As someone who has worked in the health insurance industry both before and after the ACA implementation, I have to say, this healthcare plan coming from the Trump administration is basically a disaster.

That being said, it also more or less just puts us back where we were before the ACA was law, which should tell you just how much of a mess the entire system really is, and was.

The ACA was never really going to cut costs or premiums (which is not really a possibility when you expand what the plans are forced to cover in a blanket sense), but it did get people on healthcare plans, and made common sense regulations in regards to pre-existing conditions and the like.

You can't really cut the cost of care directly (although you can help providers lower costs by making sure people are insured and not skipping out on bills), but you can lower individual cost share burdens by getting as many people into the pool as possible.

Which requires a single-payer universal health care plan to be the market baseline.

I suppose the mayor's earthquake and global warming property tax levies will have to wait for subsequent years until he gets this homeless levy passed.

The U.S. is definitely not the greatest nation on Earth anymore. Probably hasn't been for a few decades now. I think a lot of rural types are finally realizing this is true, and it's making them angry. They're in the denial and anger stages of the grieving process. That could account for a lot of the nationalism, racism, class warfare, and general hatred and rage that these people are exhibiting. This country isn't dying, but its star is burning out. I suspect the U.S. will soon become another once-legendary but now second tier-ish country, like Spain or Italy.

/just musing

Everything continues to be just awful.

ION, Roger Stone communicated with Guccifer 2.0 & Wikileaks. Collusion is real.

@1: that is what I've been telling the ACA whingers I know. Insurance was awful & premiums were skyrocketing BEFORE the ACA. nothing's worse; you just have a real plan now.

@5: The only real problem I have with the ACA (other than it is not single payer), is that it kind of made one type of blanket plan for everyone, which is why the people in the middle who are young and relatively healthy, but also earning enough to not qualify for subsidies, got kind of screwed and saw their costs really go up.

Because logically, it makes no sense for a 20 year old man to be forced to buy individual coverage that covers things like maternity care and mammography coverage, or a 20 year old woman to have prostate screenings covered.

I understand the logic of the rule, so that companies could not just cut out such necessary services, but tons of people in the US now have way more coverage than they need, and are required to pay for it. Really pushes a lot of cost share burden onto the middle class, when before they could at least opt for less coverage.

Obamacare has collapsed my bank account and tax bracket so I say why should I have all the fun when the state can join in and the whole system can implode in one ugly financial implosion not seen since the housing crisis of 2009. We all remember what fun that was and continues to be for a great many

Dear Mayor--the property tax levy doesn't affect homeowners only. It increases rents for the rest of us. Be an actual progressive, and fight for an income tax. Thx.

What is the greatest nation on Earth?