The Senate Tea-Publicans’ draft Obamacare repeal bill — “Trumpcare” part the infinity — is due to be released today at 11:30 a.m. , according to GOP senators and aides.
“Trumpcare” part the infinity will tentatively include a controversial amendment from Tea-Publicans Mike Lee and Ted Cruz (“the most hated man in the Senate”), according to sources familiar with the matter. POLITICO reports, Senate GOP’s new health care bill expected to include controversial Lee-Cruz amendment:
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will unveil the bill on Thursday morning at a closed-door, members-only meeting. It is also expected to eliminate tax cuts for the wealthy, include new financial support for low-income people’s insurance, allow people to pay for insurance with pre-tax money, and include billions more to fight opioid addiction.
The amendment from Cruz and Lee will be tentatively included, those sources said, and could be altered or removed later. The amendment would allow the sale of cheap, deregulated insurance plans [“junk insurance”] as long as Obamacare-compliant plans are still sold.
Some Republicans worry that could result in split risk pools, one with sick people with pre-existing conditions and the other with healthy young people. Cruz and Lee argue it will likely lower premiums and allow people to opt out of Obamacare.
The Congressional Budget Office is analyzing two versions of the bill, one with the amendment and one without. That score is due Monday. The Lee-Cruz amendment will be in brackets on Thursday, indicating it is subject to change.
Second verse, same as the first — “Trumpcare” part the infinity is universally opposed, just like the Senate’s first attempt to rewrite the train wreck of a bill it received from the House. Even the Insurance Lobby Warns Against Cruz Amendment:
Health insurance lobbying groups are raising concerns about a proposed amendment to the Senate health care bill, warning that a proposal from Sen. Ted Cruz would destabilize and fracture the individual insurance market.
America’s Health Insurance Plans is warning in a document obtained by CQ Roll Call that the proposal would segment the individual market into separate risk pools and create an uneven playing field.
“This is particularly true for patients with pre-existing conditions who would be most affected and potentially lose access to comprehensive coverage and/or have plans that were far more expensive, as premiums in the Exchange market would rise much faster than under existing market conditions and insurance options dwindle,” the white paper reads.
The group warns that offering non-compliant plans could lead to higher premiums and lower enrollment on the exchanges and that individuals with pre-existing protections could lose protections. It could lead to the exchanges functioning like a high risk pool, AHIP says. It would be “infeasible” to combine plans that complied with the health law and those that didn’t into one risk pool, the paper says.
“It is important that policymakers avoid policies that threaten to further increase uncertainty or threaten stability,” the document says. “Such policies include opening up non-compliant plans to new enrollees, bifurcating the risk pool, or allowing plans covered by different rules to compete in the same market.”
The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association expressed similar concerns.
Scott Serota, president and CEO of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, said in a Tuesday letter to Cruz and Lee that the amendment is “unworkable as it would undermine pre-existing condition protections, increase premiums and destabilize the market.”
“We believe strongly that requirements must apply equally to all competitors selling insurance in state individual and small group markets,” Serota said in the letter. “A level playing field is important to assure effective competition, choice and affordability.”
The bill is opposed by all other stakeholders as well. From hospitals, doctors and patients, a last gasp of opposition to the Senate health-care bill:
Just four days after Senate GOP leaders revealed their health-care bill this summer, Tucson Medical Center hosted a town hall thousands of miles away drawing roughly 700 people in person and 1,900 online. In its aftermath, hospital employees, doctors and members of the public sent nearly 2,900 emails to the state’s two senators, Republicans John McCain and Jeff Flake, urging them to reject any legislation that would jeopardize patient health care.
* * *
Most corners of the U.S. health-care industry have stood steadfastly opposed for months to Republican efforts to revise the Affordable Care Act. Patient advocate groups and Democratic organizers have crowded town halls since February to grill lawmakers. But in recent weeks, a last gasp of advocacy has come from an even wider range of groups and individuals trying to block the Senate health-care bill. Community hospitals have held information sessions. Pediatricians have starred in videos. Patient associations have flown in hundreds of Americans with chronic illnesses to meet with lawmakers and their aides.
These events, in turn, have generated tremendous public pressure on the senators who will decide over the next week whether their health-care bill will succeed or fail. The measure remained in trouble this week, with conservatives angling for a more dramatic repeal of the ACA and centrists saying the bill jeopardized coverage for too many Americans.
Sooo, insurers are opposed, medical providers are opposed, hospitals are opposed, and the the American people (patients) are opposed. So who the hell exactly is for this abomination of a bill? Oh, that’s right, right-wing radical Tea-Publicans and our man-child Twitter-troll-in-chief. Trump: ‘I will be very angry’ if GOP senators don’t pass a health-care bill:
President Trump put the onus squarely on Senate Republicans on Wednesday to pass a health-care bill, declaring that he will be “very angry” if the chamber falls short on a long-standing promise of his party.
The comments, coming in an interview at the White House with televangelist Pat Robertson of CBN News, intensified public pressure on Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who plans to release a revised version of his health-care legislation Thursday morning.
“I am sitting in the Oval Office with a pen in hand, waiting for our senators to give it to me,” Trump said. “It has to get passed. They have to do it. They have to get together and get it done.”
* * *
The urgency that Trump placed on the effort to pass the bill Wednesday stood in sharp contrast to his comments last month, when he said that it would be unfortunate if the bill didn’t reach his desk but that it would be “okay.”
In the interview with Robertson, Trump suggested that McConnell was most responsible now for the fate of the bill overhauling the ACA.
“He’s got to pull it off,” Trump said. “Mitch has to pull it off. He’s working very hard. He’s got to pull it off.”
You should take note of the fact that this man-child had no interest in nor discussed health care policy in the bill itself. It is doubtful Trump knows the details or even cares what is in this bill. Trump is desperate for a much needed “win” in passing any of his agenda, and he does not care about the devastating consequences it would have on health care in America. What an asshole.
Evil GOP bastard Mitch McConnell has occasionally hinted that he “might have to work with Democrats” to stabilize Obamacare if his bill fails in the Senate. There is now Talk of Bipartisan Health Care Bill Emerges Amid Floundering GOP Effort:
The Republican effort to overhaul the U.S. health insurance system appears to be floundering, as GOP senators await additional details on a new draft of the legislation.
While the initiative remains in limbo, more lawmakers are openly exploring the possibility of a bipartisan health care bill. Discussions have been very preliminary, lawmakers say, and such a measure will not be easy to advance, as Democrats and Republicans are miles away on some policy ideas.
Still, members such as Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., say they are working with governors and Democratic senators on such a measure.
Republicans will first look for closure one way or the other on their own partisan legislation. Updated language in the GOP bill to repeal and replace portions of the 2010 health care law is expected to be released by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Thursday, with a procedural vote on the measure likely to occur early next week.
But some Republican senators are already lambasting the changes.
“We’ve had time to hear what’s going to be in the new bill and as far as I can tell, the new bill is the same as the old bill, except … it leaves in place more taxes, increases taxpayer subsidies to buy insurance and adds about $70 billion to the insurance bailout superfund,” Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky told reporters. “I can’t support it at this point.”
Key swing votes such as Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Rob Portman of Ohio, Dean Heller of Nevada and Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia still appear up in the air.
Senate GOP leadership was dealt another blow Wednesday when the insurance lobby came out strongly against an amendment from Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Mike Lee of Utah that the two lawmakers say is a necessary inclusion in order for them to support the bill.
McConnell can only afford to lose the support of two Republican senators, in which event he could turn to the tie-breaking vote of Vice President Mike Pence to pass legislation.
Amid the pushback, some lawmakers are discussing whether a smaller, bipartisan bill designed to stabilize the insurance markets could be done. McConnell has said such a measure may be necessary if the Republican effort fails, as have some of his closest allies in the chamber.
A vehicle to carry it may already exist. Senate aides from both sides of the aisle say it is possible some stabilization provisions could be attached to a pending reauthorization of the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which expires at the end of September.
* * *
Senate Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin said, “If you take repeal off of the table, … we’re ready to sit down.”
“The Republicans I’ve spoken to are waiting for the disposition of the current Republican bill before they initiate the bipartisan effort,” the Illinois Democrat said.
“If [Republicans] abandon the cuts in Medicaid and using that money to fund tax cuts, and just focus on the private insurance exchange, I think there are things that we could do,” said Michigan Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow.
Keep calling your senators and tell them to kill this bill, then get to work fixing Obamacare instead of constantly sabotaging it.
A few comments:
Healthcare is 16% of U.S. GPD. That needs to come down. Which components of the health care system are going to get less? Candidates for state and federal offices should be pressed on this point!
How about some clarity with the language? We are talking about healthcare financing not healthcare.
I heard Sen. Susan Collins use the expression “rewrite” as a replacement for “repeal”. That sounds like a step in the right direction.
“Healthcare is 16% of U.S. GPD. That needs to come down. Which components of the health care system are going to get less?”
Excellent observation and question!
“Candidates for state and federal offices should be pressed on this point!”
That is one of the best points that has been made on this blog in a long time. It is a tough question that does need to be answered.
“I heard Sen. Susan Collins use the expression “rewrite” as a replacement for “repeal”. That sounds like a step in the right direction.”
Yes, it is. Both Obamacare and Trump care are inadequate and too expensive. What needs to be done is a serious hard look for a healthcare plan that with less worry about who gets credit and more worry about what works and how we can make it more affordable. The current partisanship is making it impossible to accomplish either. The needs of the American people should come first and not the pride of party authorship.
Excellent points, Bill! Kudos to you!