Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana have offered up what may be the GOP's last-ditch effort to offer up an alternative to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Sens. Dean Heller of Nevada, Ron Johnson were also involved in the planning. The Republicans must repeal the ACA by Sept. 30 if they want to do so by simple majority. Sarah Kliff of Vox says the Graham-Cassidy plan is, in many ways, the most radical yet.
"The proposal would eliminate the health care law’s subsidies for private insurance and end the Medicaid expansion. States could allow for waivers that let insurers charge sick patients higher premiums and stop covering certain benefits required under the Affordable Care Act, like maternity care or prescription drugs. The health insurance marketplaces would no longer exist as they are envisioned to continue under other Republican proposals." Vox reports. "The federal government would convert some (but not all) of that spending into a lump-sum payment to states. States could choose to spend this money on providing insurance — or they could use it to fund high-risk pools, or do other activities to pay the bills of patients with high medical needs. States wouldn’t get this money for free: They’d be required to kick in a small percentage themselves."
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| (L-R) Sens. Dean Heller, Bill Cassidy, Ron Johnson, and Lindsey Graham at a press conference this morning to discuss their bill. (Associated Press photo by Andrew Harnik) |
Trump has guardedly supported the plan, saying in a tweet that he "applauds the Senate for continuing to work toward a solution to relieve the disasterous Obamacare burden" and "sincerely hopes that Senators Graham and Cassidy have found a way to address the Obamacare crisis."
In an interview with Al Cross, director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell said the bill may well come to the floor if Majority Whip John Cornyn can get the promised votes. "There’s a lot of discussion, but the time is running on that. . . . It could well come up. If we have 50 votes, we’ll go to it." At a press conference this morning, Cassidy "said his informal whip count stands at “48 or 49” GOP votes, suggesting they are close to the 50-vote threshold needed to pass a bill, using Vice President Mike Pence as a tie-breaker," Tom Howell reports for The Washington Post.
from The Rural Blog http://ift.tt/2x1pXbd Cassidy-Graham ACA repeal bill gains steam - Entrepreneur Generations
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