“You’ve Had 7 Years — Let’s Hear It!”

You don't know what you've got til it's gone (or going).

The surge in activism comes as congressional Republicans prepare to take their next steps toward repealing the ACA, also known as Obamacare, and replacing it with what they say will be a more free-market-oriented system that is expected to cost the government less but cover fewer Americans.

Looky who got religion (metaphorically, of course). Jesus would kick 'em in the nads. 

Sanders, who spent Saturday evening talking to Democrats in Kansas, said that the conservative state was getting a hard lesson in supply-side economics. Gov. Sam Brownback (R), who had signed a series of tax cuts, was among the Republican governors now asking that any reform of the ACA save the Medicaid expansion — something Republicans had sued to get rid of.

“There’ve been massive cutbacks in programs for working families,” Sanders said. “This is what Donald Trump is threatening to do for the whole country — he told working families he wouldn’t cut their Social Security or their health care, and we are going to expose him for that hypocrisy.”

This is probably one of the reasons Boehner says these guys are never going to be able to pull off the repeal and replace charade.

As Republicans try to unite around a replacement for the Affordable Care Act, one of the most popular parts of the law will be among the most difficult to replace: the guarantee of health coverage for people with pre-existing conditions.

The challenge of providing insurance for Americans who have no other alternative has some congressional Republicans considering whether to ask the states to reboot high-risk pools, an option with a rocky history. In the past, the pools served as insurers of last resort for people in poor health who could not get an individual policy from a commercial insurer.

"It's definitely a hand-off to the states," said economist Douglas Holtz-Eakin, who has reviewed the GOP plans and a recent briefing document for members of Congress. "It's a commitment for money. It doesn't say how much."

If you want dessert, you've got to eat your individual mandate. 

This from today's PS. It wasn't the topic of the column, but want to put it up because I didn't understand it before. That is, the talk about expansion of Medicaid.

Part of the Obama administration’s overhaul of health care involved an expansion of Medicaid, but 19 states have still not taken part in that expansion, because leading politicians in those states refused to cooperate.

As a result of those refusals, low-income families that would have qualified for the expanded Medicaid program were instead pushed onto the health insurance exchanges set up by the Affordable Care Act. Since low-income families tend to be sicker than families that are better off, turning a profit became more difficult for insurance companies in those states and drove up premiums for everyone. The conservative administrations in those states thus achieved their goal, which was to undermine President Obama’s signature policy.