(Cartoon image is by Pat Bagley in the Salt Lake Tribune.)Donald Trump is incapable of keeping his mouth shut. And his latest bout of bragging has placed a knife squarely in the back of congressional Republicans. It concerns the GOP's plan to repeal Obamacare and replace it with a "plan" of their own.
In an interview last weekend, Trump made the American people some promises. He said that the plan to replace Obamacare (which he claims is nearly ready) will "have insurance for everybody", will be "much less expensive", and will have "much lower deductibles". He also promised to allow Medicare and Medicaid to negotiate drug prices with the drug companies.
That has to be blowing the minds of congressional Republicans, because they weren't planning to deliver on any of those promises. All of the GOP plans floated, none of which has garnered majority support among Republicans, do not deliver on any of Trump's promises.
The GOP wants to offer "universal access", which is far different from universal coverage. Universal access simply means any American can buy health insurance (if they have the money to pay for it). But Trump promised insurance for everyone, which is universal coverage.
If everyone is covered, costs are lowered, and deductibles lowered, then the Trump plan would cost more than Obamacare. And that would mean the Republicans couldn't follow through on their promise to cut taxes massively for corporations and the rich without ballooning the national deficit and debt.
But a promise is a promise, and Trump has put the GOP on record now as promising universal coverage that will be cheaper and have lower deductibles. If they don't deliver that, the public is going to want to know why not -- and they are going to hold it against them in the next election (and you can be sure the Democrats won't let anyone forget).
It'll be interesting to see how the Republicans try to weasel their way out of Trump's promises.
