The following article by Sean Sullivan was posted on the Washington Post website July 18, 2017:
Monday night brought one of the most embarrassing blows Mitch McConnell has endured in his 2½ years as Senate majority leader.
Two more Republican senators came out against McConnell’s bill to overhaul the Affordable Care Act, effectively dooming the latest version. That forced the Kentucky Republican to confront a difficult question with no good answers: What now? Continue reading “Why is Mitch McConnell still calling for a health-care vote?”
The following article by Paul Kane was posted on the Washington Post website July 15, 2017:
By most measures, Republicans face a nearly impossible task of finding enough votes to pass their long-promised repeal of the Affordable Care Act through a Senate that seems irreconcilably divided.
A core group of moderates and mainstream conservatives remains resistant to the Republican proposal that slashes Medicaid funding, while a small but critical bloc of conservatives keeps pushing to move the bill further in their direction.
Yet by one measure, Republicans have never been closer to repealing large chunks of what they dismiss as “Obamacare.” Within two short weeks, the GOP will probably either be reveling in its unexpected victory or mired in deep infighting over the party’s failure to live up to a pledge it has made over the past seven years. Continue reading “If — if — the Senate passes a health bill, get ready for lightning round in the House”
The following article by Lenny Bernstein and Paige Winfield Cunningham was posted on the Washington Post site July 15, 2017:
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (R) wants to again allow insurers to sell “bare bones” health-care plans. Critics say his amendment to the Senate GOP health-care bill could destabilize insurance markets. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais/Associated Press)
Before the Affordable Care Act, insurance companies could offer any combination of benefits in most states and legally call them a health insurance policy. A huge deductible? Coverage for only one night of hospitalization? Nothing for maternity care, mental health or medication?
If consumers were willing to buy such “bare bones” plans — and some people did, usually at very low prices — those policies were considered health insurance coverage.
The following article by Simon Haeder was posted on the Conversation site July 13, 2017:
Credit: AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
When Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell released his new version of the Republican health care bill July 13, he relied on a favorite Republican device to solve the nation’s health care woes – Health Savings Accounts.
The following article by Glenn Howatt was posted on the Star Tribune site July 14, 2017:
Health legislation moving toward a vote in the U.S. Senate would reverse gains made in insurance coverage and drive up costs for all Minnesotans, the CEOs of two of the state’s largest health care companies said in an interview Thursday.
It could also produce job losses and service cutbacks at the state’s hospitals and clinics and halt reforms that aim to boost quality, improve medical outcomes and cut costs, they said.
“I have deep, deep concerns about where the federal framework is right now and where it is proposed to go,” said Dr. Penny Wheeler, chief executive at Allina Health, a hospital and clinic system that is Minnesota’s fifth-largest employer. “There’s nothing in this bill that talks about system reform, and in fact it actually undercuts system reform by cutting so many people off of coverage.” Continue reading “Two Minnesota CEOs weigh in against Senate GOP health care bill”
The following article by J.B. Silvers was posted on the Conversation site July 12, 2017:
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, shown here in June, 2017, is scheduled to unveil a revised version of the Senate health care bill today. AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
As we watch for a new version of a Senate health care bill today, an outside observer might think that Congress is just dysfunctional, lurching from one extreme to another in search of something that works for health care reform.
The latest development has been the inability of Republicans to even agree on their own proposal and, worse yet, what should come next if it fails. Should they repeal the Affordable Care Act and worry about a replacement later or just try to “fix” the ACA now?
The following article by Haeyoun Park and Margot Sanger-Katz was posted on the New York Times website July 11, 2017:
A family making more than $200,000 a year would gain $5,420 on average by 2026, while a family making less than $10,000 a year would lose $2,550 if the Senate Republican health care bill becomes law, according to a new analysis.
Average net change in federal tax and health benefits in 2026 for a family earning:
The analysis, from the Urban Institute’s Health Policy Center and the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, looked at the combined impact of changes proposed under the draft Republican plan, including repealing Obamacare taxes, cutting Medicaid funding and changing the system of government subsidies for people who buy their own insurance.
The following article by Noam N. Levey was posted on the Los Angeles Times website July 6, 2017:
Communities like this aging West Virginia coal town along the Kanawha River were key to President Trump’s victory last year; more than two-thirds of voters in surrounding Fayette County backed the Republican nominee.
The following article by Michelle Ye Hee Lee was posted on the Washington Post website July 5, 2017:
As the Senate gears up to vote on the GOP bill to overhaul the Affordable Care Act, the White House is publishing statistics to criticize the current health law. The White House published a “Repeal and Replace Obamacare” website, rife with numbers and graphics, and is posting various statistics through its Twitter account.
We always say numbers are like catnip for fact-checking — and it’s especially so when it comes to health care, a regular topic of interest at Fact Checker. So we looked into the recent spin on health-care figures from the White House. As readers will see, in most instances, the White House used accurate figures but characterized them in misleading ways or out of context. Continue reading “Decoding the White House spin on Obamacare ‘failures’”
NOTE: The evening of June 29, there is a rally to let Rep. Paulsen know we want to keep our healthcare. More info here.
The following article by Avantika Chilkoti and Emily Cochrane was posted on the New York Times website June 27, 2017:
Supporters of Planned Parenthood rallied on Tuesday in Washington. Credit Saul Loeb/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Under a blistering sun, protesters let out a cheer on Tuesday across Capitol lawns as word spread that the Senate Republican leader had delayed a vote on repealing the Affordable Care Act. But amid the celebration, Democrats urged the crowds to keep the heat on lawmakers whose opposition to the health care overhaul could grow cold over the coming Fourth of July recess.
“If there is one thing that everybody knows in politics, it’s this: When you have the votes, you take the vote,” Senator Brian Schatz, Democrat of Hawaii, roared to the amassed activists, some clad in pink Planned Parenthood shirts, others in red AIDS awareness shirts.
By midafternoon, Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader, had announced that he did not have enough support to repeal President Barack Obama’s signature domestic achievement, and would take lawmakers’ temperatures when they returned to Washington the week of July 10.
