Price defends cutting nearly $1 trillion from Medicaid

The fact that Trump appears to be behind this bill, full-stop – “We want to brag about this”, a beaming president said in the Rose Garden on Thursday – gives more comfort to Senate Republicans. “These Republicans voted to take away peoples’ health care”. No timetable will be announced, McConnell said, and he added: “We don’t anticipate any Democratic help at all, so it will be a simple majority vote situation”.

The president was an energetic cheerleader in the effort to round up House votes and promote the bill, but he was hardly attuned to the details.

So far more than 1 million SC residents are potentially about to get bad news.

The bill that passed the House of Representatives last week sparked celebrations among the GOP faithful, but its future is far from certain as it faces the political landmines of the Senate. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who’s not running for re-election.

Lapses in coverage could become more common if the Republican bill delivers less financial support than President Barack Obama’s law does for people buying individual insurance coverage.

Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton, a Democrat, is resolute on that issue: “I would not entertain that notion”, he said.

White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, in an appearance on “Fox News Sunday”, also defended the health care bill, pledging that President Trump “will not let you down” if you have a pre-existing condition.

Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri, who’s part of the Republican leadership team, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that the goal for the Senate should be a bill that brings people into the health-care system who aren’t now in it, “to give people more choices, to create more competition”.

In all, the Republican health care bill would cut Medicaid by nearly $840 billion over 10 years, with most of that money going to cut taxes for corporations and wealthy Americans.

The House passed a new version of the law by a 217-213 margin before the budget office could even complete its new estimate. It would dilute consumer-friendly insurance coverage requirements, like prohibiting higher premiums for customers with pre-existing medical conditions and watering down the subsidies that help consumers afford health insurance.

So more South Carolinians won’t have health care.

States could opt out of requiring insurance companies to cover “essential health benefits” like doctor visits, emergency services, hospitalization and prescription drugs. In other words, people could unwittingly buy low-priced plans that cover next to nothing. He said Obamacare is now dead. You know, pre-existing conditions people have no control over. Does history teach us nothing?

The new Republican plan would let some states allow insurers to charge higher premiums for people with pre-existing conditions, but only if those people had a lapse in insurance coverage. During Trump’s visit with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, White House officials agreed to requests from Abbas for a high-profile lunch with the president and to place the Palestinian flag behind Trump during their joint statement for cameras. Second, the government would fund high-risk pools of subsidized insurance to cover those otherwise shut out of the individual market (unfortunately, high-risk pools have a bad track record, as they tend to be underfunded).

“I could probably tell you I read every word, and I wouldn’t be telling you the truth”, said Collins. And in Florida, Medicaid funds more nursing home care than any other provider.

Rubio, and his fellow senators, face a decision of a lifetime. For access to affordable health insurance determines whether lives are extended or shortened.

“I ask, does it pass the Jimmy Kimmel test?” But they say they had to do something to make good on a seven-year campaign promise. The show’s segment went viral, with more than 9.5 million views on YouTube.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., plans to move forward under special procedures that allow legislation to pass with a simple majority vote, instead of the 60 usually required for major bills in the Senate. The original health care reform proposal to repeal and replace Obamacare included a three phase plan, of which the AHCA legislation was phase one.