Wednesday, March 27, 2024

What Republicans Are Against The Healthcare Bill

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Schumer: ‘we Can Work Together Our Country Demands It’

20 Republicans Vote Against GOP Healthcare Bill | MTP Daily | MSNBC

Until the end, passage on the Health Care Freedom Act, also dubbed the skinny repeal, was never certain. Even Republicans who voted for it disliked the bill.

The skinny bill as policy is a disaster. The skinny bill as a replacement for Obamacare is a fraud. The skinny bill is a vehicle to getting conference to find a replacement, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said at a Thursday evening news conference hours before the vote alongside fellow Republicans McCain, Ron Johnson and Bill Cassidy, before the details were released.

The skinny repeal was far from Republicans campaign promise of also rolling back Medicaid expansion, insurance subsidies, Obamacare taxes, and insurance regulations.

Many Republicans who did vote for it said they were holding their nose to vote for it just to advance the process into negotiations with the House of Representatives.


The legislation included a repeal of the individual mandate to purchase insurance, a repeal of the employer mandate to provide insurance, a one-year defunding of Planned Parenthood, a provision giving states more flexibility to opt out of insurance regulations, and a three-year repeal of the medical device tax. It also would have increased the amount that people can contribute to Health Savings Accounts.

Leigh Ann Caldwell is an NBC News correspondent.

Obamacare Repeal Fails: Three Gop Senators Rebel In 49

WASHINGTON Obamacare stays. For now.

Senate Republicans failed to pass a pared-down Obamacare repeal bill early Friday on a vote of 49-51 that saw three of their own dramatically break ranks.

Three Republican senators John McCain, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski and all Democrats voted against the bill, dealing a stinging defeat to Republicans and President Donald Trump who made repeal of Obamacare a cornerstone their campaigns.


The late-night debate capped the GOP’s months-long effort to fulfill a seven-year promise to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

3 Republicans and 48 Democrats let the American people down. As I said from the beginning, let ObamaCare implode, then deal. Watch!

Donald J. Trump

The Senate has tried to pass multiple versions of repeal: repeal and replace, a straight repeal and Friday’s bare-bones repeal, but none garnered the support of 50 Republicans.

An emotional Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said after the 1:40 a.m. vote went down that Republicans remained committed to repealing the Obama-era health law.

When Did Obamacare Start

The timeline of key events leading up to the passage of the Obamacare law began in 2009. Here is a list of those events, along with key provisions that went into place after the law was enacted.

  • Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and a group of Democrats from the House of Representatives reveal their plan for overhauling the health-care system. Its called H.R. 3962, the Affordable Health Care for America Act.
  • ;Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy, a leading supporter of health-care reform, dies and puts the Senate Democrats 60-seat supermajority required to pass a piece of legislation at risk.
  • ;Democrat Paul Kirk is appointed interim senator from Massachusetts, which temporarily restores the Democrats filibuster-proof 60th vote.
  • ;In the House of Representatives, 219 Democrats and one Republican vote for the Affordable Health Care for America Act, and 39 Democrats and 176 Republicans vote against it.
  • In the Senate, 60 Democrats vote for the Senates version of the bill, called Americas Healthy Future Act, whose lead author is senator Max Baucus of California. Thirty-nine Republicans vote against the bill, and one Republican senator, Jim Bunning, does not vote.

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Changes Required By The Affordable Care Act In 2011

  • A provision goes into effect to protect patients choice of doctors. Specifics include allowing plan members to pick any participating primary care provider, prohibiting insurers from requiring prior authorization before a woman sees an obstetrician/gynecologist , and ensuring access to emergency care.
  • Young adults can stay on their parents insurance until age 26, even if they are not full-time students. This extension applies to all new plans.
  • All new health insurance policies must cover preventive care and pay a portion of all preventive care visits.
  • A provision goes into effect that eliminates lifetime limits on coverage for members.
  • Annual limits or maximum payouts by a health insurance company are now restricted by the ACA.
  • The ACA prohibits rescission when a claim is filed, except in the case of fraud or misrepresentation by the consumer.
  • Insurance companies must now provide a process for customers to make an appeal if there is a problem with their coverage. ;

NOTE: In January,;2011:;eHealth publishes 11 guides on the top;child-only health insurance coverage;that examined differences in implementation in numerous states.

Senate Gop Blocks 9/11 First Responders Health Plan Bill

5 GOP senators now go against health bill

Senate Republicans on Thursday morning filibustered legislation to monitor and treat first responders and emergency workers who suffered illnesses related to 9/11.

A vote to quash the filibuster failed by a vote of 57 to 42, three votes short of the necessary threshold. As a result, the proposal is unlikely to pass this year.

The bill would provide funding for a health program to treat first responders, construction and cleanup workers and residents who inhaled toxic particles after the collapse of the World Trade Center towers.

The $7.4 billion cost of the legislation over 10 years is paid for by a provision that would prevent foreign multinational corporations from using tax havens to avoid taxes on U.S. income.


Harry Mason ReidWhite House says ball is in Congress’s court on voting rights, abortionBiden grapples with twin crisesFive takeaways from Biden’s week of chaos in AfghanistanMORE blasted Republicans after the vote.

Republicans denied adequate health care to the heroes who developed illnesses from rushing into burning buildings on 9/11. Yet they will stop at nothing to give tax breaks to millionaires and CEOs, even though they will explode our deficit and fail to create jobs. That tells you everything you need to know about their priorities, Reid said in a statement.

Schumer said some of the police officers and firefighters who rushed to the flaming towers have already been diagnosed with cancers.

This story was updated at 12:29 p.m.

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Six Ways Trump Has Sabotaged The Affordable Care Act

Donald Trumps first term represents an extraordinary development in what political scientists have called the administrative or unilateral presidency: how presidents seek to transform domestic policy through executive initiatives without congressional approval. Aggressive, partisan, multifaceted administrative presidencies have been especially evident since Reagan with presidents of both parties participating. Trump has in multiple ways taken this trend to new levels as his efforts to sabotage the Affordable Care Act vividly illustrate.

Republicans Tout Health Care Bill Alternative

“I’ve read the majority of this bill,” said Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., a physician. “I’ve got a diagnosis: It’s legislative malpractice.”

Price motioned to a tall stack of white copy paper bound with a yellow rope piled atop the podium and above the blue sign that read “Health Care Freedom” — the theme of the Republicans’ message today.

Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., told the crowd, “Republicans have better ideas to give you more choices, more freedom in health care, access for everybody. We’re going to fight for those ideas.”

Amid cheers, Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., said, “We have an alternative: H.R. 3400.”


Republicans were joined by other notable public figures, including actor Jon Voight and radio host Mark Levin.

“I’m so deeply proud to be among you brave, concerned, patriotic American citizens,” Voight said. “The biggest vote in the U.S., the biggest voice in the U.S. is your voice, the voice of the American people.”

Among the faces in the crowd were young people who took off work, parents with their teenage children and senior citizens.

Schwartz of Americans for Prosperity described today’s rally as “very organic.” Seven buses carrying 350 people traveled to Washington, D.C., from parts of Maryland. Hundreds more, he said, carpooled behind.

“We want reform, but not the heap of junk that’s in this bill,” Schwartz said.


He expects that message will resonate with moderates and Blue Dog conservative Democrats who might still be on the fence about support for the House plan.

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Board Of Governors Professor School Of Public Affairs & Administration

The Trump administrations efforts to sabotage the ACA and their consequences receive detailed attention in a recently released Brookings book, Trump, the Administrative Presidency, and Federalism. For present purposes, I highlight six major sabotage initiatives which emerged in the wake of congressional failure to repeal and replace the ACA.

1. Reduce outreach and opportunities for enrollment in the ACAs insurance exchanges. Established to offer health insurance to individuals and small business, the exchanges have provided coverage to some 10 million people annually. The Obama administration had vigorously promoted the ACA in part to attract healthy, younger people to the exchanges to help keep premiums down. The Trump administration sharply reduced support for advertising and exchange navigators while reducing the annual enrollment period to about half the number of days.

2. Cut ACA subsidies to insurance companies offering coverage on the exchanges. ACA proponents saw insurance company participation on the exchanges as central to fostering enrollee choice and to fueling competition that would lower premiums. The law therefore provided various subsidies to insurance companies to reduce their risks of losing money if they participated on the exchanges. The Trump administration joined congressional Republicans in reneging on these financial commitments.


Treating The Terminally Ill

GOP Senators Return Home To Backlash Against Healthcare Bill | AM Joy | MSNBC

The party opposes euthanasia and assisted suicide, as well as any non-consensual withholding of treatment for any reason. They believe that health care efforts should instead be focused on research to treat terminally ill patients, as well as pain relief and care of these patients, so that the rest of their lives are more comfortable.

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House Democrats Approve Health Bill Seeking Contrast With Trumps Obamacare Assault

The vote was aimed at shoring up Democratic support in swing districts that fueled the party’s House takeover in 2018.

06/29/2020 06:50 PM EDT

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House Democrats on Monday approved a major expansion of Obamacare, underscoring the health care laws central role in their campaign pitch and drawing sharp contrast with President Donald Trumps efforts to eliminate the entire law.


Two Republicans New Jersey’s Jeff Van Drew, formerly a Democrat, and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania joined virtually every Democrat in supporting the bill, which would expand the laws subsidies for private health insurance, encourage hold-out red states to expand Medicaid and reverse Trump administration policies seen as undermining the Affordable Care Act. The Democrats bill, which will likely be shunned by the Republican-controlled Senate, also contains pieces of the partys, including a requirement for the government to negotiate prices.

Progressive lawmakers who have pushed sweeping Medicare for All legislation largely backed the more moderate health bill, which is aimed at shoring up Democrats support in swing districts that were pivotal to the party retaking control of the House in the 2018 midterms. The vote comes shortly after Trumps Justice Department urged the Supreme Court to overturn Obamacare in a case later this fall, despite warnings from some Republicans that voters would punish the party in November.

Just one Democrat voted against the bill.

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Endangered Republicans Back Senate Democrats’ Bill Opposing Obamacare Lawsuit

Five Republicans facing tough reelections crossed party lines in a vote highlighting Trump’s challenge to the health care law.

10/01/2020 03:17 PM EDT

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Senate Democrats’ largely symbolic bid to cut off the Trump administration’s support for a Supreme Court challenge to Obamacare failed as expected Thursday, but several Republicans facing tough reelections crossed party lines to back the measure.

Sens. Martha McSally of Arizona, Susan Collins of Maine, Cory Gardner of Colorado, Joni Ernst of Iowa and Dan Sullivan of Alaska, who are trying to reassure voters about their defense of insurance protections for preexisting conditions, backed the Democrats’ measure. Another Republican, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who opposed Obamacare repeal efforts three years ago, also supported the bill.

But the bill fell 51-43, short of the 60 votes needed to advance.

Democrats through an unusual procedural maneuver seized control of the Senate agenda to force a challenging vote for Republicans ahead of a Supreme Court case that threatens Obamacare’s survival. Democrats have sought to highlight the case’s risk to health care coverage and insurance protections for tens of millions of Americans as Republicans rush to fill a vacant Supreme Court seat with President Donald Trump’s nominee, Amy Coney Barrett. The court is slated to hear arguments in the lawsuit on Nov. 10, one week after Election Day.

The North Carolina Democratic Party charged that Tillis’ measure was inadequate.

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Reagan Assaults The System

Conservative Republican President Ronald Reagan, soon after his election in 1981, launched an assault on the federal health care system, announcing plans to consolidate all 26 of the health services programs into two block grants, one for health services, the other for preventive health. He also announced plans to slash spending on health by 25 percent. The president’s announcement set off a battle in Congress, with conservatives in both parties taking up Reagan’s charge. In the Senate, Orrin Hatch, a conservative Republican from Utah, and Phil Gramm, a Texas Republican, led the president’s battle to disassemble the federal health care programs. In the House, Republican Representatives Edward R. Madigan of Illinois, James T. Broyhill of North Carolina, and William E. Dannemeyer of California played key leadership roles for the Reagan agenda.

With a few concessions to Democrats, conservative Republicans, backed by many conservative Democrats and moderate Republicans, passed the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981. It reduced funding for all health services programs, collapsed funding for many categorical grant programs into block grants to states, and increased local and state governance over remaining programs. The concessions to congressional Democrats came only after last-minute lobbying by a group of Republican governors.

Premium Subsidies And Affordability

Republicans Dave Joyce and Mike Turner explain why they ...

The ACA’s premium subsidies were designed to keep health insurance affordable for people who buy their own coverage in the individual market. Premiums for individual market plans increased alarmingly in 2017 and 2018, although they were much more stable in 2019 and 2020, and rate changes for 2021 appear to be mostly modest. But premiums for people who aren’t eligible for premium subsidies can still amount to a substantial portion of their income.

The individual market is a very small segment of the population, however, and rate increases have been much more muted across the full population .

Democrats have proposed various strategies for making coverage and care affordable. Joe Biden’s healthcare proposal includes larger premium subsidies that would be based on the cost of a benchmark gold plan and based on having people pay only 8.5% of their income for that plan . Biden’s proposal would also eliminate the ACA’s income cap for premium subsidy eligibility and provide subsidies to anyone who would otherwise have to pay more than 8.5% of their income for a benchmark gold plan. This would eliminate the “subsidy cliff” that currently exists for some enrollees.

The 2020 Democratic Party platform calls for a “public option” health plan that would compete with private health insurance carriers in an effort to bring down prices, and lowering the eligibility age for Medicare from 65 to 60.

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Trump Tells Republicans To Get Back On Healthcare Bill

By Susan Cornwell

5 Min Read

WASHINGTON – U.S. President Donald Trump and members of his administration on Sunday goaded Republican senators to stick with trying to pass a healthcare bill, after the lawmakers failed spectacularly last week to muster the votes to end Obamacare.

For the second day running, the Republican president tweeted his impatience with Congress inability to deliver on his partys seven-year promise to replace the Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obamas signature healthcare bill commonly known as Obamacare. Members of his administration took to the airwaves to try to compel lawmakers to take action.

But it was unclear whether the White House admonishments would have any impact on Capitol Hill, where Republicans who control both houses signaled last week that it was time to move on to other issues.

Republicans zeal to repeal and replace Obamacare was met with both intra-party divisions between moderates and conservatives and also the increasing approval of a law that raised the number of insured Americans by 20 million.

Polling indicates a majority of Americans are ready to move on from healthcare at this point. According to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Saturday, 64 percent of 1,136 people surveyed on Friday and Saturday said they wanted to keep Obamacare, either entirely as is or after fixing problem areas. That is up from 54 percent in January.

But Price also told NBC he would implement Obamacare because it is the law of the land.

Watch Sen John Mccain Cast ‘no’ Vote On ‘skinny’ Repeal

It isn’t clear what comes next, but the collapse of some insurance markets around the country serve as an incentive for Republicans and Democrats to hold hearings and fix the problems with health care.

Most Republicans never embraced the different iterations of legislation they crafted, nor the process by which it was constructed. Even on the last-ditch effort at a bare-bones bill, Republicans couldnt reach agreement. Over the past two days, many rejected a plan that would have partially repealed and replaced Obamacare and a measure that would have just repealed it. The repeal vote was the same bill that passed the Senate and the House in 2015 when former President Barack Obama vetoed it.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, stood against every version of the legislation even in the face of immense pressure. The Trump administration threatened to withhold federal resources from Alaska because of her opposition, according to the Alaska Daily News. Murkowski herself said the next day in response to the report that she would not characterize it as a “threat.”

“I sat there with Senator McCain. I think both of us recognize that its very hard to disappoint your colleagues,” Murkowski told NBC News after the vote. “And I know that there is disappointment because it was the three votes that Senator McCain, Senator Collins, and I cast that did not allow this bill to move forward. And that is difficult.”

“John McCain is a hero and has courage and does the right thing,” Schumer said.

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