A provision of the new Trumpcare bill gaining steam among Senate Republicans — a bill commonly referred to as “Graham-Cassidy” after its two leading proponents — would allow many insurers to drive up premiums the minute someone gets sick.
This provision allows states to obtain waivers from the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that no one can be charged a higher premium because of a “health status-related factor,” effectively allowing insurers to discriminate against people with pre-existing health conditions.
But that’s not all. The new Trumpcare bill wouldn’t simply allow insurers to discriminate against people whose health condition manifested before they signed up for insurance. Graham-Cassidy also potentially permits insurers to charge higher premiums “as a condition of enrollment or continued enrollment.”
Thus, a person who is already insured could be forced to pay much higher premiums as a condition of their “continued enrollment” in that health plan after they are diagnosed with a new health condition.
RANSOM!! It would be so sad if you couldn’t afford these higher premiums that we just raised on you….you might have to decide if you want to pay for the house you live in or your medicine…..or just die quickly….too bad, so sad!
A ploy for a $1.5 TRILLION tax cut…..but we knew that already….which is why they don’t care what’s really IN the bill, or care how this impacts people in real life, or the fact that hospitals, insurers and anyone else that actually cares for people is totally AGAINST THIS BILL…no NEED to care! It’s all about the tax cuts for the wealthy!
There's no way to talk accurately about the viability of Medicaid block grants wout factoring in the effect a of $1.5T tax cut. One big game
— Todd Zwillich (@toddzwillich) September 21, 2025
Mayor de Blasio is ahead of his Republican opponent Nicole Malliotakis by a 47-point margin, according to a new poll https://t.co/PN8fpBmu9E pic.twitter.com/DlI39olQTO
— New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) September 21, 2025
A couple of months ago I read an article somewhere that said that Senator Orrin Hatch was secretly receiving Presidential daily briefings in case Trump and Pence were no longer able to perform their duties.
Cities demand fossil fuel companies pay for climate damages:
“San Francisco and Oakland are the two latest cities looking to take major fossil fuel companies to court over their role in fueling climate change. City attorneys announced on Wednesday that they had filed lawsuits with state courts in San Francisco and Alameda counties alleging that a handful of fossil fuel producers not only contributed to climate change through their business practices, but did so knowingly. The cities are asking fossil fuel producers to pay into a fund that would be used to pay for current and future damages associated with sea level rise.”. (TP)
One defendant Exxon Mobil “was aware of the dangers of climate change as early as the 1970s, but continued to mislead both investors and the public about the threats to both the planet and the company’s assets.”
Let’s hope Puerto Rico litigates too.
A Century of Oil Subsidies: Big Oil can start by REFUNDING over 100 years of subsidies paid by tax payers. Billions of our dollars still go to the wealthiest group on our planet. We enabled them to kill off our planet and endanger our species while they denied and disinformed about the fallout. And let’s not forget the role of the KOCH OIL brothers Charles and David KOCH who have been controlling GOP Congress + the future of America for decades.
Just called my senators, AGAIN, and told them to vote NO. Takes seconds and is so important. For those nervous about calling, keep in mind that THEY work for YOU…not the other way around. YOU are THEIR boss! You don’t have to have a conversation with anyone (if you’re even lucky enough to get a person to answer the phone at all) Mostly, you get to leave a voice mail message. Easy peesy. SO IMPORTANT TO HAVE YOUR OPINION HEARD…..If that is too difficult, use Resistbot and send a free message to them that way. Do NOT sit this out. We have no do overs and want NO REGRETS. Yes. You. Can.
I’ve called and faxed my two crap-bucket GOP Senators and my good Dem Congressman (to thank and encourage him for keeping up the fight). Faxing is super easy by phone - just text “resist” to 50409 and follow the prompts. Even if you mess up anywhere in the process (which is unlikely for most people, but I found a way), you can start over by just texting a new “resist” message. If you like, the bot will even send daily reminders, so you can send faxes everyday until Sept 30. Pretty cool.
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 9/20/17
Following the path from Manafort to Mueller’s investigation
Rachel Maddow shows how a small story about an obscure change in the Republican Party platform was the first indication of a bigger story that will lead to a full blown federal investigation and Robert Mueller asking the White House for 13 kinds of documents.
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 9/20/17
Trump campaign Kremlin connection seen in Manafort e-mails: WaPo
Carol Leonnig, staff writer for The Washington Post, talks with Rachel Maddow about new reporting on how Donald Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort talked with a Putin-connected Russian oligarch about how to capitalize on his campaign position.
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 9/20/17
Manafort now working with Kurds against US policy in Iraq
Ken Vogel, reporter for the New York Times, talks with Rachel Maddow about his reporting that former Donald Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort is now working to promote the Kurdish independence referendum in contradiction of U.S. policy in Iraq.
The last word on health care this morning goes to Nicholas Bagley of the University of Michigan. “Graham-Cassidy is a brazen effort to block any level of government, state or federal, from achieving near-universal coverage,” he writes.“That’s what the debate is about. Everything else is just noise.”
This Akron Beacon Journal editorial is 🔥🔥🔥.@senrobportman has no biz voting for G-C. It would be awful for Ohio.https://t.co/TpJbN6jkg3 pic.twitter.com/wc5LgBa61y
Nearly 2 million veterans rely on Medicaid including 6,000 veterans in Delaware. #CassidyGraham would put their health care coverage at risk pic.twitter.com/UPpruklUhZ
— Senator Tom Carper (@SenatorCarper) September 20, 2025
No words. And no, as an ex-horse owner, I don’t need to watch it.
Part of the problem is the fake dirt they run them in. It’s abnormally soft, so it adds to the skeletal fragility, adding on to the breeding to the point that today’s race horse has an unbelievably heavy/muscled upper body supported on very fragile legs, plus all the drugs they pump into them.
And these horses are by and large still children/teenagers/very young adults, and still developing physically.
Cassidy-Graham is a horribly destructive bill. It is a ticking time bomb that will end up repealing the ACA with no viable replacement. It’s worse than even the terrible pre-ACA status quo, with Medicaid cuts falling on the backs of the poorest American families. It is structured explicitly to juke a CBO score, putting off its most savage cuts until 2027. Since they cannot start the huge Medicaid cuts right away (again, juking the CBO score means they need to wait 10 years), the architects of Graham-Cassidy put in provisions to make the next 10 years a completely partisan redistribution of shrinking federal government funding from blue to red states.
“Graham-Cassidy: Maybe the worst Republican health proposal yet”
I can understand the psychology of wanting to provide healthcare to everyone. But for the life of me I cannot understand the psychology of wanting to take healthcare away from people, beyond the normal political reasons. You want to cut taxes, okay I can understand that. But to go about trying to deny your fellow citizens healthcare is something I truly don’t understand. What sort of victory do you think deny citizens healthcare will achieve? I’m just saying that when you’re on your deathbed and you’ve voted to take away healthcare from someone, you had better be able to defend your decision. Because that is some heavy shit to take with you into the afterlife.
You’re right and it would go to SCOTUS, eventually. In the meantime, people would die waiting for the case to work its way through the appeals process and finally we’d lose 5-4, with Gorsuch as the deciding vote.
Title: “Bill Cassidy, Witch Doctor” By the great Mike Luckovich#GrahamCassidy #GrahamCassidyBill@BillCassidy @jimmykimmel @JimmyKimmelLive pic.twitter.com/SwtveaYhxs
Melania gave a great speech about how everyone shouldn't bully people online. BTW, she looks SO FAT in that outfit! Sad! #ThursdayThoughts pic.twitter.com/3Heb7SGrV4
— Donald J. Trump (@RealDonaldTrFan) September 21, 2025
Martin Heinrich says we have the power to stop Graham-Cassidy — hope it’s true with GOP pulling out all the stops to ram their hideous bill through. 😦
You have the power to stop #TrumpCare from becoming law if you take a stand. Keep calling, keep marching, keep making your voice heard. pic.twitter.com/VfgsFKWnJV
— Martin Heinrich (@MartinHeinrich) September 21, 2025
My God: fertility rates in Flint, MI before and after the city switched to lead-poisoned Flint River water https://t.co/PEXl2DWbh0 pic.twitter.com/0Y3J2X0shQ
— Christopher Ingraham (@_cingraham) September 21, 2025
If I was her, I would be so insulted that these men offered to buy me off like this and screw the rest of the country…they think that she has no integrity and moral compass like THEY DON’T. Hope she says no and then gives her nasty male counterparts a real piece of her mind.
Corruption is rampant. Did you know Koch Bros are holding the GOP hostage for $400M unless they take our healthcare 👉https://t.co/MuZkGBYaiG pic.twitter.com/5AtpnF95Qt
— Alexander Hamilton (@AHamiltonSpirit) September 20, 2025
No joke. We have scumbag McConnell on tape talking about how the Koch Bros. own the GOP back in 2014. 👉https://t.co/4OKSqXq0xa pic.twitter.com/Ob4q5uUlJX
— Alexander Hamilton (@AHamiltonSpirit) September 20, 2025
Big thanks to Blue Cross for putting patients before profits & exposing #GrahamCassidy/#TrumpCare’s attack on those w/preexisting conditions https://t.co/5vza3fjLJd
Was going to announce Friday. I've signed as a CNN contributor, and looks like I'll be in VERY good company with the likes of @PreetBharara! https://t.co/lUpEpZH9lr
For the first time in its nearly 250-year history, the U.S. Marine Corps will have a female infantry officer: https://t.co/JnLB5v4c37 pic.twitter.com/WbAXnq9CG5
Sanders is Not a Dem. Single Payer is Not the Issue here & trashing Dems is Not the issue here too. Klobuchar, a fine Litigator,Prosecutor, but Healthcare is Not her expertise. She’s not even in any Committee relevant to Healthcare. Dems have enough expertise than these 2.
#IWasHealthy til I got sick, no insurance =no treatment, got sicker, hospitalized, had to go on disability to get help #noGrahamCassidy https://t.co/rNe2dp6HYV
For the good of the country, they should quit Congress and stay there permanently. At least, they will be useful to something. Help in a crisis instead of creating one.
Paul Ryan leads group of lawmakers touring hurricane aid efforts in Houston https://t.co/j3kt4kdnIt pic.twitter.com/4MZQmONpjS
Undocumented Parents were arrested at a children's hospital while awaiting their infant son's surgery. 😡https://t.co/HykhaSsqgT pic.twitter.com/59GioWJLZO
— United We Dream (@UNITEDWEDREAM) September 21, 2025
#GrahamCassidy forces women to go back to work soon after having a baby — or they will LOSE THEIR INSURANCE. How “pro-life” of them. pic.twitter.com/2RB0g3CLzS
Obama White House.gov
Good West Coast morning NW & TOD family 💕
Hey GGail. It’s my son’s 30th birthday today!! Hope you have a wonderful day. Congrats on first.
🎈🥂👏🏼
Congrats on first GGail! Good Morning TOD family!
Happy Birthday to your son Betsy!
Happy Birthday to your exceptional son, Betsy! 🍾🎂
Congratulations, Gail!
Phone banking from home using https://www.trumpcareten.org/calls-to-kill-trumpcare
Also tweeting up a storm: http://twitter.com/FardigJudith/status/910980713922441216
Thanks Nerdy! I can listen while driving to work 😘
Between Seth, Stephen and Jimmy (Kimmel), Trump is taking a licking in late night tv. GOOD.
Morning everyone. Posting again for those that haven’t seen this MUST READ AND SHARE. THEN CALL!
http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/09/19/552044236/latest-gop-effort-to-replace-obamacare-could-end-health-care-for-millions?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20170920
https://thinkprogress.org/trumpcare-premium-increase-analysis-150828a5ead6/
A provision of the new Trumpcare bill gaining steam among Senate Republicans — a bill commonly referred to as “Graham-Cassidy” after its two leading proponents — would allow many insurers to drive up premiums the minute someone gets sick.
This provision allows states to obtain waivers from the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that no one can be charged a higher premium because of a “health status-related factor,” effectively allowing insurers to discriminate against people with pre-existing health conditions.
But that’s not all. The new Trumpcare bill wouldn’t simply allow insurers to discriminate against people whose health condition manifested before they signed up for insurance. Graham-Cassidy also potentially permits insurers to charge higher premiums “as a condition of enrollment or continued enrollment.”
Thus, a person who is already insured could be forced to pay much higher premiums as a condition of their “continued enrollment” in that health plan after they are diagnosed with a new health condition.
RANSOM!! It would be so sad if you couldn’t afford these higher premiums that we just raised on you….you might have to decide if you want to pay for the house you live in or your medicine…..or just die quickly….too bad, so sad!
A ploy for a $1.5 TRILLION tax cut…..but we knew that already….which is why they don’t care what’s really IN the bill, or care how this impacts people in real life, or the fact that hospitals, insurers and anyone else that actually cares for people is totally AGAINST THIS BILL…no NEED to care! It’s all about the tax cuts for the wealthy!
Once again…because liars gonna lie
SHOW UP, IOWA!
Some humor for this morning.
That’s what I’m talkin’ about! 🙂 🙂
ROFL! That is straight up 🔥🔥🔥!
fucking nyt now is a full time stenographing mouthpiece. pathetic.
These are the idiots who carried on when President Obama went on a few golf trips and vacations.
https://www.vox.com/health-care/2017/9/20/16333338/obamacare-repeal-graham-cassidy
Haha!! Good to hear.
Bye, Jackass.
Yes…better warn Mother.
I’d like to see ‘mother’ going down with her man… we know she knows exactly what’s going on
Oh I’m sorry, I misread the first part of you sentence.
🙃🙀, when was your last eye exam, Don? Askin’ for a friend
LOL! 😆🤣😂😆🤣😂
Oh yes she does!:) Aided and abetted her man for a loooooong time!
A couple of months ago I read an article somewhere that said that Senator Orrin Hatch was secretly receiving Presidential daily briefings in case Trump and Pence were no longer able to perform their duties.
I remember shuddering when I read that
I hate Hatch but he’s better than Ryan… who is also going down with McConnell on RICO.
I have a feeling that Hatch would stay in office until 2020 and then someone else would run and be beaten by the Democratic Presidential candidate.
Cities demand fossil fuel companies pay for climate damages:
“San Francisco and Oakland are the two latest cities looking to take major fossil fuel companies to court over their role in fueling climate change. City attorneys announced on Wednesday that they had filed lawsuits with state courts in San Francisco and Alameda counties alleging that a handful of fossil fuel producers not only contributed to climate change through their business practices, but did so knowingly. The cities are asking fossil fuel producers to pay into a fund that would be used to pay for current and future damages associated with sea level rise.”. (TP)
One defendant Exxon Mobil “was aware of the dangers of climate change as early as the 1970s, but continued to mislead both investors and the public about the threats to both the planet and the company’s assets.”
Let’s hope Puerto Rico litigates too.
A Century of Oil Subsidies: Big Oil can start by REFUNDING over 100 years of subsidies paid by tax payers. Billions of our dollars still go to the wealthiest group on our planet. We enabled them to kill off our planet and endanger our species while they denied and disinformed about the fallout. And let’s not forget the role of the KOCH OIL brothers Charles and David KOCH who have been controlling GOP Congress + the future of America for decades.
❤️
mattis should listen to his own advice on iran and iran deal.
I wonder what’s the going rate for selling your soul these days?
🙌🏾
Just called my senators, AGAIN, and told them to vote NO. Takes seconds and is so important. For those nervous about calling, keep in mind that THEY work for YOU…not the other way around. YOU are THEIR boss! You don’t have to have a conversation with anyone (if you’re even lucky enough to get a person to answer the phone at all) Mostly, you get to leave a voice mail message. Easy peesy. SO IMPORTANT TO HAVE YOUR OPINION HEARD…..If that is too difficult, use Resistbot and send a free message to them that way. Do NOT sit this out. We have no do overs and want NO REGRETS. Yes. You. Can.
I’ve called and faxed my two crap-bucket GOP Senators and my good Dem Congressman (to thank and encourage him for keeping up the fight). Faxing is super easy by phone - just text “resist” to 50409 and follow the prompts. Even if you mess up anywhere in the process (which is unlikely for most people, but I found a way), you can start over by just texting a new “resist” message. If you like, the bot will even send daily reminders, so you can send faxes everyday until Sept 30. Pretty cool.
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 9/20/17
Following the path from Manafort to Mueller’s investigation
Rachel Maddow shows how a small story about an obscure change in the Republican Party platform was the first indication of a bigger story that will lead to a full blown federal investigation and Robert Mueller asking the White House for 13 kinds of documents.
Make it official and put your real experiences in the record. Share with others
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 9/20/17
Trump campaign Kremlin connection seen in Manafort e-mails: WaPo
Carol Leonnig, staff writer for The Washington Post, talks with Rachel Maddow about new reporting on how Donald Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort talked with a Putin-connected Russian oligarch about how to capitalize on his campaign position.
Called Flake back about this. These older Arizonans will DIE. They don’t have this “extra” money for their healthcare!!!
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 9/20/17
Manafort now working with Kurds against US policy in Iraq
Ken Vogel, reporter for the New York Times, talks with Rachel Maddow about his reporting that former Donald Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort is now working to promote the Kurdish independence referendum in contradiction of U.S. policy in Iraq.
I would LOVE someone to Tweet this to McCain and Flake:)
tweeted it to McCain, df.
Thank you so much, sherijr:)
No problem, df.
From the piece:
The last word on health care this morning goes to Nicholas Bagley of the University of Michigan. “Graham-Cassidy is a brazen effort to block any level of government, state or federal, from achieving near-universal coverage,” he writes.“That’s what the debate is about. Everything else is just noise.”
Asshole. There is no such thing as a “moderate” Republican.
http://crooksandliars.com/2017/09/sen-jeff-flake-lives-name-insists-states
All Senators should get this letter directly
For Senator Flake:
1:47:55
https://horseracingwrongs.com/2017/09/21/video-of-fatal-step-at-belmont/comment-page-1/#comment-37897
I can’t bear it. How has the human race become so far removed from life? Oh, yes, I know, $$$
No words. And no, as an ex-horse owner, I don’t need to watch it.
Part of the problem is the fake dirt they run them in. It’s abnormally soft, so it adds to the skeletal fragility, adding on to the breeding to the point that today’s race horse has an unbelievably heavy/muscled upper body supported on very fragile legs, plus all the drugs they pump into them.
And these horses are by and large still children/teenagers/very young adults, and still developing physically.
This is so sickening…..
From the Economic Policy Institute:
Cassidy-Graham is a horribly destructive bill. It is a ticking time bomb that will end up repealing the ACA with no viable replacement. It’s worse than even the terrible pre-ACA status quo, with Medicaid cuts falling on the backs of the poorest American families. It is structured explicitly to juke a CBO score, putting off its most savage cuts until 2027. Since they cannot start the huge Medicaid cuts right away (again, juking the CBO score means they need to wait 10 years), the architects of Graham-Cassidy put in provisions to make the next 10 years a completely partisan redistribution of shrinking federal government funding from blue to red states.
“Graham-Cassidy: Maybe the worst Republican health proposal yet”
http://www.epi.org/blog/graham-cassidy-maybe-the-worst-republican-health-proposal-yet/
I can understand the psychology of wanting to provide healthcare to everyone. But for the life of me I cannot understand the psychology of wanting to take healthcare away from people, beyond the normal political reasons. You want to cut taxes, okay I can understand that. But to go about trying to deny your fellow citizens healthcare is something I truly don’t understand. What sort of victory do you think deny citizens healthcare will achieve? I’m just saying that when you’re on your deathbed and you’ve voted to take away healthcare from someone, you had better be able to defend your decision. Because that is some heavy shit to take with you into the afterlife.
They ain’t worried about the afterlife. They just want the big-ass checks they’re getting in this life. That’s it. There is nothing else.
LOL!!! You might be right!
Good Afternoon TODVille.
I’ve just died too….
PM Trudeau is so nerdy-cool! 😍
LOL!
I love it when my cats do that….so cute.
Hi Everyone! Check it out! 👇🏾
Hello TODbots.
❤ TOD Community.
GGail, Au ⭐ becomes You, 😉
{{{ ❤ Chips ❤ NW ❤ }}}
I am pretty sure THAT IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL,,,plus I bet after she votes yes they say “SYKE!
You’re right and it would go to SCOTUS, eventually. In the meantime, people would die waiting for the case to work its way through the appeals process and finally we’d lose 5-4, with Gorsuch as the deciding vote.
Except for money…..another little creep.
NO WORDS
Atlanta’s Own Treasure, Mike Luckovich
OKAY
I love this reply in the comments 🙂
The GOP are too stupid to govern.
GA Tally.
Martin Heinrich says we have the power to stop Graham-Cassidy — hope it’s true with GOP pulling out all the stops to ram their hideous bill through. 😦
WHOA
Do you remember the 21st night of September?… 🎼🎶🎵
Perfect, Dudette.
Thank you, Lady!
❤ ❤ ❤
😁 Been playing it all day!
Thread
If I was her, I would be so insulted that these men offered to buy me off like this and screw the rest of the country…they think that she has no integrity and moral compass like THEY DON’T. Hope she says no and then gives her nasty male counterparts a real piece of her mind.
September the best month of the whole year! Spoken by a September Libra 🙂 🙂
That man will be President someday.
We would be lucky to have him
Indeed.
Yes! Please!
In_DEED!
… and I lament every day since November 8, 2016!
I grieve with you NCLB.
Former Ethics Chief, Walter Shaub too!
Legal Groups Launch Pro Bono Legal Fund for Protesters
.
http://associationsnow.com/2017/09/legal-groups-launch-pro-bono-legal-fund-protesters/?utm_source=AN%2BDaily%2BNews&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20170921%2BThursday
Wow!
OMG!
Check out the names of these deplorables in article & who signed the letter, they’re asking DT to exit Iran deal. Jeebus!
.
https://www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org/2017/09/21/45-national-security-experts-urge-president-trump-to-withdraw-from-nuclear-deal-with-iran-using-the-bolton-plan/
I asked Flake if he was being obtuse or willfully ignorant in my email to him. Told him getting rid of them was a feature, not a bug.
Damn ass fool.
Sanders is Not a Dem. Single Payer is Not the Issue here & trashing Dems is Not the issue here too. Klobuchar, a fine Litigator,Prosecutor, but Healthcare is Not her expertise. She’s not even in any Committee relevant to Healthcare. Dems have enough expertise than these 2.
… but once elected and enjoying the freebies, he will support 1000%.
Yep, means nothing but once he is elected he will vote for his party like most of the white men in his party.
Traitor took “Rubles” in payment for these ads but they had “no idea” Russia was buying ads. He wants to run for office, I suppose as a Lying Rethug….
OOoooof
Bump Stein down there with DeVos…I’d put Sessions at least at #3.
SOME of them had better pay for all these lies and all the damage they’re inflicting on our country.
It’s a wish list. The point is they should all go.
The “I got mine, fuck you” strategy….they know this one by heart. That said, I think that she’s smarter than that.
Another day, another lie!
🙂 🙂 🙂
For the good of the country, they should quit Congress and stay there permanently. At least, they will be useful to something. Help in a crisis instead of creating one.
This cannot be who we are.
As of Jan 20, 2025 this is indeed who we are. 😡 😡 😡
Whoooppsie:
New post.
https://theobamadiary.com/2017/09/21/thinking-about-our-neighbors/
He’s back at his golf course tonight. UGH.