Senate Republican Health Care Bill Will NOT Reach 50 Votes, As Now Stands!

The newly veiled Senate Republican Health Care legislation, created behind closed doors in great secrecy, is finally unveiled, and it is a total disaster for the poor, disabled, and elderly, and promotes the end of Medicaid, which 20 percent of the nation relies on, including 60 percent in nursing homes, and the millions of disabled people.

It undermines health care for the opioid crisis raging across America, and anyone with pre-existing conditions will no longer be protected.

It is a certainty that tens of thousands of Americans are being given a death warrant by the Republican Party, and its hard hearted, nasty, mean spirited membership, which is more concerned about giving massive tax cuts to the top one percent who do not need it, and have not asked for it, but will, of course, accept what is offered, as after all, does one reject candy offered?

But it is also important to note that this legislation will fall, as there is no way imaginable that 50 Senators out of 52 will support it.

Dean Heller of Nevada is the most endangered Republican Senator in 2018, and has said he cannot support it, and Nevada is one of the states that has more on Medicaid than many other states.

Susan Collins of Maine is, arguably, the most moderate Republican, and has made clear she cannot vote for legislation that decimates Medicaid.

The same can be said for Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Shelly Moore Capito of West Virginia, both states having loads of poor, struggling whites and others, who depend on Medicaid.

Both Collins and Murkowksi also defend Planned Parenthood, which is due to be cut from any government aid under the legislation.

Rob Portman of Ohio is also concerned about the opioid crisis hitting his state.

Jeff Flake of Arizona is the second most endangered Republican Senator coming up for re-election in 2018, so doubtful about his support for the legislation, as well.

Then, there are others who will not support the bill, as it is not harsh enough, imagine that–including Rand Paul of Kentucky, Ted Cruz of Texas, Mike Lee of Utah, and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin.

And one wonders whether John McCain of Arizona, who has long had a “moderate” image, can actually vote for this legislation.

Also, all major medical associations have condemned the legislation as unacceptable, having a disastrous effect on rural areas, and on the idea that health care should be available for all Americans.

So, as of now, it is highly unlikely that the Senate Health Care bill will reach 50 votes!

19 comments on “Senate Republican Health Care Bill Will NOT Reach 50 Votes, As Now Stands!

  1. D June 25, 2017 10:33 am

    California—the No. 1 most-populous state and long considered the most influential in setting new trends for the nation—effectively killed a bill for single payer.

    http://youtu.be/bfYfjQEqg58

  2. Southern Liberal June 25, 2017 11:27 am

    New poll shows majority of Americans are unaware Trumpcare slashes Medicaid (A fundamental problem with American democracy is that many voters are not informed.)

  3. Pragmatic Progressive June 25, 2017 11:42 am

    Most likely those uninformed Americans are, unfortunately, like some of our family, friends, co-workers – They don’t watch or read the national news and they don’t read blogs like we do.

  4. Former Republican June 25, 2017 12:12 pm

    Based on what I’ve seen on the Facebook page of one of our relatives, the source of news for some of them is “fake news”, such as Breitbart.

  5. Princess Liea June 25, 2017 12:53 pm

    The Story Behind the Single-Payer Healthcare Mess in California
    by David Atkins
    June 24, 2017 3:59 PM

    http://washingtonmonthly.com/2017/06/24/the-story-behind-the-single-payer-healthcare-mess-in-california/

    As Trump and the Republican Party look set to decimate the Affordable Healthcare Act at the national level, blue states have been focusing their attention on robust universal healthcare solutions. Nowhere has this attention been more singularly focused than in California, where the state senate recently passed SB562, a universal healthcare bill.

    But yesterday Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon put the brakes on the bill, tabling it for a year rather than allowing it to move forward legislatively. The pushback has been fierce: Rendon’s move has been roundly condemned by everyone from Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom to Congressman Ro Khanna to newly elected California Democratic Party chairman Eric Bauman.

    Rendon’s position isn’t totally indefensible, however. SB562 lacks many crucial details, not least of which is its funding mechanism. It has a hefty price tag–heavier than the bill’s proponent even expected–and the proposals to make it work have included a double tax increase that would probably kill the bill by losing support among the Assembly’s more moderate members (California law requires that any tax increase be supported by 2/3 of the legislature, which means Democrats can’t afford to lose almost any votes in their caucus.) Assemblymembers have a valid argument that it’s unfair of the Senate to expect them to hammer out the details within a shortened legislative window, and want to push the challenge back onto the Senate. Rendon wants to shield his caucus from the votes, and is willing to take the slings and arrows of progressive activists to do so. Finally, as David Dayen noted on Twitter, voter-enacted Proposition 98 requires that a minimum percentage of the state budget be spent on education–which means that single-payer proponents would not only have to find a revenue increase for healthcare, but also for a percentage increase in education spending as well. That’s a very difficult hurdle, and almost certainly means that single-payer healthcare in California will have to be a popular referendum–in which case it could come from a signature-gathering process rather than from a potentially dangerous vote from the legislature.

    But while all of this sounds reasonable, it misses a bigger context. It’s not as if Democratic wonks and liberal think tanks didn’t have time to think through all of these issues. It’s true that most of the heavy lifting on healthcare policy went into figuring out how to make the Affordable Care Act work. That was one of the key frustrations about the bill among single-payer proponents angry that defending its complexities and dependence on the private insurance market sucked all the oxygen out of the effort to come up with simpler solutions that look more like the rest of the developed world.

    But at least since the election of Donald Trump, it has been clear that Republicans would really get their chance to severely hobble or destroy the Affordable Care Act. It has also been clear that workable universal programs in big blue states with economic leverage would be the next point of focus, particularly given the activist energy around the issue among progressives.

    There is no excuse for the California Senate to have sent the Assembly such a hollow bill. But there is also no excuse for the Assembly not to have already done the hard work to figure out palatable details on the funding and transition structure. If the politics make it impossible for the Assembly to move forward on the bill as a united front, or if the constitutional restrictions mean that only a ballot initiative is truly feasible, then it’s incumbent on Democratic leaders to have made that clear in advance and to be providing the support for a signature-gathering process.

    Instead, what we have is a mess: the healthcare wonks haven’t gotten their act together in a serious way, the Senate showboated with a hollow bill and expected the Assembly to clean up after them and take the truly difficult votes, the speaker is taking the heat to shield the conservative and cowardly members of his caucus, and a bunch of politicians with aspirations of statewide and national office are grandstanding against the speaker without providing any real solutions.

    The best way out of this thicket is for Rendon to put SB562 back on the table, and put everyone to work on hammering out the details. If he lacks the votes in his caucus to pass it, or if Proposition 98 makes it impossible, or both, then he needs to be honest about that and work toward a successful ballot initiative. Tabling the bill for a year to put the onus back on the Senate just wastes time that desperate Californians and the nation at large cannot afford to lose.

  6. D June 27, 2017 4:05 pm

    Following my first post is this report…

    Democrats Help Corporate Donors Block California Health Care Measure, And Progressives Lose Again

    By David Sirota (06.26.2017)
    http://www.ibtimes.com/political-capital/democrats-help-corporate-donors-block-california-health-care-measure-progressives?amp=1

    As Republican lawmakers grapple with their unpopular bill to repeal Obamacare, Democrats have tried to present a united front on health care. But for all their populist rhetoric against insurance and drug companies, Democratic powerbrokers and their allies remain deeply divided on the issue — to the point where a political civil war has spilled into the open in America’s largest state.

    In California last week, Democratic state Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon helped his and his party’s corporate donors block a Democrat-sponsored bill to create a universal health care program in which the government would be the single payer.

    Rendon’s decision shows how progressives’ ideal of universal health care remains elusive — even in a liberal state where government already foots 70 percent of the total health care bill.

    …

  7. Rational Lefty June 27, 2017 4:39 pm

    Why is it that single payer is turning up crazy expensive every time someone actually tries to come up with a plan here in the US? Vermont couldn’t afford single payer. Bernie’s plan on the campaign trail was affordable only if you cooked the numbers. Colorado voters rejected single payer because of cost. California and New York are looking at plans that would cost as much as their current annual budgets.

  8. Ronald June 27, 2017 6:01 pm

    This issue of national health care is becoming so complicated, and it makes me wonder if it will ever happen that we will have single payer!

  9. Princess Leia June 27, 2017 7:40 pm

    News is that the vote has been delayed until after the July 4th recess. Reports are that Jerry Moran (R-KS), Rob Portman (R-OH) and Shelly Capito (R-WV) have joined Susan Collins (R-ME) and Dean Heller (R-NV) as moderates who are prepared to vote against the bill.

  10. Princess Leia June 27, 2017 7:50 pm

    Best thing to do is to improve Obamacare instead of repealing it.

  11. Ronald June 28, 2017 7:34 am

    Thanks for sharing those tweets, D.

    Single payer is definitely the way to go!

  12. Princess Leia June 28, 2017 12:06 pm

    This delay shows that the resistance is working.

    https://www.facebook.com/WinningProgressive/posts/1724124177598081

    Per the posting from the Indivisible groups in Philadelphia: Our pressure is working as the GOP delays the vote on its disastrous Trumpcare proposal until after the July 4th recess. Now it is time to double down on that pressure while our Senators and Representatives are back in their districts during the recess.

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