Cameron Joseph contributed reporting.
Less than 24 hours after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) threw in the towel on his bill repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act and vowed to instead revive a 2015 bill to repeal the law without a replacement, three Republican senators said they would block that bill from coming to the floor for debate.
Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), whose states all have large rural and low-income populations dependent on Medicaid, said they will vote against a motion to proceed.
“I did not come to Washington to hurt people,” Capito wrote in a blistering statement. “I have serious concerns about how we continue to provide affordable care to those who have benefited from West Virginia’s decision to expand Medicaid, especially in light of the growing opioid crisis.”
“I cannot vote to repeal Obamacare without a replacement plan,” she concluded.
Collins, who voted against repeal-and-delay in 2015, wrote in her own statement that Obamacare is now “so interwoven with our health care system” that scrapping it without a ready alternative would cause “uncertainty” and “turmoil.” She called instead for Senate leaders to instead hold hearings on policies to fix Obamacare.
A few hours later, Murkowski confirmed to reporters that she too will vote against a motion to proceed. “There’s enough chaos and uncertainty already and this would just contribute to it,” she said.
With her defection, the repeal-and-delay effort met the same swift fate as the last Senate Trumpcare bill: dead before it even receives a vote. Additionally, with Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) at home recovering from surgery, Republicans are even further short of the votes they need to proceed.
Additionally, several other senators who did not come out as hard no votes on the new repeal-and-delay plan aired sharp criticisms of the move and their ability to vote for the 2015 bill.
Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH), another lawmaker from a Medicaid expansion state, told MSNBC that he believes repeal-and-delay “will lead to more uncertainty and the potential for Ohioans to pay even higher premiums and deductibles.”
“I’m concerned about something that would simply repeal,” he said.
GOP Sen. Rob Portman: “If it is a bill that simply repeals, I believe that will add to more uncertainty” and higher premiums. (via @kasie) pic.twitter.com/BKVuIaTGxW
— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) July 18, 2017
Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Dean Heller (R-NV)—once again, lawmakers hailing from Medicaid expansion states—aired criticisms of leadership’s new plan as well, saying it could lead to widespread uncertainty and higher costs in the health insurance market.
The Congressional Budget Office analysis of the 2015 repeal bill now under consideration found it would cause 32 million people to lose their insurance, hike premiums for millions more and increase the federal deficit by hundreds of billions of dollars.
Shorter GOP: We love ObamaCare as it keeps getting us reelected. Why kill the cash cow?
When the hell did the GOP decide that an "increase the federal deficit by hundreds of billions of dollars. . . " was worth it for a base that for over 40 yrs has leaned on the idea that it is the party of fiscal conservatism? When does trashing the economy win with your base? When does actually creating death for Americans through lack of affordable access to healthcare and stripping the americans of health benefits win with your base? If this is the GOP, the 60 million who voted the GOP into control of 2 branches of our government, then this is a party made up mean americans who hate their fellow americans so much, they are willing to enact policies that will surely result in death or bankruptcy. There is no sugar coating this. Why does the GOP hate America so much?
To be fair, nobody knew shameless grandstanding could be so complicated.
Chickens. Home. Roost.
Here’s an idea: How about instead of cutting taxes on the wealthy, you increase them a little and use that money to reduce the impact of premium increases and deductibles on those that can’t afford them?
And how about expanding Medicaid in every state to drive down the uninsured numbers (and the higher premiums everyone else has to pay), instead of holding out on a political / ideological hissy fit? Most of the R plan to repeal and replace O’care was to punish states that expanded Medicaid (i.e., blue states) and to justify not taking the free federal money to provide coverage and care to more people.
And one more thing: How about for states are areas with rising premiums or fleeing insurers they allow the state itself or the federal government to sell insurance for existing programs such as Medicare, Medicaid or something new?