Tag: Senate GOP wealthcare

Parts of Senate GOP Health Care Bill Break Rules, Parliamentarian Says

The following article by Mary Ellen McIntyre was posted on the Roll Call website July 21, 2017:

Abortion, insurance regulations, cost-sharing subsidies would require 60 votes

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., along with Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, speaks to reporters about the path forward for health care legislation in the Ohio Clock Corridor after the Senate Republicans’ policy lunch in the Capitol on Tuesday, July 18, 2017. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)

Several parts of the Senate health care bill would violate the chamber’s budget reconciliation rules, the Senate parliamentarian said in a guidance late Friday.

Provisions related to abortion, certain insurance regulations and funding the law’s cost-sharing subsidies could be struck under the so-called Byrd rule and would require 60 votes to survive.

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky has said the Senate will take a procedural vote to proceed to debate on the health care measure early next week. It’s unclear whether enough Republican senators will vote to start debate or which version of the bill the Senate would consider. The parliamentarian’s ruling is on an early version released last month.

Additionally, a provision that aims to incentivize individuals to purchase coverage and replace the health care law’s individual mandate was ruled out of order with the Byrd rule. Continue reading “Parts of Senate GOP Health Care Bill Break Rules, Parliamentarian Says”

Estimated Premium Increases from Repeal and Delay

The following article by Emily Gee and Thomas Huelskoetter was posted on the Center for American Progress July 18, 2017:

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell at his office on Thursday, when the Republican health plan was made public. Credit Doug Mills/The New York Times

After the failure of the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA), Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has reverted to the previously-rejected strategy of repealing major parts of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) with no replacement.

McConnell’s revived strategy of repeal and delay would cause immediate chaos in the individual insurance market despite putting off the implementation of certain provisions for two years. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has projected that this approach would increase premiums in the individual market to levels 20 percent to 25 percent higher relative to those under the ACA in the first year after enactment. By 2026, premiums would be about 100 percent higher than under current law. Continue reading “Estimated Premium Increases from Repeal and Delay”

Trump suggests Republicans will let ACA market collapse, then rewrite health law

The following article by Juliet Eilperin and Sean Sullivan was posted on the Washington Post website July 18, 2017:

The Senate Republicans’ health-care bill was dealt a fatal blow on July 17, when two more senators came out against it. Now President Trump is suggesting to repeal Obamacare, let the insurance market fail and then make “a great healthcare plan.” (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)

As divisions between the two main ideological camps within the GOP widened Tuesday, Republicans were scrambling to contain the political fallout from the collapse of a months-long effort to rewrite former President Barack Obama’s signature domestic accomplishment.

President Trump predicted Tuesday that Republicans would wait for the federal insurance market to collapse and then work to broker a deal to rewrite the nation’s landmark health-care law, while Senate leaders pressed ahead with a plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act with no immediate replacement. Continue reading “Trump suggests Republicans will let ACA market collapse, then rewrite health law”