by Norman Halls, contributor
It is apparent that the Republications do not want input from experts that are very knowledgeable about HEATHCARE. They would rather listen to lobbyist and big contributors. Who do these thirteen Senators think they are? That would be: Lamar Alexander, Ted Cruz, Tom Cotton, Cory Gardner, Mike Lee, Rob Portman, Pat Toomey, Mike Enzi, Orrin Hatch, Mitch McConnell, John Cornyn, John Thune, and John Barrasso. Thirteen men will write the Senate’s health care bill.
What’s just as notable is who isn’t writing the bill: Moderate senators Bill Cassidy, Lisa Murkowski, and Susan Collins are absent, as is Rand Paul, who loudly criticized the first version of the AHCA (which was very similar to the bill that it ultimately passed). The Senate’s version is still likely to be quite different than the House’s, but the absence of these senators suggests it may not be as different as originally thought. “Still, Portman and Gardner were both highly critical of the AHCA in its earlier form and will likely resist the House’s plan to roll back the Medicaid expansion.”- wrote Alex Shepard of New Republic. Of the thirteen, John Barrasso has a medical degree, also Gardner, Toomey and Thune do not have a law degree. The other nine do. What is ironic, Mitch McConnell in his youth overcame polio. “McConnell received government-provided healthcare in Warm Springs that saved him from being disabled for the rest of his life”. From Wikipedia.
Why are the Republicans working behind closed doors and trying to ram through with Hearings? “2009-2010, let’s remember, hundreds of Republican amendments were adopted in the ACA.” – Brian Beutler, New Republic. Beutler also wrote; “Did Dems ram Obamacare through Congress with no debate? Let’s consult the calendar. Oh look! Republicans were lying. Today is Obamacare’s seventh anniversary. It is also the day House Republicans will try to pass a bill that would repeal Obamacare—a gratuitous thumb in the eye of anyone who helped write or pass the Affordable Care Act, or who has benefitted from it since. The technical term for this is a “dick move,” but it’s also a useful marker for the journalism community, where it’s fashionable to draw equivalence between both parties, and treat all partisan spin as worthy of unchallenged amplification. For instance, Republicans have claimed for seven years now that Democrats rushed Obamacare through Congress without debate, and will use this claim as cover for doing the same”. What is the real reason McConnell, Ryan and Trump want to replace it – the name Obama? The real name of the healthcare act is “Affordable Care Act” that will assist many citizens in all economic echelon.
“Even with all the layers of funding in the American Health Care Act and the subsequent amendments, the money falls short of what would really be necessary to cover the cost of people with pre-existing conditions,” Larry Levitt, Senior Vice President at the Kaiser Family Foundation, told NBC News. AARP, the advocacy group that represents seniors, warned that the Upton amendment “would do little to mitigate the massive premium increase for some of the most vulnerable Americans” which they estimated could spike premiums by as much as $25,000 for those who run afoul of the pre-existing conditions clause. In what could be an ongoing challenge for Republicans, the major health care interest groups largely oppose the current bill on similar grounds. In addition to the AARP, the American Medical Association, which represents doctors, and the American Hospital Association have strongly criticized the legislation. “Do we know what would happen if these changes became law? Not really. Members voted on the bill without any analysis of how much it would cost or who it would cover. Even stranger is that they don’t seem to want to know. In a highly unusual move for a bill that would reorganize one-sixth of the country’s economy, the House moved forward without waiting for a score from the Congressional Budget Office, the non-partisan federal agency responsible for modeling the impact of legislation.
While Republicans have sometimes criticized the CBO’s accuracy, Congress has long used it as the gold standard in analyzing policy changes and without that analysis lawmakers are choosing to essentially fly blind. There’s no other outside study of the bill’s impact and they have not held hearings with experts and policy stakeholders to go over its provisions”.
“While Republicans try to project confidence, the truth is that their health care strategy has serious flaws. They won’t admit this, but they can’t get the votes to replace the Affordable Care Act (they need 8 Democrats). Since they can’t replace it, Republicans have added an unnecessary and reckless step called “Repeal,” which they know means many Americans will suffer. They want to manufacture a crisis to gain political leverage. The best chance to save our health care is to delay and disrupt the process leading to the Repeal vote. Objective is to contact Republican Members of the Senate, who might oppose the repeal before the Senate votes on it. 12 Republican Senators have expressed concerns about rushing to repeal. If 3 of these 12 Senators oppose Repeal before Replace, then the Republicans will fail.
Find and Mobilize Everyone You Know in the 10 Battleground States they are: Alaska, Arizona, Kentucky, Louisiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maine, Nevada, Tennessee, West Virginia”. Wrote RiseStronger.
Taxpayers deserve transparency from their government and to have their money returned when improperly spent. And all parties need a clear set of rules, rather than vast amounts of regulation leading to a myriad of loopholes. Eliminating the policy enacted by the ACA will reduce premium costs, making insurance both more affordable and more accessible. There is a need to make changes as we understand where to make the changes. But, to throw it out and change it completely does not make sense.
