Daily Clips: August 19th, 2016
Obamacare hits a bump: Krugman looks at the ACA since it took full effect in January of 2014. Private insurance companies, he notes, “are now finding themselves losing money, because previously uninsured Americans who are signing up turn out to have been sicker and more in need of costly care than we realized.” That intuitively makes sense. And as a result, some insurers have hiked premiums and some (like Aetna) are pulling out of the ACA. That is a problem. Especially because private insurers don’t want the government to offer a public option. Krugman asks, “But if these insurers aren’t actually interested in providing insurance, why not let the government step in?” A good question, Paul. Donald Trump is the least of the GOP’s problems: I don’t agree with all of the author’s premises, but this point in particular I found to be compelling: Trump is desperately trying to fashion a new reactionary politics out of the bits and pieces that are now left to it: a white nationalism that draws its animating energies from its hostility to a black president, immigration, and Islam. But the evidence is increasingly clear that that kind of politics simply does not possess enough appeal to propel him or any other similar candidate to the White House. Why women are no longer catching up to men on pay: It turns out that “wage gains have gone disproportionately to people working longer hours” and the people working longer hours are primarily men. Tweet of the day: NEW: @realDonaldTrump 's first general election ad. Hits Clinton on "rigged system," touts Trump on immigration –> pic.twitter.com/oJrKgQIH8o — Hallie Jackson (@HallieJackson) August 19, 2016
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