[chasing]

Obamacare does include a bunch of tools to help keep overall healthcare spending down. As far as I'm aware, they have helped. But there's a long way to go.

I'm actually not sure the BHCA or AHCA or whatever it's called now has much in it besides slogans and major spending cuts which aren't aimed at making care less expensive -- they're aimed and reducing the overall amount of care provided by shifting costs to those less capable of bearing them.

That's a pretty big contrast.

[hkmurakami]

Correct, the GOP plan only seeks to "correct" (in their minds) the extent to which a wealth transfer occurs through the health insurance vehicle, via federal programs, direct aid to states, subsidies, etc.

Cost of healthcare, other than the occasional conversation about drug prices and definitions of necessary care (which continues to be abused by practitioners), continues to take a back seat.

For what it is worth, my personal opinion is that the medical professional lobby is a single issue voting constituency that is just as powerful as the NRA and the teachers unions.