It looks like this may actually happen
(The Hill)Â The Trump administration and Republican leaders in Congress are going all-in on a last-ditch effort to replace ObamaCare.
Earlier this month, the GOP effort was all but dead as Republican leaders pivoted to tax reform. But the health-care legislation has picked up a significant amount of momentum over the past several days.
“I’ve never felt better about where we’re at,†Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), one of the bill’s sponsors, told reporters after senators met with Vice President Pence to discuss the new health-care proposal.
“At the end of the day, I really believe we’re going to get 50 Republican votes,†he added.
Many Republicans in the Senate and in Governor’s mansions are really enthused about this bill.
The upcoming deadline of Sept. 30 has also played a leading role in the rising prospects of the legislation. If an ObamaCare replacement bill isn’t signed into law by then under budget reconciliation rules, it would need 60 votes to pass.
Under the special rules, 50 votes plus a tie-breaker from Pence would send it to the House, where leading Republicans have indicated they would pass it and send it to Trump’s desk before the end of the month.
Rand Paul is a big “NO” on this bill.
#GrahamCassidy is amnesty for Obamacare. It keeps it, it does not repeal it. I will keep working with the President for real repeal.
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) September 20, 2017
He’s been all over the news stations this morning and the past few days, explaining that it is exactly Ocare light, that it just shifts some chairs around, but the chairs are the same. That this is not “federalism”, a word that keeps being thrown out by VP Mike Pence and other Graham-Cassidy supporters, but, doesn’t seem to be a word they understand. Is it better than Ocare? Yes. But not by much, and not as much as National Review would like to tell us (sadly).
Senator Rand Paul, the Kentucky Republican, has one thing right: The latest Republican bill on health care is not a repeal and replacement of Obamacare. Under it, the Affordable Care Act’s taxes, spending, and regulation would mostly remain in place. Of course, previous Republican bills left a lot of Obamacare in place, too. For many months it has been clear that Republicans do not have the votes for a true replacement.
Where Paul is wrong is in opposing the Graham-Cassidy bill on that basis. A true replacement of Obamacare would be better than Graham-Cassidy, but Graham-Cassidy is still much better than Obamacare. It abolishes the individual and employer mandates, caps per capita spending on Medicaid, blocks federal funds from going to insurance plans that cover abortion, and lets interested states attain freedom from some of Obamacare’s regulations. Some of those states could use that freedom to create markets in which people outside of Medicare, Medicaid, and employer-based coverage would finally be enabled to buy cheap, renewable catastrophic-insurance policies.
In essence, it’s Ocare lite. It does NOT abolish Obamacare nor replace it with the legislation that was promised. The federal government is entirely in control of our health insurance and health care way too much. And, if it manages to pass the Senate, then pass the House, then signed by President Trump, it won’t be revisited. It won’t be made better. They won’t attempt to do things like allowing cross state insurance. They’ll think they’re done, and move on, and we’ll still be stuck with massive governmental intrusion.
GOP (Gang of Phonies) is at it again, too chicken to keep their word. Might as well be a democracker for all the good it does to vote republicrat.
The Swamp wrote it, is promoting it, and it keeps the ultimate power with the Swamp.
This is little more than a name-change. It will still be government run healthcare.