Some Notes on Why Repeal of the ACA is Bad

In response to the Freedom Caucus' release of their minimum demands of healthcare legislation, on Twitter Paul Krugman pointed to a December KFF study highlighting the 52M Americans who would see their healthcare costs rise or find themselves dropped from coverage, as a result of a full ACA repeal.

So notice: blue-collar Trump areas have poor health; e.g., WV has much higher rate of preex than US average https://t.co/AdteMQ0P3B

— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) March 31, 2017

That's the first thing worth noting. Those very states who strongly supported Donald happen to also have the nation's highest preexisting conditions rates.

The second point is that those West Virginia miners, who voted for Donald in hopes of coal jobs returning, face the stark problem of not being eligible for coverage -- black lung, anyone? -- once those coal mining companies declare bankruptcy, as they frequently do. If the GOP follow through with their long-held desire to roll back Medicaid, there is nothing left for coal miners to do but to die, painfully and slowly. That's not taking into account the fact that Bob Murray (of Murray Energy, top-5 largest coal companies in the US) admitted that Donald's signature EOs "ending the war on coal" would not actually bring back many jobs. In other words, coal miners voted for a few hundred jobs at the expense of tens of thousands of sick miners.

The third point is to highlight how the millions (roughly 20% of all Americans) of seasonal allergy sufferers who do not have group coverage would see their costs rise.

There are, obviously, a lot more things to cover on this subject, but that's the stuff I wanted to get off my chest for now.