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Trumpcare earns brutal headlines in red states

Local publications are blaring the CBO’s damning report as more and more Republicans jump ship.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas listens at left as House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, March 7, 2017, as House Republicans introduce their plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. CREDIT: AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas listens at left as House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, March 7, 2017, as House Republicans introduce their plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. CREDIT: AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

On Monday, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its analysis of Trumpcare. The standout number for most observers, including the local newspapers in states Donald Trump carried in November, is that the bill would cost 24 million people their insurance. And 14 million of them would lose it by next year. The CBO said premiums would rise up to 20 percent in 2018 and 2019 before declining, and older enrollees would be allowed to pay five times as much as younger enrollees, compared to only three times as much under Obamacare.

Additionally, a ThinkProgress analysis found that Trumpcare would result in the deaths of 17,000 people in 2018, the direct result of a loss of insurance.

The “forgotten men and women” Trump lauded in his inaugural address for pushing him to victory would be among the biggest losers under the Republicans’ health care law. The Center of Budget and Policy Priorities released data showing that under the current legislation, deep red states would be hit hardest by shrinking premium tax credits.

A small but quickly growing number of Republicans on Capitol Hill are coming out in opposition to the bill following the CBO’s analysis, and more are signaling they are very much not on board yet. The Tea Party is deriding the legislation as “Obamacare Lite,” though many in that faction may still vote for it. Democrats are calling it a “tax break for the rich.”

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Even moderate Republicans are getting nervous about the bill’s impacts and prospects. On Tuesday afternoon, Rep. Leonard Lance (R-NJ) told CNN reporter MJ Lee that he didn’t “want to vote on a bill that has no chance of passing over in the Senate.”

Trumpcare is already in serious danger, a bizarre outcome given the amount of time Republicans have had to come up with a reasonable consensus alternative, and how stridently they called for repeal. It’s also bizarre given the lock the party has on the federal government.

The White House may be looking to attract more Tea Party support for the bill by cutting coverage for low-income families. But that may not play well in Trump Country.

Local newspapers in these red states, each of which Trump carried, are giving residents some brutal news about Trumpcare:

Michigan

Front page screenshot, CREDIT: Michigan’s Detroit News
Front page screenshot, CREDIT: Michigan’s Detroit News

Arizona

Front page screenshot, CREDIT: Arizona Daily Sun
Front page screenshot, CREDIT: Arizona Daily Sun
Front page screenshot, CREDIT: Arizona Republic
Front page screenshot, CREDIT: Arizona Republic
Front page screenshot, CREDIT: Arizona Daily Star
Front page screenshot, CREDIT: Arizona Daily Star

Florida

Front page screenshot, CREDIT: Daytona Beach News-Journal, FL
Front page screenshot, CREDIT: Daytona Beach News-Journal, FL
Front page screenshot, CREDIT: Ocala Star-Banner, FL
Front page screenshot, CREDIT: Ocala Star-Banner, FL
Front page screenshot, CREDIT: Orlando Sentinel, FL
Front page screenshot, CREDIT: Orlando Sentinel, FL
Front page screenshot, CREDIT: Sarasota Herald-Tribune, FL
Front page screenshot, CREDIT: Sarasota Herald-Tribune, FL

Georgia

Front page screenshot, CREDIT: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, GA
Front page screenshot, CREDIT: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, GA

Alaska

Front page screenshot, CREDIT: Alaska Dispatch News
Front page screenshot, CREDIT: Alaska Dispatch News

Alabama

Front page screenshot, CREDIT: Alabama’s Tuscaloosa News
Front page screenshot, CREDIT: Alabama’s Tuscaloosa News
Front page screenshot, CREDIT: Alabama’s The Anniston Star
Front page screenshot, CREDIT: Alabama’s The Anniston Star
Front page screenshot, CREDIT: Alabama’s The Times Daily
Front page screenshot, CREDIT: Alabama’s The Times Daily

Indiana

Front page screenshot, CREDIT: The Journal Gazette, Ft. Wayne, IN
Front page screenshot, CREDIT: The Journal Gazette, Ft. Wayne, IN

Georgia

Front page screenshot, CREDIT: The Augusta Chronicle, Georgia
Front page screenshot, CREDIT: The Augusta Chronicle, Georgia

Texas

Front page screenshot, CREDIT: Texas’ Corpus Christi Caller Times
Front page screenshot, CREDIT: Texas’ Corpus Christi Caller Times

Iowa

Front page screenshot, CREDIT: Iowa’s Quad-City Times
Front page screenshot, CREDIT: Iowa’s Quad-City Times

Ohio

Front page screenshot, CREDIT: Ohio’s The Canton Repository
Front page screenshot, CREDIT: Ohio’s The Canton Repository

Pennsylvania

Front page screenshot, CREDIT: Pennsylvania’s Philadelphia Inquirer
Front page screenshot, CREDIT: Pennsylvania’s Philadelphia Inquirer