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This is a CODE RED for American entrepreneurs, aspiring entrepreneurs, freelancers, consultants, self-employed — and employed people, too.

You’ve probably heard about the new “healthcare” bill the GOP Senate has been designing in secret. Well, it’s not secret now — and it’s an emergency for you, me, every single one of us.

The vote is coming up before the August recess.

This bill will dramatically worsen my life. I was born with a genetic condition and will be unable to continue to do what I do without health coverage.

It will dramatically worsen the life of all entrepreneurs and would-be entrepreneurs, freelancers, consultants, small business owners and self-employed people.

This bill will absolutely affect you, your friends, your employer, your employees and everyone you know — and the effect will not be positive.

This bill will devastate and destroy existing small businesses, murder the dreams of countless would-be entrepreneurs, and impoverish millions of people.

And, finally, this bill will cause a major economic crash from which our nation and our economy may not recover.

If you’re already fired up and want to know what you can do, right now, click here. If you’re not convinced — or you want to understand more — keep reading.


Your health insurance will suck, explained

Before the ACA, it was nearly impossible for independents and entrepreneurs to simply go buy health insurance. There was no such thing as a marketplace or an exchange. There were no subsidies.

Obviously, there are flaws… many of which are caused by state governors refusing to participate, and certain factions of the government intentionally delaying decisions and funding as required by the letter of the law. Many industry observers have gone so far as to call it intentional sabotage. But that’s neither here nor there.

If the Senate bill passes…

Here are the immediate effects on your health insurance:

  • if you count on your growing business being able to get group coverage, think again
  • if you count on your ability to use a marketplace or exchange to purchase solo insurance as a self-employed person, think again
  • insurers will no longer be required to offer plans with “Essential Health Benefits” such as coverage for pregnancy, mental health, hospitalization, even prescriptions period (but you’ll be “able” to pay extra for them… one estimate put the cost of a pregnancy “rider” at $17k)
  • pre-existing conditions will again become a force for permanent exclusion from the private insurance market…
  • lifetime caps and annual caps are coming back — so if you have one catastrophic injury, one major illness like cancer, one premature or sick baby… you and/or your family become uninsurable for life
  • … and your insurer will be able to stop paying for care even if you’re in the middle of a hospitalization, chemo treatment, or your baby is in the NICU
  • premiums will go up, up, up — at a rate faster than under the ACA
  • medical costs will rise, too, because hospitals must serve even people who cannot pay (who would otherwise be covered by Medicaid or ACA)… and the money has to come from somewhere
  • think you’re safe because you’ve already got employer group health? think again… 20-27 million employer plans will suddenly have lifetime/annual caps
  • the “elderly tax” is coming back — insurance companies will be able to charge 5x or more to cover older Americans

See all the tweets with references and links to analyses at the bottom of this article

Bottom line: premiums will skyrocket, coverage will dramatically worsen, and insurance will be vastly more difficult to buy if you are not very young, very single, or in perfect health.

If you’re an entrepreneur, your ability to secure meaningful, useful health insurance to protect yourself, your loved ones, and your business will be destroyed.

(You will be especially screwed if you or your loved ones have a pre-existing condition — which ranges from asthma to prior surgeries to sexual assault.)

If you would like to become an entrepreneur, don’t count on being able to quit your job and still get insurance for yourself and your family.

This bill does nothing to reduce premiums, increase coverage, or increase competition in the private market.

If you’re employed and have group healthcare, you are not safe.

The CBO estimates that 20-27 million employees will suddenly face group health plans with lifetime or even annual limits. (They can cut you off in the middle of chemo, in the middle of care for a terrible accident, or while your infant is in the NICU.) And 4 million Americans will lose their corporate health insurance. The rest will have worse coverage for higher cost.

And that’s just the damage to the private insurance market.

Lastly, if you believe you are insulated against all these changes because you’re relatively wealthy and able to pay for things out of pocket if you have to… like me… think again:

The ultimate result: economic devastation

The real clincher to the bill is the destruction of Medicaid, through freezes and rollbacks.

And that will cause an economic crash the likes of which we haven’t seen since 2008.

Here’s the thing about Medicaid:

It covers millions of children, pregnant women, low income families, disabled, and elderly. For example, 64% of nursing home residents are covered by Medicaid.

Imagine, if you will, what will happen if 64% of elderly in nursing homes can no longer afford to be there:

  1. Nursing homes will go out of business.
  2. Nursing home staff will lose their jobs.
  3. Family of the elderly will have to quit their jobs to care for them (if this is even a possibility… almost certainly, homeless elderly population will skyrocket)

Net result: A huge chunk of people will be suddenly unable to participate in the economy through job loss and impoverishment. And that’s just for one sector.

It won’t just be the elderly or their families affected; this bill will herald economic destruction for pregnant women, parents of poor children, parents of premature or sick children, US veterans, and nearly every disabled person in the United States.

Total: 74 million Americans.

This is a huge percentage of our citizenry.

Estimates range from 1.45 million to 1.8 million American jobs lost directly due to the damage to the healthcare industry. But the losses wouldn’t stop there.

When people can’t work — or when they are forced to spend their entire income on medical services or medical debt — they will be unable to buy other goods and services.

And when a huge percentage of citizens can’t work or spend money… the result is an economic crash.

This trickle up effect will destroy local businesses, which will mean those local entrepreneurs will be unable to create jobs and pay for goods and services… and the economic devastation will continue to spread like a wildfire, outwards and upwards.

First, local B2C will fall. Then nationwide B2C will fall. Then B2B.

Somewhere in the economic chain, your business — or your employer — depends on the economic wherewithal of millions of people who are currently covered by Medicaid. This is a fact.

There will be massive fall-out, beginning with healthcare jobs, but eventually infecting our entire economic system.

We are all connected by a fine web of commerce.

No one will remain untouched, except the super-rich.

Everyone will be harmed.

But tax cuts? I’m wealthy…

My husband and I are wealthy enough that we will get a tax break from this bill.

Yes, because we have a household income close to half a million dollars per year, we will get a kickback from the government.

It’s a whopping $500.

That’s the reward for the intentional harm of millions of Americans. That’s the absurdity of it all.

But because I was born with a genetic condition and have an autoimmune disorder, I will certainly end up having to spend that extra $500 on myself.

If this bill passes, our insurance premiums are going to go up… by so much more than they have ever gone up under the ACA.

If this bill passes, I won’t be able to move states or change insurance companies, because I would have to apply for a new group plan and they could easily exclude me.

If this bill passes, it’s possible that our group health insurance plan could drop me because I need another MRI or eventual cervical spine fusion to reduce pressure on my brain.

If this bill passes, it’s pretty damn likely that I will be forced to move back to Austria — with its universal healthcare — in order to protect myself.

If this bill passes, four other people who depend on my business for their income may end up without a job.

I’m not telling you this as a sob story — I’m telling you this because no one is safe. Not even very well-paid employees with group health. Certainly not individuals just starting out, solo self-employed people, freelancers and consultants, or anyone who has ever been — or ever will be — sick, injured, or requiring care of any kind.

I became an entrepreneur because I value freedom and personal sovereignty.

I encourage, teach, and coach entrepreneurs because I value freedom and personal sovereignty for everyone.

I provide healthcare to my employees because I value their health and security.

This bill will rip freedom, security, and sovereignty from all of us.

We will be stuck paying out the nose for plans that cover nothing — or shackled to our jobs we don’t want simply in order to keep ourselves and our families secure, and alive.

My relative wealth can’t stop this bill from destroying my personal sovereignty, my ability to live where I want. And I’m one of the lucky ones!

What if you’re not?

You will live on an economic precipice

All it will take to bankrupt you is one accident, one bout with cancer, one sick kid or premature baby.

And even if you are wealthy enough to absorb that, are your parents?

Your grown kids?

Your friends?

Your neighbors?

The folks in your community?

Your employees?

Your customers?

Their customers?

Their customers’ customers?

The Republican’s secret bill will devastate the economy and harm every single person in this country, with the exception of billionaires.

Take action. Today. Right now.

Do it for yourself, your family, your friends, your neighbors, your community — and your fellow entrepreneurs.

If you are an entrepreneur, know entrepreneurs, or teach / encourage entrepreneurs… SHARE THIS POST. There has been so little discussion of how devastating this bill will be to us. Personal stories are important, and so is the health of our economy as a whole. People need to know.

If you are a human being who benefits from a functional economy, and the health and happiness of your fellow citizens (hint: yes you do)…

CALL YOUR SENATORS.

It really works.

Especially if you are in the battleground states of Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Louisiana, Maine, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, or West Virginia. Click your state name for a call script you can use if you are nervous or tongue-tied.

Dial this number to be connected to your senator: 1-866-426-2631.

If you have a Republican senator, use this call script. It is the most crucial thing to secure their NO vote. Only Republican votes can stop it.

Call your senators even if they are Democrats. Use this call script. Insist that they use every tool at their disposal to block the vote until there can be hearings at the very least.

Call every damn day. Tell them about the impact on entrepreneurs and your local economy. Yes, it can be scary the first time. But it gets easier, I promise.

Use the Indivisible Guide as your playbook.

Enroll in Save My Care.

Use 5Calls to make baby steps.

Don’t think you’ll do it later. You know you won’t. Do it now. If not for yourself, your family, your friends, your neighbors, your community, your peers — do it for me.

SPREAD THE WORD

Due to the nefarious secrecy, accelerated cycle, and resulting lack of news about this bill, fewer people have had time to get publicly outraged — and there’s a very real chance it could pass in darkness before most people even realize it’s happening.

That’s why it’s crucial that you use your voice — for yourself, for your family, for your fellow entrepreneurs, for your community, for our nation.

The Republicans plan to attempt a vote on this bill BEFORE the summer recess, and if it is successful, all signs indicate that the House will rubberstamp it with no further changes or hearings.

This is our last chance.

So it’s crucial that you help spread the word.

Tweet, Facebook, or LinkedIn this article to your entrepreneur audience.

If you run or participate in a mailing list, Slack community, or forum with fellow entrepreneurs: share this article with them.

If you teach entrepreneurs, share this article with them.

If you follow someone who teaches entrepreneurs, ask them to share this article to their audience.

Here’s a tweet you can retweet:

Share your story about how you, your family, your friends and neighbors will be negatively effected by this bill — or how they were protected by the ACA.

Share these graphics to more general audiences.

Here are some tweets you can retweet or share:

Our employee and friend, Thomas Cannon, has a younger brother born with a heart condition. He has had a transplant and needs care to stay alive. There is no way that being “extra moral” or “extra careful” or “extra avoidant of iPhones and avocado toast” will insulate your family against something like this:

Are you still here? Please call your senator today. If not for yourself, your family, your friends, your neighbors, your customers… do it for me. I would like to be able to live safely in the country where I grew up. Thank you.

Dial this number to be connected to your senator: 1-866-426-2631.