John Oliver did a line by line taking down on Last Week Tonight of the replacement bill the GOP has drafted to replace Obamacare.
And he said the American Health Care Act (AHCA) will hurt the very people who came out in droves voting for Donald Trump.
The show saw Oliver analyze the major points of the bill, which has been demonized by conservatives and liberals alike with many calling it “dead on arrival”.
He said: “Both sides see the AHCA as just being sh***y Obamacare the way [retailer] Old Navy is a sh***y version of the Gap and the way Easter…let’s be honest…should really be called ‘sh***y Christmas’.
“Only one month till sh***y Christmas everyone, what are you asking for? It better be a pocketful of beans because that’s what you’re getting!”
Oliver said the implications are frightening for average wage earners especially. He added: “But here is the thing, this bill is not actually dead on arrival. There is still a chance it could become law so, given that, we need to take a look at what is actually inside this thing.”
“Let’s start with one of the big changes. As we anticipated it gets rid of Obamacare’s insurance tax credits which are based on many factors including income and they replace that with a flat tax credit based on age and here is how it works…”
A clip was then played from CBS This Morning which explained: “The proposal provides tax credits to help pay for premiums. Someone under the age of 30 would get $2,000, someone sixty and older would get $4,000.”
Oliver said: “Ok, so the older you get the more money you get. Easy to understand, think of it as the exact opposite of being a woman in Hollywood.”
He then drove home his point that the people hurt by this bill are overwhelmingly working class white people — the same people that voted in Trump
He said: “There are a lot of people who would be harmed by the switch to these flat tax credits and experts say one thing is pretty clear — those who are lower income would be particularly hurt.
“And that is before we even get into Medicaid, the program that largely provides health care to poor and disabled Americans because that is where this bill gets really vicious.”
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver airs Sundays at 11pm ET/PT on HBO.