New House Health Repeal Bill Is Already Losing The Senate

WASHINGTON ― While House Republicans have reanimated their push to repeal the Affordable Care Act by crafting a plan to appease conservatives, Senate moderates on Wednesday were already expressing serious doubts about the new proposal. The new idea that has won praise from members of the House Freedom Caucus involves allowing states to let insurers ignore essential health benefits guaranteed under Obamacare, as well as protections for people with pre-existing medical conditions. Most Republicans in the Senate have said they want to keep Obamacare’s popular pre-existing condition rules. But perhaps more importantly, a half-dozen moderates were already on record opposing the earlier, less-extreme repeal bill that failed to get a vote in the House. One key concern of theirs was cuts to Obamacare’s expanded Medicaid payments that have helped millions of Americans get health insurance. The new GOP House bill keeps those cuts. The senators who were opposed before did not issue outright rejections of the new scheme, but made clear they do not think the House bill will pass in the Senate. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who sponsored his own plan with moderate Maine GOP Sen. Susan Collins, praised the House for creating “movement” toward some kind of common ground. But he also said it was the wrong approach. “If we’re going to lower premiums, and that’s one of the president’s pledges, you have to restore the law of big numbers, which is to...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news