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Killing Obamacare - here's the best explanation I've found on what's happening. [View all]
A portion of the article:
An analysis from the Center on Budget Policy Priorities of an early version of the bill estimates what this will mean for states. Nine states would see their funding cut by 50% or more compared to what their Medicaid expansion and exchange subsidies would otherwise be. These states include expected conservative targets like New York, California, New Jersey and Massachusetts, but also North Carolina, Florida and Virginia.
Yet somehow Maine, Alaska, Nevada and West Virginia are almost entirely protected from these cuts in the early years (although every state would be hard hit in the long run or in the event of a recession or public health emergency like Hurricane Harvey.) What do those states have in common? Each has Republican senators who either voted against or strongly considered voting against the last Senate repeal bill.
The repeal effort doesn’t seek to solve the problem of covering more people or making health care more affordable for American families. If assessed by the Congressional Budget Office, it will surely show many millions losing coverage and higher costs for millions more. Instead they are dividing the country into winners and losers (or losers and bigger losers) to achieve a more straightforward goal — finding the 50 Republican votes that, along with Vice President Pence as the tiebreaker, will give them a Senate win.
Graham, who spent some of August in Arizona on shuttle diplomacy, believes the path to success is to appeal to “25 governors” who will make out better under his plan. When the formula for redistributing federal dollars is finalized, my conversations with sponsors suggest, it will reserve discretion for Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price to adjust the formula as needed to get these states — and their senators — on board.
Yet somehow Maine, Alaska, Nevada and West Virginia are almost entirely protected from these cuts in the early years (although every state would be hard hit in the long run or in the event of a recession or public health emergency like Hurricane Harvey.) What do those states have in common? Each has Republican senators who either voted against or strongly considered voting against the last Senate repeal bill.
The repeal effort doesn’t seek to solve the problem of covering more people or making health care more affordable for American families. If assessed by the Congressional Budget Office, it will surely show many millions losing coverage and higher costs for millions more. Instead they are dividing the country into winners and losers (or losers and bigger losers) to achieve a more straightforward goal — finding the 50 Republican votes that, along with Vice President Pence as the tiebreaker, will give them a Senate win.
Graham, who spent some of August in Arizona on shuttle diplomacy, believes the path to success is to appeal to “25 governors” who will make out better under his plan. When the formula for redistributing federal dollars is finalized, my conversations with sponsors suggest, it will reserve discretion for Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price to adjust the formula as needed to get these states — and their senators — on board.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2017/09/06/health-care-smackdown-last-ditch-aca-repeal-drive-threatens-bipartisan-fixes-andy-slavitt-column/634207001/
5 replies
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