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Wednesday, February 15, 2017

VIDEO: The real reason Republicans want to pull the plug on Obamacare

Tax breaks for the rich

To watch this video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6efP9u4yAU

Don’t be fooled by Trump’s and Republican promises to “repeal and replace” Obamacare. 

They could repeal it, but they can’t and won’t replace it. 

They’ve tried for years to come up with a replacement that keeps at least as many people covered. Their “replacement” never appears. 

So why do Republicans want to repeal Obamacare and leave millions without insurance?  Because it would mean a huge tax windfall for the wealthy.

Repealing Obamacare will put an average of $33,000 of tax cuts in the hands of the richest 1 percent this year alone, and a whopping $197,000 of tax cuts into the hands of the top 0.1 percent. 

The 400 highest-income taxpayers (with incomes averaging more than $300 million each) will each receive an average annual tax cut of about $7 million. 

It would also increase the taxes of families earning between $10,000 and $75,000 – including just about all of Trump’s working class voters.

So what do we end up with when Republicans repeal Obamacare?

  • 32 million people losing their health insurance, 
  • tens of thousands of Americans dying because they don’t get the medical care they need, 
  • Medicare in worse shape, 
  • And the rich becoming far richer.  
This is lunacy. We must stand up to it.

ROBERT B. REICH is Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley and Senior Fellow at the Blum Center for Developing Economies. He served as Secretary of Labor in the Clinton administration, for which Time Magazine named him one of the ten most effective cabinet secretaries of the twentieth century. He has written fourteen books, including the best sellers "Aftershock", "The Work of Nations," and "Beyond Outrage," and, his most recent, "Saving Capitalism." He is also a founding editor of the American Prospect magazine, chairman of Common Cause, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and co-creator of the award-winning documentary, INEQUALITY FOR ALL.