There are bazillions of opinions on the current ObamaCare repeal and replace efforts. Many people are rightly concerned their wants, wishes or needs do not seem addressed within the Price/Ryan bill announced last night.
CTH is far from a SME on the details.  However, we do know the legislative “process” and we followed the original construct closely.  Many people are missing the big picture challenges with “repeal and replace” – perhaps we can explain a little, and maybe it will settle some nerves.

The best way to explain what appears to be the Price/Ryan legislative road-map is to remind ourselves how a Dem legislature was able to enact ObamaCare with zero Republican support.   In 2017 the reversal of this process also lines up to be a Republican repeal with zero Democrat support.
Way back in 2009 when ObamaCare was being constructed, there were two procedural legislative constructs to create ObamaCare- one from the House (Pelosi) and one from the Senate (Reid).
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Tread carefully, this is a Paul Ryan announcement which inherently means the various GOPe elements, legislative authors, are most likely the primary sources.

WASHINGTON—House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) issued the following statement on introduction of the American Health Care Act:
“Obamacare is rapidly collapsing. Skyrocketing premiums, soaring deductibles, and dwindling choices are not what the people were promised seven years ago. It’s time to turn a page and rescue our health care system from this disastrous law. The American Health Care Act is a plan to drive down costs, encourage competition, and give every American access to quality, affordable health insurance. It protects young adults, patients with pre-existing conditions, and provides a stable transition so that no one has the rug pulled out from under them.
“Working together, this unified Republican government will deliver relief and peace of mind to the millions of Americans suffering under Obamacare. This will proceed through a transparent process of regular order in full view of the public. I want to thank all of our members who have contributed their ideas, especially Chairman Walden and Chairman Brady, as well as Secretary Price and the Trump administration, for their commitment to keep this promise and get this right.”

Links To Bill – LINK #1 and LINK #2

 

During an interview with Fox News Brett Baier, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan explains [06:00 portion] how the ObamaCare replacement bill is currently being written:

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Staying out of the weeds – why this is important. Inherent within this Ryan outline is the admission there was never a replacement bill for Obamacare before today.
Why is that important?
Because the admission proves that prior to President Trump there was no ACTUAL republican intention, an actual legislative position, to remove Obamacare.
Oh yeah, and it also proves Ryan lied to Hannity when he said the bill was currently being scored by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). Huh, funny that.
Again, this evidences what we previously outlined when we said to repeal ObamaCare you must first remove The Big Club.
The Big Club, lobbyists and bureaucrats, actually write the legislation. The politicians simply sell the legislative constructs written by Lobbyists who are part of the Big Club.
The Big Club didn’t expect to lose the 2016 presidential election; either Jeb Bush or Hillary Clinton would have maintained the legislative priorities of the Big Club. Now, as a specific outcome of Trump winning, Paul Ryan is actually having to create/write legislation that is necessary only because President Trump is looming over his shoulder.
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Today President Donald Trump met with healthcare executives in advance of a repeal and replacement process ongoing for ObamaCare.  It is anticipated that President Trump will outline some of the healthcare measures in his upcoming speech tomorrow night to a joint session of congress.

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Look at the upper right side of this page and you will note the self-described affiliation of our group “The Last Refuge”.  That name specifically chosen because we broke away from political identity framed around arguments of personality; frustrated because no one was focused on the real hands behind the networks.  We have been fighting “The Big Club” for years.
President Trump is the first political entity in our lifetime that not only comprehends the faces of the false arguments (the personalities of false choice), but more importantly sees the architects behind the Potemkin villages represented by those faces.  When it comes to domestic economic policies, the architects are the BIG CLUB.
So, what is “The Big Club“?

..What “Deep State” is to intelligence, military intervention and foreign policy – The “BIG CLUB” is to matters of domestic economics…

Politicians do not write laws.  Paul Ryan, Nancy Pelosi, Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer do not sit in their offices writing out scripts of laws and legislation; no politician does.  Politicians are the faces who sell legislation that unseen hands create.  The Big Club are the hands that create the legislation.
As such, it makes no sense to argue about the salesmanship of Ted Cruz or Elizabeth Warren when neither Cruz nor Warren are creating the legislative constructs they are selling.
Indeed, it makes much more sense to focus the attention on the unseen hands that are never discussed – These are the roots of the issues, the politicians are merely the expendable and interchangeable sales force.
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Obviously everyone is seeing the Astroturf attendees to various Town Hall events promoted by a Very Fake News media apparatus.  Everyone knows the ruse, because astroturf activism is a consistently deployed page from the Democrat’s Alinsky playbook.
However, for those who might not have been as engaged in the grassroots Tea Party original activism – allow me to remind you of December 2009.

The “corn-husker kickback“.  The “Louisiana  Purchase“.  Bill Nelson’s “Gator-aid”. Do those terms ring a bell?  They surfaced in late 2009 as then Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was buying votes for the original Senate version of Obamacare.  Leader Reid was constructing a plan that was opposed by 70% of the national electorate.
Town Halls?  It’s hilarious to hear Democrats and media discussing “Town Halls” in 2017 when back in those dark December ’09 evenings, the entire senate was sequestered by Reid and held in session 8 days past the scheduled Christmas holiday break.
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Despite the insufferable stall tactics being deployed as political flak and chaff countermeasures Tom Price was confirmed at around 2:00am EST as Health and Human Services Secretary.

(AP Report) […]  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Price, 62, “knows more about health care policy than just about anyone.” He said Price would help “bring stability to health care markets that Obamacare has harmed.”
Price’s nomination is part of a larger clash in which Republicans want to quickly enact priorities long blocked by Obama. Democrats, with few tools as Congress’ minority, are making a show of resistance, stretching some floor debates to the maximum 30 hours Senate rules allow.  (read more) Swearing In Ceremony Below:

The Senate confirmation hearing for Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary nominee, Tom Price, is today beginning at 10:00am.   The repeal and replacement of ObamaCare is a top tier initiative for incoming President Donald Trump.
President Trump has nominated Representative Tom Price to lead HHS in part due to his overwhelming knowledge of the Obamacare construct, and his specific plans to replace it with patient-centered insurance reform legislation.
As the only legacy legislative accomplishment of President Obama, Senate Democrats have vowed to fight against the Price nomination in a political proxy war to defend Obama’s  legacy.  Live Stream Link – and embed below

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With the repeal of Obamacare gathering a considerable amount of corporate media attention, it is important to remember the UniParty, Democrats and Republicans, have been paid by the U.S. CoC to retain it at all costs.
♦ The U.S. Chamber of Commerce constructed a short list of Wall Street-centric legislative priorities back in 2014 for legislative years ’15 and ’16.  Among those priorities was:

• Retention of Obamacare
• Implementation of Common Core federal education standards.
• Passage of the Trans-Pacific Trade Deal (TPP)
• Comprehensive immigration reform to include amnesty.

U.S. CoC President Tom Donohue has spent hundreds of millions via K-Street lobbyists to construct and advance these objectives.  Understanding that Donald Trump represented an existential threat toward these endeavors, Donohue targeted candidate Trump for removal.  Donohue lost.
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Primary passive aggressive interviewer Jake Tapper interviews Senator Rand Paul on CNN State of the Union.

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Tapper is a toxic media duck with a personal dislike toward the incoming administration, perhaps driven by his previous employment within the Clinton family. No single media personality exemplifies the ‘David Mamet principle’ as Jake Tapper; pretending not to know things in almost every single media interview.
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