CO-04 (Special Election) See Full Big Line

(R) Greg Lopez

(R) Trisha Calvarese

90%

10%

President (To Win Colorado) See Full Big Line

(D) Joe Biden*

(R) Donald Trump

80%

20%↓

CO-01 (Denver) See Full Big Line

(D) Diana DeGette*

90%

CO-02 (Boulder-ish) See Full Big Line

(D) Joe Neguse*

90%

CO-03 (West & Southern CO) See Full Big Line

(D) Adam Frisch

(R) Jeff Hurd

(R) Ron Hanks

40%

30%

20%

CO-04 (Northeast-ish Colorado) See Full Big Line

(R) Lauren Boebert

(R) Deborah Flora

(R) J. Sonnenberg

30%↑

15%↑

10%↓

CO-05 (Colorado Springs) See Full Big Line

(R) Dave Williams

(R) Jeff Crank

50%↓

50%↑

CO-06 (Aurora) See Full Big Line

(D) Jason Crow*

90%

CO-07 (Jefferson County) See Full Big Line

(D) Brittany Pettersen

85%↑

 

CO-08 (Northern Colo.) See Full Big Line

(D) Yadira Caraveo

(R) Gabe Evans

(R) Janak Joshi

60%↑

35%↓

30%↑

State Senate Majority See Full Big Line

DEMOCRATS

REPUBLICANS

80%

20%

State House Majority See Full Big Line

DEMOCRATS

REPUBLICANS

95%

5%

Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors
July 10, 2017 02:26 PM UTC

Questions for Gardner About Senate Healthcare Bill

  • 21 Comments
  • by: Jason Salzman

(Promoted by Colorado Pols)

Sen. Cory Gardner (R).

Here’s my list of key questions for Gardner. Please add yours in the comment section.

What’s the highest number of people in Colorado who’d be projected to lose health insurance under the senate bill—and you’d still vote for it?

You’re not yet accepting the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) estimate that 22 million people would lose health insurance under the senate bill. If not the CBO, who will you trust to analyze the bill?

Your opponents accuse you of sabotaging Obamacare. Here’s one example they point to. Back in 2013, you and U.S. Sen Marco Rubio of Florida opposed “bailouts” of insurance companies as part of Obamacare. They were referred to as risk corridors. Is it fair to say that withholding those payments destabilized the marketplace? And now, experts say, Republican are proposing insurance-company bailouts for the same reason, to stabilize the marketplace. Are you okay with voting for the bailouts in the current bill?

You’ve said an Obamacare replacement should lower premiums. The nonpartisan Kaiser Foundation says that, under the current bill, premiums would rise faster than under Obamacare. Would you vote for a senate bill if the Kaiser Foundation found that under the senate bill, premiums would rise faster than under Obamacare.

Please talk about your roll in drafting the bill. People don’t understand how you were a drafter of the bill, especially the Medicaid part, but never saw drafts of it.

You’ve said that if the senate doesn’t pass a bill, the only alternative to Obamacare is a single-payer system. Why do you think this?

The nonpartisan Colorado Health Institute estimates that Colorado would lose at least $14 billion in federal Medicaid funds during the first 10 years after passage of the senate bill. How would you cut Colorado’s Medicaid program in future years as federal funds decrease and lawmakers will have to reduce services?

Should Colorado pick up the tab for lost Medicaid funding, or should the next governor and state legislature push people off the rolls or cut services?

Along these lines, if the senate bill passes, would you support a tax increase in Colorado, so that the state could afford to cover children, seniors, and people with disabilities?

Federal law mandates that hospitals accept sick people in emergency rooms. So are you okay with pushing people off Medicaid and, in effect, forcing hospitals to pick up the tab for emergency room by, at least, some of them?

You’ve said you want to make Medicaid sustainable. Are you saying you want to cut Medicaid to make it sustainable? If not, how else would you achieve your goal of making it sustainable?

You will not reveal if you’d vote for the senate legislation as drafted. But do you support the framework of the bill, which is to take health insurance away from Medicaid recipients and give a tax cut to wealthy Americans?

Your opponents are concerned that Republicans want to all insurance companies to sell so-called “junk” plans, which require lots of out-of-pocket payments. If the senate bill lowers premiums for some people, but raises out-of-pocket costs for most everybody, does that mean that insurance is less expensive or more expensive?

Will you vote for the senate bill if there are no hearings and regular order, as you’ve promised?

Rural hospitals depend on Medicaid funding. Are you willing to assure rural Coloradans that no rural hospital will close, if the the senate bill became law?

Will you hold a town hall meeting on health care, and if not, why not?

Tweet
Share

Comments

21 thoughts on “Questions for Gardner About Senate Healthcare Bill”

  1. Another Gardner healthcare thread.  Another chance for Moldy to talk about repeal without explaing why it's better than keeping or fixing the law.  Because, hey, the world won't end.  Even though millions won't get preventative care.  But that's okay.  Moldy can get fisted by the invisible hand.

      1. Hi.  I'm MoldyAnus. I can't control myself when pols posts Gardner or healthcare diaries.  

        I must post my stupid shit about how "Not everything Cory Gardner does is evil".  Or how we should just repeal ACA because the world didn't end before ACA.  Don't ask me questions.  I'm not smart enough to answer them.

         

        Btw Moldy, why is ACA repeal BETTER for Americans than keeping or  fixing issues with the ACA?  Can you answer that for me?

      2. Why don't you post one , Fluffy? Post a well written and researched diary backing up your claims with data and well reasoned arguments, going into detail about the ACA and its relative benefit to Americans..

        ..just kidding…hahahahacheeky

        1. C'mon guys…Moderatus…Powerful Pear….even Andrei..but, no that's asking too much.

          When are you guys going to open your eyes and see how you have been played like fishes by a snake oil salesman? You are his fucking base…do something about it. Call your actual Republican representative and encourage them to call for a new presidential election in 2018. You are going to get your asses handed to you in 2018…Your only hope to minimize the damage is:

          1.. Get that "nutjob", and everyone who came in with him, out of the white house .

          2. Enact "Medicare for All" or, at a minimum, provide a public option for enrolling.

          3. End all tax breaks except for individuals and families making less than $100,000/yr….including for chuches.   No…especially for churches!

          4. Re-enter the Paris Climate Accord and lead the way! Did I mention lead the way?

          5. Repeal the General Mining Act of 1872. It has outlived its usefulness and is being used to inflict harm upon property owners and residents across the country.

          Those are a good place to start.

          But first…lose the Yam. He is going to take you so far down you will easily be able to examine whale shit…right where it lands.

           

           

           

          1. Don't hold your breath Duke.  Pear is a proud Trump minion, Cornholio has no soul and Moldy's too dumb to know anything beyond getting fisted by Adam Smith's invisible mutherfuckin pimp hand.

          2. And, of course, we need the "Bring Back Coal Mining Jobs Act of 2017" that would:

            1. Prohibit the use of any mechanical equipment other than those cute little mine tram cars that look like roller coaster cars.

            2.  Require all mine workers to be unionized.

            3.  Take our fleet of coal-burning battleships out of mothballs.

            4.  Fund a Strategic Coal Reserve to ensure a market for all coal produced in the United States.

  2. Get with the program, people! If the good senator wanted to answer questions about this MAGA-POS, he would have had hearings and town hall meetings. He didn't. What about this is so hard to understand?

    2. I agree with you mama that Jason wrote an excellent piece with thoughtful questions regarding this important piece of legislation.  It would be wonderful if Gardner took as much time and care to give his constituents his answers to these critical questions.

      I'm a little peeved at the group that they diverted again into attacking Moldy for being himself.  He's never going to change so what's the point?  Jason's piece deserved better analysis and discussion.

      The question that I thought was significant was in regards to Gardner's role and input in the Gang of 13.  What did he do?  What was his contributions and why did he not have a working knowledge of the draft legislation when it came out?

      The other question that I thought deserved an honest answer was what Gardner would do with the people who got kicked off Medicaid.  Was he going to let them die or did he expect the states to pick up the tab with already stretched budgets.  It's one thing to have disabled people arrested.  It is an entirely different beast to deny them health care coverage to the point that it accelerates their demise.  Is he really so callous that he will do them harm to fulfill his ideological objectives?

      Excellent questions Jason.  Kudos for continuing to write thoughtful pieces for Pols.

      1. Jason did write another good article (sometimes he gets overlooked as a victim of our expectations, I suppose), and the article has several good questions . . . 

        . . . all of which have about the same chance of receiving a intelligent and thoughtful answer from Gardner, as from Moderatus . . . 

        I'd be the first to poke fun at Gardner for his ridiculous and unsupportable positions, if he ever found enough courage to post here, or anywhere.  That only leaves us with Fluffy's nonsense — I know it's a shitty deal, but them's all the cards that get dealt here at Casa Alva.

        Seriously though, good points GG!

      2. Yup, GG. The troll bashing gets old . Trolls choose not to address the issue at hand, so divert and attack  – but we do the same when we choose not to address the issue the diarist wrote about, and divert into endless troll-bashing.

        I'll probably go to Gardner's Yuma office again, and see if I can make his staffer speechless. Jason's questions are a good basis.

        1. I think of it as driving around potholes mama.  There will always be potholes but you don't have to drive through them to get to where you want to go.  Drive around them and save the wear and tear on your vehicle.  My position is that this group of talented writers can have interesting discussions without all the troll bashing.  I don't know the click counts but I write for those folks who don't post but are interested in Colorado politics and issues.  Don't they deserve a chance to read thoughtful exchanges regarding the issues and not endless insults about people who don't care about logical consequences and scientific explanations.  It's time to move on and enjoy real discussions in print.  The trolls are potholes or potheads but who cares.  They contribute to the discussion by showing how little they contribute.  We can do better than follow their lead.

Leave a Comment

Recent Comments


Posts about

Donald Trump
SEE MORE

Posts about

Rep. Lauren Boebert
SEE MORE

Posts about

Rep. Yadira Caraveo
SEE MORE

Posts about

Colorado House
SEE MORE

Posts about

Colorado Senate
SEE MORE

170 readers online now

Newsletter

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter to stay in the loop with regular updates!