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We now know the reason why Republicans tried to keep their Obamacare replacement bill a secret. The leaked bill would take away health care for millions of Americans and taxes health insurance.

Politico reported on the secret House Republican plan:



The latest draft, dated Feb. 24, also still includes a plan to phase out Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion. Instead the program’s current open-ended federal entitlement would be replaced by capped payments to states based on the number of Medicaid enrollees.

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The proposal also still includes plans to eliminate Obamacare’s taxes. Revenue would be generated by capping the tax exemption for employer-sponsored plans at the 90th percentile of current premiums. That means benefits above that level would be taxed.

Millions of people are going to lose their health care when subsidies are replaced by tax credits, and the Medicaid expansion is halted. Millions more will lose their coverage after Republicans place a cap on Medicaid payments to the states. Poor people will either lose their health care, or Medicaid will not cover as much.

A big change would also be coming to the employer-based health insurance system. If health insurance becomes taxed above a certain level, employers will be motivated to offer their employees cheaper insurance that covers less.

Do you see a pattern here?

The goal of the Republican Obamacare replacement plan is to give people insurance that costs more but covers less.

Americans who don’t purchase their insurance through the exchange, or are on Medicaid are still facing the prospect of spending more money for less insurance.

Since Republicans will be offering a tax credit that doesn’t cover the cost of insurance, the uninsured rate in the United States is going to immediately skyrocket.

House Republicans were trying to keep their plan a secret because it is a very bad deal for the American people.

Unless you are an insurance company, there is nothing good about the GOP’s Obamacare replacement plan.