Brett Guthrie, Geoff Davis, Ed Whitfield and Hal Rogers Vote to Deny Healthcare to Kentuckians

Here's the official roll call.

And here's what it means for Kentucky, from Jake:

Ever wondered what a full repeal of health care reform would cost Kentucky?

SNIP

I thought it’d be best to take a look at the actual numbers from Healthcare Dot Gov. Here are some of the critical protections Kentuckians would lose if Republicans repeal health reform:

16,800 young adults would lose their insurance coverage through their parents’ health plans, sometimes just after they finish school and as they are looking for a job. Families across Kentucky would lose the peace of mind the Affordable Care Act provides by making sure that young adults can stay on their parents plan to age 26 if they do not have coverage of their own.

More than 2.2 million residents of Kentucky with private insurance coverage would suddenly find themselves vulnerable again to having lifetime limits placed on how much insurance companies will spend on their health care.

Insurance companies would once again be allowed cut off someone’s coverage unexpectedly when they are in an accident or become sick because of a simple mistake on an application. This would leave 196,000 people in Kentucky at risk of losing their insurance at the moment they need it most, as one of the worst abuses of the insurance industry would become legal again.

196,000 residents of Kentucky would not know if they are receiving value for their health insurance premium dollars, as insurers in state would no longer be required to spend at least 80 to 85 percent of premium dollars on health care rather than CEO salaries, bonuses, and corporate profits.

New insurance plans would no longer be required to cover recommended preventive services, like mammograms and flu shots, without cost sharing, nor would they have to guarantee enrollees the right to choose any available primary care provider in the network or see an OB-GYN without a referral.

724,000 seniors in Kentucky who have Medicare coverage would be forced to pay a co-pay to receive important preventive services, like mammograms and colonoscopies.

Medicare would no longer pay for an annual check-up visit, so 724,000 seniors in Kentucky who have Medicare coverage would have to pay extra if they want to stay healthy by getting check-ups regularly.

And people still fall for the crap people like Mitch McConnell are peddling – all in an attempt to damage Barack Obama.

But you want more? In addition to all of the above:

49,337 on Medicare would see significantly higher prescription drug costs. That one-time, tax-free $250 rebate to pay for the donut hole will dry up. The 50% discount on many prescription drugs will disappear.

Kentucky would not receive addition resources to crack down on unreasonable insurance premium rate hikes

Kentucky would not receive addition funds to play for a health insurance exhange

Kentucky would not receive additional funds to support a consumer assistance program

30 Kentucky employers will no longer receive help from the early retiree reinsurance program.

Sounds like terrific news for Kentucky. Gotta get rid of tyrannical legislation that allows people to buy health insurance without getting screwed, right?

But repeal will never get past the Democratic Senate and President Obama, right? True, but what the rethuglicans have in mind next will accomplish the same thing.

Talking Points Memo:

As much as conservatives would like Wednesday's House vote on repealing health care to be binding, it's really just symbolic. The Republicans' real legislative leverage over the bill will come during spending fights later this year, when the GOP appropriators in the House can demand funding cuts to stymie the implementation of the law.

Democrats in the Senate will object, and if the two chambers don't break the gridlock, it could even lead to a government shutdown. To push the GOP back from the brink, Democrats will cast the skirmish with Republicans not as an abstract fight over spending, but as a disagreement between the parties over providing benefits to people.

At a health care event in the basement of the Capitol on Wednesday, top Democrats laid this strategy out. "I think we have to discreetly respond, 'This is what withholding funding for this aspect of [the law] -- this is what it means to you,'" said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.

"I think the things that they would attack now are things that are direct services to American people," said Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY). "They would have to start saying, well we're going to wack the spending for the donut hole, and for preventive care, and for things that are direct services to American citizens."

Some Republicans want to use the appropriations process to block the IRS from administering the mandate, and the Department of Health and Human Services from helping states set up insurance exchanges ahead of 2014.

"What are they going to cut? There's very little administrative costs being expended, I mean you could do it, but they'd find ways to shuffle money around in the department," Yarmuth said.

To illustrate the conundrum, Yarmuth pointed out that the law expands Medicaid to cover people up to 133 percent of the poverty line, and that the federal government pays for that expansion through the end of the decade.

"You're going to go in and now say to states 'you've got to provide the service now -- that's in the law -- but we're not paying you,'" he said.

"We'll just see how irresponsible [Republicans want to be]," Pelosi said.

Today's vote was just for show, but make no mistake: Congressional rethuglicans are dead serious about preventing Americans from getting decent, affordable healthcare.

Have you talked to your Democratic neighbors today?