Laura Ingraham: GOP Healthcare Law is a “Trap” for Trump

Conservative radio host Laura Ingraham said Tuesday that President Donald Trump should be cautious about supporting the current version of the Republican healthcare bill. In an interview with Fox & Friends, Ingraham said that by rolling back the Medicaid expansion, congressional Republicans would send state budgets deep into the red, potentially setting Trump up for an election disaster in four years.

Ingraham said she wasn’t persuaded by all the talk of a “phase three” that Republicans were using to defend the bill.

“This idea that phase three is going to come and it’s going to be some nirvana, if they believe they can get 60 votes for this phase three that we heard about last week, then why not do it now?” Ingraham wondered. “Why not, at the same time that you repeal, replace it with the best legislation Republicans have right now?”

Ingraham said that state budgets would “implode” when the Medicaid expansion went away.

“I think Donald Trump is going to get caught on this in 2020,” she said. “I think there’s a trap set for him on this. I’d like to spend an hour talking to him about it. I think this is a trap set for Trump and it’s going to be bad.”

Sigh.

While Democrats and the media are doing everything they can to make this healthcare law look like the worst piece of legislation in the history of Washington, there can be no denying that there are significant problems with the American Health Care Act as it stands right now. Republicans can try to put a shine on that CBO report and they can try to push the tough debates down the road, but they’re in a tough spot. By trying to satisfy everyone, they’ve satisfied no one. It may not be as bad as the Democrats say, but it’s not good.

What we’re really looking at here is a real-world demonstration of why it’s so important to stop these entitlement programs before they begin. Obamacare’s been law for what, six years? And already it has gotten its hooks deep into the public consciousness. Americans are fairly split when it comes to opposing or supporting expansions to the federal government, but the country is always very, very hesitant to eliminate existing programs. Republicans tried to craft a careful, moderate bill to avoid that pitfall, but they did not succeed.

If this thing makes it to Trump’s desk without drastic changes, we’ll be shocked.