Health Advocacy Groups Hit The Panic Button On GOP's Last-Ditch Repeal Effort
Source: Talking Points Memo
By ALICE OLLSTEIN Published SEPTEMBER 18, 2017 6:00 AM
Republicans’ last-ditch effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act before the clock runs out on their ability to do it with a simple majority does not have a CBO score, does not have the enthusiastic support of GOP leadership, and most importantly, does not have 50 votes.
But the same health advocacy groups that mobilized in opposition to Obamacare repeal bills this spring are treating the distant prospect that the bill could come to the floor in the next two weeks as an emergency—blasting out press releases and urging their networks to once again pack GOP town halls and tie up Congress’ phone lines until the bill is dead for good.
With an eye on the Sept. 30 deadline set by the Senate parliamentarian for passing a bill with 50 senators instead of the usual 60, Senate Republicans are furiously whipping votes for the awkwardly named Graham-Cassidy-Heller-Johnson bill, which would repeal many of Obamacare’s taxes, mandates, and subsidies while converting Medicaid and the ACA exchanges into block grants controlled by each individual state. States would be able to use the funding, which would be cut deeply over the next decade, to redesign their health insurance markets, and could also waive Obamacare’s protections for people with pre-existing conditions if they so chose.
Depending on whom you believe on Capitol Hill, the bill has between 45 and 49 votes. Crucially, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), who dramatically helped to tank the Senate’s last Obamacare repeal effort, is a tentative yes. But conservative groups are messaging against the bill, and several Republican senators remain anywhere from skeptical to openly hostile to the plan.
Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/health-advocacy-groups-hit-the-panic-button-on-gops-last-ditch-repeal-effort
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