthcare. You’re welcome. And what better way to explain the extremely complex and nuanced American healthcare system than with constantly looping images from your favorite movies and reality TV shows. That’s right—GIFs!
Because if we weren’t laughing, we’d be crying.
According to Paul “I Will Never Live Down The Fitness Photoshoot I Did In 2012 No Matter How Much I Try To Distract You By Taking Healthcare Away” Ryan, The American Health Care Act will “drive down costs, encourage competition, and give every American access to quality, affordable health insurance.”
Okay. Well that sounds good. But is it like…true?
I mean, of course it’s not fucking true. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the Ryan plan would lead to “lost coverage for millions and higher costs for millions more.” Because having millions of uninsured Americans without access to adequate health services without Obamacare, is wayyyyy better than having millions of insured Americans going to the doctor regularly under Obamacare.
The bill also defunds Planned Parenthood, because of course it does. The proposal would make it illegal for federal funding, either directly or indirectly through Medicaid, to go to a healthcare organization that “provides for abortions” other than those done in the case of rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother. While the bill never actually says “Planned Parenthood” by name, the whole thing is basically one long subtweet against the organization. It’s like, guys Planned Parenthood totally knows you’re talking about them. No need to be fake about it.
The bill also basically shuts down private health insurance from covering abortions, meaning that you better start asking all your one night stands to Venmo you half the price of an abobo before you even think about hooking up because your health insurance is not going to be able to help you if shit goes south.
The bill also repeals the individual and employer mandates stating that every American must have health insurance. This means that individuals can drop their coverage right now, which, according to Aetna’s chairman Mark Bertolini, would send the market into a “death spiral” in which healthy customers would drop their coverage, leaving sick people who need insurance to pay ever-increasing rates.
The AHCA also repeals the essential benefits rule, which stated that health plans must provide hospitalization, mental health services, maternity coverage and other benefits. These benefits would now be decided on a state by state basis. Meaning that women who live in the liberal bubble (aka NYC) would probably get to keep their maternity leave coverage, while people who live somewhere random, like Delaware, might be SOL.
And if you’re thinking, “Well none of this applies to me because i’m young AF and never gonna die,” think again because the bill also replaces income-based premiums with age-based subsidies, meaning that you will be paying more to go to the doctor the younger (and hotter) you are.
And just when you thought it couldn’t get worse, the bill also kills the Medicaid expansion, and all Obamacare related taxes.
TLDR: The rich are getting a $346 billion dollar tax cut over the next ten years, and the poor will literally all be dead by then, which is kind of what the GOP has always wanted anyway.
Like I said at the beginning, if we weren’t laughing at funny GIFs, we’d be crying at the skyrocketing price of Mee-maw’s annual hip replacement.
