The Trump administration pitches its health care proposal as killing fewer trees than ObamaCare


President Trump loves to show off piles of paper.
Exhibit A:
Exhibit B:
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And then there was that time Trump showed off mountains of paper as evidence that he had withdrawn from his business interests —although some people thought these might have been blank:
On Tuesday, Trump's administration rolled out new piles of paper for people to look at:
Sec. Price offers show and tell on Trumpcare. On the right is the ObamaCare Bill on the left is Trumpcare bill.A post shared by April D. Ryan (@adr1600) on Mar 7, 2017 at 10:53am PST
This time, Trump's point wasn't about how much paper he used, but rather how little. "As you'll see, this [ObamaCare] bill right here was the bill that was introduced in 2009 and '10 by the previous administration," said Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price. "Notice how thick that is. Some of you will recall that I actually turned the pages and went through that piece of legislation in a YouTube."
But lest the physical piles not sufficiently awe the audience, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer also emphasized that the new health care plan is only 123 pages long, with 57 pages dedicated only to repealing the Affordable Care Act. ObamaCare, by comparison, is 974 pages long. Think of the trees!
Not everyone is impressed by the display, though. "Anyone who understands how health care [works] knows this is not a good sign," said Huffington Post reporter Christina Wilkie.
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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.
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