Breitbart takes aim at GOP healthcare bill

Breitbart News is upping its attack on House Republicans’ healthcare proposal.

The far-right news website that has long backed President Trump has published a series of articles this week highlighting perceived negative aspects of House GOP leaders’ proposal to repeal and replace ObamaCare.

Breitbart has been far from supportive of the Affordable Care Act, which the GOP is seeking to repeal and replace. But its coverage of Republicans’ proposal — the American Health Care Act, which Trump has supported — has remained largely critical.

{mosads}On Saturday, the outlet published several stories blasting the GOP plan, citing various Republicans in headlines referring to the healthcare plan as “ObamaCare 2.0,” “RINO-Care” and “a perverse economic system.”

The outlet also touted an interview with former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R), who ripped the House GOP proposal while arguing that Trump “will step in and fix it.”

Breitbart has long offered critical coverage of Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), who presented a PowerPoint presentation this week pitching the GOP plan that was carried live by television networks.

During Trump’s presidential campaign, the website ran an aggressive 2,800-word story accusing Ryan of backing then-Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and saying the GOP leader “leads the pro-Islamic migration wing of the Republican party.”

The site was closely tied to Trump’s campaign, and White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon previously served as Breitbart’s executive chair.

Breitbart has maintained a fiercely anti-Ryan stance, focusing on his support for the GOP legislation.

A Breitbart story published Saturday highlighted a report from the left-leaning Brookings Institution, which claimed that House Republicans’ healthcare bill would cost millions of Americans coverage. The Brookings assessment found that the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) will likely estimate that 15 million Americans will lose healthcare under the Republicans’ measure.

Breitbart’s story also cited the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation’s assertion that the bill’s proposed tax credits — intended to encourage people to purchase insurance on the open market — would disproportionately benefit wealthy Americans.

The site was among a number of conservative media organizations that panned the GOP proposal early this week, publishing an article titled, “Obamacare 2.0 Guts Enforcement, Gives Illegal Aliens Health Care Through Identity Fraud.”

The website published another story on Thursday slamming Ryan’s alleged use of an outside group tied to House leadership to “browbeat” fellow Republicans into support the healthcare measure with a series of advertisements. That article cited anonymous House Republicans suggesting rumblings of a coup against Ryan’s speakership.

On Friday, Breitbart published another story titled, “7 Reasons Why Obamacare 2.0 Is All But Guaranteed to Impose Crushing Costs on Voters, Hurt Trump’s Base, And Hand Power Back to the Democrats.”

Ryan has made an effort to sell the House GOP plan, while a number of conservatives and rank-and-file Republicans have been quick to reject the healthcare proposal this week, arguing that it does not go far enough to dismantle ObamaCare.

Democrats and some Republicans have also been critical of the GOP pushing forward with the proposal without a score from the CBO. The CBO is expected to soon release its analysis of the plan, measuring its cost and how many people would lose insurance if passed. GOP congressional leaders and the White House have sought to downplay the looming report.