--- ---  # How an Old Episode of 'The Office' Explains the Senate Health Care Bill by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Jun 29, 2017 3:16 PM UTC  Steve Carell as Michael Scott Steve Carell as Michael ScottChris Haston/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Jun 29, 2017 3:16 PM UTC A TV critic thinks the [fight](http://time.com/4836700/senate-health-care-bill-poll-disapproval/) over the [Senate health care bill](http://time.com/4835301/senate-health-care-vote-delay-donald-trump-mitch-mcconnell/) sounds familiar: Specifically, an old episode of “The Office.” In a tweet storm on Wednesday, friend of TIME (and former colleague) James Poniewozik, now with the New York _Times_, compared the current fight over repealing the Affordable Care Act to the [“Health Care”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health%5FCare%5F%28The%5FOffice%29) episode from the NBC sitcom’s first season. (He gave credit to a Politico writer who [had a similar idea](https://twitter.com/ddiamond/status/845109727898091522) months ago.) In the episode, boss Michael Scott is charged with choosing a new health care plan, realizes that means he’ll have to cut employee benefits and decides to try to shift the blame. Here’s how it played out. > [](https://twitter.com/poniewozik/status/880248629642108928) And his big ideas. > [](https://twitter.com/poniewozik/status/880248825457377282) Then the inevitable reality check. > [](https://twitter.com/poniewozik/status/880249115900358656) And the realization that leading can be tough stuff. Who knew? > [](https://twitter.com/poniewozik/status/880249362936475654) So why not delegate? > [](https://twitter.com/poniewozik/status/880249557069770752) The backlash. > [](https://twitter.com/poniewozik/status/880249879204945921) The cuts. > [](https://twitter.com/poniewozik/status/880250169106862081) The bottomless need for adoration. > [](https://twitter.com/poniewozik/status/880250455376498688) Another promise kept. > [](https://twitter.com/poniewozik/status/880250677922078720) But some people didn’t buy what he was selling. > [](https://twitter.com/poniewozik/status/880250838614147073) Suspense over. > [](https://twitter.com/poniewozik/status/880251091522342912) > [](https://twitter.com/poniewozik/status/880251433244909568) Time for the receipts. > [](https://twitter.com/poniewozik/status/880251630582726657) This isn’t the first time people have drawn parallels from the White House to [_The Office_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1x1eqZNyJjM). Senate Health Care Bill: How 'The Office' Explains It ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4838970/the-office-senate-healthcare-bill-trump/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4838970/the-office-senate-healthcare-bill-trump/"},"headline":"How an Old Episode of 'The Office' Explains the Senate Health Care Bill","datePublished":"2017-06-29T15:16:19.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:45:01.221Z","description":"\"Michael, he made huge cuts\"","url":"https://time.com/4838970/the-office-senate-healthcare-bill-trump/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Television","politics","Internet","viral","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt73da5562f3fc347c/6988cac02dce0101159ed338/michael-scott.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ashley Hoffman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt73da5562f3fc347c/6988cac02dce0101159ed338/michael-scott.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The Office","caption":"The Office","creditText":"Chris Haston/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4838970/the-office-senate-healthcare-bill-trump/","name":"How an Old Episode of 'The Office' Explains the Senate Health Care Bill"}}]}] ```