memeorandum: “The Reality Is, Half Of Americans Can't Afford To Write A $500 Check” (Tyler Durden/zerohedge.com/fullrss2 …)

11:00 AM ET, March 7, 2017

Top Items:

Ezra Klein / Vox:

The GOP health bill doesn't know what problem it's trying to solve — After seven years of drafting a replacement plan, we get ... this? — Have you read Sarah Kliff's thorough look at the GOP Obamacare replacement? You have? Good. Some thoughts. — Little in politics shocks me.

Discussion: Politico, NBC News, EconLog, New York Times, Hullabaloo and CNBC

Avik Roy / Forbes:

House GOP's Obamacare Replacement Will Make Coverage Unaffordable For Millions — Otherwise, It's Great — That's not an ironic headline. Leading House Republicans have included a number of transformative and consequential reforms in their American Health Care Act, the full text of which was published Monday evening.

Discussion: RedState, Washington Post, Investor's Business Daily, Fox News, Fox News Insider, Vox, The Week, Mother Jones, BizPac Review, Business Insider, Washington Monthly, New York Magazine and Politicus USA

Eugene Scott / CNN:

Chaffetz: Low-income Americans will have to choose health care over iPhones — Chaffetz: Invest in healthcare over iPhone — House Republicans introduced a bill Monday that would scrap Obamacare's individual mandate and change the way Medicaid is administered

Rachael Bade / Politico:

Conservatives pan House Obamacare repeal bill — A handful of House conservatives on Monday evening criticized GOP leadership's newly released Obamacare replacement bill, foreshadowing trouble for the repeal effort even after leaders tried to assuage the far-right.

Discussion: Daily Kos, The Daily Caller, The Week, The Hill and Axios

Philip Klein / Washington Examiner:

Republican Obamacare plan signals that liberalism has already won — In releasing their healthcare plan on Monday, House Republican leaders sent a signal loud and clear: liberalism has already won. — Barring radical changes, Republicans will not be passing a bill that ushers in a new era of market-based healthcare.

Caitlin MacNeal / Talking Points Memo:

Chaffetz: Americans May Have To Choose Between New Phone, Health Insurance — Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) on Tuesday morning brushed off concerns about the access low-income Americans will have to health insurance with Republicans' plan to replace Obamacare, arguing that Americans …

Discussion: CNNMoney and Eschaton

CNN:

CNN/ORC poll: Public splits on revoking individual mandate — Washington (CNN)Americans are sharply divided on revoking Obamacare's mandate that individuals obtain health insurance coverage, according to a new CNN/ORC poll, a change that's a key provision of a newly-released Republican plan to repeal and replace the 2010 law.

Discussion: Washington Times and Politico

Michael Hiltzik / Los Angeles Times:

Column The GOP's Obamacare repeal plan is out—and it's even worse than anyone expected — House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, perpetrator of the GOP Obamacare repeal bill. (J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press) — After weeks of expectations — actually, nearly seven years of expectations …

Discussion: Forbes, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and The Daily Caller

Daniel Lippman / Politico:
THE INSIDE SCOOP: Obamacare replacement politics ... RAND PAUL joins with Freedom Caucus …

Discussion: Washington Post, Business Insider and AOL

Sarah Kliff / Vox:
The American Health Care Act: the Republicans' bill to replace Obamacare, explained

Discussion: Columbia Daily Tribune, CNBC, Arkansas Blog, Arkansas Times, Shakesville, Talking Points Memo, Managed Healthcare Executive, The Daily Item, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, ThinkProgress and Politicus USA

Speaker.gov:
Statement on Introduction of the American Health Care Act

Discussion: ThinkProgress, New York Times, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, Conservative 101, TheBlaze, Balloon Juice, NBC News, Business Insider, KTLA, The Daily Signal and The Last Refuge

Margot Sanger-Katz / New York Times:
G.O.P. Repeal Bill Would Cut Funding for Poor and Taxes on Rich

Discussion: Speaker.gov, Daily Kos, The Atlantic, Mother Jones, WKRG-TV, Washington Free Beacon, Vox, CBS New York, Business Insider, NPR, portman.senate.gov, AOL and Talking Points Memo

New York Times:
House Republicans Unveil Plan to Replace Health Law

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Business Insider, FiveThirtyEight, Talking Points Memo, Vox, The Resurgent, Arkansas Blog, Arkansas Times, TalkLeft, RedState, Mashable and Politico

Wall Street Journal:
The Health Bill You've Waited For

Discussion: ABC News, twitchy.com and Fox News Insider

kff.org:
Tax Credits under the Affordable Care Act vs. Replacement Proposal: An Interactive Map

Discussion: Vox, Talking Points Memo, Health Affairs Blog and The Atlantic

Peter Suderman / Hit & Run:
The GOP's Obamacare Repeal Bill Is Here. Is This Just Obamacare Lite?

Discussion: Washington Post, RedState, The Hill, FiveThirtyEight, NBC News, ACASignups.net, The Atlantic and Mother Jones

Amy Goldstein / Washington Post:
House Republicans release long-awaited plan to replace Obamacare

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, BostonGlobe.com, CNN, The Hill, Raw Story, The Root, Daily Wire, The Daily Caller, Hot Air, Liberal Values and Business Insider

Axios:
Trumpcare: What's in, what's out

Discussion: RedState, Politico, New York Magazine, Townhall.com and Mother Jones

Mitch Smith / New York Times:

Omaha's Answer to Costly Potholes? Go Back to Gravel Roads — OMAHA — After living more than 40 years along a road plagued by potholes, Jo Anne Amoura was excited to see city crews shred her block of Leavenworth Street into gravel. — “I thought, 'Oh my gosh, this is great.

Austin Wright / Politico:

McCain on Trump's wiretap claim: 'I haven't seen anything like this' — Sen. John McCain on Monday demanded the release of any evidence backing up President Donald Trump's claim that President Barack Obama wiretapped Trump Tower in the run-up to the presidential election …

Discussion: Roll Call, Talking Points Memo, Political Wire and The Week

Michael S. Schmidt / New York Times:
White House Rejects Comey's Assertion That Wiretapping Claim Is False

Discussion: The Atlantic, Business Insider, Mother Jones, Bloomberg, Outside the Beltway, IJR and Balloon Juice, more at Mediagazer »

Ashley Parker / Washington Post:
White House aides struggle to defend Trump wiretap claims

Discussion: USA Today, The Week, Hot Air and Talking Points Memo

Mallory Shelbourne / The Hill:

White House appears to copy from Exxon Mobil release — A White House press release congratulating Exxon Mobil Corp. for its recent investment in U.S. manufacturing repeats an exact paragraph from the oil company's own release, CNN reported Monday. … “ExxonMobil is strategically investing …

Discussion: RedState

Press Release:
ExxonMobil Plans Investments of $20 Billion to Expand Manufacturing in U.S. Gulf Region

Discussion: Mediaite, Washington Post, ABC News, The Week and Mother Jones

The White House:
President Trump Congratulates Exxon Mobil for Job-Creating Investment Program

Discussion: The Hill, The Daily Caller, Business Insider, Washington Post, CNBC, Talking Points Memo, Mashable, Daily Kos, Politico, Fox News Insider and fox4kc.com

Justin Holcomb / Townhall.com:

Iran Launches Two Ballistic Missiles, Sinking an Offshore Barge 150 Miles Away — Over the weekend, the Islamic Republic of Iran test-fired two ballistic missiles into the Gulf of Oman, with one sinking a floating barge approximately 155 miles away, according to Fox News.

Discussion: Fox News and AOL

Victor Davis Hanson / National Review:

The Ancient Laws of Unintended Consequences — Eight years of a fawning press have made the Left reckless. — The classical idea of a divine Nemesis ("reckoning" or “downfall") that brings unforeseen retribution for hubris (insolence and arrogance) was a recognition that there are certain laws …

Discussion: Instapundit

Maya Oppenheim / The Independent:

Donald Trump has spent almost a quarter of his time as President in Florida — Republican has spent four out of seven weekends in his 126-room ‘Winter White House’ — Donald Trump is believed to have spent almost a quarter of his time as President in the sunshine state of Florida.

George Bennett / Post On Politics:
Donald Trump's Florida presidency: 241+ hours in Sunshine State

Discussion: The Hill

Guy Benson / Townhall.com:

Senate Democrat Who Claimed Hard Evidence of Trump-Russia Collusion: Uh, Never Mind — Liberal Delaware Sen. Chris Coons caused a stir last week when he indicated during a televised interview that yet-undisclosed transcripts of recorded phone conversations conclusively prove that elements …

Discussion: Hot Air, The Resurgent and The Federalist

John Crudele / New York Post:

Why Dems will regret a probe into Russian election hacking — MORE FROM: — The investigation of Russian interference in the US election could turn into a big headache for the Democrats. The phrase “Be careful what you ask for” comes to mind. — For months before the presidential election …

Discussion: BizPac Review

Katie Glueck / McClatchy Washington Bureau:

Can Ronna Romney McDaniel unite a fractured Republican Party? — WASHINGTON — On the night before the election, Pete Hoekstra stood onstage at a Michigan convention center, introducing the lineup of speakers at Donald Trump's final rally of the campaign.

Tyler Durden / zerohedge.com/fullrss2.xml …:

“The Reality Is, Half Of Americans Can't Afford To Write A $500 Check” — The CEO of Assurant appeared on Bloomberg TV to explain why demand for his services is likely to increase: the chief executive of the mobile phone insurer said he expects a surge in demand as carriers charge customers more to replace their devices.