Suffering from…

It has been interesting to watch the GOP grapple with not having Obama to veto their foolishness. Those gazillion votes to repeal the Affordable Care Act were highly symbolic when they knew Obama would veto whatever they did. But a repeal effort now means real consequences for real people. And real people tend to protest. Even so, discussions of repeal continue. House Speaker Paul Ryan recently said (in a rare bout of honesty):

[C]learly there will be a transition and a bridge so that no one is left out in the cold, so that no one is worse off. The purpose here is to bring relief to people who are suffering from Obamacare so that they can get something better.

He later clarified that part of “no one is worse off” applies only during the transition. Worse off once the GOP replacement is in place? We can guess.

Melissa McEwen of Shareblue takes a look at another phrase: “bring relief to people who are suffering from Obamacare.” Who, exactly, is “suffering from” Obamacare?

The 20 million people who now have access to healthcare? Nope.

Those whose premiums have gone up? Even if they did, their premiums are still lower than before the ACA went into effect and will be lower than whatever the GOP cooks up.

The insurance companies, the ones that threaten to pull out of the exchange? These companies have made great profits and their stock prices have zoomed up four and five times the increase in the Dow since 2009. Perhaps under the ACA their profits aren’t as astronomical as they’d like.

Maybe it is the GOP “suffering from” Obamacare.