Chart o’ the week
by digby
This shows the difference between Obamacare subsidies and the proposed Republican tax credits under their “replacement” plan. Keep in mind that their idea is that everyone should pay their full premiums up front and then take the meager credit off on their taxes at the end of the year.
You will note that the government would be giving money to people who make over a hundred thousand a year, which is nice for them, I’m sure. Since they have the cash available to spend on their premiums during the year, this is a very nice little tax write off for them.
It should also be noted that there is an argument about whether these tax credits are “refundable” by which they mean that if you ended up owning less in taxes than what the credit provides the government would send you a check for the difference. The Freedom Caucus people really do not like that. If you are such a loser that you pay less in taxes than your meager health insurance tax credits provides then it’s just tough luck.
This will, of course, lead to many more people being uninsured. Something has to give and when you’re living paycheck to paycheck and feeling ok for the moment, a big health insurance bill is the one you’re going to toss over when it comes time to make choices between food, shelter and transportation.
Update:
As the 115th U.S. Congress deliberates the future of the Affordable Care Act, an interactive map from the Kaiser Family Foundation provides estimates of the number of people in each congressional district who enrolled in a 2016 ACA marketplace health plan and the political party of each district’s representative as of January.
The analysis also includes maps charting the total number of people enrolled under the ACA Medicaid expansion in 2015 in states that implemented the ACA Medicaid expansion, along with the political parties of their governors and U.S. senators. As of January 2017, among states that adopted the Medicaid expansion, 16 have Republican governors, 14 have Democratic governors, and one has an Independent governor. In Washington, D.C., which also expanded Medicaid, the mayor is a Democrat.
The map below shows estimates of ACA Marketplace enrollment as of March 2016 by congressional district, with red and blue districts representing those with a Republican or Democratic congressional representative. Districts with darker shading have a greater number of Marketplace enrollees. Of the 11.5 million Marketplace enrollees nationally, 6.3 million live in Republican districts and 5.2 million live in Democratic districts. Marketplace enrollees per Republican district range from 10,200 enrollees in West Virginia’s District 3 to 96,300 enrollees in Florida’s District 27, with a median of 24,300 enrollees per district. Marketplace enrollees per Democratic district range from 5,200 enrollees in Hawaii’s District 1 to 94,100 enrollees in Florida’s District 10, with a median of 23,600 enrollees per district. The ten congressional districts with the highest number of Marketplace enrollees are all in Florida. There are 17 congressional districts (8 Republican districts and 9 Democratic districts) with over 50,000 enrollees, located in the following states: Florida, North Carolina, Georgia, and Montana.
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