Rep. Crist “GOP healthcare replacement plan hurts, women and the poor”

Rep. Charlie Crist think that the GOP healthcare replacement plan needs to slowdown and get things right

As a guest on today’s edition of The Politically Incorrect Podcast Democratic Congressman Charlie Crist who represents Florida’s 13th District spoke about a wide range of subjects. He gave his views on everything from the new GOP healthcare plan to the latest immigration bill.

He is not at all pleased the Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisc) rush to get the Repeal and Replacement of Obamacare through the House. A second House committee approved the Republican Party’s Obamacare repeal bill Thursday, as President Donald Trump worked on getting members of Congress to support the legislation amid growing concern among prominent GOP figures that fast-tracking the measure could backfire.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee voted to move the bill to the House floor after a marathon hearing lasting 27 hours and 18 minutes, hours after the Ways and Means panel registered the first milestone for the American Health Care Act, endorsing it after their own 18-hour session.

Congressman Crist thinks that it is unwise to vote for a bill that has yet to be scored by the Congressional Budget Office stressing “Why the rush? Do they have something to hide?”

Crist would like to see the House slow things down and work on a bi-partisan bill that looks at all aspects of healthcare.

He also feels that the bill “punishes the poor in Florida and the handicapped.”

To Crist’s point according to AARP, enrollees in their 50s and early 60s benefited from Obamacare because insurers could only charge them three times more than younger policy holders. The new GOP bill would widen that band to five-to-one.

That would mean that adults ages 60 to 64 would see their annual premiums soar 22%, or nearly $3,200, to nearly $18,000, according to a study by the Milliman actuarial firm on behalf of the AARP Public Policy Institute. Those in their 50s would be hit with a 13% increase, or just over $1,500, and pay an annual premium of $12,800.

To illustrateCrist’s point that the new Obamacare replacement law would hurt the poor Floridian’s, many in the Sunshine State are part of Medicaid, especially women and children.

According to the Conservative Financial Times, the GOP replacement plan would eliminate Medicaid expansion by 2020.  States could continue to provide coverage if they choose, but they would receive far less federal assistance to do so. Moreover, Congress would also convert traditional Medicaid into fixed per capita payment to the states. Those steps taken together would almost certainly slash enrollments in Medicaid, which currently total about 70 million, and reduce the benefit level over time.

Edwin Park, vice president for health policy at the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, recently issued an updated analysis of the plan’s proposed changes to the Medicaid program and determined that the American Health Care Act would cost states $370 billion in federal aid over ten years.

Despite, what looks like bad news on the healthcare front Crist remains “optimistic that cooler heads will prevail and a good deal can be done.”

Crist, was very pleased about the new resurgence in the state of Florida with NASA as well as the work being done by SpaceX. Crist praised Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX as someone with vision and who thinks working with NASA is a good thing for space exploration.

Jim Williams is the Washington Bureau Chief, Digital Director as well as the Director of Special Projects for Genesis Communications. He is starting his third year as part of the team. This is Williams 40th year in the media business, and in that time he has served in a number of capacities. He is a seven time Emmy Award winning television producer, director, writer and executive. He has developed four regional sports networks, directed over 2,000 live sporting events including basketball, football, baseball hockey, soccer and even polo to name a few sports. Major events include three Olympic Games, two World Cups, two World Series, six NBA Playoffs, four Stanley Cup Playoffs, four NCAA Men’s National Basketball Championship Tournaments (March Madness), two Super Bowl and over a dozen college bowl games. On the entertainment side Williams was involved s and directed over 500 concerts for Showtime, Pay Per View and MTV Networks.