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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnellMitch McConnellDoctors can do messaging on Republican healthcare reform OPINION: Trump's right GOP health bill is mean, mean, mean Conway: ObamaCare 'robbed people of choices' MORE (R-Ky.) has said a vote will take place this week on the Senates newly proposed healthcare legislation.

Its a risky strategy. If he fails to get the votes it will demonstrate that after seven years of complaining about ObamaCare, the GOP cant pass a replacement. If it does pass, theres no guarantee the House will support it.

The biggest risk is the political one. If President Trump signs a new health law, the Republicans will own the healthcare space. They can reap the benefits, but the Democrats will, no doubt, pick apart and blame the GOP for anything that could otherwise be blamed on ObamaCare.

Republicans may face the same fate as Democrats in 2010 on Election Day next year if they cant deliver this week, and then show that their policy can do better by patients, small business owners and doctors.

Ultimately the final legislation must deliver on four major problems patients and employers face: costs, access, choice and quality. This is difficult but not impossible as long as the GOP members find compromise that will allow them to show voters they can at least make progress toward these issues.

Most importantly for doctors, the committee bill must address the increasing presence of insurance companies and government entities that have created an ever-growing wedge between the doctor and patient -- the relationship that nearlythree-quartersof doctors say is the most satisfying part of their job.

While agreeing on an exact policy is difficult, messaging from the 30,000 foot view is not. This is good because most voters respond to 30,000 foot messaging, not intricate policy debates -- as long as it is carried by the right messengers: doctors.

Consider: Polls show that just17 percentof the public supports the House proposal. Does anyone believe that more than a few percent of the population has even read the bill? Of course not. People are forming their opinions based on 30,000 foot messaging even if that messaging is fully false. Even before the House voted, seemingly every major media outlet predicted calamity.

This is the message that Democrats want average voters to hear to turn the focus away from the massive failures of ObamaCare.

Doctors can help. As someone who has organized doctors for the past three election cycles and has witnessed the humanity, the professionalism, and the deep understanding of the doctor-patient relationship of these healthcare professionals, I know there is no doubt doctors are ready to help message a better healthcare alternative.

While they may not agree on every single thread that tries to untie the healthcare Gordian knot,doctors will supporta patient-focused reform that returns medical decisions to them and their patients.

Given their high public esteem --a recent Gallup pollshows healthcare professionals are the most trusted people in the country, with two-thirds of respondents rating doctors ethical standards as very high or high doctors support could make the difference in generating the public support necessary for the final bill to pass.

The White House and congressional Republicans should enlist those trained, organized, and caring doctors who are willing to help. Their authority on the issue can cut through the misinformation, sensationalism and faux outrage that define much of todays media.

In short, President Trump and congressional reformers dont need to spend too much time crafting the message or finding the messengers. Doctors are here and ready to help. Focus on policy; get it done. As long as that plan includes more choice and more protection for the doctor-patient relationship while protecting the neediest, doctors will have reformers backs. And that might just save their political necks.

Joel L. Strom DDS MS is a Fellow at the Unruh Institute of Politics at the University of Southern California.

The views expressed by this author are their own and are not the views of The Hill.

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Doctors can do messaging on Republican healthcare reform - The Hill (blog)

THE PURPOSE OF tax reform is to raise revenue more efficiently with fewer loopholes and special breaks that distort economic incentives and necessitate higher marginal rates. In discussing tax reform since President Trumps election, Republicans have promised to do just that: pass a bill with lower rates for both individuals and businesses, applied to an income base broadened by the elimination of deductions and credits.

If you listen very closely to what GOP leaders have been saying lately, however, especially in remarks last week by House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) and Vice President Pence, what youll hear is the carefully chosen words of people planning something thats not real tax reform at all.

Speaking to the National Association of Manufacturers Tuesday, Mr. Ryan pledged to take on defenders of the status quo and then proceeded to defend many of the status quos worst aspects. He pledged to get rid of special-interest carve-outs except for those that make the most sense such as the deduction for mortgage interest. Actually, this distortion of the real estate market is one of the tax codes least sensible features, but it is politically sacrosanct due to the power of the real estate lobby. The only major individual tax break Mr. Ryan seemed to leave on the chopping block was the deduction for state and local taxes, which disproportionately favors states that send Democrats to Congress. Any GOP tax plan would eliminate the estate tax, Mr. Ryan insisted thus entrenching the concentration of wealth in the United States.

Somewhat more plausibly, Mr. Ryan advocated a new corporate tax system, with a lower top rate, so as to discourage shifting production abroad. However, he gave few specifics and seemed to soft-pedal the means of paying for the plan he and his House colleagues had previously offered a so-called border adjustment that would raise tens of billions of dollars per year, essentially by taxing the U.S. trade deficit. He referred to a new, lower tax, specifically for small businesses, which could translate into a costly new benefit for pass-through entities, such as sole proprietorships and S corporations.

Meanwhile, Mr. Pence repeated the Trump administrations promise that the end result of any tax rewrite will be tax cuts, implicitly endorsing the dubious notion that the U.S. economy lags due to an excessive tax burden. And not just any tax cut, Mr.Pence said, but the largest tax cut since the days of Ronald Reagan, meaning even bigger than those enacted by President George W. Bush. So much for the idea that tax reform ought to be revenue-neutral. Given that Mr. Trump and Congress cannot and should not cut spending enough to offset such large revenue losses, what may be in the offing is tax reform that ratchets up federal debt.

Mr. Ryan, too, alluded to the need for tax cuts. That made the weeks GOP messaging unanimous and reinforced suspicions that, for all their talk of reform, slashing taxes, mainly for the wealthy and corporations, is the one policy that Republicans agree on and therefore the only policy they are actually going to enact.

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The Republican tax-reform plan isn't reform at all - Washington Post

The Republican health care bill is continuing to receive harsh criticism, especially after they released a 142 page draft that proposed cutting almost a trillion dollars from Medicaid and to end federal funding for Planned Parenthood. The day the draft was revealed, protesters in wheelchairs were arrested for protesting outside of Mitch McConnell's office, and photos circulated the internet showing those individuals being removed from their wheelchairs and arrested.

Highlighting the cruelty of the healthcare bill, in perhaps one of the most heartbreaking ways possible, Ali Chandra wrote a Twitter thread explaining the costs and complications involved in her young son Ethan's rare medical condition, called Heterotaxy, a birth defect that affects the heart and other vital organs.

"I was immediately shocked at how cruel it was," wrote Chandra, in a comment to The FADER, speaking about the recently released draft. "And how it seems to reduce our children's lives to lines in a budget."

"I would tell [Republican lawmakers] that politics are always personal," wrote Chandra. "That the laws they write will have real, tangible consequences for living, breathing humans. I would ask them whether they would be able to vote yes for this bill if it were their own child's life or their own financial security [were] on the line. Honestly, I just want them to look me in the eyes and explain how they can justify creating and passing a bill that would say to my son that his life is too expensive to save."

You can read Chandra's full Twitter thread below. With the vote on the bill most likely coming this week, activists and everyday citizens are organizing to fight against the passing of such a harmful piece of legislation. For ways to contact your senator to tell them that you don't support the passing of the health care bill look to The FADER's guide to stop the Senate from taking away healthcare from 23 million people.

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This Twitter Thread Shows Just How Bad The Republican Health Care Bill Could Be - The FADER

President Trump whipped out an afternoon tweetstorm Saturday, railing against the Obama administration and boosting Senate Republicans for their healthcare reform efforts.

Since the Obama Administration was told way before the 2016 Election that the Russians were meddling, why no action? Trump asked at 4:28 pm. Focus on them, not T!

Almost 20 minutes later, he posted, Obama Administration official said they choked when it came to acting on Russian meddling of election. They didnt want to hurt Hillary?

The tweets seemed to refer to a Washington Post story about the Obama administrations knowledge of Russian interference during the 2016 election campaign and its passive reaction that failed to stop it.

At 4:50, Trump took up a new theme.

I cannot imagine that these very fine Republican Senators would allow the American people to suffer a broken ObamaCare any longer! he wrote.

Five GOP senators have voiced opposition to the Senates Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017. Passing the bill will require all but two of them to vote in its favor.

Finally, he wrapped up with his signature line MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! at 5:23.

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Trump rails on Obama admin and republican senate opposition - New York Post

To illustrate why she believes everyone should have access to comprehensive health care, Rep. Maxine Waters said she and her 12 siblings never saw a physician or a dentist their entire childhood.

I was born at home in St. Louis back in the day when it was hard for minorities to get into hospitals, she said.

To soothe cavities, Waters said her family relied on turpentine and cotton. If it was really bad, the tooth was yanked out using string and a slammed door.

The California Democrat, who spoke Saturday at a packed town hall meeting in Gardena, said she worries some Americans will be forced to do what her family did if the Republican health care bill passes. Senate Republicans have pledged to pass a bill before the July Fourth holiday.

Some GOP senators have said they want to review the analysis of the bill from the Congressional Budget Office before making up their minds. The budget office has said it will release that assessment early next week.

Waters said the existing bill would deny access to people with preexisting conditions, cause millions to lose their healthcare and penalize millennials.

We can do better than this, she said.

Supporter Gwen Bailey, 59, who works doing admissions at a hospital, said she worries especially about the people who could lose their insurance and the strain it would put on hospitals.

Its a lot that people would be losing, she said.

Inside, chants of USA! USA! could be heard from around 80 protesters who paced back and forth outside the venue.

Waters opponents were dressed in pro-Trump garb and called her Dirty Waters.

Chanell Temple said she lost her job a few years ago and hasnt been able to find a new one because she doesnt speak Spanish. She said Waters has destroyed the black community by supporting immigrants.

Waters criticized key members of President Trumps cabinet, including Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. She said Housing Secretary Ben Carson should go back to being a surgeon and that shell take him apart when he goes before the House Committee on Financial Services, of which she is the ranking Democrat.

Waters said some Republicans might vote against the health care bill.

She told the crowd that they deserve a president who will represent everyone. A woman in the audience stood up with a sign that said Impeach Mad Max and began walking through the rows and up to the foot of the stage, yelling that Waters needs to go.

Waters didnt skip a beat. She led her supporters in a chant to Impeach 45, repeating it over and over as her supporters turned to face the woman and narrowed in on her, clapping to the beat. The chant lasted more than four minutes.

A short while later, Waters closed by repeating a phrase that millennials, who call her Auntie Maxine, taught her: Stay woke.

andrea.castillo@latimes.com

An earlier version of this article said Rep. Maxine Waters had 13 siblings. She had 12.

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Rep. Maxine Waters speaks out on Republican health care bill at packed town hall meeting, as protesters gather outside - Los Angeles Times