Congressman Dave Reichert Voted for Trumpcare

:( Courtesy of Dave Reichert

Sponsored Library Curbside Pickup Service is Now Available! Place holds online, then schedule a time to pick up at select locations by mobile app or phone.

As we've been shouting all morning, the bill that would repeal Obamacare and replace it with Trumpcare passed through the House Ways and Means Committee this morning after only 18 hours of mark-ups and discussion. The Congressional Budget Office hasn't scored the bill yet, so no one knows exactly how much it will cost or how many people stand to lose coverage. And yet, like every other Republican on the committee, Congressman Dave Reichert (R-Auburn) voted for the bill. Suzan DelBene (D-Bothell) voted against.

Reichert hasn't released a statement on his vote yet, but, in general, this is what Reichert says he believes about healthcare proposals: “I continue to believe that we can advance proposals that lower costs and increase access to quality care without hurting seniors or punishing job-creating small businesses."

Cool.

On that "increase access to quality care" bit: the CBO hasn't analyzed the bill, but Standard & Poor's estimates that between six and ten million people will lose their coverage under Trumpcare. Chopping off a quarter of the people who currently rely on the Affordable Care Act for health insurance is the opposite of increasing access.

During Reichert's Facebook live town hall, he claimed that no one would lose coverage under the new Republican plan:

GOP U.S. Rep. @davereichert says under Republican health care reform, "No one will lose coverage." #waelex pic.twitter.com/9ER0ACLs9z

— Walker Orenstein (@walkerorenstein) February 23, 2017

There goes that idea.

On that "without hurting seniors" bit, the AARP argues that premiums for low-income seniors will go way up:

We estimate that the bill’s changes to current law’s tax credits could increase premium costs for a 55-year old earning $25,000 by more than $2,300 a year. For a 64-year old earning $25,000 that increase rises to more than $4,400 a year, and more than $5,800 for a 64-year old earning $15,000

The math here isn't hard. If older people can no longer afford health insurance because their premiums now constitute 1/5 of their income, then they'll drop out of the market, get sick, and die. That is the opposite of not hurting seniors.

When Reichert voted for Trumpcare this morning, he also voted to defund Planned Parenthood. If you take your lunch in Issaquah and you want to let Reichert know how dumb it is to pull federal funding from a clinic that millions of people rely on for healthcare, Planned Parenthood advocates organized a rally outside the Congressman's office this afternoon. It starts at noon.

In case you need more reasons to stand outside of Reichert's office, here's a little summary of what District 8's elusive representative has been up to over the years. Every time Reichert takes a party line vote that hurts his constituents or introduces needless legislation or does anything at all, we'll add it to the list.