Trumpcare

anexplanationofunfortunateevents:

I am never going to tell you not to look into something for yourself.
I will, however, suggest that if you are going to dig into this bill,
maybe also set aside some time for a palate-cleanser, like Oliver
Twist, or The Hunger Games. What you need to know is that yes, it
is that bad. If you see a headline or snippet and think “pft,
that seems a little dramatic” then you should probably be
suspicious that the source is underselling it. 

This bill punishes people for things for which they are blameless:
receiving a cancer diagnosis, or having a baby through a c-section.
It punishes people for responsible behavior, like treating a chronic
health issue before it gets bad, and for really difficult and
admirable behavior, like reporting an abuser for the criminal he is.

If you are going to read more, some terms:

ACA = Affordable Care Act = Obamacare

AHCA = American Health Care Act = this travesty

CBO = Congressional Budget Office. When you hear about them “scoring”
a bill, it means they’re approximating what implementing it will
cost. The House passed this bill without waiting for the CBO to tell them what it would cost. (Its estimate of Trumpcare 1.0 was horrifying, and a new study shows even worse outcomes.)

What you can do:

Find out who your member of Congress is and how they voted. If they
didn’t support the bill, then you can donate to one of the groups who are working to flip the house in 2018, such as Swing Left,
Daily Kos, or the DCCC. This will help them fund Democratic
challengers, and it might help scare some Republicans into line. 

If you’re represented by someone who did vote for the bill, punish
them. Make an example out of them so that your senators don’t think there will even be a short-term reward for supporting repeal. 

If you’re not involved in a local activist group, look up the Town
Hall Project and Indivisible groups in your district. 

It’s also worth being ready to push your senator. Watch The Center
for American Progress (@amprog on Tumblr doesn’t seem to be
frequently updated, but they’re also on Facebook and Twitter), or Indivisible on Facebook or Twitter. They’ll tell you when it’s time to
move. 

And, as ever, when one of your dumber friends starts yelling about
WHY DIDN’T THE DEMOCRATS STOP THIS!! say “because Democrats are
in the minority, because people like you don’t bother to show up
for midterms.”