Sen. Dean Heller said Republicans in Congress made a "big mistake" when they tried repealing the 2010 health care law as their first legislative item of the Trump administration.

The Trump administration is preparing a proposal that would make it more difficult for legal immigrants to obtain a green card or become citizens if they have used public welfare programs, NBC News reported Tuesday. The proposal would limit the path to citizenship or reduce the odds of obtaining permanent legal status for migrants who have ever used ObamaCare, children's public health insurance, food stamps, or other benefits. Experts say it would affect around 20 million immigrants, hitting low-income families the hardest. White House senior policy adviser Stephen Miller, who has been tasked with reducing the number of migrants who obtain permanent legal status, is leading the way on the proposal, reports NBC News. It would not require congressional approval. The details are still being finalized, but sources said a nearly-finished version of the plan has been sent to the White House Office of Management and Budget. In 2016, about 1.2 million immigrants became lawful permanent residents, and more than 750,000 became naturalized citizens. The Trump administration's new immigration policies have put the U.S. on track to decrease those numbers by 20 percent and 10 percent, respectively. A Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman said that the proposal "is clearly intended to protect the American taxpayer by ensuring that foreign nationals seeking to enter or remain in the U.S are self-sufficient." Read more at NBC News. Summer Meza

Republican legislators made a "big mistake" in targeting the Affordable Care Act for repeal as their first goal under the Donald Trump administration, said Rep. Dean Heller, R-Nev.

And it's probably a smart move

Republicans want to repeal Obamacare even as support for the legislation is at an all-time high.

GOP operative: “Repeal is like fight club. First rule is not to talk about it.”

Liberalism, they said back in the 1930s, was freedom plus groceries. In the Obama era, it was faulty websites plus hip celebrities.

In their efforts to stymie the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, Senate Democrats are now claiming that he will destroy affordable health care.

During a rally in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, on Thursday, President Trump took on many different roles. First, he assumed the role of the press, which the White House has deemed the "enemy of the people." Trump was obsessed with his opinion that the media doesn't give him enough positive coverage, a complaint he returned to again and again throughout his 90-minute speech. While reliving the glorious night in 2016 when he won the election, Trump mocked a reporter who he said was panicking while covering the number of votes that Trump received. "His hands start shaking," said Trump, punctuating the impression with "fake news!" Trump mocks a TV journalist in a manner similar to how he mocked a reporter with a disability nearly three years ago pic.twitter.com/S05FkTpGFx — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 2, 2018 Then the president moved on to a second character: a member of MS-13. While claiming that Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) "doesn't mind MS-13 coming in" to the U.S., Trump acted out a stabbing, calling the gang "the slicers." Trump additionally said that immigrants who win visa lotteries are murderers, and blamed mass violence on migration. Trump lies, claims "we've started the wall," adds, "we are going to start to get very nasty over the wall." Then offers some gore porn about alleged violent MS-13 crime, including mimicking a stabbing. pic.twitter.com/eJflfGJOVN — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 2, 2018 In his final performance, Trump mimicked Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). The president said he would have finally vanquished Obamacare, "except one guy, at 2 o'clock in the morning, went in and said 'thumbs down,'" referring to when McCain was one of the few GOP lawmakers to oppose a repeal of the Affordable Care Act. Slack-jawed, Trump appeared to mock McCain's health, which has declined in recent months as the senator faces brain cancer. Summer Meza Trump mocks cancer-stricken John McCain, and mimics his decisive vote against ACA repeal pic.twitter.com/BRIQEAAt8e — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 3, 2018

Yet.

Healthcare is a human right.

Four major U.S. cities filed a lawsuit on Thursday contending that President Donald Trump's administration is unconstitutionally seeking to undermine Obamacare by failing to faithfully execute the healthcare law.

Four major U.S. cities filed a lawsuit on Thursday contending that President Donald Trump’s administration is unconstitutionally seeking to undermine Obamacare by failing to faithfully execute the healthcare law. The complaint in federal court in Baltimore, filed by the cities of Baltimore, Chicago, Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio, alleged that the Republican president is “waging a relentless campaign to sabotage and, ultimately, to nullify the law.” The lawsuit argued that because Congress has not repealed the …

 

A new rule will allow less costly coverage for as long as 36 months.

It's back from the dead.

President Donald Trump's administration is rolling out a new rule to expand the use of short-term health insurance plans on Wednesday. While the administration says the plans will help lower healthcare costs, many experts say that the lower costs come at the expense of robust coverage.

The new policies don't have to cover preexisting conditions and offer limited benefits. Unable to repeal Obamacare, the move undercuts it while also creating options for people who don't qualify for Obamacare subsidies.

Health policy experts say the law is surprisingly intact and it will probably take an act of Congress to undo it.

The Trump administration officials unveiled a rule that will make it easier to obtain coverage through short-term health insurance plans, which don't have to adhere to Obamacare's consumer protections.

Americans will be able to purchase short term health insurance plans that provide limited coverage at relatively low cost for up to three years.

GOP ad maker Adam Goodman used to trash Obamacare and defend Trump on Fox. Now he's a confidante of Democrat and former mayor Phil Levine.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina revealed this week that the company could have lowered health insurance rates up to 22 percent if Republicans in Congress had not repealed Obamacare’s individual mandate. The North Carolina insurance company announced on Tuesday that it would be lowering rates for Affordable Care Act policies by an average of 4.1 percent, according to Spectrum News. But the company also said that rates could have been lowered substantially …

Voters want more, not less, government intervention.

It would crush the entire economy under trillions in new taxes.

When a lawsuit challenging the Affordable Care Act reached his Washington, DC, appeals court in 2011, Judge Brett Kavanaugh was careful not to commit. He described the law requiring people to buy health insurance as "unprecedented" and the breadth of Obama administration's defense of it "jarring."

Don't take the blame, take the offensive.

"I won’t go to the 'exchanges'... Will not voluntarily send a single penny to the cretinous insurance mafia... will not pay the 'shared responsibility' tax, either... If that makes me a criminal in a system gone criminal, so be it."