So after a few weeks of backlash from what the Speaker Ryan tooted as a good deal, he’s now backtracking and saying it needs repair. Was it the senior citizens causing havoc at town meetings that helped in the change or was it the polling numbers because if it needs repaired so quickly obviously it wasn’t that great of a plan- PB/TK
Ryan: More help for older people needed in GOP health bill – By HOPE YEN, Associated Press March 20 2017
WASHINGTON (AP) — Days before a pivotal vote, House Speaker Paul Ryan said Sunday he will seek changes to a GOP health care bill to provide more help to older people. The new willingness to compromise was a bid for more support from moderate Republicans, who expressed continuing unease about the plan to replace Barack Obama’s health law unless significant changes were made.
Ryan insisted that he felt “very good” about the bill’s prospects but acknowledged that House leadership was “making fine-tuning improvements to the bill to reflect people’s concerns.”
A House vote was scheduled for Thursday.
“We believe we should have even more assistance. And that’s one of the things we’re looking at for that person in their 50s and 60s because they experience higher health care costs,” the Wisconsin Republican said.
Under the GOP plan, older people who are not yet eligible for Medicare stand to be the biggest losers. It would shrink the tax credits they use to help buy insurance and it would increase their premiums because the bill allows insurers to charge more as people age and become more susceptible to health problems.
A Congressional Budget Office analysis last week said a 64-year-old with income of $26,500 would pay $1,700 out of pocket for insurance under the Affordable Care Act, compared with $14,600 under the GOP plan. It estimated that 24 million people of all ages would lose coverage over 10 years.
On Sunday, Ryan said he believed the CBO analysis was not accurate because Obamacare wouldn’t be able to last 10 years. But he allowed the additional assistance was one of several House revisions to be discussed in advance of Thursday’s vote, along with possible changes to help low-income people more with tax credits and require able-bodied Medicaid recipients to meet work requirements.
“We think that we should be offering even more assistance than what the bill currently does,” he said.
Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price also said legislative revisions were possible
Continue to msn.com article: http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/ryan-more-help-for-older-people-needed-in-gop-health-bill/ar-BBypkF8?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=spartanntp
