Tomorrow appears to be D-Day for health care in the U.S. House of Representatives.
As The New York Times reports, Republicans have scheduled a vote Thursday on a bill “to repeal and replace large portions of the Affordable Care Act after adding $8 billion to the measure to help cover insurance costs for people with pre-existing conditions.”
The bill’s outlines are troubling. It does away with protections for pre-existing conditions, allowing states to “apply for waivers allowing insurers to charge higher rates based on a person’s ‘health status.’”
The bill attempts to offset this change, which will result in many losing their coverage, by setting aside $23 billion for the sickest customers and $100 billion to aide states.
Significantly, according to the Times, the bill also rolls back Medicaid expansion — “a major reason the Congressional Budget Office estimated that the original bill would leave 24 million more Americans without health insurance after a decade.” Tomorrow’s vote comes “before C.B.O. can finish a fresh assessment of its cost and impact.”
To put it kindly, the bill is a disaster.
Major new academic study is out, and it shows just how much damage the GOP health-care bill would do: https://t.co/ywIuHJ0B9U— David Leonhardt (@DLeonhardt) May 4, 2017
The most vulnerable in our economy will pay the price for the repeal, while those in the broad middle get nothing. And the rich? They’ll be getting a tax cut, if not in this bill, then later on.
As Chris Hayes of MSNBC and The Nation put it in a tweet:
The bill cuts about a trillion dollars in funding for healthcare while cutting taxes for the top 2% by about the same amount.— Christopher Hayes (@chrislhayes) May 3, 2017
That’s unconscionable, but it seems pretty clear at this point that the right-wing has no conscience.
In any case, the vote is expected to be close — The Guardian (UK) calls it “a nail-biter” — and there are no guarantees.
The party needs at least 216 votes to pass the measure, meaning they can only afford to lose 22 votes if all Democrats oppose the bill as expected. On Wednesday, at least 18 Republicans publicly opposed the bill and as many as two dozen remained undecided, according to counts maintained by news organizations.
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| U.S. Rep, Kevin McCarthy, in a photo from his website. |
Still, the GOP leadership believes it will pass, according to the Times..
“We have enough votes,” Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, the House majority leader, said Wednesday night. “It’ll pass.’”
Three of New Jersey’s five Republican Congressmen — Frank LoBiondo, Leonard Lance and Chris Smith — have announced they will vote no on the plan. A fourth, Tom MacArthur, of Ocean County, is a chief architect of the compromise plan. Appropriations Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen, a North Jersey Congressman, opposed the previous repeal, but “refused to talk at all about where he stands on Thursday,” according to The Huffington Post.
If the reports are correct, only four Republicans need to be swayed — and Frelinghuysen could be one. So, if you’re in his district, make your voice heard tomorrow. The Affordable Care Act is far from perfect, but repealing it will leave too many without access to coverage.
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Hank Kalet 
What the hell is the matter with this country? ALL, ALL, ALL the other wealthy industrialized democracies have some form or version of universal health care except this pathetic crony capitalistic greed nation. We need improved Medicare for all, single payer or the kind of system they have in Switzerland, Germany or Holland which is not exactly single payer. I hear so many people say that they don't want to pay for other people's health care or that they don't want the government controlling health care. What stupid, vile and short sighted comments and states of mind. Health care is a human right and a common good, I would be happy to pay a little more in taxes to arrive at true universal health care in this country. But the GOP, the oligarchs and too many sell-out Democrats stand in the way of universal health care.