Senate Republicans are on the cusp of passing a bill that will eliminate hundreds of billions of dollars worth of health funding, destabilize insurance markets, and eventually phase out Medicaid in its entirety. Less than two months after three Republican senators stopped an earlier effort to strip away much of America’s health care safety net, millions of Americans’ health care is now in very serious peril.
The new Trumpcare legislation — often referred to as “Graham-Cassidy” after Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA), its leading proponents — contains several provisions undercutting the Affordable Care Act. It eliminates subsidies helping many millions of Americans purchase health insurance on the Obamacare exchanges and Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion, replacing this funding with a less generous block grant to states.
Then, this block grant abruptly disappears in 2027, leaving many millions of Americans with nothing.
The Trump Administration is pushing hard to get this one passed.
Courtesy of Axios:
Vice President Mike Pence is throwing the Trump administration’s weight behind the latest Affordable Care Act repeal bill — and against a bipartisan effort to stabilize the marketplaces. In an interview on Air Force Two, Pence told me he’ll call on all Senate Republicans to support the bill by Sens. Lindsey Graham and Bill Cassidy at a lunch meeting this afternoon, saying, "this is the moment. Now is the time.”
The bottom line: It’s likely coming down to the votes of Sens. John McCain and Lisa Murkowski, two of the Republican holdouts (the others are Susan Collins and Rand Paul). Graham, who was on the flight with Pence, told me McCain will speak for himself — but added with a knowing smile that he feels good about McCain’s vote.
I have already made my phone call to Lisa Murkowski and I encourage others to contact their Senators as well.
It might provide some solace to know that there are heroes out there fighting the good fight.
Courtesy of The Hill:
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) says Democrats are willing to jam up the Senate to stop the GOP's latest ObamaCare repeal bill.
“We’re going to look at every possible way to slow this bill down," Schumer said during a Monday press conference.
Mostly powerless to set the legislative agenda in the minority, Democrats have some delaying tactics at their disposal.
These Democrats deserve words of encouragement as well, so if you have a Democrat for a Senator they might enjoy hearing from you as well.
Ultimately I hope that we are working our way toward single payer, but until then we need to fight tooth and nail to hang on to Obamacare for as long as we can.
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