Tag: healthcare

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Senate Majority Leader Admits Repubs May Not Pass “Repeal/Replace” Healthcare Bill

Sen. Mitch McConnell

Speaking at a Rotary Club event today in Kentucky, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) acknowledged that Senate Republicans may not be able to pass their ObamaCare repeal legislation.

In doing so, McConnell signaled what might be interpreted as a sign that he’s open to bipartisan stabilizing of insurance markets.

“If my side is unable to agree on an adequate replacement… then some kind of action with regard to private health insurance markets must occur.”

From The Hill:

Republicans have campaigned for years on repealing and replacing ObamaCare, arguing the Affordable Care Act is “failing” and in a “death spiral,” and insisting the law is not fixable.

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) touted McConnell’s comments, saying the Kentucky Republican “opened the door to bipartisan solutions.”

“It’s encouraging that Sen. McConnell today acknowledged that the issues with the exchanges are fixable,” Schumer said. “As we’ve said time and time again, Democrats are eager to work with Republicans to stabilize the markets and improve the law. At the top of the list should be ensuring cost-sharing payments are permanent, which will protect health care for millions.”

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The GOP Asks Hillary Clinton “Where’s Your (Healthcare) Plan?” And She Was Ready

In spite of the fact that Donald Trump and the Republicans are in control of both houses of Congress and the White House, after 7 years of bluffing and puffing about “repeal and replacing” Obamacare, Team GOP has no healthcare plan ready to go. Nothing.

The past six months were the “honeymoon” and they’ve got zilch to show for it.

So, today, the GOP tried deflecting to others. Here’s a tweet where they called out Hillary Clinton (why her? she lost the election) asking where her plan was.

Never fear, cause Hillary’s here. And, she’s prepared:

And the Twitterverse ate it up:

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Lacking Votes, Senate Republican Healthcare Bill Put On Hold

Per the Associated Press, the Senate Republican healthcare bill, lacking votes, is on hold until after the July 4th recess.

At last count, at least five Republicans Senators (Rand Paul, Mike Lee, Susan Collins, Dean Heller, Ron Johnson) have publicly stated they can’t vote for the healthcare legislation put forward by a group of 13 GOP senators.

With a scant 52 member majority, the Republicans can only lose two votes and still pass their bill.

Years and years of grousing about Obamacare, promises of immediate “repeal and replace” thanks to the election of Donald Trump, and the Republican party controlling the House, Senate and White House – but these folks can’t get their act together to do anything.

#sad

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Congressional Budget Office: Senate Republican Healthcare Bill Would Increase Uninsured By 22 Million

The numbers are out from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office regarding the current Senate Republicans’ healthcare bill:

CBO and JCT estimate that enacting this legislation would reduce the cumulative federal deficit over the 2017-2026 period by $321 billion. That amount is $202 billion more than the estimated net savings for the version of H.R. 1628 that was passed by the House of Representatives.

The Senate bill would increase the number of people who are uninsured by 22 million in 2026 relative to the number under current law, slightly fewer than the increase in the number of uninsured estimated for the House-passed legislation. By 2026, an estimated 49 million people would be uninsured, compared with 28 million who would lack insurance that year under current law.

Bolding is mine.

The bill also calls for cuts to Medicaid to the tune of $772 billion over the next ten years.

And premiums for a 64-year old with middle income go from $6,800 under current law to $20,500 under the Senate Republicans legislation.

Click image to enlarge

So, good news for those conservatives looking to see deficit reduction, but 22 million uninsured isn’t much better than the 23 million uninsured predicted for the House Republican healthcare bill.

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President Obama: “The Senate Bill Is Not A Health Care Bill”

In a rare statement addressing current policy-making in Congress, President Obama posted about the Republican-controlled Senate’s Trumpcare bill on his Facebook.

The Senate bill, unveiled today, is not a health care bill. It’s a massive transfer of wealth from middle-class and poor families to the richest people in America. It hands enormous tax cuts to the rich and to the drug and insurance industries, paid for by cutting health care for everybody else.

Those with private insurance will experience higher premiums and higher deductibles, with lower tax credits to help working families cover the costs, even as their plans might no longer cover pregnancy, mental health care, or expensive prescriptions. Discrimination based on pre-existing conditions could become the norm again. Millions of families will lose coverage entirely.Simply put, if there’s a chance you might get sick, get old, or start a family – this bill will do you harm. And small tweaks over the course of the next couple weeks, under the guise of making these bills easier to stomach, cannot change the fundamental meanness at the core of this legislation.

I hope our Senators ask themselves – what will happen to the Americans grappling with opioid addiction who suddenly lose their coverage? What will happen to pregnant mothers, children with disabilities, poor adults and seniors who need long-term care once they can no longer count on Medicaid?

What will happen if you have a medical emergency when insurance companies are once again allowed to exclude the benefits you need, send you unlimited bills, or set unaffordable deductibles? What impossible choices will working parents be forced to make if their child’s cancer treatment costs them more than their life savings?

To put the American people through that pain – while giving billionaires and corporations a massive tax cut in return – that’s tough to fathom. But it’s what’s at stake right now. So it remains my fervent hope that we step back and try to deliver on what the American people need.

That might take some time and compromise between Democrats and Republicans. But I believe that’s what people want to see. I believe it would demonstrate the kind of leadership that appeals to Americans across party lines. And I believe that it’s possible – if you are willing to make a difference again.

If you’re willing to call your members of Congress. If you are willing to visit their offices. If you are willing to speak out, let them and the country know, in very real terms, what this means for you and your family.

After all, this debate has always been about something bigger than politics. It’s about the character of our country – who we are, and who we aspire to be. And that’s always worth fighting for.

Pretty presidential I’d say. And refreshing.

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President Trump Praises Australia’s Single-Payer Healthcare System

Last night, during a press conference with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, President Trump praised Australia’s healthcare system saying, “I shouldn’t say this to our great gentleman and my friend from Australia because you have better health care than we do.”

Perhaps it was a slip of the tongue since Australia has a nationalized, single-payer system that covers all of it’s citizens.

Senator Bernie Sanders, speaking with MSNBC’s Chris Hayes, immediately agreed with the president.

Watch below.

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Seth Meyers Takes “A Closer Look” At Trump’s Epic Healthcare Fail

On last night’s Late Night with Seth Meyers, Meyers took “A Closer Look” at Donald Trump’s healthcare fail last week.

Some funny, funny stuff – and all of it based in truth.

It’s especially worth watching for the first minute which recaps several instances of Trump on the campaign trail telling voters how easy it will be for him to “make deals” in Washington.

You remember – “Nobody knows the system better than me.”

Followed by smirk and a shrug.

Said Meyers: “Look at that face. That’s like the freeze frame of a ’90s sitcom dad at the end of an episode. You almost expect credits to roll.”

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Trump Slaps At House Freedom Caucus For Healthcare Failure

After initially blaming House Democrats for the Republicans failure to “repeal and replace” Obamacare on Friday, this morning President Trump took a swipe at the far-right House Freedom Caucus for their hand in blocking the legislation.

According to CNN, it was those same Freedom Caucus members that Trump told on Thursday to “forget about the little shit – focus on the big picture here.” That “big picture” being a win for his first legislative attempt, and ultimately his reelection.

Freedom Caucus members told the press they didn’t think Trump cared what the bill was as long as it passed.

“I got the sense that he had delegated a lot of the specifics to White House personnel and/or Paul Ryan and/or house leadership, and he was going to support whatever they came up with regardless of good or bad, as long as it was some kind of repeal and replacement,” said the caucus member, who asked not to be quoted by name in order to talk freely about the private meeting.

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Trump Tweet: Don’t Worry, ObamaCare Will Explode

In the aftermath of President Trump’s first big legislative attempt (and failure) we get the Saturday morning tweet you knew would come.

Yesterday, Trump blamed House Democrats for the demise of the American Health Care Act. Even though the Republicans have a majority in the House, they couldn’t get their act together for even the barest majority.

So, I’m not sure how the Dems, who weren’t even consulted on the bill, could be to blame.

Today, Trump tweets, “ObamaCare will explode and we will all get together and piece together a great healthcare plan for THE PEOPLE. Do not worry!”

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Trump Chokes As First Legislative Effort Fails With No Vote On Healthcare

After much posturing and drama right down to the wire, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan pulled the American Health Care Act from a floor vote to avoid an embarrassing, lop-sided defeat.

In a recent Quinnipiac poll, the legislation only had 17% support from the American people.

President Trump, the man who campaigned on his reputation as “master negotiator,” and “the closer,” couldn’t close this deal. Although White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer told reporters over and over today that Trump “left everything on the field” to get the bill approved, not only did he not get the ball into the end zone, he whiffed on the kickoff.

Via The Hill:

“We were very close, it was a very tight margin. We had no Democrat support, no votes from the Democrats,” Trump said, flanked by Vice President Pence and Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price in the Oval Office.

“I think the losers are Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer because now they own ObamaCare,” the president added, referring to the House and Senate Democratic leaders.

But he said he would be “open” to working with Democrats on healthcare again if ObamaCare “explodes.” “When it explodes, which it will soon, if they got together with us and we got a real healthcare bill, I would be totally open to it, ” Trump said.

In truth, the effort failed because far-right Freedom Caucus House members didn’t like the bill, even though concessions were made to pull in their votes.

I think Trump mentioned being “open” to working with the Democrats in the future as a way to let the Freedom Caucus know he could potentially go around them and instead work with more moderate Dems and Repubs.

Ultimately, I don’t think the actual details of legislation is that important to Trump. I think he just wants to win and be popular. Perhaps this thumping might encourage him to work with the Democrats a bit.

But make no mistake, this was a loss; a loss for the guy who said folks were going to be “tired of winning, winning, winning.”

Speaker Ryan took the loss in more manly manner, admitting the difficulties of being a “governing” party now.

From CBS News:

House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said the U.S. is “going to be living with Obamacare for the foreseeable future” after he abruptly canceled a scheduled vote on the contentious Republican health care bill Friday. “Obamacare is the law of the land, and it will remain the law of the land until it’s replaced,” Ryan said.

“Moving from an opposition party to a governing party comes with growing pains,” Ryan told reporters Friday afternoon. “We’re feeling those growing pains today.” The failure to bring the bill to a vote is a major embarrassment for President Trump, Ryan and congressional Republicans, who had vowed to repeal the Affordable Care Act since its passage in 2010. “We came really close today, but we came up short,” Ryan said.

So, let’s look at the scoreboard:

• Muslim ban failed twice
• National Security Adviser Mike Flynn resigned
• Mexico won’t pay for the wall
• FBI investigating Trump & Russia
• No evidence of wire tap at Trump Tower
• Trumpcare failed

Winning?