House Speaker Paul Ryan speaks during a news conference at the Republican National Committee Headquarters on Capitol Hill in Washington, March 8, 2017. (AP/J. Scott Applewhite)
No, in turns out, the United States does not have the “best healthcare system in the world.”
2017 is the make or break year for the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Seven years in, the flaws of the ACA are clear – tens of millions are still without health insurance, premiums and out-of-pocket costs are rising and causing people to either avoid and delay care or go into debt, and the US continues to rank poorly in health outcomes. There is one way to fix the ACA, and I call it the Private Extraction.
What are we to do?
So now Trump is agreeing with far right extremists, like Rand Paul (R-KY) and Ben Sasse (R-NE), that the way forward is to just repeal the Affordable Care Act with no replacement, which the CBO says will mean 32 million Americans will lose their healthcare immediately. These are really horrible, horrible people.
Paid for by Mike PenceSunday afternoon we asked a question about Trump’s deranged, uncontrolled vengefulness in regard to the GOP’s ability to hold onto the crucial Nevada Senate seat of Dean Heller who has flatly stated he won’t vote for TrumpCare.
Tulchin Research has long been best known as the Blue Dog polling firm. There aren't that many Blue Dogs left-- despite strenuous efforts by the DCCC-- and they've had to branch out and find clients among (slightly) less odious corporate Dems, like Gavin Newsom and Julia Brownley. Earlier in the week, the firm's two principals, Bens Tulchin and Krompak, penned an OpEd for the Sacramento Bee, Universal health care is the new litmus test for Democrats.
The other day, Axios asserted that Republicans are getting nervous about Democratic House recruitment, implying-- incorrectly, of course, that the DCCC is recruiting top quality candidates. I bet I'm more nervous about their recruiting than House Republicans are, and for the opposite reason.
I bet if Pelosi held her town hall back in her San Francisco district instead of on a CNN set with Chris Cuomo, it would have been a very different event. I suspect she would have faced a similar response from activists that other members of Congress have gotten from their constituents. First of all, all Cuomo's questions about the day's Trump infotainment crap would not have dominated an opportunity to find out what Pelosi stands for and where she wants to take her party and our country.
Bruce Poliquin represents the "other" Maine congressional district, almost the whole state minus Portland, Augusta and the southwest coastal strip. He's got Lewiston-Auburn, Bangor and everything up to the Canadian borders on the west, north and east. Politically, it's a swing district. Obama beat McCain by 10 points and beat Romney by 9 points, Last year, though, although Maine went for Hillary, ME-02 went for Trump 51.4% to 41.1%.
