Thread by @j2dumfounded

🧵 This thread will cover Joe Biden’s healthcare plans as outlined at his website, joebiden.com/healthcare/.

Biden plans to protect and build on Obamacare, giving more people better care at lower costs. He provides a public option that is a segue to single payer healthcare.

First, an overview, next a bit of history for perspective, then Joe in his own words, a mind map, followed by a more granular examination of the plan’s finer points, & some analysis.

🧵 OVERVIEW

Biden will:
• add a public option, similar to Medicare
• increase tax credits for lower premiums
• stand up to Big Pharma
• close loopholes barring access
• end capital gains tax cut

🧵A BRIEF HISTORY of ACA: Democrats spent decades struggling to get a healthcare plan that would protect all Americans. It was finally passed in 2010, giving protection for pre-existing conditions and helping insure millions. It is under attack by Republicans.

Right now, Trump is in court attacking the law, trying to get Obamacare “struck down” — which would mean an end to all its coverage guarantees.

14 Republican-controlled states have refused the Medicaid expansions, denying nearly 5 million people low-income people access to better healthcare, the healthcare that people in 36 other states enjoy.

Editor’s note. THE ACA IS UNDER CONSTANT GOP ATTACK. Rather than eliminating Obamacare and starting over from scratch with an amorphous, new program, “Medicare for All”, Biden’s plan provides a transition to single payer via the public option.

🧵JOE IN HIS OWN WORDS

Biden: We Have to Protect & Build on Obamacare | Joe Biden For President

🧵MIND MAP

🧵EXAMINING THE PLAN’S DETAILS

Obamacare is still a big deal.

THIS IS WHAT BIDEN SAYS & he is correct. We need to protect & build upon the Affordable Care Act. The pre-existing condition loophole was closed, helping 100 million get *affordable* care & insuring 20 million more

Threats from Republicans AND Democrats.
45 and the GOP are trying to get rid of ACA. Those pushing for M4A want to toss out Obamacare, too. Biden wants to protect the law, build upon it, and make it better.

Building on the Affordable Care Act
Give American more choices
Reduce healthcare costs
Make healthcare easier to navigate

These all seem like good ideas, don’t they?

For Biden this is personal. He has had loved ones who required healthcare for terminal conditions. He has the empathy to know how so many Americans have struggled with insurance nightmares while dealing with illnesses.

🧵 ARTICLE 1
Give affordable healthcare for every American.
Biden has a plan to cover 97% of us or more.

1A. Adding a public option allows people to opt into a federal insurance plan, similar to Medicare with negotiated, lower prices, if they want to or do not have other coverage. It’s your choice.

Public option will lower costs through negotiated prices, just like Medicare. Also visits to primary care physicians will not require a copay 🎉.

Another important point here is that the plan will help small businesses that find giving employees coverage a burden, as many do.

1B. Biden wants to increase tax credits to lower premiums. A family or individual will not pay more than 8.5% of income for medical coverage. This will be at the “gold” level, which also reduces out-of-pocket expenses on copays and deductibles.

1C. Low income people will have premium-free insurance in all 50 states, not just 36 of them. People under 138% of poverty level will be automatically enrolled in ACA if they are accessing programs like free school lunches and SNAP.

This is a link to Joe Biden’s plans to help communities of color

joebiden.com/health-care-co…

🧵 ARTICLE 2 of Joe Biden’s healthcare plan makes it more affordable and easier to navigate healthcare for everybody. You can choose the public option if you want. Tax credits cap costs at 8.5% of HH income, with a better, gold standard for lower out-of-pocket costs.

* No more surprise, ginormous out-of-network bills.
* Antitrust enforcement to stop healthcare costs from going through the roof
* Help healthcare workers get better pay, for better health outcomes
🔥 These are some biggies!

🧵 ARTICLE 3

Biden is going to stop Big Pharma from its excessive pricing approaches that so often make medications unaffordable for people who need them.

First, he is going to axe the rule that was written by lobbyists, exempts drug companies from negotiating with Medicare.

3B Biden’s healthcare plan allows HHS to establish reasonable drug prices for specialty medications, using an independent review board.

3C Tired of Big Pharma jacking up the cost of medications? 📈
Joe’s plan limits price hikes to the inflation rate.

Tax penalties will help assure compliance.

3D Want to get your prescription from another country? As long as the medication is safe, you can turn to overseas suppliers.

3E All those ads for medications you see on TV don’t pay for themselves. You do. It’s been $6 billion in one year alone. Biden’s going to get rid of the tax write off for advertising these drugs.

There’s a shoutout here to the bill’s originator, @SenatorShaheen.

3F Long after the patent expires, drug manufacturers find ways to prevent generic versions of medications from coming to market. Biden’s plan tells Big Pharma, “No way, José.”
Democratic @SenatorLeahy has some ideas to help us get to generic alternatives more swiftly.

🧵 ARTICLE 4
The healthcare coverage Joe Biden wants is for each and every one of us. Male and female. Straight, gay, binary, or transgender. Everybody. For all of our healthcare needs, not just ones that meet some evangelical’s idea of what is good for someone else’s body.

4A The rights of women to have access to healthcare for all of their needs, including contraception and abortion shall be protected by the Biden healthcare plan to protect and build upon Obamacare.

Roe v. Wade will be codified & Planned Parenthood funded.

4A2
The Republicans passed this crazy law a few years ago (again, after Obama rescinded it 🙄) that prevents the USA giving aid to healthcare organizations in other nations if they provide information about abortions. Biden will get rid of this rule.

4B
A lot of American women die when they should be welcoming a bundle of joy into the family — far more than in other developed nations — and the numbers are rising. Many of them are women of color. 🤰🏽
Ending maternal mortality from pregnancy complications is a must-do.

4C
Biden’s vision of healthcare for America is inclusive.

It doesn’t matter what your sexual orientation is. It doesn’t matter whether or not you live with HIV, or who you marry. All Americans are equally entitled to access to affordable healthcare.

Many Americans have limited access to healthcare. Often this is the case in poor and rural areas. Biden wants to double the amount we spend on community health centers to improve access for underserved populations.

Mental well-being is is important as physical well-being.
Joe Biden’s healthcare plan expands a cess to affordable mental health care coverage.

Biden’s healthcare plan is a work in progress.
More will be added to address other issues, like gun violence, and rural communities, in the months ahead.

🧵 ARTICLE 5

Biden plans to pay for his healthcare plan by eliminating the capital gains tax rate for those making over $1 million yearly. Instead of a maximum 20% tax rate on income derived from long-term investments, these top earners will have a tax rate at 39.6%.

🧵 ANALYSIS

1. Biden’s plan provides a path to single payer health care. By allowing individuals to voluntarily choose the public option, more & more Americans can join the federal program & give up their private insurance. It’s not an overnight cure, but it leads the way there.

2. Biden’s plan is aggressive & will face fierce opposition from Big Pharma, plus all their bought-paid for interests on the Hill. They won’t like the antitrust actions or controls on drug pricing. We will need a Democratic Senate majority to have any hope of having this enacted.

3. Biden’s plan is going to face just as much opposition from the wealthy and from the many, many Republicans in Grover Norquist’s pockets due to closing the capital gains loophole. Again, without a Democratic Senate majority, we will not be able to achieve this.

4. This plan will help all Americans save money on medical coverage, give us better protections than we have now, cover more of us, and will rein in Big Pharma. It’s a practical and achievable goal set if we win the White House and Senate.

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