- How Many People Will Die From The Republicans' Obamacare Repeal Bills? Tens Of Thousands Per Year Los Angeles Times by Michael Hiltzik—How many people would lose their lives if the Republican effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act succeeds? Estimates of this inherently murky statistic vary, but the range is from about 28,000 to nearly 100,000 a year. That's a shocking toll from an effort that is essentially aimed at gifting the wealthiest Americans with hundreds of billions of dollars in tax cuts by slashing healthcare. So no one should be surprised that Republican and conservative supporters of the House and Senate repeal bills have spent a lot of time claiming that nothing of the sort will happen. The effort moved into high gear this weekend, following Thursday's unveiling of the Senate GOP's version of ACA repeal.
- GOP Health Bill: Big Tax Cuts For Rich, Not Much For Others Associated Press by Stephen Ohlemacher—Millionaires would get tax cuts averaging $52,000 a year from the Senate Republicans' health bill while middle-income families would get about $260, according to a new analysis of the foundering bill. The analysis was done by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. It found that half of the tax cuts would go to families making more than $500,000 a year. Senate Republican leaders were scrambling Tuesday to rally support for the bill but had to delay a vote this week because it lacked adequate support. The disputes, however, were not related to tax provisions.
- GOP Health-Care Bill Could Strip Public Schools Of Billions For Special Education Washington Post by Emma Brown—School superintendents across the country are raising alarms about the possibility that Republican health-care legislation would curtail billions of dollars in annual funding they count on to help students with disabilities and poor children. For the past three decades, Medicaid has helped pay for services and equipment that schools provide to special-education students, as well as school-based health screening and treatment for children from low-income families. Now, educators from rural red states to the blue coasts are warning that the GOP push to shrink Medicaid spending will threaten a school funding source that a national superintendents association estimates at up to $4 billion per year. That money pays for nurses, social workers, physical, occupational and speech therapists and medical equipment such as walkers and wheelchairs. It also pays for preventive and comprehensive health services for poor children, including immunizations, screening for hearing and vision problems and management of chronic conditions like asthma and diabetes.