Healthcare reforms are fun. Every Republican hates Obamacare, every Democrat hates...every Republican and therefore anything that isn't Obamacare. So of course he wants rid of it, and honestly, even though I think Obamacare was a step in the right direction that had a ton of unfortunate issues, I can agree to that simply to remove the controversy and get SOMETHING worked out. Other than this, The biggest parts of Trump's healthcare reform are basically like this:
1. Allow interstate healthcare - I honestly wasn't aware this was illegal, but making it legal is a fantastic idea, ESPECIALLY in Pennsylvania with all the issues about UPMC and Highmark. Usually, just encouraging competition between firms isn't enough to reduce prices by any worthwhile amount, but when 49 extra states-worth of companies are available for choosing, the effects would definitely matter.
2. Requiring price transparency from all healthcare providers - if Trump becomes president and your doctor looks more tired than usual, this might be why. Though another excellent idea that would at least prevent the shock of a bill after someone's sick, this could prove to be ridiculously hard to calculate in many cases. Assuming that would be taken into consideration though, two points for Trump.
3. Let states handle Medicaid - Here's where we start falling apart. Though not a bad idea on paper, some state governments have a tendency to suck really, really badly at doing...well...anything. Admittedly though, this would allow access to some resources the federal government could (if we're lucky) use better.
4. Letting foreign products into the US market - This really shocked me, and honestly made me doubt that Trump actually hates everyone that isn't American (...a little). Though frankly I'm not sure how big of a benefit this would have, it's certainly at least a little beneficial. The FDA will need more inspectors, and medicines from other countries would get FDA-tested so people from those countries would know that they're safe too.
For those of you who don't know, the VA is extremely sucky. Tons of veterans die from poor treatment, the administator's have taken advantage of company funding more than usual, and most employees hate it.
1. Increase funding for PTSD, brain injuries, and suicide prevention services for veterans - This....works? I mean, it's not bad, but it definitely isn't specific at all. Every politician promises something or other like this.
2. Increase funding for job training and stuff like that - Again, not a bad idea, just really vague.
3. Transform the VA to meet the needs of 21st century veterans - Again with the vagueness, but in this one it matters much more. What the h*ll does this even mean? It mentions providing support for female veterans, but that is the entirety of the next point, and doesn't explain at all what this point means.
4. Better support our women veterans - Staffing OBGYN at every VA is a fantastic idea. That's all there is to that.
Wait...did I make a mistake somewhere? Why did Trump put three numbered lists here? Why are most of the points the exact same? What on earth? I guess I'll do the last one too since it varies a little bit.
1-2 Fire the corrupt.../End waste... - Wow, fantastic. I'd love to see this pulled off. No politician has ever promised anything like this either! Ending corruption? WOW! WHAT A NOVEL IDEA!!!
Yeah, I'll believe it when I see it, but sure it looks nice on paper.
3. Modernize the VA - Okay THIS modernization point makes more sense. Again, great on paper, but nothing revolutionary or interesting, even to me.
4. Empower caregivers to ensure our veterans receive quality care quickly - Huzzah for buzzwords I guess?
5. Hire more veterans to care for veterans - This idea is interesting, but honestly hard to perform. The veterans who desperately need jobs likely don't have full doctor or nursing qualifications, so they couldn't apply or wouldn't actually be effective. That said, it's not a terrible idea for ex-military doctors and nurses.
6. Embed satellite VA clinics in rural and other underserved areas - First of all, underserved is not a word and made this hard to understand at all. Okay, tonal point aside, this is another good idea that I don't actually believe will be pulled off. I have no trust.
Tax Reform
Everybody hates taxes, but everybody needs the things the government uses them for. It's a pretty delicate balance, but right now that balance is messed up badly anyway.
1. Remove anyone who makes under 25,000 or any married couples who make under 50,000 from the tax bracket - He topped titling them, this makes me sad. Digging through tax stats reveals to me that this is honestly the best idea I've read yet from Trump. Though even I am unwilling to figure out how this would affect the employment of the IRS and the government, this alleviation on lower class households would put their money into the economy instead of needing to buy everything on Food Stamps or from craigslist. This relatively low amount of money can make a significant difference in the quality of living for the lower class, without a significant dent in the government's income.
2. Simplify the tax bracket - This would heavily reduce America's tax income. As noted in the previous link, a vast majority of America's income comes from the upper class, and Trump plans to cut somewhere near 15% from the income tax of the extremely wealthy. This cut is a reduction in the area or around 70 billion dollars from the government (compared to likely near 17 billion from the 50% drop). This amount is absolutely more important to the government than to the people who currently have it.
3. No business would pay above 15% annual income - Google provided me with no information on how much of America's tax this makes up, but this might encourage corporations to create more jobs in America. Of course, that is assuming that corporations would want or be forced to put that money towards people, otherwise, this just makes the "1%" more powerful.
4. Removal of the Death Tax - See, I never knew these existed. Assuming Wikipedia is right, they (practically) don't. This only assists the "1%," and actually even less than that, who have an estate over 5 million dollars. On the state level, this only affects people (who fall below an inheritance that isn't ridiculously high) in four states, and this is assuming he could actually get legislature controlling state tax rates.
5. One-time Outsourcing Jobs Tax - There is no statistic on this, and I can't even speculate on what this would be. Good idea, if it makes enough to cover the changes.
Passing on most of this. I do approve the mental health evaluation stuff, but the rest is either love it or hate it.
Okay, I know I said I wouldn't go into this, but I promise I'll only go into the economics of it and not start screaming over more love-it-or-hate-it ethics. First and foremost, even I will agree that it does in theory work out relatively well economically. Removing an entire group of people from the employment equation would reduce unemployment in America, but it would lead to Mexico getting even worse, which is an issue that would have to be dealt with eventually. Okay, going off this before I make it extremely debatable.
The undervaluing of the Yuan is heavily debated. No one actually knows if it's still actually undervalued since it has gained about 33% of its value in the past ten years. Whether he is right or wrong on this, the accusation would definitely anger China, and possibly make them cease trade with the United States. In addition, increasing the value of the Chinese Yuan would increase the cost of any item produced in the country drastically, leading to some heavy inflation in every other country as well. Everything else in that section is just a bunch of promises made by every politician every year.
So, discounting the ethics of the wall and a ban on Muslims, what do I think of Trump? Actually, I have no idea. Almost the entirety of his plan relies on the complete removal of illegal immigrants, which has extremely hard to predict effects on the economy of the United States. The rest of what he offers is just the same thing spat out by every politician to get voters, so it can neither be counted for him nor believed in. In any case, that's all he wrote, and I hope this analysis helped some people see everything about the comedian runner.
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